GBUS 8481 GLOBAL INDUSTRY ECONOMICS

In this course, students study the tools of microeconomics that shed light on the structural industry characteristics and global and local forces that afford an understanding of economic change at the industry level. These tools are applied to rapidly changing industries characterized by high levels of innovation, network economic effects, important roles of information and information asymmetry, and other complex forces. Students will also examine competitiveness in situations where the macro characteristics of the nation state or economic region interact with the microeconomic characteristics. Together these various tools enable students to be astute analysts of competition and economic change. The course will include current projects with organizations in various countries where the tools of the course can be applied.

Academic course objectives:

· Provide students with the tools of microeconomics for use in analyzing the structure, conduct, and performance of industries

· Examine the forces that pull industries and companies toward globalization alongside the forces that pull toward localization

· Study competitiveness as a combination of macro and micro forces to learn why industries tend to cluster in nations (and areas within a nation) despite a strong force toward globalization

· Examine such sophisticated dimensions of competition and industry economics as economies of scale and scope, network economics, economics of information, and innovation-intensive industries

· Prepare a presentation analysis of a “live” industry globally, locally in a country, and structurally with a sponsoring organization that has global businesses

Elements of the course grade:

Class contribution                                                                               30%

Problem sets on markets                                                                     30%

Analysis of a global and national industry (team exercise)                40%