Course content

Central to the course is the theoretical basis and development of business economics. What is business economics? The course's starting point is the foundation of business economics with rationality and economic choices. The course deals with developments in assumptions about economic actors from "economic man", via "administrative man" to "contractual man". The starting point for the course is different ways of organizing economic activity, in markets and hierarchies, as well as fundamental information problems such as information asymmetry.

The course deals with key business economic perspectives such as standard microeconomics, organizational theory, business economic behaviour theory, agent theories and transaction cost theory.

The course also deals with digitalisation and platform organisations and the consequences of new technologies for coordination in markets and organisations. A key question is how business economics theory can help to understand technological changes and assumptions.

The course deals with the application of business economics theory in financial management, finance, marketing, strategy, organization and management.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

The student:

• Has knowledge on the nature and content of economic theory and economic approaches to organizations
• Has knowledge on microeconomic theory of choice and the development towards more realistic models of economic decision making and behavioral theories.
• Has knowledge on a range of economic theories and economic approaches to organizations.

Skills

The student:

• Is able to mobilize economic theories and economic approaches to organizations to understand issues facing firms and to find appropriate solutions.
• Is able to mobilize theoretical concepts and analytical methods to economize with the human, technological and economical resources of the firm.
• Is able to mobilize theoretical perspectives in understanding research questions related to the master thesis.
• Is able to understand technological changes, digitalization and platform organizations drawing on different economic theories.

General competencies

The student:

• Has reflected on the relationship between firms access to and use of resources in a sustainability perspective
• Has the foundation to understand and solve complex organizational issues.

Learning methods and activities

Lectures, shortpapers, cases and discussions

Compulsory assignments

• Obligatoriske innleveringer i gruppe (kortpapers)

Specific conditions

Required previous knowledge

None

Course materials

Douma, S. Schreuder, H. (2017) Economic Approaches to Organizations. 6th ed. Prentice-Hall/Pearson Education Ltd. Hovedbok.

Other mandatory readings are provided at the beginning of the semester.

Credit reductions