Requirements:
Prepare a report undertaking an economic analysis of an organisation of your choice, its markets and the wider macroeconomic context using evidence drawn from company reports, market reports, market data and academic journal articles, etc.
The report should include:
i) a description of the organisation’s basic characteristics; Describe the firm’s main product(s) / lines of business and the internal organisational structure of the firm (e.g. U-form, M-form etc.). Outline and explore the production and cost concepts affecting managerial decisions: economies of scale, relation between fixed and variable costs; the state of technology in the sector in which the firm operates and the degree of technological uncertainty involved.
ii) ii) an analysis of the markets and economic environment in which it operates; Analyse the markets within which the firm operates (market structure as implied by number of competitors, market concentration, entry barriers and extent of product differentiation; degree of innovation; availability of substitutes and nature of complementary products and markets).
Use information on relevant elasticities and / or demonstrate how such information, if available, could be used to inform managerial decisions. Assess the economic environment in which your chosen firm operates (domestic / international / global; macroeconomic conditions; international trade conditions, exchange rate volatility; institutional and regulatory environment, (effect of) government policies).
iii) iii) an assessment of the firm’s recent and likely future performance; Relative to a key competitor in the firm’s main sector, assess the firm’s performance over the previous 5+ years, including in relation to profitability; market share; and innovation (introduction of new products / processes and creation of new markets).
Outline the firm’s recent strategy and, based on all the data above and your preceding analysis, assess its likely performance prospects over the next 5 years.
Note that your mark will depend primarily on the extent to which your report demonstrates knowledge and understanding of the economic concepts developed in the module and your ability to apply these in analysing your chosen organisation; the selection and use of data is also important.
Assessment Criteria:
Note that the descriptors below are guidelines and should not be taken to correlate to precise percentages; they are indicative of a level of performance across the key criteria upon which the coursework is assessed.
