Business Management
Objectives
This course should make students familiar with the set of issues faced by every working person in his job assignment. More specifically, students are required to understand the basic principles and issues involved in the business world, namely in each functional area in a firm and the cross-relations among areas. This approach is built on the analysis of cases for specific real world firms. Then, teaching is conducted by means of interaction, in theory-practice lectures, where various management problems related with the different functional areas in a firm, along with many examples and exercises.
For the grading of the course under continuous evaluation method, it is actually considered compulsory to conduct a group practice work where a real world firm is analyzed in major areas. For these set of works there should be handed in a written version (and a snapshot page for the classroom mates) to be presented and discussed in class.
General characterization
Code
10423
Credits
3.0
Responsible teacher
Célia Maria Castanheira de Moura da Costa Cabral
Hours
Weekly - 2
Total - 18
Teaching language
Português
Prerequisites
There is not any prerequisite.
Bibliography
References for the course should be found in the slides provided in the course homepage in CLIP
Basic Readings:
Lisboa, João et al. "Introdução à Gestão de Organizações", Grupo Editorial Vida Económica, 2004;
Material available in CLIP page.
Additional useful textbooks: Freire, A., 1995, Estratégia, Verbo; Campos e Cunha, R., 1992, A Gestão de Recursos Humanos na Estratégia da Empresa, Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profisisonal ;Lindon, D., Lendrevie, J., Rodrigues, J. E Dionísio, P., 2000, Mercator, Publicações D. Quixote; Pires, A., 1991, Marketing, Verbo; Soares, J., Viana Fernandes, André Março e Pires Marques, 1999, Avaliação de Projectos de Investimento na Óptica Empresarial, Edições Sílabo; Geraldes, F., 2001, Manual do Empreendedor, Bertrand Editora; Libby, R., Libby, P. and Short, D., 2008, Financial accounting, McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Teaching method
Theory-practice lectures involving theory with some applications and exercises and, importantly, the analysis of cases (i.e., specific real world firms and their management problems).
Evaluation method
In a discipline with an orientation such as the one described, "case analysis" of concrete companies is indispensable: the analysis of specific problems faced by real companies and the way in which they deal with them. This type of analysis will be conducted through the interaction, in theoretical-practical classes, of exposing the various problems related to the different functional areas of the company with examples and illustrative concrete "cases". It is also important (in fact, mandatory, for the continuous assessment method), that students carry out practical work, in groups, on a real company, covering its functional areas.
There are two types of assessment:
A) Continuous Assessment
Three Team Work on a company: 35% weight in the final grade
First Team Work: Sustainability, Ethics and Corporate Responsability (due date: to be defined)
Second Team Work: Marketing and Strategy (due date: to be defined)
Third Team Work: AI impact in Human Resources and Organizational Behavior (due date: to be defined)
These assignments must, after having delivered a written version, be presented and discussed during the classes.
Class participation and completion of tasks: 20% weight in the final grade
Final test (Blocks 5, 6 and 7): 45% weight in the final grade.
Final test date: To be defined
Approval of the subject requires an average of 9.5, and a minimum of 7 val. in the test (without rounding).
B) Final exam: the exam will have a weight of 100% in the final grade.
Subject matter
Syllabus
Part 0 - Overview. Brief notes on digital revolution, sustainability and social responsibility
Part 1 - Marketing: Understanding the Principles of Marketing. The four Marketing Policies: Product Development, Pricing, Promotion and Distribution. The Product Life Cycle. Environmental Context. SWOT Analysis. Market Segmentation and Competitive Product Positioning. The Consumer Buying Process and the Marketing- Mix.
Part 2 – Organization: Organizational Structure. The Chain of Command. Basic Forms of Organizational Structure. Authority and Responsability. Delegation and Accountability. Centralization and Decentralization. More complex Forms of Organizational Structure.
Part 3 – Human Resources: Understanding Employee Motivation. Theories of Motivation Compensations and Benefits. Satisfaction in the Workplace. Leadership. Staffing the Organization: Planing, function analysis and person-job matching. Trainning and Development Performance Appraisal.
Part 4 – Accounting and Finance: Understanding Principles of Accounting. The Balance Sheet. Income Statements. Cash-flow. Financial Ratios. Interest Rates and The Time Value of Money. Compounding and Discounting. Present Value and Accumulated Value. Some notions of Project Analysis (Net Present Value, the Internal Rate of Return, etc.)