COMSATS Institute of Information Technology

520-B, Civil Lines, Near NADRA Office, Sahiwal

Tel: 040-9200100

Course Outline
Semester:

Program: BS (BA)

Course Title: Introduction to Business

Credit Hours: Three [3]

Course Instructor:

Email:

(Important note: the instructor has the discretion to choose the text material he/she
considers the most appropriate. However, his/her approach should not be limited to
that one particular source.)

RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

 Contemporary Business by Boone & Kurtz

 Business: A Changing World by Ferrell, O. C. and Hirt, G.
 Business by Pride, Hughes, and Kapoor, 7th ed., Houghton-Mifflin, 2002.

Course Outline:

Week 1 Introduction To Business

 six eras of business
 business organizations
 not-for-profit organizations
 private enterprise system

Economical challenges
 Factors that drive demand and supply
 different types of market Competition
 Stages of the business cycle
Week 2 Business Ethics
 What is business Ethics
 Individual Business Ethics

Social Responsibilities
 Areas of Social Responsibility

Week 3 Business environment ( internal + external)

 General Environment
 Task Environment

Week 4 Forms of businesses

 Sole proprietorship
 Advantages and disadvantages of sole proprietorship
 Partnership
 Types of Partnership
 Advantages and disadvantages of Partnership

Week 5 Forms of businesses

 Corporations
 Private corporation
 Public corporations
 Advantages and disadvantages of corporation

Week 6 Strategies for business success

 Types of Strategy
 SWOT analysis

Week 7 Management, Leadership, and Employee Empowerment

 Manager and Management
 Basic management functions and the management process
 Managerial styles of leadership
 Theories of employee motivation

Week 8 Human Resource Management

 Planning for staffing.
 Recruiting and hiring.
 Training and development.
 Appraising compensation and benefits.
 Overseeing changes in employment status.

Week 9 Competing in global markets

 Barriers to International Trade
 The Major World Marketplaces
Week 10 Promotion techniques
 Promotion and the promotion mix
 Personal selling and sales promotion

Pricing strategies
 Pricing objectives, price-setting tools, and pricing strategies and
tactics

Week 11 Distribution channel

 The Distribution Mix
 Wholesaling
 Retailing
 Physical Distribution

Week 12 Using Technology to Manage Information

 New Business Technologies in the Information Age
 Types of Information Systems
 Elements of the Information System
 Telecommunications and Networks

Week 13 Financial Management

 Profit
 Breakeven
 Company accounts
 Budgeting

Week 14 Stalls
Final Presentations

Week 15 Final presentations

 
Six Eras In The History Of Business
In the roughly 400 years since the first European settlement appeared on
the NorthAmerican continent, amazing changes have occurred in the size, focus, and
goals of U.S business. U.S business is divided in six periods:
 
1-
 
The Colonial Period
2-
 
The Industrial Revolution3-
 
The Age of Industrial Entrepreneurs4-
 
The Production Era5-
 
The Marketing Era6-
 
The Relationship Era
1-The Colonial Period:
Colonial society emphasized rural and agricultural production. Colonial town weresmall
empared with European cities, and they functioned as market place for formers and
craft people. The economic focus of nation centered on rural areas because prosperity
depends on theoutput of farms plantations. The success or failure of crops and influenced
every aspect of theeconomy.Colonists depended on England for manufactured item as
well as financial backingfor their infant industries. Even after the revolutionary war
(1776-1783) The United Statesmaintained close economic ties with England.British
investors continued to provide much of the financing for developing the U.S. business
system, and this financial influence continued well into 19
th
 century.The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European
settlementsfrom the start of colonization of America until their incorporation into the
United States. In thelate 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands
launched major colonization programs in eastern North America.European settlers came
from a variety of social and religious groups. No aristocratsSettled permanently, but a
number of adventurers, soldiers, farmers, and tradesmen arrived.Colonizers came from
European kingdoms with highly developed military, naval, governmentaland
entrepreneurial capabilities. The Spanish and Portuguese centuries-old experience
ofconquest and colonization during the Reconquista, coupled with new oceanic ship
navigationskills, provided the tools, ability, and desire to colonize the New World.
England, France and the Netherlands started colonies in both the West Indies and North
America. They had the ability to build ocean-worthy ships, but did not have as strong
a history of colonization in foreign lands as

 
did Portugal and Spain. However, English entrepreneurs gave their colonies a base of
merchant- based investment that needed much less government support.
2-The Industrial Revolution:
The industrial revolution began in England around 1750. It moved business
operationsfrom an emphasis on independent, skilled workers who specialized in building
products one byone to a factory system that mass down produced items by bringing
together large number ofsemiskilled workers. The factories profited from savings created
by large scale
production, bolstered by increasing support from machines over time. As business view t
hey could often purchases raw materials more cheaply in larger lots than before.
Specialization of labor, limitingeach worker to a few specific tasks in the production
process, also increased productionefficiency.Influenced by these events in England,
business in United States began a time of rapidindustrialization. Agriculture became
mechanized, and factories sprang up in cities. During the
 
mid-1800s, the pace of revolution was increased a newly built railroad system provided
fast,economical transportation.In California for example the combination of rail road
construction and gold rush fueled atremendous demand for construction.
3-The Age of Industrial Entrepreneurs:
Building on the opportunities created by the industrial revolution entrepreneurship
increased inUnited States. In 1900, Arthur R. Wilson and several partners paid 10,000$ in
Gold coins for a27 acre parcel of Granite-rich land in California. This natural resource
was the base granite rockco. Which provided material for roads
and buildings in California’s booming economy. The
company now called Graniterock response in to technological, completive and market
placedemands continues to survive in 21
st
 century. Today the firm which has stores throughoutCalifornia, offers
consumer’s
 product such as granite countertops as well as many green productsmade from recycled
material.Inventors created a virtually endless array of commercially useful products and
new production method. Many of them are famous today:

 
Eli Whitney introduced the concept of inter changeable parts, an idea that would
laterfacilitate mass production on a previously impossible scale.

 
Robert McCormick designed a horse-drawn reaper that reduce the labor involved
inharvesting wheat.His son, Cyrus McCormick saw the commercial potential of the
reaper andlaunched a business to build and sell machine. By 1902 the company was
producing 35 percent
of the nation’s farm machinery.
 Cornelius Vanderbilt P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie (steel) among others, took
advantage ofenormous opportunities for anyone willing to stake the risk of starting
new business.The entrepreneurial spirit of this golden age in business did much to
advance theU.S. business system and rise the overall standard of living of its citizens.
The markettransformation, in turn, created new demand for manufactured goods.
4-The Production Era
As Demand for manufactured goods continued to increase through 1920s,
businessfocused even greater attention on the activities involved in producing those
goods. Work became

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