Business Economics

Code

BUSI4014

School

Business

Level

4

Credits

10

Semesters

Spring UK

Summary

This module aims at developing your understanding of how markets work and the principles of supply and demand. It will also provide you with an understanding of how self-interested parties within organizations interact and how corporate governance mechanisms can control these interactions. The focus will be on the relationship between markets, organizations' structure and firms' profitability. By the end of the module, you will be able to think critically about markets and organizations and use this critical analysis to improve your decision-making. An advantage of economics, and one reason for its widespread use in analysing individual and institutional decision-making, is that it requires the analysis to be explicit about the key elements of the process under consideration -i.e., who are the key decision makers, which are they goals, what actions they have available, and which is the mechanism by which decisions translate into outcomes. In this way, the basic tools of economics offer a set of skills necessary for rigorous analysis of business problems. 

Target Students

Only students registered on Executive MBA programmes, or other MBA or PG Dip BA programmes at the MBA Director's discretion

Classes

• One 4-hour lecture
• One 7-hour lecture each week for 4 weeks

32 hours contact time over a one-week intensive block. Please note all non-lectures will be timetabled in the Business School.

Assessment

• 40% Coursework: Individual 2,000 word coursework
• 60% Take home exam (2-hour): Take home exam

Assessed by end of designated period

Educational Aims

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and understanding
This module develops a knowledge and understanding of:

• Markets – the development and operation of markets for resources, goods and services
• Marketing and sales - different approaches for segmentation, targeting, positioning, generating sales, and the need for innovation in product and service design
• The management of resources
• The economics of choice, production and exchange. The ability to apply economic theory and economic reasoning to applied topics in private and public organisations, and policy.

Intellectual skills
This module develops:

• Being able to think critically and be creative: manage the creative processes in self and others; organise thoughts, analyse, synthesise and critically appraise. This includes the capability to identify assumptions, evaluate statements in terms of evidence, detect false logic or reasoning, identify implicit values, define terms adequately and generalise appropriately
• Being able to solve complex problems and make decisions: establish criteria, using appropriate decision-making techniques including identifying, formulating and solving business problems; and the ability to create, identify and evaluate options; the ability to implement and review decisions
• Using information and knowledge effectively in order to abstract meaning from information and to share knowledge, including the use of quantitative skills

Professional practical skills
This module develops:

• The ability to conduct research and enquiry into business and management issues either individually or as part of a team through research design, the collection and analysis of quantitative data, synthesis and reporting

Transferable (key) skills
This module develops:

• Effective communication: networking, listening, oral and written communication of complex ideas and arguments, using a range of media, including the preparation of business reports
• High personal effectiveness: critical self-awareness, self-reflection and self-management; time management; conflict resolution, displaying commercial acumen, the ability to continue to learn through reflection on practice and experience

Conveners

• Dr Luciana Nicollier