BUSINESS ECONOMICS

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

00047L

Academic Year of enrolment:

2017

Year of supply:

2018/2019

Type of Course:

Characterising

Degree:

Course of 1st Cycle Degree in BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Disciplinary Sector:

Applied Economics

Language:

Italian

Location:

PESCARA

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

SARRA Alessandro

Cycle:

First semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

153

Prerequisites:

Although it is not required any particular prerequisite, it is preferable to have taken the exam of Political Economy

Objectives

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
The course will contribute to the general objective of the degree course of introducing the students to the broadest knowledge of business companies. In particular, the course focuses on the theoretical tools needed to understand the logical links between the economic approach to the study of organizations and the managerial one. Special attention will be paid to references to operational reality

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

1) Knowledge and ability to understand
At the end of the course the students will have the cognitive instruments to:
- express judgements on the efficiency of organization
-evaluate the impact on efficiency of the behaviours of the actors of the organization
- analyse the internal conflict of interest and formulate proposals for the control of opportunistic behaviours
- evaluate the impact on efficiency of the internal decision making structure

2) Judgement autonomy
At the end of the course, the students will be able to:
- identify/develop connections between economic and managerial views of the study of enterprises
- apply knowledge to identify the main organizational difficulties in real cases

3) Communicative skills.
At the end of the course, students will have acquired the following communicative skills:
- understand the relationships between economic and managerial language in the analysis of the organizational problems
- describe and discuss organizational problems and interact in the search for a solution in multidisciplinary contexts.

Contents

The theoretical foundation for the study of the enterprises as economic organization will be illustrated and discussed during the course. In particular, it will be examined:
1) the nature of the enterprise, and the evolution of the various economic approaches to the study of its internal organization;
2) the main problems related to the organizational design aimed at improving the efficiency of business processes;
3) the main methods for the analysis of internal efficiency;
4) the coordination problems among activities and organizational units;
5) the incentive problems that arise from the structure of the relationships between the internal stakeholders (employees, managers, owners of property rights);
6) the organizational instruments available for managing coordination and incentive problems;
7) the relationship between internal organization and company value

Extended Syllabus

General Part. The economics of the Firm and of organizations

- The neoclassical theory of the firm
- The economics of production
- The theory of production costs
- Firm vs. organization
- The market behavior of the firm
- Economic organization, external efficiency, internal efficiency and strategic effectiveness
- The internal structure of the firm: coordination problems
- The firm as a nexus of contracts
- Principal agent theory, motivation, incentives and efficiency
- The value of the firm: the role of routines and organizational strategies
- The value of the firm: the issue of property rights
- The value of the firm: the classical theory of investments and finance
- Financial Structure, Ownership, and Corporate Control
- Organizational design and evolution of the firm: internal growth, external growth and organizational complexity

Special part. Efficiency and productivity of the firm
- The efficiency analysis: basic concepts and measurement methods
- Technology, production possibility set and efficiency: the non-parametric approach
- Productivity indices

Recommended Bibliography

- MILGROM P., ROBERTS J., Economia, organizzazione e management, Il Mulino (available in English: Milgrom P., Roberts J., Economics, organization and management, Pearson, last edition): chapters. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16.

- LAURETI T., L’efficienza rispetto alla frontiera delle possibilità produttive, Firenze University Press: chapters. 1, 2, 4

- THANASSOULIS E., Introduction to the theory and application of Data Envelopment Analysis, Kluwer Academic Publishers.

During the course, the students will be provided with additional material

Methods of Provision

Conventional

Teaching Methods

The teaching will consist of lectures, case studies and practical training.
The lectures will treat theoretical topics and will be held by the professor, with the occasional participation of experts invited to present their experiences on the topics treated.
The practical training will require the application of the acquired knowledge in the discussion of applied issued, also using questionnaires and exercises. Their aim is to verify the level of understanding of the topics treated, and to provide students with self-assessment occasions and improve the results of the study.
Case studies will be treated in group work (groups of 5/6 students) and will aim both at developing the ability to apply acquired knowledge in practical contexts, and at improving communicative skills through the presentation of the results obtained.
Course attendance is not compulsory. The attending students only will be admitted to group work.

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

The exam will consist of a written and an oral test.
The written test will consist of 10 multi-choice questions, and 5 essay questions to be answered within a maximum number of words. The total score for the written test is 30 marks. The test paper will explain how the marks are distributed, based on the relevance/complexity of each question.
The final mark of the written test will be given by the sum of the partial scores obtained.
The written test will last 90 minutes.
The oral test will consist of 3/5 questions aimed at verifying the knowledge of the material referred to, the communicative skills, the judgement autonomy and the comprehension skills. Particular attention will be given to the language used, at the capacity to establish links between different topics, and at the ability to critically interact on topics proposed by the examiner.
The oral test will be judged with a score on 30.
The final result will be given by the average of the marks obtained with written and oral test.
For students that will have participated in group works, the exam will include also the discussion of the work done. The score obtained in this discussion will be considered in the definition of the final marks.

Contacts/More Information

E-mail: alessandro.sarra@unich.it
Students reception days and hours: Thursday from 11:00 to 13:00

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Aree

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