QUARTER 3- WEEK 1- LESSON 1

I. TOPIC

CHAPTER 1 The Nature of Business

II. INTRODUCTION

Take a moment to think about the many different types of businesses you
come into contact with on a typical day. As you drive to class, you may stop at
a gas station that is part of a major national oil company and grab lunch from
a fast food chain such as Taco Bell or McDonald’s or the neighborhood pizza
place.

A business is an organization that strives for a profit by providing goods and

services desired by its customers. Businesses meet the needs of consumers by
providing medical care, autos, and countless other goods and
services. Goods are tangible items manufactured by businesses, such as
laptops. Services are intangible offerings of businesses that can’t be held,
touched, or stored. Physicians, lawyers, hairstylists, car washes, and airlines all
provide services. Businesses also serve other organizations, such as hospitals,
retailers, and governments, by providing machinery, goods for resale,
computers, and thousands of other items.

https://opentextbc.ca/businessopenstax/chapter/the-nature-of-business/

III. LESSON PROPER

A. MOTIVATION

Dear ___________,

Hello, friend! I am now about to finish high school. I have mixed feelings,
actually. I am excited because they say that soon, I would be capable of
earning money for myself and my family. I think I would become less dependent
on my parents. However, inasmuch as I am excited, I am also anxious and
fearful. What’s waiting for me? Will I really get a high-paying job? In fact, will I
get a job in the first place? The competition is so tough. My parents used to say
that I should study hard so that I can land a decent job. Really, will I? I’m thinking
of putting up a business. But I have so many doubts and fears. They say that the
business world is a dog-eat-dog world, and that businesspersons are like wolves,
snakes and crocodiles. Or is it unfair to the snakes and crocodiles and wolves to
be compared to human beings in general and businesspersons in particular? I
wish you were just close by. As always, I miss your wise insights. I hope you give
me advice.

Miss you,

Ayn Fatima

Guide Questions:

1. Do you think that the situation of Ayn Fatima is common among adolescent
students today? Explain your answer.

2. What are the common perceptions of Filipinos regarding business?

3. Cite some reasons why Filipinos have these common perceptions.

4. Do you believe that these are justifiable? Whyor Why not?

5. If you were the friend of Fatima, what piece of advice will you give her? Why
will you give this kind of advice?

B. DISCUSSION

What is a business?

 According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary

a. it is the activity of making, buying, or selling goods

or providing services in exchange for money;
b. a work that is part of a job;
c. the amount of activity that is done by a store, company,
factory, etc.

 According to Online Etymology Dictionary

Business comes from the Old English word bisignes which originally means “care,
anxiety, occupation.”

The adjective is bisig which used to mean careful, anxious, occupied, diligent”

This etymology reveals that business does not originally mean an organization or
a trade in our modern sense of the term with all its rules, complexities and
bureaucracies. Rather business is one’s occupation, engagement or work
  According to R. Duska, B. Duska, and Ragatz ( 2011), a business ethics
scholars

Business is “ to engage in purposeful activity”

 Jones, ten Bos, and Parker 2005

“ The correct response to the questions, What is your business here?, would be a
description of a particular task, not an organization.

Naturally, however, the meaning and usage of business has already evolved.
The first evidence of the use of the term in relation to its reference to “ trade and
commercial engagements” came about in 1727.

In modern times, the term “business“ is usually associated with an enterprise, a

trade or a for-profit organization

 From a quick survey and a number of textbooks and the Internet give the
following definitions and descriptions of business:

a. “ An organization or economic system where goods and services are

exchanged for one another or for money. Every business requires some form of
investment and enough customers to whom its output can be sold on a
consistent basis in order to make a profit” ( Business Dictionary )

b. “ The activity of making, buying or selling goods providing services in

exchange for money “ ( Merriam Webster )

c. Business is a broad term of encompassing a range of actions and institutions

from hamburger stands to giant corporations. The term covers manufacturing,
finance, trade, service, and other economic activities. The fundamental
purpose of a business activity is to satisfy human needs by creating products
and services” ( Steiner and Steiner 2003 )

d. “… there is a secondary meaning of the word business, which denotes

activities that involve the production and exchange of goods for economic
purposes, primary among which is the generation of profit. Consequently,
business is often defined as economic activity engaged in for the sake of profit”
( Kolb 2007 )
BUSINESSPERSON AND ENTREPRENEUR

Not all entrepreneurs are necessarily

businesspersons. In the same manner, not all

businesspersons are entrepreneurs.

An Entrepreneur

Jean Baptiste Say defined entrepreneur as somebody who “ shifts economic

resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and
greater yield”

Russell Sobel claimed that the verb entreprendre which means “to do
something “or “to undertake “, was already used as early as the 13th century. He
further observed that this verb is very close in pronunciation to the Sanskrit
adjective antha prerna which means “ self-motivated “. Thus, the entrepreneur is
a self-motivated person who is not afraid to undertake new ways of
accomplishing something.

From the Business Dictionary

Entrepreneurship is the capacity and willingness to develop, organize and

manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit.

A businessperson versus an entrepreneur

Businessperson
Concerned with the business aspect of
the enterprise, that is, how can
activities be arranged and organized
in such a way that guarantees profit
Entrepreneur
Concerned with the insight aspect of
an enterprise, or how new and private
ideas can be applied so that it may
have more social utility

Imitators, waits for the innovations Innovators, observant, pays attention

made by the entrepreneur to the changes in society
Contented with taking the common Risk taker, optimistic
road and using the tested model and
formula
Motivated by the financial reward of Goes beyond the profit motive.
the business activity Propelled and driven by his creative
juices
Some businesspersons are owners of Founders of the companies and other
their business, others are simply forms of business orgfanizations
managers, employees and agents of
the business.

Capitalist and Entrepreneur

According to Schweickart “a reasonable definition of capitalist is someone who

owns enough productive assets that he can, if he chooses, live comfortably on
the income generated by these assets.

A businessperson or an entrepreneur is not necessarily a capitalist.

Capitalist qua Capitalist – a capitalist whose specific function is to provide

capital, independently of entrepreneurial or manage input.