Topics

Managerial Economics Topics

1. Five Forces Analysis (Also include game theory, complements, comparative advantage (from Science of Success), and government (Fed, State, and Local)) - Jonathon Barnett

2. Marginal analysis- Marginal Benefit including marginal revenue and Marginal cost (How does it underlay most of the concepts of the course?) - Ronald Bell

3. Supply and Demand (Also, include private goods vs. public goods, marginal analysis, producer aand consumer surplus and how it applies to perfect competition) - Thaddeus Bogardus

4. Create and answer a case study that evaluates a current pricing strategy based on Memo 1 on Time Warner (Most relevant chapter 3) - Marissa Brim

5. Create and answer a case study loosely based on Memo 5 on Time Warner (Most relevant chapters 1 and 7) on how a company can strategically position itself for long-term profitability growth. - James Casteel

6. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 13 on Time Warner (Most relevant chapter 3) that illustrates how to use income and price elasticities in regressions to make pricing decisions. - Catherine Catherine

7. Government policies- Price ceilings, price floors, excise taxes, and the economic effects of prohibition (alcohol, drugs, kidneys, etc) - Anthony Christofaro

8. Prices, exchange, knowledge, and Markets: Also, discuss money, futures markets Gresham's law etc from The Economics of a POW camp. Why is diversity important in a market? - James Crews

9. Using regression analysis to derive a demand curve, also t-stats, R-squared, t-stats, F-stat, R-squared, adjusted R-square) - Anya Devoss

10. Value: Include how to determine the value of a Firm and how do you create value - Eric Doyle

11. Elasticity: elasticity of demand including Marginal revenue and the relationship with elasticity of demand. Also, elasticity of supply, cross price elasticity, income elasticity - Anqi Fang

12. Budget constraints, indifference curves. Including assumptions such as transitivity, completeness and more is better. Diminishing MU- Sharyn Fountain

13. Comparative advantage and trade (How do you determine your comparative advantage?) - Regina Gauger

14. Profit - opportunity costs including implicit costs and explicit costs, the difference between economic and accounting costs, economic profit, economic losses, and zero economic profit --- - Matthew Gray

15. Production, Total cost including implicit and explicit costs. Average cost (long run and short run). Average variable cost, marginal cost, sunk cost. (Include coverage from chapters 2-6 of Science of Success) - Ryan Hartke

16. Economies of scale, diseconomies of scale, constant returns to scale. Efficiency in production. Also, economies of scope and how to maximize profit when there are two production plants, long-run equilibrium ---- (Include Coverage from Chapters 2-6 of Science of Success) - Charles Hays

17. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 6 from Time Warner (Most Relevant Chapters 5, 8, and 11) that looks at whether profits can be increased by changing the price. Collin Hornbaker

18. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 11 from Time Warner (Most Relevant Chapters 5, 7, and 14) that looks at the economics of a divestiture. - Ryan Hornbaker

19. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 12 from Time Warner (Most Relevant Chapters 1, 8, and 11) that uses a cost-benefit analysis in determining what products or programs to keep. - Salli Horst

20. Input markets - supply and demand for labor including Marginal revenue product. Input procurement - Kreg Hunter

21. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 4 from Time Warner (Most Relevant Chapters 5, 7, and 14) that analytically looks at when to acquire a company. - Katherine Ittenbach

22. Concentration indexes - Four firm concentration ratios, Herfindahl Hershman indexes (HHI), Rothschild index, Lerner Index, Mergers ---- (See also Concentration's Ratio Index on Blackboard under Assignment tab Joshua Jackson

23. Perfect competition - Also include Interpretation of the long-run supply curve (perfect competition) How does this relate to supply and demand? - Rachel Kay

24. Monopoly - Amy Kitzman

25. Monopolistic competition - Daniel Kreitl

26. Oligopoly. Also include collusion, contestable markets, Cournot, Stackelberg, and Bertrand - Kevin McNutt

27. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 2 from Time Warner (Most Relevant Chapters 5, 8, and 11) that analyzes at what price a company should decide to exit a market. Brittanie Middleton

28. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 3 from Time Warner (Most Relevant Chapters 3, and 13) that looks at pricing strategies for related goods. James Mohr

29. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 7 from Time Warner (Most Relevant Chapters 10, and 13) that looks at different market shares and their different pricing scenarios and provide a recommendation on how to maximize profits. Cody Muhlenkamp

30. Create and answer a case study similar to American Airlines Case (Chapters 5, 7-11, 13) - Cases Available under Assignments tab- that looks at pricing to drive out competitors and then raising prices in the future. Bradley Nelson

31. Game theory- prisoners dilemma, dominant strategy and Nash equilibrium, coordination games Finitely repeated games, the end-of period problem, infinitely repeated games, sequential move games Ayodele Okunade

32. Create and answer a case study similar to Deutsche Telecom Case(Chap2,5,8-10,13,14)-Cases are under Assignments on BB-that looks at margin squeeze and monopoly and the implications of price regulation and on firms entry and exit decisions. Ajmal Paiman

33. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 8 from Time Warner (Most Relevant Chapters 3, 5, 7, and 13) that looks at complementarities and vertical integration Kwin Raymer

34. Create and answer a case study similar to Heinz Case (Chapters 7-10) - Cases Available under Assignments tab and Wikispaces Case Study folder on Blackboard- that looks at how concentration measures and barriers to entry are used by the antitrust authorities to determine the competitive implications of a proposed merger. What are some of the advantages of the merger in terms of coverage, market share, barriers to entry, and collusion? Adam Rice

35. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 9 from Time Warner (Most Relevant Chapters 3, 5, 7, and 13) that look at the implications of spinning off a division. Andrew Royalty

36. Create and answer a case study similar to Kodak Case (3, 7, 11) - Cases Available under Assignments tab and Wikispaces Case Study folder on Blackboard- that looks at ways to measure market power through elasticities and market shares. Also consider the effects of commodity bundling and market power Jennifer Schaefer

37. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 10 from Time Warner (Most Relevant Chapters 11, 12, and 13)- which deals with the optimal auctioning mechanisms to sell off a division. Kelli Schoon-Saxsma

38. Create and answer a case study similar to Microsoft Case (Chapters 7-11, 13) Cases Available under Assignments tab and Wikispaces Case Study folder on Blackboard- that focuses on vertical foreclosure and network effects and the benefits and costs of a company using pricing strategies to increase market power David Schroeder

39. Pricing methods- 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree price discrimination Two part pricing, Block pricing, peak load pricing, cross subsidies, bundling Matthew Seas

40. Create and answer a case study similar to Nasdaq Case (Chapters 9, 10, 12) - Cases Available under Assignments tab on Blackboard- that looks at when collusion is sustainable and what outcomes are predicted when collusion breaks down. Also discuss how bidding strategies in auctions and assymetric information can impact markets Charles Simpson

41. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 14 from Time Warner (Most Relevant Chapter 11)- that uses regression analysis to estimate demand functions and then shows how to price to increase profits. John Slade

42. Create and answer a case study similar to the Playmobil Case (Chapters 9-11) - Cases Available under Assignments tab on Blackboard that discusses retail price maintenance, credible threats and transfer pricing. Steven Spreece

43. Pricing- Profit maximizing markup. Also, Networks, Penetration pricing, Transfer pricing, limit pricing, predatory pricing, raising rivals costs price matching, randomized pricing Carter Sprunger

44. Create and answer a case study similar to the Staples Case (Chapters 3, 7, 9, 11) - Cases Available under Assignments tab on Blackboard that discusses how price elasticities and cross-price elasticities can help determine the relevant market, market concentration reactions, and the impact of mergers on markets. Emre Tezcan

45. Risk- mean, variance, standard deviation, risk aversion, risk neutral, risk lover, optimal search Amy Urbanski

46. Create and answer a case study similar to the Visa Case (Chapters 7, 9, 10, 13) - Cases Available under Assignments tab on Blackboard that discusses network effects, consumer lock-in and cooperative relations (collusion?) between companies. When does cooperation stifle innovation and lead to anticompetitive outcomes? George Valiquette

47. Information, Knowledge- Include Signaling, screening, asymmetric information, adverse selection, moral hazard
-Melissa Wagner

48. Create and answer a case study similar to the Worldcom Case (Chapters 5, 7, 8, 10) - Cases Available under Assignments tab on Blackboard that discusses how networks can lead to market power and how economies of scale and scope affect costs? When there are very large economies of scale and scope how does that affect prices to consumers and industry structure? How does that affect regulation? How do different regulatory policies affect competition and profits? Luyuan Wang

49. Create and answer a case study similar to Memo 14 from Time Warner (Most Relevant Chapter 11)- that uses regression analysis to estimate demand functions and then shows how to price to increase profits-2 Nathaniel Wenning

50. Create and answer a case study similar to the Visa Case (Chapters 7, 9, 10, 13) - Cases Available under Assignments tab on Blackboard that discusses network effects, consumer lock-in and cooperative relations (collusion?) between companies. When does cooperation stifle innovation and lead to anticompetitive outcomes?-2 Rachel Wentink

51. Auctions including English auction, First price sealed bid auction, second price sealed bid auction, Dutch auction, winners curse Kristin Westerfield

52. Market Failure- Antitrust, positive and negative externalities, public goods, rent seeking, tariffs Government failure Mark WIlk

53. Property rights and incentives- include tragedy of the commons Jason Young

54. How does tacit knowledge and diffused knowledge affect businesses and individuals? Wei Zhang