Economics for Business and Managementoffers an exciting introduction to
the principles and applications of microeconomics and macroeconomics to the global
business problems faced by today’s decision makers:
· What are the characteristics for successful entry into new international
markets?
· How can ‘sustainability’ affect decision making within businesses?
· Why are today’s global investors so concerned about national debt issues?
· In what ways does an awareness of cultural differences improve decision
making by international marketing and human resource strategists?
· What strategies can companies such as BP use to repair damaged global
reputations?
It is an ideal text for introductory courses in economics with a business and
management focus and more general business environment courses with an economic
underpinning.
Table of Contents
Guided tour
Guide to the main focus of case studies
About the authors
Preface: using this book
Acknowledgements
Part I Micro Business Environment
1: Markets and resource allocation
Introduction
What you'll learn
Wants, limited resources and choice
Demand curves and functions
Supply curves and functions
Price determination
Changes in market price and quantity
Resource allocation in different economic systems
Recap
Key terms
2: Demand, revenue and consumer behaviour
Introduction
What you’ll learn
Price elasticity of demand (PED)
Price elasticity of demand (PED) and revenue
Total, average and marginal revenue
PED and tax incidence
Other elasticities of demand
The ‘Veblen effect’ and consumer behaviour
Consumer surplus
Utility and consumer behaviour
Recap
Key terms
3: Supply, production and cost
Introduction
What you’ll learn
The factors of production
Combining factors of production: the laws of returns
Costs of production: short run
Costs of production: long run
Deciding whether to produce in the short run and the long run
Price elasticity of supply (PES)
Outsourcing and cost
Governments, location and cost
Producer surplus
Recap
Key terms
4: Business organisation, objectives and behaviour
Introduction
What you’ll learn
Types of business organisation
Business objectives: maximising
Business objectives: non-maximising behaviour
Does firm objective matter?
Profit, ethics and the environment
Business behaviour
Corporate governance
Product life cycle
Recap
Key terms
5: Firm size, mergers and the ‘public interest’
Introduction
What you’ll learn
Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
Small firm survival
Small firms and the UK economy
Growth in firm size
Mergers: who benefits?
Types of merger activity
Explanations of merger activity
Demerging
Mergers and the public interest
Recap
Key terms
6: Market structures
Introduction
What you’ll learn
Perfect competition
Contestable market theory
Monopoly
Monopolistic competition
Oligopoly
Recap
Key terms
7: Labour and other factor markets
Introduction
What you’ll learn
Factor payments and derived demand
Occupational differences in wages and employment
Imperfectly competitive labour markets
UK labour market regulations
EU Social Chapter
Flexible working and work–life balance
Gender and ageism
Transfer earnings and economic rent
Recap
Key terms
8: Market failure, regulation and competition
Introduction
What you’ll learn
Types of market failure
Correcting ‘market failures’
Regulation
Deregulation and privatisation
Regulation of privatised companies
UK competition policy
EU competition policy
Recap
Key terms
Part II Macro Business Environment
9: National income determination
Introduction
What you’ll learn
National income
National income: definitions and measurement
National income data: international comparisons
Components of the circular flow
Equilibrium in the circular flow: W/J approach
Equilibrium in the circular flow: 45° diagram approach
Equivalence of the two approaches
Changes in national income
National income multiplier
Inflationary and deflationary gaps
Recap
Key terms
10: Government policies: instruments and objectives
Introduction
What you’ll learn
Fiscal policy
Taxation
Government expenditure
Fiscal policy and stablisation
Monetary policy
Aggregate demand and aggregate supply analysis
Inflation
Employment and unemployment
Balance of payments
Exchange rate
Economic growth
Financial intermediation: post credit crunch
Recap
Key terms
11: Political, legal, ecological and technological environment
Introduction
What you’ll learn
Political environbsp;
Ecological environment
Technological environment
Recap
Key Terms
12: Functions of management: domestic business environment
Introduction
What you’ll learn
Marketing
Marketing mix
Human resource management
Accounting and management
Recap
Key terms
13: International business environment
Introduction
What you’ll learn
The internationalisation process
International business environment
Multinational enterprise (MNE)
International human resource management (IHRM)
International marketing
International marketing mix
European Union (EU)
North America
East and South East Asia
International institutions and international business
Free trade and government protectionism
Recap
Key terms
14: Strategies in a globalised business environment
Introduction
What you’ll learn
Strategic frameworks for corporate activity
SWOT and PESTLE analyses
Porter’s Five Forces analysis
Portfolio analysis
National strategic perspectives
Globalisation and strategic options for MNEs
Strategic joint ventures and alliances
Recap
Key terms
Appendix 1 Indifference curves, budget lines and the 'law of demand'
Appendix 2 Isoquants, isocosts and production
References
Answers to Stop and think and You try
Index
592 pages, Paperback