Economia e gestione delle imprese. Teoria, strategie e creazione di valore

[Machine translation] The new edition of the text of Business Economics and Management constitutes a significant update to the volume: Business, Market and Value Management by Giovanni Fraquelli. The contents have been profoundly renewed: the work is the result of the contribution of numerous authors and the arguments are more circumscribed and streamlined, with a more marked focus on operational aspects., The new version offers two different opportunities for use. The material, intended as teaching support, allows the student to acquire, through the first two chapters, the concepts that characterize the theory of business and entrepreneurship and the related strategies useful for creating value, with a focus on various business activities. Subsequently, the analysis is aimed at operational management and the solution of problems concerning resource efficiency and profitability in a broad sense, the use of cost of revenue information and pricing policies. Finally, a brief mention is made of the methods for evaluating industrial investments; a topic that allows us to reconcile with the company's growth decisions. A second opportunity to use the text concerns the training aspect of the entrepreneur and managers, in particular, with regard to decision-making aspects present in small businesses. In the small sector, we find operators often characterized by great technological skills, but poor management knowledge of an economic nature. These deficiencies often lead to inappropriate choices. The notions and examples presented in the last four chapters of the text can help fill the gaps mentioned above, with solutions that are often very simple, but supported by a rigorous working method. , In particular:, the first chapter is aimed at studying the birth and development of the company, through a path that originates from entrepreneurship and innovation and unravels with the consideration of the trade-off between business and market. The various theoretical references find their fundamental fulcrum in contractual relationships, internal and external to the company. The economic and social repercussions of relationships with various stakeholders conclude the chapter;, the second chapter proposes some methods and tools useful for the strategic management of the company. Once the meaning of the strategy has been clarified from a conceptual point of view, the focus is placed on the competitive environment and on the role of internal resources and skills. Subsequently, some principles of non-cooperative game theory are illustrated, useful as a support for strategic and managerial decisions. In the final paragraph, outlining a cooperative context between companies, the process of distributing value among the different subjects that participate in the generation of the same is examined;, with the third chapter, the operative part takes on consistency. In fact, after examining the nature of the company and the possible strategic orientation, there is a need to find suitable measures for evaluating the achievement of objectives. There are many performance indicators, but given the nature of the text, attention is directed to the concepts of efficiency, productivity, profitability and value creation;, an elementary aspect that characterizes the strategies, examined in the second chapter, concerns the ability to maintain a competitive position on the cost side. The fourth chapter draws attention to the different nature and variability of costs;, The fifth chapter uses the various cost information combined with revenues in order to verify the conditions for income balance or for particular levels of profitability. In this context, there is the relationship between total costs and revenues, but also the differential analysis based on the use of the contribution margin in a decision-making key. The chapter concludes by demonstrating that the price, often, is not a fact but the result of a specific decision-making orientation;, the main techniques for evaluating industrial investments, present in the sixth chapter, conclude the work. Obviously, there is an awareness of the importance of strategic analysis relating to growth choices and related investments, but in the context of work, we limit ourselves to providing methodological support that allows a correct evaluation of the different alternatives., Some of the material in the new text was used in economics and business management courses at the University of Eastern Piedmont. The authors are grateful to the students for the comments and valuable suggestions received. Finally, the curator's deep gratitude to the co-authors for the precious teamwork that allowed us to arrive at the final result.