This is an introductory course on Business Management, whose main goals are to develop the knowledge and understanding of the basic principles of management and to help the students applying this knowledge and understanding to real-life situations. The course is aimed, as well, at providing students with the capacity of making autonomous judgements on business situations. Further, the oral exam will leverage on the student's communication skills. The course has also the purpose to develop the student's learning skills within the fields of business and management studies.

Financial Accounting (Economia Aziendale) is a pre-requisite course

Theory of the Firm
- What's a firm?
- Different types of firms
- Firms and entrepreneurs
- Stakeholders' analysis
Corporate Governance and Organization
- Profit maximization and the firm's objectives
- Fundamentals of corporate governance.
Value creation: Cost-Profit Analysis
- measures of efficiency, effectiveness, productivity
- Different types of costs: fixed, variable, direct, indirect, average, marginal, opportunity
- Cost structures, operating leverage and cost elasticity
- Contribution margin analysis
- Prices and revenue management (yield management)
- Break even point and break-even sales
- Mark-up method
Value creation: Firm's Size
- Measures of firm's size
- Volume economies and scale economies
- Learning economies
- Economies of scope: sinergies and complementarities
- Economies of agglomeration
- Small businesses vs. big corporations
Measures and Levers of Value Creation
- Economic profit (Economic Value Added).
- NOPAT, ROIC and WACC.
- Financial structure (Debt vs. Equity) and cost of capital
- Working capital cycle and financial needs.
- Levers of value maximization
-Enterprise Value and Equity Value
- ROE analysis and the Dupont formula
Value Chain and Value System
- Primary and supporting activities
- Make/buy decisions and vertical integration
- Supply chains and value systems
Analysis of Competitive Systems
- Industry analysis and SCP framework
- Competitive analysis and strategic groups
- Five forces model
- Entry and exit barriers

Teaching materials will be made available at the beginning of the course and uploaded in the Teams platform

Theory of the Firm
- What's a firm?
- Different types of firms
- Firms and entrepreneurs
- Stakeholders' analysis
Corporate Governance and Organization
- Profit maximization and the firm's objectives
- Fundamentals of corporate governance.
Value creation: Cost-Profit Analysis
- measures of efficiency, effectiveness, productivity
- Different types of costs: fixed, variable, direct, indirect, average, marginal, opportunity
- Cost structures, operating leverage and cost elasticity
- Contribution margin analysis
- Prices and revenue management (yield management)
- Break even point and break-even sales
- Mark-up method
Value creation: Firm's Size
- Measures of firm's size
- Volume economies and scale economies
- Learning economies
- Economies of scope: sinergies and complementarities
- Economies of agglomeration
- Small businesses vs. big corporations
Measures and Levers of Value Creation
- Economic profit (Economic Value Added).
- NOPAT, ROIC and WACC.
- Financial structure (Debt vs. Equity) and cost of capital
- Enterprise Value and Equity value
- Working capital cycle and financial needs.
- Levers of value maximization
- ROE analysis and the Dupont formula
Value Chain and Value System
- Primary and supporting activities
- Make/buy decisions and vertical integration
- Supply chains and value systems
Analysis of Competitive Systems
- Industry analysis and SCP framework
- Competitive analysis and strategic groups
- five forces model
- Entry and exit barriers

Lectures Exercises Lectures will be recorded and made available online.

Get in contact with the teacher to receive the full instructions on how to prepare the final exam

Written exam + oral exam

The course aims at increasing the students' awareness on the role of corporations in the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals as set in the UN Agenda 2030 and in particular of the goals 8, 9 and 12