Durham University
Programme and Module Handbook

Postgraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2024-2025

Module FINN42910: Economics for Global Business (Taught)

Department: Finance

FINN42910: Economics for Global Business (Taught)

Type Tied Level 4 Credits 10 Availability Not available in 2024/2025 Module Cap None.
Tied to N1T717 Business Administration (Online) (for students entering from September 2022)

Prerequisites

  • None.

Corequisites

  • None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

  • Economics for Global Business (Online)

Aims

  • To contribute to the overall aims of the programme by developing students' understanding of the external context in which organisations operate.
  • To enable students to acquire and demonstrate knowledge and understanding of those elements of economic analysis that are relevant for managing in the global economy.
  • To develop skills in the application of economic analysis in business decision making and planning.
  • To develop a critical understanding of key economic aspects of the global business environment and the impact of changes in that environment at national and international levels.
  • To develop links with the Business School's research strategy by incorporating current research into policy issues that affect economic growth at the regional, national and international level.
  • To help students develop an appreciation of how historical economic and political processes affect the development of economies in the Global South and the Global North, and the implications this has for the applicability of economic theories, for economic outcomes and for business decision making.

Content

  • Microeconomics relevant to decision making in the global business environment
  • Macroeconomics relevant to decision making in the global business environment

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:
  • Upon successful completion of the module, the students will:
  • Have a specialised knowledge and understanding of: the underlying fundamentals of the market system; the importance of, and interaction between demand, costs and prices at the level of the firm and the market; the inter-relationship between the competitive environment and business decisions; the macro-economic environment, at national and global level; the internationalisation of firms and multinational activity.
  • Be able to appreciate the highly complex nature of the economic system within which business operates.
  • Have developed a critical understanding of the importance of corporate and social responsibility, including the sustainability of economic activity, both at micro and macroeconomic level.
Subject-specific Skills:
  • Upon successful completion of the module, the students will be able to:
  • apply their economic understanding in management decisions in the global context;
  • apply problem solving and analytical skills in relation to managing in the global environment;
Key Skills:
  • Written communication;
  • Planning, organising and time management;
  • Problem solving and analysis;
  • Using initiative;
  • Computer literacy.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • Learning outcomes will be met through workshops involving a mix of lectures, groupwork, case studies and discussion, supported by guided reading.
  • The summative assessment is a written assignment that will test students' acquisition and articulation of knowledge and their ability to apply what they have learned in a particular context.
  • Formative assessment is via regular self-assessment exercises involving economic analysis and interpretation using computer aided assessment.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity Number Frequency Duration Total/Hours
Workshops (a combination of taught input, groupwork, case studies and discussion), timetabled in blocks 6 over a 3-day teaching block 4 hours 24
Preparation, reading and other independent study 76
Total 100

Summative Assessment

Component: Written Assignment Component Weighting: 100%
Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
Individual written assignment 3000 words max 100% same

Formative Assessment:

Regular self-assessment exercises involving economic analysis and interpretation, using computer aided assessment.


Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University