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Course 2017-2018 a.y.

20281 - COMPARATIVE BUSINESS HISTORY: COMPETITION AND GLOBALIZATION


CLMG - M - IM - MM - AFC - CLEFIN-FINANCE - CLELI - ACME - DES-ESS - EMIT - GIO
Department of Social and Political Sciences

Course taught in English


Go to class group/s: 31

CLMG (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - M (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - IM (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - MM (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - AFC (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - CLEFIN-FINANCE (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - CLELI (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - ACME (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - DES-ESS (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - EMIT (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12) - GIO (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12)
Course Director:
FRANCO AMATORI

Classes: 31 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: FRANCO AMATORI


Course Objectives
This course examines the figure of the entrepreneur, one of the most important characters of the modern economy, over time and with a multitude of perspectives. The entrepreneur is studied as regards his/her evolution vis à vis the restrictions and opportunities conceded by the capitalistic system of the times. The focus is on the entrepreneur who emerged from the First Industrial Revolution onward, a figure that was both exceptional as well as diffuse in the economic scenario. Much of our attention is concentrated on the fundamental relationship between the entrepreneur and the organization created by the entrepreneur in order to realize specific objectives in a given historical period.
A decisive element for assessing the entrepreneur's actions are whether the actions were based on rules and institutions that were shared or whether the outcome seems to be the result of an action undertaken without any rational justification.

Course Content Summary
  • Capitalism and the entrepreneur: some definitions.
  • The entrepreneur as a "multiplier": a comparison of the textile industry in Massachusetts and Lombardy.
  • From the First to the Second Industrial Revolution: a period of strong discontinuity.
  • The case of the aluminum sector: Alcoa vs Pechiney.
  • The Third Industrial Revolution.
  • Entrepreneurial capitalism takes over.
  • The case of 3D manufacturing: Milan and the Silicon Valley.
  • The entrepreneur as stakeholder: typologies.
  • East and West: the entrepreneur in a comparative perspective.

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods
Students evaluation is the result of a final oral general exam.
Attending students are also required to write a paper on the issues of the course that can be written individually or in small groups (max 4 students).
Partial exams are not scheduled.

Textbooks
For attending students
• F. AMATORI, Entrepreneurship, in Imprese e Storia, 34, 2006.
• L. GALAMBOS, F. AMATORI, The Entrepreneurial Multiplier Effect, in Enterprise & Society, 17, 4, 2016.
• A collection of essays is distributed at the beginning of the course.

For non attending students
• W.J. BAUMOL, R.E. LITAN, C.J. SCHRAMM, Good Capitalism Bad Capitalism and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2007.
• J. KOCKA, Capitalism. A Short History, Princeton University Press, 2016.
Last change 18/05/2017 16:52