Master of Science in Business Administration

EN IT

Learning Objectives

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
The course aims to provide undergraduate students with an exhaustive explanation of the classical principles of general management.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
Given its learning outcomes, the course takes an internationally acknowledged view on the discipline, in that it is based on the systemic approach to management.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
At the end of the course, students:

1. will have gained both theoretical and practical competences about the main principles regarding general management to date;

2. will have gained appropriate competences on what decisions can ensure the sustainability of firms, in terms of both survival and growth processes.

MAKING JUDGEMENTS:
At the end of the course, students will have gained competences in terms of evaluating the sustainability of business performance.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
At the end of the course, students will have gained competences on how to perform public corporate presentations.

LEARNING SKILLS:
At the end of the course, students will have gained competences on how to learn through a "theory and practice" mixed approach.

Prerequisites

None

Program

The course will mostly focus its attention on the following teaching areas:

1. Management: Science, Theory, and Practice (Week 1)
2. Management and Society: The External Environment, Social Responsibility, and Ethics (Week 2)
3. Global, Comparative, and Quality Management (Week 3)
4. Essentials of Planning and Managing by Objectives (Week 4)
5. Strategies, Policies and Planning Premises (Week 5)
6. Decision Making (Week 6)
7. The Nature of Organizing, Entrepreneuring, and Reenginering (Week 7)
8. Managing Change through Manager and Organizational Development (Week 7)
9. Leadership (Week 8)
10. The System and Process of Controlling (Week 9)
11. Control Techniques and Information Technology (Week 9)

Books

TEXTBOOK

Abatecola G. (2022), General Management, McGraw-Hill Create, ISBN: 978-13-077-7309-5 (Custom Publishing with selected chapters from H. Koontz, H. Weihrich, and M. V. Cannice [2020], Essentials of Management - An International, Innovation and Leadership Perspective, 11th ed., McGraw-Hill Education).

ARTICLES
Abatecola G. (2019), “Prioritizing Short-Termism in Behavioural Strategy. Lessons from Enron – 20 Years On”, International Journal of Business and Management, 14(4): 60-71.

Abatecola, G., Mandarelli, G., Poggesi, S. (2013), The Personality Factor. A Top Management Teams Make Decisions. A Literature Review, Journal of Management and Governance, 17(4), 1073-1100.

Cafferata, R. (2016), Darwinist Connections between the Systemness of Social Organizations and their Evolution, Journal of Management and Governance, 20(1), 19-44.

Furthermore, teaching notes (for some lectures) will be uploaded on the course's website.

Bibliography

Abatecola G. (2019), “Prioritizing Short-Termism in Behavioural Strategy. Lessons from Enron – 20 Years On”, International Journal of Business and Management, 14(4): 60-71.

Abatecola G. (2022), General Management, McGraw-Hill Create, ISBN: 978-13-077-7309-5 (Custom Publishing con capitoli selezionati da H. Koontz, H. Weihrich, and M. V. Cannice [2020], Essentials of Management - An International, Innovation and Leadership Perspective, 11th ed., McGraw-Hill Education).

Abatecola, G., Mandarelli, G., Poggesi, S. (2013), The Personality Factor. A Top Management Teams Make Decisions. A Literature Review, Journal of Management and Governance, 17(4), 1073-1100.

Cafferata, R. (2016), Darwinist Connections between the Systemness of Social Organizations and their Evolution, Journal of Management and Governance, 20(1), 19-44.

Teaching methods

Lectures last 2 academic hours.

Not only theoretical, the teaching approach is featured by a strong practitioner input, through ‘live’ case discussions (e.g. The Economist, Fortune, Business Week), combined talks with business experts, group presentations and software simulations (i.e. McGraw Hill Practice Operations Management).

Because of the teaching approach adopted, the General Management course (a.y. 2021/22) has been among the awardees (Social and Human Sciences area) in the second edition of the International Blended Learning Award (BLA). Jointly organized by the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Università di Roma Tor Vergata, BLA is focused on innovation in blended learning in response to COVID-19.

Exam Rules

1) In principle, the exam is written; oral (+2/-2 extrapoints) is not compulsory and it is up to the students’ choice. Eventually, oral needs to be given in the same call in which any written evaluation is obtained. The written test is composed of a “3 Open-ended question” test (1 hour and 30 minutes).

2) Students will also have the possibility to improve their final evaluation (with up to 2 additional extra-points) through performing the McGraw-Hill Practice Operations simulation software during the course. The extra-points can be added only to the final evaluation. They remain valid for all the 2023/24 a.y.

3) Only students booked through the Delphi system can perform the exam.

4) If a student’'s written test is evaluated as not sufficient, the student is not allowed to repeat the test in the subsequent exam call. In each call, when the student is given the written test, s/he has the first 10 minutes to choose whether to continue the test or to retire.

5) Students can receive insights about their written evaluation during the first office hours immediately available after the test’s date.

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.

EN IT

Learning Objectives

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The course is structured in two modules and aims to bring to first-year master students direct field experience about the competitive relationship between companies and their external environment and how their business process are managed, as well as how the digital technologies are transforming their key business processes.

The ENTERPRISE EVOLUTION module focuses on competition. In particular, how does it work? How do firms survive, adapt and evolve? And how do the mechanisms of co-evolution between firms, markets and country systems work? It is a matter of fact that Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species (1859) has been representing a catalyst publication also for the development of the management literature. Although the contribution of Darwinism to understanding how firms and country-systems evolve remains controversial to date, a number of heterogeneous research perspectives have been developed within the enterprise evolution research and teaching fields. On this basis, this module aims at explaining how the enterprises’ governance and management evolve under uncertainty in dynamic and complex environments. In this regard, key attention will be devoted to strategic decision making in both the stages of natural and competitive selection,

The DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION MANAGEMENT module focuses on the business processes, looking at their characteristics as well as the impact of the digital transformation. It will be strengthened with applied classes on SAP S/4 Hana (SByD software) as ERP plays a key role as enabler of the digital transformation of business processes.
The Digital Transformation Management module will deal with:
- Business Process Management, where students will be introduced to business process management (BPM), as a reference to redesign workflow but also as a key element in an ERP implementation. BPM will be analysed with respect to BPR and process optimizing techniques. APQC will be used to look into the importance of BPM.
- IT and ERP, where students will look at the IT potential and in particular on the ERP characteristics. This section will be strengthened by a direct hands-on experience of an ERP system (SAP S/4 Hana) in different simulation games as well as in the mapping of four different business processes.
- Digital Transformation Management, where students will be engaged with digital transformation and its impact on the competitiveness, looking at the digital transformation of business processes can support the generation of new business models (business models innovation).

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

1. Developing a theoretical and practical understanding about how competition works, how firms survive, adapt and evolve and how the mechanisms of co-evolution between firms, markets and country systems work.

2. Develop an understanding about about how a company is managed and how the digital technologies are transforming its key business processes, through the acquisition of specific BPM concepts, process optimizing techniques, IT and ERP tools characteristics and digital transformation toolbox.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

1. Applying knowledge related to on how enterprise adaptation works, how enterprises and their competitive environments mutually co-evolve, and how the fundamentals of enterprises’ strategy can be implemented through their life cycle.

2. Applying knowledge related to the BPM approach such as using ERP system to support the redesign of key business processes. Students applying knowledge and understanding will be strengthened by a direct hands-on experience of an ERP system (SAP S/4 Hana) in different simulation games as well as in the mapping of four different business processes.

MAKING JUDGEMENTS

1. Evaluating the sustainability of firms as competitive forces at different stages of their life cycle.

2. Identifying key firms business processes respect to BPR, process optimizing techniques and APQC framework, also through the application of ERP tools application and its impact on business model innovation and the on-going digital transformation process.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Exposing business cases in group and in public, also summarizing them, in terms of data visualization, through a brief report/presentation.

LEARNING SKILLS

1. Analyzing critically competition through a "theory and practice" mixed approach.

2. Analyzing critically business processes and the implications of their digital transformation.

Prerequisites

No pre-requisites

Program

The key topics taught in Module I – ENTERPRISE EVOLUTION – are the following:

PART I – EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL DARWINISM
• Enteprise Evolution: Charles Darwin’s Legacy?
• From Evolution to Co-Evolution
• The Music Industry Case Study

PART II – ENTEPRISES AND NATURAL SELECTION
• The First Years of Life
• The “Liability of Newness”
• The Facebook Case Study

PART III – ENTEPRISES AND COMPETITIVE SELECTION
• On Competition
• Models of Enterprise Evolution
• The ENI Group Case Study

PART IV – CRISIS AND RESTRUCTURING OF ENTEPRISES
• Corporate Crises as Ineffective Adaptations
• Boards of Directors and Turnaround Management
• The Fiat Group Automobiles Case Study

PART V – STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING
• Bounded Rationality and Self-Reinforcing
• The Personality Factor
• The Higher Education Industry Case Study

Books

For Module I – Enterprise Evolution – the references are the following articles:

- Abatecola G. (2009), “Bridging Adaptation Perspectives to Explore Corporate Crisis Determinants. Evidence from Fiat”, International Journal of Business & Economics, 8(1): 163-185.

- Abatecola G. (2012), “Interpreting Corporate Crises. Towards a Co-Evolutionary Approach”, Futures, 44(10): 860-869.

- Abatecola G. (2014a), “Research in Organizational Evolution. What Comes Next?”, European Management Journal, 32(3): 434-443.

- Abatecola G. (2014b), “Untangling Self-Reinforcing Processes in Managerial Decision Making. Co-Evolving Heuristics?”, Management Decision, 52(2): 934-949.

- Abatecola G. (2019), “Prioritizing Short-Term Goals in Behavioural Strategy: Lessons from Enron – 20 Years On”, International Journal of Business and Management.

- Abatecola G., Cafferata R., Poggesi S. (2012), “Arthur Stinchcombe’s Liability of Newness. Contribution and Impact of the Construct”, Journal of Management History, 18(4): 402-418.

- Abatecola G., Farina V., Gordini N. (2014), “Board Effectiveness in Corporate Crises. Lessons from the Evolving Empirical Research”, Corporate Governance, 14(4): 531-542.

- Abatecola G., Mandarelli G., Poggesi S. (2013), “The Personality Factor. How Top Management Teams Make Decisions. A Literature Review”, Journal of Management and Governance, 17(4): 1073-1100.

- Cafferata R. (2016), “Darwinist Connections between the Systemness of Social Organizations and their Evolution”, Journal of Management and Governance, 20(1): 19-44.

- Cafferata R., Abatecola G. (2017), Enterprise Evolution. Teaching Notes, Texmat, Rome.

- Cristofaro M. (2017a), “Countervailing the Liability of Newness by Bringing in Active Investors: The Case of Facebook”, Strategic Direction, 33(8): 1-3.

- Cristofaro M. (2017b), “Reducing Biases of Decision-Making Processes in Complex Organizations”, Management Research Review, 40(3): 270-291.

Bibliography

- Abatecola G. (2009), “Bridging Adaptation Perspectives to Explore Corporate Crisis Determinants. Evidence from Fiat”, International Journal of Business & Economics, 8(1): 163-185.

- Abatecola G. (2012), “Interpreting Corporate Crises. Towards a Co-Evolutionary Approach”, Futures, 44(10): 860-869.

- Abatecola G. (2014a), “Research in Organizational Evolution. What Comes Next?”, European Management Journal, 32(3): 434-443.

- Abatecola G. (2014b), “Untangling Self-Reinforcing Processes in Managerial Decision Making. Co-Evolving Heuristics?”, Management Decision, 52(2): 934-949.

- Abatecola G. (2019), “Prioritizing Short-Term Goals in Behavioural Strategy: Lessons from Enron – 20 Years On”, International Journal of Business and Management.

- Abatecola G., Cafferata R., Poggesi S. (2012), “Arthur Stinchcombe’s Liability of Newness. Contribution and Impact of the Construct”, Journal of Management History, 18(4): 402-418.

- Abatecola G., Farina V., Gordini N. (2014), “Board Effectiveness in Corporate Crises. Lessons from the Evolving Empirical Research”, Corporate Governance, 14(4): 531-542.

- Abatecola G., Mandarelli G., Poggesi S. (2013), “The Personality Factor. How Top Management Teams Make Decisions. A Literature Review”, Journal of Management and Governance, 17(4): 1073-1100.

- Cafferata R. (2016), “Darwinist Connections between the Systemness of Social Organizations and their Evolution”, Journal of Management and Governance, 20(1): 19-44.

- Cafferata R., Abatecola G. (2017), Enterprise Evolution. Teaching Notes, Texmat, Rome.

- Cristofaro M. (2017a), “Countervailing the Liability of Newness by Bringing in Active Investors: The Case of Facebook”, Strategic Direction, 33(8): 1-3.

- Cristofaro M. (2017b), “Reducing Biases of Decision-Making Processes in Complex Organizations”, Management Research Review, 40(3): 270-291.

Teaching methods

The General Management course will include not only a theoretical approach, but also a strong practitioner input, through:

- live case discussions and videos
- combined talks with business experts
- simulations of business process on ERP systems
- group presentations by students.

The teaching approach will be also cross-disciplinary for more than one aspect, with elements drawn from biology and psychology constituting one of the distinctive features.

Exam Rules

The exam is based on an open-ended written test, taken in two steps (in the morning the written test on Module I and in the afternoon the written test on Module II respectively). The overall grade is the average of the performance in the two modules:

- in module I the maximum achievable grade with the written test is 28 plus students will have the possibility to improve their final evaluation through performing group works (up to 3 additional points);

- in module II the maximum achievable grade with the written test is 30 plus students will have the possibility to improve their final evaluation through participation in SAP Simulations, a test and a report on their strategy in each of the attended games (up to 1 additional point)

On this premise:

1) Excellent answers are those that represent an appropriate mix between theory and practice (i.e. business examples). Theoretical connections among the different topics are also very welcome.

2) Only students booked through the Delphi system can perform the exam.

3) Students can receive insights about their written evaluation during the first office hours immediately available after the test’s date.

4) Students can decide to reject a grade when not satisfied. Being present in any given call automatically means rejecting a grade taken previously.

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.

Updated A.Y. 2021-2022

GENERAL MANAGEMENT (a.y. 2021/22)

OVERVIEW

The General Management course is structured in two modules and aims to bring to first-year master students direct field experience about the competitive relationship between companies and their external environment and how their business process are managed, as well as how the digital technologies are transforming their key business processes.

TEACHING EVALUATIONS

As far as every academic year is concerned, the students’ satisfaction about the courses taught at the University of Rome Tor Vergata is officially collected through on-line anonymous questionnaires. On this premise, the data below summarize the yearly evaluation achieved by the course of General Management over the years.

General Management	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21
Question \ No. Respondents	65	91	82	59	59	55	57	51
Are the Exam Rules Clearly Defined?	3.4	3.6	3.7	3.7	3.6	3.4	3.7	3.5
Is the Class Timetable Respected?	3.6	3.7	3.8	3.7	3.7	3.6	3.6	3.4
Are the Office Hours Respected?	3.7	3.7	3.7	3.8	3.7	3.6	3.7	3.6
Are the Lectures Interesting and Clear?	3.4	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.5	3.4	3.5	3.3
Is the Working Load Appropriate?	3.5	3.1	3.5	3.5	3.6	3.4	3.6	3.4
Are the Class Materials Appropriate?	3.3	3.2	3.4	3.4	3.5	3.3	3.5	3.2
Overall, Am I interested to this Class?	3.6	3.5	3.6	3.5	3.6	3.5	3.6	3.4
Overall, Am I Satisfied with this Class?	3.3	3.4	3.6	3.5	3.4	3.4	3.5	3.4
Overall	3.5/4	3.5/4	3.6/4	3.6/4	3.6/4	3.4/4	3.6/4	3.4/4

MODULE I - ENTERPRISE EVOLUTION

1. INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Knowledge and Understanding: As stated, the ENTERPRISE EVOLUTION module focuses on competition. In particular, how does it work? How do firms survive, adapt and evolve? And how do the mechanisms of co-evolution between firms, markets and country systems work? It is a matter of fact that Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species (1859) has been representing a catalyst publication also for the development of the management literature. Although the contribution of Darwinism to understanding how firms and country-systems evolve remains controversial to date, a number of heterogeneous research perspectives have been developed within the enterprise evolution research and teaching fields. On this basis, this module aims at explaining how the enterprises’ governance and management evolve under uncertainty in dynamic and complex environments. In this regard, key attention will be devoted to strategic decision making in both the stages of natural and competitive selection.

Applying Knowledge and Understanding: At the end of the module, students will have gained knowledge about how enterprise adaptation works, how enterprises and their competitive environments mutually co-evolve, and how the fundamentals of enterprises’ strategy can be implemented through their life cycle.

Making Judgments: At the end of the module, students will have gained the skills to evaluate the sustainability of firms as competitive forces at different stages of their life cycle.

Communication Skills: At the end of the module, students will have learnt to expose business cases in group and in public, also summarizing them, in terms of data visualization, through a brief report/presentation.

Learning Skills: At the end of the module, students will have learnt to critically analyze competition through a "theory and practice" mixed approach.

2. SYLLABUS

The key topics taught in the module are the following:

PART I – EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL DARWINISM

• Introduction: On Competition

• Enteprise Evolution: Charles Darwin’s Legacy?

• From Evolution to Co-Evolution

PART II – ENTEPRISES AND NATURAL SELECTION

• Unicorns: The Snapchat Case Study

• The First Years of Life: Systemness and Evolution

• The “Liability of Newness”

PART III – ENTEPRISES AND COMPETITIVE SELECTION

• The Facebook Case Study

• From Natural to Competitive Selection

• Models of Enterprise Evolution

PART IV – CRISIS AND RESTRUCTURING OF ENTEPRISES

• The Enron Case Study

• The Fiat Group Automobiles Case Study

• Corporate Crises as Ineffective Adaptations

PART V – STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING

• Boards and Turnaround

• Bounded Rationality and Self-Reinforcing

• The Personality Factor and Behavioural Strategy

3. TEACHING METHODS

Mainly research led, the Enterprise Evolution module will include not only a theoretical approach, but also a strong practitioner input, through:

- live case discussions, videos, and simulations
- combined talks with business experts
- suggested project works/group presentations by students.

The teaching approach will be also cross-disciplinary for more than one aspect, with elements drawn from biology and psychology constituting one of the distinctive features.

4. SUGGESTED READINGS

(all available on the module’s website through a protected password for registered students)

Abatecola G. (2009), “Bridging Adaptation Perspectives to Explore Corporate Crisis Determinants. Evidence from Fiat”, International Journal of Business & Economics, 8(1): 163-185.
Abatecola G. (2012), “Interpreting Corporate Crises. Towards a Co-Evolutionary Approach”, Futures, 44(10): 860-869.
Abatecola G. (2014a), “Research in Organizational Evolution. What Comes Next?”, European Management Journal, 32(3): 434-443.
Abatecola G. (2014b), “Untangling Self-Reinforcing Processes in Managerial Decision Making. Co-Evolving Heuristics?”, Management Decision, 52(2): 934-949.
Abatecola G. (2019), “Prioritizing Short-Term Goals in Behavioural Strategy: Lessons from Enron – 20 Years On”, International Journal of Business and Management, 14(4): 60-71.
Abatecola G., Cafferata R., Poggesi S. (2012), “Arthur Stinchcombe’s Liability of Newness. Contribution and Impact of the Construct”, Journal of Management History, 18(4): 402-418.
Abatecola G., Farina V., Gordini N. (2014), “Board Effectiveness in Corporate Crises. Lessons from the Evolving Empirical Research”, Corporate Governance, 14(4): 531-542.
Abatecola G., Mandarelli G., Poggesi S. (2013), “The Personality Factor. How Top Management Teams Make Decisions. A Literature Review”, Journal of Management and Governance, 17(4): 1073-1100.
Cafferata R. (2016), “Darwinist Connections between the Systemness of Social Organizations and their Evolution”, Journal of Management and Governance, 20(1): 19-44.
Cafferata R., Abatecola G. (2017). Enterprise Evolution. Teaching Notes. Rome: Texmat. [NOT AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE]
Cristofaro M. (2017), “Countervailing the Liability of Newness by Bringing in Active Investors: The Case of Facebook”, Strategic Direction, 33(8): 1-3.

Updated A.Y. 2020-2021

GENERAL MANAGEMENT (a.y. 2020/21)

OVERVIEW

The General Management course is structured in two modules and aims to bring to first-year master students direct field experience about the competitive relationship between companies and their external environment and how their business process are managed, as well as how the digital technologies are transforming their key business processes.

TEACHING EVALUATIONS

As far as every academic year is concerned, the students’ satisfaction about the courses taught at the University of Rome Tor Vergata is officially collected through on-line anonymous questionnaires. On this premise, the data below summarize the yearly evaluation achieved by the course of General Management over the years.

General Management	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19
Question \ No. Respondents	65	91	82	59	59	55
Are the Exam Rules Clearly Defined?	3.4	3.6	3.7	3.7	3.6	3.4
Is the Class Timetable Respected?	3.6	3.7	3.8	3.7	3.7	3.6
Are the Office Hours Respected?	3.7	3.7	3.7	3.8	3.7	3.6
Are the Lectures Interesting and Clear?	3.4	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.5	3.4
Is the Working Load Appropriate?	3.5	3.1	3.5	3.5	3.6	3.4
Are the Class Materials Appropriate?	3.3	3.2	3.4	3.4	3.5	3.3
Overall, Am I interested to this Class?	3.6	3.5	3.6	3.5	3.6	3.5
Overall, Am I Satisfied with this Class?	3.3	3.4	3.6	3.5	3.4	3.4
Overall	3.5/4	3.5/4	3.6/4	3.6/4	3.6/4	3.4/4

MODULE I - ENTERPRISE EVOLUTION

1. INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Knowledge and Understanding: As stated, the ENTERPRISE EVOLUTION module focuses on competition. In particular, how does it work? How do firms survive, adapt and evolve? And how do the mechanisms of co-evolution between firms, markets and country systems work? It is a matter of fact that Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species (1859) has been representing a catalyst publication also for the development of the management literature. Although the contribution of Darwinism to understanding how firms and country-systems evolve remains controversial to date, a number of heterogeneous research perspectives have been developed within the enterprise evolution research and teaching fields. On this basis, this module aims at explaining how the enterprises’ governance and management evolve under uncertainty in dynamic and complex environments. In this regard, key attention will be devoted to strategic decision making in both the stages of natural and competitive selection.

Applying Knowledge and Understanding: At the end of the module, students will have gained knowledge about how enterprise adaptation works, how enterprises and their competitive environments mutually co-evolve, and how the fundamentals of enterprises’ strategy can be implemented through their life cycle.

Making Judgments: At the end of the module, students will have gained the skills to evaluate the sustainability of firms as competitive forces at different stages of their life cycle.

Communication Skills: At the end of the module, students will have learnt to expose business cases in group and in public, also summarizing them, in terms of data visualization, through a brief report/presentation.

Learning Skills: At the end of the module, students will have learnt to critically analyze competition through a "theory and practice" mixed approach.

2. SYLLABUS

The key topics taught in the module are the following:

PART I – EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL DARWINISM

• Introduction: On Competition

• Enteprise Evolution: Charles Darwin’s Legacy?

• From Evolution to Co-Evolution

PART II – ENTEPRISES AND NATURAL SELECTION

• Systemness and Evolution

• The “Liability of Newness”

• Unicorns: The Snapchat Case Study

PART III – ENTEPRISES AND COMPETITIVE SELECTION

• Models of Enterprise Evolution

• Planning and Forecasting

• Complexity and Leadership

PART IV – CRISIS AND RESTRUCTURING OF ENTEPRISES

• The Enron Case Study

• The Fiat Group Automobiles Case Study

• Corporate Crises as Ineffective Adaptations

PART V – STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING

• Bounded Rationality and Self-Reinforcing

• The Personality Factor

• The Higher Education Industry Case Study

3. TEACHING METHODS

Mainly research led, the Enterprise Evolution module will include not only a theoretical approach, but also a strong practitioner input, through:

- live case discussions, videos, and simulations
- combined talks with business experts
- suggested project works/group presentations by students.

The teaching approach will be also cross-disciplinary for more than one aspect, with elements drawn from biology and psychology constituting one of the distinctive features.

4. REFERENCES

(all available on the module’s website through a protected password for registered students)

Abatecola G. (2009), “Bridging Adaptation Perspectives to Explore Corporate Crisis Determinants. Evidence from Fiat”, International Journal of Business & Economics, 8(1): 163-185.
Abatecola G. (2012), “Interpreting Corporate Crises. Towards a Co-Evolutionary Approach”, Futures, 44(10): 860-869.
Abatecola G. (2014a), “Research in Organizational Evolution. What Comes Next?”, European Management Journal, 32(3): 434-443.
Abatecola G. (2014b), “Untangling Self-Reinforcing Processes in Managerial Decision Making. Co-Evolving Heuristics?”, Management Decision, 52(2): 934-949.
Abatecola G. (2019), “Prioritizing Short-Term Goals in Behavioural Strategy: Lessons from Enron – 20 Years On”, International Journal of Business and Management, 14(4): 60-71.
Abatecola G., Cafferata R., Poggesi S. (2012), “Arthur Stinchcombe’s Liability of Newness. Contribution and Impact of the Construct”, Journal of Management History, 18(4): 402-418.
Abatecola G., Farina V., Gordini N. (2014), “Board Effectiveness in Corporate Crises. Lessons from the Evolving Empirical Research”, Corporate Governance, 14(4): 531-542.
Abatecola G., Mandarelli G., Poggesi S. (2013), “The Personality Factor. How Top Management Teams Make Decisions. A Literature Review”, Journal of Management and Governance, 17(4): 1073-1100.
Cafferata R. (2016), “Darwinist Connections between the Systemness of Social Organizations and their Evolution”, Journal of Management and Governance, 20(1): 19-44.
Cristofaro M. (2017a), “Countervailing the Liability of Newness by Bringing in Active Investors: The Case of Facebook”, Strategic Direction, 33(8): 1-3.
Cristofaro M. (2017b), “Reducing Biases of Decision-Making Processes in Complex Organizations”, Management Research Review, 40(3): 270-291.

EN IT

Updated A.Y. 2019-2020

GENERAL MANAGEMENT (a.y. 2019/20)

OVERVIEW

The General Management course is structured in two modules and aims to bring to first-year master students direct field experience about the competitive relationship between companies and their external environment and how their business process are managed, as well as how the digital technologies are transforming their key business processes.

TEACHING EVALUATIONS

As far as every academic year is concerned, the students’ satisfaction about the courses taught at the University of Rome Tor Vergata is officially collected through on-line anonymous questionnaires. On this premise, the data below summarize the yearly evaluation achieved by the course of General Management over the years.

General Management	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18
Question \ No. Respondents	65	91	82	59	59
Are the Exam Rules Clearly Defined?	3.4	3.6	3.7	3.7	3.6
Is the Class Timetable Respected?	3.6	3.7	3.8	3.7	3.7
Are the Office Hours Respected?	3.7	3.7	3.7	3.8	3.7
Are the Lectures Interesting and Clear?	3.4	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.5
Is the Working Load Appropriate?	3.5	3.1	3.5	3.5	3.6
Are the Class Materials Appropriate?	3.3	3.2	3.4	3.4	3.5
Overall, Am I interested to this Class?	3.6	3.5	3.6	3.5	3.6
Overall, Am I Satisfied with this Class?	3.3	3.4	3.6	3.5	3.4
Overall	3.5/4	3.5/4	3.6/4	3.6/4	3.6/4

MODULE I - ENTERPRISE EVOLUTION

1. INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Knowledge and Understanding: As stated, the ENTERPRISE EVOLUTION module focuses on competition. In particular, how does it work? How do firms survive, adapt and evolve? And how do the mechanisms of co-evolution between firms, markets and country systems work? It is a matter of fact that Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species (1859) has been representing a catalyst publication also for the development of the management literature. Although the contribution of Darwinism to understanding how firms and country-systems evolve remains controversial to date, a number of heterogeneous research perspectives have been developed within the enterprise evolution research and teaching fields. On this basis, this module aims at explaining how the enterprises’ governance and management evolve under uncertainty in dynamic and complex environments. In this regard, key attention will be devoted to strategic decision making in both the stages of natural and competitive selection.

Applying Knowledge and Understanding: At the end of the module, students will have gained knowledge about how enterprise adaptation works, how enterprises and their competitive environments mutually co-evolve, and how the fundamentals of enterprises’ strategy can be implemented through their life cycle.

Making Judgments: At the end of the module, students will have gained the skills to evaluate the sustainability of firms as competitive forces at different stages of their life cycle.

Communication Skills: At the end of the module, students will have learnt to expose business cases in group and in public, also summarizing them, in terms of data visualization, through a brief report/presentation.

Learning Skills: At the end of the module, students will have learnt to critically analyze competition through a "theory and practice" mixed approach.

2. SYLLABUS

The key topics taught in the module are the following:

PART I – EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL DARWINISM

• Enteprise Evolution: Charles Darwin’s Legacy?

• From Evolution to Co-Evolution

• The Music Industry Case Study

PART II – ENTEPRISES AND NATURAL SELECTION

• The First Years of Life

• The “Liability of Newness”

• The Facebook Case Study

PART III – ENTEPRISES AND COMPETITIVE SELECTION

• On Competition

• Models of Enterprise Evolution

• The ENI Group Case Study

PART IV – CRISIS AND RESTRUCTURING OF ENTEPRISES

• Corporate Crises as Ineffective Adaptations

• Boards of Directors and Turnaround Management

• The Fiat Group Automobiles Case Study

PART V – STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING

• Bounded Rationality and Self-Reinforcing

• The Personality Factor

• The Higher Education Industry Case Study

• Creativity and Entrepreneurial Urbanism

3. TEACHING METHODS

Mainly research led, the Enterprise Evolution module will include not only a theoretical approach, but also a strong practitioner input, through:

- live case discussions, videos, and simulations
- combined talks with business experts
- suggested project works/group presentations by students.

The teaching approach will be also cross-disciplinary for more than one aspect, with elements drawn from biology and psychology constituting one of the distinctive features.

On this premise, on October, 24th-25th, 2019, Dr. Stephen Dobson, Leeds University, will perform two guest lectures, whose content is summarized below.

* Session 1 (October, 24th, 2019): Creativity and Entrepreneurship
Creative thinking underpins enterprise, entrepreneurship and innovation, but beyond the creativity of the individual, what is its wider context? This lecture and workshop explores the value of creativity and innovation and how to promote, foster, harness and manage it. Within a societal context entrepreneurship is presented as offering the potential to be a transformative force.

** Session 2 (October, 25th, 2019): Entrepreneurial Urbanism
Urban development in the age of austerity is increasingly reliant on entrepreneurial governance as well as more extensive public-private collaboration in shaping urban life. Entrepreneurialism in this context refers to a mode of urban governance which embraces a greater level of shared responsibility and partnerships in the development of cities. This lecture and workshop explores Entrepreneurial Urbanism at the community, ‘grassroots’ level and explores the potential for a performative notion of culture and place.

4. REFERENCES

(all available on the module’s website through a protected password for registered students)

Abatecola G. (2009), “Bridging Adaptation Perspectives to Explore Corporate Crisis Determinants. Evidence from Fiat”, International Journal of Business & Economics, 8(1): 163-185.
Abatecola G. (2012), “Interpreting Corporate Crises. Towards a Co-Evolutionary Approach”, Futures, 44(10): 860-869.
Abatecola G. (2014a), “Research in Organizational Evolution. What Comes Next?”, European Management Journal, 32(3): 434-443.
Abatecola G. (2014b), “Untangling Self-Reinforcing Processes in Managerial Decision Making. Co-Evolving Heuristics?”, Management Decision, 52(2): 934-949.
Abatecola G. (2019), “Prioritizing Short-Term Goals in Behavioural Strategy: Lessons from Enron – 20 Years On”, International Journal of Business and Management, 14(4): 60-71.
Abatecola G., Cafferata R., Poggesi S. (2012), “Arthur Stinchcombe’s Liability of Newness. Contribution and Impact of the Construct”, Journal of Management History, 18(4): 402-418.
Abatecola G., Farina V., Gordini N. (2014), “Board Effectiveness in Corporate Crises. Lessons from the Evolving Empirical Research”, Corporate Governance, 14(4): 531-542.
Abatecola G., Mandarelli G., Poggesi S. (2013), “The Personality Factor. How Top Management Teams Make Decisions. A Literature Review”, Journal of Management and Governance, 17(4): 1073-1100.
Cafferata R. (2016), “Darwinist Connections between the Systemness of Social Organizations and their Evolution”, Journal of Management and Governance, 20(1): 19-44.
Cafferata R., Abatecola G. (2017), Enterprise Evolution. Teaching Notes, Texmat, Rome.
Cafferata R., Abatecola G., Poggesi S. (2009), “Revisiting Stinchcombe’s Liability of Newness: A Systematic Literature Review”, International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business, 3(4): 374-392.
Cristofaro M. (2017a), “Countervailing the Liability of Newness by Bringing in Active Investors: The Case of Facebook”, Strategic Direction, 33(8): 1-3.
Cristofaro M. (2017b), “Reducing Biases of Decision-Making Processes in Complex Organizations”, Management Research Review, 40(3): 270-291.
Dobson S., Breslin D., Suckley L., Barton R., Rodriguez L. (2013), “Small Firm Survival and Innovation: An Evolutionary Approach”, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 14(2): 69-80.
Dobson S., Jorgensen A. (2014), “Increasing the Resilience and Adaptive Capacity of Cities through Entrepreneurial Urbanism”. International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business, 6(3/4): 149-162.

Updated A.Y. 2018-2019

GENERAL MANAGEMENT (a.y. 2018/19)

OVERVIEW

The General Management course aims at providing students with the key competences for understanding the main competitive challenges that corporations face to date. The course is composed of two intertwined modules. Entitled Enterprise Evolution, Module I, on the hand, mainly explores the competitive relationship between enterprises and their external environment. Entitled Digital Transformation Management, Module II, on the other hand, mostly focuses on business process management, looking at its characteristics and at the impact of digital transformation.

TEACHING EVALUATIONS

As far as every academic year is concerned, the students’ satisfaction about the courses taught at the University of Rome Tor Vergata is officially collected through on-line anonymous questionnaires. On this premise, the data below summarize the yearly evaluation achieved by the course of General Management (overall, i.e. average between Module I and Module II).

General Management	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17
Question \ No. Respondents	65	91	82	59
Are the Exam Rules Clearly Defined?	3.4	3.6	3.7	3.7
Is the Class Timetable Respected?	3.6	3.7	3.8	3.7
Are the Office Hours Respected?	3.7	3.7	3.7	3.8
Are the Lectures Interesting and Clear?	3.4	3.6	3.6	3.6
Is the Working Load Appropriate?	3.5	3.1	3.5	3.5
Are the Class Materials Appropriate?	3.3	3.2	3.4	3.4
Overall, Am I interested to this Class?	3.6	3.5	3.6	3.5
Overall, Am I Satisfied with this Class?	3.3	3.4	3.6	3.5
Overall	3.5/4	3.5/4	3.6/4	3.6/4

MODULE I - ENTERPRISE EVOLUTION

1. INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Knowledge and Understanding

How does competition work? How do firms survive, adapt and evolve? And how do the mechanisms of co-evolution between firms, markets and country systems work? It is a matter of fact that Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species (1859) has been representing a catalyst publication also for the development of the management literature. Although the contribution of Darwinism to understanding how firms and country-systems evolve remains controversial to date, a number of heterogeneous research perspectives have been developed within the enterprise evolution research and teaching fields. On this basis, this module aims at explaining how the enterprises’ governance and management evolve under uncertainty in dynamic and complex environments.

Applying Knowledge and Understanding

At the end of the module, the students:

1. will have been provided with ideas on how enterprise adaptation works and how enterprises and their competitive environments mutually co-evolve.

2. will have been provided with the fundamentals of how the enterprises’ strategy can be implemented through their life cycle.

2. SYLLABUS

The key topics taught in the module are the following:

PART I – EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL DARWINISM

• Enteprise Evolution: Charles Darwin’s Legacy?

• From Evolution to Co-Evolution

• The Music Industry Case Study

PART II – ENTEPRISES AND NATURAL SELECTION

• The First Years of Life

• The “Liability of Newness”

• The Facebook Case Study

PART III – ENTEPRISES AND COMPETITIVE SELECTION

• On Competition

• Models of Enterprise Evolution

• The ENI Group Case Study

PART IV – CRISIS AND RESTRUCTURING OF ENTEPRISES

• Corporate Crises as Ineffective Adaptations

• Boards of Directors and Turnaround Management

• The Fiat Group Automobiles Case Study

PART V – STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING

• Bounded Rationality and Self-Reinforcing

• The Personality Factor

• The Higher Education Industry Case Study

3. TEACHING METHODS

Research led, the teaching approach is also featured by a strong practitioner input through ‘live’ case study discussions, videos, case presentations by students, and combined talks with business experts. The teaching approach is also cross-disciplinary for more than one aspect, with elements drawn from biology and psychology constituting a distinctive feature (e.g. comparisons with biological adaptation, evolution and life cycle; narcissism and other personality traits; BIG 5 and MBTI personality measurement tools; heuristics).

4. REFERENCES

(all available on the course’s website through a protected password for registered students)

• Abatecola G. (2009), “Bridging Adaptation Perspectives to Explore Corporate Crisis Determinants. Evidence from Fiat”, International Journal of Business & Economics, 8(1): 163-185.

• Abatecola G. (2012a), “Organizational Adaptation. An Update”, International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 20(3): 274-293.

• Abatecola G. (2012b), “Interpreting Corporate Crises. Towards a Co-Evolutionary Approach”, Futures, 44(10): 860-869.

• Abatecola G. (2014a), “Research in Organizational Evolution. What Comes Next?”, European Management Journal, 32(3): 434-443.

• Abatecola G. (2014b), “Untangling Self-Reinforcing Processes in Managerial Decision Making. Co-Evolving Heuristics?”, Management Decision, 52(2): 934-949.

• Abatecola G., Cafferata R., Poggesi S. (2009), “Strategy, Structure and Market Liberalization: Evidence from ENI (2000-06)”, DSI McGraw Hill Essays Series, 7.

• Abatecola G., Cafferata R., Poggesi S. (2012), “Arthur Stinchcombe’s Liability of Newness. Contribution and Impact of the Construct”, Journal of Management History, 18(4): 402-418.

• Abatecola G., Farina V., Gordini N. (2014), “Board Effectiveness in Corporate Crises. Lessons from the Evolving Empirical Research”, Corporate Governance, 14(4): 531-542.

• Abatecola G., Mandarelli G., Poggesi S. (2013), “The Personality Factor. How Top Management Teams Make Decisions. A Literature Review”, Journal of Management and Governance, 17(4): 1073-1100.

• Adriansee J. (2011), “Back to the Future: The General Motors Restructuring Plan”, The Hague, The Netherlands.

• Cafferata R. (2016), “Darwinist Connections between the Systemness of Social Organizations and their Evolution”, Journal of Management and Governance, 20(1): 19-44.

• Cafferata R., Abatecola G. (2017), Enterprise Evolution. Teaching Notes, Texmat, Rome.

• Cafferata R., Abatecola G., Poggesi S. (2009), “Revisiting Stinchcombe’s Liability of Newness: A Systematic Literature Review”, International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business, 3(4): 374-392.

• Cristofaro M. (2017a), “Countervailing the Liability of Newness by Bringing in Active Investors: The Case of Facebook”, Strategic Direction, 33(8): 1-3.

• Cristofaro M. (2017b), “Reducing Biases of Decision-Making Processes in Complex Organizations”, Management Research Review, 40(3): 270-291.

• Uli V. (2015), “Competitive Dynamics in the Music Industry”, paper presented at the EURAM Annual Conference, Paris.

Updated A.Y. 2017-2018

GENERAL MANAGEMENT (a.y. 2017/18)

OVERVIEW

The General Management course aims at providing students with the key competences for understanding the main competitive challenges that corporations face to date. The course is composed of two intertwined modules. Entitled Enterprise Evolution, Module I, on the hand, mainly explores the competitive relationship between enterprises and their external environment. Entitled Digital Transformation Management, Module II, on the other hand, mostly focuses on business process management, looking at its characteristics and at the impact of digital transformation.

TEACHING EVALUATIONS

As far as every academic year is concerned, the students’ satisfaction about the courses taught at the University of Rome Tor Vergata is officially collected through on-line anonymous questionnaires. On this premise, the data below summarize the yearly evaluation achieved by the course of General Management (overall, i.e. average between Module I and Module II).

General Management	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17
Question \ No. Respondents	65	91	82	59
Are the Exam Rules Clearly Defined?	3.4	3.6	3.7	3.7
Is the Class Timetable Respected?	3.6	3.7	3.8	3.7
Are the Office Hours Respected?	3.7	3.7	3.7	3.8
Are the Lectures Interesting and Clear?	3.4	3.6	3.6	3.6
Is the Working Load Appropriate?	3.5	3.1	3.5	3.5
Are the Class Materials Appropriate?	3.3	3.2	3.4	3.4
Overall, Am I interested to this Class?	3.6	3.5	3.6	3.5
Overall, Am I Satisfied with this Class?	3.3	3.4	3.6	3.5
Overall	3.5/4	3.5/4	3.6/4	3.6/4