COURSE CODE BCO124 COURSE NAME MACROECONOMICS Task brief & rubrics
Task: Individual assignment
· Exercises have to be explained and calculations shown.
1. Consider an economy that produces only pens. In year 1, the quantity produced is 4 bars and the price is 5 €. In year 2, the quantity produced is 5 bars and the price is 6. In year 3, the quantity produced is 6 bars and the price is 7. Year 1 is the base year.
a. What is nominal GDP for each of these three years?
b. What is real GDP for each of these years?
c. What is the GDP deflator for each of these years?
d. What is the percentage growth rate of real GDP from year 2 to year 3?
e. What is the inflation rate as measured by the GDP deflator from year 2 to year 3?
2. Suppose that people consume only three goods, as shown in this table:
Raquets Nets bottle of water
2019 price 3 € 5 € 2 €
2019 quantity 200 200 300
2020 price 3 7 3
2020 quantity 200 200 300
a. What is the percentage change in the price of each of the three goods?
b. Using a method similar to the CPI, compute the percentage change in the overall price level.
c. If you were to learn that a bottle of water increased in size from 2019 to 2020, should that information affect your calculation of the inflation rate? If so, how?
3. Read the following text:
Many studies have examined the effect of unemployment insurance on job search. The most persuasive studies use data on the experiences of unemployed
individuals rather than economy-wide rates of unemployment. Individual data often yield sharp results that are open to few alternative explanations.
One study followed the experience of individual workers as they used up their eligibility for unemployment-insurance benefi ts. It found that when unemployed
workers become ineligible for benefi ts, they are more likely to fi nd jobs. In particular, the probability of a person fi nding a job more than doubles when his
or her benefi ts run out. One possible explanation is that an absence of benefi ts increases the search effort of unemployed workers. Another possibility is that
workers without benefi ts are more likely to accept job offers that would otherwise be declined because of low wages or poor working conditions.
Additional evidence on how economic incentives affect job search comes from an experiment that the state of Illinois ran in 1985. Randomly selected new claimants for unemployment insurance were each offered a $500 bonus if they found employment within 11 weeks. The subsequent experience of this group was compared to that of a control group not offered the incentive. The average duration of unemployment for the group offered the $500 bonus was 17.0 weeks, compared to18.3 weeks for the control group. Thus, the prospect of earning the bonus reduced the average spell of unemployment by 7 percent, suggesting that more effort was devoted to job search. This experiment shows clearly that the incentives provided by the unemployment-in ...
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COURSE CODE BCO124COURSE NAME MACROECONOMICS Task brief & rubrics
1. COURSE CODE BCO124 COURSE NAME
MACROECONOMICS Task brief & rubrics
Task: Individual assignment
· Exercises have to be explained and calculations shown.
1. Consider an economy that produces only pens. In year 1, the
quantity produced is 4 bars and the price is 5 €. In year 2, the
quantity produced is 5 bars and the price is 6. In year 3, the
quantity produced is 6 bars and the price is 7. Year 1 is the base
year.
a. What is nominal GDP for each of these three years?
b. What is real GDP for each of these years?
c. What is the GDP deflator for each of these years?
d. What is the percentage growth rate of real GDP from year 2
to year 3?
e. What is the inflation rate as measured by the GDP deflator
from year 2 to year 3?
2. Suppose that people consume only three goods, as shown in
this table:
Raquets Nets bottle of water
2019 price 3 € 5 € 2 €
2019 quantity 200 200 300
2020 price 3 7 3
2020 quantity 200 200 300
a. What is the percentage change in the price of each of the
three goods?
b. Using a method similar to the CPI, compute the percentage
change in the overall price level.
c. If you were to learn that a bottle of water increased in size
2. from 2019 to 2020, should that information affect your
calculation of the inflation rate? If so, how?
3. Read the following text:
Many studies have examined the effect of unemployment
insurance on job search. The most persuasive studies use data
on the experiences of unemployed
individuals rather than economy-wide rates of unemployment.
Individual data often yield sharp results that are open to few
alternative explanations.
One study followed the experience of individual workers as they
used up their eligibility for unemployment-insurance benefi ts.
It found that when unemployed
workers become ineligible for benefi ts, they are more likely to
fi nd jobs. In particular, the probability of a person fi nding a
job more than doubles when his
or her benefi ts run out. One possible explanation is that an
absence of benefi ts increases the search effort of unemployed
workers. Another possibility is that
workers without benefi ts are more likely to accept job offers
that would otherwise be declined because of low wages or poor
working conditions.
Additional evidence on how economic incentives affect job
search comes from an experiment that the state of Illinois ran in
1985. Randomly selected new claimants for unemployment
insurance were each offered a $500 bonus if they found
employment within 11 weeks. The subsequent experience of this
group was compared to that of a control group not offered the
incentive. The average duration of unemployment for the group
offered the $500 bonus was 17.0 weeks, compared to18.3 weeks
for the control group. Thus, the prospect of earning the bonus
reduced the average spell of unemployment by 7 percent,
suggesting that more effort was devoted to job search. This
experiment shows clearly that the incentives provided by the
3. unemployment-insurance system affect the rate of job finding.
a. Give the main ideas in bullet points. (min =6)
b. Give your point of view of each one supported with economic
terms /principles.
4. Suppose one economy decides to reduce investment and
increase consumption.
a. How this changes affect economic growth?
b. What groups in society would benefit from this change? What
groups might be hurt?
Formalities:
· Wordcount: < 1000
· Font: Arial 12 pts.
· Text alignment: Justified.
· The in-text References and the Bibliography have to be in
Harvard’s citation style.
· This assignment is 40 % of total grade
Submission: Week 6 for all students. Deadline of submission
will be 7th March 2021 at 23:59 CEST. Via Turnitin (Moodle)
Weight: This task is a 40% of your total grade for this subject.
It assesses the following learning outcomes:
· Outcome 1: Understand forces determining macroeconomic
variables such as GDP, unemployment, inflation
· Outcome 2: Apply macroeconomic terminology and assess
macroeconomic policy suggestions
4. Rubrics
Exceptional 90-100
Good 80-89
Fair 70-79
Marginal fail 60-69
Knowledge & Understanding (20%)
Student demonstrates excellent understanding of key concepts
and uses vocabulary in an entirely appropriate manner.
Student demonstrates good understanding of the task and
mentions some relevant concepts and demonstrates use of the
relevant vocabulary.
Student understands the task and provides minimum theory
and/or some use of vocabulary.
Student understands the task and attempts to answer the
question but does not mention key concepts or uses minimum
amount of relevant vocabulary.
Application (30%)
Student applies fully relevant knowledge from the topics
delivered in class.
Student applies mostly relevant knowledge from the topics
delivered in class.
Student applies some relevant knowledge from the topics
delivered in class. Misunderstanding may be evident.
Student applies little relevant knowledge from the topics
delivered in class. Misunderstands are evident.
Critical Thinking (30%)
Student critically assesses in excellent ways, drawing
outstanding conclusions from relevant authors.
Student critically assesses in good ways, drawing conclusions
from relevant authors and references.
Student provides some insights but stays on the surface of the
topic. References may not be relevant.
Student makes little or none critical thinking insights, does not
quote appropriate authors, and does not provide valid sources.
Communication (20%)
5. Student communicates their ideas extremely clearly and
concisely, respecting word count, grammar and spellcheck
Student communicates their ideas clearly and concisely,
respecting word count, grammar and spellcheck
Student communicates their ideas with some clarity and
concision. It may be slightly over or under the wordcount limit.
Some misspelling errors may be evident.
Student communicates their ideas in a somewhat unclear and
unconcise way. Does not reach or does exceed wordcount
excessively and misspelling errors are evident.
Requirement
The topic is McDonald's and all the examples are related to
McDonald's
Ch 5 and Ch 6 Company’s Environment and Resources
· Read Chapters 5 Evaluating a Company’s Environment & Ch
6 Evaluating a company’s resources, capabilities, and
competitiveness
· Use 2 L.O.s from Ch 5 and 2 L.Os from Ch 6 to analyze the
company’s management (each L.O. should have 3 examples at
100 words per example).
Ch5 and Ch6 are attached
Rating sheet
Thompson et al. Crafting & Executing Strategy
Chapter Rating Form
Content and Organization of the Presentation.
6. Organization of material (10 points)
1. Cover Page with Date, your name, and Topic
2. Introduce the topic with 1 paragraph
3. Body
a. Answer should include a minimum of 3 answers in addressing
the question
b. clearly states which principles apply to your company
(includes spelling, grammar, and full sentences)
4. Select 2 Learning Objectives (L.O.) for a Chapter
a. How are the L.O.’s relevant to your final paper
b. Minimum 100 words each L.O.
Chapter NAME
L.O. 1
L.O. 2
example [email protected] 100 words
example 1 @ 100 words
Example 2 @ 100 words
example 2 @ 100 words
example 3 @ 100 words
example 3 @ 100 words
Chapter NAME
L.O. 1
L.O. 2
example 1 @ 100 words
example 1 @ 100 words
example 2 @ 100 words
example 2 @ 100 words
7. example 3 @ 100 words
example 3 @ 100 words
5. Conclusion … 3 key concepts you talked above
6. Works cited
7. Spell check, grammar check, etc.
TOTAL POINTS ____________________
Example
Chapter 3 & 4 Company’s Environment and Resources
Eather Thomas
Professor:Jose
February 27, 2021
8. Walmart is one of the largest retailers in the world recognizing
factors that can affect the company’s macro environment is
crucial. To analyze potential threats or opportunities for the
organization, I will be using the PESTEL analysis tool to
analyze Walmart’s macro-environment. By using PESTEL to
analyze we can ensure the company can develop strategies that
can help with any challenges posed by external factors. I will
also be discussing the analytic tools that are used to diagnose
the competitive conditions. This is important because knowing
who your competitors are and what they offer can help develop
a strategy to gain a competitive advantage. I will also discuss
Walmart’s resources and capabilities and what has helped them
have the competitive edge on their competitors. Lastly, we will
evaluate the company’s situation and how it can assist mangers
in making critical decisions about their strategic plans.
Chapter 3 Evaluating A Company’s External Environment
LO 1: Recognizing the factors in a company’s broad macro-
environment that may have strategic significance. Using the
economic, technological, and social factors Walmart can
anticipate challenges or opportunities in these areas.
Example 1: Economic factors may affect changes in the
company’s revenues, these changes can be positive or negative
depending on the specific factors. The general economic climate
may include specific factors such as the rate of economic
growth. Economic conditions have affected many organizations
negatively in the retail industry. Despite all the potential threats
Walmart has been able to use PESTEL analysis and focus on the
economic factors and develop strategies that has helped
Walmart remain extremely profitable. Walmart has been able to
exploit opportunities that emerge from countries with growing
9. economies, as the economy grows so does the demand for
affordable goods good from retailers like Walmart.
Example 2: The pace of technological change and development
is changing rapidly, and it can be the biggest threat for any
organization. In recent years we have seen a shift in the way
customers shop. Because of Covid-19 many retailers were
forced to develop strategies that offer more online shopping
options including ordering on their phones through applications.
Walmart has been able to use this opportunity to increase their
online presence through online marketing. Offering things like
free shipping or free pick-up in store is some of their working
strategies to attract and retain customers. Having competitive
pressure from other retail giants like Amazon, Walmart’s
business process automation with the use of technologies is a
priority helping them increase efficiency with their online
presence.
Example 3: Social-cultural factors can change the customers
perception and preferences of an organization. Social factors
that can affect the macro-environment of an organization may
include cultural influence, societal values, attitudes,
demographics, and population size. These influences can be at a
local scale or entire populations. Walmart has been successful
because they know their market base, they are able to increase
the variety of products to satisfy various cultural preferences.
Even though Walmart has been successful it has also come
under criticism for paying their employees low wages causing
some customers to boycott their stores. Despite the boycotts
Walmart has managed to keep their large part of customer base
intact.
LO: 2 Using analytic tools to diagnose the competitive
conditions in a company’s industry. We will be analyzing the
conditions in the market that determine the level of competition
using the five forces framework using. I will be discussing 3 out
of the 5 forces, supplier bargaining power, buyer bargaining
power and potential new entrants.
10. Example 1: Supplier bargaining power depends on the strength
of the demand and availability of supplier’s products. The
bargaining power of suppliers has a weak intensity in the retail
industry there is no real impact on the strategic growth of
Walmart. Many of the suppliers depend on giant retailers like
Walmart that make large purchases. Because there is a large
population of suppliers this gives Walmart the advantage to get
change suppliers at any moment keeping the suppliers
bargaining power weak. This has allowed the company to keep
offering relatively lower prices than their competitors remaining
competitive globally. Also having a weak supplier bargaining
power has lowered the industry profitably making it less
attractive to new entrants.
Example 2: When analyzing the buyer bargaining power, we
need to take into considerations is the number and size of
buyers relative to number of sellers. Because Walmart is one of
the largest retailers in the world there is more buyers than
sellers. Another consideration is the buyer’s knowledge of
products, cost, and pricing. Walmart uses the pricing strategy
decreasing the buyer’s bargaining power. Because individual
customers do not make big purchases, they have little to no
influence on the brand. The large population of buyers uses a
weak force in Walmart and the retail industry. Higher buyer
diversity makes it difficult for them to impose pressure on the
company resulting in a weak bargaining power.
Example 3: Potential new entrants come with threats such as
barriers to entry, strong brand preferences and customer loyalty,
access to distribution channels and economies of scale. The
threat of new entrants in the retail industry is low as it uses a
small level of pressure on a company like Walmart because of
its size. Walmart has one of the biggest and efficient
distribution networks and supply chain. Because of their year in
the industry and their size other existing companies have a
difficult time keeping up with Walmart and their low prices.
Walmart economies of scale come from buying their
merchandise in bulk at a huge discount.
11. Chapter 4 Evaluating a Company’s Resources, Capabilities and
Competitiveness.
LO 1: Why a company’s resources and capabilities are centrally
important in giving the company a competitive edge over rivals.
Example:1 A Resource is a competitive asset that is owned or
controlled by an organization. Using resources analysis to
determine if an organization can sustain competitive advantage
over their competitors is what Walmart has been able to do with
their intangible and tangible resources. One of their strongest
physical resources is Real Estate Walmart owns the buildings
and surrounding storefronts. Walmart also has strong financial
resources holding higher cash assets giving them the flexibility
to invest in their firm. Organizational resources such as their
large supply chain network and low pricing strategy, their focus
on customer service has given Walmart a competitive
advantage.
Example:2 Organizational capabilities support long term
competitive advantage; capabilities are the core competencies of
the organization that helps develop strategies. Walmart’s core
competencies are low-cost operations, buying power and supply
chain management. Using the SWOT analysis, the company can
evaluate the strengths and weaknesses and the market
opportunities and external threats of an organization. Walmart’s
strengths derive from a high efficiency supply chain the
advance in technologies for controlling the movement of
inventory from suppliers to stores. Being able to buy in bulk
gives Walmart the discount needed to keep prices low, this is
what they are known for their extremely low prices.
Example:3 Walmart’s competitive edge began with their
business venture offering low prices and great customer
services which has been the biggest contributor to their success.
Walmart has developed a partnership alliance with its
stakeholders that has allowed them to make the necessary
changes in their organization. They have created sustainability
12. programs that align with their long-term goals. And developed
action programs that helped developed new relationships which
helped them reached integrated level. The organization price
strategy is the strength that makes the business competitive
against other retail giants. This competitive edge has allowed
Walmart to operate in the global retail market. They have a
strong brand reputation and the financial resources to continue
to grow their business.
LO:2 Comprehensive evaluation of a company’s competitive
situation can assist mangers in making critical decisions about
their strategic moves.
Example :1 Company mangers look at value chain systems for
an organization to help improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Optimizing the value chain can make it more efficient and can
help generate strategies of competitive advantage for the
organization. The suppliers’ part of the value chain system is
important for Walmart because the relationship with their
suppliers has allowed for Walmart to have an effective supply
chain. Walmart has also been able to pressure suppliers for
lower price this a cost-saving opportunity. Walmart’s inventory
management technique is a supply chain practice called cross
docking. Cross docking removes the storage link of the supply
therefore reducing cost of transportation.
Example: 2 Strategic approaches can be used to improve the
effectiveness of customer’s value. Managers need to understand
the underlying reasons on why a strategy works. The first step
is to analyze opportunities that managers need to address first.
Competitive challenges like expanding to another country, for
example Walmart has not been able to be successful in South
Korea despite trying once before. The problem was they did not
have enough customer information and did not offer South
Koreans anything new that would get them excited to choose
Walmart over other local retailers. Other opportunities like the
shift to online shopping can help management develop a
strategic plan that can help with the expansion in other
13. countries.
Example :3 Gaining customers and increasing its market share
is a good indicator that the firm’s strategy is working well.
Pricing strategy is one of the key elements of marketing
strategy the everyday low-price strategy has helped with the
brand reputation of Walmart. By building the reputation of low
prices the marketing management can develop strategies to
attract more customers by adding deals either in-store or online.
Walmart has also improved their Human Resources Management
by improving on employee wages and has developed funds for
education and training. Investing on their employees and
managing their strategies are good indicators that Walmart will
continue to be successful.
Conclusion
Walmart has understood that times has changed any everything
is unpredictable just like the Covid-19 pandemic. They know
that changing and being aggressive with meeting their goals and
commitments will be key for a successful future in the
corporation. Even though, many things have changes over the
years Walmart has remained committed to the founder’s core
beliefs. Offering low prices, serving the community and high
levels of integrity. Walmart will remain a very competitive
organization because of the relationship that it has built over
the years with their employees, customers, and suppliers.
14. Resources
Thompson, A. A., Peteraf, M. A., Gamble, J., & Strickland, A.
J. (2016). Crafting and executing strategy: The quest for
competitive advantage: Concepts and readings. New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill Education.
Greenspan, R. (2019, February 22). Walmart Inc. five forces
Analysis (porter's model), Recommendations. Retrieved March
01, 2021, from http://panmore.com/walmart-five-forces-
analysis-porters-model-case-study
https://www.rancord.org/walmart-vrio-analysis-competitive-
advantages-core-competencies
15. 12 | Page
CHAPTER 6 Strengthening a Company’s Competitive Position:
Strategic Moves, Timing, and Scope of Operations
1
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
THIS CHAPTER WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND:
Whether and when to pursue offensive or defensive strategic
moves to improve a firm’s market position
When being a first mover or a fast follower or a late mover is
most advantageous
The strategic benefits and risks of expanding a firm’s horizontal
scope through mergers and acquisitions
The advantages and disadvantages of extending the company’s
scope of operations via vertical integration
The conditions that favor outsourcing certain value chain
activities to outside parties
When and how strategic alliances can substitute for horizontal
mergers and acquisitions or vertical integration and how they