Business Today (10th Edition) - Hardcover

Michael H. Mescon; John V. Thill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0130912638 ISBN 13: 9780130912633

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2001

Synopsis

This best-selling book presents a balanced view of business—the strengths, weaknesses, successes, failures, problems, and challenges. Business Today is highly respected for its up-to-date, real-life examples, its in-depth coverage, and its lively, conversational writing style. Readers not only read about business but also experience it firsthand in every chapter through a variety of highly involving activities. Chapter topics cover conducting business in the global economy; starting and expanding a small business; managing a business, information systems, and production; managing employees; developing marketing strategies to satisfy customers; and managing accounting and financial resources. For individuals who want to pursue and obtain satisfying business careers.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

A text of the highest quality backed by superior authorship, this new edition of Business Today enables your students to not only read about business, but actually experience it-first hand—through a variety of highly involving activities in every chapter. Students will appreciate its currency, real-life examples, in-depth coverage, lively conversational writing style, colorful graphics, entrepreneurial focus, and broad selection of featured companies. Literally millions of students have learned about business from Business Today, and this edition continues its respected tradition of excellence. Take this opportunity to explore the features of Business Today, Tenth Edition. With an active-learning approach that launches students into the real world of business, this text offers today's most compelling look at the business world. We think this is the text that instructors and students alike have been looking for!

All-New Features in This Edition!

• INSIDE BUSINESS TODAY—Each chapter begins with a vignette, "Inside Business Today." that attracts student interest by vividly portraying the business challenges faced by real businesspeople at companies such as Krispy Creme, Yahoo!, Jamba Juice, and Kinko's. Each vignette ends with thought-provoking questions that draw students into the chapter.
• VIDEO CASES AND EXERCISES—Each chapter concludes with an engaging "Video Case and Exercises." Professionally produced videos take students behind the scenes at some of the world's most fascinating companies, such as Lands' End, Ritz-Carlton, Terra Chips, Amy's Ice Creams, and IHOP. Each set of exercises contains nine labeled parts: analysis, application, decision, communication, integration, ethics, debate, teamwork, and online research.
• FOCUSING ON E-BUSINESS TODAY—From the smallest dot-coms to lumbering global giants, e-business is affecting the way all companies do business today. "Focusing on E-Business Today" is a dedicated section that appears at the end of each chapter and expands student learning by explaining in depth the important challenges companies are facing in the world of e-business.
• BUSINESS PLANPRO EXERCISES— The end-of-part "Business PlanPro Exercises" enable students to use the knowledge they've gained from reading chapters within that part. Each exercise has two tasks: "Think Like a Pro" tasks require students to navigate the software, find and review information in sample business plans, and evaluate and critique some of the thinking that went behind these plans. "Create Your Own Business Plan" tasks provide students with an opportunity to apply their skills to creating their own winning business plan.
• FACE-OFF CASES— In end-of-part "Face-Off" cases, students compare and contrast the performance results of two companies in the same industry who compete against each other by adopting different approaches and methods for executing their strategies, such as UPS vs. FedEx, Airbus vs. Boeing, and Barnesandnoble.com vs. Amazon. As the two companies battle it out, students will gain an understanding of the challenges of competing in today's global marketplace.

Greater Emphasis on E-Business

When preparing the Tenth Edition, the authors dedicated themselves to the most extensive revision ever. The most significant change is the expanded coverage of the technological revolution in business. Business Today's nine-way integrated approach to e-business reinforces its importance to students.

1. A substantial, dedicated section at the end of each chapter. Focusing on E-Business Today is a feature that appears at the end of each chapter just before the end-of-chapter Summary of Learning Objectives.
2. Full-chapter coverage. Internet technology and its impact on the way companies do business is explored in detail in Component Chapter A, which follows Chapter 1.
3. "Keeping Pace with Technology and Electronic Commerce" boxes. Special feature boxes highlight the differences between conducting business in the e-world and in a traditional business environment.
4. Featured e-businesses. Chapter vignettes, case studies, boxes, and in-text and online examples feature popular e-businesses such as AOL Time Warner, Cisco, Dell, E*Trade, eSchwab, Priceline, 1-800 Flowers, Print, eBay, Amazon, and more.
5. Online Supplement. Written to accompany this text, this supplement focuses entirely on e-business hot topics and the latest trends in e-commerce.
6. "Video Case with Exercises." Many of the video cases give students a first hand look at critical e-commerce issues that companies are facing.
7. Internet exercises. Students become acquainted with the wealth of information on the Web by completing the text's "Best of the Web," "Explore on Your Own," and supplemental online Internet exercises.
8. Learning objectives. One e-business learning objective appears in the "Learning Objectives" list at the beginning of each chapter.
9. Photo and exhibit program. Photographs and exhibits throughout the book that relate to e-business give students an intimate glimpse into the real-life application of the topic being portrayed.

Spotlight on Five Major Business Challenges

This edition places special emphasis on five major challenges facing businesses in today's highly competitive, fast-paced, and changing environment. The material is woven into chapter text, where explanation and analysis offer students vivid insights into how businesspeople cope with these challenges on a daily basis. A list of the examples associated with each of the following well-integrated themes can be found in a special "Guide to Thematic Examples" following this Preface:

1. PRODUCING QUALITY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT SATISFY CUSTOMERS' CHANGING NEEDS
2. STARTING AND MANAGING A SMALL BUSINESS IN TODAY'S COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
3. THINKING GLOBALLY AND COMMITTING TO A CULTURALLY DIVERSE WORK FORCE
4. BEHAVING IN AN ETHICALLY AND SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE MANNER
5. KEEPING PACE WITH TECHNOLOGY AND ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

Trademark Features—All Updated for This Edition

• SPECIAL FEATURE BOXES—Special feature boxes make the world of business come alive with fresh, never-before-seen examples that are carefully placed in each chapter to further enhance student learning. Each box includes two critical-thinking questions that are ideal for developing individual or team problem-solving skills. The four themes include the following:
  - Keeping Pace with Technology and Electronic Commerce
  - Competing in the Global Marketplace
  - Managing in the 21st Century
  - Thinking About Ethics
• BEST OF THE WEB—Students become acquainted with the Web and its wealth of information that relates to the content of Business Today. In each chapter, three "Best of the Web" features describe Web sites that reinforce and extend chapter material.
• A CASE FOR CRITICAL THINKING—At the end of each chapter, "A Case for Critical Thinking" reinforces points made in the chapter. This classic device assists students in evaluating situations, using good judgment, learning to make decisions, and developing critical thinking skills. These cases are 100% new!

End-of-Chapter Skill-Building Activities and Exercises

As stated in the SCANS (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) report from the Department of Labor, it is essential that students meet national standards of academic and occupational skills. Like no other introduction to business text, Business Today emphasizes the skills and competencies necessary for students to make the transition from academia to the workplace.

Business Today includes an extraordinary number of pedagogical devices that simplify teaching, facilitate learning, stimulate critical thinking, maintain interest and enjoyment, and illustrate the practical application of chapter concepts.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

• "Questions for Review" reinforce learning and help students review chapter material.
• "Questions for Application" give students the opportunity to apply principles presented in the chapter material; two of these questions are integrated to help students apply principles learned in earlier chapters.
• "Questions for Analysis" help students analyze chapter material; one question focuses on e-business and the other focuses on ethics. Each is marked with a special icon.

PRACTICE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

• NEW! Sharpening Your Communication Skills. These exercises call on students to practice a wide range of communication activities, including one-on-one and group discussions, personal interviews, panel sessions, oral and written papers, and letter- and memo-writing assignments.
• NEW! Handling Difficult Situations on the Job. Students learn to handle difficult situations on the job through short, experimental exercises. They must use the knowledge they've gained from the text, along with their good judgment, to solve a challenging workplace dilemma. Taken from actual events, these exercises are designed to develop student problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
• NEW! Building Your Team Skills. Students have the opportunity to form team-building skills through innovative exercises that teach brainstorming, collaborative decision making, developing a consensus, debating, role-playing, and resolving conflict.

EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE

• "Keeping Current Using The Wall Street Journal." To emphasize the link between today's business news and Business Today, a "Keeping Current Using The Wall Street Journal" exercise is provided at the end of each chapter. Students are asked to choose an article they are interested in and are provided with a structure for analyzing the article in the context of the material covered in the chapter.
• New! Discovering Career Opportunities. Students can explore career resources on campus, observe businesspeople on their jobs, interview businesspeople, and perform self-evaluations to assess their own career skills and interests.
• Exploring the Best of the Web. These exercises are directly tied to the "Best of the Web" features within the chapters and give students experience with the rich resources of the Web. Students who complete these exercises will learn how to use the Internet proficiently and productively.

MASTERING GLOBAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SKILLS

Now that so many businesses are affected by global affairs, students need a stronger understanding of geography. Each of these end-of-part exercises (of which one always focuses on cultural diversity) describes a real-world business situation and asks students to complete an activity.

Learning Tools That Help Develop Skills and Enhance Comprehension

Business Today uses a variety of helpful learning tools to reinforce and apply chapter material as well as stimulate higher-level thinking skills. These learning tools include:

• Learning Objectives. Each numbered objective at the opening of the chapter signals important concepts students are expected to master. The numbered objectives reappear in the text margins close to the related material. The end-of-chapter "Summary of Learning Objectives" reinforces basic concepts by capsulizing chapter highlights for students.
• Four-Way Approach to Vocabulary Development. The text's four-way method of vocabulary reinforcement helps students learn basic business vocabulary with ease. First, each term is printed in boldface within the text. Second, a definition appears in the margin adjacent to the term. Third, an alphabetical list of key terms appears at the end of each chapter, with convenient cross-references to the pages where the terms are defined. Fourth, all marginal definitions are assembled in an alphabetical Glossary at the end of the book.
• Team Building Skills. In addition to the "Building Your Team Skills" exercises, many of the exercises included in Business Today are designed to be worked on in teams. This is especially true for application and critical thinking questions, in addition to all cases and Web-based exercises.

Lively, Conversational Writing Style

Read a few pages of this textbook and then read a few pages of another introduction to business textbook. We think you will immediately notice how the lucid writing style in Business Today makes the material pleasing to read and easy to comprehend. The Authors carefully monitored the text's content and reading level to make sure they are neither too simple nor too difficult.

State-of-the-Art Design with New Exhibits. An inspiring new text design is engrossing and attractive, yet businesslike and professional. And, a striking new selection of exhibits (which the authors refer to as "Visuals 2000+) have been created especially for this new edition. Exhibits appear frequently throughout the text to highlight and reinforce key chapter concepts and to provide students with more useful ways for remembering the information presented. The art program—numerous exhibits and photographs—amounts to a course in itself.

An Unparalleled Supplements Package Offers a Fully Integrated Teaching System

The instructional resource package accompanying this text is specially designed to simplify the tasks of teaching and learning. Several new and exciting items have been added.

ALL NEW! Instructor's Resource Manual
This all-new, comprehensive manual written by Judy Bulin, Monroe Community College, and Bud Kolter, Winthrop University, contains a set of completely integrated support materials. It is designed to assist instructors in quickly finding and assembling the resources available for each chapter of the text and includes the following new material:

• brief chapter outline and chapter summaries
• changes to the new edition
• detailed lecture outlines and notes customized for both PowerPoint users and acetate users
• sample syllabi
• pop quizzes for every chapter
• answers to all end-of-chapter questions, problems, and assignments
• a detailed Video Guide with answers to video exercise questions
• suggested classroom exercises, classroom projects, and supplemental cases
• useful Web sites

ALL NEW! Test Item File
This new two-volume Test Item File contains approximately 4,000 questions, all of which have been carefully checked for accuracy and quality. This comprehensive set written by Jay Whitlock, Cantonville Community College, consists of multiple-choice, true/false, and essay questions. Each test question is ranked by level of difficulty (easy, moderate, or difficult) and contains section and learning objective references to allow the instructor a quick and easy w...

About this edition

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0130912638
• ISBN 13: 9780130912633
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 672