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Introduction to Business 2e

Preparing for Tomorrow's Workplace Skills

Introduction to Business 2ePreparing for Tomorrow's Workplace Skills

Preparing for Tomorrow's Workplace Skills

  1. Select a not-for-profit organization whose mission interests you. What are the organization’s objectives? What resources does it need to achieve those goals? Select a for-profit business that provides a similar service, and compare the two organizations. How does each use the factors of production? (Resources, Information, Systems)
  2. Team Activity Form seven teams. Each team is responsible for one of the sectors of the external business environment discussed in the chapter (economic, political/legal, demographic, social, competitive, global, and technological). Your boss, the company president, has asked each team to report on the changes in that area of the external environment and how they will affect the firm over the next five years. The firm is the Boeing Company. Each team should use the library, the internet, and other data sources to make its projections. Each team member should examine at least one data source. The team should then pool the data and prepare its response. A spokesperson for each team should present the findings to the class. (Interpersonal, Resources, Information)
  3. If a friend claimed, “Economics is all theory and not very practical,” how might you counter this claim? Share your rationale with the class. (Interpersonal, Information)
  4. Team Activity Create two teams of four people each. Have one side choose a communist economy and the other capitalism. Debate the proposition that “capitalism/a command economy is good for nations with emerging economies.” (Interpersonal, Information)
  5. What are the latest actions the federal government has taken to manage the economy? Has it used monetary policy or fiscal policy to achieve its macroeconomic goals? Summarize your findings. (Information, Systems)
  6. As a manufacturer of smart watch accessories, you are questioning your pricing policies. The CPI has increased around 3 percent per year over the last five years, but the prices of your products have increased at an average of 8 percent for the first 3 years and then 2 percent for the subsequent two years. What does this information tell you about the economic forces such as demand and supply that have influenced the market for your smart watch accessories? (Resources, Information)
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