Economic Fundamentals
Akawak Ejigu
California Southern University Economic Fundamentals
Review of Subject
The increasing complexity of today’s world of business brought forth greater challenges for both the firm and its managers. The rapid rate of technological and digital advance as well as greater focus on product innovation and processes that influence marketing and sales techniques have contributed to the increasing complexity in the business environment. This complex environment together with a global market where input and product prices are continuing to fluctuate and remain volatile. Such changing environments creates a pressing need for sound economic analysis before making managerial decisions. Managerial decisions are an important component in achieving the objectives of an organization. The success or
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Therefore, to achieve this objective, managers have to make choices in decision-making, which is the process of selecting a course of action from two or more alternatives (Weihrich & Koontz; 1994, 199). A sound decision making requires extensive knowledge of economic theory and the tools of economic analysis, that are directly related in the process of decision-making. Since managerial economics is concerned with such economic theories and tools of analysis, it is very relevant to the managerial decision-making process. According Spencer and Siegelman managerial economics accommodates traditional theoretical concepts to the actual business behavior and conditions by amalgamating tools, techniques, models as well as theories of traditional economics with actual business practices and environment in which a firm operates. According to Edwin Mansfield, “Managerial Economics attempts to bridge the gap between purely analytical problems that intrigue many economic theories and the problems of policies that management must
Princeton, 1963. Hailstone, Thomas and Rothwell, John. Managerial Economics, pp. 93-95. Prentice Hall, 1993.
Sachs, A. (2010). Management, Plain and Simple. Time, 175(15), Global 4. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Even though a myriad of tools and techniques learnt in the Strategic Cost Management and Strategic Business Analysis courses are not fully exploited in this essay, it is generally recognised that those techniques are useful for a corporate to formulate strategy, do strategic planning, control costing and quality, as well as eventually elevate its values, regardless the nature and size of organizations.
Decisions can be made using below mentioned approaches (Various Types Of Decision Making Models, 2009).
Companies. Retrieved July 4, 2008, from University of Phoenix, MMPBL-501 Web site. University of Phoenix . ( 2008). Economics for Managerial Decision Making
Throughout the global economic environment the desire to out-perform the competition is always present. In every situation, the companies who do better are the ones with superior strategy (Rothaermel, 2013). Strategic management is therefore important in every company, no matter what industry or market they operate in; and as stated by M. Carpenter and G. Sanders, 2013, is described as "The process by which a firm manages the formulation and implementation of its strategy". Strategic management is a constant topic under discussion with different schools of theorists with different beliefs and attitudes which is described as "A tense array of disagreement" (Rees, 2012).
The article addresses the issue of being successful in a highly uncertain business environment. Some managers prefer to play it safe by adopting a wait-and-see strategy while others may invest in flexibility that allows their companies to adapt quickly as the market evolves. The companies sometimes neglect the fact that having a successful strategy depends on several factors, including their industry position, assets, or their willingness to take a risk in investing in such strategies. The paper introduced some of the tips and terminologies that could help managers facing uncertainty decide on whether to play safe or bet big. The traditional practice is to put a vision of predicted future events
Some decisions prove to be vital and any miscalculation that may be involved may prove dire for the individual or the organization. In identifying the criterion to use while evaluating different decisions, many factors pertaining the structure should be considered. The pros and cons of every decision made should be evaluated to ensure that the option chosen has the most positive effect on the individual and the organization. Some of the activities that may require keen decision making include project development, finance and operations. With the knowledge attained it will be easier to cope with tough decisions that may come up in my career. Decision making models may be generated to give an in depth view to the problem and also provide critical analysis ability. It is also vital noting that for those in managerial positions, they face a bigger task in decision making. A good understanding of the business function and structure will provide an in depth knowhow to those that have studied the
This paper will focus on the Rational Model for decision-making. The first section will describe the Rational Model for decision-making. It will identify all the steps of the Rational Model and what they entail. The second section will detail a recent job-related issue I was involved with. I will discuss the issue and show how the Rational Model of decision-making was effectively utilized to reach a decision.
Making business decisions involves choosing between alternative courses of action. Many factors affect business decisions, yet analysis typically focuses on finding the alternative that offers the highest return on investment or the greatest reduction in costs. Some decisions are based on little more than an intuitive understanding of the situation because available information is too limited to allow a more systematic analysis. In other cases, intangible factors such as convenience, prestige, and environmental considerations are more important than strictly quantitative factors. In all situations, managers can reach a sounder decision if they identify the consequences of alternative choices in financial terms. This unit
There are three well-established theories of classical management: Taylor?s Theory of Scientific Management, Fayol?s Administrative Theory, Weber?s Theory of Bureaucracy. Although these schools, or theories, developed historical sequence, later ideas have not replaced earlier ones. Instead, each new school has tended to complement or coexist with previous ones.
Globalization and economic slowdown has made businesses subject to a great deal of uncertainty. In this time of rapid change, economies worldwide change rapidly, new markets open up and old ones change, and demand for products is often uncertain. As such, businesses must be flexible and adaptable in the types of methods that they use...
This indicates the importance of strategic management for organisations in making appropriate decisions and selecting strategies which will assist them to gain strategic competitiveness and as a result earn above-average returns.
Managerial decisions are an important component in achieving the objectives of the organization. The success or failure of a business depend upon the decisions made by managers (Jurina, 2011). Today’s increasing complexity in the world of business brought forth greater challenges for both the firm and its managers. The rapid rate of technological and digital advance as well as greater focus product innovation and processes that influence marketing and sales techniques have contributed to the increasing complexity in the business environment.
The evolution of management though the decades can be divided into two major sections. One of the sections is the classical approach. Under the classical approach efficiency and productivity became a critical concern of the managers at the turn of the 20th century. One of the approaches from the classical time period were systematic management which placed more emphasis on internal operations because managers were concerned with meeting the growth in demand brought on by the Industrial revolution. As a result managers became more concerned with physical things than towards the people therefore systematic management failed to lead to production efficiency. This became apparent to an engineer named Frederick Taylor who was the father of Scientific Management. Scientific Management was identified by four principles for which management should develop the best way to do a job, determine the optimum work pace, train people to do the job properly, and reward successful performance by using an incentive pay system. Scientifi...