Home / The University / Faculties / Faculty of Economics and Business Administration / Degree Programmes / Bachelor's Degree Programmes / Faculty of Economics and Business Administration / Business Administration / Business Administration (English) - Curriculum / Decision Making under Risk and Uncertainty

   

 

DECISION MAKING UNDER RISK AND UNCERTAINTY

 

Status: Required course

Period: Fourth year, Second semester

ECTS credits: 4+1

Class hours: 45 (45 lectures and course project)

Language: Bulgarian, English

Requirements:

Prerequisites: Completed courses in Micro- and Macroeconomics, Mathematics, Statistics, Organizational behavior, Economic psychology, Informatics, and Human resources management

 

Course content:

The subject of the course is decision making under risk and uncertainty by business and economic agents. It presents the basic theories of decision making used in situations with economic and business context. A special attention is given to the Prospect Theory of Kahneman and Tversky awarded the Nobel prize for economics. The course content also includes the theory of utility and the affection balance theory, the psychological heuristics of choice between alternatives and their importance. The course also explains common phenomena in decision making, such as risk aversion when there is a certainty for profit and risk taking when faced with a sure loss, the delusions of the administrator, investor, manager and entrepreneur. During the course numerous real life applications of what has been taught are discussed.

 

Intended learning outcomes:

  • What are the main developments in the theory of decision making and what are their main applications to practice
  • What is the current state of knowledge in this field and in which areas we can expect fast development in the near future
  • What are the most prestigious research centers in the world, scientific schools, the most prominent researchers and scientific journals which have the greatest impact in the areas of behavioral economics, economic psychology, organizational behaviour, business and the Theory of Decisions.
  • Be able to work with the electronic libraries ScienceDirect and Jstor in order to find information on different issues confronting contemporary economists and managers.
  • Prepare expert reports
  • Know the mechanisms of decision making and understand the behavior of business partners, managers and colleagues
  • Be able to work in a team of two and solve a complex creative task.

 

Course project

Students prepare course project. Requirements: 800–1000 words (up to 1200 words together with the administrative information); focused on one of the taught effects in decision making in business and economics; it is based on a scientific article published in English in one of the following scientific journals on behavioural economics, economic psychology, organizational behavior and business:

  • Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
  • Information and Organization
  • Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
  • Journal of Economic Psychology
  • Industrial Marketing Management
  • Journal of Business Research
  • Organizational Dynamics.

 

Students choose the article themselves but it must have been published in the year preceding the course. For example, in 2012, articles from 2011 were allowed.

The course project is prepared by a team of two and ends with a memorandum of the work shared. One team works on one article. The student chooses a peer and they both read and prepare the course project. It is recommended that each student reads the abstracts of at least 10 articles and read at least 5 thoroughly before suggesting two or three to his/her peer. When both reach an agreement, they register their choice on the course site: http://elearn.uni-sofia.bg/. The decision is final and irreversible. The rest of the students choose among the remaining thousands of free articles.