Econometrics - Proff. Gianmarco Vacca; Conuselo Rubina Navas
The course aims at acquainting doctoral students with the fundamental aspects of econometric methodology. The purpose is to prepare the student to competently handle the basic econometric tools for the measurement, modelling, interpretation, and forecast of economic phenomena. The course introduces several modeling strategies, starting from basic notions of statistics and probability, and delving into regression analysis in its different perspectives. The notion of causality and its declination in different economic contexts will be examined, going further than the simple linear regression, exploring panel data and causal analysis methods. All the econometric tools analyzed during the course will be paired with practical examples using statistical software such as Stata and R, with an emphasis on the economic interpretation of their output.
Organization Theory - Proff. Barbara Imperatori; Rita Bissola
The course introduces central concepts in Organization Theory (OT). The main objective of the course is to create a forum to critically discuss and develop an understanding the most relevant theories in the field of the organization studies. Upon completion, doctoral students should be able to comprehend the intellectual history of the field, critically discuss the main OT epistemological approaches, and recognize how their own work could relate and contribute to OT.
Participants will discuss the main questions in OT field, such as: Why do organizations exist? What is the role of myth and ceremony in organizational life? Why do organizations are similar and why do they differ? Why do organizations die or survive? Why do organizations ally with other organizations and how does that matter? During the course, attendants will be asked to read and discuss classic theoretical and empirical papers, and identify main research approaches and challenges of the field. Each seminar will focus on two or three main theories, starting from the original contributes of the authors.
The selected theories that will be examined are Taylorism and Scientific Management, Human Relations, Contingency Theory, Transaction Cost Economics, Population Ecology, New-Institutionalism, Resource Based View, Agency Theory, Action Theory, Cognitivism. The final session of the course will be dedicated to discussing an emerging topic to address the current frontiers of the OT field.
Financial Accounting - Prof. Angela Kate Pettinicchio
The aim of this course is to introduce the main topics in financial accounting research and expose students to accounting literature, specifically focusing on capital markets, disclosure quality, and regulatory supervision. In the first part of the course (accounting and capital markets) relevant papers on the impact and role of accounting on capital markets will be discussed. In the second part of the course (earnings quality and accounting conservatism) relevant papers on earnings quality and accounting conservatism will be discussed. Finally, the third part of the course (accounting and regulatory supervision) discusses papers about accounting and regulatory supervision. In every session, each student will be asked to present and discuss one research paper previously assigned by the Professor.
Management Control - Prof. Manuela Macinati
The course is primarily designed to train doctoral students for research-oriented careers and aims to provide them with the knowledge of the main research topics in management accounting.
The specific objective of the course is to develop an appropriate training in the most advanced issues in accounting, both theoretical and applied, the related state of the art, the limitations, and the avenues for future research. Upon completion of the course, students: (i) will have acquired the knowledge of the main issues, of the reference theories, and of the research models in the field of management accounting; (ii) will be able to critically interpret the research results on specific issues, formulate autonomous judgments on the limits and future developments of the subject; (iii) will be able toindependently analyze, critically evaluate, and clearly communicate the conclusions drawn from the analysis of selected scientific articles; (iv) will have refined the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct quantitative and qualitative research in management.
Over the duration of the course, students will work through the following modules: (i) Bibliographic overview of the main research topics in management accounting; (ii) State of the art of budgeting research and possible future developments; (iii) Future avenues of research in management accounting.
Strategic Management and International Business - Prof. Daniele Cerrato
The course deals with some topics related to strategic management and international business with the aim of: (i) Introducing doctoral students to representative conceptual research and empirical research in the fields of strategic management and international business; (ii) Discussing fundamental issues debated in the literature and provide students with a thorough understanding of major theories, issues and methods; (iii) Developing the skills necessary to analyze and evaluate both conceptual and methodological aspects of the literature; (iv) Enabling students to develop at least one creative idea into a research proposal or a literature review on one of the topics covered in class as a basis to develop a full paper to be presented at upcoming professional meetings or for thesis development.
The topics dealt with in module I (Strategic Management) are: (i) Introduction to strategic management; (ii) Diversification: drivers, measures, outcomes; (iii) Mergers & Acquisitions and Strategic Alliances; (iv) Entrepreneurship and SMEs; (v) Corporate governance and ownership structure.
The topics dealt with in module II (International Business) are: (i) Theories of the Multinational Enterprises; (ii) Frameworks of international strategies; (iii) Measuring internationalization and the internationalization-performance relationship; (iv) The internationalization process and the role of distance in international business; (v) International business across different research contexts: small and medium-sized enterprises, international new ventures, family firms.
Introduction to the Economics of Innovation -Prof. Marco Vivarelli
This course will provide the students with the basic concepts and theories which are the bases of the Economics of Innovation. Starting from Schumpeter’s framework and definitions, Neo-Schumpeterian advances will be discussed within an evolutionary approach. The analysis will span from the drivers of innovation - including scientific, economic and institutional determinants - to the very nature of the innovation activities - such as R&D, process and product innovation, patents, etc. - and eventually to the consequences of innovation in terms of productivity, competitiveness and employment. Students should be familiar with macroeconomics, microeconomics and statistics.
Operations and Supply Chain Management - Proff. Annalisa Tunisini; Valeria Belvedere; Laura Ferri; Stefano Villa
The objective of this course is to introduce doctoral students to the key concepts and techniques for analysis, management and improvement of supply chain and other operations management processes for different industries and markets, also with regards to sustainability dimensions. At completion of this course, students will be able to assess operations and supply chain performance and make recommendations to increase organizational competitiveness. Students will be required to read a variety of papers focused on topics in operations and supply chain management, to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each paper’s research design, to identify how the paper contributes to extant literature and to identify research warranting future study.
Marketing - Proff. Annalisa Tunisini; Annalisa Tunisini; Chiara Cantù; Antonella La Rocca; Roberta Sebastiani; Alessia Anzivino; Silvia Biraghi
The course aims to provide doctoral students with the knowledge of the most recent research areas in the field of marketing management, with respect to which there is extensive debate in the literature and empirical research is encouraged.
The course does not deal with the basic marketing discipline, whose principles and techniques are assumed as known by the students. However, in order to align knowledge across the different students, the module takes up the studies and the role of marketing in an evolutionary key to highlight how the discipline fits within the more general management studies. The course covers the different lines of study that pertain to the discipline and with respect to which a wide debate at the academic level has developed in recent years.
The analysis of the literature and the ongoing debate with reference to these lines of study allows to outline the study topics deemed most relevant and the research gaps; the study and discussion of the main theoretical-interpretative models subject to debate among scholars is connected to the analysis of the managerial implications that are related to the theoretical-conceptual developments debated. It follows that useful ideas are also provided for carrying out research activities.
In particular, the most recent and debated fields of study in the field of marketing that are treated in the course concern: business-to-business marketing; service marketing, marketing and sustainability; marketing and innovation; marketing and entrepreneurship; communication and branding.
Sustainability -Proff. Matteo Pedrini; Marco Minciullo
The course aims to introduce key theories on the integration of sustainability issues, both social and environmental, in the various management academic streams. Starting from an introduction on the key sustainability issues and on the evolution of the prevalent theories (CSR, shared values, corporate sustainability), the course will take into consideration the intersection between sustainability, corporate strategy, and organization, with a specific emphasis on environmental strategies and on hybrid organizations. Besides, it will provide insights on the relationships between corporate governance and sustainability, focusing on the role of stakeholders, and on the issues related to the reporting of sustainability-related performance. At the end of the course, doctoral students will have an overview on the various theories related to sustainability and on the current developments of research streams in the field of business and society. By means of a specific “Sustainability Lab”, the course is also intended to provide every participant with the opportunity to identify and if and how sustainability-related topics can be integrated in their ongoing research projects or create an opportunity for a new research stream. Students will be invited to identify and present an existing paper on sustainability topics, discussing the potential implications for their research projects.
Public Management - Proff. Eugenio Anessi Pessina; Cecilia Langella
The course presents the fundamentals of public management, in general and with specific respect to some key topics (e.g. government accounting, performance measurement & management, personnel management & public service motivation).
Doctoral students are expected to learn the fundamental theories and models of public administration, namely Traditional Public Administration, New Public Management, as well as the various “Post-NPM” approaches. They are also expected to learn the key similarities and differences between private and public management.
To this end, students will be asked to prepare and discuss a variety of classic and recent papers on public administration and management, focusing on their theoretical frameworks, research designs, and contributions to existing knowledge.
At the end of the course, students will thus be able to understand the structures and processes of public-sector organisations and to identify, analyse, criticise, and formulate arguments about public management.
