Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Business Management
Other languages of instruction: Catalan, English
Teaching staff
Introduction
This course develops the concepts and methodologies used to make decisions and solve problems across the different functional areas of a company. It focuses especially on the economic equilibrium of the firm, how a company reads and responds to its external and internal environment, how strategy gets executed in the market, and how decisions are made under uncertainty. Students will build a shared analytical toolkit — including PESTEL, Porter's Five Forces, the Resource-Based View, SWOT, and Breakeven Point analysis — that they can apply independently to real business situations.
Pre-course requirements
There are no prior requirements for this course. Basic numeracy is assumed — comfort with arithmetic, simple algebra, and reading tables — as some topics involve quantitative calculations (breakeven analysis and decision trees).
Objectives
- Identify the main elements of a company as an economic agent.
- Understand how business costs work and how to manage them effectively.
- Study decision-making strategies and their economic consequences.
- Study strategies for dealing with risk and uncertainty.
- Understand what makes a business financially viable.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- 12 - To be familiar with the main concepts and theories of economic and business philosophy.
- 13 - To be familiar with and understand the terms and processes of company management.
- 17 - To be familiar with the mathematical models used to describe financial phenomena.
- 20 - To make decisions on resource optimisation using mathematical tools.
- 27 - To be able to read and understand literature on economic and business issues.
- 31 - To develop the ability to identify and interpret numerical data.
- 32 - To acquire problem solving skills based on quantitative and qualitative information.
- 34 - To develop the ability to predict situations and anticipate events, as well as be able to recognise and interpret an economic situation within a specific context.
- 35 - To analyse time series.
- 36 - To interpret quantitative and qualitative data and apply mathematical and statistical tools to business processes.
- 37 - To be able to apply managerial methods, tools and techniques.
- 38 - To be able to connect the main variables (both formal and informal) which influence human behaviour in an organisation.
- 39 - To acquire the ability to solve problems and make decisions based on relevant information, applying the appropriate methods and situating the problem within the organisation as a whole.
- 41 - To be able to descriptively summarise information.
- 42 - To be able to empirically analyse financial phenomena.
- 48 - To be able to identify the information needs in order to manage the main departments within organisations.
- 50 - To acquire the ability to relate concepts, analyse and synthesise.
- 56 - To be able to create arguments which are conducive to critical and self-critical thinking.
- 63 - To be able to analyse business related behaviour and decisions and evaluate them from an economic, social and ethical point of view.
- 65 - To acquire the ability to put knowledge into practice.
Learning outcomes of the subject
- Identify the constitutive elements of a company as an economic agent.
- Understand the role of the macro and industry environment (PESTEL, Porter's Five Forces) in defining a business strategy.
- Analyse a company's internal resources (RBV, SWOT) and position it strategically (Porter's Generic Strategies).
- Know and be able to manage the elements that determine a company's economic equilibrium (cost structure and breakeven point).
- Identify different organisational forms and structural designs of a company (Mintzberg's typology).
- Apply the elements of the marketing mix (4Ps) and the principles of leadership and motivation (Herzberg) to strategy execution.
- Apply methods for decision-making under risk and uncertainty (decision matrices and trees) and evaluate them from the company's economic standpoint.
Syllabus
Contents:
Topic 1. Macro Analysis: PESTEL and Porter's Five Forces — Analysing the external environment: political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors, and the competitive forces shaping an industry.
Topic 2. Defining the Venture: RBV, Porter's Generic Strategies and SWOT — From opportunity to idea; identifying stakeholders; assessing a company's internal resources; strategic positioning through cost leadership, differentiation, or focus.
Topic 3. Financial Viability: The Breakeven Point — Cost structure, contribution margin, and calculating and applying the breakeven point.
Topic 4. Organising: Basic Structure and Forms of Ownership — Legal forms of ownership and organisational design, including chain of command and Mintzberg's typology.
Topic 5. Leading: The 4Ps and Motivation — Marketing strategy through product, price, place, and promotion; leadership styles and motivation theory.
Topic 6. Controlling: Decision Matrices and Trees — Decision-making under risk and uncertainty, including decision matrices, decision trees, and expected value.
Teaching and learning activities
In person
The course will mainly use the following procedures:
1. Instructor explanations of the corresponding topic.
2. Analysis and discussion of examples and case studies.
3. Applied group workshops, in which each group applies the session's analytical framework to its assigned company, followed by a short presentation (maximum 5 minutes per group, with a minimum of two students presenting on a rotating basis).
4. Individual reading and writing activities linked to a compulsory academic article per topic, with an open-ended question to be completed in class (20 minutes, hand-written format).
To make proper use of the course, it is essential to come to class with the readings and cases well prepared.
Following Faculty guidelines, the use of laptops, tablets, or mobile phones is not allowed in the classroom, except in cases indicated by the instructor. In mini-tests, detection of a mobile phone results in a score of zero.
|
TRAINING ACTIVITY |
COMPETENCES |
|
lecture |
13 |
|
lecture |
36 |
|
lecture |
37 |
|
lecture |
38 |
|
in-class practical work (solving problems/videos/text comments/essays) |
39 |
|
individual study |
13 |
|
individual study |
52 |
|
in-class practical work (solving problems/videos/text comments/essays) |
54 |
|
small group seminars |
52 |
|
individual study |
55 |
|
solving problems in classroom |
50 |
|
in-class practical work (solving problems/videos/text comments/essays) |
59 |
|
report presentations & discussions |
63 |
|
in-class practical work (solving problems/videos/text comments/essays) |
67 |
| TRAINING ACTIVITY | COMPETENCES |
|---|---|
| magister class individual study solving problems at classroom | 13 |
| magister class classroom practice (solving problems/videos/text comments/essays) individual study solving problems at classroom | 36 |
| magister class classroom practice (solving problems/videos/text comments/essays) individual study solving problems at classroom | 37 |
| magister class individual study report presentations & discussions solving problems at classroom | 38 |
| classroom practice (solving problems/videos/text comments/essays) report presentations & discussions solving problems at classroom | 39 |
| individual study | 13 |
| individual study | 52 |
| classroom practice (solving problems/videos/text comments/essays) report presentations & discussions solving problems at classroom | 54 |
| small group seminars | 52 |
| individual study report presentations & discussions | 55 |
| solving problems at classroom | 50 |
| classroom practice (solving problems/videos/text comments/essays) | 59 |
| report presentations & discussions solving problems at classroom small group seminars | 63 |
| classroom practice (solving problems/videos/text comments/essays) solving problems at classroom | 67 |
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
Course assessment combines individual and group work:
Individual work (20%): reading and writing activities, and mini-tests at the course's two analytical checkpoints (Financial Viability and Decision Analysis). Mini-tests last 20 minutes, are completed using only paper, a pen, and a calculator, and have no resit opportunity except in cases of a duly justified absence.
Group work — Workshops (20%): in-class activities in which each group applies the session's framework to its assigned company.
Group work — Final presentation (10%): a structured analytical report on the assigned company, applying all six course frameworks. All students must present and are evaluated individually (maximum 10 minutes per group; slides sent 24 hours before the session).
Midterm exam (10%): individual assessment of the content of Topics 1–3.
Final exam (40%): individual assessment of the content of Topics 1–6.
Total: 100%.
Bibliography and resources
Compulsory readings by topic:
Topic 1: Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78–93.
Topic 2: Prahalad, C. K., & Hamel, G. (1990). The core competence of the corporation. Harvard Business Review, 68(3), 79–91.
Topic 4: Mintzberg, H. (1981). Organization design: Fashion or fit? Harvard Business Review, 59(1), 103–116.
Topic 5: Levitt, T. (1960). Marketing myopia. Harvard Business Review, 38(4), 45–56.
Topic 5: Herzberg, F. (2003). One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review. (Reprint of the original 1968 article.)
Additional material (lecture notes, case studies, and exercises) will be made available to students via the course Moodle.
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