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

4.3 Basical principles for drafting the financial report

5.Start-up and enterprise creation

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

• 5.2Competitive context analysis: product analysis; Market analysis; Sector analysis; The SWOT analysis.

5.3 Strategies for start-up development: strategic planning for the new business; Positioning and competitive advantage; The assessment of entrepreneurial risk.

• 5.4The Operational Plan: the marketing mix levers; Planning of operational actions; The organizational structure for the new enterprise.

 (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.

(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 divided in two main parts: Economia Aziendale  (business administration) (EA) and Start up and business plan 

Lectures provided by practitioners and participation to working group and seminars. Namely, students are invited to take part to the  seminars aforementioned

Attendance

Strongly 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 presentations n. 8  (Introduction to financial reporting; aim and content of the financial statement) and 9 (principles for drafting financial statements) 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.

Chapters that are part of the program (hard copies) are available 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 scan format). In details, the books chapters are the following:

TESTO BORELLO_capitolo introduzione 1.1

TESTO BORELLO_capitolo introduzione 1.2

TESTO BORELLO_Capitolo 1.1

TESTO BORELLO_Capitolo 1.2

TESTO BORELLO_Capitolo 2

TESTO BORELLO_Capitolo 3.1

TESTO BORELLO_Capitolo 3.1

TESTO BORELLO_Capitolo 4

TESTO BORELLO_Capitolo 7

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. During the written test it is not allowed to consult the textbook, the civil code or other teaching materials.

 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.

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.

Disabilità e DSA

Le studentesse e gli studenti che hanno registrato la certificazione di disabilità o la certificazione di DSA presso l'Ufficio Inclusione e diritto allo studio, possono chiedere di utilizzare le mappe concettuali (per parole chiave) durante la prova di esame.

A tal fine, è necessario inviare le mappe, due settimane prima dell’appello di esame, alla o al docente del corso, che ne verificherà la coerenza con le indicazioni delle linee guida di ateneo e potrà chiederne la modifica.

Teaching

Same 

Course books

Same (see the  program above for attending students)

Assessment

Same (see the  program above for attending students)

Disabilità e DSA

Le studentesse e gli studenti che hanno registrato la certificazione di disabilità o la certificazione di DSA presso l'Ufficio Inclusione e diritto allo studio, possono chiedere di utilizzare le mappe concettuali (per parole chiave) durante la prova di esame.

A tal fine, è necessario inviare le mappe, due settimane prima dell’appello di esame, alla o al docente del corso, che ne verificherà la coerenza con le indicazioni delle linee guida di ateneo e potrà chiederne la modifica.

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