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. 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
2. Corporate social responsibility
2.1. Towards shareholders
2.2. Towards clients
2.3. Towards employees
2.4. Towards lenders
2.5. Environmental responsibility
Readings:
Madura (2010), Chapter 2.
PART II. FIRM STRATEGY
3. General strategy
3.1. Industry analysis
3.2. Internal analysis: resources and capabilities
3.3. Business stategies
3.4. Corporate strategies
3.5. Decision trees: Graphical representation and problem solving.
Readings:
Dess and Lumpkin (2003), Chapters 3, 5 and 6.
Mateos (2006), Chapters 5 and 6.
4. Marketing strategy
4.1. Identifying the target market
4.2. Positioning
4.3. Consumer behavior
Readings:
Maynar, Bañegil and Galera (2007), Chapter 9.
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
5.3. Project management: PERT diagram.
Readings:
Maynar, Bañegil and Galera (2007), Chapter 7.
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
Readings:
Madura (2010), Chapter 15.
Maynar, Bañegil and Galera (2007), Chapter 5.
7. Investment decisions
7.1. Caracterizing an investment project
7.2. Payback
7.3. The time value of money
7.4. Net present value and internal rate of return
Readings:
Maynar, Bañegil and Galera (2007), Chapter 6.
Madura (2010), Chapter 17.
8. Financing
8.1. Debt financing
8.2. Equity financing
8.3. Capital structure
Readings:
Maynar, Bañegil and Galera (2007), Chapter 6.
Madura (2010), Chapter 16.
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
Readings:
Madura (2010), Chapter 8.
Mateos (2006), Chapter 9.
Daft, Murphy and Willmott (2017), Chapter 4.
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
PART V. PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT
11. Production decisions
11.1. Location
11.2. Capacity
11.3. Plant layout
Readings:
Maynar, Bañegil and Galera (2007), Chapter 7.
12. Production control
12.1. Productivity control
12.2. Quality control
12.3. Inventory control
Readings:
Maynar, Bañegil and Galera (2007), Chapter 8.
PART VI. MARKETING DECISIONS
13. Product and price
13.1. Product attributes
13.2. Price setting
Readings:
Madura (2010), Chapter 12.
Maynar, Bañegil and Galera (2007), Chapter 10.
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 wholesellers
14.2. Promotion
- Advertising
- Personal sale
- Sales promotion
- Social networks
Readings:
Madura (2010), Chapters 13 and 14.
Maynar, Bañegil and Galera (2007), Chapter 10.