Economic and Business History

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

The organization of time in practical classes must have active participation from students. In expository classes slides are used (in Powerpoint support) and the discussion focused on specific issues is previously prepared by the students. Some classes will have more time focused on activities developed by students, particularly with presentation of papers on specific topics, analysis and elaboration of stories of companies and entrepreneurs, always seeking the individual or group debate in the classroom.

Proposed evaluation schemes:

- Evaluation by final examination;

- Mix Assessment;The mix assessment is made up of two intermediate tests (the mark -15), and a group work with presentation in class (the mark-5) on specific topics of the syllabus.

Learning Outcomes

Overall objectives

- Provide students knowledge about the companies and entrepreneurs throughout history, in particular for the behavior of businesses and entrepreneurs since the Industrial Revolution to the present.

 Specific objectives

- Identify key moments of rupture of economic history in the last two centuries;

- Analyze comparatively the historical evolution of business (structure, organization, strategies, innovations in management) with the changes in society;

- Understand and characterize the major historical moments of affirmation of the modern enterprise.

 Generic competencies

- Ability to analysis and synthesis.

- Oral and written skills, incorporating the vocabulary in a speech that suits the subject.

Specific competencies

- Cognitive capacities, including understanding the forms of business management;

- Interpersonal Skills including group work.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

I. Introduction: theories of the firm and the antecedents of the modern enterprise.

1) The company and the entrepreneur in economic theory: the nature of the firm and the entrepreneur;

2) The company in the context of the Industrial Revolution;

3) The emergence of the modern corporation (1870-1939): the case of the U.S.;

4) The 'Americanization' of the management and development of modern business in Europe and Japan;

5) Capitalist development and business concentration in industrialized countries (1939-1973);

6) The company in a historical perspective: strategies, functions and organization;

7) The formation of a global market and corporate social responsibility.

Head Lecturer(s)

António Manuel Antunes Rafael Amaro

Assessment Methods

final exam
Exam: 100.0%

Mix Assessment
a group work with presentation in class on specific topics of the syllabus: 25.0%
The mix assessment is made up of two intermediate tests : 75.0%

Bibliography

CHANDLER Jr, Alfred D. - The visible hand : the managerial revolution in American business. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1977;

FREEMAN, Chris; LOUÇÃ, Francisco - Ciclos e crises no capitalismo global: das revoluções industriais à revolução da informação. Porto: Edições Afrontamento, 2004;

GARCÍA RUIZ, José Luís - Historia económica de la empresa moderna. Madrid: istmo, 1994;

HIERARQUIAS de gestão, perspectivas comparativas sobre o desenvolvimento da moderna empresa industrial. Organizadores Alfred D. Chandler Jr., Herman Daems. Oeiras: Celta Editora, 1994;

LISBOA, Manuel - A indústria portuguesa e os seus dirigentes: crescimento na segunda metade do século XX e potencial de inovação das funções capitalista, empresarial e de gestão. Lisboa, Educa, 2002;

VALDALISO, Jesús Maria; LÓPEZ GARCÍA, Santiago - Historia Económica de la empresa. Barcelona, Editorial Crítica, 2000.