Platform-based business models (BUS473): Since 2019
Platform business models are not a new invention of the digital era. Platforms create value by facilitating transactions between two (or more) interdependent groups, and for a long time this has mainly happened in brick-and-mortar locations like bazaars, shopping malls or auction houses. With the rise of the Internet, transaction costs for connecting groups have dramatically declined, facilitating exchanges at an unprecedented scale. Unsurprisingly, many of the most valuable firms are platforms like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Alibaba or Visa. Understanding platform-based business models is crucial for successfully managing a platform business or creating an own start-up because they differ greatly from traditional (linear) business models and applying the economics of traditional firms to platforms will generally lead to misguided strategies and wrong implications.
Master program (Spring term): syllabus; website
Decisions, strategy and information (ECO400): Since 2021
The course introduces students to analysis of decision making under uncertainty and under strategic interaction. Students will become familiar with analytical tools that are used in advanced courses in financial economics and in other specializations such as industrial economics and economics of organizations. The first part of the course focuses on decision making under uncertainty and agents' risk aversion. Thereafter students are introduced to game theory and information economics.
Master program (Fall term): syllabus; website
Taxes and business strategy (FIE441): 2019-2021
The course analyzes strategies of international income shifting to reduce corporate tax payments in multinational companies and combines theoretical insights with empirical evidence. It has two main parts. Part 1 focuses on transfer pricing of intra-firm trade as a tax-avoidance channel. Part 2 examines international debt shifting as tool to save taxes. In a first block of Part 2, the tax-efficient capital structure in (multinational) firms is derived and discussed. In a second block, limitations to financial policy such as regulation of tax deductible debt and the interaction with minority shareholders are examined.