5224 - PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

The course is meant as a primer in public management for business administration students, building on the importance of public sector organizations in the design of an institutional environment suitable to foster sustainable economic development. After successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. appreciate how public sector organizations influence the strategies and performance of private enterprises (and vice versa);
2. understand the different facets of the interaction between private enterprises and public sector organizations (regulation, taxation and subsidies, delivery or pricing of services, procurement and contracting out, lobbying etc.);
3. develop the skills required to manage these relations effectively, both at the national level and in the international arena.

The course will first introduce the key features of public sector organizations in a managerial perspective, highlighting how fiscal crises, public sector reform and "managerialism" are now reshaping them and broadening the scope for business-government relations. Next, the ways how public sector organizations influence the features of industries and their relationships will be explored, in such a way to be able to draw a map of the different interactions between business firms and governmental agencies in any given area of economic activity. Both political and technical aspects of the interaction will be covered, emphasizing corporate best practices in the design and management of the "public affairs" function. In this respect, non-institutional relations (lobbying, corporate political activity and regulatory capture) are also going to be addressed, together with the peculiar ethical issues emerging along the public-private sector interface.

• L. BRUSATI, Public Management and the Business Environment: A Primer, in press.

Attendig students
Students attending classes on a regular basis will be offered the opportunity to take a mid-term take-home exam (case discussion), which will weight one third of the final grade.
The final exam for students attending classes on a regular basis will be in a written form, and will include a case discussion and questions about the topics covered in class.
All other exams will be oral.
Non attending students
All exams will be oral.