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Managerial Economics: Lecture 1

Managerial Economics: Lecture 1. Carlos A. Ulibarri Department of Management New Mexico Tech. Course Overview. Syllabus Text: Paul Milgrom and John Roberts, 1992. Economics, Organization & Management . Prentice-Hall, Inc. ISBN 0-13-224650-3. Exams/grading/scheduling.

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Managerial Economics: Lecture 1

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  1. Managerial Economics:Lecture 1 Carlos A. UlibarriDepartment of ManagementNew Mexico Tech

  2. Course Overview • Syllabus • Text:Paul Milgrom and John Roberts, 1992. Economics, Organization & Management. Prentice-Hall, Inc. ISBN 0-13-224650-3. • Exams/grading/scheduling

  3. Economic organizations • GM – multi-division firm • Toyota – JIT mfg processes • Solomon – pay for performance

  4. Alfred Sloan? • Reorganized GM into a multidivisional firm • Introduced market segmentation (division A mfg product for segment A) • Expanded the product line

  5. Case of GM • Reorganization => required closer coordination of mfg plants, distribution dealerships, component suppliers, marketing and research

  6. Sloan business model • Heavy demands on information gathering • Cost-accounting is crucial in coordinating operations • Divisions given autonomous decision-making authority

  7. Organizational choices • …are interdependent • marketing information on consumer taste • product design choices (standardization?) • mfg plant operations (econ-of-scale?) • coordination of component supply chain

  8. Centralizing authority? • …for planning LR strategy • …managing legal matters • …coordinating R&D • …managing financial functions

  9. Toyota: JIT MFG • Economizes on inventory and working capital during mfg process • Requires tighter quality control over components • Requires strong customer-supplier relations

  10. Toyota’s organizational choices • Flexible production lines facilitate design changes • LR contractual agreements with component suppliers provides incentive to invest in specialized skills and equipment

  11. Solomon: pay-4-performance • Getting the organization’s incentives right • Base salary + bonus • Bonus: stock ownership in firm placed in trust for 5-year period

  12. The effects? • Matching-up the employees self interest with stockholder’s objectives • “one for all – all for one” • Raises value of stock • Raises market value of firm

  13. Insights from cases? • Organizational structure matters • Incentives motivate decision-making • Finding balance between coordination and control and functional autonomy

  14. Question pg. 18 in M&R • In fast food chains, some decisions about standards are made centrally and others are left to individual managers. Who typically makes which kinds of decisions? Why? Can you think successfully about the fast-food business by dividing the issues between coordination and motivation?

  15. Organization design & mgt • Meaning of organization? • How do organizations emerge? • How are organizations structured? • How well do organizations perform?

  16. An organization’s design • Determines how resources are allocated, how information is generated and diffused • Determines decision-making authority in meeting goals

  17. Alchian and Demsetz (AER) • Contracting approach to organizational theory: the firm is an organization of agents linked together by contract. • Agents form organizations voluntarily, according to their self-interest

  18. What agents? • Human resources • Capitalists • Suppliers • Consumers

  19. An organization’s autonomy • “The organization’s economic boundaries are defined by its functional autonomy.” • …legal status to enter into contract on its own • … authority to decide product lines, prices, compensation, investments

  20. Principal of efficiency • An organization is a vehicle for achieving efficiency through coordinating and motivating agent behavior. • Specific organizational forms & contractual arrangements represent a solution to the problems of coordination/motivation.

  21. discussion • Inefficient organizations disappear, efficient ones survive. • F1 racing team • Mfg chain • United Air • Outsourcing • Malls • Warehouse Super Stores

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