Have you ever wondered what qualities billionaire Warren Buffet, visionary Steve Jobs, or Ex-Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos all have in common? After you finish studying business practices in this course, you may discover that you have some of the same qualities as other successful entrepreneurs. This course is designed as a survey course that will expose you to business terminology, concepts, and current business issues. The intent is to develop a viable business vocabulary, foster critical and analytical thinking, and refine your business decision-making skills. These skills will be acquired by reading relevant material, class exercises, and research assignments in this course that simulate the workplace today. By delving into the five units of this course, you will be able to fine tune your direction and choice of career in business. A major goal of your education is to help you become a citizen who can contribute and compete in an increasingly global environment. Elements of this course will focus on multicultural aspects of markets and business. Additional elements will ask you to look at other countries and evaluate the combination of business models and country characteristics.

This course is designed to improve your business communication skills. It focuses on the mastery of the 4 basic communication skills which are Reading comprehension, Writing, Active listening, and Public speaking in alignment with your growth as a business professional.

This class offers the basic concepts and tools necessary to understand how financial markets work, and how financial instruments are used for sound investment decisions. This knowledge is especially important in the present environment, in the aftermath of the Financial Crisis of 2007-2009, and during the ongoing debt crisis in Europe. Topics covered include the following: models of risk and return; time value of money and net present value; market efficiency, anomalies, and behavioral finance; asset allocation and modern portfolio theory; bonds and interest rates, forwards and futures, options; the structure and performance of the money management industry: pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds. Effort will be made to relate the course material to current financial issues and problems relevant to practitioners.

The aim of this unit is to enable candidates to understand the purchase decision-making process and how marketing research techniques are used to contribute to the development of marketing plans. This unit explores buyer behavior and how it is influenced by a range of factors and situations. Candidates will explore the marketing research process and assess the importance of different types of information. The approach is practical and candidates will learn how to prepare and present a research proposal, assess the reliability of market research findings, and use secondary sources of data.

Candidates will then develop the skills needed to assess trends and carry out competitor analysis.

Finally, candidates will consider customer relationship management and how to assess levels of customer satisfaction.

The unit seeks to combine a sound theoretical framework with the development of useful business skills.

• Understand buyer behavior and the purchase decision-making process

• Be able to use marketing research techniques

• Be able to assess market size and future demand

• Be able to measure customer satisfaction

Introduces students to basic concepts in probability and statistics relevant to managerial decision-making Topics include basic data analysis, random variables and probability distributions, sampling distributions, interval estimation, hypothesis testing and regression. Numerous examples are chosen from quality-control applications, finance, marketing and management.

Business communications is a term for a wide variety of activities, including, but not limited to, the following: strategic communications planning, media relations, public relations (which can include social media, broadcast and written communications, and more), brand management, reputation management, speech-writing, customer-client relations, and internal/employee communications.

Companies with limited resources may only choose to engage in a few of these activities while larger organizations may employ a full spectrum of communication techniques. Since it is difficult to develop such a broad range of skills, communication professionals often specialize in one or two of these areas but usually have at least a working knowledge of most of them. By far, the most important qualifications that communication professionals should possess are excellent writing ability, good ‘people’ skills, and the capacity to think critically and strategically.

This unit explores the relationship between data, information and knowledge, as well as analyzing the contribution these have towards the success of organizations. Candidates who aspire to positions in the area of information systems management will develop the fundamental knowledge, understanding and skills necessary for such job roles.

By the end of this unit, you will be able to:

• Understand the need to manage information and knowledge within organizations

• Understand the role of ICT in information systems management

• Understand the links between knowledge management strategy and competitive advantage

This unit provides candidates with the knowledge, understanding and skills to use cost information for budgeting and forecasting purposes in the management of business.

This unit deals with cost information, both current and future, of businesses. It investigates how cost data is collected, compiled, analyzed and processed into information that is useful for business managers. Learners will have the opportunity to apply these principles in practice.
The unit then deals with budgetary planning and control. It looks at how to prepare forecasts and budgets and to compare these to actual business results. Learners will get the opportunity to apply theories into practice. Finally, the unit considers different costing and budgetary systems as well as the causes of resulting variances, together with the possible implications and the corrective actions the business will need to take.

If you aspire to managerial positions in businesses, you will develop the financial knowledge, skills and understanding necessary for such job roles.
By the end of this unit you will be able to:

• Analyze cost information within a business

• Propose methods to reduce costs and enhance value within a business

• Prepare forecasts and budgets for a business

• Monitor performance against budgets within a business

Management is a process through which the goals of an organization are achieved and change in the workplace is handled. This process involves using human, financial, and informational resources. The goals of any profit or non-profit business are achieved through the four steps of management: planning, organizing, controlling, and leading. In this unit, you will discover that technical, conceptual, and interpersonal skills are essential to the management process.

These courses typically do not go into the same depth as standard courses in the mathematics or science fields. The two most common mathematics courses taken in this form are Business Calculus and Business Statistics. These courses are usually focused on problems from the business world, and the syllabus is adjusted accordingly.

Commercial Correspondence is usually a letter/email/fax or any other form of modern communication from one company to another, or between such organizations and their customers, clients and other external parties. The overall style of letter depends on the relationship between the parties concerned. Business letters can have many types of contents, for example to request direct information or action from another party, to order supplies from a supplier, to point out a mistake by the letter’s recipient, to reply directly to a request, to apologize for a wrong, or to convey goodwill. A business letter is sometimes useful because it produces a permanent written record, and may be taken more seriously by the recipient compared to other forms of communication.

Economics is concerned with economic issues and problems related to the business organization, management, and strategy. Issues and problems include an explanation of why corporate firms emerge and exist, why they expand horizontally, vertically and spatially, the role of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, the significance of organizational structure, the relationship of firms with the employees, the providers of capital, the customers and the government and finally also the interactions between firms and the business environment.

Total Quality Management (TQM) consists of organization-wide efforts to install, and make permanent a climate in which an organization continuously improves its ability to deliver high-quality products and services to customers. While there is no widely agreed-upon approach, TQM efforts typically draw heavily on the previously developed tools and techniques of quality control. TQM enjoyed widespread attention during the late 1980s and early 1990s before being overshadowed by ISO 9000, Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma.

Sales management is a business discipline which is focused on the practical application of sales techniques and the management of a firm’s sales operations. It is an important business function as net sales, through the sale of products and services, and resulting in profit, drive most commercial business. These are also typically the goals and performance indicators of sales management.

At least two foreign languages are mandatory to pass our Diploma program. Studying and living in Italy will push you to gain additional language skills in Italian. The second language will be Chinese.

At least two foreign languages are mandatory to pass our Diploma program. Studying and living in Italy will push you to gain additional language skills in Italian. This course covers the second language, Chinese.

Business law consists of many different areas including the following: Contracts, the law of Corporations and other Business Organizations, Securities Law, Intellectual Property, Antitrust, Secured Transactions, Commercial Paper, Income Tax, Pensions & Benefits, Trusts & Estates, Immigration Law, Labor Law, Employment Law and Bankruptcy. It is a branch of law that examines topics that impact the operation of a business.

The objective of this unit is to help students acquire and develop skills in relation to effective leadership within organizations. Students will understand and compare different approaches, theories and methodologies about leadership and will practice leadership behaviors through class exercises and assignments.

• Understand the principal components of a leader’s contribution to high performance working

• Understand the different ways leadership has been defined, assessed and appreciated in the academic and managerial context

• Practice different behavior indicators related to leadership skills in a working environment

• Evaluate elements of key leadership and management theories and translate theoretical constructs to practical applications

• Have a personal development plan which includes the development of key leadership behaviors.

You’re requested to bring a proof of at least two months of Internship experience in local (or virtual-remote) business. In alternative to an internship would a Study-Abroad experience also be accepted. For the latter option you need to produce a certificate of attendance or an academic transcript from the host-institution.