Managerial Economics: Decision Making with Excel (Includes CD-ROM)

Author: Dai Gengxian, Chen Sixing, Tang Xuemei
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-12-01
Features: This book is based on the practical needs of enterprise management in China, keeping pace with the times, and systematically elaborates on the theory, methods, and applications of managerial economics. It emphasizes the close integration of theory and practice, covering the main fields and theoretical frontiers of modern managerial economics. The book is characterized by its novel content, rigorous theory, innovative concepts, practical methods, and appropriate difficulty level. To meet teaching needs, targeted theoretical reflection questions, practice exercises, and computer-based practice problems using Excel software are provided for each chapter, as well as typical case studies to cultivate students' problem-solving skills. Additionally, a CD-ROM with Excel-based computer experiments is included. A teaching reference CD-ROM containing multimedia teaching materials, various types of question banks, reference answers and solutions to typical problems, and case analyses is also being developed to enhance the practicality and operability of the teaching system.
This book is designed for undergraduate and vocational college students majoring in business administration, marketing, and economic information, as well as for management personnel engaged in enterprise operations and management, graduate students in economic management, and civil servants.
The sound of history has struck the 21st century. China has joined the WTO, and its economy has begun to integrate into the global economy. The world is watching China. After more than 20 years of economic reform, the new socialist market economy system in China has gradually taken shape in the East. China's sustained high-speed economic growth has brought vitality to Chinese enterprises and provided a broad stage for the growth and success of Chinese management talents. The times call for professional managers who can compete in the international market, as well as entrepreneurs, economists, management professionals, and civil servants who master market economy theory. China's reform and opening-up need a large number of talents. Talent cultivation relies on education, and high-level education urgently needs first-class teaching materials that are aligned with international standards while also being suitable for China's realities, especially for undergraduate and vocational college students, for whom such teaching materials are relatively scarce.
To meet market demand, teachers from universities who are committed to teaching economic management have voluntarily formed the writing team for this book. Through market research and combined with years of experience in teaching managerial economics, we have positioned this book as an applied and practical textbook in managerial economics. The book has the following features:
First, comprehensive and novel content. The core content of managerial economics for undergraduate teaching includes supply and demand, production decision analysis, cost theory, enterprise profits, market structure, pricing decisions, and the role of government in the market economy. As an expansion of the managerial economics perspective, the book provides a detailed introduction to investment decision-making and risk analysis, as well as game theory and competitive strategy selection. The renowned economist Jean Tirole said, "Just as rational expectations revolutionized macroeconomics, game theory has profoundly changed the way economists think." Game theory has equipped businesses with a powerful tool for competition and cooperation in the market economy. Through theoretical learning, managers can develop an economic intuition and use the penetration of rational thinking to analyze business decision-making problems in practice. This is a necessary economic thinking ability for any high-quality manager.
Second, a combination of theory and practice. How to learn from and utilize the reasonable core of Western managerial economics theory to create a managerial economics with Chinese characteristics that promotes and guides the development and improvement of the socialist market economy system is one of the purposes of studying this course and writing this book. Managerial economics is an applied economics that applies economic principles to business management decision-making and optimizing decision solutions. It includes both microeconomic principles and methods, as well as decision-analysis tools and techniques, both qualitative and quantitative analysis. This discipline has three points of integration: First, combining the theory of managerial economics with the actual business decision-making of enterprises, which is achieved through typical case studies and assignments in this book. Second, combining the rational analysis of managerial economics with mathematical analysis, which is achieved through numerous calculation examples and exercises at the end of each chapter. Third, combining the theory, methods, and computer software tools of managerial economics. For some calculation methods, complex typical examples, or cases requiring dynamic data and graphical analysis, software like Excel can provide accurate and efficient solutions, which greatly helps readers deepen their understanding and application of the theory.
Third, forming a scientific teaching and learning curriculum system. Most textbooks serve as a blueprint for teaching and learning and are essential in teaching practice, making it particularly important to design a scientific curriculum system based on the objective laws and procedures of teaching. The structure of this textbook is designed with content summaries, key points, and difficulties at the beginning of each chapter, followed by summaries, case studies, theoretical reflection questions, practice exercises, and computer-based practice problems. Each chapter includes theoretical elaborations, examples, case studies, and calculation methods, all arranged to align as closely as possible with teaching principles. Additionally, as an extension of this textbook, we have created a multimedia CD-ROM containing interactive multimedia teaching materials, various types of question banks, some reference answers, typical case analyses, and computer-based practice tutorials using Excel. This further broadens the perspective of managerial economics and facilitates teaching and learning.
Success in learning requires effort and interest. Through these efforts, we hope to make managerial economics, which may seem mysterious and highly theoretical, more approachable to readers, enabling them to delve deeper and develop the ability to analyze business management decision-making in an abstract and theoretical manner. We aim to cultivate students' ability to apply theories and methods to solve practical problems. If this book can serve as a stepping stone for this purpose, we will be extremely gratified.
Chapters 1, 6, 7, 8, and 11 were written by Associate Professor Dai Gengxian (School of Business Administration, Hunan University), Chapters 3 and 4 were written by Associate Professor Chen Sixing (Central South University), and Chapters 2, 5, 9, and 10 were written by Teacher Tang Xuemei (Ph.D. student at Central South University). The entire book was edited by Associate Professor Dai Gengxian.
During the publishing process, this book received support and assistance from academic colleagues such as Professor Liu Jingnan, President of Wuhan University, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Doctoral Supervisor; Professor Chen Shou, Vice President of Hunan University and Doctoral Supervisor; Professor Xie Chi, Executive Dean of the School of Business Administration, Hunan University, and Doctoral Supervisor; Professor Lu Xiangguang, Director of the Management Department, Hunan University of Economics and International Business; and Associate Professor Zeng NanGui, Director of the Computer Science Department, Hunan University of Economics and International Business. We also extend our heartfelt gratitude to the leaders and editors of China Development Press for their strong support. Additionally, we have referenced and cited the works and literature of some domestic and international peers. Here, we express our sincere thanks to all scholars, colleagues, and friends who have helped with the publication of this book.
Due to the limitations of the authors, shortcomings and errors in the book are inevitable. We sincerely hope that scholars, colleagues, and teachers and students who use this textbook will kindly provide criticism and corrections.