Managerial Microeconomics

Author: Krugman, written by, translated by Zhao Yingjun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: There are already many textbooks on microeconomics and managerial economics, and many of them are written by economics masters. However, textbooks that construct a new system with a completely fresh approach are rare. As an excellent intermediate microeconomics textbook, Managerial Microeconomics makes innovative explorations in constructing a new teaching system. Based on the lecture notes of Professor Krugman from the Stanford Graduate School of Business for first-year MBA students, the book is built on the foundation of game theory and strategic thinking theory. Creatively combining microeconomic theory with corporate management practices, it provides readers with a brand-new perspective for thinking about management issues. The book is written in clear and accessible language, with most chapters introduced by simple yet profound real-world cases, making it easy for ambitious managers to understand how to apply economic principles and models to solve the management problems they face. Additionally, the authors introduce concepts such as anonymous markets and personal economics, and incorporate elements previously considered unrelated to economics, such as reputation and credibility, into their analysis. The authors argue that inspired by recent developments in transaction cost economics, information economics, and dynamic analysis theories (such as game theory), integrating economic and organizational behavior theory analysis can significantly enhance the ability of economics to explain the world. The main features of this book are:
1. Emphasizes game theory and strategic thinking theory.
2. Uses numerous real-life cases of famous companies and important industries, such as General Motors, United Airlines, Microsoft, Amazon, and Xerox, to illustrate general economic theories, making the learning process both engaging and enlightening.
3. Provides many valuable management methods for aspiring managers, such as price discrimination, Porter's Five Forces model, risk sharing and distribution, signaling and screening, credibility and reputation, and organizational behavior economics.
4. Offers new learning methods for readers who want to study economics but lack a strong mathematical foundation. Although the book includes the use of calculus, it also provides content on how to perform the same analysis using Excel spreadsheets, which can fully replace the need for calculus. The authors also provide the main spreadsheets used in the book online.
In terms of the organizational structure, the authors propose a new analytical approach: the concept of anonymous markets, where the identities of buyers and sellers are irrelevant in a general sense; and markets where individual characteristics significantly influence transactions, introducing the concept of personal economics and incorporating previously unrelated elements, such as beliefs and feasibility, into the analysis. This book is particularly suitable for MBA students, as well as graduate students and upper-level undergraduates in economics and management.