Introduction to Business

This text stands apart from other entries in the market for its ability to make the fundamentals of business understandable, functional, and relevant to students with little or no business background. Gaspar et al. is the first cross-functionally authored text in the marketplace. Each author--a recognized authority in his field--brings his own expertise to the course while keeping the discussion focused and concise for introductory level students. Recognizing that contemporary business, regardless of where it is conducted, will be heavily influenced by rapid globalization, advances in technology, and enforcement of ethical standards, the authors focus on these three hot button themes--Global Business, Technology and Business, and Ethics in Business--throughout the text. In addition, the strategies and operations of three major companies--DaimlerChrysler, McDonald's, and Sony--reflecting three dynamic regions of the world, i.e., Europe, North America, and Asia respectively, are also spotlighted throughout the text.

Dr. Julian Gaspar is the director of Texas A&M University's Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) and is responsible for internationalizing Mays Business School's academic programs and faculty research. As the director of one of America's 17 CIBER business schools, Dr. Gaspar's mission is to infuse and promote internationalization in business courses. He is the architect of institutionalizing internationalization in Mays business curriculum through international business course design and development, and implementation of overseas study programs. Dr. Gaspar teaches international finance and conducts study abroad programs with Mays students in China, Europe and India. Dr. Gaspar is an international economist by training, with three decades of international expertise in country risk analysis, project economic and financial analysis, and financial and industrial restructuring of emerging economies. His corporate experience stems from his years of work with Bank of America in Tokyo and San Francisco, where he conducted country risk analysis and researched and analyzed debt problems of developing countries. During his tenure as an international economist with the World Bank Group in Washington, DC, Dr. Gaspar worked on analyzing investment projects in Asia and designing financial and industrial restructuring programs for Poland and Cyprus. Dr. Gaspar received his PhD in international and monetary economics from Georgetown University, an MBA from Indiana University, and a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Madras, India. Dr. Gaspar consults with the U.S. Department of State on business education reform in Central Asia and Russia. Dr. Gaspar is the lead author of two textbooks: Introduction to Business and Introduction to Global Business.

Professor Bierman does research and writing in the areas of strategic management and human resource management, with particular emphasis on topics related to corporate governance and professional service firms. Earlier in his career he held positions in the federal government at the EEOC, the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Professor Kolari has taught financial markets and institutions at Texas A&M University and been active in international education, consulting, and executive education. Currently, he is director of the Commercial Banking Program in the Mays Business School. In 1994, he was awarded the JP Morgan Chase Professorship in Finance in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. In 1986, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Helsinki and worked with the Bank of Finland and large banking organizations there. He has served as a Faculty Fellow with the Mortgage Bankers Association of America and a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in 1982. In recent years he has worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish School of Business and Economics (Hanken), Vaasa, Finland. Previously, he served as an advisor on the North American Free Trade Agreement for the State of Texas, consultant for the Mexican government in financing technology, and member of the Academy of Sciences for Higher Education in Russia. With over 100 articles published in refereed journals, numerous other papers and monographs, 15 co-authored books, and over 100 competitive papers presented at academic conferences, he ranks in the top 1%-2% of finance scholars in the U.S., according to recently published guides of research productivity among finance professors. His papers have appeared in such domestic and international journals as the Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Business, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Journal of Financial Research, Journal of Banking and Finance, Real Estate Economics, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, and the Scandinavian Journal of Economics.

Richard T. Hise is Professor Emeritus of Marketing, Texas A&M University, where his teaching and research interests are international marketing, product planning and development, management of technology, marketing strategy, and logistics/supply chain. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Global Marketing, Sloan MIT Management Review, Business Horizons, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Research-Technology Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Marketing Management. He has authored or co-authored eight marketing or business textbooks. A consultant to major companies such as Hotel Sofitel, Lockheed Martin, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Harley Davidson, and Fleetwood Enterprises, he has given executive development programs for Hoffman-LaRoche, Halliburton, Amoco, and the Kuwait Institute of Banking Studies. Dr. Hise has worked and traveled in England, France, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, and Liechtenstein as leader/instructor of study abroad courses. He taught seminars in Ecuador and Kuwait and semester-length courses at the Universidad de las Americas, Puebla, Mexico, and the Grande Ecole, Tours, France. His biography is included in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in International Business Education and Research, and Who's Who in Finance and Business. He has a BA from Gettysburg College (major in economics, minors in business, political science, and Spanish) and MBA and DBA degrees from the University of Maryland.

Dr. L. Murphy Smith, CPA, is the David and Ashley Dill Distinguished Professor of Accounting at Murray State University. Dr. Smith's academic record includes numerous professional journal articles, research grants, books, and professional meeting presentations in the U.S. and other countries. His work has been cited in various news media, including National Public Radio, Fortune, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. He has received numerous teaching and research awards, including the Outstanding Researcher Award from the American Accounting Association Strategic and Emerging Technologies Section, the KPMG Outstanding Published Manuscript Award from the American Accounting Association Gender Issues and Work-Life Balance Section, the Distinguished Research Award from Allied Academies, and the Outstanding Educator Award from the Texas Society of CPAs. He ranks in the top 1% of authors on Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN.com) by downloaded articles. During his career, he has held a number of leadership positions in academic and professional organizations e.g. President of the American Accounting Association Gender Issues and Work-Life Balance Section. His major research interests are ethics, international accounting, systems, and auditing. Dr. Smith serves on several journal editorial boards and his research has appeared in leading journals such as Accounting Horizons, Contemporary Accounting Research, Advances in Accounting, Journal of Business Ethics, International Journal of Business Excellence, and Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting.