37068 - Principles of Management

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course students are able to: - assess and design operations of market-oriented companies; - analyze and decide strategy for market-oriented companies; - interpret and develop the consistency between operation and strategy levels; - theorize and organize lean production decision processes; - justify and plan vertical integration level in operation and supply chain management.

Course contents

This is a first-year introductory course.

It is not recommended for Erasmus students, as they usually join the University of Bologna during the second or, more often, third year of their bachelor's programme and are therefore likely to have already completed a similar course at their home university.

The course begins with an overview of the fundamental concepts of management and the competitive and market environment in which firms operate.

In the second part of the course, we focus on Operations and Supply Management, which provides an excellent framework for understanding and applying key management concepts such as efficiency, effectiveness, planning, productivity, inventory management, location decisions, and information management.

In the third part, we return to broader strategic management concepts, showing how the topics covered in Operations and Supply Management must be connected to a firm's overall business strategy.

Throughout the course, these concepts are complemented by an emphasis on sustainability as a strategic consideration.

The course combines theory with up-to-date company examples, practical applications, problem-solving exercises, and business cases.

The main topics covered in the course are:

• Introduction: the Principles of Management course and its role within the Bachelor's Degree in Business and Economics.
• The concept of management: definitions, key functions, and core managerial activities.
• Firms and customers: the nature of the firm; interactions among firms; the evolution of consumers and business customers over recent decades; and the impact of new technologies on organisations and the workplace.
• The regulatory environment: the legal and institutional framework in which firms operate, including competition (antitrust) law, consumer protection, and government regulation affecting products, pricing, and employment.
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics: the internal and external impact of corporate behaviour on society and the integration of ethical and sustainability considerations into managerial and economic decision-making.

- Operations and supply chain management

- Strategy and sustainability

- Strategic capacity management

- Learning curves

- Manufacturing processes

- Break-even analysis

- Sales and operations planning

- Material requirements planning

- Inventory management

- Lean supply chains

- Global sourcing and procurement

- Location, logistics, and distribution

- Linear programming using the excel solver

 

Readings/Bibliography

1) Textbook:

From McGrawHill it is available a compact edition of the book, specifically packaged for our course, which only includes the chapters that are relevant for our course; this makes the book price lower for students.

TITLE:

"Corso di Principles of Management - 3rd edition

Estratto da Jacobs & Chase-Operations and Supply Chain Management – The Core – 2025 Release

Docente Angelo Manaresi - Università di Bologna
Laurea in Business and Economics"

PUBLISHER: MCGRAW-HILL

IMPORTANT, TO FIND THE RIGHT BOOK:

ISBN 979-82-190-6495-1

CHAPTERS INCLUDED:

1. Introduction to OSCM
2. Strategy and Sustainability
4. Strategic Capacity Management
4a. Learning Curves
6. Manufacturing Processes
6a. Break-Even Analysis
8. Sales and Operations Planning
9. Material Requirements Planning
11. Inventory Management
12. Lean Supply Chains

13. Global Sourcing and Procurement

14. Location, Logistics, and Distribution

APPENDICES
A. Linear Programming Using the Excel Solver
B. Answers to Selected Objective Questions
C. Present Value Table
E. Areas of the Cumulative Standard Normal Distribution

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Alternatively, if you have previous editions of the book

Title: Operations and Supply Chain Management – The Core – International Edition

Authors: F. Robert Jacobs, Richard B Chase

Publisher: McGraw Hill – International Edition

be careful that you only have to study chapters with the same title as those mentioned in our program, but that such chapters can be numbered differently.

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2) There are additional readings and teaching materials and excercises that are part of the program and must be studied for the exam; they will be discussed during the course and will be gradually available to be downloaded from the official database of the University of Bologna (https://virtuale.unibo.it/)

 

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures, case studies, exercises on computer models, videos

Assessment methods

The grading process includes written exams in class, in physical presence, as follows:

1. one intemediate written exam after the first half of the classes, end of october - beginning of november: it is an open questions exam which will last about 60 minutes. Contents: the first part of the course.

2. one final written exam it is an open questions exam which will last about 60 minutes, after the end of the classes: students can decide to take it in January or in february.

If a student fail the January exam, can retake il in February:

This means that students can select the option (January or February) that they prefer, or even try both January and February.

If they sit at the February exam session, the January grade is automatically erased.

Contents of both the January and February sessions:

2a) on the second part of the course, for students who have taken and passed the first intermediate exam,

2b) or on the whole course, for students who have not taken or passed the first intermediate exam.

There is a third opportunity (in Italian we call it third "appello") to take the final exam for this course of Principles of Management, which takes place in September. For that exam session, only a full exam including the whole course program will be organized, with open questions, of about 60-70 minutes.

Students of previous years must prepare the program of the current year and can only take a full exam on the whole program.

The exam, both intermediate and final, has the following goals:

· knowledge of principles of management concepts discussed during lectures , case studies and exercises.

· capability of applying operation and supply management tools to manage companies.

· ability to use results from management models to understand business activities and decision processes, both at the strategic and operational level.

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For the students who decide to take the intermediate exam (that will take place in last part of October or at the beginning of November):

-the intermediate exam will be evaluated from 0 to 30 (18 is pass grade);

-a student can take part in the exam on the second part of hte program only if he/she has passed the intermediate, that is to say with an evaluation of at least 18/30;

-in case of passing the exam on the second part, which means taking at least the score of 18/30, the final grade of the course of Principles of Management will be the arithmetic mean of the evaluations obtained in the two partial tests.

If a student decides to be evaluated by participating in an exam session including both parts of the program, the evaluation is, as usual, 0 to 30 (18 is the pass grade).

To take the exam, registration is required through the Almaesami electronic system, in compliance with the deadlines provided.

The registration of the grade achieved is done in the Almaesami system. It is possible to view the exam paper and ask for clarifications on the date indicated by the teacher. The possibility of using alternative time to view the exam paper is reserved for exceptional cases, with a valid motivation. The registration of the vote on Almaesami system will take place without the need of the student to be present or sign it.

Graduating students who pass the exam and need to register the grade before the planned date, are invited to communicate it to the teacher through an email to be sent immediately after taking the exam.

As said before, the exam is carried out in writing and provides an evaluation in a scale from 0 to 30 (18 is a passing grade). In addition to answering some questions concerning the methods ("theory questions"), students will have to perform exercises in which they demonstrate the ability to apply the acquired tools to manage a specific practical situation in management, operation and supply chain management, verify specific hypotheses and interpret the achieved results.

The following indicative criteria apply to the allocation of marks on the Italian 30-point grading scale:

Fail (0–17)
Insufficient and inadequate knowledge of the topics covered by the syllabus; significant gaps in knowledge; generally inaccurate use of language.

Satisfactory (18–20)
Satisfactory knowledge of the topics covered by the syllabus.

Fair (21–23)
Fair knowledge of the topics covered by the syllabus; a fair ability to examine and analyse specific aspects of the syllabus in greater depth and apply to examples of real practice.

Good (24–26)
Good knowledge of the topics covered by the syllabus; good ability to examine and analyse the various parts of the syllabus in depth; good analytical and critical skills; ability to apply concepts to examples and exercises of real practice.

Very Good (27–28)
More than good knowledge of all topics covered by the syllabus; good ability to examine and analyse the various parts of the syllabus in depth; good ability to make connections between different topics; good analytical and critical skills; generally accurate and technically appropriate use of management language, demonstrating a good command of the relevant terminology; ability to apply concepts to examples and exercises of real practice.

Excellent (29–30)
Excellent knowledge of all topics covered by the syllabus; excellent ability to examine and analyse the various parts of the syllabus in depth; excellent ability to make connections between different topics; excellent analytical and critical skills; generally accurate and technically appropriate use of management language, demonstrating a good command of the relevant terminology; ability to apply concepts to examples and exercises of real practice.

Excellent with Honours (30 cum laude)
Outstanding knowledge of all topics covered by the syllabus; excellent ability to examine and analyse the various parts of the syllabus in depth; outstanding ability to make connections between different topics; outstanding analytical and critical skills; totally accurate and technically appropriate use of management language, demonstrating a perfect command of the relevant terminology; proficiency to apply concepts to examples and exercises of real practice.

During the exam test, the use of support material such as textbooks, notes, AI software, computer or telematic media is not allowed. A student is able to pass the written exam (and to also acquire the maximum assessment provided) even without attending classes, given that attendance is not mandatory; however, statistically this rarely happens.

 

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES:

The assessments methods of the course Intended Learning Outcomes is the following:

ILO 1 Assess and design operations of market-oriented companies. Open-ended calculation problems

ILO 2 Analyze and decide strategy for market-oriented companies. Open-ended questions (to assess theoretical knowledge)

ILO 3 Interpret and develop the consistency between operation and strategy levels. Case study analysis

ILO 4 Theorize and organize lean production decision processes. Open-ended questions (to assess theoretical knowledge)

ILO 5 Justify and plan vertical integration level in operation and supply chain management. Open-ended calculation problems

Teaching tools

Excel files with management models; case, excercises and videos will be discussed in class. Students will sometime be asked to read a specific case study before class.

Office hours

See the website of Angelo Manaresi