Study programme a.y. 2020/21

AIMS: This a core course that provides an informative introduction to the disciplines of business and management.
This course introduces to key perspectives and debates from a range of fields that inform the study of business and
management. The course enables to become aware of the complexity of issues that shape contemporary business and management practices and to consider future directions. The main topics covered by the course are:

1. Basics of accounting
2. Management theory, principles and functions
3. Managing people
4. Management and Organizations
5. Basics of strategic management

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exam (with multiple choice, open-ended , exercises and case studies) with possibility of additional oral exam.

PRE – REQUISITES: no

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AIMS: The course introduces the fundamental concepts of economics. It focuses on the relationship between individual economic decisions, institutional rules and individual and social well-being. The course provides students to evaluate key microeconomic concepts facing capitalist economies such as supply and demand, market equilibrium and disequilibrium, economic rents and institutions. The focus of the course is to teach students models motivated by facts from history, experiments, and data. The course introduces the basic tools of economics by focusing on their usefulness in understanding real-world phenomena and explains the historical evolution of our economic and social system. The course also equips students with basic mathematical techniques to solve economic problems in applying key microeconomic concepts. This course analyses the choices and actions of the economic actors as both self-interested and ethical. This course covers capitalist revolution; the effects of technological change; scarcity and opportunity cost; social interactions; the effect of institutions on balance of power; interactions among firm’s owners, managers and employees; profit maximizing firm’s interaction with its customers; supply, demand, and market equilibrium; market disequilibrium in credit and labour markets; market failures.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Partial examination: Written test with multiple choice questions, open questions and exercises. Final
examination: written test integrated with discussion.

PRE – REQUISITES: No prerequisite course is required besides basic mathematical knowledge. Students’ attendance and active participation is encouraged.

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AIMS: The course provides the basic concepts of private law, in perspective of the study of commercial law with a
comparative point of view.
Its purpose is to investigate the discipline of various European legislations on legal entities, private autonomy, general principles
of contract and obligatory relationship, of which it is outlined also the non-fulfillment and responsibility and the real guarantees of
the obligation. Furthermore, the course concerns also principles of property rights and contractual and tort liability.
A detailed study is dedicated to the institute of the Trust, which arose in the Anglo- Saxon countries, and to the theoretical and
practical implications that it could have in Italy.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exam and/or oral exam.

PRE – REQUISITES: no.

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AIMS: The course provides the principles of mathematics.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Witten exam and/or oral exam.

PRE – REQUISITES: Attendance recommended. Knowledge of the student entrance exam topics is required.

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AIMS: The course provides a strong introduction to statistical procedures, developing understanding of concepts and
emphasizes problem solving using realistic examples. Students will learn how to conduct solid statistical analyses in many
business and economic situations.
By the end of the course, students should be able to:

1. Using graphs to describe data;
2. Using numerical measures to describe data;
3. Explain, calculate, and interpret probability models and random variables for random experiments;
4. Explain, calculate, and interpret inferential statistical procedures,
   including confidence intervals and hypothesis tests for one and two populations parameters;
5. Explain, calculate, and interpret linear regression models.
   The objectives of the course will be achieved by weekly lectures and tutorials.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exam with possibility of additional oral exam.

PRE – REQUISITES: Logic and basic mathematics knowledge is necessary. Attendance to the classes is strongly suggested.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

Students can choose between:

• Business English –> This course aims to develop advanced English language and communication skills for an international business context. Written and/or oral exam.The course is made up of the teaching with a professor and of the Lettorato with another professor.
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

• French Language –> The main purpose of this course is to provide linguistic and communicative competence as well as performance – reading / writing , listening/speaking-. The course will focus on French for special purpose (business and economic world) and will especially concerns the Diplome du Français des Affaires (DFA).
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

• Italian Linguistics (only for non italian students) –> The student will acquire the fundamental notions concerning:
  • the Italian structures (phonetics, morphology, syntax, lexis);
  • the variation of Italian (diaphasic, diatopic, diastratic, diametric and diachronic ones);
  • the external history of Italian (16th century normation, post-unification diffusion, contemporary re-standardization).
  During the course the students will be offered optional exercises to be done at home. The acquired skills will be assessed during the exam (written test).
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

• Spanish Language –> The course is for beginners. The objectives are the adquisition of the phonetic, the morphology and the grammatical structures of Castilian Spanish in the 4 abilities (speaking, oral comprehension, reading, text comprehension, writing).
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: The student’s acquire the computer skills needed to successfully use the basic office software packages.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written and/or oral exam and or practical exam.

It is available in a remote way.

All the information is in this page

AIMS: The aim of the course is to provide a comparative knowledge of company law, focusing attention on the study of the various types of companies and corporate governance, as regulated by the most significant legal systems of civil law and common law. Then it examines the bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings with the same comparative approach. Furthermore, an in-depth study is carried out on M&A operations. In this perspective, the course continues with the analysis of
cross-border mobility of companies, understood as cross-border mergers and freedom of establishment, and with some reflections on European Company (SE). After completing the part of company law, the course carries on offering an overview on general principles of international
commercial contracts and therefore it introduces students to drafting techniques and study of practical cases. Finally, the last lessons are dedicated to financial market law, of which it is highlighted both public profile, as the supervisory activity of Authorities on the markets, and a private profile, as investment services, collective management of savings and corporate compliance, analyzing the changes made by MIFID II.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written and/or oral exam.

PRE – REQUISITES: The course Principles of Law.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: The course will give students a full understanding of the modern macroeconomics from a European perspective, with a broad coverage of the ongoing economic turmoil in Europe. Students will study the working of the good market, the financial markets and the labour market, and their interconnections in the short, medium, and long run.
At the end of the course students should be able to understand the main macroeconomic events, such as growth, unemployment, inflation, business cycles, and the impacts of fiscal and monetary policies, both for a closed and open economy.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exam.

PRE – REQUISITES: The courses Principles of Mathematics and Principles of Economics.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: The course focus on:

1. Understanding the methods, rules and processes used to develop financial accounting reports;
2. Preparing financial accounting reports; and
3. interpreting financial accounting reports.

The course provides knowledge of the core concepts of financial accounting including how accountants analyze and record the
effects of individual transactions, and the concepts that are essential to understanding financial reports such as assets, liabilities,
owners’ equity, revenues, expenses and cash flows.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exams with multiple choice questions, open-ended questions, exercises.

PRE – REQUISITES: no.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: This course is designed to prepare to interpret and analyze financial statements effectively. The viewpoint is that of the user of financial statements interested in an in-depth analysis of the firm financial position, economic performance, cash flows.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exam with multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions, exercises.

PRE – REQUISITES: no.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: The course deals with:

• The role of the multinational companies (MNCs) in the globalized economy.
• The nature of the process by which firms internationalize
• The impact of MNCs activity: FDI, growth and development; market structure, perfomance and business practices; political,
  cultural and social responsibility issues for MNCs.
  The course will also address basic elements of marketing management (segmentation, positioning, 4ps, etc.) with a special focus for its international and cross-cultural dimensions.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exam with multiple choice, open-ended, exercises, case studies.

PRE – REQUISITES: no.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: The course focuses on the role of the government in the economy. The aim is to provide an understanding of the reasons for government intervention in the economy, analyzing the benefits of possible government policies, and the response of economic agents to the government’s actions. In particular, the course reviews the key microeconomic theory behind the fundamental results in public economics and economics of market regulation. More precisely, the course will cover the topics of markets’ failure, the effects that regulation and antitrust policies exert on the firms activity, public choice. Also aspects on the fiscal systems and tax policy, social insurance, social welfare policy, redistribution programs and public goods will be covered; finally, special emphasis will be on social security
reform such as pension reforms, the role of private pensions and retirement savings. The course introduces the fundamental concepts of public economics. At the end of the course the acquired competencies and abilities will allow students to be familiar with the most relevant theories concerning the reasons and the effects of government
intervention in the economy. The students will be also be introduced to the some of the issues that are on the political agenda of many developed countries, such as tax policy, welfare state and pensions and, at the core of the European Union debate, such as voting mechanisms and fiscal coordination.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exam.

PRE – REQUISITES: The courses Principles of Mathematics and Principles of Economics.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

Students may choose and include elective courses from a range of optional courses in the list below.

For those optional exams that are not included in this list, please contact Prof. Silvia Ferramosca (silvia.ferramosca@unipi.it) in order to check their validity for your degree programme.

• Health Care Management (3 ECTS).
  PRE-REQUISITE: Management and Fundamentals of Accounting is recommanded.
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami
• Introduction to decision theory (6 ECTS)
  PRE-REQUISITE: Principles of Economics is recommanded
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami
• Investment process: theory and practice (3 ECTS).
  PRE-REQUISITE: Corporate Finance is recommanded.
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami
• Risk management in financial institutions (3 ECTS)
  PRE-REQUISITE: Banking and Financial markets is recommanded.
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami
• Welfare And Economic Integration Of The European Union (3 ECTS)
  PRE-REQUISITE: Principles od Economics is recommanded.
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami
• Sustainable Development: Principles And Policy (6 ECTS)
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: The objective of the course is to provide students with knowledge on management auditing and management control principles and techniques. The program includes the following topics: internal auditing, management auditing, risk assessment, management accounting and management control systems.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exam (with multiple choice, open-ended, exercises and case studies).

PRE – REQUISITES: the core course in Management and Fundamentals of Accounting.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: The goal of this course is to provide the students with a general understanding of the different functions performed by financial markets and institutions as well as their role in the economy.
In particular, the topics covered are:

• The financial system: structure and functions
• Financial institutions: business model, strategic and manegement issues
• Focus on Banks: banking regulation; deposits and lending activities; liquidity management; capital adequacy; risk management.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exam (with multiple choice, open-ended , exercises and case studies) with possibility of additional oral exam.

PRE – REQUISITES: The core course in Management and Fundamentals of Accounting.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: The main topics of the course are:

• fundamental concepts of corporate finance;
• risk-return relation;
• economic and financial analysis of the firm;
• the cost of capital;
• capital budgeting process;
• working capital management;
• business Plan in appraising the economic and financial convenience of a project.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exam.

PRE – REQUISITES: The core course in Management and Fundamentals of Accounting.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: The course aims to provides fundamental concepts, approaches and techniques of managing human resources in order to develop skills and attitude concerning people management processes.
In the first part of the course, a general framework concerning Human Resources policies and practices will be illustrated and discussed. We will then examine the strategic view on Human Resource Management. In the second part, we will provide some tools and applications, with particular reference to recruitment, training and development programmes, performance appraisal, reward systems. Implications of HRM for performance and satisfaction will be discussed.
The main objectives of the course are:

• How to develop and implement effective strategies of HR: main approaches
• Concept, scope and objectives of HRM: characteristics and functions of HRM
• Job analysis and job design
• Recruitment, selection and socialization
• Training and development
• Performance appraisal
• Job evaluation
• Compensation
  
  At the end of the course, students will be able to train some appropriate skills in order to:

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written and/or oral exam.

PRE – REQUISITES: the core course in Management and Fundamentals of Accounting.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: This course covers some major topics in the field of industrial and managerial economics. The course focuses mainly upon the theory of the firm and the industry, with an emphasis upon imperfect competition, asymmetric information and incentives. Of special interest is firms’ strategic behaviour including oligopoly pricing and production, product differentiation, strategic delegation and managerial incentives. The effects of firms’ conduct on economic welfare and feedback effects on market structure are examined.
Acquired competencies and abilities will permit students to understand how price and non-price competition among firms, strategic behaviour in oligopolistic markets, as well as agency issues deriving from separation of firm’s ownership from management affect economic welfare and market structure. The knowledge that the student will derive from the course is useful to understand firm and management behaviour and markets functioning.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exam.

PRE – REQUISITES: The courses Principles of Mathematics and Principles of Economics.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: The course deals with modern strategy frameworks and
methodologies to help the student develop the skills needed to be a successful manager and entrepreneur with responsibility for
the performance of a firm (or business unit within a firm for the managers). The main topics covered are:

1. Understanding the fundamental concepts in competitive strategy;
2. strategy identification and evaluation;
3. competitor analysis, firm and industry evolution, and strategic responses to external changes;
4. entrepreneurial thinking and mindset.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Written exam (with case studies, multiple choice, open-ended questions) with possibility of an additional oral exam.

PRE – REQUISITES: no.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

AIMS: The objective of the course is to provide students with the confidence and expertise to apply econometric models and methods in business, marketing and finance. Lectures will be supplemented by lab sessions, where students can gain hand-on experience in applied econometric analysis using illustrative applications.
At the end of the course students should have an understanding of econometric methods and an active training in econometrics
as it is applied in practice.

EXAMINATION METHOD: Homework.

PRE – REQUISITES: Principles of Mathematics and Statistics courses.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

Students may choose and include elective courses from a range of optional courses in the list below.

For those optional exams that are not included in this list, please contact Prof. Silvia Ferramosca (silvia.ferramosca@unipi.it) in order to check their validity for your degree programme.

• Health Care Management (3 ECTS).
  PRE-REQUISITE: Management and Fundamentals of Accounting is recommanded.
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami
• Introduction to decision theory (6 ECTS)
  PRE-REQUISITE: Principles of Economics is recommanded
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami
• Investment process: theory and practice (3 ECTS).
  PRE-REQUISITE: Corporate Finance is recommanded.
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami
• Risk management in financial institutions (3 ECTS)
  PRE-REQUISITE: Banking and Financial markets is recommanded.
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami
• Welfare And Economic Integration Of The European Union (3 ECTS)
  PRE-REQUISITE: Principles od Economics is recommanded.
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami
• Sustainable Development: Principles And Policy (6 ECTS)
  FURTHER INFORMATION: Portale Valutami

Students are required to earn 2 ECTS by performing an internship or a field project in Italy or abroad, in any entity (pub entity, private or public firm, non-profit or non-governmental organization). Alternative ways to earn 2ECTS obtaining a GMAT, attending Summer Schools, participating to research projects are under assessment.

FURTHER INFORMATION: visit the page.

Students are required to write a short essay/article on a topic coherent with the Bcs in Management for Business and Economics. The topic is to be agreed with a Faculty Member. The student must show critical thinking capabilities, analytical skills and in-depth knowledge of the topic selected.