AØKK08391U Seminar: Getting Inside the Digital Economies

Volume 2019/2020
Education

MSc programme in Economics

The seminar is primarily for students at the MSc of Economics

Content

The objective of this seminar is to enable the student to understand how the new digital economy work when earnings are made from a different source than the direct service delivered. Also, it is the objective to enable the student to apply known economic models to the altered digital market system. Three examples on possible discussions that could be made in this seminar:

  • How could Facebook, Google and Uber become so profitable, when the service they provide is free?
  • What is the impact when megamarkets such as Amazon or Alibaba enter an industry?
  • Is it possible (and if so how) to move or integrate a business to an online business environment?
Learning Outcome

After completing the seminar the student is expected to be able to fulfill the learning outcome specified in the Curriculum and to be able to:

 

Knowledge:

  • Understand how the digital economies work, how profits are made and how the economic models from “old” economies can be applied to the digital economy.
  • Account for how digital economies work both in existing (non-digital) industries and in digital industries.
  • Describe how the digital economy is either similar to or different from the “old” economy and put it in perspective to known economic models from either industrial organization or micro economic theory.
  • Define what economic model that will be best suited to describe a business operating in a digital economy. The arguments for the description must be soundly founded.

 

Skills:

  • Analyze a business or an industry and be able to advocate for or against if either is able to perform well in a digital economy.
  • Evaluate what parameters that describe either a business or an industry and compare these parameters with known economic models.
  • Discuss the possible economic consequences for a business or an industry if it either initiates in a digital economy or how it will be influenced by competition from a digital service or product.

 

Competencies:

  • Plan a move into a digital economy either for an existing business or for a new initiative or company.
  • Implement the necessary steps in order to execute the planned move into a digital economy. This ability of implementation will also be based on the recognition of the underlying economic model.
  • Identify and initiate collaborations within the business or industry with relevant parties that will help execute the planned move of a business into a digital economy.
Literature

This list is not complete and is only to give a perspective on the areas that are relevant to the seminar.Hence, it will of course not be expected nor necessary to have read all the below mentioned litterature:

  • Kim, W.C.; Mauborgne, R. (2005). Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN 978-1591396192.
  • Porter, Michael E. (1985). Competitive Advantage. Free Press. ISBN 0-684-84146-0.
  • Malinvaud, Edmond. Lectures on microeconomic theory, North-Holland, 1972. ISBN: 9780444876508
  • Tirole, Jean: “The Theory of Industrial Organization” MIT press, 1988, ISBN: 9780262200714
  • Tapscott, Don (2015): “The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence Anniversary Edition” McGraw-Hill. ISBN-13: 978-0070622005
  • Juan-José Ganuza and Gerard Llobert (2018). “ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION”. Funcas. ISBN: 978-84-15722-94-6

 

Articles and papers:

  • OECD (2017). Trust in Peer Platform Markets. OECD Digital Economy Papers November 2017 No. 263

 

Must read: Before attending the seminar the students are expected to have read

  • Avi Goldfarb, Catherine Tucker (2017). Digital Economics. NBER Working Paper No. 23684
BSc in Economics or similar
This seminar will draw on models from industrial organization and microeconomic theory as basics to understand and recognize how the digital economics work.

Hence the student should have a basic knowledge on Industrial Organization having followed the courses Industrial Organization and Microeconomic I + II at the Study of Economics, Copenhagen University, or have interest within these subjects.

The student will benefit from attending one of the courses Advanced Industrial Organization, Advanced Strategic Management or Strategic Management at the Study of Economics, Copenhagen University, or similar, but is not a prerequisite for taking the seminar

The approach to the seminar is seen from a business perspective, so there will only be little reference to the macro-economic impacts from the digital economy.
Activities:
- Kick-off meeting
- Finding literatur and defining the project
- Writing process of the seminar paper
- Presentation of own project and paper
- Giving constructive feedback to another student´s paper
- Actively participating in discussions at the presentations and other meetings.

At the seminar the student is trained independently to
- identify and clarify a problem,
- seek and select relevant literatur,
- write a academic paper,
- present and discuss own paper with the other students at the seminar.

The aim of the presentations is, that the student uses the presentation as an opportunity to practice oral skills and to receive feedback. The presentations is not a part of the exam and will not be assessed.

There is no weekly teaching/lecturing and the student cannot expect guidance from the teacher. If the teacher gives a few introduction lectures or gives the opportunity for guidance, this as well as other expectations are clarified at the kickoff meeting.

Process:
It is strongly recommended that you think about and search for a topic before the semester begins, as there is only a few weeks from the kick-off meeting to the submission of the project description/ agreement paper.

Before the presentations, your nearly finished version of the seminar project paper must be uploaded in Absalon, as the opponents and the other seminar participants have to read and comment on the paper. It is important that you upload a paper that is so finalized as possible due to the fact that the value of feedback and comments at the presentation is strongly associated with the skill level of the seminar paper.

After the presentations, you can with a few corrections improve the seminar paper by including the feedback and comments emerged during the presentations. It is NOT intended that you rewrite or begin the writing of the full project AFTER the presentation has taken place.
Schedule:

Spring 2020:
• Kick-off meeting: 5 February 2020 at 8.15-10.00
• Deadline of commitment paper: not later than March 1st at 10 AM
• Deadline of pre-paper upload in Absalon: A week before the presentations
• Presentations/Workshops: One to three days between 1st and 22th of May. Exact days will be planned at the kick-off meeting.

All information regarding the seminar is communicated through Absalon including venue. So it is very important that you by yourself logon to Absalon and read the information already when you are registered at the seminar.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Project work
  • 186
  • Seminar
  • 20
  • Total
  • 206
Oral
Individual
Collective
Feedback by final exam (In addition to the grade)
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written examination
A seminar paper in English that meets the formal requirements for written papers stated in the curriculum and at KUNet for seminars.
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Exam registration requirements

Attendance in all  activities at the seminar as stated in the formal requrements in the Curriculum  and at the KUnet for Seminars (UK)  and  Seminars (DK)  is required to participate in the exam.

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Aid
All aids allowed

for the seminar paper.

The teacher defines the aids that must be used for the presentations.

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Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
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Exam period

Regular exam:

Spring 2020:

Deadline for submitting the final seminar paper: June 2, 2020 before 10 AM

 

Exam information:

The seminar paper must be uploaded to the Digital Exam. More information will be available from the middle of the semester.

 

More information about examination, rules, aids etc. at Master (UK) and Master (DK ).

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Re-exam

Reexam information:

The reexam is a written seminar paper as stated in the Curriculum.

Deadline and more information is available at Seminars(UK) and Seminars(DK).

More information about reexam etc is available at Master(UK)andMaster(DK).

Criteria for exam assesment

Students are assessed on the extent to which they master the learning outcome for the seminar and can make use of the knowledge, skills and competencies listed in the learning outcomes in the Curriculum of the Master programme.

 

To receive the top grade, the student must with no or only a few minor weaknesses be able to demonstrate an excellent performance displaying a high level of command of all aspects of the relevant material.