An Introduction to Business
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An Introduction to Business v. 1.0 This is the book An Introduction to Business (v. 1.0). This book is licensed under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/ 3.0/) license. See the license for more details, but that basically means you can share this book as long as you credit the author (but see below), don't make money from it, and do make it available to everyone else under the same terms. This book was accessible as of December 29, 2012, and it was downloaded then by Andy Schmitz (http://lardbucket.org) in an effort to preserve the availability of this book. Normally, the author and publisher would be credited here. However, the publisher has asked for the customary Creative Commons attribution to the original publisher, authors, title, and book URI to be removed. Additionally, per the publisher's request, their name has been removed in some passages. 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You can browse or download additional books there. ii Table of Contents About the Author .................................................................................................................. 1 Acknowledgments................................................................................................................. 2 Dedication............................................................................................................................... 5 Preface..................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1: The Foundations of Business........................................................................ 11 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 14 Getting Down to Business............................................................................................................................ 16 What Is Economics? ..................................................................................................................................... 22 Perfect Competition and Supply and Demand.......................................................................................... 29 Monopolistic Competition, Oligopoly, and Monopoly ............................................................................. 35 Measuring the Health of the Economy ...................................................................................................... 38 Government’s Role in Managing the Economy......................................................................................... 47 Cases and Problems...................................................................................................................................... 51 Chapter 2: Business Ethics and Social Responsibility ................................................. 56 Misgoverning Corporations: An Overview ................................................................................................ 59 The Individual Approach to Ethics............................................................................................................. 64 Identifying Ethical Issues ............................................................................................................................ 71 The Organizational Approach to Ethics..................................................................................................... 79 Corporate Social Responsibility.................................................................................................................. 84 Environmentalism ....................................................................................................................................... 96 Stages of Corporate Responsibility .......................................................................................................... 101 Cases and Problems.................................................................................................................................... 106 Chapter 3: Business in a Global Environment............................................................. 113 The Globalization of Business................................................................................................................... 115 Opportunities in International Business ................................................................................................. 126 The Global Business Environment............................................................................................................ 136 Trade Controls............................................................................................................................................ 148 Reducing International Trade Barriers ................................................................................................... 153 Preparing for a Career in International Business................................................................................... 159 Cases and Problems.................................................................................................................................... 162 iii Chapter 4: Selecting a Form of Business Ownership ................................................. 168 Factors to Consider .................................................................................................................................... 170 Sole Proprietorship.................................................................................................................................... 173 Partnership................................................................................................................................................. 176 Corporation ................................................................................................................................................ 181 Other Types of Business Ownership......................................................................................................... 187 Mergers and Acquisitions.......................................................................................................................... 195 Cases and Problems.................................................................................................................................... 199 Chapter 5: The Challenges of Starting a Business ..................................................... 205 What Is an Entrepreneur?......................................................................................................................... 207 The Place of Small Business in the Business Landscape ........................................................................ 216 What Industries Are Small Businesses In? .............................................................................................. 222 Advantages and Disadvantages of Business Ownership......................................................................... 227 Starting a Business..................................................................................................................................... 232 The Business Plan....................................................................................................................................... 241 How to Succeed in Managing a Business ................................................................................................. 249 Cases and Problems.................................................................................................................................... 256 Chapter 6: Managing for Business Success.................................................................. 262 What Do Managers Do?.............................................................................................................................. 264 Planning ...................................................................................................................................................... 266 Organizing .................................................................................................................................................. 276 Directing ..................................................................................................................................................... 290 Controlling.................................................................................................................................................. 294 Managerial Skills........................................................................................................................................ 297 Cases and Problems.................................................................................................................................... 304 Chapter 7: Recruiting, Motivating, and Keeping Quality Employees .................... 313 Human Resource Management................................................................................................................. 316 Developing Employees............................................................................................................................... 325 Motivating