Econ 2201 Section 011 Fall 2017: Tencent Company
（20% Research Project: Each student will be responsible for picking a research topic and writing an 6-10-page essay, worth 10% of the grade, and then present their research in a 5-10 minute video for the remaining 10%. Students may either take a topic we discuss in class and go more in depth or research a topic we do not discuss, if it relates to microeconomics. Some examples of fields within economics that could inspire an excellent research topic (but are too broad to be topics in and of themselves) include:
Health economics, industrial organization, labor economics, behavioral economics, economic development, economics of inequality/poverty, economics of education, economics of sports, or economic history）The above is the requirements for this ESSAY Project. This class is intermediate Microeconomic theory, My topic is to research on the electronic payment area from Tencent company, combine the social application, online game area development to microeconomic also its market share, it is better to connect it to demand, supply theory, and national income, utility, such kind of microeconomic principle and explain why it has such development these day. I will sent the syllabus.
Econ 2201- Section 011 – Fall 2017 Syllabus Thursdays – 6:30 – 9:00 pm – Oak Hall Room 112
Course Description: Econ 2201 is an intermediate course in microeconomics. In this course, we will build on your knowledge gained from Econ 1201. We will start the semester by discussing the concepts of consumer and producer theory. We will first examine the process by which consumers make choices based on scarcity. Then, we will study how firms make decisions in a variety of different circumstances. We will examine market interactions between consumers and producers. Finally, we will discuss market failures including situations involving asymmetric information and when the government must intervene in the economy. A typical class will begin with a lecture and end with group work. Questions are welcomed and encouraged in my class, and I expect students to be active participants in each class.
Course Objectives: Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: - Define the economic problem faced by individuals- Define the economic problem faced by firms- Use functions and graphs to explain how supply and demand interact in markets to determine prices and quantities; and given information about changes in markets, use both mathematical and graphical tools to predict changes in prices and quantities- Solve the problem of profit maximization for firms in a variety of market structures- Explain how market failures can be addressed through government intervention - Attain expertise in a specific economic topic of their choosing through research and communicate their expertise to others through both writing and speaking- Succeed academically in future economics courses
Textbook: NoneGrading:15% Participation: You need 45 total participation points by the end of the semester to receive the full 15%. Your participation grade may be earned in several ways. First, anytime you are in class we will have two “bell-ringer” activities, one at the start of class and another at the end, you will earn 1 point for each bell-ringer. These will be short writing assignments in which you will be given a question or prompt to briefly respond to. Your responses are to be submitted in the appropriate assignment on HuskyCT under the “Participation” tab. Also, during group worksheets/activities you receive 1 point for participating with your group and submitting your problem in the appropriate assignment on HuskyCT under the “Bell Ringers and Worksheets” tab. If you do both bell-ringers and the worksheet each week, you will earn exactly 45 points and have the full 15%There are other ways to earn participation points if you miss the bell-ringers/worksheet for a week. If you volunteer to put the group worksheet problem on the board and explain your answer to the class, you will earn 2 extra participation points. The other way is to ask good questions or provide good answers during lecture/discussion. You can earn 1 point during any given class this way. (While additional good questions and answers are welcome, you can only earn one points in a single class for questions and answers.) Therefore, the maximum number of participation points that can be earned in a single class is 6, if you do both bell-ringers, the group work, answer or ask a question, and put the group problem on the board. If you earn more than 45 points, they count as bonus points on your final grade at the same rate as the normal points (each is 1/3 of a point on the final grade).
25% Homework: After each class, there is a homework assignment that you must physically hand in on paper at the start of the next class. Late submissions are not accepted. The homework is meant to reinforce the concepts learned in class and help prepare you for the exams by giving you practice using mathematical and graphical tools to solve the economic problems faced by both consumers and producers. These homework assignments will be graded based on completion and effort and not based on whether the final answers are correct. The Grader for the course will look through your homework and circle any parts where there appear to be errors for you to check, or will just put a check mark if there appear to be no mistakes. There are 12 total homework assignments, each is worth 2 points on the final grade. The only way to earn the 25th point is to complete all homework.
20% Midterm Exam: There will be one midterm exam which is tentatively scheduled to take place in class on Thursday, October 19th. Make-up exams will only be given if granted in advance of the exam or with a documented excuse such as illness or family emergency. Make-up exams may be in a different format from the original and may be more difficult than the scheduled exam.
Econ 2201- Section 011
Instructor
Date:
Tencent Company
Introduction
For internet companies, privacy and security is a top priority as the industry is most vulnerable to data breaches. The growth of Tencent in China has occurred at a time when more people are connected to the internet, with many using mobile devices when visiting online sites and even making mobile payments. Tencent has a broad range of business scope from micro blogging, online games, instant messaging, online security and e-commerce (Lanfang and Peng 587). Besides mobile payments, China is increasingly adopting new technologies in artificial intelligence and cloud computing, Tencent is a social networking and online entertainment platform in China that also owns WeChat. There has been increased demand for Tencent services in China as the company improves operations and incomes rise, but regulations present a challenge to further improve operations.
Market share in mobile money payments
The growth in the use of digital technology and online user has resulted in more opportunities for the domestic and international technology players. In the mobile payment market, Alibaba and Tencent have more than 90% of the market shares, but Tencent has grown more rapidly in the past few years that eh company is competitive with Alibaba (Chuin-Wei). Increased demand for new technologies has also influenced how firms use business model and influences the economic outlook as more people are employed in the service sector. Investments in the digital economy reflect the growing demand for internet services, and as this sector is potentially disruptive to other sectors even traditional manufacturers need to adopt to remain competitive in an ever changing world. Similarly, the technology firms now have a more prominent role in a country’s economy where more industries utilizing information technology tools
Demand and supply
While the biggest and most influential technology firms are in the U.S. mainly in the Silicon Valley, mobile-payment services are more popular in China (Purnell). Tencent is one of the biggest players in this segment and China is one of the fastest growing consumer markets, while the digital-payments landscape continues to show growing demand. Alibaba and Tencent are the two biggest players in digital payments and as Alibaba is mainly an e-commerce firm. The company has widened the use of mobile payments to grow its customer base. There is higher preference and demand for digital payments, in china where the use of smartphone apps for the purchase and payment of goods is a growing trend (Purnell).
In 2016, the mobile payment market was $ 9 trillion in China with buyers making purchases in shops and even at vending machines. In contrast, the mobile payment market in the U.S was worth $ 112 billion despite Americans enjoying higher standards of living and income levels (Purnell). Even as Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s Tenpay are the dominant players in China, the two are seeking expansion in the international market and especially emerging markets where a smaller proportion of the population make payments using debit or credit cards (Purnell). The transfer of money to and from individuals and businesses is just one aspect in which technology has revolutionized different markets.
Price is a major factor that affects the demand for products and services and this is the case with the growth of mobile payments. Tencent and other mobile payment providers have reduced the transaction costs of transferring money. The buyers are more willing to use the services when the prices are low in favor of other providers. This is consistent with law of demand and the benefits of using technology have been realized as service providers have improved quality performance and reduced prices for services. Similarly, there have been increased online sales associated with mobile payments as the option is more convenient and cheaper and Tencent has managed to row its market share in China.
The popularity of Tencent is partly because of the growth of WeChat. A messaging platform popular in China and increasing the number and features of the platform has allowed more users to use Tencent and WeChat together. As more people use their smartphones to make online transactions, there is recognition that preference for this option is mostly in the emerging markets. Unless there is a change in these preferences, it is unlikely that the mobile payments will reduce in the Chinese market. The difference in choice of digital technologies between the Western market and the Chinese influence the divergent growth trajectories of companies like Tencent that mainly operate in the home market, but have yet to gain a big market at the international scene.
National income
As the average national income has risen in China, higher mobile internet penetration, mobile payments have become crucial to financial inclusion. A higher income indicates that people have more to spend and normally there is increased demand. As people can access the internet from any location so long as they are connected many more are visiting the company’s site. This is especially with the levels of national incomes rising. Higher national incomes increase the demand for goods and services and this includes Tencent’s products and services. The market demand is the sum of individual demands for a product or services, and when all other factors are constant the increase in price of a product results in a fall in demand (Mankiw 6). The gross national income (GNI) per capita, PPP (current international $) increased from 10,290 in 2011 to ...