ECO0422 - LAB: FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS FOR SMEs

The course aims to provide students with fundamental skills regarding financial solutions to be considered in the different phases of a company's life cycle. The course consider the various actors, the different methods of presenting projects to be financed, and analyzes the most suitable financing instruments, also analyzing and verifying in practice some projects concretely presented to the investor market in the different life phases of companies. Within the context of changes proposed by the reference scenario, regulations, digital trasformation and the trends of the reference markets of funding sources in the start-up, growth, and restructuring and turnaround phases, cases will be presented and critical analysis, evaluation, management, monitoring, and reporting of the individual instruments analyzed will be discussed with students. It will start in the initial phases with instruments promoted by incubators, Business Angels, Crowdfunding, Venture Capital and move on to instruments for the growth of SMEs. The following will be explored in depth: the typical instruments of banking and financial intermediation; Private Equity; the agencies and instruments made available by public institutions (CDP, Simest, Sace, Central Guarantee Fund, Ministries and Regions, trade associations); the various forms of debt instrument issuance; the public capital market (ELITE and Italian Stock Exchange markets). Cases of turnaround and interventions carried out also through consulting interventions of Temporary Management will also be discussed. Analyses of the reference markets and studies that analyze the contribution of the different subjects involved in the various phases of solutions to the financing needs of companies will be made available to students. At the end of the course, the student will be able to: - Understand the scenario in which the various instruments present in the phases of a company's life cycle have been developed; - Understand the typical instruments in the growth phase of an SME and respond to the different financing needs; - Classify in an orderly manner and critically analyze the subjects that can intervene in the different growth phases of an SME; - Understand the context and discipline of the private and public capital market; - Illustrate practical cases of application of the various instruments; - Comprehend the operating dynamics of a financing project oriented to the growth of an SME; - Describe the process of financial and ESG reporting of an SME.