Purpose:  Apply microeconomic knowledge to analyze the success or failure of your firm’s behavior in its market structure using a decision you made. ( The decision should be an actual decision being considered or has already been made by the firm).  You can write this in the first person as the CEO of the company or, if you prefer, write it a business analysis evaluating the firm.

Directions: The paper has four  sections as indicated below and each section should connect to the next in logical fashion.  Your analysis should be written in the first person as you are the decision maker of the firm. Make your points – do your research, give your opinion and use quotes and statistics to prove your statements and  point of view.  Create an economic perspective by writ using microeconomic terms and identify the terms with underlined, bold font. Follow the outline below to create the analysis.

Section 1:  Identification of Market Structure and Competition 

• Calculate HHI to Determine Market Structure; Include Graph of Market Share
• Indicate how the firm exhibits two of the characteristics of the market structure – be specific
• What is the firm’s greatest challenge and/or who is their biggest competitor

Section  2: Decision Making in the Market Structure

• Identify a decision made by the firm or one that the firm is currently contemplating.
• Explain if the decision benefited (or did not benefit) the firm either in terms of profitability or increasing market share ( or did not profit and increase market share) 
  • What did you learn from the effectiveness or lack thereof from this decision?
• Use quotations from outside media sources to support your point of view as well as statistical data, graphs or tables.
•  You may use terms from all chapters to create the economic perspective however specific applications of terms from  Elasticity theory, consumer utility theory, cost theory and market structure references must be used for support of your view
  • terms that are not specifically economic terms may not be counted towards the required number of terms but may be used in the paper:
    • some examples of types of terms not to use terms that are not specific: firm, money, consumer, producer, substitute, compliment, inferior or normal good ( instead use price elasticity of demand or supply, cross price elasticity of demand or income elasticity of demand), profit ( can use the specific type of profit), price, choice, market ( can use specific type of market structure), cost ( can use specific type of market cost), worker, people, labor, corporation, partnership
• Section 3: An Initiative undertaken to improve the community, nation or worldIn nod to Harish Manwani’s Ted Talk, Profit is not the Point, (Links to an external site.) Identify a not for profit service that the firm has initiated or participated in to increase economic wellbeing, improve environmental sustainability or any other program to lend assistance to a community.
  • Be sure this is a non-revenue generating program and a humanitarian or environmental effort.

Section 4: Predictions of the Future

• Given the analysis in the first two sections of the paper, what is your prediction for the future of this firm.  Explore ideas such as changes in behavior to  increase or decease demand or market share, supply challenges,  or any other aspect of its operation that may change in the coming years.  Use a quote from an outside source to support your prediction.