Business Economics Professional

Syllabus

Unit 1: Perspectives on the Economic Approaches to Organisation

• Introduction
• Objectives
• The economic problem
• The basic concepts
• Markets and organisations
• Information
• Summary
• References
• Further reading

Unit 2: Co-ordination through the Market Mechanism

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Determinants of demand
• Determinants of supply
• Theory of demand
• Theory of production
• Microeconomic theory
• Market failure
• Summary
• References
• Further reading

Unit 3: Organisational Co-ordination

• Introduction
• Objectives
• The firm
• Organisational co-ordination
• Organisational configurations
• Review activity
• Summary
• References
• Further reading

Unit 4: Information and Co-ordination Mechanisms

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Co-ordination and information
• Uncertainty and contracting
• Informational asymmetry
• Adverse selection and moral hazard
• Value of information
• Summary
• References
• Further reading

Unit 5: Game Theory

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Methodological backdrop
• One- and two-shot games
• Auctions
• The prisoner's dilemma: single stage
• Repeated games in the prisoner's dilemma
• Review activity
• Summary
• References
• Further reading

Unit 6: Agency Theory

• Introduction
• Objectives
• A firm's relationships
• Positive theory of agency
• Entrepreneurial firms and team production
• The firm as a nexus of contracts
• Theory of principal and agent
• The agency contract
• Second-best efficient contract
• Modifications to the principal-agent model
• Summary
• References
• Further reading

Unit 7: Transaction Cost Economics

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Markets and organisations
• An example of transaction cost economics
• Transaction costs
• Critical dimensions of transactions
• Fundamental transformation and the hold-up problem
• Organisational structures
• Complex hierarchies
• Markets and hierarchies: is that all?
• Hybrid forms of co-ordination
• Summary
• References
• Further reading

For a more detailed syllabus on this course, click here

This is only an approximate figure and is dependant upon how much time you can dedicate to your studies and how well you grasp the learning concepts in the course material. Furthermore, at the end of each lesson there is a question paper that needs to be completed and returned to your tutor. You should allow at least 1 - 2 hours of study to complete each question paper.

The approximate amount of time required to complete the course is: 126 hrs.