B100 An introduction to business and management
Block 1
Readings 1–11
By Anja Schaefer, with contributions from Chris Cornforth
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First published 2015. Second edition 2017
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2.1
,Contents
Reading 1: What is a business? 5
Introduction 5
1 Defining the meaning of business 5
Summary 7
References 8
Reading 2: Different types of business 9
Introduction 9
1 Classifying businesses by size 10
2 Classifying businesses by industry sector 12
3 Ownership structures and legal forms 13
4 Examples of different businesses 15
Summary 17
References 18
Reading 3: Businesses and other types of organisation 19
Introduction 19
1 The differences between organisations in the three sectors 20
2 Hybrid organisations 22
Summary 24
References 25
Reading 4: What is management? 26
Introduction 26
1 What managers do 27
2 What others think managers do 29
Summary 32
References 33
Reading 5: The external environment of a business 34
Introduction 34
1 Sociological factors 34
2 Technological factors 35
3 Economic factors 38
4 Environmental factors 40
5 Political and legal factors 42
6 Ethical factors 44
Summary 44
References 45
Reading 6: Business, society, stakeholders and ethics 46
Introduction 46
1 Business and society 46
2 Stakeholders 48
3 Business ethics 51
Summary 53
Reading 7: The business functions 54
, Introduction 54
1 Human resource management 54
2 Marketing 55
3 Accounting and finance 56
4 Operations 58
5 Information management 58
Summary 59
Reading 8: SWOT analysis 60
Introduction 60
1 Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats 60
2 Conducting a SWOT analysis 62
Summary 67
References 68
Reading 9: Organisational structure 69
Introduction 69
1 Types of organisational structure 70
2 The importance of structure 71
3 Formal and informal structures 74
4 Dimensions of structure 75
5 Virtual organisations 77
Summary 79
References 80
Reading 10: Organisational culture 81
Introduction 81
1 Definitions of culture 82
2 Elements and types of organisational culture 84
3 Informal elements of culture and subcultures 87
4 Factors influencing organisational culture 89
Summary 91
References 92
Reading 11: Values and beliefs 93
Introduction 93
1 What are values? 93
2 Different value types 94
Summary 97
References 98
Acknowledgements 99
