Preface
Thank you for using Portolese, Bonner, & Krause’s Entrepreneurship book. We think you will enjoy its conversational style, multimedia content, and wealth of information.
Whether you are an instructor or a student, by using this book, you are becoming a part of the low-cost textbook revolution! Instructors can customize this book by rearranging, adding, deleting, or editing its content. We are using technology to make textbooks cheaper and more relevant for our students.
The goal of this book is to provide accessible and practical content for students hoping to start their own businesses at some point in their careers. Even if this isn’t your goal as a student, this text will provide you with a basis for innovative thinking that can be applied to any field you find yourself working in.
Other unique features of this book include...
A focus on service-oriented businesses
Small-business examples that make concepts engaging and relatable
Multimedia content in every chapter to engage visual learners
Captivating opening cases focused on smaller businesses and start-ups
“How Would You Handle It?” callout boxes that pose real-life challenges and questions to readers
“Leveraging” callout boxes that explain how to leverage outside resources to make business decisions
Interactive end-of-chapter activities
These pedagogical components and features make the book easy to read and understand, while still maintaining an academic focus.
Organization
The organization of this book is intuitive and follows the process entrepreneurs go through to start a new business.
The first part of the book, called “The Idea,” addresses the basics of entrepreneurship in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 focuses on the basics of business, presenting baseline information that will be important to understanding the next steps of developing a business. Chapter 3 presents methods for generating business ideas, as well as strategies for narrowing those ideas and focusing on the one with the most potential.
The second part of the book, called “Entrepreneurship Planning,” teaches readers how to develop the business plan they’ll need to obtain funding for a new business venture. Chapter 4 focuses on marketing analysis, Chapter 5 on understanding the financials of a business, and Chapter 6 on the operational aspects of a business. Chapter 7 addresses the management aspects of a business, and Chapter 8 discusses how to assemble the business plan and market the business idea.
The third part of the book, which includes Chapter 9, addresses “Entrepreneurship Execution.” This section covers planning, managing change, and dealing with various internal and external factors involved in starting a business.
The fourth and final section of the book, “Growing and Sustaining Your Business,” addresses management of human resources in Chapter 10, how to grow a business in Chapter 11, and how to plan for the future of a business in Chapter 12.
Features
Each chapter contains a number of innovative features to engage students:
Opening cases: The opening case at the beginning of each chapter introduces the content of the chapter by presenting a specific small business case. Insight from these cases will provide useful baseline knowledge for the rest of the chapter.
Learning objectives by section: Instead of presenting a long list of learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter, we divide learning objectives by section and define key terms for every section in the book.
“How Would You Handle It?”: These scenarios will help students develop the critical thinking skills necessary for solving entrepreneurial problems.
Multimedia: Use of multimedia content in each chapter allows readers to identify visually with specific concepts presented in the chapter.
Figures: Clear and focused visuals in each chapter illustrate key strategic concepts in entrepreneurship.
Interactive activities: Every chapter includes interactive activities. These activities guide readers through the development of a business plan, while teaching the critical thinking and teamwork skills necessary for a successful business venture.
We are confident that you will enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed writing it for you, the instructors, professors, and students. Please feel free to send us a personal email if you have questions or comments about the text. Best wishes for a great semester or quarter!
Laura, Ellensburg, WA, laura.portolese@cwu.edu
Julie. Seattle, WA, julie.bonner@cwu.edu
Jackie, Ellensburg, WA, jaclyn.krause@cwu.edu