A successful manager seeks to anticipate the strategic behaviour of competitors. A manager must also be able to deal with people’s different motives and with major uncertainties in the decision-making process. Dealing with these issues is the essence of business strategy and economic management. Study in this area provides students with the tools to understand the fundamental economic behaviour that underlies all business decisions. Hence, it allows future managers to make informed decisions throughout their careers.

Strategic decision-making is not only useful for relations with competitors, but for relations with suppliers, customers, business partners, and for the range of relations inside the firm. Employees, managers, shareholders and the board of directors all have different goals, and they behave strategically, not unlike competitors. They also have “incomplete information” about each other: Because employees and managers have complex skills and assignments, others cannot perfectly assess them through performance evaluations. And each employee understands certain aspects of the business and its customers better than others. Economics allows managers and owners to structure divisions, teams and salary packages for employees to gain the highest profits. The flexibility of strategic thinking tools from economics allows a manager to deal with any new situations that arise - be it new research projects, start-up businesses, or business alliances.

Honours level study is also available in Business Strategy and Economic Management.

Students interested in Honours should refer to the Honours plan record for entry requirements.

Please note that these requirements may be subject to change.
Students are advised to follow requirements according to the year they commenced. Please refer to previous editions of the Online Handbook for your program requirements.

Contact the Australian School of Business Student Centre for advice.
tel: + 61 2 9385 3189
location: Ground Floor, West Wing, Australian School of Business Building
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