Bachelor Program in Business and Management

Nowadays, the environment represents a key factor for companies’ competitiveness, independently on their aim, dimension and business sector. The environment, in fact, provides companies with natural resources and materials that feed the production system as inputs to be converted in products or services (output). In doing so, processes also produce unwanted outputs in terms of environmental impacts: air emissions, waste, etc. Minimizing these impacts not only contributes to improve the environmental conditions, but also helps companies in improving their efficiency and profitability.

In order to deal with the environmental variables in the best possible way, companies may rely on international “tools” that can give conceptual frameworks for considering and managing the production processes.

In particular, International standards guide companies in identifying critical processes so that they can implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) as a tool for checking and considering all the different company’s units thanks to the adoption of a systemic approach.

International Standards for the environment, as ISO 14001 and the European Regulation EMAS – Eco-Management and Audit Scheme - are helpful for assessing strategies that take into consideration the new development paradigm of the circular economy, which focus its attention particularly on reduction of material and energy resources.

The ability in auditing and analysing the reòationship between companies' processes and the environment.

The knowledge and the correct use of voluntary and mandatory normative instruments.

The Environment

Bioeconomy, Green economy and Circular economy: concepts and evolution

Life Cycle Thinking

Life Cycle Assessment: concept and examples

International Standards and Management Systems for Organizations and Products

ISO 14001: 2015

Eco-Management and Audit Scheme

Ecolabels for products and services

European ecolabel

Teaching is structured in 63 hours of classroom teaching. The program addresses the foundations of the environment, and aims at providing students the necessary information for identifying the relationships between companies and the environment through the analysis of the environmental aspects of the operation processes.

It also aims to give insight on Life Cycle Thinking and Circular Economy and how they are contributing to change the companies' strategies and operations.

Didactic means are diversified (slides, articles, videos) and designed to encourage active learning.

Frequency is not mandatory, but recommended, and the final exam will be the same for attendants and not.

Student preparation will be verified with a written exam, consisting of open questions, with a default response space, and a multiple-choice section. The total points (30) will be subdivided as follow: 20 points for the open questions part and 10 for the multiple-choice section.

The duration of the written test is 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Suggested readings will be provided during the course