Master of Science in Business Administration

Learning Objectives

Prerequisites

Program

Books

Bibliography

Teaching methods

Exam Rules

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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).

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. 2016-2017

GENERAL MANAGEMENT (a.y. 2016/17)

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 corporations and their external environment. Entitled Enterprise Value Chain, Module II, on the other hand, mostly focuses on the internal activities (e.g. manufacturing, supply chain, and marketing) performed by corporations on a daily basis.

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, guest lectures by business experts, and software simulations.

MODULE I - ENTERPRISE EVOLUTION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

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 organizational 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. At the end of the module, the students:

1. will have been provided with ideas on how organizational 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.

SYLLABUS

The key topics taught in the module are the following:

• Organizational Evolution: Charles Darwin’s Legacy

• Organizational Adaptation and Co-Evolution: Theory and Practice

• Natural Selection: Arthur Stinchcombe’s Liability of Newness

• Competitive Selection: The Management of Innovation

• Firm’s Life Cycle: Models of Organizational Evolution

• Organizational Failure: Corporate crises as Ineffective Adaptations

• Strategic Decision Making: Bounded Rationality and Self-Reinforcing Processes

• Behavioral Strategy: The Top Management Team Personality Factor

These topics will be taught through an approach which 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; genotypes-phenotypes; processes of variation-selection-retention; narcissism and other personality traits; BIG 5 and MBTI personality measurement tools; heuristics).

REFERENCES

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

• 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. (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. (2009-2011), “Back to the Future. The General Motors Restructuring Plan”. Leiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands.

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

• Cafferata R. (2016b), General Management. Module I (Enterprise Evolution). Teaching Notes, University of Rome Tor Vergata.

• 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.

• Grant R.M (2010), Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Text and Cases. Wiley, Chichester, UK (Chapter 12: Technology Based Industries and the Management of Innovation).

• Hammond J.S. III, Keeney R.L., Raiffa H. (1998), “The Hidden Traps of Decision Making”, Harvard Business Review, 76(5): 47-58.

SLIDES

Additional slides from the weekly presentations will be added on the website to support the students’ study.

Updated A.Y. 2015-2016

GENERAL MANAGEMENT (A.Y. 2015/16)

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 corporations and their external environment. Entitled Enterprise Value Chain, Module II, on the other hand, mostly focuses on the internal activities (e.g. manufacturing, supply chain, and marketing) performed by corporations on a daily basis.

TEACHING METHODS

Research led, the teaching approach is also featured by a strong practitioner input through ‘live’ case study discussions (e.g., from the Case Center), guest lectures by business experts, and software simulations (McGraw Hill Practice Operations).

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 (*)

                                                                                    a.y. 2013/14           a.y. 2014/15

Question \ No. Respondents                                                   65                           90

Are the Exam Rules Clearly Defined?                                      3.4                          3.6

Is the Class Timetable Respected?                                          3.6                          3.7

Are the Office Hours Respected?                                             3.7                          3.7

Are the Lectures Interesting and Clear?                                   3.4                          3.6

Is the Working Load Appropriate?                                            3.5                          3.1

Are the Class Materials Appropriate?                                       3.3                          3.2

Overall, Am I interested to this Class?                                      3.6                         3.5

Overall, Am I Satisfied with this Class?                                    3.3                          3.4

Overall                                                                                    3.5/4                      3.5/4

* The score can range from 1 (minimum) to 4 (maximum).

MODULE I - ENTERPRISE EVOLUTION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

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 organizational 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. At the end of the module, the students:

1. will have been provided with ideas on how organizational 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.

SYLLABUS

Please, note that all the references, slides and analytical syllabus are downloadable in the "materials" section of the module.

On this premise, the key topics taught in the module are the following:

• Organizational Evolution: Charles Darwin’s Legacy

• Organizational Adaptation and Co-Evolution: Theory and Practice

• Natural Selection: Arthur Stinchcombe’s Liability of Newness

• Competitive Selection: The Management of Innovation

• Firm’s Life Cycle: Models of Organizational Evolution

• Organizational Failure: Corporate crises as Ineffective Adaptations

• Strategic Decision Making: Bounded Rationality and Self-Reinforcing Processes

• Behavioral Strategy: The Top Management Team Personality Factor

These topics will be taught through an approach which 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; genotypes-phenotypes; processes of variation-selection-retention; narcissism and other personality traits; BIG 5 and MBTI personality measurement tools; heuristics).

Updated A.Y. 2014-2015

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 corporations and their external environment. Entitled Enterprise Value Chain, Module II, on the other hand, mostly focuses on the internal activities (e.g. manufacturing, supply chain, and marketing) performed by corporations on a daily basis. The content of Module I is specifically highlighted below.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

How do firms evolve? What is the role of environmental determinism? Does strategic voluntarism count? 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 organizational 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. At the end of the module, the students:

1. will have been provided with ideas on how organizational 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.

SYLLABUS

The key topics taught in the module are the following:

• Organizational Evolution: Charles Darwin’s Legacy

• Organizational Adaptation and Co-Evolution: Theory and Practice

• Natural Selection: Arthur Stinchcombe’s Liability of Newness

• Competitive Selection: The Management of Innovation

• Firm’s Life Cycle: Models of Organizational Evolution • Organizational Failure: Corporate crises as Ineffective Adaptations

• Strategic Decision Making: Bounded Rationality and Self-Reinforcing Processes

• Behavioral Strategy: The Top Management Team Personality Factor

TEACHING METHODS

Research led, the teaching approach is also featured by a strong practitioner input through ‘live’ case discussions.

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).

a.y. 2013/14 (No. Respondents = 65)

Question                                                       Grade (1 minimum - 4 maximum)

1) Are the Exam Rules Clearly Defined?       3.42

2) Is the Class Timetable Respected?           3.58

3) Are the Office Hours Respected?              3.66

4) Are the Lectures Interesting and Clear?    3.44

5) Is the Working Load Appropriate?             3.46

6) Are the Class Materials Appropriate?        3.31

7) Overall, Am I interested to this Class?      3.59

8) Overall, Am I Satisfied with this Class?     3.29

                                                      Overall      3.47

REFERENCES

Abatecola G. (2009), “Bridging Adaptation Perspectives to Explore Corporate Crisis Determinants. Evidence from Fiat”, International Journal of Business & Economics, 8(1): 163-184.

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. (2013), “Survival or Failure within the Organizational Life Cycle. What Lessons for Managers?, Journal of General Management, 38(4): 23-38.

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. (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. (2014a), “Darwinist Connections between the Systemness of Social Organizations and their Evolution”, Journal of Management and Governance, forthcoming.

Cafferata R. (2014b), General Management. Module I (Enterprise Evolution). Teaching Notes, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Department of Business Government Philosophy Studies.

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.

Grant R.M (2010), Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Text and Cases. Wiley, Chichester, UK (Chapter 12: Technology Based Industries and the Management of Innovation).

Hammond J.S. III, Keeney R.L., Raiffa H. (1998), “The Hidden Traps of Decision Making”, Harvard Business Review, 76(5): 47-58.

Uli V. (2012), “Countervailing the Liability of Newness through Organizational Routines: Evidence from the Well-Being Industry”, Current Progress Journal, 1(2): 4-11.

SLIDES

• Additional slides from the weekly presentations will be added on the website to support the students’ study.