Should I choose business or economics if I want to understand how companies compete?
Both can help you understand how companies compete, but they approach the question differently. Business may suit you better if you want applied study of strategy, marketing, management and operations. Economics may suit you better if you want to analyse markets, incentives, pricing, market power and strategic interaction using models and data.
Key points
- Look for business modules in competitive strategy, marketing, organisational behaviour and industry analysis.
- Look for economics modules in industrial organisation, game theory, competition policy and applied econometrics.
- A programme combining both perspectives may be useful if you want to connect managerial decisions with wider market forces.
Things to check
- Course content and the balance between theory, quantitative methods and applications vary by university, so compare current module descriptions and assessment details.