B5301 - Farm Administration and Management

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will have acquired a substantial understanding of the administrative and managerial aspects that affect the operations of a business.

Course contents

Classroom Activities (36 hours)

Introduction (2 hours)

The first hours of the course will be devoted to presenting the course content and teaching materials, explaining how to use the Virtuale and AlmaRegistri platforms, and outlining the examination procedures.

Agricultural Enterprises (6 hours)

• The enterprise as an institution.

• Definition of agricultural entrepreneur.

• Definition of professional agricultural entrepreneur, direct farmer and active farmer.

• Relevance of these legal and professional categories for business management.

• Sole proprietorships and corporate forms in agriculture.

• Agricultural enterprises performing quasi-public functions.

Accounting and Statutory Financial Statements (6 hours)

• Financial statements as a source of business information and related administrative obligations.

• Structure of statutory financial statements.

• The balance sheet.

• The income statement.

• The cash flow statement.

• Notes to the financial statements and other related documents.

• Specific features of financial statements in agricultural enterprises.

• Interpretation and analysis of key business results.

Management Accounting and Business Reporting (6 hours)

• Purposes and tools of management accounting.

• Production costs according to the technical-economic and business-administration approaches.

• Cost analysis for management control purposes.

• The structure of business costs.

• Factors affecting the flexibility and rigidity of the cost structure.

• Internal reporting in support of business decision-making.

• Registration, amendment and deregistration procedures with the Business Register.

Business Cost and Profitability Analysis (4 hours)

• Classification of business costs.

• Fixed, variable and mixed costs.

• Direct and indirect costs.

• Job-order costing and process costing.

• Contribution margin.

• Cost-volume-profit analysis.

• Calculation and interpretation of the break-even point.

• Margin of safety.

• Use of cost models for profitability analysis and planning.

Planning, Sales Management and Pricing (6 hours)

• The master budget and financial and economic planning.

• Performance measurement in organisations.

• Relevant costs for decision-making.

• Market-entry and market-exit decisions.

• Make-or-buy decisions: in-house production or outsourcing.

• Pricing policies and cost-based price determination.

• Limit pricing.

• Predatory pricing strategies.

• Bundling strategies.

Sales Management, Market Analysis and Distribution Channels (6 hours)

• Analysis of market potential and market size.

• Assessment of the degree of market coverage.

• Calculation and interpretation of absolute and relative market share.

• Analysis of sales by value and volume.

• Analysis of sales trends over time.

• Numeric and weighted distribution.

• Calculation of the penetration index.

• Calculation of market share in stores carrying the product.

• Key indicators for the management and evaluation of distribution channels.

Laboratory Activities, Practical Classes and Seminars (24 hours)

The activities will cover the following topics:

• Sources of business information and maintenance of business accounts: rules, criteria and practices.

• Taxation and agriculture.

• Insurance and agriculture.

• Credit and agriculture.

• Support measures and incentives for agriculture.

• Practical analysis of reports and presentation of business case studies.

These activities are an integral part of the course and are designed to strengthen students’ understanding of the topics covered during classroom teaching. Their content will be included in the examination.

Prerequisites

Meeting the admission requirements for the degree programme is sufficient. However, students are expected to have acquired a sound knowledge of the basic principles of microeconomics.

The following textbook is recommended:

Begg, D., Vernasca, G., Fischer, S., Dornbusch, R., Bagnasco, A.M. and Besana, A., Economics, various editions.

Readings/Bibliography

Course Textbooks

The required textbooks are:

R.H. Garrison, E.W. Noreen, P.C. Brewer, M. Agliati and L. Cinquini, Programmazione e controllo. Managerial Accounting per le decisioni aziendali, McGraw-Hill, 2011, Chapters 2, 5, 8, 11 and 15.

V. Fiorillo and M. Lo Zoppo, Agribusiness. Management dell’azienda agricola, Egea, 2022, Chapters 3, 4, 6 and 7. Chapters 1 and 2 provide the basic background for the course.

D. Besanko, D. Dranove, M. Shanley and S. Schaefer, Economia dell’industria e strategia d’impresa, ISEDI, 2013, Chapters 3, 4 and Section 6.3.

For each topic, the lecturer will provide students with additional teaching materials.

Teaching methods

Active and regular participation in lectures and practical classes facilitates the understanding of the course content and contributes to the smooth delivery of teaching activities. Irregular attendance is therefore strongly discouraged.

The course includes frequent and varied forms of interaction between the lecturer and the students, as well as among the students themselves. For some practical activities, and whenever a computer laboratory is not available, students will be required to attend class with a laptop or tablet capable of running spreadsheet software.

Seminars, when included, may explore in greater depth topics introduced during the lectures and considered to be of particular interest. The topics covered in the seminars will form part of the examination syllabus.

Assessment methods

Learning will be assessed through a one-hour written test held in a computer laboratory. The test will include both open-ended and closed-ended questions, with different point values depending on their level of difficulty.

Examination dates will be published on AlmaEsami.

The final examination may be taken in English.

Teaching tools

Teaching activities are supported by the use of a whiteboard, video projector, computer and Internet access. All lectures are accompanied by PowerPoint presentations, which are made available on the Virtuale platform together with teaching materials, announcements and practical information.

Whenever possible, depending on the number of attending students and the availability of suitable facilities, activities may be organised in the computer laboratory.

Students requiring support or clarification may contact the lecturer or the course tutor at any time to arrange a meeting.

Office hours

See the website of Antonella Samoggia