Laurea (First cycle degree/Bachelor - 180 ECTS) in Economics and Marketing

The degree programme in Economics and Marketing aims to form graduates with the necessary skills to be business managers or consultants in companies or other organisations, and concentrates on development towards the market and consumers. Given that this degree intends to form students qualified for business management focusing on marketing, the leitmotiv of the degree programme is the application of market considerations throughout the various stages from market analysis to strategic business planning and product and service management, from distribution network, pricing and communication. Particular attention is paid to the specific nature of marketing and communication in different business sectors.
The development of marketing skills requires students to obtain knowledge of the analysis methods of customer buying behaviour in consumer and industrial markets, in the areas of both products and service. Students will learn to manage the specific topics of the presence in the market of organisations and businesses operating in product or services markets that target consumers or business clients.
In order to analyse buying behaviour students will study related theories and the mathematical and statistical methodologies linked to its analysis. Students will study business marketing along with theories and analysis techniques of competition. Moreover, the degree programme also aims to provide graduates with methodologies for defining marketing strategies and related operative activities, the so-called marketing mix. In order to develop themes of business marketing, students will acquire other business skills in different areas with a view to collaborating with the production division to negotiate the development and industrialisation of a product, with the financial division to negotiate investment decisions regarding investment in new products and services, and with sales to negotiate and decide upon the management of sales network and incentive systems.
Thus, the degree programme is organised to develop a solid grounding in economics, covering economic processes within and outside the business, corporate management and quantitative and legal skills, as well as skills directly linked to marketing and communication. The legal studies complete and complement the business studies with skills that are useful for the definition of the legal framework, that are developed particularly within business management and corporate contracts. Furthermore, issues regarding internal monitoring are dealt with especially as regards performance assessment.

The degree programme also offers the chance to improve and consolidate language and computer skills, as well as basic communicative and managerial skills.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING ABILITY:
Graduates:
- will have advanced knowledge of all theoretical and applied strategic and operative marketing activities;
- will possess knowledge of sales analysis, especially as regards the evaluation of sales network and of the setting up of a rating system for sellers;
- will have basic knowledge of mathematics for statistics;
- will have knowledge of multivariate analysis with continuous or discreet variable models;
- will possess knowledge of the managerial theory required for the formulation of business plans;

- will know private, public, commercial, and industrial law;

- will have basic knowledge of finance, especially investment assessment, corporate governance and sources of business funding.

The above-listed knowledge and understanding abilities are achieved through lectures, classroom exercises and seminars, supervised home study, especially in core discipline groups of SECS-P/01 Political Economy, SECS-P/07 Business Management, SECS-P/08 Corporate Finance, SECS-P/09 Financial Management, SECS-P/11 Economics of Financial Intermediaries, SECS-S/01 Statistics, SECS-S/03 Statistics for Economics, IUS/01 Private Law, IUS/09 Institutions of Public Law, IUS/04 Commercial Law.

Assessment is accomplished mainly by means of oral and written exams.


ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND TO UNDERSTAND:
Graduates:
- will be able to analyse markets, identify customer segments and plan the product and service offer for these segments;

- will be able to draw up marketing plans;
- will know national and international distributive organisation and will be able to plan a distribution network for business activities;
- will have knowledge of the theories of microeconomics and macroeconomics, and will be able to assess their implications for business management;
- will know how to draft financial statements and ratios for the assessment of corporate performance;
- will have knowledge of IT systems and software applications for office management and data analysis;

- will work well in a group, will be able to carry out research on predetermined topics and will have a sound working knowledge of the themes dealt with.The achievement of knowledge and skills above is a result of critical consideration of set texts for home study, research case studies and applications demonstrated by teachers, and numerical exercises especially in the basic, core and similar discipline areas, (especially SECS-P/07 Business Management, SECS-P/08 Corporate Finance, SECS-P/09 Financial Management, SECS-P/10 Business Organisation, SECS-P/05 Econometrics), as well as during any internships and during preparation of the final paper/project.
Assessment (written and oral exams, reports and practical activities) requires the completion of specific tasks in which students will demonstrate the necessary competence in the use of instruments, methodologies as well as critical autonomy. The internship is assessed is by means of a report presented by students and the in-company tutor.

JUDGEMENT SKILLS:
Graduates:
- will be able to assess market demand and competitive positioning of the business in order to determine sales prices and positioning for the company's product portfolio;
- will be able to identify and profitably manage the particular features of a service corporation against a product corporation, and more specifically, the dichotomy between consumer and business-to-business marketing;
- will be competent in processing.
Judgement skills are developed particularly during practical activities, seminars, and preparation of papers especially in the courses of the disciplines SECS-P/07 Business Management, SECS-P/08 Corporate Finance, SECS-P/05 Econometrics, SECS-S/03 Statistics for Economics, and during traineeships and internships and during the preparation of the final paper/project.

The assessment of the achievement of judgement skills is by means of evaluation of autonomy and ability to work independently or within a group, during a possible internship and during the preparation of the final paper/project.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
Graduates:
- will be able to evaluate a medium-term plan and plan business communications;

- will have knowledge of English;
- will be able to communicate efficiently in writing and defend a topic of personal interest related to the degree programme.

Communication skills are developed especially during the course units that involve the formulation and oral presentations of assignments. The development of the communication skills listed above is further reinforced during the traineeship/internship and by the preparation of the final paper/project and its discussion.

English is taught in specific course units and assessed in a final test.

LEARNING SKILLS:
Graduates:
- will be able to apply the learning methods and tools developed to update and elaborate upon their studies, whether in professional contexts or undertaking further studies.
The learning abilities acquired are a result of the entire period of study, especially through the required home study, the preparation of individual projects and the activities performed in the preparation of the final paper/project.
Learning skills are assessed continuously during course units, by requiring the presentation of data collected independently, and by means of the evaluation of self-learning developed during the performance of the activities related to the final paper/project.