Business, Law, Economics and Consumer Behaviour "Carlo A. Ricciardi"

The 'Carlo A. Ricciardi' Department of Business, Law, Economics and Consumer Behaviour is funded by IULM University as part of the University Research Plan. It also carries out studies on specific topics commissioned by public and private bodies and participates in European and international research projects.

The Department is divided into sections that reflect the different souls that make it up and that cover a wide variety of themes. The various components of the Department are oriented towards cooperation in research on many interdisciplinary topics, such as communication. Many of the Department's research is addressed from multiple points of view according to a logic that has always characterized the way IULM University conducts its research.

Section of Economics and Business Organization

As far as the section on Economics and Business Organisation is concerned, the Department represents a point of reference for teachers and researchers interested in developing knowledge in the area of management and accounting, with particular regard to family businesses and the tourism sector. In addition, over the years, the issues of communication to the financial markets and corporate reputation have been discussed in greater depth.

With reference to organizational issues, the section deals with corporate information systems with particular attention to technological innovation and the transformations of work produced by the evolution of information and communication technologies, and organizational behaviour and management of human resources.

Marketing and Communication Section

The section presents three areas of study. The first concerns studies in the perspective of consumer behaviour and marketing activities related to it, with particular reference to the brand and retail, in areas of application such as consumer goods, tourism, art and culture.

The second is aimed at the areas of public relations, corporate communication, strategic communication, internal communication, brand communication, public branding, public utility communication and measurement of communication results.

The third section explores the statistical approaches relevant both to social phenomena and to the evaluation processes of services and policies. The methodologies and applications dedicated to textual data analysis, business analytics and big data methodologies play a large part in this.

Section of Economics and Law

The area of economics deals with the study of cultural sectors such as museums, theatres, the art market, with particular reference to fundrasing, cultural policies, the role of the State and foundations.

The skills in this section also cover the study of all media markets: from newspapers, to cinema, to music, to books. These markets are now undergoing a profound internal restructuring due to the transformations that have taken place with the introduction of digital.

The main research themes in the area of legal studies are the promotion of art and cultural activities and the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage, with the primary aim of verifying which instruments of an essentially legal-institutional nature can be used to increase the capacity of cultural assets to become "resources capable of generating resources".
The phenomenon of international organization, both universal and regional, is analyzed by the professors of internationalist disciplines, especially from the point of view of the often conflicting balance between public and private interests at the supranational legal level.
The Law area also deals with issues relating to competition law, market regulation competition law, market regulation, consumer protection, industrial and intellectual property.

Behaviour and Consumption Section

The researchers of this section deal with the study of behaviour and the field of consumer behaviour from a psychological and sociological point of view.

The psychological area is divided into two main strands: the general psychology of processes, with particular reference to communication, learning and management of behaviour in the individual and social, i.e. Behaviour Analysis and Behaviour Economics, and social psychology and organizations with a declination on the issues of food consumption, health, social communication and cooperation.

Research activities in the sociological area focus on the dynamics of consumption and consumer behaviour with a particular focus on the complex dynamics of contemporary society such as critical and collaborative consumption.