Every now and again, authors and publishers make a textbook that they had been selling available for free if only author or publisher or identified. This sort of orphaned work provides a free supplementary text for students but may not be something they could cite in a research paper. Hopefully, someone can utilize this free business textbook even if it would appear the title has been changed and it’s now a sort of anonymous work.
Exploring Business does just that – it offers and introductory course on business. The text was released, in its current form, in 2010. Some of the examples may be a bit dated, but reviews from educators indicate the text remains useful to their students – several continue to use it in their classes.
Table of Contents for Exploring Business
Chapter 1: The Foundations of Business
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Getting Down to Business
1.3 What Is Economics?
1.4 Perfect Competition and Supply and Demand
1.5 Monopolistic Competition, Oligopoly, and Monopoly
1.6 Measuring the Health of the Economy
1.7 Government’s Role in Managing the Economy
1.8 Cases and Problems
Chapter 2: Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
2.1 Misgoverning Corporations: An Overview
2.2 The Individual Approach to Ethics
2.3 Identifying Ethical Issues
2.4 The Organizational Approach to Ethics
2.5 Corporate Social Responsibility
2.6 Environmentalism
2.7 Stages of Corporate Responsibility
2.8 Cases and Problems
Chapter 3: Business in a Global Environment
3.1 The Globalization of Business
3.2 Opportunities in International Business
3.3 The Global Business Environment
3.4 Trade Controls
3.5 Reducing International Trade Barriers
3.6 Preparing for a Career in International Business
3.7 Cases and Problems
Chapter 4: Selecting a Form of Business Ownership
4.1 Factors to Consider
4.2 Sole Proprietorship
4.3 Partnership
4.4 Corporation
4.5 Other Types of Business Ownership
4.6 Mergers and Acquisitions
4.7 Cases and Problems
Chapter 5: The Challenges of Starting a Business
5.1 What Is an Entrepreneur?
5.2 The Importance of Small Business to the U.S. Economy
5.3 What Industries Are Small Businesses In?
5.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Business Ownership
5.5 Starting a Business
5.6 The Business Plan
5.7 How to Succeed in Managing a Business
5.8 Cases and Problems
Chapter 6: Managing for Business Success
6.1 What Do Managers Do?
6.2 Planning
6.3 Organizing
6.4 Directing
6.5 Controlling
6.6 Managerial Skills
6.7 Cases and Problems
Chapter 7: Recruiting, Motivating, and Keeping Quality Employees
7.1 Human Resource Management
7.2 Developing Employees
7.3 Motivating Employees
7.4 What Makes a Great Place to Work?
7.5 Performance Appraisal
7.6 Labor Unions
7.7 Cases and Problems
Chapter 8: Teamwork and Communications
8.1 The Team and the Organization
8.2 Why Teamwork Works
8.3 The Team and Its Members
8.4 The Business of Communication
8.5 Communication Channels
8.6 Forms of Communication
8.7 Cases and Problems
Chapter 9: Marketing: Providing Value to Customers
9.1 What Is Marketing?
9.2 The Marketing Mix
9.3 Pricing a Product
9.4 Placing a Product
9.5 Promoting a Product
9.6 Interacting with Your Customers
9.7 The Product Life Cycle
9.8 The Marketing Environment
9.9 Careers in Marketing
9.10 Cases and Problems
Chapter 10: Product Design and Development
10.1 What Is a Product?
10.2 Where Do Product Ideas Come From?
10.3 Identifying Business Opportunities
10.4 Understand Your Industry
10.5 Forecasting Demand
10.6 Breakeven Analysis
10.7 Product Development
10.8 Protecting Your Idea
10.9 Cases and Problems
Chapter 11: Operations Management in Manufacturing and Service Industries
11.1 Operations Management in Manufacturing
11.2 Facility Layouts
11.3 Managing the Production Process in a Manufacturing Company
11.4 Graphical Tools: PERT and Gantt Charts
11.5 The Technology of Goods Production
11.6 Operations Management for Service Providers
11.7 Producing for Quality
11.8 Cases and Problems
Chapter 12: The Role of Accounting in Business
12.1 The Role of Accounting
12.2 Understanding Financial Statements
12.3 Accrual Accounting
12.4 Financial Statement Analysis
12.5 The Profession: Ethics and Opportunities
12.6 Cases and Problems
Chapter 13: Managing Financial Resources
13.1 The Functions of Money
13.2 Financial Institutions
13.3 The Federal Reserve System
13.4 The Role of the Financial Manager
13.5 Understanding Securities Markets
13.6 Financing the Going Concern
13.7 Careers in Finance
13.8 Cases and Problems
Chapter 14: Personal Finances
14.1 Financial Planning
14.2 Time Is Money
14.3 The Financial Planning Process
14.4 A House Is Not a Piggy Bank: A Few Lessons from the Subprime Crisis
14.5 Cases and Problems
Chapter 15: Managing Information and Technology
15.1 Data versus Information
15.2 Managing Data
15.3 Types of Information Systems
15.4 Computer Networks and Cloud Computing
15.5 Data Communications Networks
15.6 Security Issues in Electronic Communication
15.7 Careers in Information Management
15.8 Cases and Problems
Chapter 16: The Legal and Regulatory Environment of Business
16.1 Law and the Legal System
16.2 Criminal versus Civil Law
16.3 Negligence Torts
16.4 Product Liability
16.5 Some Principles of Public Law
16.6 Cases and Problems
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Exploring Business
