| Forest & Landscape | |||||||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | BSc. 2 year | ||||||||||||||||
| Duration | One block | ||||||||||||||||
| Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||||||
| Course Level | BSc | ||||||||||||||||
| Examination | Final Examination written examination Written Exam in Lecturehall All aids allowed Description of Examination: Written 4 hours exam and evaluation of project report Weight: Written examination: 75% Project report: 25% 13-point scale, internal examiner Dates of Exam: 22 June 2006 | ||||||||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | A combination of lectures, theoretical exercises, discussions and presentations of project reports | ||||||||||||||||
| Block Placement | Block 4 Week Structure: C | ||||||||||||||||
| Teaching Language | English | ||||||||||||||||
| Optional Prerequisites | Indledende Økonomi | ||||||||||||||||
| Areas of Competence the Course Will Address | |||||||||||||||||
| 1) Basic sciences (understand and manage biological systems): . Understand the microeconomic and welfare economic foundation of business economics in forestry and horticulture . Modelling and management of forestry and horticulture; develop, quantify and use theoretical and applied models of the productive functions of forestry and horticulture - material as well as immaterial. 2) Technology and production (understand and implement economic theory): . Capability of applying economic theory and other evaluation techniques on forestry and horticulture management decisions . Knowledge of simulation, optimisation, and multiple criteria decision-making 3) Ethics and values (understand and handle 'the human dimension'): . Understand the underlying values of forestry and horticulture seen from the Society point of view | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Objectives | |||||||||||||||||
| Green resources are important contributors to welfare by producing valuable products. The main objective of this course is to impart a thorough knowledge of business economics of forestry and the horticultural industry related to the utilization of marketed goods and related green resources. The students become able to use it as a tool for making valuation of the marked values of forest (and natural resources) and horticultural products as well as assessments of trade-offs. | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Contents | |||||||||||||||||
| Basic economic principles to study forestry and horticultural resource utilization are applied in the introductory part of the course. Following a brief introduction to managerial economics, economic production models are presented. They serve as a basis for understanding the principles of economic optimisation in decision-making models. Valuation of resources, costs and benefits, and essential valuation methods within horticulture, forestry and natural resource management are visited. This information may feed the firm with information about cash-flow, budgets, and accounting schemes. However, many productions in forestry and horticulture are dynamic, in the sense that any decision today may anchor the decisions tomorrow. Additionally, future outcomes are uncertain. Therefore, theory and tools for identifying optimal investment schemes are provided. After a brief introduction to time-preferences and discounting, the students learn about budgetting criteria such as, e.g. net present value, benefit-cost ratios, and internal rates of return. The students learn to estimate the optimal timing of harvesting and the inclusion of uncertainty (porte-folio theory, simulation). Production functions in forestry, horticulture and many other natural resources are seldom produced without affecting the provision of other goods. Such joint-production of mutually exclusive or complementary goods is discussed and you will learn how to include this information in the business decisions. Horticulture, forests and other natural resources may produce a number of externalities, e.g., aesthetics, biodiversity, carbon-storage, wild life, or pollution. The students learn how to optimise production when economic constraints exist. They are finally introduced to complex decision making and tools for multi-criteria decision-making. A management game is applied to let the students act as firm managers and make various decisions in a simulated firm environment. Industry-specific case studies and project work are used to deal with aspects where the problem in question is not relevant for the other sector. | |||||||||||||||||
| Teaching And Learning Methods | |||||||||||||||||
| Plenary lectures on topics will be given. Theoretical exercises will support the lectures. Students will present results and daily round-up discussions will summarise. Group work (3-4) students will prepare a project report within a selected topic, including literature search, modelling approaches, economic analysis and presentation of report | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Litterature | |||||||||||||||||
| Niels Strange: Lecture notes 2005: Business Economics of Forestry and Horticulture W. David Klemperer, 1996.Forest Resource Economics and Finance. McGraw-Hill International Edition, Forestry Series, New York, 551 p. | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||||||
| Niels Strange, nst@life.ku.dk, Forest & Landscape Denmark/Unit of Forestry, Phone: 35331753 | |||||||||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||||||||
| Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Scope | |||||||||||||||||
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