Assignment:
1. Find a product that is sold at different prices for different bundles or different groups of consumers (strategic pricing).
(a) Interview a store manager or firm marketing director to ask for the rationale for the pricing strategy and the different consumer groups;
(b) summarize your findings;
(c) analyze the strategy and offer recommendations. For the sake of privacy, you may change the name of the company.
2. Find a firm that outsources some operations and conducts others in-house.
(a) Interview the relevant manager to ask for the rationale behind the strategy;
(b) summarize your findings;
(c) based on a brief market analysis, assess the strategy and offer recommendations. For the sake of privacy, you may change the name of the company.
3. You are the senior VP and economic adviser to a CEO. The CEO has 100,000 Euros waiting to be invested (and currently earning less than 1% in a Euro-denominated savings account). The CEO husband is a world-famous art auctioneer who spends three months per year in Paris for art research, so the family is contemplating the purchase of an apartment in Paris. The CEO asks you to analyze the following options:
(a) purchase an apartment in Paris, and rent it out on AirBNB 10 months of the year;
(b) purchase an apartment in Paris, rent it out on one-year leases, and use the rental income to pay for hotel or AirBNB accommodations;
(c) invest the money in some other long-term financial instrument (but which?). In your answer, make sure you consider such factors as French mortgage rates, AirBNB regulations and management expenses (if relevant), and economic analysis. Use real-world expenses
4. You are a knowledge consultant for a firm, and you have been hired to analyze the use of knowledge, decision rights, and efficiency within the firm. Find a company and interview four people in the company (line worker; supervisor; division chief; and CEO or COO). Based on the results of your interviews, assess the company use of knowledge, decision rights and efficiency, and offer recommendations. For the sake of privacy, you may change the name of the company.
5. Write your own question and answer it. You will be graded on a combination of economic logic, creativity, and rigor (in addition to the criteria above).