Business Administration

The course focuses on the new product development process as a complex inter-functional management topic, which requires strategic initiative, aligned organizational solutions and appropriate supporting methodologies. Collaborative innovation is presented in order to discuss the potentialities of the involvement of external players in the innovation process, also thanks to the opportunities offered by internet-based technologies. Despite the increasing relevance of innovation strategies and new product development, few companies seem to have mastered their ability to identify, create, and exploit opportunities for innovation on a systematic basis. Crafting and delivering a new product is not an easy and intuitive process, but the result of a set of structured and organized practices. This course explores these practices and exploits the tools and techniques that can be used to this purpose. The New Product Development and Open Innovation course is organized in two main parts. The first provides a set of integrated frameworks and tools to effectively design and manage the strategies, processes, and techniques for innovation. It provides the conceptual tools to understand the nature and characteristics of different types of innovation, as well as practical insights on how to design and manage a new product development process. The second part of the course is focused on how digital environments can help companies to open their boundaries and pursue processes of open and collaborative innovation, involving several external partners in their new product development activities. Special attention is paid to the role of users in enhancing innovation and to ad-hoc mechanisms supporting their active involvement, among which user communities, virtual knowledge brokers, and Open Source Systems.

International Management is an advanced undergraduate module in the bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. The course first focuses on international differences in formal and informal institutions. National-level institutions are frameworks within which multinational enterprises (MNEs) do business around the world. The course examines the particularities of national institutional frameworks in some of the largest economies and explores how researchers have classified such institutional frameworks into typologies. The course then focuses on MNEs as organizations. The course examines how MNEs have been theoretically conceived and inquire how they maintain a balance between global integration and local adaptation in their international activities. The course focuses particularly on questions of strategy, governance, and human resource management. The course addresses the underrepresentation of women in international management. A particular focus of the course is undergraduate research and inquiry. The course provides insights into current research in the discipline regarding the governance of international labor standards and international management implications of the current transition to electric vehicles in the auto industry.

This course introduces the basic concepts and methods of financial engineering, and the conceptual and financial tools that financial engineers must possess.

At the end of the course students can manage strategic issues at the business level. Business definition, critical factor of success, competitive analysis, internal resources, and strategic positions are discussed to define strategy in markets that can have different degrees of maturity and technology innovation. The course discusses topics including the definition of business models, the story of business strategy, goals and performance, the competitive environment, beyond industries, internal analysis, business strategy and competitive advantage, competitive dynamics, growth strategies, strategic alliances, innovative strategies, and strategy and social values. The course employs different teaching methods including lectures, team-based exercises, and case discussions.

This course focuses on two main aspects: the study of external and internal environment and foundational concepts and tools to inform and support the formulation and implementation of strategic decisions. The course exposes students to fundamental and advanced issues in competitive business environments and enables them to analyze opportunities and challenges from the point of view of business analysts and practicing general managers. The students learn about theory-based models and how to apply them for the analysis of real business scenarios; how to choose among established strategies in different scenarios; and how to critically evaluate key trends in the strategic management field. The course covers topics such as industry analysis, resources and capabilities, business model innovation, and scenario planning.