Laurea Magistrale inEconomia e Management

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
The learning outcome of the course is that of providing students with advanced skills aimed at analyzing the distinctive peculiarities of service firms. Students are also made aware of the understanding and solving of the main managerial issues that service firms have to face in light of the most recent market trends. The course also aims to provide practical knowledge functional to theoretical knowledge on some selected topics, through seminars given by entrepreneurs, managers, and practitioners, as well as through the use of business cases, in order to allow students a direct approach to specific managerial problems related to service firms, the solution of which requires a solid base of general and specific theoretical knowledge.
The course also provides a specific focus on the peculiarities of companies operating in strategic sectors for the national and international economies, such as the real estate sector and the tourism sector.


KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
The course aims at providing the student with the specific knowledge and skills needed for understanding and managing the main issues characterizing service firms, through the transfer of advanced knowledge, both theoretically and empirically, and thanks to the support of ad hoc analytical and operational tools. To this end, ample space within the course is dedicated to the study and discussion of business cases, also thanks to industry experts’ seminars.
This will lead the student to:
- knowing the process of tertiarization of the economy and the current role of the tertiary sector at a national and international level.
- in depth knowing the main paradigms characterizing the concept of service.
- Knowing and being able to apply to service firms’ specific models of value creation.
- Knowing how to identify and how to deal with the most relevant critical issues associated with the management of service firms, stemming from the application of the servuction model, with a specific focus on the relevance of the physical and virtual servicescape.
- Knowing how to apply specific models for identifying gaps in the service delivery process.
- Know the main trends related to the real estate and tourism sectors.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
At the end of the course the student will have acquired detailed knowledge of the fundamental concepts of the management and organization of service firms. The student should be able to apply the acquired knowledge to the analysis and interpretation of the main phenomena that, in the national as well as in the international context, may affect the tertiary sector and the firms operating within it. Furthermore, the student should be able to identify and critically explain the main managerial issues that service firms may face.
The student's analytical skills are developed and evaluated through the development and discussion of case studies.

MAKING JUDGEMENTS:
Interactive participation to lectures, as well as to service management experts’ and professionals’ seminars, will stimulate students’ critical analysis and independent judgment skills. Students will also be encouraged to collect and interpret relevant data through a direct and in-depth involvement in the study of the main issues related to the management of service firms. Students’ making judgement skills will also be stimulated by specific tasks required during the course, such as the analysis of case studies and team works.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
Communication skills are developed and evaluated not only through teacher-student interaction, but also through team works, discussion of business cases, as well as through the exam.
Communication skills will be acquired through the creation and discussion of group work, students will acquire specific communication skills, through which they will be able to confront themselves, both in writing and orally, on the various issues related to economics and management of service companies, with entrepreneurs, managers, as well as with

The learning of the discipline is fostered by previous knowledge of the fundamentals of general management.

The following topics will be covered during the lessons:
- Analysis of the tertiary sector
- Characteristics of the service economy
- The concept of service and its peculiarities
- IHIP paradigm and new trends in literature
- Service firms: peculiarities
- Value Chain, Value shop, Value network
- The Servuction model
- The Normann model
- The Grönroos model
- The quality of the service
- The Gap Analysis Model
- How to build a service blueprint
- Physical and Virtual Servicescape
- Analysis of the real estate sector

1. Poggesi S., Mari M., Management dei servizi, a.a. 2017/2018,Texmat, Rome.
2. Additional lecture notes and supplementary materials provided by the instructor.

Suggested:
Mari M., Poggesi S. (2017), “From physical to virtual: the impact of servicescape on customers’ behaviour”, McGraw-Hill, Milano.

- Mari M., Poggesi S. (2017), “From physical to virtual: the impact of servicescape on customers’ behaviour”, McGraw-Hill, Milan.

- Paniccia, M. A. e Poggesi, S., a cura di, (2018), Evoluzione nei servizi. Modelli ed esperienze, CEDAM, Padua.

The Service Management course is provided through the combined use of teaching tools and methodologies. Alongside the more traditional lectures, the subjects studied in depth are also addressed through seminars conducted by experts in the field, case studies and classroom exercises, as well as by team works.

The exam is the same for attending and non-attending students and evaluates the overall preparation of the student, the ability to integrate the knowledge of the different parts of the program, the consequentiality of the reasoning, the analytical ability and the autonomy of judgment.
In order to verify the student’s level of knowledge acquisition, both the development of a project work individual or team work (maximum 3 people), according to student’s preferences), and an oral examination are required. A maximum of 2 points can be attributed to the project work, which will integrate the oral exam’s mark.
The exam assesses the overall preparation by the student in accordance with the Dublin descriptors, as follows: acquired knowledge (quantity and quality) in relation to the topics of the programme and consequentiality of reasoning; ability to apply such knowledge and to make connections among the different parts of the programme, including also the acquired knowledge from other similar courses; analytical ability, synthesis, and autonomy of judgement; communication skills of the student (language properties, clarity of presentation, and appropriate use of terminology, specific to the course).
The final mark of the exam is expressed out of thirty and will be obtained through the following grading system:
Fail: important deficiencies in the knowledge and understanding of the topics; limited analytical and synthesis skills; frequent generalisations and limited critical and judgemental abilities; the topics are set out inconsistently and with inappropriate language.
18-21: the student has acquired the basic concepts of the discipline and has an analytical capacity that emerges only with the help of the teacher; the way of speaking and the language used are on the whole correct.
22-25: the student has acquired the basic concepts of the discipline in a discreet way; knows how to orient him/herself among the various topics covered; and has an autonomous analysis capacity knowing how to express using the correct language.
26-29: the student has a well-structured knowledge base; he/she is able to independently rework the knowledge acquired in the context of the choice of conventional and unconventional materials according to the application; the way of speaking and the technical language are correct.
30 and 30 cum laude: the student has a comprehensive and thorough knowledge base. The cultural references are rich and up-to-date, which are expressed with brilliance and properties of technical language.