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Course 2018-2019 a.y.

30060 - ECONOMIA AZIENDALE E GESTIONE DELLE IMPRESE / MANAGEMENT

Department of Management and Technology

For the instruction language of the course see class group/s below

Go to class group/s: 15 - 16 - 17 - 18

BIEM (10 credits - I sem. - OBBC  |  6 credits SECS-P/07  |  4 credits SECS-P/08)
Course Director:
ALESSANDRO MINICHILLI

Classes: 15 (I sem.) - 16 (I sem.) - 17 (I sem.) - 18 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 15: CEDRIC GUTIERREZ MORENO, Class 16: CEDRIC GUTIERREZ MORENO, Class 17: ALESSANDRO MINICHILLI, Class 18: MARIO AMORE

Class group/s taught in English

Class-group lessons delivered  on campus

Mission & Content Summary
MISSION

The course introduces to the broad field of economics and management of firms; the basic concepts and theories of modern management are presented and discussed. The mission of the course, as well as its specific educational goals, can be summarized as follows: a) Make students aware of the complementary roles that different actors (individuals, organizations, institutions) play in modern economic systems. b) Develop a critical attitude regarding the objectives and the behaviour of people engaged in economic activity. c) Provide students with the fundamental concepts required for the economic analysis of firms' processes, as well as the ability to use them in basic situations. d) Provide a systematic picture of the wide range of decisions faced by managers and of the underlying economic analyses. The course is designed in the purpose to combine concepts and theory with the richness of firms' real life. For this reason, students are strongly encouraged to take an active part in the learning process.

CONTENT SUMMARY

The course reviews all the basic concepts of management, providing a comprehensive overview of the firm, its internal organization, and the relations with the competitive environment. More in details:

  • Introduction, theory of the firm and corporate governance.
  • The economic activity: organizations, firms, and economic specialization.
  • Theories of the firms: stakeholder versus shareholder view.
  • Behavioral assumptions: ethics and bounded rationality.
  • Protecting shareholders’ interests: corporate governance mechanisms.
  • Measuring performance for strategic analysis.
  • Introduction to strategy: creating competitive advantage.
  • Learning to read financial statements (income statement and balance sheet) as tools for representing and analyzing strategic decisions.
  • Measuring performance through financial ratios.
  • Strategic analysis and managerial decisions.
  • Strategic analysis: diagnosis, formulation, and implementation.
  • Strategic diagnosis: economies of scale, learning, scope, and transaction.
  • Strategy formulation: resources and competences.
  • Strategy implementation: Expanding scope, acquiring resources, aligning organization and people.
  • Organizational structures, mechanisms, and culture.
  • Aligning processes and people: leadership.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Know the basic concepts and language of the economic analysis of firms' processes.
  • Know the wide range of decisions faced by managers and of the underlying economic analysis supporting them.
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Develop an awareness of the complementary roles that different actors (individuals, organizations, institutions) play in modern economic systems.
  • Develop a critical attitude regarding the objectives and the behaviour of people engaged in economic activity.
  • Being able to take basic managerial decisions, using the tools and decision-making models developed during the course.

Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face lectures
  • Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
  • Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
  • Group assignments
DETAILS

The course relies on a wide array and combination of teaching methods. More in details:

  • In-class exercises: quantitative exercises on the most common management decisions.
  • Theories and/or case studies discussions (in-class): discussion of real company cases, including analysis of their governance structure, strategy, and performance.
  • Oral presentations of individual/group assignments: presentation - in the last classes of the semester - by one or more team members, of the company projects realized by teams.
  • Group assignments: in depth analysis of a real company based on the different topics analyzed in the course.

Assessment methods
  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
  •   x x
  • Group assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
  •   x x
  • Active class participation (virtual, attendance)
  • x    
    ATTENDING STUDENTS

    Attending students are evaluated based on the following two parts:

    1. A written exam (either one general exam or two partial exams): 80% of the final grade.
    2. A field project (realized in teams of 5-6 students): 20% of the final grade.

    Written exam: in order to make the written portion of the exam (80%), students have two possibilities: 

    • The first possibility is to take the partial exam in the end of October and the second part of the exam in December. If students pass the first partial, they are admitted to the second part. Please note that the two partial are equally weighted (50% each) to compute the grade of the written part.
    • The second possibility is to take one single exam (general exam) either in December or in January/February; students that fail to pass the exam in the two regular sessions can give again the general exam in any other of the scheduled dates later in the academic year (March or August). Students that have passed the partial exam in October may withdraw from the second part in December, by simply not registering for it or not showing up on that day and can directly take the general exam. Apart from this case, under no conditions a passed exam (or part of it) can be taken again in order to improve the grade.
    • Important: the field project is an essential condition to be qualified as attending student. The distinction between attending and non-attending students is indeed determined by the participation in a teamwork.
    NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

    Non-Attending students are evaluated based on a general written exam only (100% of the grade), which can be made either in December or in January/February, or in any of the future exam sessions.


    Teaching materials
    ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

    Required materials for attending and non-attending students:

    • MINICHILLI, ZOLLO, Management, EGEA.
    • MINICHILLI, ZOLLO, A primer on organization and people management, McGraw Hill.
    • WALSH, Key Management Ratios, Prentice Hall, 2006.
    Last change 02/06/2018 14:48