1 introduction to managerial economics

Managerial Economics& Financial Analysis
1| Mohammad Imran
Introduction To Managerial Economics
Introduction to Economics
Economics is a study of human activity both at individual and national level. The economists of
early age treated economics merely as the science of wealth. The reasonfor this is clear. Every one of us
in involvedin efforts aimed at earningmoney andspendingthis money to satisfy ourwantssuchas food,
Clothing, shelter, and others. Such activities of earning and spending money are called “Economic
activities”. It was only duringthe eighteenth centurythat Adam Smith, the Fatherof Economics, defined
economics as the study of nature and uses of national wealth’.
Dr. Alfred Marshall,one of the greatesteconomistsof thenineteenthcentury,writes “Economics
is a study of man’s actions in the ordinary businessof life: it enquireshow he gets his income andhow he
uses it”.
Thus, it is one side, a study of wealth; and on the other, and more important side; it is the study
of man. AsMarshallobserved,thechief aim of economics is to promote‘humanwelfare’, butnot wealth.
The definition given by ACPigouendorsestheopinion of Marshall.PigoudefinesEconomics as“the study
of economic welfare thatcan be broughtdirectly andindirectly, into relationshipwith the measuringrod
of money”.
Lord Keynes defined economics as ‘the study of the administration of scarce means and the
determinants of employments and income”.
Microeconomics
The study of an individual consumer or a firm is called microeconomics (also called the Theory of
Firm). Micro means ‘one millionth’. Microeconomics deals with behaviour and problems of single
individual and of micro organization. Managerialeconomics has its roots in microeconomics and it deals
with the micro or individualenterprises.It is concernedwith the applicationof theconcepts suchas price
theory, Law of Demand and theories of market structure and so on.
Macroeconomics
The studyof ‘aggregate’ortotallevel of economics activity in a country is called macroeconomics.
It studies the flow of economics resources or factors of production (such as land, labour, capital,
organisationandtechnology)from theresource owner to thebusinessfirms and thenfrom the business
firms to the households. It deals with total aggregates, for instance, total national income total
employment, output and total investment. It studies the interrelations among various aggregates and
examines their natureand behaviour,their determination andcauses of fluctuationsin the. It deals with
the price level in general, instead of studying the prices of individual commodities. It is concerned with
the level of employment in the economy. It discusses aggregate consumption, aggregate investment,
price level, and payment, theories of employment, and so on. Though macroeconomics provides the
necessary framework in term of governmentpolicies etc., for the firm to act upon dealing with analysis
of business conditions, it has less direct relevance in the study of theory of firm.

2| Mohammad Imran
Management
Management is the science and art of getting things done throughpeople in formally organized
groups.It is necessary thatevery organisationbe well managed to enable it to achieve its desired goals.
Management includes a number of functions: Planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling.
The managerwhile directing the efforts of his staff communicates to themthe goals, objectives, policies,
and procedures; coordinates their efforts; motivates them to sustain their enthusiasm; and leads them
to achieve the corporate goals.
Managerial Economics
Introduction
Managerial Economics refers to the firm’s decision making process. It could be also interpreted
as “Economics of Management” or “Economics of Management”.
Managerial Economics is also called as “Industrial Economics” or “Business Economics”. As Joel
Dean observes managerial economics shows how economic analysis can be used in formulating polices.
Meaning & Definition:
In the words of E. F. Brigham and J. L. Pappas Managerial Economics is “the applications of economics
theory and methodology to business administration practice”.
Managerial Economics bridges the gap between traditional economics theory and real business practices in
two days. First it provides a number of tools and techniques to enable the manager to become more competent
to take decisions in real and practical situations. Secondly it serves as an integrating course to show the
interaction between various areas in which the firm operates.
Nature of Managerial Economics
Managerialeconomics is, perhaps, the youngestof allthe social sciences. Since it originates from
Economics, it hasthebasis featuresof economics, suchasassumingthatotherthingsremainingthesame
(or the Latin equivalent ceteris paribus). This assumption is made to simplify the complexity of the
managerial phenomenon under study in a dynamic business environment so many things are changing
simultaneously.
This set a limitation that we cannot really hold other things remaining the same. In such a case,
the observations made out of such a study will have a limited purpose or value. Managerial economics
also has inherited this problem from economics. Further,it is assumed that the firm or the buyer acts in
a rational manner (which normally does not happen). The buyer is carried away by the advertisements,
brand loyalties, incentives and so on, and, therefore, the innate behaviour of the consumer will be
rational is not a realistic assumption. Unfortunately, there are no other alternatives to understand the
subject other thanby making such assumptions.This is because the behaviourof a firm or a consumer is
a complex phenomenon.
The otherfeatures of managerialeconomics are explained as below:
(a) Close to microeconomics: Managerial economics is concerned with finding the solutions for
different managerial problems of a particular firm. Thus, it is more close to microeconomics.

3| Mohammad Imran
(b) Operates against the backdrop of macroeconomics: The macroeconomics conditions of the
economy are also seen as limiting factors for the firm to operate. In other words, the managerial
economist has to be aware of the limits set by the macroeconomics conditions such as government
industrial policy, inflation and so on.
(c)Normativestatements:A normative statementusuallyincludesor implies the words ‘ought’or
‘should’. They reflect people’s moral attitudes and are expressions of what a team of people ought to
do. For instance, it deals with statements such as ‘Government of India should open up the economy.
Such statement are based on value judgments and express views of what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘right’ or ‘
wrong’. One problem with normative statements is that they cannot to verify by looking at the facts,
because they mostly deal with the future. Disagreements about such statements are usually settled by
voting on them.
(d) Prescriptive actions: Prescriptive action is goal oriented. Given a problem and the objectives
of the firm, it suggests the course of action from the available alternatives for optimal solution. If does
not merely mention the concept, it alsoexplains whether the concept can be applied in a given context
on not.For instance, the fact that variablecosts are marginal costs can be used to judge the feasibility of
an export order.
(e) Applied in nature: ‘Models’ are built to reflect the real life complex business situations and
these models are of immense help to managers for decision-making. The different areas where models
are extensively used include inventory control, optimization, project management etc. In managerial
economics, we also employ case study methods to conceptualize the problem, identify that alternative
and determine the best course of action.
(f) Offers scope to evaluate each alternative: Managerial economics provides an opportunity to
evaluateeach alternativein terms of its costsand revenue. The managerialeconomist can decide which
is the better alternative to maximize the profits for the firm.
(g) Interdisciplinary:Thecontents,toolsandtechniquesof managerialeconomics are drawnfrom
different subjects such as economics, management, mathematics, statistics, accountancy, psychology,
organizational behaviour, sociology and etc.
(h) Assumptions and limitations: Every concept and theory of managerial economics is based on
certain assumptionand as such their validity is not universal.Where there is change in assumptions,the
theory may not hold good at all.
Scope of Managerial Economics:
The scope of managerial economics refers to its area of study. Managerial economics refers to its area
of study. Managerial economics, Provides management with a strategic planning tool that can be used
to get a clear perspective of the way the business world works and what can be done to maintain
profitability in an ever-changing environment. Managerial economics is primarily concerned with the
application of economic principles and theories to five types of resource decisions made by all types of
business organizations.
a. The selection of product or service to be produced.
b. The choice of productionmethods and resource combinations.
c. The determination of the best price and quantity combination
d. Promotional strategyand activities.

4| Mohammad Imran
e. The selection of the location from which to produce and sellgoods or service to consumer.
The productiondepartment,marketing and salesdepartment and the finance departmentusually
handlethese five types of decisions.
The scope of managerialeconomics covers two areasof decision making
a. Operational or Internal issues
b. Environmental or External issues
a. Operational issues:
Operational issuesrefer to those, which wise within the businessorganization and they are under
the controlof the management. Those are:
1. Theory of demandand Demand Forecasting
2. Pricing and Competitive strategy
3. Production cost analysis
4. Resource allocation
5. Profit analysis
6. Capital or Investment analysis
7. Strategic planning
1. Demand Analyses and Forecasting:
A firm can survive only if it is able to the demand for its product at the right time, within the right
quantity. Understanding the basic concepts of demand is essential for demand forecasting. Demand
analysis should be a basic activity of the firm because many of the other activities of the firms depend
upon the outcome of the demand for cost. Demand analysis provides: 1. The basis for analyzing market
influences onthefirms; productsandthushelpsintheadaptationtothoseinfluences. 2. Demand analysis
also highlightsfor factors, which influence the demand for a product.This helps to manipulate demand.
Thus demand analysis studies not only the price elasticity but also income elasticity, cross elasticity as
well as the influence of advertising expenditure with the adventof computers, demand forecasting has
become an increasingly important function of managerial economics.
2. Pricing and competitive strategy:
Pricing decisions have been always within the preview of managerial economics. Pricing policies are
merely a subset of broader class of managerial economic problems. Price theory helps to explain how
prices are determined under different types of market conditions. Competitions analysis includes the
anticipation of the response of competitions the firm’s pricing, advertising and marketing strategies.
Product line pricing and price forecasting occupy an important place here.
3. Production and cost analysis:
Production analysis is in physical terms. While the cost analysis is in monetary terms cost concepts and
classifications, cost-out-put relationships, economies and diseconomies of scale and production
functions are some of the points constituting cost and production analysis.
4. Resource Allocation:
ManagerialEconomics is the traditionaleconomic theory thatis concernedwith the problemof optimum
allocation of scarce resources. Marginal analysis is applied to the problem of determining the level of
output, which maximizes profit. In this respect linear programming techniques has been used to solve

5| Mohammad Imran
optimization problems. In fact lines programming is one of the most practical and powerful managerial
decision making tools currently available.
5. Profit analysis:
Profit making is the major goal of firms. There are several constraints here an account of competition
from other products,changinginput prices and changingbusiness environment hence in spite of careful
planning, there is always certain risk involved. Managerial economics deals with techniques of averting
of minimizing risks. Profit theory guides in the measurement and management of profit, in calculating
the pure return on capital, besides future profit planning.
6. Capital or investment analyses:
Capital is the foundation of business.Lack of capital may resultin small size of operations. Availability of
capital from various sources like equity capital, institutional finance etc. may help to undertake large-
scale operations. Hence efficient allocation and management of capital is one of the most important
tasksof themanagers.The major issuesrelatedtocapital analysisare: 1.The choice of investmentproject
2. Evaluationof the efficiency of capital3. Mostefficient allocationof capital Knowledgeof capitaltheory
can help very much in taking investment decisions. This involves, capital budgeting, feasibility studies,
analysis of cost of capital etc.
7. Strategic planning:
Strategic planningprovides management with a framework on which long-term decisions can be made
which has animpact onthe behaviorof thefirm. The firm setscertain long-termgoalsandobjectives and
selects the strategies to achieve the same. Strategic planning is now a new addition to the scope of
managerial economics with the emergence of multinational corporations. The perspective of strategic
planning is global. It is in contrast to project planning which focuses on a specific project or activity. In
fact the integration of managerial economics and strategic planning has given rise to be new area of
study called corporate economics.
B. Environmental or External Issues:
An environmental issue in managerial economics refers to the general business environment in which
the firm operates. They refer to general economic, social and political atmosphere within which the firm
operates. A study of economic environment should include: a. The type of economic system in the
country. b. The general trends in production, employment, income, prices, saving and investment. c.
Trends in the working of financial institutions like banks, financial corporations,insurance companies d.
Magnitudeandtrendsinforeigntrade;e. Trendsin labourandcapitalmarkets;f.Government’seconomic
policies viz. industrialpolicy monetary policy, fiscal policy, price policy etc. The social environmentrefers
to social structure as well as social organization like trade unions, consumer’s co-operative etc. The
Political environment refers to the nature of state activity, chiefly states’ attitude towards private
business, political stability etc. The environmental issues highlight the social objective of a firm i.e.; the
firm owes a responsibility to the society. Private gains of the firm alone cannot be the goal. The
environmental or external issues relate managerial economics to macro-economic theory while
operationalissuesrelatethe scope tomicro economic theory. The scope of managerialeconomics is ever
widening with the dynamic role of big firms in a society.

1 introduction to managerial economics

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