BA 101 Chapter 1
How many U.S. businesses close each year?
175,000
Entrepreneurship
All the resources in the world have little value unless entrepreneurs are willing to take the risk of starting businesses to use those resources.
Knowledge
Information technology has revolutionized business, making it possible to quickly determine wants and needs and to respond with desired goods and services.
Land (or natural resource)
Land and other natural resources are used to make homes, cars, and other products.
Insourcing
Many foreign companies are setting up design and production facilities here in the United States. Insourcing creates many new U.S. jobs and helps offset those jobs being outsourced.
Richest Demographic group in the US
People aged 65 to 74
Labor (workers)
People have always been an important resource in producing goods and services, but many people are now being replaced by technology.
Greening
Saving energy and producing products that cause less harm to the environment, such as solar energy
What can impact the level of risk for businesses
The economic system and the way government works with or against businesses
Capital
This includes machines, tools, buildings, or whatever else is used in the production of goods. It might not include money; money is used to buy factors of production but is not always considered a factor by itself.
What makes countries rich today
a combination of entrepreneurship and the effective use of knowledge.
Entrepreneur
a person who risks time and money to start and manage a business.
Stakeholders
all the people who stand to gain or lose by the policies and activities of a business and whose concerns the business needs to address.
Database
an electronic storage file for information
nonprofit organization
an organization whose goals do not include making a personal profit for its owners or organizers. Nonprofit organizations often do strive for financial gains, but they use them to meet their social or educational goals rather than for personal profit.
Business
any activity that seeks to provide goods and services to others while operating at a profit. To earn that profit, you provide desired goods, jobs, and services to people or other businesses
two kinds of E-commerce
business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B).
business environment
consists of the surrounding factors that either help or hinder the development of businesses.
Outsourcing
contracting with other companies (often in other countries) to do some or all of the functions of a firm, like its production or accounting tasks.
Examples of stakeholders
customers, employees, stockholders, suppliers, dealers (retailers), bankers, people in the surrounding community, the media, environmentalists, competitors, unions, critics, and elected government leaders
Technology
everything from phones to computers, mobile devices, medical imaging machines, robots, the Internet, social media, and the various software programs and apps that make business processes more effective, efficient, and productive
Taxes go towards:
federal government and local communities use to build hospitals, schools, libraries, playgrounds, roads, and other public facilities. Taxes also help keep the environment clean, support people in need, and provide police and fire protection.
Climate Change
he movement of the temperature of the planet up or down over time.
Services
intangible products (i.e., products that can't be held in your hand) such as education, health care, insurance, recreation, and travel and tourism.
Five Factors of Production
land, labor, capital, entrepreneurship, knowledge
Usually more risk equals:
more profit
Loss
occurs when a business's expenses are more than its revenues. If a business loses money over time, it will likely have to close, putting its employees out of work.
Efficiency
producing goods and services using the least amount of resources
Effectiveness
producing the desired result
Examples of nonprofit organizations
public schools, civic associations, charities like the United Way and the Salvation Army, and groups devoted to social causes
Diversity
recruiting and keeping minority and female employees. Diversity efforts now include older adults, people with disabilities, people with different sexual orientations, atheists, religious, extroverts, introverts, married people, and singles. It also means dealing sensitively with workers and cultures around the world
Standard of living
refers to the amount of goods and services people can buy with the money they have.
Goods
tangible products such as computers, food, clothing, cars, and appliances.
what are the five elements in the business environment
technological environment, economic and legal environment, competitive environment, social environment, and global business environment
Profit
the amount of money a business earns above and beyond what it spends for salaries and other expenses needed to run the operation.
Productivity
the amount of output you generate given the amount of input, such as the number of hours you work. The more you can produce in any given period, the more money you are worth to companies
E-commerce (electronic commerce)
the buying and selling of goods online.
Risk
the chance an entrepreneur takes of losing time and money on a business that may not prove profitable. Profit, remember, is the amount of money a business earns above and beyond what it pays out for salaries and other expenses.
Quality of life
the general well-being of a society in terms of its political freedom, natural environment, education, health care, safety, amount of leisure, and rewards that add to the satisfaction and joy that other goods and services provide.
Identity Theft
the obtaining of individuals' personal information, such as Social Security and credit card numbers, for illegal purposes.
demography
the statistical study of the human population with regard to its size, density, and other characteristics such as age, race, gender, and income.
Revanue
the total amount of money a business takes in during a given period by selling goods and services.
