Universidad Pública de Navarra - Nafarroako Univertsitate Publikoa
Public University of Navarre
| Course code: 177104 | Subject title: BUSINESS ECONOMICS | ||||
| Credits: 6 | Type of subject: Basic | Year: 1 | Period: 1º S | ||
| Department: Business Administration | |||||
| Lecturers: | |||||
| URTASUN ALONSO, AINHOA (Resp) [Mentoring ] | |||||
Contents
This is a course on the analysis of organizations from an economic perspective. This course attempts to provide students with the basic conceptual knowledge and the indispensable analytic tools to better understand organizational problems that arise from collective action to finally improve firm efficiency.
Stockholders, managers, employees, financial institutions, customers and suppliers provide initiative and resources so that the firm can generate and distribute value. This course uses formal economic models to study the cooperation and conflict relationships between these parties.
This course considers the firm as a complex institution where the main characters are not the resources or the objectives but the individuals who act as rational agents. These agents relate to each other through contracts. These relationships take place in a context where the existence of uncertainty, information asymmetry and conflicting interests among the parties make cooperation more difficult. The firm is suggested as an institution able to mitigate such cooperation difficulties. Under this framework, different types of firms such as capitalistic firms and social firms are examined as well as the role of authority within the firm.
Finally, based on the value-chain concept, the different activities that firms perform are described and related to firm profit generation.
Descriptors
Organizational needs. Markets and organizations. The nature of the firm. Cooperation and conflict. Types of firms. The firm value-chain.
General proficiencies
Generic competences provided by this course:
CG01. Analysis and synthesis skills
CG08. Team work skills
CG12. Social skills
CG15. Ethic behavior in the job
CG16. Working in stressful environments
CG17. Self-directed learning
Specific proficiencies
Specific competences provided by this course:
CE01. Understand economic organizations as the result and application of theoretical or formal that represent how the economy works
CE04. Apply professional criteria and technical tools to solve business problems
CE11. Understand the nature of the firm as an organization and place where agents with different interests interact
Learning outcomes
| Learning outcomes | Content | Methodology | Assessment |
| R04. Firm's basic theory. Organization and functional areas | Units 1, 2, 6 | A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 | Individual critical review, Individual exam and Assessment of individual work |
| R08. Organization theory. Strategic management | Units 2, 3 | A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 | Individual critical review, Individual exam and Assessment of individual work |
| RE1. Conflict and cooperation in the firm | Units 3, 4, 5 | A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 | Presentations, Individual exam and Assessment of individual work |
| RE2. Ethics in the firm | Units 3, 4 | A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 | Individual critical review, Individual exam and Assessment of individual work |
Methodology
| Methodology-Activity | In-Class Hours | Out-Of-Class Hours |
| A-1 Sessions "Big group" (final exam included) | 46 | |
| A-2 Sessions "Medium group" | 14 | |
| A-3 Completing assignments and solving exercises | 25 | |
| A-4 Self-directed studying during the course | 42 | |
| A-5 Preparing tests and exams | 18 | |
| A-6 Attending individual tutorials | 05 | |
| Total | 60 | 90 |
Evaluation
| Learning outcomes | Evaluation | Weight (%) | Recoverable nature |
| R04, R08, RE1 | Final exam* | 60%-70% | Recoverable |
| R04, R08, RE1 | Performance of individual activities | 40%-30% | Non-recoverable |
* Minimum mark to be eligible to retake the final exam 2/10; Minimum mark to calculate the final grade 4/10
Agenda
Unit 1. Why do firms exist?
Unit 2. Types of organizations
Unit 3. Decision making within firms
Unit 4. Authority in the firm and the employment relationship
Unit 5. Large corporations and the agency relation
Unit 6. Peer group cooperation
Bibliography
Access the bibliography that your professor has requested from the Library.
Douma, S. y Schreuder, H. (2013): Economic approaches to organizations. Prentice Hall. 5th ed.
Salas Fumás, V. (1996): Economía de la empresa. Decisiones y organización. Ed. Ariel. Barcelona. 2ª edición.
Serra Ramoneda, A. (2003): Mercados, contratos y empresa. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Barcelona.
References are available in the library.