I NTRODUCTION AND D EMAND MBA NCCU Managerial Economics Lecturer: Jack Wu

I NTRODUCTION

NEW ECONOMY: INTERNET Managerial Economics also applies to the new economy. Example: In pricing, Airlines use online auctions to segment their market between business and leisure travelers. Example: In competitive strategy, Google competes fiercely with Yahoo.

O LD /N EW E CONOMY Differences between “ New ” and “ Old ” economy: _ role of network effects in demand **network effects – benefit/cost depends on total number of other users example: Internt _ importance of economies of scale and scope example: Information in Yahoo is scalable

O RGANIZATION Vertical boundaries – closer to or further from end user Samsung Electronics – vertical boundaries longer than Intel – specializes in semiconductors (upstream) Motorola – specializes in mobile phones (downstream)

O RGANIZATION Horizontal boundaries – scale and scope of activities Samsung Electronics – horizontal boundaries broader than LG.Philips LCD – specializes in LCD Motorola – specializes in mobile phones

M ARKET Market: Buyers and sellers communicate with one another for voluntary exchange market need not be physical industry -- businesses engaged in the production or delivery of the same or similar items

M ARKET : CONTINUED Competitive Markets Market Power Imperfect Markets

D EMAND

CASE: RISING GASOLINE PRICES Between September 2004 and September 2005, the monthly average retail price of gasoline jumped from $1.85 per gallon to $3.08 per gallon. Sales of full-size SUVs dropped 16.8% over the same time period (with a particularly sharp 42.5% drop for full-size GM SUVs).

GM V ICE C HAIRMAN : B OB L UTZ May 31, 2004: “It sounds cavalier, but in any household budget, gasoline isn't a factor”, Business Week. July 1, 2005: “The demise of the full-size truck is a figment of the imagination of the popular press. Everybody assumes it is true but the market is still buying”, Reuters. “The effect will decrease over time as people adjust to the thought of $3 a gallon, just as they did when it was $2 a gallon and just as they did when it was $1 a gallon”, New York Times.

MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS QUESTIONS  How important are gasoline prices to the sales of SUVs and other types of automobiles?  How should the auto manufacturers respond to the increasing price of gasoline?  Are manufacturer incentives (i.e. price reductions) an effective response?  What are the combined effects of incentives and increasing gas prices?

MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS TOOL: DEMAND We apply demand to show how the rising price of gasoline has caused decreases in large SUV sales, and how manufacturer incentives can offset these reductions.

I NDIVIDUAL D EMAND C URVE Definition: graph of quantity that buyer will purchase at every possible price Construction -- “ Other things equal, how many would you buy at a price of ….? ’’ vertical axis -- price horizontal axis -- quantity

I NDIVIDUAL D EMAND S CHEDULE Price Quantity ($ per movie) (movies per month)

individual demand curve Quantity (Movies a month) Price ($ per movie) INDIVIDUAL DEMAND CURVE

I NDIVIDUAL D EMAND S CHEDULE II Price Quantity ($ per movie) (movies per month) …. …

A NOTHER T YPE OF I NDIVIDUAL DEMAND C URVE

T WO V IEWS for every possible price, it shows the quantity demanded for each unit of item, it shows the maximum price that the buyer is willing to pay

D EMAND C URVE : S LOPE diminishing marginal benefit -- each additional unit of consumption/usage provides less benefit than the preceeding unit  demand curve slopes downward

H OOVER, 1992 A negative price case : Hoover ’ s special promotion -- two free air tickets (worth more than £ 400) for purchase of appliance over £ 100.  promotion attracted over 100,000 customers  Hoover incurred £ 48 million loss

D EMAND AND I NCOME Changes in income normal product – demand increases with income inferior product – demand falls with income

D EMAND AND O THER F ACTORS prices of related products substitutes complements advertising

R ECORDED M USIC ArgentinaCanada CD purchases cassette purchases GDP/capita$9,413$19,831 CD price$13.80$11.55 cassette price$ 7.80$ 6.06

R ECORDED M USIC Why the average Canadian bought more of both CDs and cassettes? Why the ratio of CD to cassette purchases was relatively higher in Canada?

R ECORDED M USIC  Canadians enjoyed higher incomes  Cassettes were a relatively inferior product compared to CDs  Another possible explanation: difference in the relative prices of CDs and cassettes _ Canada: 11.55/6.06=1.9 _ Argentina: 13.80/7.80=1.77 * don’t not explain why Canadians bought relatively more CDs than Argentines.

M ARKET DEMAND Market demand = horizontal summation of individual demands

B UYER S URPLUS individual buyer surplus: difference between consumer ’ s benefit and price she must pay for the item market buyer surplus: sum of individual buyer surpluses.

c be h j g da individual buyer surplus at $2.50 price individual demand (marginal benefit) curve Quantity (Movies a month) Price ($ per movie) c f INDIVIDUAL BUYER SURPLUS

B UYER SURPLUS : I NDIVIDUAL

G AINS FROM PRICE CUT lower price on the quantity that he/she would have purchased at the original price (inframarginal units) he/she can buy more (marginal units) Case: Student discount price for movie

P ACKAGE D EAL charge buyer just a little less than her/his total benefit leave buyer with almost zero surplus

B UYER SURPLUS : T WO - PART PRICING fixed payment usage charge fixed payment

B UYER SURPLUS : T WO - PART PRICING BusinessProviderFixed FeeUsage Fee Broadband access, Hong Kong PCCW Netvigator 3M Single User Plan HK$298 per month (incl. 100 free hrs) HK$2 per additional hr Mobile telephone service, UAE Etisalat Corporation, GSM Standard Service 125 dirham connection fee; 60 dirham per qtr 0.24/0.18 dirham per min (peak/ offpeak)