Business Economics Assessment

The assessment addresses the following learning outcome:

* Evaluate the impact that external micro and macro environments have on the activities and performance of organisations.

Submission dates:
Part 1 – Friday 4 February 2011

Part 2 – Friday 8 April 2011
Assessment Brief

The assessment for the Business Economics module is a group portfolio (individual for re-sitting students) consisting of two parts to be submitted mid way through the autumn and spring terms. The portfolio will provide an analysis of the microeconomic and macroeconomic environments that impact on an organisation or sector of the group’s choice.

The first part of this portfolio will consist of a group report to be submitted by the end of week 3 of the spring term which identifies the key micro economic constraints that impact on the organisation or sector under consideration. In terms of weighting the first element contributes 50% of the marks for the module.

This first element will address some of the key microeconomic aspects affecting the business or sector selected. It will consist of a report that identifies the key features and constraints that impact on the competitive environment under consideration.

Specifically, this will address:

1. The extent of competition in the sector/market – e.g. the number of competing firms, the size of these firms and any particular issues that arise from this, such as market dominance, price leadership, scale economies, issues that may arise from regulatory and associated legal constraints, such as patents etc.

2. The theoretical implications arising from the competitive environment and the implications that these have for the way in which the proposed organisation structures and implements its competitive response. This will involve its approach to both price and non price decisions.