The Global Business Environment

 

Teaching Hours and Credit Allocation:	24 hours, 6 credits
Course Assessment:	Coursework

 

Aims

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the tools used by economists to analyse markets, organisations, and the impact of policy changes and other news about developments in the national and international economy. To assist with this, issues covered in the course are related to a number of topical subjects in business and economics at both corporate and market levels.

 

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will:

• Learn the importance of macroeconomic performance in a national and international economic setting
• Understand the main market forces of demand and supply and related concepts and the tools used for analysing markets
• Develop practical and analytical skills to analyse pricing and output behaviour of firms in different market structures
• Apply economic principles to a range of business and public policy issues and contemporary economic debates
• Understand the key drivers for globalisation and its regional implications

 

Content

• Globalisation, international organisations: IMF, the World Bank
• The market mechanism; supply and demand; elasticity; market failure; business and the environment
• The firm; costs and profit maximisation; competition policy: UK, EU and USA
• Measuring national income; the price level; nominal and real variables; aggregate demand and aggregate supply
• Inflation, causes and consequences; quantity theory of money. Inflation control policies
• Unemployment. Experience in UK, EU, USA. Flexible labour market policies
• Trade, protectionism and integration. Growth and the EU
• Exchange rate mechanisms and balance of payments
• World economic outlook: forecasting on the world economy