Overview
Teach your upper-level and MBA students how to use economics most effectively to solve today's business problems with this breakthrough text. Froeb/McCann/Ward/Shor's MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS, 5E covers traditional topics using a problem-based approach built around common business mistakes. Models are used sparingly, and then only to the extent that they help students determine why mistakes are made and how to fix them. This edition's succinct, fast-paced presentation and challenging, interactive applications place the reader in the role of a decision maker who has to identify profitable decisions, and implement them. The lively, practical book provides an excellent ongoing reference for future professionals pursuing business careers.
What's New
INTERACTIVE END-OF-CHAPTER MATERIAL PLACES STUDENTS INTO ROLES OF DECISION MAKERS. A variety of effective end-of-chapter applications present real business scenarios that give students the opportunity to resolve actual business problems and pursue the most profitable and rational decisions. Eight to ten end-of-chapter scenarios for every chapter provide excellent choices for individual assignments, group projects, or class discussions.
FIRST CHAPTER CLEARLY INTRODUCES BOOK'S SUBJECT MATTER. Students begin with a strong foundation and understanding of the managerial economics to follow as Chapter 1 overviews and introduces principles with an emphasis on how economics impact today's managerial business decisions.
INVITING PRESENTATION AND READABILITY ENSURE STUDENT COMPREHENSION. Both those using this text and reviewers agree that this edition offers a highly effective level of readability to make sure your students thoroughly understand concepts and how they apply. Succinct lessons present relevant theory in an accessible way, while learning features enable students to clearly understand theory and immediately apply it.
INVITING PRESENTATION AND READABILITY ENSURE STUDENT COMPREHENSION. Both those using this text and reviewers agree that this edition offers a highly effective level of readability to make sure your students thoroughly understand concepts and how they apply. Succinct lessons present relevant theory in an accessible way, while learning features enable students to clearly understand theory and immediately apply it.
Table of Contents Part I: PROBLEM SOLVING AND DECISION MAKING.
1. Introduction: What This Book Is About.
2. The One Lessor of Business.
3. Benefits, Costs, and Decisions.
4. Extent (How Much) Decisions.
5. Investment Decisions: Look Ahead and Reason Back.
Part II: PRICING, COST, AND PROFITS.
6. Simple Pricing.
7. Economies of Scale and Scope.
8. Understanding Markets and Industry Changes.
9. Market Structure and Long-Run Equilibrium.
10. Strategy: The Quest to Keep Profit from Eroding.
11. Foreign Exchange, Trade, and Bubbles.
Part III: PRICING FOR GREATER PROFIT.
12. More Realistic and Complex Pricing.
13. Direct Price Discrimination.
14. Indirect Price Discrimination.
Part IV: STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING.
15. Strategic Games.
16. Bargaining.
Part V: UNCERTAINTY.
17. Making Decisions with Uncertainty.
18. Auctions.
19. The Problem of Adverse Selection.
20. The Problem of Moral Hazard.
Part VI: ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN.
21. Getting Employees to Work in the Firm's Best Interest.
22. Getting Divisions to Work in the Firm's Best Interest.
23. Managing Vertical Relationships.
Part VII: WRAPPING UP.
24. You Be the Consultant.
Dr. Froeb received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. When the antitrust agencies began using his models to predict the competitive effects of mergers, his academic research passed what he calls ""a market test."" This resulted in his 2003 appointment to Chief Economist of the Federal Trade Commission, where he enforced the antitrust and consumer protection laws of the United States. He also managed 75 economists who tore down barriers to competition (often erected by well-meaning bureaucrats). In July 2005 Dr. Froeb returned to Vanderbilt University where today he holds the William Oehmig Chair of Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise. He used to win the ""Most Outstanding Teacher"" award, but now he finishes behind his co-author, Brian McCann. His text, MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS: A PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH is well recognized for teaching students to apply economics to real business problems. It is filled with real world problems (and solutions) from Dr. Froeb's students and clients. Dr. Froeb's research focuses on the economics of competition policy. He has taught at Tulane University, worked at the U.S. Department of Justice, and spent a year at the University of Chicago Law School.
Dr. Brian T. McCann has taught courses in managerial economics, strategic management, and entrepreneurship at the undergraduate, MBA and executive education levels. He holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University, where he earned the Founder's Medal as the top graduate of his class. Dr. McCann received his doctoral training in strategic management at Purdue University's Krannert School of Management, where he was awarded the Ross Fellowship, the Krannert Certificate for Distinguished Teaching, and the Purdue Research Foundation Research Grant. His more than 10 years of industry experience include operating a residential land development company, serving as the CFO for an Internet start-up, and implementing new strategic initiatives for a non-profit economic development group. In addition to co-authoring this MBA-level textbook in managerial economics, Dr. McCann's work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals, such as Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, and Journal of Management Studies. His current research interests span strategic management and entrepreneurship and include the performance implications of firm agglomeration, the effects of ownership structure on competitive behaviors, and the role of threshold-based decision making in the entrepreneurial process.
Dr. Mike Ward has taught courses in Managerial Economics, Industrial Organization and Business Strategy, Human Resource Economics, and Economics and Regulation of Information. He has spent nearly two decades in academia, holding positions at the University of Illinois and the University of Texas at Arlington where he is currently Professor of Economics in the Business School. Prior to returning to academia, Dr. Ward served as an Economist at the Federal Trade Commission for four years attempting to tear down barriers to competition (though he was not managed by Dr. Froeb). Dr. Ward's research focuses on the economics of innovation and competition. He earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics and economics from UCLA and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.