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2022/2023

Economics of Organisations

Code: 101880 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2502501 Prevention and Integral Safety and Security FB 1 2

Contact

Name:
Jose Luis Masson Guerra
Email:
joseluis.masson@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
spanish (spa)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Prerequisites

No prerequisites. Economics of Organizations, as a transversal topic, aims to be a general complement to the student's training in prevention and security. The content, focused from a company perspective, provides generic tools that are a necessary competence in current job performance. Most of the knowledge acquired in this subject focuses on the decision-making in an analytical way, and it is easily applicable to different areas within the business management or as a professional.

Objectives and Contextualisation

This course contains 4 thematic blocks, or parts, with well-differentiated objectives:

The main objective of the first part, on Organizational Designs, will be to determine the structure and design that a company must adopt and do it in line with the choice of the company's competitive strategy. The organization ceases to be the profit maximizing nuclear entity that contemplated economic theory to become a complex institution, with several members and interests often opposed and with interrelations that can be regulated by a wide range of contractual relationships. This part of the course is designed to try to answer the following questions: How does information flow within organizations? How are the problems of authority, responsibility and incentives existing between the different agents solved?

The second part, which deals with Analysis of Decision Making, contemplates the process by which an option is selected among a set of alternatives. Given that, in general, there is uncertainty about the future, the consequences derived from the different alternatives are only partially evaluable. In this part, general methods will be offered for those who have to face decision problems.

A person who manages comprehensive security must be familiar with the decisions that are made in different areas. One of these decision areas is the financial one. In this third part of the course, corresponding to the Valuation of Investment Projects and Financing, we propose the most usual financial decisions that can be faced. At the end of this block, the manager will have an integrated, although introductory, vision of the decision-making circumscribed to the financial sphere. This complete vision will allow (1) understand the reasoning behind the choice of a security investment project over other proposals and (2) provide an economic tool, complementary to other criteria of a technical and legal nature, and that allows select the best way to finance the project that has finally been chosen.

Finally, the fourth part, corresponding to the Economic and Financial Analysis of the Company, contemplates the general objective of presenting analysis techniques for the economic and financial diagnosis of the company's situation, exploring the conditions that guarantee its future and applying them to the study. of the security sector. In this sense, we will proceed to the understanding of the accounting information (Balance and Results Account), we will study its contents from an economic and financial perspective, to finish with a cost - volume - benefit analysis focused on companies in the security sector.

Competences

  • Be able to adapt to unexpected situations.
  • Carry out analyses of preventative measures in the area of security.
  • Contribute to decisions on investment in prevention and security.
  • Formulate commercial strategies in the security sector.
  • Make changes to methods and processes in the area of knowledge in order to provide innovative responses to society's needs and demands.
  • Respond to problems applying knowledge to practice.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  • Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Use the capacity for analysis and synthesis to solve problems.
  • Work and learn autonomously.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse indicators of sustainability for academic and professional activities in the area including social, economic and environmental considerations.
  2. Apply the basis of statistics, economics and finance, in the applicable legal framework and the informatics necessary to undertake prevention and security.
  3. Be able to adapt to unexpected situations.
  4. Diagnose the situation of integral security in companies and organisations.
  5. Formulate competitive commercial and financial strategies in companies and organisations.
  6. Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of the academic and professional activities in the field of self-knowledge.
  7. Propose new ways to measure success or failure when implementing ground-breaking proposals or ideas.
  8. Respond to problems applying knowledge to practice.
  9. Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  10. Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  11. Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  12. Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  13. Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  14. Use the capacity for analysis and synthesis to solve problems.
  15. Weigh up the risks and benefits of both your own proposals for improvement and those of others.
  16. Work and learn autonomously.

Content

Topic 1: Organizational design. General topics about the organization of a firm are briefly analyzed, starting from the internal structure and seeing how the decisions are made or how the information flows within the organization. Demand and production concepts are introduced.

Topic 2: Analysis of decision making. Analytical tools are presented for decision making in different types of situations. Concepts such as risk or uncertainty are introduced and they use statistics and probability tools.

Topic 3: Valuation of investment and financing projects. With financial mathematics tools we introduce concepts such as the interest rate (value of money over time), profitability and project cost, or loan repayment.

Topic 4: Economic and financial analysis of the company. Based on the structure and the data of the company's balance sheet, its structure and performance are analyzed. We learn how to interpret indebtedness, stability or profitability of a company based on its results.

Methodology

The content of the theory program will be taught by the teacher mainly in the form of master classes with audiovisual support. The presentations used in class by the teacher will be previously available in the Virtual Campus of the course. It is recommended that you print this material and take it to class, to use it as a support when taking notes. Although it is not essential to extend the contents of the classes taught by the teacher, unless it is expressly requested, it is advisable to consult regularly the books recommended in the Bibliography section of this teaching guide to consolidate and clarify, if necessary, the contents explained in class. In this sense it is also advisable to use the links indicated in the Virtual Campus, which contain videos and animations related to the processes explained in class.

In addition to attending classes, the follow-up of the subject will also involve an active role in class discussions. Throughout each topic, a series of exercises or activities will be proposed to reinforce the contents. There will be a few hours (tutorials) to provide individualized attention to them and solve any doubts that may arise.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Case discussions and problem solving 6 0.24 3, 1, 2, 4, 8, 5, 6, 15, 7, 13, 12, 11, 9, 10, 16, 14
Lectures 38 1.52 3, 1, 2, 4, 8, 5, 6, 15, 7, 13, 12, 11, 9, 10, 16, 14
Type: Supervised      
Tutorial sessions at the professor's office 12 0.48 3, 1, 2, 4, 8, 5, 6, 15, 7, 13, 12, 11, 9, 10, 16, 14
Type: Autonomous      
Study the subject, Case preparation, Problem sets and requested questions 94 3.76 3, 1, 2, 4, 8, 5, 6, 15, 7, 13, 12, 11, 9, 10, 16, 14

Assessment

1- TESTS (50%): There will be a partial test at the end of the first two topics. And a final test of the rest of the topics. Each test will count 25%.

2- TESTS’ GRADE: The grade of the 2 tests must be 3.5 or higher to be averaged with other evaluation concepts of the course.

3- EXERCISES/CASES/DISCUSSIONS (50%): 25% of the evaluation is related to exercises and case studies handed in during the course, plus 25% related to the continuous evaluation of activities and discussions in class.

4- FINAL COURSE GRADE: To pass the course, the final average grade must be 5 or higher.

5- If the average grade of the course is lower than 3.5, the course will be considered as not passed. If the average grade is lower than 5 but higher than 3.5, the student may participate in a re-evaluation test.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
In-class presentation of Organizational Cases, class debates. 25% 0 0 3, 1, 2, 4, 8, 5, 6, 15, 7, 13, 12, 11, 9, 10, 16, 14
Midterm exams (2 tests) 50% 0 0 3, 1, 2, 4, 8, 5, 6, 15, 7, 13, 12, 11, 9, 10, 16, 14
Problem sets delivery, exercise discussion. 25% 0 0 3, 1, 2, 4, 8, 5, 6, 15, 7, 13, 12, 11, 9, 10, 16, 14

Bibliography

Bibliography PART 1

BESANKO, David; DRANOVE, David; SHANLEY, Mark i Scott SCHAEFER (2013): Economics of Strategy,

6th edition. Wiley.

ROBERTS, John (2006): La Empresa Moderna. Antoni Bosch editor.

SALAS, Vicente (1996): Economía de la empresa. Decisiones y organización. 2ª ed. Ariel.

Bibliography PART 2

ALEGRE, Luis; BERNÉ, Carmen i Carmen GALVE (2000): Fundamentos de economía de la empresa:

perspectiva funcional. 2ª ed. Ariel.

SALAS, Vicente (1996): Economía de la empresa. Decisiones y organización. 2ª ed. Ariel.

Bibliography PART 3

ALEGRE, Luis; BERNÉ, Carmen i Carmen GALVE (2000): Fundamentos de economía de la empresa:

perspectiva funcional. 2ª ed. Ariel.

SUÁREZ SUÁREZ, Andrés (2014): Decisiones óptimas de inversión y financiación.

22a ed. Pirámide.

BREALEY, Robert; Y MYERS, Stewart (2015) Principios de finanzas corporativas. 9ª edición. Ed. McGraw-Hill

Bibliography PART 4

ALEGRE, Luis; BERNÉ, Carmen i Carmen GALVE (2000): Fundamentos de economía de la empresa:

perspectiva funcional. 2ª ed. Ariel.

BERNSTEIN, Leopold (1999): Análisis de estados financieros. Teoría, aplicación e

interpretación. 3ª ed. Irwin.

MALLO, Carlos; y JIMÉNEZ, María Angela (1997): Contabilidad de Costes. Pirámide. 3ª edición.

Software

In this subject the use of specific software is not foreseen.