Contains various introductory business topics, using examples happening in the business world. This book includes many ways to help your students improve their critical thinking skills. It gives students the business language useful in taking the first steps toward becoming successful business majors and successful business people.

Prologue: Launching Your Business Career. Part I: BUSINESS IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT. 1. The Framework of Contemporary Business. 2. Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. 3. Economic Challenges Facing Global and Domestic Business. 4. Competing in Global Markets. Part II: STARTING AND GROWING YOUR BUSINESS. 5. Options for Organizing Small and Large Businesses. 6. Starting Your Own Business: The Entrepreneurship Alternative. 7. E-Business: Doing Business Online. Part III: MANAGEMENT: EMPOWERING PEOPLE TO ACHIEVE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES. 8. Management, Leadership, and the Internal Organization. 9. Human Resource Management, Motivation, and Labor-Management Relations, 10. Improving Performance through Empowerment, Teamwork, and Communication, 11. Production and Operations Management, Part IV: MARKETING MANAGEMENT, 12. Customer-Driven Marketing. 13. Product and Distribution Strategies. 14. Promotion and Pricing Strategies. Part V: MANAGING TECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATION. 15. Using Technology to Manage Information. 16. Understanding Accounting and Financial Statements. Part VI: MANAGING FINANCIAL RESOURCES. 17. Financial Management and Institutions. 18. Financing and Investing through Securities Markets. Appendix A: Risk Management and Insurance. Appendix B: A Guide to Your Personal Finances and the Stock Market Game. Appendix C: The Business Plan.