School of Management, Unit Catalogue 2010/11 |
MN30447: Antitrust & strategy |
 Credits:
| 6 |
| Level:
| Honours |
| Period: | This unit is available in... |
| Semester 2 |
| Assessment:
| CW 100% |
| Supplementary Assessment: | Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations) |
| Requisites:
| Before taking this unit you must take MN10006 or take MN10070 or take MN50169 |
| Description:
| Aims: This unit aims to encourage students to critically analyse broad legal and economic implications of corporate strategies by examining antitrust/anti-competitive cases. By the end of this unit, students should have developed a wider understanding of how certain business practices or strategies would be influenced by the anti-trust regulation and how/why such regulatory practices may be justified on economic efficiency ground. Learning Outcomes: By the end of this unit, students should have an enhanced appreciation of law and the economic issues of antitrust cases and should be able to analyse the competitive and regulatory environment of a case or an industry and its implications for business strategies and competition policy in the wider context. Students should have also developed the reasoning and communication skills required for future business managers, consultants and lawyers in dealing with business strategies and antitrust cases. Skills: Critical and analytical thinking, and an appreciation of the practical application of the theoretical concepts. Ability to communicate the understanding and the outcome of the analysis in non-academic styles for lay audiences. (F/A). Content: Corporate strategy and competition policy based on antitrust cases: * Horizontal practices - collusion and cartel cases - Bid rigging, price communication and fixing, market share agreement (e.g. BA-Virgin Atlantic) * Network issues - tying and exclusion cases - Aftermarkets, access and network effects, predation (e.g. Microsoft, AOL-Time Warner, Kodak) * Vertical and related market issues - restraints cases - Resale price maintenance, licensing, refusal to supply, bundling (e.g. GE-Honeywell) * Horizontal structure - abuse of dominance cases - Pricing, market definition, effects of merger (e.g. Staples-Office Depot). |