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2022/2023

Economics, Organisation and Management

Code: 102310 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2501572 Business Administration and Management OT 4 2
2501573 Economics OT 3 2
2501573 Economics OT 4 2

Contact

Name:
Miguel Ángel Garcia Cestona
Email:
miguel.garcia.cestona@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:
Yes

Teachers

Jose Luis Masson Guerra

Prerequisites

Basic notions of Calculus and Optimization. There are no other specific prerequisites but completion of "Economia de l'Empresa II" (or equivalently "Theories of the Firm") is recommended.

Objectives and Contextualisation

The course "Economics, Organization and Management" is the application of the concepts of transaction costs and property rights issues to organizational design. Unlike other courses that focus on the internal design, this course will attempt to carry out an economic analysis of the organization with an emphasis on the institutional aspects and the design of the relationships among firms. The allocation of residual rights between companies or between different stakeholders in an organization (managers, shareholders, employees, suppliers, ...) passes to establish itself as the key conceptual element in this course. Theoretical and empirical finding solutions to the problems of organizational design and the achievement of greater efficiency tools will be developed.

             Various business models are often mentioned and compared: the American company, the Japanese one, the German codetermination model, etc.. and how different economic contexts have led to the emergence of institutions provide different answers to the problems an organization faces. It will also analyze the participation in decision-making and the allocation of the surplus of the company for groups other than shareholders,  the sole owners of businesses in the traditional approach. The course is divided into several sections. The first two raise the issue of ownership in the organization and its limits. We carry out the above mentioned allocation approach of decision rights, and we insist on distinguishing the contributions against more traditional alternative methods, already familiar to the student. Theme 3 explores the different ways of allocating residual rights among companies, illustrating different organizational forms and associations of providers, franchises or the Japanese keiretsu. In contrast, sections 4, 5 and 6 focus on the allocation of rights within the company; particularly between labor and capital providers, and their conflicts. The cooperative venture capitalist enterprise and the presence of mixed forms, such as co-management and new forms of employee participation in decision-making of the company are addressed here with the example of the Mondragon cooperatives. In the last part of the course, new elements that technological changes are imposing on the company and a reflection of a more general character on the organization and management from economic analysis are considered. This includes topics such as corporate culture, executive compensation or the social pressure exerted by peers.

Competences

    Business Administration and Management
  • Capacity for adapting to changing environments.
  • Capacity for independent learning in the future, gaining more profound knowledge of previous areas or learning new topics.
  • Capacity for oral and written communication in Catalan, Spanish and English, which enables synthesis and oral and written presentation of the work carried out.
  • Delegate decision making to the workers and provide them with the necessary incentives so that those decision arte taken in the interest of the company as a whole.
  • Demonstrate initiative and work individually when the situation requires it.
  • Identify company competition, how they interact among themselves and the optimum strategies that can be drawn up in each case to stimulate competitivity.
  • Identify the positive contributions that companies make to society, developing socially responsible management and encouraging the development of objective instruments that allow for the measurement and valuation of such contributions.
  • Lead multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, implementing new projects and coordinating, negotiating and managing conflicts.
  • Organise the work in terms of good time management, organisation and planning.
  • Select and generate the information necessary for each problem, analyse it and take decisions based on that information.
  • Take decisions in situations of uncertainty, demonstrating an entrepreneurial and innovative attitude.
    Economics
  • Delegate decision making to the workers and provide them with the necessary incentives so that those decision arte taken in the interest of the company as a whole.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the processes for the implementation of company strategies.
  • Identify company competition, how they interact among themselves and the optimum strategies that can be drawn up in each case to stimulate competitivity.
  • Transmit company, department or work objectives clearly.
  • Value ethical commitment in professional practice.

Learning Outcomes

  1. A capacity of oral and written communication in Catalan, Spanish and English, which allows them to summarise and present the work conducted both orally and in writing.
  2. Analyse the main motivation systems in companies.
  3. Apply knowledge about market structures to identify companies' possible competitors and the ways in which they can compete with each other.
  4. Apply the processes of formulating strategies to specific cases.
  5. Assess ethical commitment in professional activity.
  6. Assess the effect of different strategies on the competitiveness of a company.
  7. Assess the interaction between strategic formulation and the internal organisation of companies.
  8. Capacity to adapt to changing environments.
  9. Capacity to continue future learning independently, acquiring further knowledge and exploring new areas of knowledge.
  10. Classify the different ways in which a company can compete.
  11. Demonstrate initiative and work independently when required.
  12. Design effective motivation policies.
  13. Explain the origin and assess companies' contribution to social welfare.
  14. Lead multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, implement new projects, coordinate, negotiate and manage conflicts.
  15. List the main competitors of a company.
  16. Make decisions in situations of uncertainty and show an enterprising and innovative spirit.
  17. Organise work, in terms of good time management and organisation and planning.
  18. Perform a critical assessment of the economic efficiency and distribution of wealth problems generated by companies.
  19. Relate the business strategy to the objectives of the company and its breakdown into departments or units.
  20. Select and generate the information needed for each problem, analyse it and make decisions based on this information.

Content

TOPIC I: The limits of the organization

1) The meaning of ownership: what´s the relevance of knowing who holds property rights?

2) Incomplete contracts and property rights

3) When and how to deal/concentrate property rights?

4) The different existing theories on organizational boundaries


TOPIC II: The Problem of Vertical Integration

1) Vertical integration from the analysis of property rights

                   - A formal model of vertical integration (à la Hart).

 
TOPIC III: Intermediate forms of distribution of property rights among companies

1) Strategic Alliances

2) Industrial groups: the Japanese Keiretsu and the Korean Chaebol.

3) Relational Contracts and the quasi-vertical integration. Supplier associations.

4) Cooperation agreements between undertakings: joint ventures and franchises.


TOPIC IV: Allocating the residual rights to workers: Cooperative Enterprise

1) Problems of cooperative solution (à la Hansmann)

2) The Mondragón Cooperatives.

             - Participation of workers and corporate governance.

             - MCC and evolution of cooperative group.

             - Challenges and examples within MCC


TOPIC V: When residual rights are allocated to capital

1) Separation ownership-control.

2) Executive Compensation (à la Milgromand Roberts)

3) Internal control and external control.

             - The Board of Directors

             - Codes of Good Governance

4) Financial structure and management.

             - Should shareholders have residual rights?

             - The role of financial intermediaries

                           i) Bank Supervision and active shareholders

                           ii) The quota allocation of residual rights

 
TOPIC VI: Mixed forms of capitalist enterprise, foundations and other organizational forms

1) "Value for shareholders" versus "stakeholders value" 

2) German co-determination and the Japanese Main-Bank.

3) The case of savings banks.

4) BCorps and New organizational forms




TOPIC VII: New technologies and the Firm

1) Human Capital, specific investment and ownership.

2) Corporate venture capital.

3) Trust, commitment and social pressure.

Methodology

The type of teaching planned for this course is face-to-face teaching. Throughout the course the different sections of the program are developed. There are some materials and activities that students should work prior to class and will serve to motivate and improve their understanding. Furthermore, for each topic a series of exercises and activities to reinforce the content are proposed. In addition a few hours a week (tutorials) for the individualized attention for students and the answering of questions will be offered. The proposed teaching methodology may undergo some modifications according to the restrictions imposed by the health authorities on on-campus courses.

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 discussion and problem solving 17 0.68 3, 6, 1, 14, 17, 20, 7
Lectures 32.5 1.3 2, 3, 6, 1, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 18, 7
Type: Supervised      
Individual tutories at the professor's office 6 0.24 11, 14, 20
Type: Autonomous      
Study the course subjects, solving the cases, exercises and questions proposed in the course 88 3.52 2, 3, 6, 8, 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 13, 14, 17, 16, 20, 5

Assessment

There will be two elements in the final grade:

1) A final examination (individual assessment and 35% of grade). This exam will have both a practical part (problems) and a theoretical part. The student needs a minimum grade of 3/10 on the final exam. If this mark is not reached, the student will not be able to take a second-chance exam.

2) Continuous assessment of the activities suggested during the course (65% of the final grade). This ongoing evaluation will include: a) a midterm exam (individual evaluation) of topics 1-3, and a weight of 30%, b) a group assignment and presentation of an organizational example to be determined, and a weight of 15%, c) active participation in class discussions of the cases, problem sets in groups and news analysis with a weight of 20%. Regular class attendance is required. The student must have participated / delivered / completed a minimum of 60% of the activities to be able to average the different components of the evaluation.

All students are required to perform the evaluation activities. If the student's grade is 5 or higher, the student passes the course and it cannot be subject to further evaluation. If the student grade is less than 3.5, the student will have to repeat the course the following year. Students who have obtained a grade that is equal to or greater than 3.5 and less than 5 can take a second chance exam. The lecturers will decide the type of the second chance exam. When the second exam grade is greater than 5, the final grade will be a PASS with a maximum numerical grade of 5. When the second exam grade is less than 5, the final grade will be a FAIL with a numerical grade equal to the grade achieved in the course grade (not the second chance exam grade). A student who does not perform any evaluative task is considered “not evaluable”, therefore, a student who performs a continuous assessment component can no longer be qualified with a "not evaluable".

Calendar of evaluation activities: The dates of the evaluation activities (midterm exams, exercises in the classroom, assignments, ...) will be announced well in advance during the semester. The date of the final exam is scheduled in the assessment calendar of the Faculty. "The dates of evaluation activities cannot be modified, unless there is an exceptional and duly justified reason why an evaluation activity cannot be carried out. In this case, the degree coordinator will contact both the teaching staff and the affected student, and a new date will be scheduled within the same academic period to make up for the missed evaluation activity." Section 1 of Article 115. Calendar of evaluation activities (Academic Regulations UAB). Students of the Faculty of Economics and Business, who in accordance with the previous paragraph need to change an evaluation activity date must process the request by filling out an Application for exams' reschedule https://eformularis.uab.cat/group/deganat_feie/application-for-exams-reschedule

Grade revision process: After all grading activities have ended, students will be informed of the date and way in which the course grades will be published. Students will be also be informed of the procedure, place, date and time of grade revision following University regulations.

Retake Process: "To be eligible to participate in the retake process, it is required for students to have been previously been evaluated for at least two thirds of the total evaluation activities of the subject." Section 3 of Article 112 ter. The recovery (UAB Academic Regulations). Additionally, it is required that the student to have achieved an average grade of the subject between 3.5 and 4.9. The date of the retake exam will be posted in the calendar of evaluation activities of the Faculty. Students who take this exam and pass, will get a grade of 5 for the subject. If the student does not pass the retake, the grade will remain unchanged, and hence, student will fail the course.

Irregularities in evaluation activities: In spite of other disciplinary measures deemed appropriate, and in accordance with current academic regulations, "in the case that the student makes any irregularity that could lead to a significant variation in the grade of an evaluation activity, it will be graded with a 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that can be instructed. In case of various irregularities occur in the evaluation of the same subject, the final grade of this subject will be 0". Section 10 of Article 116. Results of the evaluation. (UAB Academic Regulations).

The proposed evaluation activities may undergo some changes according to the restrictions imposed by the health authorities on on-campus courses.

 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Final Exam 35% 2 0.08 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 13, 17, 16, 19, 20, 18, 5, 7
Midterm 30% 1.5 0.06 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 13, 19, 20, 18, 7
Problem sets delivery, in class presentation of Organizational Cases, class debates. 35% 3 0.12 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, 12, 15, 13, 14, 7

Bibliography


The instructor will prepare lecture materials that will be available in the virtual campus. Lecture notes will also contain exercises and additional activities. There is no textbook for the course, but the following books and articles will be used:

 

REFERENCES (revised June 2022, updated to the most recent editions):

 

 

 

Dow, Gregory K. (2003) “Governing the Firm. Workers’ control in Theory and Practice”. Cambridge University Press.

 

Goergen, Marc (2018)  “Corporate Governance. A Global Perspective", Cengage Learning EMEA.

 

Hart, Oliver (1995). "Firms, Contracts and Financial Structure". Oxford University Press.

 

https://dx-doi-org.are.uab.cat/10.1093/0198288816.001.0001

 

 

 

Salas, Vicente (2007). “El Siglo de la Empresa”. Fundación BBVA, Bilbao.

 

https://elibro.net/es/lc/uab/titulos/60301

 

 

Software

 No special software is needed to follow the course. It is sufficient to have a basic package that includes a spreadsheet, a text editor and a program for presentations.