Principles of Business Administration and Management

The course introduces the fundamental elements of political economics and analytical accounting needed to understand the individual behaviours, markets functioning and to evaluate the cost-revenues flow of small production activities. The course explores the market theory and the behaviour of the entrepreneur and the consumer, with practical software exercitations focused on the representation of market equilibrium and the optimization of choices. Differential accounting analysis and break-even point analysis for the evaluation of investments in small businesses are also introduced during the course.

At the end of the course, the student must demonstrate the knowledge of markets' forms, of the functioning mechanism of supply and demand, as well as the behaviour of entrepreneurs and consumers. Furthermore, the student must be able to explain the components and the nature of costs and revenues of a basic production activity and explain the mechanism by which the related investments break even. At the end of the course, the student must be able to independently use a calculation software to analytically and graphically represent the basic functions of political economics and the break-even point of a small production activity.