Preface

Given the dynamic nature of business today, it is essential that introduction-to-business texts stay current. Consequently, this was a major goal of the Version 5.0. To accomplish this goal, the coverage in each chapter was updated to reflect today’s business environment. The chapter content, cases, tables, figures, exercises, problems, and assessment questions were all updated. Recent topics of interest to students were added, including discussions on current ethics issues; leadership examples; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and cryptocurrency.

The COVID-19 global pandemic that developed in early 2020 impacted nearly every aspect of society, government, the business environment, and, of course, businesses themselves—large and small, profit and nonprofit alike. As I prepared the final manuscript for Version 5.0, the long-term impacts of the pandemic are still somewhat hazy. While we are still working out what the “new normal” will turn out to be, we do know that the spirit of innovation and an underlying resilience are key qualities unique to Americans. Businesses are facing new challenges and either adapting and thriving or they are disappearing. It takes a flexible, entrepreneurial mindset to succeed in such unpredictable times.

In addition to the many minor revisions throughout Version 5.0, this list includes the numerous new topics, features, and updates that make this version current:

Given the increasing student interest in entrepreneurship, the text adopts an entrepreneurial chapter order that follows the steps an entrepreneur would take in starting and growing a business. But, and this is important, this chapter order can be changed to accommodate your preferences. Using FlatWorld’s fast and easy-to-use online editor, you can easily customize your book to suit your needs and those of your students. You can rearrange chapters and add, remove, or restructure content to create the perfect text for your class and improve student success.

I’ve built a textbook package that’s as supportive as possible to both students and instructors. The textbook package supports learning through content and teaching materials designed to help students master topics and assess their knowledge. The text is written using a student-friendly, conversational writing style that simplifies complex materials, captures students’ attention and makes reading the book enjoyable.

The seventeen chapters are written using a modular format with self-contained sections. Each module ends with a list of “Key Takeaways,” assessment questions, and relevant exercises written to assist students as they learn from the text.

This text uses more than seventy-five company-specific examples of interest to students, including Uber, Facebook, Under Armour, Tesla, Airbnb, GoPro, Apple, Amazon, Ben & Jerry’s, Starbucks, and Subway. However, I improve on the traditional approach by adding an optional case study of a dynamic organization that can easily be integrated into each chapter of the text. The company chosen for this purpose is Nike (although an instructor could use any company of their choice). I have also included an optional business plan project.

The textbook package is flexible enough to meet the needs of four groups of instructors—those who want to:

I believe that the preceding quote [often attributed to Benjamin Franklin] summarizes an important goal of this textbook package: to encourage students to be active learners. Thus, I’ve designed the textbook to facilitate the attainment of this goal. To give you a flavor of the purpose of these online materials, let’s take a quick tour of the features available for each chapter:

In addition, I strive to enhance student learning through thought-provoking questions, problems, and cases that ask students to do more than merely regurgitate information from the text. Most of these exercises require students to gather information, assess a situation, think about it critically, and reach a conclusion. Many are based on current business situations involving well-known companies of interest to students.

Each chapter presents a number of questions and problems as well as five end-of-chapter cases on areas of skill and knowledge endorsed by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB): Learning on the Web, Career Opportunities, The Ethics Angle, Team-Building Skills, and The Global View. The questions are challenging and stimulating, and most are appropriate for in-class discussions. More than 70 percent of our items help students build skills in areas designated as critical by AACSB, including analytical skills, ethical awareness and reasoning abilities, multicultural understanding and globalization, use of information technology, and communications and team-oriented skills.

Assessment is a vital part of the learning process. Comprehensive assessments, such as final exams, help determine what students comprehend and retain from the material they have studied, usually over an extended period of time. Interim assessments, such as quizzes and homework assignments, help faculty and students determine if a student is on track to successful achievement of learning outcomes. Consequently, a key goal of the teaching package that accompanies Exploring Business is to provide an ample number of well-constructed items that get to the heart of student learning and measure critical understandings of core concepts. Adopters of this book have access to a total of 4,000 author-prepared questions, including 400 quiz questions embedded in the online book that feature immediate feedback; 300 end-of-section questions and problems; 90 end-of-chapter questions, problems, and cases; 600 items preloaded into FlatWorld’s online homework system; and 2,500 test-item questions available in three options: as a Word file; pre-loaded into a computer-generated test system; and as a pre-formatted file for easy import into the most popular learning management systems (LMS).

For twelve years, I developed, coordinated, and taught an Introduction to Business course in which first-year students were introduced to business. During this twelve-year period, more than 3,500 students took the course. Over the years, sections of the course were taught by a mix of permanent faculty, business executives, adjuncts, graduate students,  and even the dean. Each semester, I oversaw the course and guided approximately ten instructors as they taught their sections—a task that was made possible through the development and continuous improvement of teaching materials.

This text offers an extensive assortment of teaching materials, including a Test Item File, Test Generator, Homework System, Instructor’s Manual, PowerPoint Slides, Flash Cards, optional chapter-integrated Case Study, and optional Business Plan Project. In addition, it includes two packets of relevant materials: one for those using the business plan and the other for those adopting the case study. Because I feel strongly that well-structured and easily understood teaching materials are vital to the success of this course, I have personally written or completely revised all of the supplements.

An optional Nike case study is available for those instructors who decide to introduce their students to business using an exciting case—one that is updated yearly. Through an in-depth study of a real company, students can learn not only about the functional areas of business, but how these functional areas fit together. Studying a dynamic organization on a real-time basis allows students to discover the challenges that it faces and exposes them to critical issues affecting the business, such as globalization, ethics and social responsibility, diversity, sustainability, product innovation, supply chain management, e-business, and social media marketing.

Students learn about Nike by reading a case study based on extensive research and executive interviews. The case is broken down into individual case notes, which are linked to the appropriate sections of the text. Each provides a real-world example to help students master a particular business topic. For example, after reading about the ways companies promote their products, students are directed to a Nike case note that traces the evolution of the company’s promotional strategies, including its well-known sports-marketing efforts. After reading chapter materials on the pros and cons of doing business in a global environment, students can read a Nike case note that examines both the benefits that the company derives from its international operations and the responsibilities that Nike has to the countries in which it operates.

Current (and sometimes controversial) topics can be woven into the class through Nike-related memo or email writing (or debating) assignments accompanying each chapter. These assignments, which are updated frequently, provide students with an opportunity to strengthen their writing skills and form opinions on current issues affecting Nike. I’ve found that, by studying Nike, students willingly participate in classroom discussions. Why? Because Nike is on just about everybody’s radar screen. Students enjoy discussing the opportunities and challenges faced by Nike and speculating on what the company intends to do about them, now and in the future.

The Nike case is optional. Instructors can use all of the case, none of the case, or something in between. Alternatively, instructors can use the case as a template for developing a case study based on a company of their choice.

A “Nike Case” packet is available for any instructor wishing to integrate the Nike case into their course. The packet includes a revised syllabus, Nike case notes, exam questions and answers, writing assignments and grading templates, discussion notes on Nike topics, teaching notes, teaching tips, and numerous other materials I prepared during my twelve years developing and teaching the course, utilizing a two-year faculty fellowship with Accenture and a twelve-year partnership with Nike.

Having students develop a business plan as a component of an Introduction to Business course has considerable academic value. A business plan project introduces students to the excitement and challenges of starting a business and helps them discover how the functional areas of business interact. Thus, this textbook package includes an optional business plan project that’s fully integrated into the book. The business plan project is modeled after one used and refined by me and my teaching team over a twelve-year period. During this time period, more than 800 student teams prepared and presented business plans using this approach.

If their instructor elects to assign the business plan project, students begin the project early in the course by reviewing a document describing the business plan project. In the chapters that follow, students are asked to complete another section of the ten-part business plan project. By the time they’ve reached the end of the course, they’re shown how to integrate each of these individual sections into a final version of the plan. Because the project is carefully coordinated with the presentation of course materials, students are able to apply what they’re learning, as they’re learning it, to the practical process of preparing a business plan.

Because I understand that preparing the financial section of the business plan can be difficult for students, we furnish students with an Excel template, that simplifies the process of preparing financial reports for their proposed businesses. They don’t even need to be competent in Excel to use it; it’s designed to be simple to use, and we provide detailed instructions.

A “Business Plan Project” packet is available for any instructor wishing to integrate the Business plan project into their course. The packet includes a revised syllabus, team assignment instructions, team-building exercises, team member rating sheets, teaching notes, guest presentation suggestions, instructions for events such as Banker’s Day when student teams seek financing by presenting their business plan to bankers and alum, team presentations, grading templates for presentations, business plan contest guidelines, and numerous other materials.

Those teaching Introduction to Business come from varied backgrounds but share common goals of building excitement among students about business and sparking their interest in future business courses. I wrote this text to provide members of this community with a fully developed teaching package that enhances the learning environment and helps them introduce students to business in an exciting way. My hope is that by sharing my materials, experiences, and approach to teaching with others, they will enjoy the course as much as I have.

Karen Collins

May 8, 2023