History of Entrepreneurship
A.Y. 2022/2023
Learning objectives
The course aims to offer knowledge and tools of critical analysis to understand the entrepreneur as a concrete protagonist of socio-economic life from the Middle Ages to today. By means of historical contextualization, the course intends to exemplify the businessman and the businesswoman over the long term and in various economic sectors with a particular focus on the forms of entrepreneurship in the field of printing and communication.
Expected learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course, students are expected to be able to:
- Understand and evaluate, through a comparative approach, the role of national and international contexts in laying down conditions and in determining the types of businesses and entrepreneurial choices, as well as their evolutionary dynamics;
- Understand the role of different national contexts in providing opportunities and/or in placing constraints on the actions of entrepreneurs;
- Analyse entrepreneurial choices and decision-making processes critically in relation to inertia and traditions, factors (or limits) of a technological nature, and short or long-term crises.
- Understand and evaluate, through a comparative approach, the role of national and international contexts in laying down conditions and in determining the types of businesses and entrepreneurial choices, as well as their evolutionary dynamics;
- Understand the role of different national contexts in providing opportunities and/or in placing constraints on the actions of entrepreneurs;
- Analyse entrepreneurial choices and decision-making processes critically in relation to inertia and traditions, factors (or limits) of a technological nature, and short or long-term crises.
Lesson period: Third trimester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Third trimester
Students will be able to participate remotely in livestreamed lessons according to the class schedule. Lectures will also be recorded and released using Microsoft Teams or ARIEL. All information will be communicated via ARIEL.
Course syllabus
The course will mainly focus on forms of entrepreneurship in the pre-industrial age, characterized by very high elements of risk and uncertainty, in a long-term perspective. We will analyse the figure of the entrepreneur-merchant-banker, protagonist of the urban economic and cultural life. We will examine some case studies from different manufacturing sectors, such as wool, paper, printed books, with particular attention to the mercantile side of entrepreneurial activity. We will explore the constitutive factors of merchants-entrepreneurs' culture and knowledge, and investigate the system of their education and training, starting with the teaching of accounting practice and systems of measurement. We will examine the available tools to develop control over the enterprise and knowledge of the markets, with particular attention to correspondence, which was the main tool for governing and developing commercial and social networks. We will analyse the concept of invention, the development of the legal protection of the invention, and the impact of innovation on society. Finally, we will outline the essential elements for a long-term history of women entrepreneurship.
Prerequisites for admission
None
Teaching methods
In-class lessons. The students are invited to develop several themes independently and to report and discuss them with participants during the class hours.
Teaching Resources
Per i frequentanti, il materiale di riferimento per la preparazione dell'esame è costituito dalle slides rese disponibili nella piattaforma Ariel, da eventuali saggi integrativi e dallo studio dei seguenti testi:
- Gabriella Airaldi, ed. Gli orizzonti aperti: profili del mercante medievale, Torino, Scriptorium 1997 (solo pp. 1-56 e 113-198)
- Mark Casson-Catherine Casson, The Entrepreneur in History: From Medieval Merchant to Modern Business Leader, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013 (escluse pp. 67-119)
- Adriana Castagnoli, L'imprenditoria femminile nell'Italia unita, in Il contributo italiano alla storia del pensiero - Tecnica, Roma, Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani, 2013, pp. 401-416 https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/l-imprenditoria-femminile-nell-italia-unita_%28Il-Contributo-italiano-alla-storia-del-Pensiero:-Tecnica%29/
Per i non frequentanti: alla bibliografia per i frequentanti aggiungere lo studio di Giuseppe De Luca - Angela Nuovo - Federico Piseri, La formazione del mercante. Scuola, libri e cultura economica a Milano nel Rinascimento, Milano, Editoriale Delfino, 2021.
- Gabriella Airaldi, ed. Gli orizzonti aperti: profili del mercante medievale, Torino, Scriptorium 1997 (solo pp. 1-56 e 113-198)
- Mark Casson-Catherine Casson, The Entrepreneur in History: From Medieval Merchant to Modern Business Leader, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013 (escluse pp. 67-119)
- Adriana Castagnoli, L'imprenditoria femminile nell'Italia unita, in Il contributo italiano alla storia del pensiero - Tecnica, Roma, Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani, 2013, pp. 401-416 https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/l-imprenditoria-femminile-nell-italia-unita_%28Il-Contributo-italiano-alla-storia-del-Pensiero:-Tecnica%29/
Per i non frequentanti: alla bibliografia per i frequentanti aggiungere lo studio di Giuseppe De Luca - Angela Nuovo - Federico Piseri, La formazione del mercante. Scuola, libri e cultura economica a Milano nel Rinascimento, Milano, Editoriale Delfino, 2021.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The evaluation takes place by means of an oral exam: test questions to verify not only knowledge and comprehension but also communications skills about the themes in the course. The subject of the evaluation will possibly be the oral report presented by the student to the class.
M-STO/08 - ARCHIVAL SCIENCE, BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LIBRARIANSHIP - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professor:
Nuovo Angela Maria
Professor(s)