BE201-4-SP-SO:
Business Economics
2023/24
Essex Business School
Southend Campus
Spring
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
Monday 15 January 2024
Friday 22 March 2024
15
13 June 2023
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BBA N100 Business Administration,
BBA N103 Business Administration (Including Placement Year),
BBA N104 Business Administration (Including Foundation Year),
BBA N104CO Business Administration (Including Foundation Year),
BBA N110 Business Administration (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N120 International Business and Entrepreneurship,
BSC N121 International Business and Entrepreneurship (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N123 International Business and Entrepreneurship (Including Placement Year),
BSC N124 International Business and Entrepreneurship (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N124CO International Business and Entrepreneurship (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N501 Marketing,
BSC N502 Marketing (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N504 Marketing (Including Placement Year),
BSC N505 Marketing (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N505CO Marketing (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N832 Tourism Management,
BSC N834 Tourism Management (Including Placement Year),
BSC N355 International Business and Finance,
BSC N356 International Business and Finance (Including Placement Year),
BSC N357 International Business and Finance (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N358 International Business and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N358CO International Business and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N111 Business Administration and Supply Chain Management,
BSC N112 Business Administration and Supply Chain Management (Including Placement Year),
BSC N113 Business Administration and Supply Chain Management (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N114 Business Administration and Supply Chain Management (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N114CO Business Administration and Supply Chain Management (Including Foundation Year)
This module will be used to help students raise and explore key issues in business economics using a selection of real-life examples, case studies and exercises in conjunction with key readings from the core textbook and other recommended readings.
In putting together this module, we assume no prior knowledge of economics. We also recognise that participants in the course have many different interests in economics, and reasons for studying Business Economics. We hope that you are curious about economics and interested in some economic issues, and aim to explain business economics in such a way that it fits in well with your other subjects.
The aims of this module are:
- To provide students with a broad understanding of the use of internal resources by firms for effective business operation, the different environmental influences faced by businesses, and how these environmental influences affect key business decision-making processes and outcomes.
- To introduce students to microeconomic principles and concepts that help us understand and explain how economic activities happen, and to see if anything can be done to improve economic situations for society.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of microeconomics principles and concepts.
- Have acquired analytical skills and techniques that are specific to business economics.
- Have acquired transferable skills that will help them develop as effective learners as they progress through their studies, with an eye to life outside higher education.
We have designed the module's assessment to reflect, either directly or indirectly, these learning outcomes.
Perhaps you have come across microeconomics in the news through inquiries into take-overs and mergers between companies, or in price wars between supermarkets, or the public interest in the price of mobile phones, or in worries over pollution, or the effects of new minimum wage scheme. In any event studying economics can inform you of highly topical issues.
We aim to introduce you to concepts and microeconomic principles of business economics that are useful in providing general explanations of how markets work in coordinating the plans of people undertaking economic activities, primarily business operations. We will also draw upon these principles to investigate reasons why coordination in markets can fail, and introduce ideas about what can be done through governments and other regulatory bodies to undertake coordination through other means.
The principles and concepts that we introduce will be of a general nature, by which we mean that they are applicable to a large number of cases. We will discuss ideas about how consumers behave in typical situations, or how firms behave in typical situations. We will present concepts and principles mainly through discussion, supplemented by diagrams, and in a few cases through basic mathematical expressions.
The following learning and teaching methods will inform the pedagogic structure of the module:
- Lectures
- Seminars
- Discussion of case studies
- Discussion of journal articles
- Class exercises
- Group work
The lectures will be developed around the key concepts as mentioned in the indicative module content and will use a range of live examples and cases from business practice to demonstrate the application of theoretical concepts. The lectures will follow a weekly format of 1 hour per week for 10 weeks.
Seminars in the form of class exercises will be built into the lectures to develop critical analytical and problem-solving skills. Seminars will use a range of activities, such as discussion of case studies from the core text, topical business news items and will involve students working in pairs or groups or individually to discuss, reflect on problems and answer questions, present their ideas and thoughts to the class for discussion. Seminars will take place on a weekly basis and will also follow a weekly format of 1 hour per week for 10 weeks. Students will be assigned to two different groups.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Individual Essay |
|
100% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Wei Liu, email: w.liu@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Wei Liu
w.liu@essex.ac.uk
No
No
No
Dr Fangming Xu
University of Bristol
Associate Professor of Finance
Available via Moodle
Of 29 hours, 29 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
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