Course 2016-2017 a.y.

20281 - COMPARATIVE BUSINESS HISTORY: COMPETITION AND GLOBALIZATION


CLMG - M - IM - MM - AFC - CLEFIN-FINANCE - CLELI - ACME - DES-ESS - EMIT - GIO

Department of Social and Political Sciences

Course taught in English

Go to class group/s: 31
CLMG (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - M (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - IM (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - MM (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - AFC (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - CLEFIN-FINANCE (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - CLELI (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - ACME (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - DES-ESS (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  12 credits SECS-P/12) - EMIT (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - GIO (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12)
Course Director:
FRANCO AMATORI

Classes: 31 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: FRANCO AMATORI



Course Objectives

This course examines the figure of the entrepreneur, one of the most important characters of the modern economy, over time and with a multitude of perspectives. The entrepreneur is studied as regards his/her evolution vis à vis the restrictions and opportunities conceded by the capitalistic system of the times. The focus is on the entrepreneur who emerged from the First Industrial Revolution onward, a figure that was both exceptional as well as diffuse in the economic scenario. Much of our attention is  concentrated on the fundamental relationship between the entrepreneur and the organization created by the entrepreneur in order to realize specific objectives in a given historical period.
A decisive element for assessing the entrepreneur's actions are whether the actions were based on rules and institutions that were shared or whether the outcome seems to be the result of an action undertaken without any rational justification.

Course Content Summary

  • Capitalism and the entrepreneur: some definitions
  • The entrepreneur as a "multiplier": a comparison of the textile industry in Massachusetts and Lombardy
  • From the First to the Second Industrial Revolution: a period of strong discontinuity
  • The case of the aluminum sector: Alcoa vs. Pechiney
  • The Third Industrial Revolution
  • Entrepreneurial capitalism takes over
  • The case of 3D manufacturing: Milan and the Silicon Valley
  • The entrepreneur as stakeholder: typologies
  • East and West: the entrepreneur in a comparative perspective

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Students evaluation is the result of a final oral general exam.
Attending students: are also required to write a paper that can be written individually or in small groups (max 4 students).
Partial exams are not scheduled.

Textbooks

For attending students:
  • F. Amatori,  Entrepreneurship, Impresa e Storia 34, 2006.
  • L. Galambos, F. Amatori, The entrepreneur as multiplayer enterprise and society for coming, WP ASSI, 2015.
  • F. Amatori, Searching the entrepreneur character episode issues, WP, 2016.
For non attending students:
  • W.J. BAUMOL, R.E. LITAN, C.J. SCHRAMM, Good Capitalism Bad Capitalism and the economics of growth and prosperity, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007.
  • Jurgen Kocka, Capitalism:  A short history, Princeton University Press, 2016.
Exam textbooks & Online Articles (check availability at the Library)
Last change 16/05/2016 17:10