Business Administration

This course examines the fundamentals of financial management and provides a framework for understanding the theories and techniques used for business decisions in working capital management, capital budgeting, financial control, and long-term financing.

This is a graduate level course that is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. This course provides a broad view of the major economic features of several artistic, cultural, and entertainment activities in creative industries. Upon completion of the course, students are able to: define the distinctive features of organizations operating in the creative industries; illustrate how these organizations can be financially viable; apply analytical, planning, and control tools such as the business model canvas and revenues and costs analysis; and analyze and critically evaluate the business model and governance solution of an organization operating in the creative industries. The course is organized around four themes: defining creative industries; defining business models and the Business model canvas; understanding better the Costs and Revenues components of the business model canvas; and governance and business model in the creative industries.

This course examines marketing strategies and emerging issues in platform business models and the sharing economy. It covers the special features, pricing, customer acquisition and management, trust building, ecosystem and governance of such business models. It also analyzes the business models of representative firms in several key sectors—lodging, ride-hailing, e-commerce, office sharing, and online travel—and the future trends of platform business models and the sharing economy. In addition to qualitative analysis, this course also discusses how data analytics are applied in these businesses and the special skills needed for such business models.

This course offers an in-depth study of the role of research and innovation and its business-based logic in modern economies. It examines two main concepts: understanding investment for innovation and turning innovative ideas into business opportunities.

Family firms - firms that are owned, managed and controlled by a family, or a limited number of individuals – represent the vast majority of all firms, and major contributors to a country’s employment, GDP, wealth, and business knowledge. This course aims at developing students’ skills in analyzing the specific features of family firms, assessing their key problems and opportunities, and creatively proposing strategic and organizational solutions. The course is targeted to the next generation of controlling-family members, to students who may be willing to start their career in a family or private firm, and to those who plan to consult or provide professional services to family-controlled companies. Understanding the unique features of these firms is essential to develop a successful leadership career in such organizational settings or, more broadly, to understand the strategic logic of family-controlled competitors, suppliers, and customers. Participants are challenged to improve their personal skills in the areas of communication, conflict resolution, diagnostic assessment, solutions finding, and writing academic papers or case-based materials. This highly interactive course includes active simulations, role plays, videos, guest speakers, and real-case discussion. 

This course examines the business practices of the music industry. It covers copyright, marketing, law, management, contracts, sales, distribution, ownership, and merchandising, which will be examined in relation to areas such as touring, recording deals, digital streaming, live performance, music placement in film, TV, sport and advertising, video clips and video games.

This course provides a study of the strategic behavior of firms, particularly the concentration indices and monopolistic behavior found in both single and multi-product firms, and examines how price discrimination facilitates an increase in profits. It explores the strategic interaction between firms in oligopolistic markets, models that include time horizon, capacity restrictions, and product differentiation, and the strategic effect of capacity change on firm entry decision or the effect of location decision on firm market power. Students are expected to have completed coursework in microeconomics and game theory