Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Business and Society
Other languages of instruction: Catalan, Spanish
Teaching staff
Lecturer: Alfonso Gironza
Phone: +34 634 544 825
E-mail: agironza@uic.es
Office: Inmaculada, 22. 08017 Barcelona, Catalonia. Spain
Office hours: by appointment
Introduction
This course presents the foundations of economic and business activity, as well as its basic and specific terminology of companies, entrepreneurship and its interrelation with today's society. The final objective is to introduce students to the business world by providing them with the necessary tools for their understanding or future professional dedication.
Pre-course requirements
Basic knowledge of business, economics and today’s society. Keen interest and willingness to deepen knowledge in business, economics, and society.
Objectives
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to know:
- The economic, legal, financial, and competitive environment in which companies carry out their activity and the role they play.
- What a company is, what types exist, how it is structured and organized, what problems they face and what are the criteria and resources for managing and optimizing their operation.
- How to conduct successfully observation, analysis, opportunity detection, problem solving, change management, leadership and communication skills.
- The fundamental aspects of the definition of strategy, knowledge management and innovation within a business or company.
- Work in groups or teams based on the paradigms of the "new" Information and Knowledge Society.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- CN03 - Categorise the functions and bodies in the field of the company, and other institutions and organisations according to their legal framework and current regulations.
- CP01 - Interpret relevant data (normally within their area of study) and issue judgements that include a reflection on relevant issues of a social, scientific and ethical nature.
- HB06 - Analyse a company’s organisation and apply labour standards and the relationships between planning, industrial and commercial strategies, quality and profit.
Learning outcomes of the subject
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
• Name the fundamentals of business and innovative activity, as well as their basic and specific terminology.
• Identify what a company is, the different types, how it is structured and organized, the problems it faces, and the criteria and resources for its management and operational optimization.
• Recognize the social, economic, legal, financial, technological, and competitive environment in which companies operate and the role they play.
• Describe the key aspects of technology surveillance, strategy definition, knowledge management, and innovation in business.
• Integrate competencies such as observation, analysis, opportunity detection, problem-solving, change management, leadership, and communication.
Syllabus
SESSION 1.
Introduction to the company and role in society I
SESSION 2.
Introduction to the company and role in society II
SESSION 3.
Functioning of markets and value chains
SESSION 4.
Business models
SESSION 5.
Business Strategy I
SESSION 6.
Business Strategy II
SESSION 7.
Business Strategy III
SESSION 8.
The company as an organization
SESSION 9.
Legal aspects of the company
SESSION 10.
Economic and financial aspects of the company I
SESSION 11.
Economic and financial aspects of the company II
SESSION 12.
Economic and financial aspects of the company III
SESSION 13.
Guest speaker
SESSION 14.
Summary and conclusions
SESSION 15.
EXAM
Teaching and learning activities
In person
Teaching will follow an experiential approach to help the students deeper into the concepts and knowledge.
Students can expect the following learning activities:
- Synchronous lectures and tutorials
- In-class and online role-play activities: Students take on an assigned role in a group or individual activity
- Group-work activities where students work collaborate in a “Wiki” at moodle in order to prepare online presentations of a case study analysis to the whole class
- Asynchronous discussion forum
- Problem-based learning in-class and online activities
- Discussion boards, chat, e-mail, blogs, video conferencing, desktop sharing applications and whiteboards
Language
The classes will be held by default in English.
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
- Class participation: 10%
- Exercises 40%
- Final exam: 50%
- Class participation (10% of final grade): Evaluates your preparation for in-class discussions as a critical part of the learning experience, not your class attendance record. This is an extremely important part of the learning experience in this course as the richness of the learning experience will be largely dependent upon the degree of preparation by all students prior to each class session.
Missing classes or coming unprepared to classes lowers your grade for this evaluation element. A missed class, weather justified or unjustified, counts as an unprepared class. If your attendance falls below 80%, this grade will fall to zero. A student can have a perfect attendance record and still score zero in participation grade.
A failure to actively participate in group and class activities during the discussions of cases and articles will be considered as an indication that a student has not prepared for the class. Do not think of this grade as an entitlement or a gift – it has to be EARNED.
- Exercises (40% of final grade):
- Reflective exercises
- Peer assessment of student publications
- Electronically submitted essays, reflective learning journals, blogs
- Collaborative projects
- Individually written assignments submitted electronically
- Quality of thought, summary or reflection
- Business Cases:
- Reading all business cases
- Preparation of the business case assigned to the group
- Teamwork
- Group presentation
- Quality of the summary and/or reflection
- Final Exam (50% of final grade): Minimum of 5 out of 10 to pass the course. In case of failure in the first chance, there will be a second chance to pass where the student will be able to pass, but with a penalty. The minimum grade to pass will still be 5 but out of 7. Hence, students in the second chance can get a maximum grade of 7 instead of 10 in this part.
The exam will consist of a set of questions to test your acquisition of knowledge from the readings, the class sessions and guest lectures. The exam will cover any material given in the course.
The date is yet to be confirmed, it will be during the class time slot.
Plagiarism, copying or any other action that may be considered cheating will be zero in that evaluation section. Besides, plagiarism during exams will mean the immediate failing of the whole subject.
Bibliography and resources
Recommended bibliography:
1) The Lean Start-Up. Erick Ries
2) Four Steps to the Epiphany. Steve Blank
3) The Startup Owner’s Manual. Steve Blank & Bob Dorf
4) Business Model Generation. Alexander Osterwalder 2010. John Wiley & Sons Inc
5) Growth Hacker Marketing. Ryan Holliday
6) Blue Ocean Strategy. W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne
All the resources required to follow the content of the class will be provided to the students either through the intranet of the UIC or handled in person.
Students that wish to develop further or deepen their knowledge on a topic are encouraged to do so through the additional bibliography suggested
Evaluation period
- E1 18/12/2025 P2A02 18:00h
- E2 28/01/2026 P2A01 15:00h