There are no pre-requisites for this subject.

The student will be able to: - Understand the basic functional areas of the firm. - Understand basic elements of the firm's competitive environment. - Understand the importance of planning and use basic planning and control tools. - Understand the importance of financing and investment decisions and use basic finance tools. - Understand the differences among the main production management systems. - Understand the scope of marketing and its importance for a firm's success.

S3: Critically apply new information to problem solving, updating pre-existing knowledge and developing continuous learning skills that allow them to adapt to new challenges and situations with a high level of autonomy. S8: Apply the knowledge, skills and techniques of the different disciplines associated with tourism, such as Economics, Humanities and Business Administration and Management, to the rigorous study of issues related to tourism activities, using the appropriate terminology and the scientific method C4: Plan and execute policies and business initiatives that contribute to solving complex problems in the tourism field, collecting, processing and interpreting relevant information, identifying the peculiarities of national and international markets, effectively managing available resources, and using information and communication technologies (ICT) to implement sustainable and quality practices.

Compulsory course materials include not only the contents of the lectures and practical sessions, but also the chapters of the reference books that are indicated for each topic. Please note that the referenced OpenStax books are open access (freely available online). The assigned chapters provide background reading; not all content within the chapters will be covered in detail, and key concepts will be further explained during lectures (magistrale) and practical sessions (reduced class). Moreover, students will be expected to have a knowledge of the economic, political and social context in accordance with their status of university students, based on the press or other information media. PART I. INTRODUCTION 1) The current business environment 1.1) Globalization 1.2) Digitalization 1.3) Diversity 1.4) Sustainability Primary Readings: - IB Chapter 1: Understanding Economic Systems and Business Supplemental Readings: - PF Chapter 1: Introduction to Finance - PF Chapter 3: Economic Foundations: Money and Rates 2) Corporate social responsibility 2.1) Towards shareholders 2.2) Towards clients 2.3) Towards employees 2.4) Towards lenders 2.5) Environmental responsibility Primary Readings: - IB Chapter 2: Making Ethical Decisions and Managing a Socially Responsible Business PART II. FIRM STRATEGY 3) General strategy 3.1) Industry analysis 3.2) Internal analysis: resources and capabilities 3.3) Business strategies 3.4) Corporate strategies Primary Readings: - PM Chapter 8: Strategic Analysis: Understanding a Firm¿s Competitive Environment - PM Chapter 9: The Strategic Management Process: Achieving and Sustaining Competitive Advantage 4) Marketing strategy 4.1) Identifying the target market 4.2) Positioning 4.3) Consumer behavior Primary Readings: - IB Chapter 11: Creating Products and Pricing Strategies to Meet Customers' Needs 5) Production strategies 5.1) Production concepts - Break-even point and operational leverage - Productivity and costs - Economies of scale - Costs and benefits of inventories - Flexibility 5.2) Production strategies - Mass production - Flexible production - Just in time production Primary Readings: - IB Chapter 10: Achieving World-Class Operations Management PART III. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 6) Financial analysis 6.1) Accounting information: financial information in the balance sheet and income statement 6.2) Economic and financial analysis of the firm - Accounting ratios - Economic and financial return - Leverage: operational, financial and total - Working capital - Production to invoice lead time Primary Readings: - PF Chapter 5: Financial Statements - PF Chapter 6: Measures of Financial Health Supplemental Readings: - PF Chapter 4: Accrual Accounting Process - IB Chapter 14: Using Financial Information and Accounting 7) Investment decisions 7.1) Characterizing an investment project 7.2) Payback 7.3) The time value of money 7.4) Net present value and internal rate of return Primary Readings: - PF Chapter 7: Time Value of Money I: Single Payment Value - PF Chapter 16: How Companies Think about Investing Supplemental Readings: - PF Chapter 8: Time Value of Money II: Equal Multiple Payments - PF Chapter 9: Time Value of Money III: Unequal Multiple Payment Values - PF Chapter 15: How to Think about Investing 8) Financing 8.1) Debt financing 8.2) Equity financing 8.3) Capital structure Primary Readings: - PF Chapter 17: How Firms Raise Capital Supplemental Readings: - IB Chapter 16: Understanding Financial Management and Securities Markets PART IV. ORGANIZATION AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 9) Organizational structure 9.1) Elements of structure - Chain of command - Scope of control - Line and staff 9.2) Horizontal and vertical coordination 9.3) Departmentation criteria 9.4) Types of structures - Functional - Multidivisional - Matrix - Horizontal - Modular Primary Readings: - IB Chapter 7: Designing Organizational Structures Supplemental Readings: - PF Chapter 2: Corporate Structure and Governance - PM Chapter 10: Organizational Structure and Change 10) Human resource management 10.1) Internal labor markets 10.2) High performance work practices 10.3) Externalization 10.4) The role of the legal framework Primary Readings: - IB Chapter 8: Managing Human Resources and Labor Relations Supplemental Readings: - PM Chapter 11: Human Resource Management PART V. PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT 11) Production decisions 11.1) Location 11.2) Capacity 11.3) Plant layout Primary Readings: - IB Chapter 10: Achieving World-Class Operations Management 12) Production control 12.1) Productivity control 12.2) Quality control 12.3) Inventory control Primary Readings: - IB Chapter 10: Achieving World-Class Operations Management PART VI. MARKETING DECISIONS 13) Product and price 13.1) Product attributes 13.2) Price setting Primary Readings: - IB Chapter 11: Creating Products and Pricing Strategies to Meet Customers' Needs 14) Product distribution and promotion 14.1) Distribution - Distribution channels: direct, one level, several levels - Market coverage: intensive, selective and exclusive distribution - Characteristics of retailers - Services of wholesalers 14.2) Promotion - Advertising - Personal sale - Sales promotion - Social networks Primary Readings: - IB Chapter 12: Distributing and Promoting Products and Services Bibliographic References: - IB: OpenStax. (2018). Introduction to Business. https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-business - PF: OpenStax. (2022). Principles of Finance. https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-finance - PM: OpenStax. (2019). Principles of Management. https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-management Book Key: IB = OpenStax "Introduction to Business" PF = OpenStax "Principles of Finance" PM = OpenStax "Principles of Management"

Every week there will be a theory session (in a large group) and a practical session (in a small group). Students must study the contents of each theory session after the session takes place. Exercises and cases must be solved before the corresponding practical sessions. Practical sessions will be devoted to discuss and provide solutions to the exercises that students will have previously worked at. There will also be weekly office hours which will be scheduled by each professor at the beginning of the term.