Business in Context : An Introduction to Business and Its Environment,9781861529923

Business in Context : An Introduction to Business and Its Environment

by
Edition: 4th
ISBN13: 9781861529923
ISBN10: 1861529929
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2004-04-15
Publisher(s): Cengage Learning EMEA Higher Education
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Summary

Business in Context 4e provides an introduction to the business environment and the key functions of business placed within a managerial, organizational and environmental context. Offering a dynamic and contemporary global perspective on business, key issues are debated and supported by practical cases from well-known international companies. The latest edition of David Needleà ;'s best-selling functional business environment text has been thoroughly revised and rewritten, with expanded coverage of management, new chapters on globalization and ethics, new cases, improved pedagogy and text design, and increased web support for the reader.

Table of Contents

List of cases xv
Preface to the fourth edition xvii
Acknowledgements xxi
Visual tour of the book xxii
1 The concept business context
1(42)
Introduction
1(1)
Businesses and their contexts
2(18)
Business activities
3(1)
Business contexts
4(16)
The European car industry in a business context
20(12)
Environmental factors
20(1)
Organizational aspects
21(1)
Strategic aspects
22(1)
Functional aspects
23(9)
The News International case in a business context
32(6)
Environmental aspects
32(3)
Organizational aspects
35(1)
Strategic aspects
36(1)
Functional aspects
37(1)
The systems and contingency approaches
38(2)
The systems approach
38(1)
The contingency approach
39(1)
The structure of this book
40(1)
Summary
41(1)
Discussion questions
41(2)
2 Globalization
43(32)
Introduction
43(1)
Globalization and the Business in Context model
44(1)
What is globalization?
45(1)
Some other definitions
46(1)
Perspectives on globalization
46(1)
A brief history of globalization
47(2)
The causes and drivers of globalization
49(1)
The multinational and transnational corporation
50(7)
Characteristics of the multinational corporation
51(1)
MNCs and the global economy
52(1)
Rationale for the development of MNCs
53(1)
From multinational to transnational
54(2)
MNCs and the Third World
56(1)
Strategic alliances and joint ventures
57(9)
The main reasons for the growth of joint ventures
58(2)
Problems and issues with joint ventures
60(6)
Economic and production aspects of globalization
66(1)
Political aspects of globalization
67(1)
Cultural aspects of globalization
68(1)
Issues and limitations of globalization
68(4)
Summary
72(1)
Discussion questions
72(1)
Further reading
73(2)
3 The environment and business: economy, state, technology and labour
75(68)
Introduction
75(3)
The economy and business
78(8)
The Anglo-Saxon model
79(1)
The social market model
80(1)
The Asian model
81(5)
State controlled and transitional economies
86(12)
Processes and experiences of transition
87(1)
The impact of business on the economy
88(4)
The impact of the economy on business
92(1)
The impact of a changing economy on British business
93(5)
Does manufacturing matter?
98(1)
The state and business
98(19)
State intervention under different economic systems
100(4)
Difficulties with state intervention
104(1)
Types of state intervention
104(2)
The business community as a pressure group
106(2)
International economic and political integration
108(1)
The World Trade Organization
108(4)
The European Union
112(2)
EU objectives and instruments
114(1)
EU issues
114(3)
Technology
117(14)
Technology: determinant or choice?
118(2)
Information and communications technology
120(5)
Electronic commerce
125(3)
Technology change, jobs and labour
128(3)
Labour
131(9)
Employment trends
131(3)
Globalization and the labour market
134(1)
Education and training
135(1)
Germany: a training ethos
136(1)
Trade unions
136(4)
Trade union power
140(1)
Summary
140(1)
Discussion questions
141(1)
Further reading
142(1)
4 Cultural influences and business
143(38)
Introduction
143(1)
The concept of culture
144(2)
Culture free and culture specific and the implications for business
146(9)
The culture free hypothesis
146(2)
The culture specific hypothesis and the work of Geert Hofstede
148(3)
The contribution of Fons Trompenaars
151(1)
The difficulties involved in using culture as a variable
152(1)
Culture free and culture specific revisited
153(1)
The British and business
154(1)
Japanese business and management
155(24)
Cultural explanations
156(1)
The role of the state
156(2)
Economic organization
158(2)
The labour market
160(2)
Management and management strategies
162(2)
Japanization
164(5)
Japan and the problems of the 1990's
169(4)
Japan and Japanese management: some conclusions
173(6)
Summary
179(1)
Discussion questions
179(1)
Further reading
180(1)
5 Organizational aspects of business
181(70)
Introduction
181(1)
Goals
182(10)
The nature of goals
183(2)
How goals are developed
185(1)
Multiple goals
186(6)
Structure
192(19)
The factors that influence structure
192(7)
Types of structure
199(1)
Functional
199(1)
Divisional
200(1)
The holding company
201(2)
Project teams
203(1)
The matrix
203(1)
Trends in organization structure
204(3)
Down-sizing and delayering
207(1)
The flexible firm
207(3)
Structure and performance
210(1)
Ownership
211(15)
Types of ownership
212(2)
Ownership and control
214(3)
Management and control in the public sector
217(1)
Problems with the public sector
218(1)
Privatization
219(3)
New public management
222(4)
Size
226(1)
Small businesses
227(10)
What is the small firms' sector?
229(1)
Definitions
229(1)
The extent of the small firms' sector
230(1)
Types of small firm
231(1)
The value of small businesses
232(4)
The small firm as a case for government support
236(1)
Organizational and corporate culture
237(11)
The terms defined
238(1)
Strong cultures and the excellent company
239(5)
Culture and performance
244(1)
How useful is organizational culture as a concept?
245(1)
How useful is corporate culture as a concept?
246(2)
Culture as a useful concept
248(1)
Summary
248(1)
Discussion questions
249(1)
Further reading
249(2)
6 Management and leadership
251(30)
Introduction
251(1)
Management
252(13)
What is management?
252(2)
The manager's right to manage
254(1)
What managers are supposed to do
255(3)
Human relations methods
258(2)
Motivation models
260(1)
Open systems models
260(1)
Responsive management models
261(1)
Fashions, fads and gums
261(1)
Critique of management models
261(1)
What managers actually do
262(1)
New models of management?
263(2)
Reality versus theory?
265(1)
Leadership
265(14)
The differences between management and leadership
265(1)
Why leadership?
266(3)
Theories of leadership
269(1)
Theories based on traits and skills
269(2)
Theories based on behaviour and style
271(2)
Situational or contingency approaches
273(2)
More recent approaches
275(1)
Is leadership necessary?
275(4)
Summary
279(1)
Discussion questions
279(1)
Further reading
280(1)
7 Management strategy
281(50)
Introduction
281(1)
The strategic process
282(5)
The rational approach
282(2)
The flexible approach
284(1)
The creative approach
285(1)
The behavioural approach
285(1)
The incremental approach
285(1)
An absence of strategy?
286(1)
Strategic contexts
287(1)
The uses and value of strategy
288(1)
The environmental aspects of strategy
289(11)
The general environment
290(1)
Simple and static
290(1)
Dynamic
290(1)
Complex
291(1)
The immediate competitive environment
292(1)
The threat of potential entrants
293(1)
The threat of substitution
294(1)
The bargaining power of buyers
294(1)
The bargaining power of suppliers
295(1)
Competitive rivalry
295(1)
Environmental threats and opportunities
296(4)
The organizational aspects of strategy
300(14)
The interaction of strategy and organization
301(4)
Resource analysis
305(3)
Core competences
308(1)
The value chain
309(2)
Portfolio analysis
311(3)
Strategic options
314(11)
Types of strategic option
315(1)
Diversification strategies
316(1)
Related diversification
316(2)
Unrelated diversification
318(1)
Joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions
319(4)
Other strategic options
323(1)
Deleting operations
324(1)
Consolidation
325(1)
Strategic choice
325(3)
Summary
328(1)
Discussion questions
328(1)
Further reading
329(2)
8 Business ethics and corporate social responsibility
331(22)
Introduction
331(2)
Defining business ethics and corporate social responsibility
333(5)
Business ethics
333(2)
Corporate social responsibility
335(3)
Theoretical and historical background
338(2)
Why should businesses be socially responsible?
340(4)
Some problems and issues
343(1)
Mechanisms for ethical business and social responsibility
344(7)
Summary
351(1)
Discussion questions
351(1)
Further reading
352(1)
9 Innovation
353(54)
Introduction
353(2)
Identifying the concepts
355(12)
Invention and innovation
355(2)
Research, development and design
357(2)
Types of R&D
359(3)
Entrepreneurship
362(1)
What is entrepreneurship?
363(1)
A model of entrepreneurship
364(3)
The environmental aspects of innovation
367(19)
The role of the economy
367(1)
Innovation and long-wave cycles
368(1)
Innovation and specific measures of economic performance
368(4)
The role of the state
372(1)
Types of state intervention in innovation
373(1)
Procurement
373(1)
Subsidies
373(1)
Education and training
374(1)
Patents and licensing
375(1)
Restrictive and enabling laws
375(1)
Import controls
376(1)
Some problems with state intervention in innovation
376(3)
Cultural and national differences
379(1)
National differences
380(1)
Innovation in Japan
381(1)
Innovation in the UK
382(1)
Innovation and technology
383(3)
Organizational aspects of innovation
386(9)
Organizational size and goals
386(2)
Innovation and organization structure
388(3)
The role of organization culture
391(4)
Innovation and management strategies
395(9)
Types of strategy
396(1)
'First to the market' strategy
396(1)
'Follower' strategies
397(1)
Integration - strategy, structure and culture
398(1)
Constraints to effective innovation strategy
399(5)
Summary
404(1)
Discussion questions
405(1)
Further reading
406(1)
10 Operations 407(64)
Introduction
407(1)
A central function
408(2)
Some differences between manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries
409(1)
Identifying the operations function
410(8)
Conflicting objectives and changing solutions
413(2)
The relationship between operations and other functional areas
415(3)
The key activities of operations management
418(1)
The design of operations systems
419(7)
Product design
419(2)
Forecasting demand and capacity planning
421(1)
Equipment design
422(1)
Work design
422(2)
Location decisions
424(1)
The design of operations networks
425(1)
Managing the operating system
426(18)
Operations planning
426(3)
Operations control
429(1)
Quality planning, control and assurance
430(1)
Methods of quality control, assurance and improvement
431(2)
Benchmarking
433(1)
Business process re-engineering
433(1)
Total quality management
434(2)
Supply chain management
436(3)
Purchasing issues in supply chain management
439(2)
Supply chain management techniques
441(1)
Just-in-time
441(3)
Operations and the environment
444(8)
Operations, the economy and the state
444(1)
Operations and technology
445(1)
Robotics
445(1)
Flexible manufacturing systems
446(1)
Operations and labour
447(1)
Taylorism and deskilling
448(1)
Solutions to the problems of deskilling
449(1)
Payment systems
450(1)
Cultural influences and operations
450(2)
Organizational aspects of operations
452(3)
Operations and organization size
452(1)
Operations and organization structure
452(2)
Organizational goals and culture
454(1)
Operations strategies
455(13)
Lean production
460(3)
Evaluating operations strategies
463(5)
Summary
468(1)
Discussion questions
469(1)
Further reading
470(1)
11 Marketing 471(58)
Introduction
471(1)
Definitions and orientations
472(2)
Marketing in different contexts
474(3)
Organizational marketing
475(1)
The marketing of services
476(1)
The marketing of images
476(1)
International marketing
477(1)
The elements of marketing
477(15)
Market research
478(1)
The product
479(1)
Price
480(2)
Promotion
482(7)
Place
489(1)
Buyer behaviour
490(2)
Branding, segmentation and the product life-cycle
492(11)
Branding
492(5)
Segmentation
497(4)
The product life-cycle
501(2)
The environmental aspects of marketing
503(8)
Marketing and the economy
503(1)
Marketing and the role of the state
504(1)
Consumerism
505(2)
Marketing and technology
507(3)
The role of cultural and social influences in marketing
510(1)
The organizational aspects of marketing
511(3)
The organization of marketing
512(1)
Forms of structural arrangement in marketing
512(1)
Marketing and other functions
513(1)
The strategic aspects of marketing
514(15)
Product strategy
514(1)
Pricing strategy
515(2)
Promotion strategy
517(2)
Distribution strategy
519(1)
An integrated marketing strategy
520(9)
12 Human resource management 529(46)
Introduction
529(1)
Identifying personnel/HRM
530(13)
Traditional approaches to personnel
530(5)
Identifying human resource management
535(2)
The differences between HRM and traditional personnel management
537(6)
Environmental aspects of HRM
543(14)
The role of the state
544(4)
The role of the economy
548(2)
HRM and the labour force
550(4)
HRM and technology
554(1)
Cultural influences
555(2)
Organizational aspects of HRM
557(5)
HRM and organization size
557(1)
HRM, organization structure and goals
558(3)
The role of organizational culture
561(1)
Human resource management strategies
562(9)
Manpower planning
562(1)
Links to corporate strategy
563(3)
New approaches to strategy?
566(5)
Summary
571(1)
Discussion questions
572(1)
Further reading
572(3)
13 Finance and accounting 575(30)
Introduction
575(1)
Finance and accounting in business
576(15)
Financial management
577(4)
Management accounting
581(4)
Financial reporting
585(6)
The environmental aspects of finance and accounting
591(3)
The role of the economy
591(1)
Cultural differences
592(2)
The organizational aspects of finance and accounting
594(3)
Strategic aspects of finance and accounting
597(4)
Summary
601(1)
Discussion questions
602(1)
Further reading
603(2)
Glossary 605(18)
References 623(16)
Subject index 639(5)
Author index 644

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