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 suggested for Erasmus students, as they usually come at the third year of the bachelor programme, thus having already passed a similar exam in their university.

In this course we start with an overview about the main managerial concepts and the competitive and market context where firms have to work.

In the second part of the course we focus on one area of the company, operation and supply management, that is a good starting point to understand and apply some fundamental management concepts such as efficiency, effectivenes, planning, productivity, inventory, location, information.

In the third part of the course we go back to broader strategic concepts that allow us to understand better how what we have seen in the operation and supply management area can be connected to the company business strategy.

Such concepts are integrated by the idea of sustainability as a strategic consideration.

The course includes updated company applications, problems, and cases.

The main sections of this course are:

-Introduction: this course of Principles of Management and its relation to the "Corso di Laurea in Business and Economics"

-Definition of management and main concepts and activities

-Firms and customers, what is a firm, how firms interact with each other, how customers (consumers and customer firms) changed in the last decades, the impact of new technology on the workplace

-Regulating context: general norms, antitrust regulation and consumer protection, governmental regulation about products, prices and the workplace

-Corporate social responsibility and business ethics: the internal and external impact of company behaviour on society

- 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.

During the exam test, the use of support material such as textbooks, notes, 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.

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