Research groups
The scientific project of the Department of Management is aimed at grasping the complex reality of the business environment.
The research activity is focused on the company and its management, i.e., administrative activity, by analyzing the conditions of existence and manifestations of life of different types of companies (private and from various sectors, public companies, non-profit), operating in multiple sectors and with different sizes. The company is observed in its relations with the environment, with particular emphasis on the various environmental subsystems (e.g., the regulatory, economic, technological, political, social, and cultural), which are perceived as commitments and opportunities for the realization of its economic activity.
The shared study approach is by functional areas - intended as the set of management operations that are homogeneous in terms of the subject in action and the technical and economic skills required to reach the goal - as well as by processes, intended as a set of activities that uses inputs of different forms to realize an output, in order to reach preset goals.
The Department's research activity is characterized, as typically happens in the Social Sciences, by the use of empirical observations and surveys of phenomena originated from the concrete and real activities of companies and, particularly of management, organization and performance reporting of private enterprises, public administrations and non-profit organizations.
The scientific approach adopted is characterized by a series of analyses conducted under a theoretical profile and supported by surveys based on business reality in an inductive/deductive relationship. The aforementioned approach is multidisciplinary, combining the prevailing profile of economic-business character, together with the legal and technical-commodities ones, making use of appropriate quantitative tools, specific to the economic and mathematical-statistical disciplines. In particular, the approach used is aimed at ensuring the ability to analyze and solve business problems of an organizational, managerial and information nature, supporting reasoning through tools of various kinds useful to meet business needs (legal, economic, commodity, and statistical-mathematical). As a result, the research activity reflects the multidisciplinary nature of the Department's Faculty, which reflects the different aspects and spheres of action of the administrative activity that takes place within the company.
The analyses in question are conducted from a theoretical standpoint, systematically supported by empirical research, according to various methodologies and making use of contributions from scholars belonging to different scientific fields. This fosters both the necessary specialized insights and appropriate interdisciplinary connections, which are useful for grasping the complex reality of the business phenomenon in its entirety.
The Research Groups are thus inspired by the viewpoints of research activity from a strongly interdisciplinary perspective. The faculty members belong to multiple Research Groups with different roles and assignments, making possible the exchange of knowledge and expertise both within the same SSDs and among SSDs of one or more disciplinary areas.
The Research Groups are characterized by several main areas of action, yet from a horizontal perspective:
- Corporate area: the point of observation is the company and the administrative activity that takes place within itself (its management). Different areas of study are represented: Financial accounting, Management accounting, Public accounting, Marketing, Strategy, Economics of financial intermediaries, Corporate finance, Commodities sciences, Mathematical methods of economics and actuarial and financial sciences;
- Legal area: focus on the legal aspects of business activity. Business is also the object of scientific investigation from the legal perspective, with specific reference to public and private law disciplines, as well as national and international tax and business matters.
More specifically, the Research Groups also fall under the different sections that characterize the organizational structure of the Department. These sections are as follows:
- Economic Law;
- Economics of Financial Intermediaries;
- Economics and Business Management;
- Accounting and Business Economics "Giovanni Ferrero";
- Commodities Science.
Additionally, there is a research group in the quantitative area, made up of mathematics and statistics professors.
Each section coordinates the scientific activity carried out by the faculty members belonging to that section, makes proposals for the assignment of teaching positions pertaining to the relevant fields, and carries out other activities, both internal or in connection with third parties.
The activity conducted by the Research Groups is closely related to teaching and Third mission activities. These are related and transversal activities, which place the Department as an intermediary between job demand and supply, as part of a virtuous circle connecting teaching, research and Third mission. In particular, the Department's teaching activities reflect its ongoing research and third mission activities: these provide faculty and researchers with a variety of inputs and insights that enrich the courses offered, transferring the experience acquired to students in a constant and updated form.
The research activity, stimulated by the Third mission activity, is characterized by field research, typical of the social sciences, supported by a large number of conventions and collaboration agreements with Bodies and Institutions, which allow the creation of an open and integrated research platform on different topics of investigation, often concretized with the creation of specific Advisory Boards.
The Research Groups are constantly evolving, because they follow research activity that is itself physiologically changing. They emerge from the different Lines of Research, to which we refer. The Research Groups involved in each Line of Research are specifically designated.