Economics and Management

Code:

M.EC006

Acronym:

EGE

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Social and Economic Sciences

Instance: 2023/2024 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Civil Engineering
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Civil Engineering

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
M.EC	36	Syllabus	1	-	4,5	45,5	121,5

Teaching language

Portuguese and english

Objectives

JUSTIFICATION: 
University students are responsible, in the short/medium term, for the economic and technological development, so their education should be simultaneously generalist and specific, founded not only on a strong multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge, but also on the development of professional, personal and inter-personal competencies and skills.
The curricular unit of Economics and Management is specially important to achieve these goals, aimed at the education of the future Civil Engineers able to implement economic-leading projects, and aware of the whole set of inter-relations among different realities, requirements, people, resources and knowledge fields, whichever is their specialization in civil engineering, and at all levels of professional outcomes.

GOALS:

At the end of the course unit, students are is expected to be able to: 

• Master basic concepts of economics and management, in order to favour the insertion of the future engineer in a global environment in which techniques interact continuously with economic, social and business aspects.
• Identify the main currents of economic thought and enunciate their main differentiating characteristics
• Understand the global operation of the Economy and of business/organizational Management, as well as the main issues and challenges that are faced by companies and the Portuguese economic policy in the European context, and the new issues that surround it
• Characterize the several management subsystems, with special emphasis on the financial subsystem (interpretation of financial and accounting instruments of a company/organization).
• Explain the process of formulating a strategy, methods of strategic analysis, and the presentation of alternative-type strategies.
• Apply instruments of economic and financial analysis of a company/organization.
• Design, manage, monitor and evaluate projects
• Present the objectives of project management and its main tools from the perspective of the construction industry.

Learning outcomes and competences

Knowledge – to describe basic concepts of consumer and producer/seller microeconomics, of macroeconomics, and of corporate management, with particular emphasis on the civil construction and public works.

Understanding - to interpret the logic behind the behaviour of consumers and firms/organizations, the relationship between supply and demand and their influences on prices, to identify the impacts of macroeconomic variables on the performance of firms/organizations, to evaluate business decisions given the constraints on their activities; to select instruments for assessing the performance of firms, especially in the construction industry and public works.
Understand the importance of using Project Management in construction, presenting the objectives and the most commonly used tools (planning and control of time, resources and costs, cost estimation, project evaluation, proposal analysis...)

Application – to organize information about the environment of firms/organizations to facilitate the critical analysis of their performance, either in absolute terms or in comparison with the performance of other firms/organizations.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

The previous knowledge required in this curricular unit was obtained during the secondary studies and at graduation level. Students are further required to adopt a critical stance in relation to their general environment (in economic, social, environmental, political, juridical and cultural terms) and a more focused attention to the specific characteristics of firms/organizations, particularly those belonging to the civil construction and public works areas of activity.

Program

Theoretical classes:

Chapter 1. economics, Microeconomics and Macroeconomics

Background. Concepts and basic principles. The economic problem. Brief reference to the main schools of economic thought.

Solutions to the economic problem. The role of the market and the role of the State. Market operation: Supply and demand curves and market mechanism.

The overall functioning of the economy: the economic circuit; the economic cycles and their characteristics; vicious and virtuous cycles; the Keynesian and neoclassical approaches

Economic policy: budgetary, exchange rate and monetary policies; constraints on economic policy arising from the integration of Portugal in the Economic and Monetary Union


Chapter 2. Business Management

Introduction and awareness of the contents of Management

Strategic Management. Introduction. Basic concepts: planning, organization, implementation, leadership, control. Management levels. Functional managers and general managers. Roles of managers.

Strategic analysis. External diagnosis: opportunities and threats. PESTAL analysis. Internal diagnosis: company resources and competences. SWOT method.

Chapter 3. Project

Formulation of objectives; hierarchy of objectives.

Financial function. Accounting Normalization System. Balance sheet.

Income Statement Account. Economic-financial ratios.

Strategic planning and management. Concepts, processes and instruments.

Strategic choice. General types of strategies: growth strategies (in current markets, in new markets); consolidation strategies. Advantages and limitations of each type of strategy. Vehicles for implementing strategies: internal growth, merger or acquisition, joint ventures

Michael Porter's Model of Industrial Analysis. Competitors (other companies, suppliers, buyers, substitute products/services, new companies) and competitive forces (rivalry, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitute products/services, threat of new entrants to the industry).

Competitive analysis. BCG method (Boston Consulting Group). Product life cycle.
Competitive strategies. Strategic objective and strategic advantage. Cost leadership, differentiation, and focus.

Strategy implementation. 

Strategy evaluation.

Project management. Criteria for analysis and evaluation of projects.

Chapter 4. European insertion of the Portuguese economy

The European integration process: the European project main milestones; the cohesion policy; the enlargement to the East; the creation of Economic and Monetary Union; implications for Portugal

Economic policy: the budgetary, exchange rate and monetary policies; constraints on economic policy arising from the integration of Portugal in the Economic and Monetary Union

Insertion of the contents studied in the economic framework of the construction and public works sector in Portugal.

Extension of the scope of the subject given to the European and international contexts. Conclusive summary

Theoretical-practical classes:

Contents 1. economics, microeconomics and macroeconomics.

Limit line or frontier of production possibilities. Supply and demand curves. Shifts in and along supply and demand curves. Market mechanism. Market equilibrium point.

Contents 2. the civil construction and public works sector

Characterization of the construction and public works sector and its evolution over the last years. Identification of strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Contents 3. New approaches in Construction Project Management

Negotiation and contracting, Proposal Analysis - Multicriteria and AHP
Project management and main tools - EVM-AVA.

DEMONSTRATION OF THE COHERENCE OF THE COURSE CONTENTS WITH THE OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE UNIT:

University students are responsible in the short/medium term for the economic and technological development, so their training must be both generalist and specific, based not only on a solid multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge but also on the development of professional, personal and interpersonal competences and skills.

In this sense, the curricular unit of Economics and Business Management is of fundamental and integrative importance in the training of students of the Master of Civil Engineering as future Civil Engineers, capable of implementing projects that drive the economy, and aware of a whole set of interrelationships with different realities, demands, people, resources and areas of knowledge, whatever the area of specialization in civil engineering, and at the level of all professional outlets.

It is intended that this curricular unit serves as an anchor for a better understanding of the relationship between any branch of specialization in civil engineering chosen by the student and the surrounding economic reality, providing him/her with knowledge, instruments and transversal capacities that allow him/her to design, develop, implement, monitor and evaluate concrete business projects.


Within this line of reasoning, the contribution of the curricular unit of Economics and Business Management will be fundamental for the realization of the dissertation, whatever the area of specialization in Civil Engineering, adapting to both the traditional dissertation and to dissertations developed in a business environment.

Mandatory literature

Paul A. Samuelson, William D. Nordhaus; Economia. ISBN: 972-8298-83-8
Paul A. Samuelson; Les grands Courants de la Pensée economique, Presses Universitaires de Grenoble
João Luís César das Neves; Introdução à Economia, Verbo
J. D. Lecaillon; J. M. Page; C. Ottavi ; Économie du Monde Contemporain, Les éditions d´organisation
Edwin Mansfield ; Economie appliquée à la Gestion, Economica
José da Silva Lopes ; A Economia Portuguesa desde 1960, Gradiva
A. Mendonça Pinto ; União Monetária Europeia- Portugal e o Euro, Universidade Católica Editora
António de Sousa; Introdução à Gestão - uma abordagem sistémica
Idalberto Chiavenato; Administração de Empresas - uma abordagem contingencial, MacGrawHill
H. Martinet ; Estratégia, Sílabo
J.P.Helfer ; Gestão: as funções da empresa, Sílabo
Luís Cardoso ; Gestão Estratégica das Organizações – como vencer os desafios do século XXI, Verbo
Henry Mintzberg ; The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, Prentice Hall
João Carvalho das Neves; Análise Financeira: métodos e técnicas, Texto Editora
Fernando Abecassis; Análise Económica, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
OCDE.; Economic Survey of Portugal 2017, 2017
Jackson Barbara J.; Construction management JumpStart. ISBN: 978-0-470-60999-6 (Just for T9)
José Manuel Amorim Faria & Miguel Chichorro Gonçalves; AHP - Apontamentos criados pelos docentes José Manuel Amorim Faria e Miguel Chichorro Gonçalves
José Manuel Amorim Faria & Miguel Chichorro Gonçalves; AVA - Apontamentos criados pelos docentes José Manuel Amorim Faria e Miguel Chichorro Gonçalves

Complementary Bibliography

George Frederik Stanlake ; Introdução à Economia, McGraw Hill

Teaching methods and learning activities

In the theoretical classes important concepts and results of the different subjects handled will be presented, emphasizing its importance in the upcoming professional activity of civil engineering, and turning to clear examples and case studies. Appeal to the understanding of the concepts and their application and inter-relations, and to the interpretation of different economic, financial and management information.

In the practical classes, the student is lead, in a first stage, to the interpretation of economic and management information from different sources, and to the resolution of selected problems, and in a second stage, to the integrated application of the concepts learned in order to assess case studies that require decision making processes, considering concrete management problems firms/organizations can potentially face. This activity will also allow students to develop their management skills and abilities.

DEMONSTRATION OF THE COHERENCE BETWEEN THE TEACHING METHODOLOGIES AND THE LEARNING OUTCOMES:
The applied teaching methodologies appeal to the understanding of the concepts and their application and inter-relations, and to the interpretation of different economic, financial and management information. The application of these methods allows students to organize information about the environment of firms/organizations to facilitate the critical analysis of their performance, either in absolute terms or in comparison with the performance of other firms/organizations and to propose alternative strategies to improve the performance of firms/organizations, given their environments, and their vision, mission and objectives.

The construction industry is characterised by frequent occurrences of poor quality, major deviations from costs and deadlines, etc. These problems result in users´ dissatisfaction with the construction and their agents. The EGE curricular unit seeks to present key aspects of the construction activity that take place upstream and in the execution phase, together with construction project management tools.

The development of the proposed works (individual and in group) seeks to recreate real business situations, which require effective and efficient management decisions, using the knowledge that students will acquire, and the development of skills and competencies that they will develop in this curricular unit.

keywords

Social sciences > Economics > Microeconomics
Social sciences > Economics > Management studies > Financial management
Social sciences > Economics > Management studies > Management of enterprises
Social sciences > Economics > Construction economics

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Teste	60,00
Trabalho prático ou de projeto	40,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Frequência das aulas	45,50
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	2,00
Trabalho de campo	26,00
Trabalho de investigação	52,00
Trabalho escrito	30,00
Total:	155,50

Eligibility for exams

Achieving final classification requires compliance with attendance at the course unit, according to the MEC assessment rules. It is considered that students meet the attendance requirements if, having been regularly enrolled, the number of absences of 25% for each of the classes’ types is not exceeded.

The following practical works are compulsory:
(i) Group work (3 students) on the civil construction and public works sector, and respective oral presentation
(ii) Individual work on EVM-AVA (Earned Value Managemnt - Análise do Valor Agregado)
(iii) Individual work on AHP (Analytic Hyerarchy Process)

The continuous assessment is done through the practical works. For that reason, it is not possible to re-sit the practical works.

Calculation formula of final grade

The distributed assessment components are as follows:

CC - Group work (3 students) on the civil construction and public works project, and respective oral presentation
EVM - Individual work on EVM-AVA
AHP - Individual work on AHP
EF - Final Exam

The Final Classification is calculated using the following formula:

CF = 20%CC + 10%EVM + 10%HP + 60%EF

The final exam (EF) has a minimum score of 7 points (35% of the final mark)

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Students that undergo special evaluation will accomplish an exam covering all the matters (Economics and Management ones)

Classification improvement

Students already approved may improve their classification just once, after registering in the academic services, in one or two (normal or resource) exam seasons immediately after the one where they were approved.

Observations

In the resource season it is only possible to retake the Final Exam, which has a weigh of 60% in the final grade.
In the resource season the marks previously obtained in the practical works remain valid.