Bachelor Program in Business and Management

Business management A

Business management A

Academic year 2018/2019

Sommario del corso

• Course objectives
• Results of learning outcomes
• Course delivery
• Learning assessment methods
• Program
• Suggested textbooks and readings
• Teaching tools

Course objectives

SKILLS TARGETED

• Strategic planning
• Decision making
• Critical Thinking
• Team working
• Pitching

Results of learning outcomes

L1. Explain the meaning of business and its strategy.

L2. Describe the different forms of strategy

L3. Identify and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a strategy.

L4. Apply the Five forces’ framework to assess the attractiveness of an industry and so formulate a new, suitable strategy for a selected company.

L5. Demonstrate a range of academic and professional skills required for successful employment in the field of business.

Course delivery

The module is workshop-based and activity-driven with less emphasis on formal lectures. Students will use case studies, guest speakers’ presentations and group activities to develop their skills. Their learning will be developed through discussion, presentations and self-assessment tools

Learning assessment methods

Ongoing assessment (teamworking in class will be assessed): 30 %

Final Assessment: written test  70 %

All group presentations will take place in front of Prof. Scuotto and Dr. Serravalle during the scheduled class timing of the module. 

Program

The course will be structured as follows:

It is focused on the importance of the overall macroeconomic scenario in the strategic choices of a business. Too often, managers and entrepreneurs focus exclusively on the size of their company and evaluate business opportunities only in microeconomic terms.

This attitude is negative and is often the cause of errors and failures. Globalization requires a comprehensive view of problems and solutions with a strong ability to combine global and local scenarios. From CEOs of multinationals to ones of a very small company, managers should have both the ability to analyze the macroeconomic trend and the impact this may have on a specific business decision. This is the reason why we have focused on management techniques and approaches to penetrate new markets, with a strong focus on the different deal types and market entry strategies. Exporting, licensing and franchising, FDI, Strategic Alliances and Joint Ventures have a different market penetration efficacy and cost/time relation trade-off. This part explores the different business opportunities, the role of finance via leverage and the strategic role of risk management.

A very important section is dedicated to exploring the optimal size of business, economies, and diseconomies of scale and the emerging co-dependency between SMEs and big firms.

A specific set of lessons will be dedicated to marketing and knowledge management as two majors components of business management. Different theories and marketing focus on products, customers and organizations show how knowledge and marketing are strategic activities for each business model and management technique.

Finally, the course is devoted to the relationship between management and entrepreneurship with a specific focus on leadership.

Leadership and management are two notions that are often mistakenly used interchangeably. In fact, leadership is one of the essential assets a successful manager or entrepreneur should possess. We will briefly see the different leadership theories and their impact on management. Then we will explore entrepreneurship. There are similarities but also fundamental differences between a manager and an entrepreneur. It is important to spread, particularly to university students, a culture of entrepreneurship which enables them to understand the economic and social value of doing business and creating start-ups. Being a start-up entrepreneur can be a challenging experience and opportunity for a young person to start their professional and working career and it is a good way to start a professional management experience.

An entrepreneur has a different relationship with risk; he shoulders different responsibilities from the manager, but to grow successfully a start-up firm requires a proper mix of the aspects that characterize both entrepreneurs and managers.

The 2008-2009 economic world crises showed that we need to think differently about entrepreneurship and management. Management theories and practices have to incorporate some entrepreneurial traits inside all business and a more entrepreneurial ethic in management conduct.

All together these three parts of the course contain the key elements for a basic understanding of business management and its essential components.

More in detail the course will explore:

What is a business?  A general introduction to business management     

The company as an open and global system
Different forms and types of business
The most common form of business: Corporations
Organizational and legal aspects of business
Legal implications of the role of capital
Budget and financial reports

Business Management and the macroeconomic scenario

History of economic globalization
The financial crisis of 2007-2009. A new collapse in globalization?
The impact of the macroeconomic scenario in business management
Questions related to the current impact of the macroeconomic
scenario in business models

How to incorporate the global scenario in business management:

the importance of a structured and flexible Business Plan

Evaluation with a strategic vision
Key elements for the business plan
The audience of the business plan
Presentation form of the business
Executive Summary
Background Information
the Knowledge management plan
The Marketing Plan
An Operational Plan
The Financial Plan

Strategies and Tactics in international business management

Different Deal types and Market Entry Strategies

Different modes of entry into a market
Exporting, Licensing and Franchising
Foreign Direct Investment FDI
Strategic Alliances
Other forms of international or national deals: merger and acquisition
Strategic investment via leverage Buyout

Basic elements of Risk Management

Basic elements of Circular Economy in Business Management

Basic elements of Business Technology Management

Big or Small, which is better? New trends in international business organization

The optimal business size
Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) definition
SME aggregation: industrial district
Big is back, but size is not really what matters

Key Elements of Marketing Management

Marketing definition and history
Marketing strategies: the different focus
                The product-market growth matrix
                Marketing mix
                Customer focus
                Organizational focus
                Product focus

Marketing segmentation
Marketing research
Green Marketing

Management and Entrepreneurship

Leadership and Business Management 

Leadership versus management
A brief overview of different leadership theories
Leadership versus entrepreneurship
Managers or Entrepreneurs?
The need for a more entrepreneurial ethic

Entrepreneurship and Business Management by Graham

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/entrepreneurship-and-business-management-n6-student-book-9780190720766?cc=us&lang=en&#

ICT Adoption for Knowledge Management: Opportunities for SMEs by Scuotto

https://www.publicationsales.com/store/p29/ICT_Adoption_for_Knowledge_Management%3A_Opportunities_for_SMEs.html

• Teaching materials
• Exams and finals
• Go to Moodle
• Visit the forums