DMSQF ECO2101 Microeconomics

CA1 Individual Project - Instructions for Students

January 2020 Semester (January – March 2020)

CA1 Individual Project Assessment

This CA1 constitutes 30% of the overall ECO2101 Microeconomics course assessment.

Rationale of Individual Project

This individual project allow you to pursue authentic learning and to apply theories taught in class
to real world situations. This encourages independence and self-confidence as well as developing
one’s thinking and analytical skills when working through real world situations.

Choosing Product Market for Analysis

This project involves choosing product market(s) for your project analysis, using microeconomics
concepts discussed in Lectures 1 to 5.

The product or service market can be either general or specific, local or international.

Some examples of product or service market:

• Smartphones (general)
• Apple iphone (specific brand in the smartphone market)
• Starbuck Coffee in China (local, specific to a country)
• Coffee (international)

Choosing Articles as References for Analysis

Search through newspapers sources (other sources are strictly not permitted), either in print or
internet for articles based on the product market you have selected. Articles should contain real
world situations. Articles that contains analysis are not appropriate and should not be used. The
articles must be related to the concepts discussed in Lectures 1 to 5.

Articles must be recent and be from November 2019 onwards.

Select five (5) articles on the SAME PRODUCT MARKET (for example, all 5 articles on coffee) or
DIFFERENT PRODUCT MARKETS (for example, 1st article on coffee, 2nd article on durian, 3rd article
on apparel, 4th article on smartphone and 5th article on electric car).

Each article MUST relates to each of the five (5) microeconomics topics, from Lectures 1 to 5. (For
example, select one article on lecture 1 topic on opportunity cost or PPF, select another on lecture 2
topic on demand and/or supply, and so on).
Analysing your Product Market

For each article, identify the event(s) or phenomena. Summarise these events in your own words.

Analyse these events using the appropriate microeconomic concepts. This is to use microeconomics
concepts to explain the events. Economic diagram(s), where applicable must be drawn to support
your analysis. Reproducing or paraphrasing the article does NOT constitute an analysis.

The following are some suggestions for the analysis:

 Using PPF concept to analyse changes in the production of outputs (lecture 1 topic)
 Using demand determinants to analyse changes in demand as a result of increased competition
of substitute product or service (lecture 2 topic)
 Using market equilibrium analysis to study the impact on changes in equilibrium quantity and
price due to changes in demand and/or supply of a product (lecture 3 topic)
 Using price elasticity of demand to analyse why sales increased only by a small quantity when
there is a significant price promotion or price reduction (lecture 4 topic)
 Using utility theory to explain why consumers prefer one brand versus another brand of
product (lecture 5 topic)

Writing your Report

Use Calibri Font Size 12pt. Number your pages. Use single line spacing. Do a full justification (that is
both left and right justified) of your report.

The report should be between 1000 to 1500 words. Each Analysis should have at least 180 words.

Use the template in Appendix 1 for your report format.

• Limit each analysis to one page.
• Begin each analysis on a new page. For example, analysis 2.1 on a new page, analysis 2.2 on
a new page, and so on.
• Ensure consistency throughout the report. For example, consistent formatting (such as
same font type and font size, same line spacing) throughout the whole report; graphs are
all drawn using the same software such as Powerpoint and not some graphs are drawn
using PowerPoint and some using Word or Excel software.

Report Grading

This is a short report. The key to a good report is to be clear and concise. Report will be graded on
the various report components, namely Introduction, Article Summary, Analysis, Diagrams,
Conclusion, References as well as Report Consistency.

• Penalty will be imposed for late submission of report (within one (1) day after the submission
dateline), plagiarism and use of non-newspaper sources. Plagiarism includes copying from other
student reports, any other sources and economics diagrams from google or other sources.

Submission of Report

Submit the Word format of your report online via eglobal (D2L) by 23 January 2020
11:59am. Reports submitted through other ways (e.g. through email or hardcopy to the lecturer
or the school) will not be accepted.
 Appendix 1

Report Template

ECO2101 Microeconomics
CA1 Individual Report
Singapore Institute of Management
Global Education
Diploma in Management Studies

DMSQF
January to March 2020 Semester

ECO2101 Microeconomics
CA1 Individual Project

23 January 2020

Submitted by :

Name : _____________________
 CONTENT PAGE

Page

1. Introduction x

2. Analysis:

(The Analysis sub-titles below are for illustration purposes)

(The illustration below is where all the 5 articles are from the SAME product market.
You could also have the 5 articles from DIFFERENT product markets.)

2.1 Analysis 1 – Apple’s iphone 8 and iphone 8 Plus Models x

(Topic 1 : PPF and Opportunity Cost)

2.2 Analysis 2 – Apple Ramped up Supply of iphone 8 x

(Topic 2 : Demand and Supply)

2.3 Analysis 3 – iphone Market Share Increased x

- Shift in Demand for Bigger Size iphone 8 plus
(Topic 3 : Market Equilibrium)

2.4 Analysis 4 – Premium Pricing for iphone x

(Topic 4 : Inelastic Demand and Total Revenue)

2.5 Analysis 5 – Higher Value and Premium Status of iphone x

(Topic 5 : Utility)

3. Conclusion x

4. References x
1 Introduction

(One paragraph to explain or discuss why you have selected the product market(s) for
your project.)

(One paragraph to summarise the analysis of all the five articles.)

2 Analysis

2.1 Analysis 1 – Apple’s iphone 8 and iphone 8 Plus Models

(Topic 1 : PPF and Opportunity Cost)

Source : Quote the source of the article or if the article is obtained from the web, quote
the web address

Summary

(one paragraph summarising the key event(s) in the article)

Analysis

(one to two paragraphs on analysing the key event(s) using microeconomic concepts)

(Economic diagram(s) to support the analysis)

2.2 Analysis 2 – Apple Ramp up Supply of iphone 8
(Topic 2 : Demand and Supply)

Source : Quote the source of the article or if the article is obtained from the web, quote
the web address

Summary

(one paragraph summarising the key event(s) in the article)

Analysis

(one to two paragraphs on analysing the key event(s) using microeconomic concepts)

(Economic diagram(s) to support the analysis)

2.3 Analysis 3 – iphone Market Share Increased - Shift in Demand for Bigger Size iphone 8
(Topic 3 : Market Equilibrium)

Source : Quote the source of the article or if the article is obtained from the web, quote
the web address

Summary

(one paragraph summarising the key event(s) in the article)

Analysis

(one to two paragraphs on analysing the key event(s) using microeconomic concepts)

(Economic diagram(s) to support the analysis)

2.4 Analysis 4 – Premium Pricing for iphone
(Topic 4 : Inelastic Demand and Total Revenue)

Source : Quote the source of the article or if the article is obtained from the web, quote
the web address

Summary

(one paragraph summarising the key event(s) in the article)

Analysis

(one to two paragraphs on analysing the key event(s) using microeconomic concepts)

(Economic diagram(s) to support the analysis)

2.5 Analysis 5 – Higher Value and Premium Status of iphone
(Topic 5 : Utility)

Source : Quote the source of the article or if the article is obtained from the web, quote
the web address

Summary

(one paragraph summarising the key event(s) in the article)

Analysis

(one to two paragraphs on analysing the key event(s) using microeconomic concepts)

(Economic diagram(s) to support the analysis)

3 Conclusion

Some suggestions on what you may write on:

One paragraph on the summary of all the analysis (the objective is to present an overall
view or coherent view of all the analysis. It is NOT to be written in a ‘listing’ style where
all the key analysis are listed one by one from topics one to five)

One paragraph on the economic concepts learnt to predict the future trends of price and
quantity in the selected market, etc.

One paragraph on what you have learnt from this project.

References

List the sources of all the articles.

List also other sources of reference, data, or materials used in your report.