Economics 125 -- Global Competition and Competitiveness

Texts

• Michael Porter, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, The Free Press: New York, 1990
• Michael L. Dertouzos, Richard K. Lester and Robert M. Solow, Made in America, MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1989. (DLS)

Grading

• Your grade in this course will total 1300 points and be compiled as follows:
• There will be two one-hour exams worth 150 points each and a final exam worth 260 points.  There will be four student researched and written reports on examples of competitiveness worth 50 points each.  There will be 12 weekly in-class case discussions worth 20 points each, and 15 written microtheme assignments worth 20 points each.  A missed assignment will receive a grade of zero in the absence of an acceptable and verifiable excuse.  There are no excuses for a missed microtheme.  No make-up exams or substitute assignments will be allowed.  I reserve the right to alter your final mark by up to 1/2 letter grade depending upon the quality of your class participation.
• The university policy regarding academic honesty will be in full force at all times.

Student Competitiveness Assignments

Four times during the semester each student must find, research, analyze and provide a type written report on a competitiveness case found in a non-newspaper source. The purpose of the exercise is to get you to think independently and creatively about the problem of competitiveness. The analysis is to be no less than 1 and 1/2 nor more than 2 typed pages. It is not to be a summary of the article but rather, it should accomplish as much as possible of the following: 

• Identify the competitive focus (issues) of the article 
• Explain how competition is taking place -- tools, concepts
• Identify the leaders and explain why they are successful or failing
• Identify the role of prices, differentiation, costs, innovation, entry, scale, etc...
• Analyze any international aspects
• Examine any efficiency elements such as cost reduction or productivity upgrading
• Compare the article to class material developed so far. Identify the article as important because it: reinforces, extends, or contradicts a specific concept discussed in class
Your competitive report should have a title page with: (click for details)
• Your name, course, assignment
• Article title, including source, date and page
• The following summary outline in one-line bullet form:

• Group focus -- product, firm, industry, nation
• Domestic or international competition
• Competitive focus
• Form of competition / competitiveness
• Identify leaders / participants
• Why leaders are successful or failing
• Goal of competitive activity
• Efficiency aspects
• Relevance of article

You must hand in two Xeroxed copies of the article.

Good but not exclusive reference sources would include the following publications (some of these sources may have web sites with interesting articles):

Fortune magazine The Economist Time Harvard Business Review

Inc.  U.S. News and World Report  Business Week  Forbes Newsweek

You are restricted in your source search to the following: 

• Assignment #1 -- Any source dated 1/1/00 to 6/30/00
• Assignment #2 -- Any source dated 1998 or 1999
• Assignment #3 -- Any source dated 7/1/00 to 12/31/00
• Assignment #4 -- Any source dated in 2001

Your grade will depend upon the following: 

• The quality of the article selected: technical sophistication, focus on key issues
• The insight and analytical content of your report
• The quality and style of your written presentation
• The quality of your oral presentation, when requested

Small GroupDiscussion and Peer Review Process

Some of the cases, microthemes and competitiveness assignments will be discussed within small, in-class groups. The group will be responsible for a collective response or analysis toward the end of the class. Group response grades may be assigned to each member where appropriate. Groups will be formed by me, using the seating arrangement, and will be changed at least once during the semester.

A peer review process will be employed to evaluate the quality of the student competitiveness assignments. You will read a class member's assignment, and construct a written, and graded evaluation of that effort. You will be supplied with a pre-printed form to guide you in your assessment. Your written evaluation will serve as a microtheme for you, and receive a grade. Be careful: a poorly done evaluation, or an unjustly praiseworthy one, will result in a low microtheme grade for you. Your goal is to be tough, but fair, in your evaluation of the work of others. You may wish to use the following grading guidelines in forming your evaluation: 

• "a" - outstanding work: significant, insightful, creative
  "b" - much better than average: thoughtful, important
  "c" - work expected from the typical/average college student
  "d" - below average: dull, lacking imagination, error prone, lacking in importance or thoughtful evaluation.
  "f" - failing: unworthy of recognition
  You may add a "+" or "-" to your grade evaluation, as you see fit.

Case Assignments

There are 12 case studies, some with accompanying microthemes, which will usually be discussed on Wednesdays. You must read the case before class, and be prepared to answer questions as well as discuss competitive aspects of each case. Your case grade will depend upon the quality of your oral participation that day. An unexcused absence from class will result in a case grade of zero.

Microtheme Assignments

Typical microtheme assignments will involve an article or collection of articles on a specific competitiveness topic. They will be accompanied by a brief list of questions for which you must provide a prose, type-written response of no more than one page in total. The response is to be an answer to the question(s) not a summary of the article. To get the most out of each assignment, you should always ask yourself: why was this article assigned? How does it relate to the topics in our earlier classes or readings? 

There will be a minimum of 20 microtheme assignments worth 20 points each. The fifteen highest scores will count towards your final grade. Microtheme responses are due at the start of the next class following their assignment. No had written or late responses will be accepted. All microtheme topics are possible subjects for exam questions.