Business Administration

The course covers financial economics viewed from the perspective of shareholders of a firm. It includes an introduction to financial economics with a focus on investing in stock markets, as well as stock valuation, but also the valuation of risky cash flows from a social perspective. The course examines the issue of corporate governance and, in particular, how to assess the governance of a given firm. Moreover, it discusses trading strategies of investors in stock markets. The course concludes with a two-day workshop in which students work on case studies, analyzing current issues with respect to corporate governance.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course advances students' knowledge in: 

• Developing knowledge and critical understanding of the most relevant models and theories of competitive and corporate strategy;
• Conducting structured strategic external and internal analyses considering both organizational performance, resources and capabilities, and the features of the competitive arena;
• Identifying and developing strategic options, applying appropriate models and frameworks, and evaluate their limitations;
• Evaluating contemporary and ethical issues that may impact upon strategic choices;
• Working collaboratively to develop, evaluate and present strategic recommendations to an international senior audience.

This course enables students to understand the prominent concepts and theories of competitive and corporate strategy. The study of the core elements of strategic management are combined with the development of the skillset to apply strategy models and tools to case studies from different industries, such as finance and banking arena, including the emergent fintech and digital companies. Students will have the chance to develop their collaborative skills in a role game as consultants to advise the management of a corporation.

The course explores an integrated approach to marketing communications. It examines concepts, principles, and methods of marketing promotion and communication. Specific focus is placed on developing an integrated marketing communications plan based on consumer understanding (outside-in approach) and an understanding of the brand and brand positioning. Topics include media planning, media selection, testing and evaluation, and communication and marketing strategies.

This course covers the concepts, operation, and terminology of foreign exchange markets; international investment decision-making; sources of and approaches to managing foreign exchange exposure; political risk; and international funding mechanisms and financial decision-making in multinational business organizations.

This course covers the principles of relationship marketing. Students are introduced to strategic and tactical issues involved in building and managing relationships with customers. The course also deals with analytical methods for identifying customer needs, calculating customer lifetime value, making targeting decisions, and evaluating the impacts of marketing activities. Emphasis is placed on the implementation of the methods using software tools. Topics include Marketing math, Analyzing customer data, Identifying customer needs & segmentation, Evaluating the impacts of marketing activities, Utilizing transaction data, Making targeting decisions, Customer retention, Customer lifetime value, and Relationship marketing in digital environments.

This course prepares students to enter the ever-evolving 'world of work' by exploring the dynamics that influence current and future employment trends and how to respond to these evolutions through self-adaptation. Students explore the socio-economic and business environment that futurists anticipate for the next decade and develop career strategies to address the challenges posed by the rapidly evolving work environment. Students acquire the necessary skills in interpersonal communication, relationships, group discussions, and presentations to effectively respond to the demands of a more fluid and dynamic global work environment. 

The course is more than a language course as it also explores socio-pragmatic competence in professional settings through development of discourse analysis and strategies, identification of both general and specific needs and requirements in given and ever-evolving situations and development of constructive approaches to satisfying those needs based in part on multicultural perspective and sensitivity. 

This course introduces data science techniques to harness financial data for making sound financial decisions or answering questions of financial interests. It combines tools used in a variety of fields (finance, economics and statistics). Students will finish the course equipped with a workman’s familiarity with the tools of financial data science, facility with financial data handling and statistical programming, and—hopefully—a good understanding of what decisions you want to make, or what questions you want to ask and how best to do it with econometric tools and financial data.

This course provides students with the knowledge and skills commonly adopted in practice to implement Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework utilizing risk management qualitative and quantitative methods. The course addresses how to identify, assess, control, and respond to risks for an enterprise and also integrates risks with business strategy to improve performance. In addition, the course identifies environmental, social, and governance (ESG) related risks to be incorporated into ERM framework. Last, this course introduces the practical implementation and application of financial risk management covering market, liquidity, credit, and operational risk measurement and management from the viewpoint of financial institutions.