Course content
The students should get an introduction to industrial organization. They should understand the basic microeconomic models of industrial organization, such as monopoly theory and oligopoly theory and their underlying intuitions. They should get acquainted with some basic concepts of game theory and with theories that explain collusive behaviour, product differentiation, market entry and exit, and the development of markets over time. They should also learn to know empirical regularities around these issues and empirical approaches which try to identify market structure and the level of market power in industries.
The theories and empirical approaches will be covered in class and should be used by the students to analyse the market structure, the type of competition, the level of market power and the strategies that firms use to maintain their market power in real world industries from potentially all parts of the world. In addition the main features of the anti-trust policies in Europe and in the US will be discussed.
The taught theory will be practically applied when discussing small cases in class. The course is related to a business and/or an institutional setting because the small cases are related to specific firms and the students will be introduced into the workings of the anti-trust authorities in the US, the EU and Denmark. The course is also related to international business and/or economics since the small cases focus on global strategies of multi-national firms, on global markets and on national markets in different countries.
See course description in course catalogue