Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Economy

Understanding the Marketing Environment

Actors and Forces Shaping Marketing Success

A company's marketing environment encompasses the actors and forces beyond marketing that influence marketing management's capacity to cultivate and sustain successful relationships with target consumers. Companies must vigilantly monitor and adapt to the ever-changing environment. The marketing environment comprises two key components:

• Microenvironment: This includes actors close to the company that impact its ability to engage and serve customers effectively.
• Macroenvironment: This consists of broader societal forces that shape the microenvironment, including demographic, economic, natural, technological, political, and cultural factors.

The marketing environment... Continue reading "Understanding Marketing Environment and Consumer Behavior" »

Supply Defined

Supply: The amount of goods and services producers are willing to sell at various prices at a particular time.

Market Supply

Market supply: The total output of all the individual companies within a market.

Law of Variable Proportions

Law of variable proportions: Highlights the relationship between the input of a factor of production and the supply of a good or service.

Production Schedule

Production schedule: Shows how the quantity supplied changes as the number of workers increases.

Stages of Production

Stage of production: Is based on a change in marginal product, including diminishing returns.

Elasticity of Supply

Elasticity of supply: Is measured by how quickly the quantity supplied changes as a result of a change in price.

Understanding

Chapter 7: Business Accounting

What are Accounts and Why are They Necessary?

Accounts are financial records of a firm's transactions that are kept up to date by accountants, who are qualified professionals responsible for keeping accurate accounts and producing the final accounts.

Every end of the year, final accounts must be produced, which give details of:

• Profits and losses made
• Current value of the business
• Other financial results

Limited companies are bound by law to publish these accounts, but not other businesses.

Financial Documents Involved in Buying and Selling

Accountants use various documents that are used for buying and selling over the year for their final accounts. They can help the accountant to:

• Keep records of what the firm bought and

Economic Boom and the Great Depression

A period of general prosperity in the 1920s ended with the collapse of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Key Factors and Events

• Bull Market: A stock market in which stock prices were steadily increasing. In the bull market of the 1920s, stock prices became vastly inflated.
• Buying on Margin: Purchasers were able to buy stocks on margin, putting only 10% down and borrowing 90%.
• Speculation Boom: Refers to the practice of buying real estate, stocks, or anything else to sell later at a profit.
• Black Tuesday: The market crash on October 29th.
• Smoot-Hawley Tariff: Reduced international trade.

Key Figures and Groups

• Herbert Hoover: Republican who believed in Laissez-faire economics. He did not think the federal government

Benefits of eMarketing Over Traditional Marketing

Demographics and Targeting

Internet users represent a desirable demographic for marketers, often possessing greater buying power and skewing towards the middle class. The internet's structure allows users to organize into focused groups, providing marketers easy access to niche markets. This targeted approach maximizes the effectiveness of marketing messages.

Adaptivity and Closed-Loop Marketing

Closed-loop marketing relies on constant measurement and analysis of marketing campaign results. Real-time analysis of responses allows for continuous adjustments, minimizing wasted advertising spend. This dynamic approach, combined with the internet's immediacy, allows for maximum marketing efficiency... Continue reading "The Power of eMarketing" »

Fundamental Economic Definitions

Budget

Es el cálculo, exposición, planificación y formulación anticipada de los gastos e ingresos de una actividad económica.

Budget Constraint

All possible consumption combinations of goods that someone can afford, given the prices of goods, when all income is spent. It defines the boundary of the opportunity set (limits to the amount of money that is available to spend).

Sunk Costs

Costs that were incurred in the past and cannot be recovered.

The Budget Formula and Calculation

General Budget Formula

The budget formula calculates total expenditure based on prices and quantities:

Budget = P₁ × Q₁ + P₂ × Q₂ + ... + Pₙ × Qₙ

Where P and Q are the price and respective quantity of any number, n, of items... Continue reading "Key Economic Concepts: Budgeting, Efficiency, and Rationality" »

Charts and Graphs

• Pie chart
• Line graph
• Bar chart
• Table
• Flow chart
• Organigram

Types of Lines in Graphs

• Solid line
• Curve
• Fluctuating line
• Dotted line (puntos)
• Axis
• Undulating line
• Broken line

Describing Trends: Increase

• To increase = raise (aumentar)
• Rise = go up (subir)
• Grow
• Boom / soar / climb (remontar)
• Jump = skyrocket (dispararse)
• To reach a peak (pico)

Describing Trends: Decrease

• To decrease
• Fall
• Plunge (picado)
• Drop
• Go down
• Decline
• Collapse

Describing Trends: Stability

• To remain stable
• Stay constant
• Stabilize

Describing Trends: Leveling Off

• To level off / out = flatten out (nivelar)
• Stop or start falling / rising

Trend Modifiers: Size

• Dramatically
• Vastly
• Hugely
• Significantly
• Considerably
• Slightly (leve)

Trend Modifiers: Speed

• Substantially
• Rapidly
• Suddenly
• Gradually

Incoterms

• EXW: Ex

Loan Types and Capital Cost Analysis

Understanding Loan Structures

American Loans Explained

In American loans, all intermediate payments only include interest expenses. The principal is paid back at maturity.

C − Fees = I = ∑T_i · C_o + C_o

_{o o j=1} (1+R_B)^j (1+R_B)^T

French Loans Explained

The loan is repaid with equal payments (P), which include both interest and partial repayment of the principal. The process requires three steps:

1. Calculate the constant payment per period ‘P’.
2. With the computed value ‘P’, calculate the cost of debt.
3. Compute the effective annual rate.

The Cost of Equity Capital

Firms with excess cash can either pay a dividend or make a capital investment. Because stockholders can reinvest the dividend in risky financial assets,... Continue reading "Financial Valuation: Loan Structures and Equity Cost Models" »

E-commerce Fundamentals

Payment Methods for Online Shoppers

Online shoppers commonly use a credit card or a PayPal account to make payments. Other alternative methods include:

• Billing to mobile phones
• Cash on delivery (COD)
• Check
• Debit card
• Electronic money
• Gift cards
• Postal money order
• Invoice

Product Delivery Options

• Downloading (for music, movies, images, etc.)
• Drop shipping (the manufacturer ships the item directly to the consumer)
• In-store pick up (collecting items at a physical shop)
• Printing or by e-mail (tickets for concerts, cinema, etc.)

Market Share and Statistics

E-commerce represented 8% of sales in the USA. In 2012, there were 242 million people shopping online in China.

Advantages of E-commerce

• Convenience

  Online shops are usually available 24 hours

The Great Depression: The Longest and Deepest Economic Downturn in American History

Causes of the Great Depression

In 1929, the prevailing economic theory held that the economy possessed self-correcting mechanisms that would prevent a severe depression. However, the Great Depression defied these expectations.

• Overproduction: Some economists believed the depression was caused by an excess of goods and services.
• Lack of Investment Opportunities: Others pointed to a decline in profitable investment opportunities.
• Technological Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter argued that the failure of entrepreneurs to introduce new products contributed to the depression.
• Stock Market Crash and Bank Panics: The stock market crash of 1929 and subsequent bank failures exacerbated