BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
cod. 06131

Academic year 2022/23
3° year of course - Second semester
Professor
- Giovanna FERRARO
Academic discipline
Ingegneria economico-gestionale (ING-IND/35)
Field
A scelta dello studente
Type of training activity
Student's choice
48 hours
of face-to-face activities
6 credits
hub:
course unit
in ITALIAN

Learning objectives

The general objective of the course is to present the main models and fundamental tools to be able to create value through management.

The course also aims to provide a conceptual and operational framework of the functioning and conditions that govern the strategic and operational management of the company. For this purpose, the course intends to offer a reading of the interrelationships that the company has with the external context and of the governance systems that it can adopt to pursue its objectives.

Subsequently, the course illustrates the sources of information used by management to assess the impact of the strategic and operational decisions of the company, also addressing the problem of decision-making systems through which it intends to ensure consistency between decisions and objectives.

KNOWLEDGE AND ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND: At the end of the course the student should know the fundamental principles of business management. In particular, through the lectures held during the course, the student will acquire knowledge of the company and the governance bodies,
the main aspects of strategic management and operational management.

ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: Through practical exercises carried out in the classroom, students learn how to apply the knowledge acquired in a real business context. In particular, the student will have to apply the knowledge acquired to solve problems related to business management.

AUTONOMY OF JUDGMENT: The student should be able to critically evaluate some strategies applied by companies to solve business management problems, analyze strategic and operational management strategies.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS: Through the lectures and the comparison with the teacher, the student acquires the specific vocabulary of business management.
At the end of the course, the student is expected to be able to transmit, in oral and written form, the main contents of the course, and to clearly present the results of economic and strategic analyzes and evaluations.

LEARNING SKILLS: Students who have attended the course will be able to deepen their knowledge of business management through the independent consultation of specialist texts, scientific or popular magazines, even outside the topics strictly covered in class, in order to to deal effectively with insertion into the world of work or undertake subsequent training courses.

Prerequisites

None

Course unit content

The Business Management course aims to provide students with theoretical models and fundamental tools to be able to create value through management.

In particular, reference is made to the entrepreneur and business models as well as to the governing and control bodies.

Business management is distinct in its dual nature of strategic management and operational management.
Strategic management characterizes the long-term decision-making processes that characterize the strategy and consequently, the identity of each company. Innovation and company growth strategies will be analyzed in detail.
Operational management examines short and medium term decisions and how management transforms strategy into operations. The issues relating to production, procurement, logistics, business finance will be explored.

Finally, the causes of the business crisis and the concept of crisis management cycle will be examined.

Full programme

PART I: THE ENTERPRISE: MODELS AND GOVERNANCE BODIES (about 5 hours)
• The businessman
• Business models
• The governing bodies
• The supervisory bodies

PART II: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT (about 13 hours)
Innovation:
• The importance of innovation
• Identify and distinguish innovation
• The technological assets
• The operation of innovation
• Ambidextery: exploration and exploitation

Growth strategies:
• The reasons for the strategy
• Strategic alternatives for growth
• The modalities of implementation of growth
• The acquisition process
• Strategic alliances
• Cross-sector social partnerships
• The growth of a stakeholder perspective

PART III: OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT (about 25 hours)
Production:
• Strategic production
• Operational production: the basic processes
• Production optimization
• Sustainable production
• The economy of production

Procurement:
• From purchases to procurement
• The strategic management of procurement
• Operations and procurement
• Procurement and sustainability

Logistics:
• Integrated, strategic, operational and sustainable logistics

Corporate finance:
• The determinants of corporate finance
• Operational finance: the dynamics of working capital
• Strategic finance: financing and investment decisions

PART IV: THE CAUSES OF THE BUSINESS CRISIS (about 5 hours)
The business crisis and the crisis management cycle
• What is the business crisis
• The causes of the business crisis
• Types of business crises
• The evolutionary dynamics of the business crisis
• Crisis management cycle

Bibliography

The recommended text for the course is “Business Management” (a.y 2022-23, material selected by Giovanna Ferraro, Create McGrawHill).

In addition, the slides shown during the lessons and other additional material used in class will be provided by the teacher weekly (in PDF format and on the course page on the Elly platform).

For further information, students can refer to the following text:
- Russo, A. and Vurro, C. (2018), "Business economics and management", McGrawHill

Teaching methods

The course includes both theoretical lessons and exercises, in which mainly frontal moments will alternate with interactive moments with the students.

Theoretical and practical aspects of business management and issues relating to strategic and operational management will be discussed in the course of the theoretical lessons, with the aim of providing a conceptual and operational framework of the operation and conditions governing the survival and development of the company.
To this end, the theoretical lessons are intended to provide a broad-spectrum reading of the interrelationships that the company establishes with the internal and external context and the governance systems that it can adopt to pursue its objectives.

Furthermore, the issues related to strategic management and operational management are illustrated in order to assess the impact of the company's strategic and operational decisions, also addressing the problem of decision-making systems through which it intends to ensure consistency between decisions and objectives.

During the exercises the student will be able to practically realize the solutions of the problems outlined in theoretical form during the lessons.
Simulations of the exam will also be scheduled: during the simulations students will be asked to work in complete autonomy (as during the exam) in solving the exam text. The simulations will not be evaluated, they have a self-assessment purpose: each student will be able to check their level of preparation and understand, for example, on which part of the program or on which type of exercise they will have to focus more in view of the exam. They are also used to learn how to manage time during the exam.

Assessment methods and criteria

The final assessment of the students' preparation consists of a WRITTEN TEST on the course contents (lessons + reference text + any documents uploaded to Elly during the course) and consists of 20 questions on the entire program. There is no penalty for incorrect answers. The final grade will be communicated after the written test directly in Esse3.
It is mandatory to register for the exam, exclusively via the internet (https://unipr.esse3.cineca.it) up to 7 days before the exam itself.
During the exam it is not allowed to consult phones, smartwatches, books, notes, handouts and other teaching material.
During the academic year there are 7 exam sessions, divided into the three sessions January / February and March / April, June / July and September, of which 3 in the session immediately following the course (June / July) and 2 in the remaining two sessions .

Other information

Attending and non-attending students are recommended to periodically check the teaching material available and the information provided by the teacher through the Elly platform, the only teacher / student communication tool. On this platform, weekly, the slides used during the lessons and any additional material provided by the teacher will be made available in pdf format.