Business Administration

This course introduces students to the key concepts of managing people involving and examination of organizational, management, and human resource management theory and practice. This is achieved through relating relevant theory to practical people and organizational management issues.

This course introduces students to theories and practices of human resource management (HRM). Emphasis is placed on understanding how HRM as a function relates to strategic business decision-making. In addition, the course discusses the design of key high-performance and high-commitment HR practices. The course stimulates critical thinking about the roles that alternative HRM strategies and practices can play in contributing to positive employee and organizational outcomes.

The course covers financial statements mainly from an investor's perspective. It provides the information in financial statements and technical tools for analyzing and valuing companies and communication. This course is designed to take the students beyond the routine filling of boxes with standard financial ratios. The primary focus of the course is not on the accounting rules, but the use of accounting information. We will use firms' publicly available financial statements to assess current performance, forecast future performance and estimate fundamentals of the firm.

This course provides the ability to analyze businesses focusing on their yielding cash flow. To conduct more reasonable analyses, the appropriate balance between quantitative analyses (e.g., financial ratio analyses) and qualitative analyses (e.g., strategy analyses) is essential. Furthermore, the course covers topics regarding financial forecasting, investment analysis, and business valuation. For the sake of a better understanding of the theories needed and the techniques in practice, cases are provided in the proper classes. Assessment: final exam (40%), group presentation (25%), class assignments (20%), quiz (15%). Prerequisite: Intermediate accounting knowledge

This course examines hotel management and its future development, products and services of hotel, hotel brands and enterprise management, different branches of a hotel and each's responsibility. The assignment helps the students to apply the theories learned in class in a real case by interviewing the managers.

In recent decades, research in the field of neuroscience has suggested new interventions and applications in social domains such as law, education, and economics, and challenged us to redefine our understandings of responsibility, choice, and what it is to be human. One of the applications, consumer neuroscience, is an important step in the analysis and understanding of consumer behavior through the rigorous application of the knowledge and techniques of neurosciences, and appears as a new fundamental tool for the present and future of market research. This course addresses challenges in advancing scientific understanding of the biological basis of decision-making, and translational applications of this knowledge to the areas of marketing and consumer behavior.

Students will learn the basic concepts and analytical tools of finance in both corporate finance and investments. Topics include time value of money, risk and return, financial institutions, efficient markets, valuation theory, capital budgeting, portfolio theory, and cost of capital. The goal of this course is to equip students with the essential tools to make solid financial decisions in business.

The aim of this course is to inspire students about the possibilities of entrepreneurship. The Italian context will prepare students for the creative chaos of the entrepreneurial world.  There is no better international context for exploring this phenomenon.  From the Medici, who made a fortune and lost it again within a century, to Ferrari, the consummate entrepreneur; from Armani, Ferragamo and Gucci to Luxottica and Del Vecchio’s sunglasses empire, we investigate the essence of Italian entrepreneurship.  In addition, we scrutinize great examples of family businesses, in which each new generation exhibits entrepreneurship (FIAT, Ferrero etc.) as well as instances of entrepreneurships where it all went wrong (e.g. Parmalat). The world of entrepreneurship is evaluated from the perspectives of management, finance, and marketing as well as sociology in order to understand these enterprises.  The course is delivered using a large array of texts and academic sources that the students assess in real life case studies. We visit a wide range of entrepreneurial contexts and have the opportunity to interview at first hand a number of entrepreneurs and those that support entrepreneurship.  Students also critically evaluate major issues such as globalization, sustainability, and ethics, which affect entrepreneurship today. Each class is based on a set of readings, and it is crucial that students keep up with the readings and be prepared to discuss them in class. Some lectures directly engage our readings while others provide contextualizing historical and theoretical information. Lectures and class discussions are supplemented by visits in which we explore the structure, philosophy, values, and methodology of Italian entrepreneurs. Emphasis is placed on taking the theoretical approach and applying it directly to the Italian context. This course is designed for undergraduate students of business, communication, international studies, management, economics as well as students with an interest in entrepreneurship.  

This course provides a set of generic concepts and skills for negotiation and resolving interpersonal and inter-group conflicts. Students work with theory, skills, and processes of negotiation relevant to a wide range of contexts (including commercial, organizational, political, legal, and industrial relations). This course provides an analytical understanding of negotiations including negotiation planning, strategy, and tactics, as well as develops practical skills necessary for implementation of this knowledge. Students gain these practical skills through negotiation role play exercises, which develop in complexity as the course progresses.