CLUSTER COURSE:“MARKETS
AND M arketing”
Economics Stream
Please consult the Babson E-Campus course site for detailed course information, including week-by-week assignments, links to assignments, discussion base, voting, etc.
Description and Objective .This course, which combines two of the core offerings of the MBA program, sets out to familiarize the student with the key economic and marketing components of decision-making in the firm. The idea behind this cluster rests on the many connections between economics and marketing problems and strategies faced by the firm. During the course of the semester, the economics stream will provide the student with an understanding of the theories of consumer preference, production, market structure, and pricing strategy and their applications to the management of the firm, and establish ongoing linkages with the marketing material. These topics will serve as a foundation for understanding some of the issues the student will encounter in the marketing cases of the course, as well as in other MBA courses. By the semester end, you will acquire the ability to apply economic concepts such as marginal analysis, demand curve analysis, pricing, learning curve to everyday business situation and evaluate the value of decision or strategy. The format of class sessions will focus on lecture, problem-solving, and discussion.
It will be evident from your textbook and readings that the presentation of economic concepts and problem solving will involve the use of statistical information and some elementary calculus. This course does not assume any previous knowledge of statistics and calculus.
As
a means of solving numerical problems, it will often be useful, but not
required, to have access to a computer spreadsheet program.
In
principle, all problems you will encounter in this course can be solved
manually, and on the exams, you will be required to solve simplified versions
of such questions manually (with the aid of a calculator, of course!).
Nonetheless,
if you have access to a spreadsheet program, it will save time for you
to use it. Also, the Babson computer
labs provide facilities for this purpose.
Required
Textbook: Keat &Young,
Managerial
Economics (3rd edition, Prentice Hall, 2000).
Required
course packet: The economics
part of the packet contains portions of Evan Douglas, Managerial Economics
(4th edition, Prentice Hall, 1992), as well as various articles and
supplementary lecture notes by the instructor.
Students
are also encouraged to follow current economic events in publications such
as The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, The Financial
Times and/or The Economist.
Course
Requirements/Grading. Students
will receive individual economics and marketing grades for this cluster
course. Grading in the economics
portion of the course will be based on a mid-term exam (25%), a final exam
(35%), two graded homework sets (30%) and class participation (10%).An
understanding of the linkages between economics and marketing concepts
will play a significant role in the grading. In
order to pass the course, the student must complete all written
homework assignments and the examinations. The
economics mid-term exam is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12; the economics
final exam is scheduled for Tuesday, May 7.The
two graded economics problem sets will be due on February 26 and April
30. Please mark your calendars with these important dates.
Students
who will be out of town on any critical dates should make arrangements
with the instructor in advance to make up the work or test.
Midterm
and Final exam will each cover approximately half of the material covered
in this course. Both exams are in-class, based on individual work. Both
homework assignments are based on individual work as well;
however, you may choose to confer with one other student,
whose name must appear at the beginning of the written answers to the homework
assignment. The individual student
handing in the assignment must compose the answers themselves.
Homework
and exams are subject to the Babson College graduate honor code.
Non-Graded Homework Problems and Class Preparation. In addition to the graded homework sets, problems and discussion questions from the textbook, as well as occasional additional problems, will be assigned and discussed in class. These additional problems will not be collected or graded but will serve to help prepare the student for the exams and the graded homework sets. Students are responsible for preparing these assigned problems and discussion questions, which will serve as the basis for the class participation grade. In general, students should prepare for each class and should be ready to participate in the discussion of basic concepts and applications during the class.
Make-up Exam Policy. Make-up exams will be granted to students with a legitimate excuse who contact me before the scheduled exam or, in case of emergency, as soon as possible after the exam. The final exam can be rescheduled only through the graduate dean.
Attendance. Attendance itself will not be graded. However, attendance is highly recommended for each class meeting due to the nature of the course material covered: remember that each session missed essentially amounts to a substantial portion of the semester, and amounts to two classes for those nights where economics and marketing meet jointly. If you know in advance of an upcoming absence, please inform the instructors in advance. Students are responsible for obtaining any class materials (hand-outs, etc.) that they may have missed due to absence from class.
Office Hours:
T 5:15-6:15 PM, M-W 2:30-3:30 PM, or by appointment.