| Session No. |
Learning Topic, Case and Activity |
Reading in Samuelson and Nordhaus |
| 1 |
Course Overview / Introduction to Markets |
Chap. 1; newspaper readings |
| 2 |
Role of Markets and Governments |
Chap. 2; Hyundai Shipbuilding |
| 3 |
Introduction to Supply and Demand |
Chap 3; newspaper readings |
| 4 |
Overview of Macroeconomics,
Aggregated Demand & Supply
Case: Competitiveness Model: IMD 2007
World Competitiveness Yearbook data (select countries)
|
Chaps. 20-21 |
| 5 |
Process of Economic Growth & Development
Case: Philippines Informal Sector
(Group Report required)
|
Chaps. 27-28 |
| 6 |
Consumption & Investment
Case: Botswana: Diamond in the Rough
|
Chap 22 |
| 7 |
Business Fluctuations & Basic Multiplier Model
Case: Chile: Latin American Tiger
(Group Report required)
|
Chaps. 23-24 |
| 8 |
Financial Markets, Central Banking and Monetary Policy Case: Cambodian Riel |
Chaps. 25-26 |
| 9 |
Exchange Rates and the International Financial System
Case: Laos: Dollar, Baht or Kip?
|
Chap. 29 |
| 10 |
Open Economy Macroeconomics
Case: Money Laundering (Group Report required)
|
Chap. 30 |
| 11 |
Unemployment and Aggregate Supply; Inflation
Case: Creative Industries: Cebu’s Sinulog
|
Chap. 31-32 |
| 12 |
Comparative Legal Environments in Asia
Reading: Regulating Corporate Vehicles in Cross Border Transactions (Atty. Angel Ylagan)
|
|
| 13 |
Guest lecture on Philippine Competitiveness |
|
| 14 |
Guest lecture on Asian Economic Integration |
|
| 15 |
MID-TERM EXAM |
|
| Session No. |
Learning Topic, Case and Activity |
Reading in Samuelson and Nordhaus
|
| Overview of Microeconomics |
17
Sept 11
Tuesday |
Microeconomics and Freakonomics
Caselets:
BIR Focuses on Transfer Pricing (BW newsclipping)
Asias Water Crisis (ADB video)
Lecture Discussion JOINT CLASS |
Ch 4 - Applications of Supply and Demand |
| Supply, Demand and Decisions of the Firm |
18
Sept 13
Thursday |
Elasticities and the Paradox of Value
Case:
De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd (A)
Case Discussion
Case Description:
Describes the problems facing De Beers at the start of 1983. De Beers had, since its formation in 1888, exercised a large measure of control over the world supply of diamonds. In 1983, the company itself mined over 40% of the world's natural diamonds and, through marketing arrangements with other producers, distributed over 70%. For 50 years up to 1983 the company had never lowered its prices and, overall, had raised them significantly ahead of the rate of inflation. However, in 1983 the company was faced with a series of problems that threatened the structure it had so carefully built. First, a large producing nation had stopped selling through De Beers. Second, new discoveries meant that the annual supply of mined diamonds would double by 1986. Finally, the industry was experiencing its worst slump since the 1930s, resulting in a significant deterioration in the company's financial position. Describes the structure and economics of the diamond industry and asks the student to decide whether or not De Beers should abandon the business strategy it had pursued for nearly a century. |
Ch 4 Applications of Supply and Demand
Ch 5 Demand and Consumer Behavior |
19
Sept 18
Tuesday |
Choice, Utility Theory and Theory of Production
Case:
Chita Yalong, Fish Trader and Vendor
Case Discussion
Case Description:
Not available |
Ch 5 - Demand and Consumer Behavior
Ch 6 - Production and Business Organization |
20
Sept 20
Thursday |
Theory of the Firm and Cost Structure
Case:
Apollo Hospitals--First-World Health Care at Emerging-Market Prices
Case Discussion
Description:
The Apollo Hospitals Group, one of Asia's premier health care organizations, had come to rival the best health care organizations on the globe. Apollo offered advanced medical procedures, such as cardiac surgery using the beating heart technique, at very high levels of quality but at a fraction of the cost of hospitals in the West. Apollo's managers must decide how best to capitalize on the group's remarkable medical capabilities. One option was to bet on global medical tourism by trying to attract patients from Asia and worldwide needing advanced medical procedures. Thailand had set the example for medical tourism and attracted more than one million patients a year, most of them undergoing plastic surgery. Another option Apollo considered was to build and manage hospitals abroad. |
Ch 6 - Production and Business Organization
Ch 7 - Analysis of Costs |
| Types of Markets |
21
Oct 2
Tuesday |
Overview of Markets
Cases:
Buyers may shift to yen for Iran oil (WSJ newsclipping)
A Note on Microeconomics for Strategists (HBS Case Note)
Lecture Discussion
Description:
Summarizes the core ideas about the microeconomics of markets that are most relevant to business strategy. Sections I and II develop two basic building blocks of any market, demand and supply. Section II discusses how demand and supply interact to determine the quantity of goods traded in a market and the price paid for those goods, with special attention to the way that external events influence the quantity traded and the price paid. Section IV presents the important benchmark of "perfect competition," in which equally matched firms compete so vigorously and market entry is so easy that no firm earns more than its cost of capital. Section V explores the ways that real markets depart form perfect competition. These departures lie at the heart of long-run profitability. |
Ch 11 - Uncertainty and Game Theory |
22
Oct 4
Thursday |
Competitive Markets
Case:
Wal-Mart Stores: "Everyday Low Prices" in China
Case Discussion
Description:
Although Wal-Mart, the world's largest company by revenue, was into its 9th year of operations in China, its stores were still losing money. It had created a miracle in the U.S. retail industry by revolutionizing the sector's business model and successfully implementing its model through innovative practices that enabled it to sell national brands at "Every Day Low Prices". The challenge Wal-Mart faced was whether it could transport its successful model to win in a market with many differing characteristics which threatened its low-cost structure and which could nullify its competitive advantage. Concerned with the application of established domestic business models in international expansion. Also sheds light on other globalization issues such as market entry strategy, localization vs. standardization, the effect of regulation changes on the competitive landscape, and firm performance. |
Ch 8 - Analysis of Perfectly Competitive Markets
Ch 9 - Imperfect Competition and Monopoly |
23
Oct 9
Tuesday |
Contestable Markets
Case:
The Contestability of the Land Market in Hong Kong
Case Discussion
Description:
Investigates whether there is sufficient competition in the land market of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Event-study methodology plays an essential role in the investigation. There are five channels through which developers can obtain land for development. Focuses on the land auction channel. Analysis results show that the land auction market is not contestable, given the significant entry barriers to that market. Also sheds light on the competitiveness of other sources of land supply and the downstream property market. Identifies major entry barriers to the land auction market. Findings provide a factual base for policy discussions. |
Ch 9 - Imperfect Competition and Monopoly
Ch 10 - Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition |
24
Oct 11
Thursday |
Labor Markets
Case:
Worker Rights and Global Trade: The U.S.-Cambodia Bilateral Textile Trade Agreement
Case Discussion
Description:
Examines the political and economic dimensions of the campaign to improve workers' rights around the world through the inclusion of labor standards in international trade agreements. The U.S.-Cambodia Textile Trade Agreement was the first agreement of its kind to link increased access to U.S. markets to improved working conditions in an exporting country. Some argue that labor standards are becoming a new form of protectionism. Others see them as necessary to preserve open markets and fair trade. How this debate is resolved will undoubtedly have great implications for investors in developing countries and ultimately for the economic development of the poorer countries themselves. |
Ch 13 - The Labor Market
Ch 15 - Comparative Advantage and Protectionism |
25
Oct 16
Tuesday |
Capital Markets
Case:
WuXi PharmaTech
Case Discussion
Description:
WuXi Pharmatech has gone from zero to $21 million in sales in three years. The company must decide its growth strategy and how best to finance and organize for rapid growth. |
Ch 14 - Land and Capital
Ch 15 - Comparative Advantage and Protectionism |
26
Oct 18
Thursday
Note that topics and readings for Sessions #26, #27 and #28 may switch depending on availability of Guest Practitioners |
Markets and Income
Live Cases:
Simbayanan ni Maria Multipurpose Cooperative
Pinoyme
Excerpts from Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered (With Commentaries) (1999)
Case Discussion with Guest Practitioners |
Ch 12 - How Markets Determine Income
Ch 19 - Efficiency vs Equality: The Big Trade off |
27
Oct 23
Tuesday
Note that topics and readings for Sessions #26, #27 and #28 may switch depending on availability of Guest Practitioners |
Toward More Efficient Markets?
Live Case:
Status of the Peace Talks in the Philippines
Excerpts from de Soto, The Other Path: The Economic Answer to Terrorism (1989)
Case Discussion with Guest Practitioners |
Ch 16 - Government Taxation and Expenditure
Ch 17 - Promoting More Efficient Markets
Ch 19 - Efficiency vs Equality: The Big Trade off |
28
Oct 25
Thursday
Note that topics and readings for Sessions #26, #27 and #28 may switch depending on availability of Guest Practitioners
|
The Environment and Economics
Case: Global Climate Change and Emissions Trading
Case Discussion with Guest Practitioners
Description:
Global climate change is an increasingly prominent political and business problem. Design of market-based systems to reduce carbon emissions has proven difficult. More broadly, national attempts to comply with the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol present both governments and firms with significant challenges. The design of international institutions that will be useful for managing change after the Kyoto period is a challenge both for Kyoto ratifiers and for countries like the United States that have not ratified the agreement. Summarizes the science and economics of climate change, and encourages readers to contemplate the strategic and risk management problems that it presents to government officials and to business leaders in developed countries and in the developing world. |
Ch 18- Protecting the Environment
Ch 19 - Efficiency vs Equality: The Big Trade off |
29
Oct 27
Saturday |
Economic Case Research Reports:
Expansion of ITC’s eChoupal Initiative in
ASEAN Countries
Background Case
The ITC eChoupal Initiative
Description:
Soybean farmers in India have traditionally sold their product through ineffective and frequently dishonest physical marketplaces (mandi). Farmers are generally poor and often illiterate and are forced to be "price-takers" after an arduous journey to the mandi. They also have very limited access to information and education on farming techniques. Describes the use of Internet technologies to reach these farmers and, in particular, examines a new system called the eChoupal, developed by the Indian conglomerate ITC. The eChoupal has reengineered the antiquated soybean export supply chain using digital technology in rural farm villages. Based on a clever understanding of technology, sociology, and the incentives of the various players involved, the eChoupal provides farmers with effective methods of price discovery, honest trading, and information sharing to the benefit of all in the channel. Discusses the achievement, opportunities, and challenges of the managers of the new supply chain. |
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