“Managing during recession”
Instructions:
1) The first individual Assignment carries 30% weighting in the final assessment, is compulsory, and will be individual coursework.
2) The deadline for submission of this coursework via online submission on your My Learning FIN4810 site is 23:59 GMT, Monday 19th October 2015.
3) This Assignment shall be 2,000 words. A deviation of 5% on either side is acceptable. Simple tables or calculations, which you might use to support your arguments, are not counted as part of the 2,000 words.
4) Please mention the ‘word count’ on the title page.
5) Kindly submit the coursework in computerised A4 size pages in a Microsoft Word document.
6) Students not submitting the coursework or submitting it late shall face consequences as per the rules and regulations of the MBA Programme and the University.
7) Under no circumstances, will any email be accepted towards the submission of the Coursework.
8) Students are advised to take a print of ‘Digital Receipt’ for their online coursework submission on My Learning.
9) Students are expected to retain their own copy of the coursework for their future reference.
10)Under no circumstances will any form of plagiarism be tolerated. Any books, journals, newspapers, websites, etc. referred for the Coursework must be mentioned as a part of footnotes and references as per the standard way.
11)The following shall be the criteria for marking the coursework:

(i) Depth and coverage of the economic theory and concepts in the readings (covered in lectures 1and 2) with relevant examples………………………………………… 12 marks
(ii) Analysis and argument………………………….……. 6 marks
(iii) Originality & Presentation formatting……………….. 2 marks

A good answer would summarise the arguments clearly and succinctly in good style and illustrate them with examples and graphs.
A moderate answer would outline the major arguments and repeat materials learned by class notes.
A bare pass would display famili

Contents & Structure of the individual Assignment:
Title: “Managing during recession”
The focus of this assignment is to discuss micro and macroeconomic concepts and relate them to your marketing strategy.
The content of the individual Assignment should cover the following aspects in a total of 2,000 words:
Imagine that you are part of the marketing team of the product X at company ABC, which aims at selling this product in the domestic as well as global markets. You are preparing a marketing strategy for this product in the second half of 2011. Define the properties of your product and the target markets by using the micro and macroeconomic concepts that were covered in the units, which will be used as an input for your marketing strategy. In particular address the following issues:
In your introduction highlight the characteristics of the product x and the business. You should also focus on following question:
• Is the price set by the markets or Government?
• Is the firm operating in a competitive market?
• Who are the competitors?
• Is your firm managed efficiently?

a. What are the alternative scenarios with regards to the costs of production (marginal costs like labour costs, raw materials, energy)? Consider the macroeconomic expectations for the second half of 2011 and different scenarios about the macroeconomic developments and the course of the recession.

In this section you can identify the fixed costs and variable costs of your business and highlight which one dominates. You can also discuss total fixed cost, total variable cost, average cost and marginal cost etc.
b. What type of a good or service is X? What is the price and income elasticity of your product? What is the cross price elasticity with respect to complementary and substitute products?

In this section discuss the concepts of price elasticity, income elasticity, cross price elasticity. You can also discuss the factors influencing price elasticity with relation to your firm.
c. What is the market structure? What are the possible strategies of your competitors? What will be your strategy with respect to your competitors?

In this section you are expected to highlight the main characteristics of your firm and identify market structure and discuss what will be your strategy in relation to the competition.
d. Which market segments and different pricing strategies can you imagine?

In this section you can think of different market segments and strategies you would suggest that your business should target.
e. Think of the developments in demand in different markets domestically and globally. How will demand develop in these markets? What is the effect of the recession on the demand for your product? How could government policies in different markets affect the demand for your product?

In this section you can discuss economies of scale, inflation, consumption, consumer confidence and investments. You can also discuss how government can affect the demand through macroeconomic policy.
f. Prepare different scenarios about the developments in the currency markets and their effect on the price competitiveness of your company.

In this section you should outline different examples of how your company could take advantage of developments in the currency markets.