This is a semester-long course worth 3 credit hours.

This is a course in Economics, Strategy, and the Firm with a primary focus on the needs of managers. It draws upon a range of concepts and tools from the fields of Industrial  Organization  and  Strategic  Management  to  review  the  cognitive building  blocks  that  provide  an  economic  foundation  to  strategic  thinking. Strategy is ultimately about value creation and capture of economic value. Value- based strategies show that a firm that  introduces a technological  innovation creates value, and if it fails to protect it from competition it will be driven out of business. This basic level of insight is linked to the rich tradition in economics to untangle some ambiguities surrounding these concepts and provide a deeper understanding  of strategic  decisions  made  by  managers  within  the  bounds imposed by competition.

Course Objective:

After completing this course, students should be able to:

•   Explain the structure of the industry in which a firm competes and the nature of the competitive interactions among firms in those markets.

•   Articulate the differences in the firms' positions to compete and the basis of their competitive advantage.

Course Structure:

In-Person. The course relies on a combination of lectures, in-class discussions, and students' presentations. Chances are that students, who have invested quality time to prepare for class will initiate a valuable discussion during my lectures.

Course Requirements:

Participation is paramount to your success in this course. Be sure to log into NYU Brightspace multiple times a week, read all announcements and course content, complete all assignments on time, and complete weekly readings.

Readings:

Lecture Notes

Your lecture notes provide the basic reading material and serve as a subject guide. Study the lecture notes first, and then the readings

Book Chapters and Articles

Several book chapters and journal articles supplement your lecture notes and often cover additional concepts that are not discussed in the lectures.  Readings are grouped into required and optional.

Wall Street Journal

You will read the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on a regular basis during the duration of the  course. Access to the WSJ  is through the  NYU  library,  and  additional information will be provided via announcements.

Assignments:

1.   What's the point?

This project should be considered a laboratory in which you can test your ability to identify and clearly explain complex strategic issues. You will write several reports based on articles that you select from the Wall Street Journal. You are required to submit one-page written reports based on your articles. I will call a student to open the class discussion with a brief presentation of his/her what's the point? report that has been prepared beforehand.

A good report is expected to have the following structure:

"What's the point?"

Your Name:                                                                                       Due Date:

What's the Point?

This is your general brief statement, the strategic lesson you have learned by analyzing the article. Do not simply repeat the title of the article. Notice that you might be able to derive several lessons, but you will select and focus on only one point.

Source:

List the data and title of the WSJ article.

Analysis:

o Part 1. Plan of Action. Describe the actions taken by management and the economic characteristics of the decision that makes it strategic.

o Part 2. Situation. Explain the strategic issue that managers had to address.

o Part 3. Objective & Outcome. Explain the logic i.e., how the actions improve the situation.

o Part 4. Generality. Explain if this is a problem that other companies (even in different industries) are facing now or could be facing in the future?

2.  Forum: Weekly Question Craft & Peer Review.

Each week, your task is to contribute two  exam-quality multiple choice question to our class study resource. Identify a key concept, design the question, and provide a clear explanation for the correct answer. Then, review one question from peers that you find most challenging and instructive.

Instructions:

1.   Concept & Question (Your Post):

o  From last week's material, select two concepts you deem most fundamental.

o Justify their real-world significance in 1-2 sentences.

o  Design one high-quality multiple-choice question for each concept that tests application of the concept, not just recall. Include 1 correct answer and 3 plausible distractors.

o  Provide a clear explanation for why the correct answer is right.

2.  Constructive Peer Feedback (Your Response):

o  Select a post from a peer.

o Answer their question as if you were a test-taker. Do you agree with their correct answer based on your understanding?

o AND offer one specific suggestion to improve their question's

clarity (make the correct answer less ambiguous), or distractor quality (propose a more plausible distractor to replace a weak one), or explanation depth (add a key point that deepens the rationale for the correct answer).

Example Model Post:

o  Concept: Opportunity Cost.

o  Significance: It's the foundation of all rational decision-making in business and personal finance, explaining hidden trade-offs.

o  Question: A software developer with a freelance rate of $100/hour spends 8 hours building a website for their own startup instead of taking a paid contract. The direct costs are $50 for hosting. What is the total economic cost of this decision?

A. $50 (The explicit hosting cost)

B. $800 (The lost freelance income)

C. $850 (The sum of lost income and explicit cost)

D. $0 (It's an investment in their own asset)

o  Explanation: The correct answer is C. Economic (or true) cost

includes both explicit monetary costs ($50) and implicit opportunity costs, which is the value of the next best alternative forgone (8 hours

* $100/hour = $800). Failing to account for opportunity cost leads to underestimating the real expense of a decision.

3.  Group Research Project

The class will be divided to groups to complete an industry research paper. An up to 15-page double-spaced report will be prepared to showcase your research, not including accompanying bibliography. The report should be a professional-looking document that relies heavily on the topic discussed in class to draw its conclusions. Your industry and competitive analysis report should follow the following structure:

Title

The title summarizes the main idea or ideas of your study. A good title contains the fewest possible words that adequately describe the contents and/or purpose of your  research  paper.  If  the  title  is  too  long  it  usually  contains  too  many unnecessary words, e.g., "A Study to Investigate the...." On the other hand, a title which is too short often uses words which are too general. For example, "The U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry" could be the title of a research paper, but it does not provide any information on the focus of the research. A better title could be: “A New Business Model for Pharma: How the Pandemic Changed Priorities.”

I.       The Research Statement. The research statement conveys the overall intent of the study i.e., why you are writing this report. The purpose of the statement is to guide your research and it must be clear, specific, and informative to stimulate readers’ interest.

II.       Macro-analysis. Use the PEST/PESTEL framework to identify emerging trends in the macro-environment of the selected industry. Although this is a broad discussion of the emerging trends that could influence the industry, the emphasis should  be on trends  related to your  research statement.

III.      Industry Analysis. The five-forces framework for industry analysis is the main tool to be used in this part of the research which has two parts:

a.  Describe the current structure of the industry and its ability to capture part of the value it creates.

b.  Next, explain how your findings in the macro-analysis section could impact the industry's structure in the future and its ability to capture value.

IV.     Situation Analysis. Select a company within the industry and use SWOT analysis to understand the company’s situation within the industry.

a.  Strengths and Weaknesses (SW) refer to the current internal environment of the firm which will  be analyzed with the  use of the  business  model canvas.

b.  Opportunities and Threats (OT) refer to the emerging external environment of the firm i.e., the work in the PEST and industry structure sections of the research.

c.   How  the  current  business  model  is  expected  to  perform  within  the emerging external environment.

V.      Business Model Innovation. Complete your report with a statement like "Given  the  expected  changes  in  the  structure  of  the  industry,  it  is advisable for the focus company to implement the proposed business model modifications"followed by a description of the improved business model.