Course Title: Business and Economic Analysis (Exec)

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Business and Economic Analysis (Exec)

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
BUSM3917	City Campus	Postgraduate	660H Graduate School of Business and Law	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2007, Sem 2 2007, Spring2007, Sem 1 2008, Sem 2 2008, Sem 1 2009, Sem 2 2009, Sem 1 2010, Sem 2 2010
BUSM3918	RMIT University Vietnam	Postgraduate	660H Graduate School of Business and Law	Face-to-Face	Viet3 2007, Viet1 2008, Viet2 2008, Viet3 2008, Viet1 2009, Viet2 2009, Viet1 2010, Viet2 2010
BUSM3919	Malaysia Institute of Managemt	Postgraduate	660H Graduate School of Business and Law	Face-to-Face	Offsh 1 10, Offsh1 11
BUSM3969	RMIT Vietnam Hanoi Campus	Postgraduate	660H Graduate School of Business and Law	Face-to-Face	Viet3 2007, Viet3 2008, Viet1 2009

Course Coordinator: Chris Booth

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 5417

Course Coordinator Email: chris.booth@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 108.11.38

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

You are required to be enrolled in MBA Executive MC162 or the Masters of Biotechnology Management MC129.

Knowledge and capabilities assumed for this course include capacity to plan and self-organise, particularly time management , to complete pre class preparations, class activities and course assessments.  A capacity to apply theory to practice in a work or industry setting based on substantial work experience across course activities and assessments is expected.

Course Description

This course seeks to develop your ability to comprehend, analyse and use economic logic and data to inform business decision-making. This course considers external environmental factors which affect business performance, such as macro-economic trends and government policies. It also examines optimal business strategies in response to different external environments - such as pricing and product differentiation strategies. You will also examine the use of a range of analytical methods and statistical techniques. Through the application of these techniques, you will develop a modern managerial approach to evaluating business arguments and making decisions.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

You will develop the following capabilities through successful completion of this course:

Encouraging Economic and Social Responsibility;
Managing Resources;
Operating Globally;
Implementing Organisational Strategy, and;
Leadership and Management.
These capabilities will be developed through a managerial practice of sound critical examination and judgment making when dealing with economic and business information.

On completion of the module you will have developed an economic perspective on aspects of key business decision making, in particular:


Awareness of the macro-economy and its impact on individual businesses;
An understanding of the role of markets in efficiently managing a complex economy;
Understanding of the concept of market failure and process of potential government solutions;
Understand and make use of pricing strategy to take advantage of market power;
Understand and make use of product differentiation strategies to maximise market power;
Processes to discern and assess efficient contract design with internal staff and external organisations, and;
Capabilities to analyse and interpret economic/business data in order to discern potential business impacts and improve business decisions.

The course has been designed to complement learning in Marketing Management and Finance and Accounting for Business Decisions.

Overview of Learning Activities

Course Students:

You are expected to prepare through reading courseware before classes, prepare responses to facilitator questions and activities established in classes and courseware. A contribution to class discussions, debates, exchanges and activities in both large class setting and small groups is a requirement for successful completion of the course. Finally , there is an expectation that all assigned group preparation work, group assessment and your own individual assessment will be attempted, undertaken by the specified date and written or oral assessment requirements delivered by the specified time outlined in the DLS courseware.

You will participate through a variety of different activities including formal lectures, tutorials, class discussion and case studies. Of critical importance is the expectation, as part of each class, that you will discuss and examine professional management practice involving economics and statistics when considering an array of global business issues. You will be asked for on-going feedback in addition to a formal evaluation.


Facilitator inputs: 

A range of learning experiences are planned for you including learning sessions, group problem solving exercises and group discussion activities related to courseware pre reading and activities. Class activities and discussions related to course topic areas are aimed at developing your analytical skills, drawing on knowledge, frameworks and economic and business constructs offered in the courseware. Each weekly topic area is designed to build your learning and capability across a range of economic and business decision areas fundamental to sound managerial and business decision making and practice.

Overview of Learning Resources

You will have access to extensive course materials through the online RMIT Learning Hub, including digitised readings, courseware notes and a detailed study program, external internet links and access to RMIT Library online, RMIT library data bases and hardcopy resources where relevant. The prescribed text for this course will be advised in the Pt B course Guide document to ensure that the relevant text and edition apply.


References suited to supplementary reading and learning related to the course

Albright, S.C, Winston, W.L and Zappe, C 2006, Data Analysis and Decision Making, 3rd Edn, Thomson, Australia. Begg, D and Ward, D 2004, Economics for Business, McGraw Hill, New York.

Dewhurst, F, 2002, Quantitative Methods for Business Management, McGraw Hill, New York.

Gruebner, D, Shannon, P, Fry, P and Smith, K 2005, Business Statistics: A Decision Making Approach, 6th Edn, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

Guell, R 2003, Issues in Economics Today, McGraw Hill, New York.

Levine, D, Stephan, D, Krehbiel, T and Berenson, M 2004, Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

Lind, D, Marchal, W and Wathen, S 2006, Basic Statistics for Business and Economics, McGraw Hill, New York.

McClave, J, Benson, P and Sinich, T 2005, Statistics for Business and Economics: International Edition, 9th Edn, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

Stiglitz, J.E and Walsh, C.E 2006, Economics, 4th Edn, W.W. Norton and Company, New York.

Overview of Assessment

Assessments for this course are designed to develop capability to think about business and economic issues and develop business decisions in light of analysis.

Assessment tasks may include:

Group based project reports on economic analysis of market conditions.
Contribution in class activities, on line tasks and discussions to demonstrate capabilities in using economic and statistical analysis skills to interpret a business situation.
A comprehensive individual assessment of topic areas of theory, application of economic and business decision concepts and reflection on economic and business decision issues will be a feature of this course. Ability to use terminology and concepts associated with economics and statistical approaches to business analysis will be developed through assessments. Assessment may include a comprehensive test of topic areas, a project report or a case analysis.