2018/2019

2018/2019

DM270

SECS-P/06 (APPLIED ECONOMICS)

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL,COMPUTER AND BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

COMPUTER ENGINEERING

PERCORSO COMUNE

1°

2nd semester (06/03/2019 - 14/06/2019)

6

45 lesson hours

English

WRITTEN AND ORAL TEST

FONTANA ROBERTO (titolare) - 6 ECTS

Basic knowledge of economics.

At the end of the course students will have learned:

--The basic terminology necessary to discuss, in a consistent and precise manner, market structures, firms’ strategies, and performance

--How firms compete and elaborate strategies in the information economy

--How to recognize specificities in the sources of competitiveness and their consequences for firms’ performance

--How to apply research tools to the analysis of real-life firms, markets and industries

The course will introduce the students to the main economic concepts necessary to interpret and understand the functioning of high-tech industries and markets. We will analyse the strategies used by firms to gain competitive advantages in hi-tech markets and their consequences for competition. Specific attention will be paid to innovation as a major source of economic competitive advantage and as a major determinant of changes in industry structure.

Topics will include:
1. Perfect and imperfect competition
2. Price competition
3. Entry, exit and strategic competition
4. Price discrimination
5. Product differentiation and versioning
6. Network effects
7. Lock-in effects
8. Competition through standard setting

Frontal lectures and group presentations.

The textbooks are:

1. Cabral, L.M.B. “Introduction to Industrial Organization”, MIT Press

2. Shapiro, C. and H.A. Varian “Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy”, Harvard Business Review Press

3. Rohlfs, J.H. “Bandwagon Effects in High Technology Industries”, MIT Press

The exam is split in two parts. One written exam on the entire program and a group work consisting in one paper presentation + one paper discussion.

The group presentation is focussed on a specific paper about the history and the structural evolution of a specific industry.

The final grade is the weighted sum of the exam (2/3) and the group presentation + discussion (1/3).

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