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

Customer Service

Importance

One of the objectives of a company is customer loyalty and customer satisfaction.

It is more expensive to get new customers than to keep those you have.

Principles of Customer Service

• Customers are the most important individuals.
• The company depends on customers (not the other way around).
• Companies exist because customers exist; customers are our "work".
• Customers seek a good or service that should be provided.
• Customers are not a number; they must be treated with respect.
• The customer is the backbone of the company.

Customer Service Department

The entire staff should be involved in providing adequate customer care.

They don't only handle complaints, but also gather information through claims or suggestions.

It should provide:

Business Operations and Strategic Decisions

3. Market Segmentation, Finance, and Ethics

3 (a) Defining a Niche Market

The term niche market refers to a small, specialized segment of a larger market, such as the case of catering to Indian ladies within the large Indian population of the city.

3 (b) Retailer Sourcing Decisions

Retailers may choose not to buy clothes directly from primary suppliers for several reasons:

• They may not require such large quantities of products.
• They might lack the necessary storage space to keep inventory.
• They may be unable to sell the entire volume purchased.
• They might not have established contacts in foreign countries where suppliers are located.

3 (c) Impact of Currency Appreciation (Country Z)

If the currency of Country... Continue reading "Business Strategy: Niche Markets, Ethical Sourcing, and PLC Formation" »

Essential Cost Management Principles

Core Concepts for Multiple Choice

Cost Driver Concept

A cost driver is any factor or activity that has a direct cause-effect relationship with the resources consumed.

Flow of Overhead Costs in ABC

Understand the flow of overhead costs in an Activity-Based Costing (ABC) system:

1. Identify and classify the activities involved in the manufacture of specific products and assign overhead cost pools.
2. Identify the cost driver that has a strong correlation to the costs accumulated in each cost pool.
3. Compute the activity-based overhead rate for each cost pool.
4. Allocate overhead costs to products using the overhead rates determined for each cost pool.

Most Difficult Product Cost to Compute

Of the three product costs, manufacturing

Types of Inventory Costs

Ordering Costs (Setup Costs, Replenishment Costs): Expenses incurred every time an order is placed.

• Examples: Order processing fees, clerical costs for invoice processing, amortization of the EDI system.

Carrying Costs (Holding Costs): Costs associated with storing inventory.

• Examples: Storage space rental, insurance, utilities, and inventory management software.

Stock-out Costs (Shortage Costs): Expenses arising from inventory shortages.

• Examples: Lost sales, expedited shipping costs, and damage to customer relationships.

III. Inventory Cost: Ordering Costs

1. Order Processing Costs

• Fixed cost, independent of the order quantity.
• Includes fees for placing orders, clerical costs for invoice processing, and amortization of the

The Money Multiplier

With just a little mathematical manipulation, we can express the real-world money multiplier (m) as a function of the required reserve ratio (RRR), the excess-reserves ratio (ER/D), and the currency-deposit ratio (C/D). To find m, all we need are the values of the C/D and ER/D ratios. (We already know that RRR = .10, or 10%.) Alternatively, we could compute m with values for C, D, and ER.

Studying the multiplier effect is crucial because, unlike what basic economics states, the money supply is not fully controlled by the Fed. Instead, the Fed does have access to the monetary base, but the multiplier effect will depend on the monetary decisions of financial institutions and the general public.

Factors Affecting the Money Multiplier

Several... Continue reading "The Money Multiplier: Factors and Effects" »

Environmental Taxes and Taxation Principles

An environmental tax is a tax whose tax base is a physical unit (or a proxy of it) of something that has a proven, specific negative impact on the environment and which is defined in the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) as a tax.

European statistics distinguish four different categories of environmental taxes relating to energy, transport, pollution and resources; value added tax (VAT) is excluded from the scope of environmental taxes.

Environmental taxes have been increasingly used to influence the behaviour of economic operators, whether producers or consumers. These taxes also generate revenue that can be used by governments to increase expenditure on environmental protection or for the efficient... Continue reading "Environmental Taxes for Green Growth and Fiscal Policy" »

Tax Burden, Ratio, and Tax Structure

The OECD Classification of Taxes

• 1000: Taxes on income, profits, and capital gains
  • 1100: Taxes on income, profits, and capital gains of individuals
  • 1200: Corporate taxes on income, profits, and capital gains
• 2000: Social security contributions
  • 2100: Employees
  • 2200: Employers
  • 2300: Self-employed or non-employed
• 3000: Taxes on payroll and workforce
• 4000: Taxes on property
  • 4100: Recurrent taxes on immovable property
  • 4200: Recurrent taxes on net wealth
  • 4300: Estate, inheritance, and gift taxes
  • 4400: Taxes on financial and capital transactions
  • 4500: Other non-recurrent taxes on property
  • 4500: Other non-recurrent taxes on property
  • 4600: Other recurrent taxes on property
• 5000: Taxes on goods and services
• 6000: Other taxes

Tax Base

Market Fundamentals

Price: the amount of money required to buy something.

Sale: an exchange of money for goods.

Consumer: a person who makes a purchase.

Spending: the act of using money for purchases.

Trend: a general course of action that repeats.

Elasticity: the effect of a change in one variable on another.

Supply: to provide something.

Determine: to have an effect on an outcome.

Supply and Demand Dynamics

Supply: The available amount of steel is low this year.

Quantity: What amount did the factory produce?

Goods: These products for sale are too expensive.

Surplus: Low sales created an extra amount of wheat.

Downturn: Many jobs were lost during the decrease in economic activity.

Demand: The amount wanted by customers for coats increases in the winter.

Corporate

The Telecommunication Ecosystem

The telecommunication ecosystem realizes the transfer of data in analogue or digital form via all kinds of networks.

Connecting Separate Worlds

The ecosystem connects technological progress, innovations, user behavior, and market conditions.

Market Shift: From Monopoly to Competition

This shift was driven by governmental initiatives, low market entry barriers in the beginning, and low access costs, including:

• Line sharing
• Unbundled local loop
• Bitstream access

Telecommunication Value Chain: 4 Major Elements

The value chain consists of:

1. Network Provisioning
2. Transmission Services
3. Billing and Customer Care
4. Acquisition and Point of Sales

Convergence and Implications

First Level of Convergence

This involves the fusion of the telecommunication... Continue reading "Economic Theories of Telecommunication Regulation and Market Structure" »

Advantages of International Trade

• Comparative Advantage: Specializing in goods with a lower opportunity cost increases economic welfare for all nations. Free trade allows countries to focus on their comparative advantage.
• Increased Exports: Beyond consumer benefits, firms exporting goods gain significant economic welfare. Lower tariffs on exports boost job creation and economic growth.
• Economies of Scale: Specialization allows industries with high fixed costs to benefit from economies of scale, leading to lower average costs, reduced consumer prices, and greater firm efficiency.
• Increased Competition: International trade forces domestic firms to compete with foreign entities, incentivizing cost-cutting and efficiency while preventing domestic monopolies