Start with Foundations, then read the numbered chapters in order. Each chapter closes with a study map and five public practice questions. Use the questions to test your reasoning; your course’s assignment instructions determine which work to submit.
The key-term index links back to explanations in the chapters. Two worked reasoning examples show how to move from a plausible claim to a defensible recommendation. They are public learning aids, not answers to the chapter assignments.
Readings
- Foundations: Economic Reasoning for Business Decisions
- 1. Managers, Value, and Organizational Design
- 2. Costs, Capacity, and Better Decisions
- 3. Customers, Competition, and Pricing
- 4. Strategy, Bargaining, and Commitment
- 5. Information and Decision Rights
- 6. Measuring Performance
- 7. Compensation, Incentives, and Risk
- 8. Hiring, Retention, and Careers
- 9. Jobs, Teams, and Internal Organization
- 10. Budgets, Divisions, and Transfer Prices
- 11. Firm Boundaries and Business Relationships
- 12. Governance, Change, and Organizational Fit
Use the examples actively
Before looking at a worked calculation, name the alternatives and identify what changes between them. After reading it, change one assumption and ask whether the recommendation survives. For a written recommendation, explain why the proposed arrangement changes someone’s choices and what it costs to operate.
A performance improvement is not automatically evidence of greater effort or proof that a new policy worked. Keep asking what else could explain the result and what information would change your decision.