Introduction to Business
An enhanced version of the OER title Introduction to Business by OpenStax gives you the tools you need to implement a successful online course, including the ability to assign for credit and in-app support for faculty and students. All at an affordable cost to your students.
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Steady encouragement
After each new topic is presented, students answer a few questions about the main ideas. This keeps students focused, actively processing the information, and constructing new knowledge.
Presentation and exploration
Each chapter offers concise presentation of key concepts. Additional activities guide students through the examination of artifacts and case studies to put the concepts into context and test the limits of the ideas presented.
Study questions
Questions throughout the text encourage close reading and guide students to key information.
Everything you need
Introduction to Business provides everything you need for an online course. And we can tailor the webtext to match your program’s emphasis, term length, student expectations, and assignment types.
- Understanding Economic Systems and Business
- Introduction
- Investigation: The Mechanics of Business
- The Nature of Business
- Not-for-Profit Organizations
- Factors of Production: The Building Blocks of Business
- Catching the Entrepreneurial Spirit: StickerGiant Embraces Change
- Understanding the Business Environment
- Political and Legal Influences
- Social Factors
- How Business and Economics Work
- Capitalism
- Socialism
- Macroeconomics and Microeconomics
- Macroeconomics: The Big Picture
- Keeping People on the Job
- Keeping Prices Steady
- Achieving Macroeconomic Goals
- Fiscal Policy
- Microeconomics: Zeroing In on Businesses and Consumers
- How Demand and Supply Interact to Determine Prices
- Changes in Supply
- Competing in a Free Market
- Trends in the Business Environment and Competition
- Managing Change: Diversity and Inclusion at EY
- Global Energy Demands
- Making Ethical Decisions and Managing a Socially Responsible Business
- Introduction
- Understanding Business Ethics
- Justice—The Question of Fairness
- How Organizations Influence Ethical Conduct
- Establishing a Formal Code of Ethics
- Customer Satisfaction and Quality: Campbell Soup Company
- Managing a Socially Responsible Business
- Catching the Entrepreneurial Spirit: Badger Company
- Responsibilities to Stakeholders
- Responsibility to Society
- Corporate Philanthropy
- Trends in Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
- Competing in the Global Marketplace
- Introduction
- Global Trade in the United States
- Measuring Trade Between Nations
- The Changing Value of Currencies
- Why Nations Trade
- The Fear of Trade and Globalization
- Barriers to Trade
- Fostering Global Trade
- The World Bank and International Monetary Fund
- International Economic Communities
- The European Union
- Participating in the Global Marketplace
- Licensing and Franchising
- Joint Ventures
- Managing Change: Managing the Drop in Oil Prices
- Threats and Opportunities in the Global Marketplace
- Economic Environment
- The Impact of Multinational Corporations
- Expanding Around the Globe: U.S. Brands Face Global Competition
- Trends in Global Competition
- Ethics in Practice: UN Sustainability Development Goals
- Forms of Business Ownership
- Introduction
- Going It Alone: Sole Proprietorships
- Catching the Entrepreneurial Spirit: Work-Life Balance
- Partnerships: Sharing the Load
- Advantages of Partnerships
- Corporations: Limiting Your Liability
- The Incorporation Process
- Advantages of Corporations
- Specialized Forms of Business Organization
- Franchising: A Popular Trend
- Advantages of Franchises
- Expanding Around the Globe: Setting Up (Sandwich) Shop in China
- The Next Big Thing in Franchising
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Merger Motives
- Trends in Business Ownership
- Boomers Rewrite the Rules of Retirement
- Entrepreneurship: Starting and Managing Your Own Business
- Introduction
- Entrepreneurship Today
- Entrepreneur or Small-Business Owner?
- Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs
- Small Business: Driving America’s Growth
- Ready, Set, Start Your Own Business
- Financing the Business
- Managing a Small Business
- Small Business, Large Impact
- The Small Business Administration
- Entrepreneurship and Small-Business Ownership
- How Far Will You Go to Get Rich?
- Management and Leadership in Today’s Organizations
- Introduction
- The Role of Management
- Planning
- Catching the Entrepreneurial Spirit: Changing Strategy Can Change Your Opportunities
- Managing Change: Boeing Takes Off in New Direction
- Organizing
- Leading, Guiding, and Motivating Others
- Ethics in Practice: Balancing the Duality of Ethics
- Controlling
- Managerial Roles
- Managerial Skills
- Trends in Management and Leadership
- Managers and Information Technology
- Managing Multinational Cultures
- Designing Organizational Structures
- Introduction
- Building Organizational Structures
- Traditional Structures
- Line-and-Staff Organization
- Contemporary Structures
- Using Teams to Enhance Motivation and Performance
- Work Groups vs. Work Teams
- Building High-Performance Teams
- Authority—Establishing Organizational Relationships
- Degree of Centralization
- Organizational Design Considerations
- Managing Change: Google Learns the Alphabet
- The Informal Organization
- Trends in Organizational Structure
- Outsourcing
- Managing Human Resources and Labor Relations
- Introduction
- Achieving High Performance through Human Resources Management
- HR Planning and Forecasting
- Employee Recruitment
- Employee Selection
- Employee Training and Development
- Performance Planning and Evaluation
- Employee Compensation and Benefits
- The Labor Relations Process
- Negotiating Union Contracts through Collective Bargaining
- Managing Grievances and Conflicts
- Legal Environment of Human Resources and Labor Relations
- Trends in Human Resource Management and Labor Relations
- Motivating Employees
- Introduction
- Early Theories of Motivation
- The Hawthorne Studies
- Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- McGregor’s Theories X and Y
- Herzberg’s Motivator-Hygiene Theory Contemporary Views on Motivation
- Goal-Setting Theory
- From Motivation Theory to Application
- Recognition and Empowerment
- Trends in Employee Motivation
- Employee Ownership
- Coping with the Rising Costs of Absenteeism
- Achieving World-Class Operations Management
- Introduction
- Production and Operations Management—An Overview
- The Production Process: How Do We Make It?
- Converting Inputs to Outputs
- Location, Location, Location: Where Do We Make It?
- International Location Considerations
- Pulling It Together: Resource Planning
- Strategies for Supply-Chain Management
- Production and Operations Control
- Looking for a Better Way: Improving Production and Operations
- Transforming the Factory Floor with Technology
- Adaptable Factories: Flexible and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Systems
- Trends in Production and Operations Management
- Creating Products and Pricing Strategies to Meet Customers’ Needs
- Introduction
- The Marketing Concept
- Creating a Marketing Strategy
- Creating a Competitive Advantage
- Developing a Marketing Mix
- Buyer Behavior
- Market Segmentation
- Benefit Segmentation
- What Is a Product?
- Creating Products That Deliver Value
- The Product Life Cycle
- Pricing Strategies and Future Trends
- Trends in Developing Products and Pricing
- Distributing and Promoting Products and Services
- Introduction
- The Nature and Functions of Distribution (Place)
- The Functions of Distribution Channels
- Wholesaling
- The Competitive World of Retailing
- Using Supply Chain Management to Increase Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction
- Promotion Strategy
- The Huge Impact of Advertising
- The Importance of Personal Selling
- Sales Promotion
- Public Relations Helps Build Goodwill
- Trends in Social Media
- Trends in E-Commerce
- Using Technology to Manage Information
- Introduction
- Transforming Businesses through Information
- Linking Up: Computer Networks
- Enterprise Portals Open the Door to Productivity
- Management Information Systems
- Technology Management and Planning
- Protecting Computers and Information
- Preventing Problems
- Trends in Information Technology
- Using Financial Information and Accounting
- Introduction
- Accounting: More than Numbers
- The Accounting Profession
- Basic Accounting Procedures
- Technological Advances
- The Balance Sheet
- The Income Statement
- The Statement of Cash Flows
- Analyzing Financial Statements
- Profitability Ratios
- Trends in Accounting
- Understanding Money and Financial Institutions
- Introduction
- Show Me the Money
- The Federal Reserve System
- U.S. Financial Institutions
- Nondepository Financial Institutions
- Insuring Bank Deposits
- International Banking
- Trends in Financial Institutions
- Understanding Financial Management and Securities Markets
- Introduction
- The Role of Finance and the Financial Manager
- How Organizations Use Funds
- Obtaining Short-Term Financing
- Raising Long-Term Financing
- Equity Financing
- Securities Markets
- Investing in Bonds
- Buying and Selling at Securities Exchanges
- Alternative Trading Systems
- Trends in Financial Management and Securities Markets
- Your Career in Business
- Introduction
- Developing Interpersonal Skills Is Key to Your Success
- Make Your Future Happen: Learn to Plan
- Going to College Is an Opportunity of a Lifetime—Never Drop Out
- Study Well
- Get Your Career Off on the Right Track
- Find Your First Professional Job
- Interview Like a Pro
- Self-Test Scoring Guidelines
Interactive content
Study questions
Get the Gist study questions at the bottom of every page guide students to critical information by providing immediate feedback. These low-risk opportunities allow students to reset answers to try again or study for tests.
Response boards
Students engage each other through discussion boards that only allow students to see the responses of their peers after they've posted their own comment.
Polls
Polls allow students to share their opinions and then view a live pie chart displaying the responses of all class members.
Study tools
Webtext Reader app
Students can access materials and complete assignments offline with our mobile app available for iOS and Android.
Reading tools
Reading tools allow students to click on vocabulary terms for definitions and mark up their own webtext by highlighting and adding notes in the margins.
Read to Me
Our text-to-speech feature instantly creates an audio version of the webtext page to extend the reach of online content.
My Progress
Students can keep track of their own work inside My Progress, which records their scores, time spent, and completion.