96487 - Economics and Marketing of Wines and Food Products

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing students with the capacity to define the business and organizational strategies of the food and wine industries from market and consumer-satisfaction perspectives, as well as the skills to use economic analysis tools and marketing levers related to these products.

Course contents

Principles of Economics applied to wines and food products:

• The object of study of Economics and the development of its basic concepts;
  
• Demand analysis and consumer behaviour;
  
• The analysis of production and the behaviour of the entrepreneur;
• Cost analysis and the supply curve;
• Equilibrium of competitive markets;
  
• The elasticity of supply and demand;
  
• The peculiarities of food supply and demand;
  
• Market structure analysis: monopoly, oligopoly and monopolistic competition;

 

The agri-food system, the food and wine supply chains and the agri-food policies:

• The Italian agri-food system and its role in the national economy;
• Analysis of the Italian agri-food trade balance;
  
• The food and wine supply chains;
  
• The catering sector;
  
• Agri-food policies;
  

 

The marketing of wines and food products:

• The aims of marketing: definition and field of action, strategic marketing and operational marketing;
  
• Strategic marketing: the food and wine marketing process and its planning; market research; purchasing behaviours for wines and food products and market segmentation; product differentiation and product portfolio analysis;
  
• Operational marketing: product strategies, pricing, distribution and communication strategies.

Readings/Bibliography

Lectures' notes (downloadable from the UNIBO teaching platform "Virtuale")

Teaching methods

During the course, some case studies on the economic management of food and wine businesses and the policies of the food and wine industries will be examined and discussed.

Assessment methods

The exam is a written test on the topics developed during the course. The following elements contribute to the final assessment: level of knowledge of the topics covered and the terminology of the discipline, constant and active participation in the lectures and development of activities agreed with the teacher.

Teaching tools

Distribution of teaching materials and teaching assistance through the Unibo's web platform "Virtuale".

Office hours

See the website of Massimo Canali