Managing profitable business in a service company (5 cr)

Objective

You demonstrate that you are familiar with the basics of management accounting and can apply information in decision-making.
You are able to categorize the revenues and costs of a service company.
You are able to interpret the profitability of a service company by using cost volume profit analysis.
You are able to apply the most common pricing methods.
You are able to compute the costs of a service provided by applying different accounting methods.

Content

How to use financial information in decision-making when managing the costs and profitability of a company?
How to categorize the revenues and costs of a service company?
How to compute the costs of a service provided? How to apply the cost volume profit analysis when evaluating the profitability of a company?
How does the price setting affect the profitability of a company?

Course material

Most material are available online and will be in Learn when the course starts.

There are also some books to read. Two examples, but you can also choose something else:
1) The Service Profit Chain: How to Link Employee Satisfaction and Loyalty to Business Success by James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser Jr., and Richard W. Schlesinger (2014): A more recent edition of the classic text, updated to reflect changes in the service industry.

2) The Customer Revolution: How to Win in the Age of the Internet by Taddy Hall (2011): This book explores the changing dynamics of customer relationships in the digital age and offers practical strategies for service companies to adapt and thrive.

Study forms and methods

Scheduled track:
Completing assignments and exams. Active participation in the contact sessions.

Independent track:
Can be agreed by a teacher

RDI and work-related cooperation

Learning materials and assignments are based on real life business cases.

Timing of exams and assignments

The course contains individual assignments and group work. The schedule will be discussed on first lesson and after that informed in Learn.

International cooperation

Books, case-examples and studying materials are in English and cover mostly international companies.

Student workload

5 credits = 135 hours of studying.

-4 Teams-sessions
-Reading books and Learn-materials
-Some videos
-Online discussions
-Individual assignments
-Group assignments

Course part description

Content of Teams-lessons and Learn-content will be discussed on first Teams-meeting and later published in Learn.

Further information

Please contact marko.lumijarvi@xamk.fi directly for further information.

Evaluation scale

1-5

Assessment methods and criteria

Students can:

* Gather appropriate insights from stakeholders using multiple sources and methods
* Map and develop profitable service company (case company)
* Work individually and in development teams to solve given business problems
* Apply key theoretical frameworks in business and management to solve case problems
* Demonstrate independent expertise in developing own profitable service business processes as an entrepreneur
* Communicate own expertise through written reports and presentations in English.