Marketing Strategies

Participation Rules
Students must post a minimum of 3 entries per week in at least 2 separate days. Notice, that it is not 3 entries per topic, it is 3 entries in total. Do not wait until the last minute to respond to the threaded discussion. Doing it will certainly not benefit the group learning experience.
Market Structures
Imagine that you are a politician in a town where a multinational retailer is planning to build a new superstore. A local campaign is protesting that it will drive small independent retailers or of business, and thereby reduce consumer choice and change the character of the area. Supporters of the plan argue in turn that this will only happen if consumers prefer the supermarket.
Which side are you on?
Topic Two: Games and Prisoner’s Dilemma
Get familiar with game theory and the Prisoner’s dilemma. Watch the following video in Youtube and maybe other videos of other contestants that lost the game (got $0):

(use this if link is broken: https://youtu.be/S0qjK3TWZE8)
Explain how the Prisoner’s Dilemma was solved in this episode.
Topic Three: News and Microeconomics
This week we focused on four different types of markets: perfect competitive markets, monopoly, oligopoly and monopolistic competition.
Eric Schmidt (ex-CEO of Google) was once asked if Google was a monopoly and if so, whether it should be regulated or broken up. His answer: “Our product is free to the consumer. We welcome any competitors.”
Would you argue that Google is a monopoly or monopolistic competitive firm? Provide at least 2 arguments to support your thinking.
Content Rules
All entries need to meet the criteria of being content driven, complete, considerate, and 1 idea/1 paragraph:

1. Content Driven – this requirement means that the student actively thinks about the question or position stated and adds value to the discussion. Comments such as “I agree” or “That’s right” are not content driven and will not count as valid entries.
2. Short but Complete – Limit your posts to 1-2 paragraphs. However, thoughts need to be fully developed to ensure that when other students and the instructor read the comments they are cogent and coherent. This also means that the entries need to be written in proper business communications format.
3. Considerate – The comments are academic discussions not personal attacks. While you are certainly encouraged to express positions that disagree with other’s thinking, your thoughts must be presented as academic alternative positions with justification and examples to support your alternative position. I will indicate to the entire class what comments are personal attacks and these comments will not count as valid entries.
4. 1 idea/1 paragraph – The entire paragraph should present ONE single idea. If you have other idea, that should go in a separate paragraph. Within a paragraph, the 1st sentence reflects the most important message. Following sentences support the idea mentioned in the 1st sentence. The last sentence concludes the idea.
5. Clearly label the topic (Topic One, Topic Two or Topic Three) you are discussing.
   Grading Rules
   Threaded discussions start on Monday and end on Friday midnight of each week, and grading will be done on Monday of the next week. However, I will moderate the discussions on Wednesdays and Fridays of each week and give some feedback. In terms of grading, if you post 3 or more entries that meet the previous criteria (Content Driven, Complete and Considerate) you will get 100 points. If you post 2 valid entries, you will get 70 points, and if you post only 1 valid entry, you will get 40 points.