A85730 Retail Food Management

This course aims to prepare students to effectively and efficiently manage the operational and competitive challenges that characterize today, but even more in the future, the world of food retail. This sector, in effect, is increasingly crossed by intense innovation processes and by strong needs for internationalization.

The accelerated development of food retail global chains, as well as the competitive dynamics that characterize it, require the Italian companies to hire highly skilled manager in order to compete successfully and think globally.

Through this course, students will be trained to identify and introduce in modern food retail companies the most effective approaches to management with a strong foundation in food science and managerial skills.

Students will be prepared to become effective food retail managers and leaders (entrepreneurs, store managers, marketing managers, customer managers, product managers, business unit managers, consultants) able to manage the main critical problems of modern food retail business.

The focus will be on the need to prospectively analyze and interpret customer behavior, to address and manage the innovation process, to analyze and solve quality problems, to consider regulatory issues, to build and control budgets, to manage the internationalization process.

Students, therefore, are provided with a system of conceptual and methodological tools:

* to enable efective decision-making and management at both operational and strategic level,

* to interpret the relationship between perceived value by the customer, busines system design, structuring of operational processes, investing in human resources capital,

* to adopt a management approach based on a cross-functional integration between strong marketing skills, logistics skills, food science knowledge, consumer science skills, performance analysis skills.

Main topics are:

* Food Science and Technology

* Food Law

* New Product Development

* Consumer Science

* Food Retail

* Logistics Management

* Performance Measurement

* Quality Management

* Marketing Management

* Human Resources Management

The course is organized in the form of workshops with exercises, testimonials and case studies that complement the more traditional theory class and therefore requires the active participation of the student.

It is expected that each student participates in class having read and prepared in advance the course material recommended in the syllabus so as to provide a significant and original contribution to the discussion led by the teacher during the lesson. This applies, above all, exercises, discussion of cases and testimonials.

The student is asked to prepare in advance to the lesson also expanding sources in addition to educational materials using, therefore, readings identified through a personal research on  internet, in the library and reading through magazines.

The student is encouraged to participate actively in a project work in teams. This is a valuable opportunity to learn, in a participative and operating manner, some of the fundamental concepts of the course.

The student is required to regularly consult the website of the course in "my.liuc.it" in which are inserted in-depth materials, slides and all updates regarding the course itself.

Curricular internships, which recognizes credits, will be organized for students by the food retail companies partners.

The internship is characterized by a variety of advantages:

• the contents of the stage are defined and proposed in advance by the company, consistent with the course focus,

• the work experience takes place within an operational project aimed to solve some specific company problems, as part of the critical processes in food retail

• the internship allows the student to live in the operating environment of the company interacting with the same company management

• a company tutor and university teachers work together in an integrated manner to provide students with the necessary methodological support

• the internship is concluded by a presentation of the work to the management of the company by the student: a great opportunity to discuss their findings with the company.

For students attending there will be a final written test on the course program, including any cases and testimonies conducted in the classroom.

The final evaluation, for students attending will be so done:

• 20%: participation in the classroom (discussion cases, exercises, case studies presented);

• 40%: project work;

• 40%: written examination.

For students not attending an oral examination is scheduled.