The course aims to provide students with the basic knowledge and the conceptual and methodological tools necessary to face the study of the institutional characteristics of the companies, the system of their operations and their processes and equilibrium conditions. The course also aims to deepen understanding the  accounting system and the basic knowledge about the features and content of the financial statement. Moreover, it is finalised to  to provide the basic knowledge of the start up process and business creation, with a focus on drafting the business plan.

The Timetable of the topics covered by the lessons during the semester  will be made available on the MOODLE platform under the heading: Syllabus.

1. Economic activity and business activity
1.1 The nature of economic problems over time and space. Differences between economics, business administration and accounting
1.2 The business system and its relationship with the environment
1.3 Classes and types of companies
 
2. The business system
2.1 The business system and its subsystems: organizational, operations and management, asset and information systems
2.2 The institutional structure of a company: legal subjects and economic subjects
2.3 The organs of the economic governance and management of a company

3. The economic behavior of firms
3.1 Corporate decision-making
3.2 Objective and bounded rationality models
3.3 The decision-making structure
3.4 Organization and Personnel Management
3.5 Concept, configurations, and the qualitative and quantitative composition of capital
3.6 Working capital. Calculating total income. Operating income and the preservation of capital
3.7 Costs and revenues in the business system
3.8 Investments and financing needs.  Funding choices. Self-financing. The balance between economic and business risk.
3.9 Cost effectiveness and efficiency. Cost analysis. The "Break Even Point" analysis

4. Financial statements in the Civil Law system
4.1 The functions carried out by financial statements
4.2 Structure and contents of financial statements

5.Start-up and enterprise creation

 5.1 The drafting and structure of the business plan; Description of the project and business idea: The function of the business plan; Defining the business idea and planning phases; The presentation of the project and the company.

Knowledge and understanding. At the end of the course, students must have acquired knowledge of the conceptual bases, the theoretical principles and the methodological tools of Business Administration. In particular, students must know and understand: what economic activity consists of and by whom it is carried out; what are the characteristics of a company and the peculiarities of the company system; how companies are classified; how a company relates to the environment, its behavior and functioning patterns; the main economic and financial aspects; the role of the corporate information system; the governance models; the use of cost knowledge for the monitoring and assessment of economic balance and to take business decisions; what are the types of costs and cost configurations used; what is the break even point model and how is it constructed; what are the purposes, structure and essential contents of the financial statements, what are the fundamental tools necessary to manage the start-up process; what is the aim and the content of a business plan.

Applying knowledge and understanding. Students must be able to apply the knowledge acquired to address the questions and problems posed by the business context based on the cognitive schemes of Business Administration and in particular to analyze and understand the general characteristics of companies, the economic and financial aspects, as well as the company behavior and functioning schemes. Finally, students must be able to read and understand an annual report, identifying the main economic-financial information therein included, as well as and the fundamental aspects of the start-up process and to articulate the construction of a business plan.

Making judgements. Students must have the ability to link the knowledge acquired during the course into integrated and unitary schemes and to deal with complex problems and with their own judgment. The didactic methods to achieve these results will consist of frontal lessons and seminars.

Communication skills. The subject requires the acquisition of a specific technical language. By the end of the course, therefore, students must be able to adequately use the terminology proper to Business Administration, demonstrating a good command of the lexicon relating to the topics covered during the course.

Learning skills. Students must have developed good learning skills, which allow them to master the topics covered during the course and to lay the theoretical, conceptual and methodological foundations that are essential for successfully progress their study path.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Seminar lectures related to the following topics: start-up and business plan will be held by Dr. Hermann Graziano, PhD in Business Economics, Corporate Adviser.

Students are also invited to take part to seminars (providing additional CFU-formative credits) aimed to develop new emerging topics, and in particular:

-laboratory of civil economy

-learning by doing University (in collaboration with Confindustria)

-corporate responsibiliy and social report in public and private organizations

Teaching

Class lectures and seminal actitivites. Lectures  will introduce and explain both the part of the program relative to Business Administration and Start-up/Business plan. The course module based on "start up" will be taken by Dott. H. Graziano,   business consultant expert in Business Administration and PhD in Business Economics, through seminal lessons.

The teaching materials relative to the afore mentioned parts of the programs will be summarized in  ppt  presentations that can be directly downloaded accessing the Moodle platform.

Attendance

There is no obligation to attend. However, attendance at the lesson is highly recommended. The matter requires, in fact, the acquisition of a specific technical language, as well as the ability to conceptual abstraction and concrete application of some methodological tools. In order to facilitate the gradual learning of the appropriate subject and terminology, therefore, frequent lessons are recommended.

Course books

Program course modules 1, 2, and 3: M. Paoloni, P. Paoloni (2009), Introduzione e orientamento allo studio delle aziende, Giappichelli, Torino.

Program course on financial statements (4): students should base their study on the ppt presentation n. 8 (Introduction to financial reporting; aim and content of the financial statement), with the consultation/support of a Civil Code.

Program course on start-up (5) : A. Borello,  “Il business plan - dalla valutazione dell’investimento alla misurazione dell’attività d’impresa ”,  Ed: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Students must consider only the following chapters (as per the power point presentation n. 1: first seminal lecture):

TESTO BORELLO_capitolo introduzione 1.1

TESTO BORELLO_capitolo introduzione 1.2

TESTO BORELLO_Capitolo 1.1

TESTO BORELLO_Capitolo 1.2

Approfondimento_Esempio: slide_esempio_BPSIA

The aforementioned book chapters ( Author: Borello, A.)  that are part of the program (hard copies) are available in hard copy (print version) for students at Palazzo Battiferri (first floor, Reception) and preserved  in  specific"Del Baldo M. and Hermann G" dossier, as well as on the Moodle platform (in scanned format). The on line version (scanned copy) are made available trough Moodle platform

Assessment

Written test (relative to the program based on “Business Administration”, points 1,2 and 3) and oral test (relative to the following topics: financial statements, and business plan/ start-up; point/modules 3 and 4 of the course) on the same day.

 The written exam (Business Administration) includes both open and closed questions, to be completed within 1 hour and a quarter. Student will pass the exam overcoming the minimum score of 18/30 which is required for the access to the oral exam. Each question (maximum of 7/8 questions) is awarded by a score (which can vary from 2 to 3 points, depending on the type of question) for a total of 30/30.During the written test it is not allowed to consult the textbook, the civil code or other teaching materials.

The oral examination (15/20 mn on average) includes up to 3 questions on the topics: financial reporting and start-up. Each question is awarded by a score of 10; 30/30 in total.

The final evaluation will take into account the total average scores obtained by the student in both tests, written and oral.The evaluation is based on the different levels of knowledge of the topics of the course of study. This method of ascertaining the knowledge acquired is due, in particular, to the desire to verify the student's ability to synthesize, communicative and expressive skills, as well as the successful acquisition of the appropriate economic-business lexicon.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Same texts and assessment methods foreseen for attending students

Course books

Same texts and assessment methods foreseen for attending students

Assessment

Same texts and assessment methods foreseen for attending students

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

The student can request to sit the final exam in English with an alternative bibliography.