ECON3121 Industrial Organisation - 2025
General Course Information
Course Code : ECON3121
Year : 2025
Term : Term 1
Teaching Period : T1
Course Details & Outcomes
Course Description
Industrial Organization is a comprehensive course that studies the behaviour offrms and industries in the modern economic landscape. Through an exploration of market structures (including perfect competition, monopoly, and oligopoly), dynamic strategic interaction, price discrimination, product differentiation, advertising, entry and predation, this course aims to connect theoretical concepts with real-world relevance. By focusing on the behaviour offrms, competition outcomes, and market dynamics, you will develop a deep understanding of the economic forces at play in real-world markets.
Course Aims
This course is offered as part of the economics stream in the BCom and BEc degrees. A prerequisite for this course is ECON2101 Microeconomics 2. It aims to build upon the basic theories learned in Micro 1 (and Micro 2) using the mathematical tools learned in ECON1202 and ECON1203. It is useful but not compulsory to have taken ECON2112 Game Theory and Business Strategy before this course. The course complements ECON3123 Organisational Economics, and acts as a springboard for more advanced courses in industrial organisation and organisational economics.
Course Learning Outcomes
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Course Learning Outcomes
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Program learning outcomes
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CLO1 : Identify economic problems faced by managers to assess trade-offs in decision- making.
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• PLO1 : Business Knowledge
• PLO2 : Problem Solving
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CLO2 : Solve relevant theoretical models and techniques to address economic problems.
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• PLO1 : Business Knowledge
• PLO2 : Problem Solving
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CLO3 : Apply solved models to real-world issues using relevant studies from the
literature to justify proposed solutions.
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• PLO1 : Business Knowledge
• PLO2 : Problem Solving
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CLO4 : Critically analyse the underlying assumptions of formal models and their relevance to real-world scenarios.
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• PLO2 : Problem Solving
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CLO5 : Communicate ideas, intuition, technical explanations, and areas of difculty in a
succinct and logical manner both in teams and to external audiences.
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• PLO3 : Business Communication
• PLO4 : Teamwork
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CLO6 : Identify and assess the social
consequences of managerial decisions to produce suggestions to policymakers.
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• PLO1 : Business Knowledge
• PLO5 : Responsible Business Practice
• PLO6 : Global and Cultural Competence
• PLO7 : Leadership Development
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Course Learning Outcomes
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Assessment Item
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CLO1 : Identify economic problems faced by managers to assess trade-offs in decision- making.
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• Homework Assignments (0%, not marked)
• In-session Test
• Final Exam
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CLO2 : Solve relevant theoretical models and techniques to address economic problems.
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• Homework Assignments (0%, not marked)
• In-session Test
• Final Exam
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CLO3 : Apply solved models to real-world issues using relevant studies from the
literature to justify proposed solutions.
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• Group Project
• Homework Assignments (0%, not marked)
• In-session Test
• Final Exam
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CLO4 : Critically analyse the underlying assumptions of formal models and their relevance to real-world scenarios.
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• Group Project
• Homework Assignments (0%, not marked)
• In-session Test
• Final Exam
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CLO5 : Communicate ideas, intuition, technical explanations, and areas of difculty in a
succinct and logical manner both in teams and to external audiences.
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• Group Project
• Homework Assignments (0%, not marked)
• In-session Test
• Final Exam
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CLO6 : Identify and assess the social
consequences of managerial decisions to produce suggestions to policymakers.
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• Group Project
• Homework Assignments (0%, not marked)
• In-session Test
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Learning and Teaching Technologies
Moodle - Learning Management System | Echo 360 | Zoom
Learning and Teaching in this course
Learning Activities and Teaching Strategies
The examinable content of the course is defned by the references given in the lecture schedule, the content of lectures, and the content of the tutorial program.
Lectures
The purpose of lectures is to provide a logical structure for the topics that make up the course; to emphasise the important concepts and methods of each topic, and to provide relevant examples to which the concepts and methods are applied. The lectures will be delivered in person (please refer to your myUNSW timetable for class time and location), and recordings will be available for streaming and downloading.
Tutorials
Tutorials are an integral part of the subject. Tutorial discussion questions and problems will build on the material discussed in lectures. The tutorials may have two modes -- delivered over Zoom or by face-to-face depending on the mode of the session. The tutorials over Zoom will be recorded and the recordings will be available for streaming and downloading.
Out-of-Class Study
While students may have preferred individual learning strategies, it is important to note that most learning will be achieved outside of class time. Lectures can only provide a structure to assist your study, and tutorial time is limited.
An “ideal” strategy (on which the provision of the course materials is based) might include:
· Reading of the relevant chapter(s) of the textbook before the lecture. This will give you a general idea of the topic area.
· Attendance at lectures. Here the context of the topic in the course and the important elements of the topic are identifed. The relevance of the topic will be explained.
· Attending tutorials and attempting the tutorial questions.
Assessments
Assessment Structure
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Assessment Item
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Weight
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Relevant Dates
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Program learning outcomes
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Homework Assignments
(0%, not marked) Assessment
Format: Individual
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0%
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Start Date: Not Applicable
Due Date: Not Applicable
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Group Project Assessment
Format: Group
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30%
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Start Date: 25/02/2025
09:00 AM
Due Date: 01/05/2025
05:00 PM
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• PLO1 : Business Knowledge
• PLO2 : Problem Solving
• PLO3 : Business Communication
• PLO4 : Teamwork
• PLO5 : Responsible Business Practice
• PLO7 : Leadership Development
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In-session Test
Assessment
Format: Individual
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25%
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Start Date: Online
assessment. Access
window: 3 PM - 5 PM on Saturday, March 22.
Due Date: Online
assessment. Access
window: 3 PM - 5 PM on Saturday, March 22.
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• PLO1 : Business Knowledge
• PLO2 : Problem Solving
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Final Exam Assessment
Format: Individual
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45%
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Start Date: Online
assessment in University Examination Period.
Due Date: Online
assessment in University Examination Period.
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• PLO1 : Business Knowledge
• PLO2 : Problem Solving
• PLO3 : Business Communication
• PLO6 : Global and Cultural Competence
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