a.Knowledge and understanding: the student will know the main changes in the business strategies, structures and functions in contemporary ages, their causes and their contexts.
b.Applying knowledge and understanding: the student will be able to understand and analyze - even in the broader field of business studies - the organizational and strategical business changes in the medium and long period, contextualizing their motivations.
c.Making judgements: the student will be able to make critical judgments about business histories and business studies, adopting the lens of historical perspective.
d.Communication skills: the student will be able to adopt an adequate language.
e.Learning skills: the student will be able to read and understand autonomously advanced texts in the field of business history.

None

The course aims to present in historical perspective the main developments of business strategies, structures and functions in contemporary ages. After a theoretical framework regarding the concepts of “enterprise” and “entrepreneur”, the dimensional and organizational evolution of the enterprise will be analyzed in its social, cultural, institutional and normative context. Afterwards the main changes in governance, accounting, marketing and innovation management will be presented. An analysis of the rise and decline of state-owned enterprise will conclude the course

Manadatory texts:
P.A. Toninelli, Storia d’impresa, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2012, II edizione
Lecture notes

Further readings:
F. Amatori (a cura di), L’impresa: una prospettiva storica, Milano, Egea, 2000
J. Barron Baskin, P. Miranti Jr, Storia della finanza d’impresa, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2000
G. Berta, L’imprenditore: un enigma tra economia e storia, Venezia, Marsilio, 2004
G. Berta, L’enigma dell’imprenditore (e il destino dell’impresa), Bologna, Il Mulino, 2018
B. Chavance, L’economia istituzionalista, Bologna, Il Mulino 2010
A. Colli, Capitalismo famigliare, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2006 (a)
A. Colli, Corporate governance e assetti proprietari: genesi, dinamiche e comparazioni internazionali, Venezia, Marsilio, 2006 (b)
G. Dioguardi, Le imprese rete, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2007
F. Fasce, Le anime del commercio: pubblicità e consumi nel secolo americano, Roma, Carocci, 2012
R. Giannetti, M. Vasta. Storia dell’impresa italiana, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2012, II edizione

The concept of “entrepreneur”: Continetal and anglosaxon tradizion; Marshall, Knight, Schumpeter; Neo-austrian school and the “entreprenurial history”
A dynamic concept of “enterprise”: Sombart, Berle & Means, Coase, Penrose, Chandler, Porter, Williamson, the evolutionary theory of the enterprise, theory and business history
Enterprise and socio-cultural context - Enterprise and institutions: Culture, ideology, family and gender, education State and market
Enterprise and normative framework: Antitrust, accounting normative and corporate governance
Dimension and performance in historical perspective: Small, medium and large enterprise; longevity and profitability
Family business -The managerial big business: Family/management, property/control, entrepreneurial succession - The chandlerian paradigm, scale economies and diversification, multinational enterprises
Other business forms: Business groups, zaibatsu, business networks and business districts, cooperative companies
Organizational evolution: The big business in the USA and in Europa, holding, networks and groups
Production organization: The 19th century firm, taylorism and fordism, toyotism and lean production
Enterprise and innovation: Technical development, Innovation and R&D
Marketing and P.R.: Evolution of marketing, distribution and P.R.
Accounting: The origins of modern accounting, scientific budget analysis in the USA, the development of modern accounting in Europe and Italy
The rise of state-owned enterprise: The nationalizations: origins and motivations, state-owned enterprise before and after WWII
The privatization processes: The privatizations: causes, goals and effects

Frontal lectures

Written exam: 2 open-ended questions (max 10 points for each question) and 10 closed-ended questions (+1 for each correct answer).

This course explores topics closely related to one or more goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs)