Hybrid MBA English edition

The course covers the strategic framework within which managers take decisions and turn their knowledge and capabilities into actions. We explore the essential concepts and tools of strategy and explain the positioning of companies in a variety of settings. You develop the skills needed to perform competitor analysis and understand how strategy formulation, deployment and effective execution relate to competitive advantage.

In this course we will focus on how changes in geopolitical and geoeconomical equilibria may change business strategies. Trilateral relations between Europe, US and China will be the core of our analysis whit a special focus on the role that China is playing on international markets.

Students will be asked to read and discuss papers, book chapters and journal articles.

This course provides the relevant knowledge for comprehending and managing a business financial performance. Specifically, it focuses on the measuring and understanding of financial and value creation ratio, on cost analysis for business decision making on performance measurement systems for supporting implementation and monitoring of business strategy. The course finally provides an analytical perspective of business analysis.

The course provides a framework for understanding and analysing investment and financial decisions of corporations. Lectures and readings provide an introduction to present value techniques, capital budgeting, capital structure decisions, corporate cost of capital, initial and seasoned equity offerings and an introduction to corporate risk management.

During this course you will discover strategic, organizational and management methods for innovation development, with a focus on managing new product development within the R&D function and new projects.

Over the last decade sustainability, corporate social responsibility and stakeholder management practices have become paramount for companies as well as for society. Although most companies have developed sustainability programs over the years, as they’re cutting carbon emissions, reducing waste, and otherwise enhancing operational efficiency, we are witnessing a mishmash of sustainability tactics that does not add up to a sustainable strategy. To endure, a sustainable strategy has to cope with the competing – and apparently divergent – interests of all stakeholders: investors, employees, customers, governments, NGOs, and society. The purpose of this course is to initiate a debate around the role and functioning of modern corporations as business ethics and sustainability challenges, opportunities and solutions emerge.

The course covers the principles of human capital management aimed at achieving and maintaining high performance. Themes related to the behaviors and techniques employed by successful organizations will be explored in terms of how they deal with an array of individuals and individual motivations keeping in line with the strategy and the objectives defined by the company. The course will enable participants to understand the abilities/skills required to manage people in a company, communicate effectively, and obtain the necessary commitment to meet objectives.

The cross-sectionality of the logistics function and the value chain. Design and planning of the production system layouts. Management and forecasting of market demand. General criteria of programming and audit of production. Procurement and management of inventory and consumable materials. Evolution of just in time systems: from lean production to lean thinking. Automation of the information flow: from barcode to RFID technologies. Management of physical distribution.

The digital age has brought with it the proliferation of channels and technologies which in turn have radically changed the context in which marketers find themselves operating. It is therefore necessary to update the way in which marketing is understood and thought up to the digital age.

The course illustrates the new skills and marketing skills to be introduced: data and analytics, customer experience, content, omni-channels and personalization.

The principles and models of customer experience, the latest and current frontier for competitive advantage, allow to make customers happier and loyal. The course introduces a structured methodology for the analysis, planning and setting up of a successful customer experience. From research techniques for the consumption experience, a model is discussed in order to plan a successfull experience, consistently with the choices of brand management. Afterwards, also thanks to the use of real-life cases, the processes for the creation of a success experience are introduced. Lastly, the indicators to measure the performances of the investment in customer experience are analysed.

In this module, students will be exposed to the principles and tools of design thinking applied to business models, using these tools in a guided path, with the following target:

Understand the meaning of “Customer Centricity” and the approach to designing digital services and business models

Analyze the needs of consumers and define new services that best satisfy them

Know and apply tools for the design of all the elements of the business model

Evaluate the business potential of an innovative idea

Create a “pitch deck” of the new business idea

Understanding the difficulties related to the implementation of innovative business models (“The Innovator’s dilemma”) within a ‘traditional’ company, and strategies that have proved useful in overcoming them.

High flexibility, dynamic demand, increasing customization, high quality standards, small batches and short life cycle are the key factors of the Industry 4.0 era. Innovative flexible manufacturing and assembly systems (FMSs & FASs) need to match these factors joining productivity to versatility, quality to adaptability. In this context, high-speed manufacturing machines, robotic handling devices, automated guided systems (AGVs) and human operators are connected and they have to act synergically.

This course aims at exploring a coordinated panel of (1) design methods, (2) support strategies and (3) quantitative approaches to help the Industry 4.0 practitioners in the tactical and operative management of innovative production systems.

This course is designed to provide participants with an understanding of how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to create value in various business contexts. In this course, participants will learn how to identify opportunities to apply AI in different business areas, such as marketing, finance, operations, and customer service.

The aim of the course is to enhance students’ awareness regarding the digital transformation that each organization is undertaking in order to introduce and develop new ways of working to tackle the ongoing change.

The objective of the course is to provide participants with the knowledge and skills that can be useful to start an entrepreneurship process. A focus will be placed on the subjects of recognition of entrepreneurial opportunities, feasibility analysis of a new business idea from the organizational, strategic and economic-financial points of view, concluding with a business plan.

The Master features one on-campus smart week, lasting five days, at the end of the program. It is characterized by Company Visits within Industry Champions such as Ducati, Max Mara, Lamborghini, Marchesini, IMA, AGF88 Holding and YNAP (they may change in cases of force majeure) and one Hackathon at BBS. It is recommended to arrive in Bologna during the weekend.

Talks held by experts and thought leaders to discuss the impact of new leadership styles and skills for the future.

This a laboratory of sharing of managerial experiences to discuss of the importance of soft and cross-cutting skills, attidutes, behaviours and the role they play in the career path.

Topics such as emotional and congnitive skills, how to give and how to receive a feedback, performance management, professional development and management of complex situations, will be addressed to discover the tools that you can only learn from experience.