Management

Instance: 2016/2017 - 1S

Cycles of Study/Courses

Last updated on 2016-09-19.

Fields changed: Objectives, Resultados de aprendizagem e competências, Métodos de ensino e atividades de aprendizagem, Fórmula de cálculo da classificação final, Provas e trabalhos especiais, Avaliação especial, Bibliografia Obrigatória, Obtenção de frequência, Programa, Software de apoio à Unidade Curricular, Componentes de Avaliação e Ocupação, Palavras Chave, Melhoria de classificação

Teaching language

Objectives

After approval in this course unit, the students should be able to:

1-a) Recall the fundamentals of the time value of money, the essential structure of some of the key financial analysis tools, and the logic of their articulation in order to enable the financial analysis of investment projects.
1-b) Develop and analyze, in a rigorous way, simple financial forecasts and investment projects.

2-a) Recall the definitions of the main perspectives on corporate strategy, and the concepts and structure of the analysis tools employed in each of those perspectives.
2-b) Use those concepts bottom-up in the ideation of technology based projects.
2-c) Analyze value creation in technology based projects, using those tools.

3-a) Recall the definitions of the key perspectives on operations, key objectives, and the logic for the trade-offs among them, in a supply chain context.
3-b) Use this knowledge to formulate and analyze generically operations strategies in simple supply chains.
3-c) Recall the definitions of the main concepts in systems thinking.
3-d) Identify those components in technology based systems.

4-a) Recall the definitions, classifications, assessment criteria and success ingredients of opportunities and entrepreneurship, as well as the rationale for their social and economic importance.
4-b) Recall the key building blocks for technology based products and businesses, and the factors that may limit an innovator's access to the returns from innovation.
4-c) Use these frameworks bottom-up in the ideation of technology based projects.
4-d) Use these frameworks to analyze the ability to create, deliver, and capture value, in technology based projects.

5-a) Recall the logic of the importance of enterprise and social interactions of engineering systems, and the need for systemic and interdisciplinary approaches to tackle those systems.
5-b) Identify those interactions and their importance in several engineering application domains.

At the end of the course unit, they should be able to, in a simple and introductory way, analyze of develop an engineering project beyond technology, with a wider perspective, considering multiple enterprise and social interaction issues, particularly along financial, operations, strategy, and innovation perspectives.

Learning outcomes and competences

The learning that will take place during the semester will focus on the following CDIO skills:

• 1.4 - Acquire management knowledge and develop the ability to use it to conceive, design, implement, and operate systems. All learning contributes towards developing this skill.
• 2.1 - Engineering reasoning and problem solving. Learning in the domain of technology entrepreneurship has the stronger contribution in this area, with work in the perspective of technology innovation as the utilization of knowledge to apply tools, materials, processes and techniques to develop new solutions to new problems.
• 2.3 - Systems thinking. Systems thinking is one of the learning cornerstones. It supports the integration of the diversity of economics and management issues, external and internal to the organizations. The Beer Game simulation illustrates fundamental issues in systems thinking, and its debriefing drives a discussion of issues of structure, mental models, and behavior, among others.
• 2.4 - Personal skills and attributes. The learning in the are of technology entrepreneurship will be stronger contribution in this domain. We explicitly discuss issues related to the initiative and the will to take risks, the importance of perseverance and flexibility for entrepreneurs, the place for creative and critical thinking in identifying and exploring opportunities, the existence of information asymmetries and knowledge limitations, emphasizing the importance of multidisciplinary teams, and the fundamental role of time and resources management, which are particularly scarce and critical in the early stages of entrepreneurial projects.
• 2.5 - Professional skills and attitudes. All learning contributes to develop this skill. All the discussion is guided by ethics, integrity, and professional responsibility principles, and all activity is guided by requirements of a professional behavior. The contact with the enterprise contexts where engineering takes place contributes to the knowledge of the world of engineering, and for the construction of a relevant framework for career planning.
• 3.1 - Teamwork. Assignment and quizzes are teamwork. The learning in the area of technology entrepreneurship again has a strong contribution, with the explicit discussion of issues related to teamwork and its importance.
• 4.1 - External and societal context. All learning contributes to develop this skill.
• 4.2 - Enterprise and business context. All learning contributes to develop this skill.
• 4.4 - Designing. Learning in the domain of Capital Budgeting (built on foundations in Time Value of Money) has the stronger contribution for the development of this skill.
• 4.6 - Operating. Learning in the domain of Operations Management, including the Beer Game simulation, has the strongest contribution for the development of this skill. In the debriefing of the simulation we discuss fundamental issues in supply chain management.

Working method

Program

1. A financial perspective.
1.1 Basic concepts of financial mathematics.
1.2 Capital budgeting and Analysis of Investment Projects

2. A strategy perspective.
Definitions of strategy. The competitive-based view: industry attractiveness, five forces model, competitive positioning, value chain model. Resource-based view. Comparing and integrating frameworks.

3. An operations perspective.
Resource, process, and competency-based views. Trade-off among objectives of operations management. Operational efficiency. Supply chain management. Beer Game simulation. Systems thinking: behavior patterns, structure, mental models, and leverage points. The Bullwhip Effect.

4. An innovation perspective.
Opportunity and entrepreneurship. Profiling an entrepreneur. The social and economic importance of entrepreneurship. Classes and assessment of opportunities. The entrepreneurial team. The challenges of technology commercialization. Technology-Product-Market linkages. Determinants of the appropriation of returns from innovation.

5. Engineering systems.
Technological solutions: volume operations and complex systems. Product and business concepts and architectures. Social functions. Enterprise and social interactions. Systems thinking. Interdisciplinary approaches. Application domains.

Mandatory literature

Teaching methods and learning activities

A weekly session of 2h will be dedicated to the presentation of the program topics, the detailed discussion of those topics, exercises, and the assignment. In the last two cases, the session will take place in a computer classroom, and the exercises and quizzes will be done with spreadsheet software.

Software

keywords

Evaluation Type

Assessment Components

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Eligibility for exams

Presence in classes according to the school's regulations and having at least 8 (in 20) points in the distributed evaluation component.

Calculation formula of final grade

The final grade is given by 40% x AD + 60% x E, where:

• AD is the grade in the distributed evaluation component, which must be at least 8 (in 20) points;
• E is the grade in the final exam, which must be at leas 8 (in 20) points.

The grade of the distributed evaluation component is given by 62.5% x TP + 18.75% x MT1 + 18.75% x MT2, where:

• TP is the grade of the assignment (about operations, technology entrepreneurship and commercialization)
• MT1 is the grade of Quizz 1 (about Time Value of Money)
• MT2 is the grade of Quizz 2 (about Capital Budgeting)

The part of each component in the global final grade is the following: - TP - 5 points; MT1, MT2 - 1.5 points; E - 12 points

Examinations or Special Assignments

During the semester the students should work on one assignments (TP) on technology entrepreneurship and commercialization, to be developed in groups of 6 students, with a deadline to be announced (first week).

During the semester, the students will have 2 quizzes:

• MT1: Quizz about Time Value of Money, in a computer, in groups of 2 students, in the class.
• MT2: Quizz about Capital Budgeting, in a computer, in groups of 2 students, in the class.

* dates to be announced in the first week.

For the students with the right to a special evaluation, the quizzes may take place in individually adjusted dates.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Classification improvement

The improvement of the grade of the distributed component may be done with a special individual assignment during the exam period.

Observations

Evaluation of CDIO skills:

• 1.4 - Acquire management knowledge and develop the ability to use it to conceive, design, implement, and operate systems.
  The assignment, quizzes, and final exam evaluate knowledge acquisition and the development of the ability to use it.
  
  

• 2.3 - Systems thinking.
  The final exam evaluates the acquisition of the fundamental concepts of systems thinking (focuses on the interactions between technology and enterprise and social issues in an engineering system). The assignment also focuses on the systems perspective, as the articulation of business opportunities forces the integration of multiple interacting components in a complex system with technology, social, economic, and management aspects.

• 2.4 - Personal skills and attributes.
  The final exam evaluates fundamental knowledge related to the relevance of personal skills and attributes. In the assignment the students will analyze the role that these issues have in technology based entrepreneurial project, and will have to use their critical thinking and time management skills.

• 2.5 - Professional skills and attitudes.
  The assignment foster the development of these skills and naturally enable its evaluation. The final exam evaluates the acquisition of knowledge in this domain.
  
  

• 3.1 - Teamwork.
  The final exam evaluates the acquisition of the fundamental concepts related to the relevance of teamwork. The assignment fosters the development of these skills and naturally enable its evaluation.
  
  

• 4.1 - External and societal context.
  The assignment, quizzes, and final exam evaluate knowledge acquisition and the development of the ability to use it.

• 4.2 - Enterprise and business context.
  The assignment, quizzes, and final exam evaluate knowledge acquisition and the development of the ability to use it.

• 4.4 - Designing.
  The quizzes evaluate the knowledge of some of the fundamental tools for Capital Budgeting. The final exam evaluates knowledge acquisition and the development of the ability to use it.

• 4.6 - Operating.
  The final exam evaluates the acquisition of fundamental Operations Management concepts. In the assignment some issues related to Operations Management will have to be tackled.