Title: Taking Risks and Making Profits within the Dynamic Business Environment
Copyright: 2022 © McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved.
Business and Wealth Building
The Importance of Entrepreneurs to the Creation of Wealth
The Business Environment
The Evolution of U.S. Business
Describe the relationship between profit and risk.
Explain how businesses and nonprofit organizations can raise the standard of living.
Explain how entrepreneurship and the factors of production contribute to wealth.
Analyze the effects of the economic environment and taxes on businesses.
Assess the effects of technology on businesses.
Demonstrate how businesses can meet and beat competition.
Analyze the social changes affecting businesses.
Identify what businesses must do to meet global challenges, including war and terrorism.
Review how past trends are being repeated and implications for future graduates.
Business: Any activity seeking to provide goods and services to others while aiming for profit.
Goods: Tangible products (e.g., computers, food).
Services: Intangible products (e.g., education, health care).
Successfully filling a market need enables profit.
Entrepreneur: An individual who risks time and resources to initiate and manage a business.
Revenue: Total money generated from selling goods/services.
Profit: Money earned after expenses (salaries, operational costs).
Loss: Occurs when expenses exceed revenues.
Risk: The potential loss of time and resources on potentially unprofitable ventures.
Not all enterprises yield the same profit; high risks may result in high rewards.
Standard of Living: Quantity of goods/services available based on monetary resources.
Quality of Life: Overall satisfaction in society, considering factors like freedom and health.
High quality of life requires collaboration between businesses, nonprofits, and government.
Stakeholders: Individuals or groups affected by business policies. Their varying needs can conflict (e.g., wages vs. profits).
Outsourcing: Contracting functions to external companies.
Insourcing: Foreign companies establishing operations in the U.S.
Nonprofit Organization: Seeks social or educational goals rather than personal profit; uses financial gains for social purposes.
Positives:
Freedom to make decisions.
Potential for wealth creation.
Negatives:
Risk of failure.
Lack of health insurance or paid time off.
Five Factors:
Land (natural resources)
Labor (workforce)
Capital (financial resources)
Entrepreneurship (innovation and risk-taking)
Knowledge (expertise and information)
Entrepreneurship and knowledge are critical to economic prosperity.
Business Environment: Factors aiding or hindering business development.
Economic and legal factors.
Technological advancements.
Competitive landscape.
Social dynamics.
Global considerations.
Support entrepreneurship through:
Promoting private ownership.
Allowing free trade.
Enforcing contracts.
Establishing tradable currency.
Minimizing corruption.
Technology: Tools enhancing efficiency (e.g., computers, software).
Productivity: Output relative to input used.
Buying/selling goods online (B2C and B2B models).
Focus on quality, price, and customer service.
Empowerment: Providing frontline workers with decision-making authority to better respond to customer needs.
Demography: Study of human population characteristics.
Modern workplaces focus on inclusion and diversity.
Enhanced by communication and distribution systems like the Internet.
Economic impacts include diverted resources and increased security costs.
Climate change signifies shifts in global temperatures.
Greening: Efforts toward sustainable practices and lesser ecological damage.
Agricultural advances during the 1800s contributed to economic growth.
Shift from farming to industrialization, followed by expansion into the service sector and information age.
The book aims to equip readers with insights for effective leadership in business.