COMM601 – Principles of Managerial Economics

Semester 2, 2023
Assignment 2
Submission deadline: Thursday 26 October 2023 (before 5 pm)
Total marks: 50 marks
Weight: 25% of your final marks
Word limitation: Approximately 2000 -2500 words, excluding references.

Overview
Assignment 2 is a team task. Each team is made up of no more than five (5) members.
You need to select a team leader for coordinating the work. Please work closely with
your team members because each of you will receive the same mark.
You can choose to do Assignment 2 individually if you prefer.
Please let the course examiner know your group information (names and student IDs)
by email.
Please prepare your report in the Cover Page provided. Because each team only needs
to submit one copy, please clearly indicate the member information on the Cover Page
provided. You can ask either your team leader or a member to submit it on your behalf.
Instructions:
 You need to choose a topic for your report. You lose 2 marks if you do not have one.
 You need to include page numbers in your report. You lose 2 marks if you do not
include them.
 It is recommended to use the Calibri 12 point font with 1.5 spacing. Choose the
following alignment: Justified. You may lose 4 marks if you fail to meet the
requirements.
 At least FIVE (5) references are expected. You lose 3-5 marks if you do not meet this
requirement.
APA referencing is essentially required for in-text citations and references. You need
to show evidence of this by including in-text citations throughout your assignment. If
you are unsure how to do APA referencing, please refer to the library recourses. It is
available at:
https://ltl.lincoln.ac.nz/advice/referencing-endnote/?target=apa-style
 Please check the explanation and examples of academic plagiarism if there is a need.
It is available at:
https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism
 You need to include the “Cover Page” provided for your written report. You lose 3
marks if you do not include it.
 If you want to include graphs to facilitate your discussion, you can use hand-drawing
graphs.
 Please submit your Assignment 2 in the Turnitin Dropbox on the Learn Site before the
suggested deadline. A hard copy is not needed.
 The requirements presented below only give you instructions on what you should
write in your report. Because it is a report, it is not appropriate to write answers below
each point.

1
Task requirements
Your task is to analyze the market for a consumer product of your choice. You can choose any
product that you are interested in.

You should:
Clearly and specifically identify the product that you are analyzing (It is acceptable to
choose a product that does not exist). In other words, you can imagine one. Just make sure
in the real markets you can find the substitute products and complementary products for
the product you want to analyze).

Describe the market for this product - What, if any, are the substitute (competing)
products that are available in the market? What, if any, are the complementary products
in the market? Show your work.

Describe the demand side of the market – What are the key factors that influence
consumer choice associated with the demand for the product? How do these factors affect
the demand for the product? Show your works.

Describe the supply side of the market - What are the key factors that influence supply?
How do these factors affect the supply of the product? Show your work.

Without international trade, the product is mainly produced and consumed in country A
(You can identify a country name as an example by yourself or you can just use country A
in your discussions). With international trade, country A may choose to export some of the
products to other countries (i.e. selling at international markets) or import some of the
products from other countries (i.e. purchasing from international markets). Using your
knowledge of international trade, critically discuss under what conditions country A may
choose to export and under what conditions country A may choose to import. Use
examples and graphs to facilitate your discussions if you think you need them.

Supposing the government in country A imposes a 20% tariff on the product imported
from other countries (i.e. the substitute product of your chosen product). Please discuss
the changes in producer surplus and consumer surplus with and without international
trade. Use examples and graphs to facilitate your discussions if you think you need them.
(Note: before you analyze it, you need to decide (assume) the domestic market price and
international market price for the product you have chosen. This can facilitate your
discussions).

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COMM601 – Assignment 2: Marking guide for the written report
4-5 marks 2-3 marks 1 mark 0 marks
Clearly identify the Roughly identify the A product is Fail to identify a
product you are product you are identified but the product
Product analysing. analysing. discussion is not appropriately.
identification clear.
4-5 marks 2-3 marks 1 mark 0 marks
Clearly discuss the Roughly discuss the Roughly discuss the Fail to identify
substitute and substitute and substitute and appropriate
complementary complementary complementary substitute and
The market products of the products of the products. Some complementary
for the product you select. product you select. substitutes and products to the
product complementary product you select.
products discussed
are not really
convincing.
4-5 marks 2-3 marks 1 mark 0 marks
Clearly discuss the Roughly discuss the Roughly discuss the Fail to identify
factors that affect the factors that affect the factors that affect appropriate
demand for the demand for the the demand and factors that affect
Demand and product. Clearly product. Roughly supply of the the supply and the
supply side discuss the factors discuss the factors product. Some demand of the
of the that influence the that influence the factors discussed product.
product supply of the product. supply of the product. are not convincing.
Conditions of 7-10 marks 4-6 marks 1-3 marks 0 marks
international Clearly discuss the Roughly discuss the Roughly discuss the Fail to clearly
trade conditions that conditions that conditions that discuss the
country A imports and country A imports and country A imports conditions that
exports the product. exports the product. and exports the country A imports
Use clear examples. The examples are product. The and exports the
appropriate. examples are not product. Fail to use
convincing. appropriate
examples.
The impact 16 - 20 marks 11 - 15 marks 6 - 10 marks 0 - 5 marks
of tariff on Clearly discussed the Roughly discussed the Roughly discussed Fail to discuss the
consumer impact of tariff on impact of tariff on the impact of tariff impact of tariff on
surplus and consumer surplus and consumer surplus and on consumer consumer surplus
producer producer surplus. producer surplus. surplus and and producer
surplus Make clearly Make roughly producer surplus. surplus
comparisons. comparisons. Make roughly appropriately.
comparisons. some
discussions are not
convincing
4-5 marks 2-3 marks 1 mark 0 mark
Excellent spelling Good spelling Poor spelling Poor spelling
grammar, research grammar, research grammar, research grammar, research
Presentation and referencing and referencing and referencing and referencing
and throughout the throughout the throughout the throughout the
referencing assignment. A assignment with assessment with assessment with
minimum of 5 credible minimal errors. A more than 10 more than 10
academic resources minimum of 4 errors. A minimum errors. No credible
were used. credible academic of 1 credible academic
resources were used. academic resource resources were
used used.