Business Administration

This course examines how firms can gain competitive advantage from their operations. Typically, this requires the firm to achieve, at a minimum cost and high quality: responsiveness and adaptability to customer needs and desires, rapid time to market, process efficiency, and sufficient/responsive capacity. A problem solving framework is developed that enables students to undertake managerial and technical analysis that aims to result in the desired competitive advantage. Both service and manufacturing case examples are covered in order to illustrate some of the main concepts.

This course examines digital marketing, digital media tools, and effective digital marketing strategies based on good research. It will therefore define digital marketing and explain its role in the marketing discipline. Additionally, the course will seek to develop
practical skills which are essential to digital marketing and implementing an effective digital marketing strategy.

The course provides students with the conceptual and theoretical framework surrounding valuation issues and the practical tools to address such topics in real-life situations. The main methodologies of corporate valuation are analyzed and the approaches commonly used by practitioners (financial analysts, investment and merchant banks, consulting firms) are critically discussed. Examples focus on corporate valuation issues using DCF, stock market and deal multiples completed by industry-specific as well as case-specific valuation techniques. Prerequisites: knowledge of basic financial accounting and basic corporate finance.

This course provides an in depth overview of Data Mining, Commercial data, Administrative data, survey data, Factor Analysis, Cluster Analysis, Predictive Models (decision trees, discriminant analysis, regression). The course content is delivered through theoretical lectures and practical laboratory works using SAS software; it focuses on the application of SAS programming for market research and consumer behavior analysis, combining statistical rigor with practical implementation. The curriculum emphasizes advanced techniques such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA), Discriminant Analysis, and clustering methods. Topics for this course include:

1. Advanced SAS Programming for Market Data
2. Statistical Foundations for Market Research
3. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for Market Research
4. Clustering Methods for Market Segmentation
5. Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) for Categorical Data
6. Discriminant Analysis for Predictive Modeling
7. Advanced Data Handling and Preparation
8. Capstone Project: CRM and Consumer Behavior Analysis

By the end of the course, students learn to define their research topic, edit the questionnaire, treat distortion effects generated by the opinion scale, build statistical models using the SAS software, and draft of research report. Students will conduct a psychographic Customer Relationship Management (CRM) capstone project, which must apply the data analysis strategies addressed during lectures; they produce a final written report with clear and logical description of the analysis process and methodological choices. 

This course provides an introduction to strategic people management, with a focus on people management innovations and the major changes affecting contemporary people management. While this includes coverage of the basic people management functions and how people management contributes to value creation and organizational performance, the course’s strategic perspective means that people management is analyzed in light of several major changes and innovations, including diversity management; employee involvement; employability, soft skills, and labor market trends; employee wellbeing; global value chains, downsizing, and other forms of organizational restructuring; and the internationalization of people management, also through multi-national corporations. Furthermore, promoting a strategic perspective, the course also discusses contextual factors influencing people management decision-making. 

This course offers a study of the concept and importance of technology and innovation for companies as well as the strategies companies can follow both to protect their innovations and to obtain the technological knowledge to make the most of them. Prior completion of the course Strategic Management is recommended.

This course offers an immersive journey into the world of French luxury, thoughtfully designed to captivate students from various academic and social backgrounds. The course begins with a focus on the history of French fashion, exploring its evolution from the 17th century to its present role as a global leader in style and innovation. Students uncover the cultural and technical advancements that have kept French luxury at the industry’s forefront, while examining how it continues to adapt to changing consumer demands. The course also provides an expanded look at the luxury world, touching on other sectors such as high-end automobiles, watchmaking, jewelry, and hospitality to offer a well-rounded understanding of luxury’s diverse landscape. Building on this historical foundation, the course then shifts to a business perspective, exploring the strategies, management practices, and digital transformations of iconic brands like Chanel, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, and Dior. Students learn how these luxury houses maintain their prestige in a fast-paced, digitally-driven world. To enrich the Paris experience, the course includes field visits to institutions like the YSL Museum and Cartier Foundation, as well as guided excursions to luxury boutiques and hotels. These experiences offer students studying in Paris a unique, hands-on look at the codes of luxury and the art of customer experience, making the most of their time in one of the world’s fashion capitals.

This course provides an overview of the dynamics of the global financial and international monetary systems. It develops knowledge of the fundamental concepts needed to understand foreign direct investment, financial flows, international trade, and investment deals. As political risk and economic exposure to global events have become more immediate, special attention is given to the 2007-2012 world banking crisis, the role of central banks in the stabilization of national economies, national debts, and the specific economic challenges to which individual countries have been exposed in varying ways. Alternative views and policy measures to help struggling economies overcome the economic and financial crisis like contracting (or expanding) government spending are assessed and critically analyzed.

Tracing the history of beer from China in 7000 BCE, through to the impact of U.S. federal law and European Union regulations, this course explores the determinants and drivers of the economics of beer. This course includes an examination of the labor market and brewing, technology and innovation, national beer market trends, media and marketing of beer, new and emerging beer markets, cultural and political factors impacting the beer market, and the decline and rise of local, import, and craft beers.

What does the future world of work look like? This course critically evaluates contemporary trends in the changing world of work. The course focuses on these trends with a view to understanding their implications for work, employment, and society. Some issues explored in this course are automation and AI, emotional labor, flexible working, the platform economy, climate change, regulation and the role of the state, and globalization.