Business management (2018/2019)

Learning outcomes

Within a general framework of positive relationships among the firm and its environment, this course aims at introducing students to the topics of business management and decision-making in order to increase firm competitiveness.

More in detail, it aims at delivering students with the main concepts of company and management, of company functions and of decisions criteria and logic, not only in theoretical terms but also in terms of managerial implications.

By the end of the course, the students will have the key-concepts and the main means needed to understand firm behavior and functioning; more he will be able to devise relevant strategies both at company function level and at company as a whole level.

The company’s concept
Good, services and experiences
The company’s goals
Vision, mission and values
The company’s functions
The company and its environment
Corporate social responsibility
The factors of production
The entrepreneur and the birth of the company
The function of production and the choices of integration and decentralization of production
The organizational structure and the management of the staff
Innovation and corporate creativity
Corporate decision-making processes
The business plan
The methods of economic convenience
The methods for the analysis of the economic convenience of industrial investments
The problems of operational comparison
Business strategies
Company and marketplace in a historical perspective
In-store customer shopping experience and the challenges of retailer between physical and digital space


Teaching methods

Lessons will be given in Italian, using experiential learning approach and interactive teaching. The teaching methods include both lectures regarding the transmission of basic notions, key categories and fundamental application tools, and exercises about the implementation of the methods of economic convenience. In addition to frontal lessons, the topics covered by the program are dealt with practical lessons of active teaching such as cases study, group projects in the classroom and the participation of scholars, entrepreneurs and business experts.

The individual reception service is available throughout the academic year. It is managed by the teacher on the web pages and constantly updated.

During the lesson semester, there is a tutoring service, organized by senior students, trained by the teacher. Tutoring is recommended to students that have never studied accounting and management in their scholastic careers.


Reference books

1. Claudio Baccarani, Federico Brunetti, Elena Giaretta (a cura di), Impresa e management tra competitività e progresso, Giappichelli, Torino, 2015.
2. Angelo Bonfanti, Customer shopping experience. Le sfide del retail tra spazio fisico e digitale, Giappichelli, Torino, 2017.

The content of the textbooks, as well as the lessons and exercises, is part of the program. Further in-depth educational material is available during the semester of lesson on the e-learning platform.

The examination is both written and oral. It is possible to take the oral examination only if the evaluation of written exam is sufficient (≥ 18/30).

The written text aims to test student’s knowledge about syllabus arguments and capability to apply methods about economic convenience.
More precisely, the written test covers the various topics in the program and is divided into two parts. The first part includes 1 open question to be answered in a dedicated space. This question is aimed at assessing the knowledge of 5 basic notions of the discipline as well as the ability to effectively use the company language. The punctual and complete knowledge of all 5 basic notions is required to be admitted to the assessment of the second part of the written test.
The second part is aimed at assessing the key categories and the fundamental applicative tools of the discipline. It includes 4 open questions to be answered in a dedicated space and 1 exercise about economic convenience. The questions are aimed at assessing the general vision of the discipline, the deepening of the topics and applying the concepts to business management.
To pass the written test and access the oral examination, the minimum score is 18/30.

The oral examination covers the program as a whole and, first of all, verifies the overcoming of any gaps that emerged from the written test. The oral examination is aimed at assessing the candidate’s critical analysis skills, as well as verifying the deepening of the topics.

The final assessment is expressed in 30ths and takes into account all the tests prepared for the purpose of assessing learning.

Students are advised to take the Business Management teaching and examination after having acquired the specific skills of the Business administration teaching.

Given that the teaching of Business Management is a basic course, very rich in concepts and basic exercises, this teaching is not recommended for Erasmus students.

STUDENT MODULE EVALUATION - 2017/2018