EMBA Corporate Economics 752 – 2018

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Corporate Economics 752 – 2018

Syllabus

SHELDON B. LUBAR SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Executive MBA Program – 3 credits

Block 4, July 27 to October 6, 2018


INSTRUCTOR: Richard D. Marcus, Ph.D.is an Associate Professor of Business and the Chair of the LSB Executive Committee

OFFICE: S430F in Lubar Hall. My mailbox is also on the fourth floor of Lubar Hall

OFFICE HOURS: Fridays 3-4 pm in Lubar Hall S430F on weeks when there are classes and by appointment.

TELEPHONE: 414-229-4103 (office) or 414-228-7731 (home) or 414-510-7731 (cell)

E-mail: marcus@uwm.edu

HOMEPAGE: https://sites.uwm.edu/marcus/

BUSINESS ECONOMICS 752: Economic analysis of problems in business and public policy issues so that an MBA graduate will be able to think and speak like an economist. The topics include traditional issues of price elasticities, cost and production functions, and pricing issues in the market. Marketing and behavioral applications of economic concepts will be highlighted as well as issues involved in financial markets. A portion of each class period will be set aside to discuss economic or political issues occurring in the world or things that seem puzzling. After all, one of the leading journals in economics is called the Journal of Political Economy, and your teacher thinks of himself as both a political economist and a finance professor.

TEXTBOOK and two TRADE BOOKS: Economics for Managers, Third Edition, by Paul G. Farnham, Pearson (Chapters 3-10 and 16); most chapters from The Disruptors’ Feast: How to Avoid Being Devoured in Today’s Rapidly Changing Global Economy by Frits van Paasschen, and portions of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H.Thaler and Cass Sunstein, Yale University Press.

FINAL EXAM: There is no “final exam” as such. But there will be both a short-essay style take-home exam on a behavioral economic observation from your life due on October 6, 2018, the time I am scheduled to teach primarily on finding behavioral economic examples in your own life or work. There will also be on Saturday, October 6, a group impromptu presentation after a break-out period, based on different questions posed to each group on the integrative case on McDonald’s from Chapter 16 in Farnham.

GRADES: Grades will be based on the total points earned on the in-class quizzes, group integrative presentation on October 6, and the take-home behavioral economics essay on examples you’ve discovered in your life. There are no “extra credit” points available. If a student is ill or otherwise unable to attend, an in-class quiz can be emailed to the student to be returned the following class session. Scores will be posted on Desire2Learn at: http://d2l.uwm.edu/.

TIME EXPECTATIONS: In a regular semester, for each hour of lecture there are two hours preparation. For extended 4 hour classes, that means about 8 hours of reading per class in preparation for daily quizzes, and more time preparing for the final.

CLASSROOM POLICIES: UWM has long-standing policies on academic misconduct, sexual harassment, discrimination, adding, dropping, withdrawal, repeating classes, and changes of grade. These policies are available at: https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/marcus/www/policies.html.

SPECIAL NEEDS:  If anyone has a need for note-taking or test assistance, please fell free to discuss this with me early in our block.  Slide presentation are available in a notebook or weekly and will also be available on D2L.

SOCIAL CONNECTIVITY:  Economic and financial announcements are frequent.  Some will be highlighted for your special attention.  These appear on Facebook that can be accessed without being a member on D2L or you may like the page UWMFinance350.  Links are located on the navigation lines in D2L.  While it doesn’t say UWM-EMBA752, it is just easier to keep one page going.


Class Schedule for EMBA Corporate Economics 752

Saturday, July 29 at 12:45-2:45pm –  Demand elasticities including price, income, cross-price elasticities (Chapter 3, Farnham) and The Great Acceleration and Volatility in a Connected World (Chapters 1 & 10, van Paasschen).

Also on Saturday, July 29 at 2:45-4:45pm –  Techniques for Understanding Consumer Demand and Behavior (Chapter 4, Farnham); Biases and Blunders (Chapter 1, Thaler & Sunstein) as an intro into the behavioral errors people tend to make; and in-class quiz 1 in groups of two or three.


Friday, August 10 at 4-6pm –  Production and Cost Analysis in the Short Run (Chapter 5, Farnham); and Save More Tomorrow (Chapter 6, Thaler & Sunstein); and we must Define Reality (Chapter 2, van Paasschen).

Also Friday, August 10 at  6:30-8:30pm –  Digital Technology and the Disruptors’ Feast (Chapters 3 and 4, van Paasschen); Production and Cost Analysis in the Long Run (Chapter 6, Farham) and an in-class quiz 2 on Farnham and Thaler & Sunstein in different groups of two or three.


Saturday, September 8 at 8-10am  Isoquant Analysis (Appendix 6A, Farnham); and Resisting Temptation (Chapter 2, Thaler & Sunstein); and the Era of Personalization (Chapter 5, van Paasschen).

Also Saturday, September 8 at 10:15-noon – Perfect Competition (Chapter 7, Farnham); Industry Supply (Appendix 7A, Farnham); and an in-class quiz 3 on Farnham and Thaler & Sunstein in different assigned groups.


Saturday, September 22 at 8-10am – Monopoly (Chapter 8, Farnham); also Following the Herd & When Do We Need a Nudge (Chapters 3 and 4, Thaler & Sunstein). and Global Growth Trend Line (Chapter 6, van Paasschen).  Also read the poem “Smart” by Silverstein below:

http://busyteacherscafe.com/worksheets/smart.pdf.

Also Saturday, September 22, at 10:15-noon – Oligopoly (Chapter 9, Farnham); and van Paasschen’s 4 Lessons (Chapter 8, van Paasschen); and an in-class quiz 4 in different assigned groups on Chapters 8 & 9.


Saturday, October 6 –  hand in your behavioral economics essay on your life and times at 8am.

Saturday, October 6 at 8-10am –  Price Discrimination (Chapter 10, Farnham); Urbanization as a Trend Line and Barriers to Change (Chapters 9 and 11, van Paasschen).

Saturday, October 6 at 10 to noon –  Managerial Decision Making: The Case of Strong Headwinds for McDonald’s – Integrative Economic Exercise (Chapter 16, Farnham) using your already 7 established group presentations based on questions posed.  Questions assigned to groups by drawing numbers out of a hat. Yeah, very high tech.

Scores and grades will be posted on D2L at http://d2l.uwm.edu/.