SAM15 Firm Strategy and Competition

• Topics

  Topics

  The course focuses on firms¿ different decision problems and strategic interaction between firms. The course will be based on various cases focusing on markets such as airlines, telecommunication, gasoline and the grocery sector. We will aim towards providing an understanding of how economics can be used to understand and predict firms¿ behaviour and strategic interaction. The main elements in competition policy rules will also be discussed. Thus, we will distinguish between legal and illegal behavior and thereby gain insight in business ethical issues.

   

  Some example of topics will be:

   

  Market definition

  Barriers to entry

  Cartel behaviour

  Pricing and price discrimination

  Product differentiation

  Mergers & acquisitions

  Auctions

• Learning outcome

  Learning outcome

  After completion of the course a student will be able to:

  Have a broad knowledge about topics such as market definition, barriers to entry, cartel behavior, pricing and mergers & acquisitions

  Apply academic knowledge in order to understand strategic interaction between firms in a specific market

  Find, evaluate and refer to information and scholarly subject matter and present it in a manner that sheds light on a problem seen from a firm's perspective

  Distinguish and combine theory and factual data

  Identify and execute individual assignments within a group activit

• Teaching

  Teaching

  Regular lectures

• Recommended prerequisites

  Recommended prerequisites

  The course requires introductory knowledge in microeconomics, e.g., the SAM020/SAM2 micro course.

• Credit reduction due to overlap

  Credit reduction due to overlap

  Overlap with VOA011

• Requirements for course approval

  Requirements for course approval

  Two group based assignments, and all students must pass on both assignments. There will be a maximum of three students on each group.

• Assessment

  Assessment

  Four hours written school exam, calculator not allowed. All answers must be written in English

• Grading Scale

  Grading Scale

  Grading scale A - F

• Computer tools

  Computer tools

  None

• Semester

  Semester

  Autumn

• Literature

  Literature

  Dennis W. Carlton and Jeffrey M. Perloff, Modern Industrial Organization, Global Edition, 2015, Pearson, fourth edition (not all the chapters are required reading)