Exploring Business

The  author’s goals in writing Exploring Business Version 2.0 were simple: (1)  introduce students to business in an exciting way and (2) provide faculty  with a fully developed teaching package that allows them to do the  former.    Toward those ends, the following features (beyond an  extraordinarily clear book) make this an outstanding text:    1- Integrated (Optional) Nike Case Study: A Nike case study is available for  instructors who wish to introduce students to business using an exciting and  integrated case (updated each semester). Through an in-depth study of a real  company, students learn about the functional areas of business and how these  areas fit together. Studying a dynamic organization on a real-time basis  allows students to discover the challenges that it faces, and exposes them to  critical issues affecting the business, such as globalization, ethics and  social responsibility, product innovation, diversity, supply chain  management, and e-business.    Students learn about Nike by reading  a case study broken down into 26 individual case notes, each linked to the  appropriate section(s) of the text. Each provides a real-world example to  help students master a particular topic. We also provide four award-winning  videos featuring company executives discussing: the company’s history, its  corporate responsibility challenges and initiatives, its commitment to  product innovation, and its entrance into the soccer shoe market. Instructors  can show the 15-minute videos in class or have students watch them online.  Discussion questions written by the author aid classroom discussions on the  video topics. Each chapter contains a multi-part question on one of the Nike  case notes covered in the chapter. In addition, the test item file contains  multiple-choice questions keyed to the Nike cases.    2- A Progressive (Optional) Business Plan: Having students develop a  business plan in the course introduces students to the excitement and  challenges of starting a business and helps them discover how the functional  areas of business interact. This textbook package includes an  optionalintegrated business plan project modeled after one refined by the  author and her teaching team over the past ten years.    Students  begin by reviewing a document describing the business plan project. In  subsequent chapters, students complete another section of the 10-part  business plan project. By the end of the course they’re shown how to  integrate each individual section into a final plan. Because the project is  carefully coordinated with the presentation of course materials, students are  able to apply what they’re learning, as they’re learning it, to the practical  process of preparing a business plan. Preparing the financial section of the  business plan can be difficult for students, so we furnish students with an  Excel template that simplifies the process. They don’t even need to be  competent in Excel to use it; it’s simple to use and we provide detailed  instructions.    3- AACSB Emphasis: The text provides end-of-chapter questions, problems, and  cases that ask students to do more than regurgitate information. Most require  students to gather information, assess a situation, think about it  critically, and reach a conclusion. Each chapter presents ten Questions and  Problems as well as five cases on areas of skill and knowledge endorsed by  AACSB: Learning on the Web, Career Opportunities, The Ethics Angle,  Team-Building Skills, and The Global View. More than 70% of end-of-chapter  items help students build skills in areas designated as critical by AACSB,  including analytical skills, ethical awareness and reasoning abilities,  multicultural understanding and globalization, use of information technology,  and communications and team oriented skills. Each AACSB inspired exercise is  identified by an AACSB tag and a note indicating the relevant skill  area.