OVERVIEW

The course introduces business management and manager's job, in a broad sense. Business management is knowledge made up of practical experience and theoretical knowledge. For this reason, the focus of this course is on knowledge and know-how. Business management is much more than good administration, although necessary. It is the ability to organize, decide and manage relationships with other actors in the economic system, in particular with the upstream / downstream markets

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The objectives of the course are to provide students with the basic concepts of business management (organization and decision-making processes) and business relationships with customers and suppliers. Furthermore, the course aims at integrating the theoretical concepts with examples, applications and real cases, in order to understand their relevance as well as their possible implications.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The purpose of this course is to provide the general management concepts necessary to face all future studies in the field of management engineering.
At the end of the course the student will have acquired a knowledge of business management with particular reference to:
organization or the ways in which work is divided and coordinated among employees and, at a more aggregate level, among organizational units;
decision-making processes or how people, organizational units and entire organizations make decisions;
management of relationships within the supply chain, or how the company interacts with the actors upstream in the economic system
Specifically, the student will be able to:
Know the theories behind the three themes indicated above
Apply methods and tools within the three themes indicated above
Apply critical reasoning to identify the areas of applicability of theories / methods / tools introduced

PREREQUISITES

None.

TEACHING METHODS

This course is delivered mainly through lectures and exercises. In addition, case studies, videos and workshops will be used to discuss and contextualize the most important concepts. Students who have  certifications for Specific Learning Disorders (SLD), disabilities or other educational needs are invited to contact the teacher and the contact person for disability of the Polytechnic School, Prof. Federico Scarpa (federico.scarpa@unige.it), at the beginning of the course to agree on any teaching and examination methods that, in compliance with the objectives of the course, take into account individual learning methods.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Organizational design: specialization  and coordination of work. Types of structures and organizational mechanisms. 

Decision-making (at individual and organizational level)  under bounded rationality and in turbulent environments: approaches, methods and tools

Vertical relationships (purchasing management): market, hierarchy and new forms of  customer-supplier relationships. Supply chain management: make or buy choices, partnership relationships, operational and technological collaboration

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

H. Mintzberg The Structuring of Organizations, Prentice-Hall (for part 1)

Spina G. Gestione aziendale, Etas Libri, 2012 (for parts 2 and 3 of the program)
PPT slides on aulaweb (for parts 2 and 3 of the program)
English language papers on aulaweb (for parts 2 and 3 of the program)

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

STEFANIA TESTA (President)

SILVANO CINCOTTI

SILVIA MASSA

MARCO RABERTO

LINDA MADDALENA PONTA (President Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

https://corsi.unige.it/en/corsi/10716/studenti-orario

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The assessment of learning takes place through a written test, an oral test and a group project. In particular, the written test consists of questions related to the topics of  decision making and purchasing management. The oral exam and the project concern the organizational part. The overall rating is expressed as the sum of the rating obtained in each part.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The written test assesses the ability to understand and apply approaches, methods and tools in the context of business management (design and management of decision-making processes, design and management of vertical processes) as well as the student's ability to reason critically

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Professor Federico Scarpa (federico.scarpa@unige.it ), the School's disability liaison.