microeconomics notes

1. Copyright © 2010 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Managerial Economics & Business
Strategy
Chapter 1:
The Fundamentals of
Managerial
Economics

2. Overview
1-2
I. Introduction
II. The Economics of Effective Management
– Identify Goals and Constraints
– Recognize the Role of Profits
– Five Forces Model
– Understand Incentives
– Understand Markets
– Recognize the Time Value of Money
– Use Marginal Analysis

3. Managerial Economics
1-3
 Manager
– A person who directs resources to achieve a
stated goal.
 Economics
– The science of making decisions in the
presence of scare resources.
 Managerial Economics
– The study of how to direct scarce resources in
the way that most efficiently achieves a
managerial goal.

4. Identify Goals and Constraints
1-4
 Sound decision making involves having well-
defined goals.
– Leads to making the “right” decisions.
 In striking to achieve a goal, we often face
constraints.
– Constraints are an artifact of scarcity.

5. Economic vs. Accounting Profits
1-5
 Accounting Profits
– Total revenue (sales) minus dollar cost of
producing goods or services.
– Reported on the firm’s income statement.
 Economic Profits
– Total revenue minus total opportunity cost.

6. Opportunity Cost
1-6
 Accounting Costs
– The explicit costs of the resources needed
to produce goods or services.
– Reported on the firm’s income statement.
 Opportunity Cost
– The cost of the explicit and implicit
resources that are foregone when a
decision is made.
 Economic Profits
– Total revenue minus total opportunity cost.

7. Profits as a Signal
1-7
 Profits signal to resource holders where
resources are most highly valued by society.
– Resources will flow into industries that are
most highly valued by society.

8. The Five Forces Framework
Sustainable
Industry
Profits
Power of
Input Suppliers
Supplier Concentration
Price/Productivity of
Alternative Inputs
Relationship-Specific
Investments
Supplier Switching Costs
Government Restraints
Power of
Buyers
Buyer Concentration
Price/Value of Substitute
Products or Services
Relationship-Specific
Investments
Customer Switching Costs
Government Restraints
Entry
Entry Costs
Speed of Adjustment
Sunk Costs
Economies of Scale
Network Effects
Reputation
Switching Costs
Government Restraints
Substitutes & Complements
Price/Value of Surrogate Products Network Effects
or Services Government
Price/Value of Complementary Restraints
Products or Services
Industry Rivalry
Switching Costs
Timing of Decisions
Information
Government Restraints
1-8
Concentration
Price, Quantity, Quality, or
Service Competition
Degree of Differentiation

9. Understanding Firms’ Incentives
1-9
 Incentives play an important role within the
firm.
 Incentives determine:
– How resources are utilized.
– How hard individuals work.
 Managers must understand the role
incentives play in the organization.
 Constructing proper incentives will enhance
productivity and profitability.

10. Market Interactions
1-10
 Consumer-Producer Rivalry
– Consumers attempt to locate low prices, while
producers attempt to charge high prices.
 Consumer-Consumer Rivalry
– Scarcity of goods reduces consumers’ negotiating
power as they compete for the right to those goods.
 Producer-Producer Rivalry
– Scarcity of consumers causes producers to compete
with one another for the right to service customers.
 The Role of Government
– Disciplines the market process.

11. The Time Value of Money
 Present value (PV) of a future value (FV)
lump-sum amount to be received at the
end of “n” periods in the future when the
per-period interest rate is “i”:
PV 
1-11
FV
1 in
• Examples:
 Lotto winner choosing between a single lump-sum payout of $104
million or $198 million over 25 years.
 Determining damages in a patent infringement case.

12. Present Value vs. Future Value
1-12
 The present value (PV) reflects the difference
between the future value and the opportunity
cost of waiting (OCW).
 Succinctly,
PV = FV – OCW
 If i = 0, note PV = FV.
 As i increases, the higher is the OCW and the
lower the PV.

13. Present Value of a Series
 Present value of a stream of future amounts
(FVt) received at the end of each period for
“n” periods:
 Equivalently,
n
t
FVt
PV  
t1 1 i
PV 
1-13
FV1
1 i1
 FV2
1 i2
FVn
1 in
...

14. Net Present Value
 Suppose a manager can purchase a stream
of future receipts (FVt ) by spending “C0”
dollars today. The NPV of such a decision is
NPV 
1-14
 C0
FV1
1 i1
 FV2
1 i2
FVn
1 in
...
Decision Rule:
If NPV < 0: Reject project
NPV > 0: Accept project

15. Present Value of a Perpetuity
 An asset that perpetually generates a
stream of cash flows (CFi) at the end of
each period is called a perpetuity.
 The present value (PV) of a perpetuity of
cash flows paying the same amount (CF =
CF1 = CF2 = …) at the end of each period is
PV
1-15
Perpetuity

CF
i
 

CF CF
...
CF
1 i3
1 i 1 i2

16. Firm Valuation and Profit
Maximization
 The value of a firm equals the present value
of current and future profits (cash flows).
 A common assumption among economist is
that it is the firm’s goal to maximization
profits.
– This means the present value of current and future
profits, so the firm is maximizing its value.

 ...  
1-16
t1
Firm 0
1 i 1 i
t
1it
1 2
PV   

17. Firm Valuation With Profit Growth
 If profits grow at a constant rate (g < i) and
current period profits are  before and after
dividends are:
 Provided that g < i.
– That is, the growth rate in profits is less than
the interest rate and both remain constant.
before current profits have been paid out as dividends;
1-17
immediately after current profits are paid out as dividends.
Firm
Firm
PVExDividend
PV  
1 i
0
i  g
  1 g
0
i  g

18.  Control Variable Examples:
– Output
– Price
– Product Quality
– Advertising
– R&D
 Basic Managerial Question: How much of
the control variable should be used to
maximize net benefits?
1-18
Marginal (Incremental) Analysis

19. Net Benefits
1-19
 Net Benefits = Total Benefits - Total Costs
 Profits = Revenue - Costs

20. Marginal Benefit (MB)
 Change in total benefits arising from a
change in the control variable, Q:
 Slope (calculus derivative) of the total benefit
curve.
Q
1-20
MB 
B

21. Marginal Cost (MC)
 Change in total costs arising from a change
in the control variable, Q:
 Slope (calculus derivative) of the total cost
curve.
Q
1-21
MC 
C

22. Marginal Principle
1-22
 To maximize net benefits, the managerial
control variable should be increased up to
the point where MB = MC.
 MB > MC means the last unit of the control
variable increased benefits more than it
increased costs.
 MB < MC means the last unit of the control
variable increased costs more than it
increased benefits.

23. The Geometry of Optimization:
Total Benefit and Cost
Q
Total Benefits
& Total Costs
Costs
Benefits
Q*
C
1-23
Slope = MC
Slope =MB
B

24. The Geometry of Optimization:
Net Benefits
Q
Net Benefits
Maximum net benefits
Q*
Slope = MNB
1-24

25. Conclusion
1-25
 Make sure you include all costs and
benefits when making decisions
(opportunity cost).
 When decisions span time, make sure you
are comparing apples to apples (PV
analysis).
 Optimal economic decisions are made at
the margin (marginal analysis).