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BUSN 11 Introduction to Business

Marcella Kelly
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'

• 11

MARCE KELLY
Santa Monica College

CHUCK WILLIAMS
Butler University

#: CENGAGE
Australia • Brazil• Mexi co• Si ngapore• United Kingdom• United States

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·- BUSN11 © 2019, 2018 Cengage Learning. Inc.
Maree Kelly and Chuck Willi ams
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KELLY /WILLIA MS

11 BRIEF CONTENTS

-
PART 1 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
1 Business Now: Change Is the Only Constant 2
2 Economics: The Framework for Business 18
3 The World Marketplace: Business without Borders 38
4 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility: Doing Well by
Doing Good 58
5 Business Communication: Creating and Delivering Messages
that Matter 76

PART 2 CREATING A BUSINESS


6 Business Formation: Choosing the Form That Fits 92
7 Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Economic Rocket Fuel 112

PART 3 FINANCING A BUSINESS


8 Accounting: Decision Making by the Numbers 128
9 Finance: Acquiring and Using Funds to Maximize Value 148
10 Financial Markets: Allocating Financial Resources 170

PART 4 MA RKETING A BUSINESS


11 Marketing: Building Profitable Customer Connections 190
12 Product and Promotion: Creating and Communicating Value 208
13 Distribution and Pricing: Right Product, Right Person, Right Place,
Right Price 236

PART 5 MANAG ING A BUS INESS


14 Management, Motivation, and Leadership: Bringing Business
to Life 252
15 Human Resource Management: Building a Top-Quality Workforce 270
16 Managing Information and Technology: Finding New Ways to Learn
and Link 286
17 Operations Management: Putting It All Together 306

Personal Finance Appendix 328


Endnotes 341
Glossary 362
Index 379
Tear-out cards
~ Online Appendices
g
~ Appendix 1 : Labor Unions and Collective Bargaining
~

Appendix 2: Business Law

Brief Contents 111

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CONTENTS

Letter t o Students ix
3The World Marketplace:
Business without Borders 38
Part 1 3-1 An Unprecedented Opport unity 38

THE BUSINESS 3-2 Key Reasons for Internat ional Trade


3-3 Global Trade: Taking Measure 43
42

ENVIRONMENT 3-4 Seizing t he Opport unity: Strategies for Reaching


Global Markets 44
3-5 Barriers to Internat ional Trade 47
3-6 Free Trade: The Movement Gains Moment um 51

1S
4 Business Ethics and Social
"
~
~
Responsibility: Doing Well
-•
'5i
E
8
by Doing Good 58
4-1 Ethics and Social Responsibility: A Close
!
t Relat ionship 58
a.
4-2 Business Ethics: Not an Oxymoron 60

1Business Now: Change 4-3 Ethics: Multiple Touch points


4-4 Defining Social Responsibility: Making t he World a
61

Is the Only Constant 2 Better Place 64


1-1 Business Now: Moving at Breakneck Speed 2 4-5 Ethics and Social Responsibility in t he Global Arena:
1-2 The History of Business: Putt ing It All in Context 6 A House of Mirrors? 71

1-3 Nonprofit s and t he Economy: The Business of 4-6 Monitoring Ethics and Social Responsibility: Who Is
Doing Good 7 Minding t he Store? 73

1-4 Factors of Production: The Basic Building Blocks 7


1-5 The Business Environment: The Context for Success 8 5Business Communication:
1-6 Business and You: Making It Personal 16 Creating and Delivering
Messages that Matter 76
2Economics: The Framework 5-1 Excellent Commu nication Skills: Your Invisible
Advantage 76
for Business 18
5-2 Nonverbal Commu nication: Beyond the Words 78
2-1 Economics: Navigating a Crisis 18
5-3 Choose the Right Channel: A Rich Array of Options 80
2-2 Managing the Economy Through Fiscal
and Monetary Policy 21 5-4 Pick the Right Words: IsThat Car Pre-Loved or Just
Plain Used?! 80
2-3 Capitalism: The Free Market System 26
5-5 Write High-Impact Messages: Breaking t hrough
2-4 Planned Economies: Socialism and Communism 30 t he Clutter 84
2-5 Mixed Economies: The Story of t he Future 31
5-6 Create and Deliver Successful Verbal Presentations:
2-6 Evaluating Economic Performance: What's Working? 33 Hook 'Em and Reel 'Em In! 87

IV Contents

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Part 2 Part 3
CREATING A BUSINESS FINANCING A BUSINESS
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6 Business Formation: Choosing 8Accounting: Decision Making


the Form That Fits 92 by the Numbers 128
6-1 Business Ownership Options: The Big Four 92 8-1 Accounting: Who Needs It-and Who Does It? 128

6-2 Advant ages and Disadvantages of Sole 8-2 Financial Accounting: Intended for Those on t he
Proprietorships 95 Outside Looking In 130
6-3 Part nerships: Two Heads (and Bankrolls) Can Be Better 8-3 Financial Statements: Read All About Us 132
ThanOne 96 8-4 Interpret ing Financial Statements:
6-4 Corporations: The Advantages and Disadvantages Digging Beneat h t he Surface 138
of Being an Artificial Person 98 8-5 Budgeting: Planning for Accountability 141
6-5 The Li mited Liability Company: The New Kid 8-6 Inside Intelligence: The Role of Managerial
on the Block 104
Accounting 143
6-6 Franchising: Proven Methods for a Price 106

7 Small Business and 9 Finance: Acquiring and Using


Funds to Maximize Value 148
Entrepreneurship: Economic 9-1 What Mot ivates Financial Decisions? 148
Rocket Fuel 112 9-2 Identifying Financial Needs: Evaluation
7-1 Launching a New Venture: What's in It for Me? 112 and Planning 151
7-2 The Entrepreneur: A Distinctive Profile 114 9-3 Finding Funds: What Are the Options? 1SS
7-3 Finding t he Money: Funding Options 9-4 Leverage and Capital Structure: How Much Debt Is
for Small Businesses 117 Too Much Debt? 159
7-4 Opportunities and Threats for Small Business: A Two- 9-5 Acquiring and Managing Current Assets 163
Sided Coin 119 9-6 Capital Budgeting: In It for the Long Haul 165
7-5 Launch Options: Reviewing the Pros and Cons 121
7-6 Small Business and the Economy: An Outsized
Impact 124

Contents V

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11-3 Marketing Strategy: Where Are You Going, and How
10 Financial Markets: Allocating Will You Get There? 195

Financial Resources 170 11-4 Customer Behavior: Decisions, Decisions,


Decisions! 201
10-1 The Role of Financial Markets and Their Key
Players 170 11-5 Marketing Research: So What Do They
Really Think? 202
10-2 Reg ulating Financial Markets to Protect Investors
and Improve Stability 173 11-6 Social Responsibility and Technology: A Major
Marketing Shift 205
10-3 Investing in Financial Secu rit ies: What Are the
Options? 176
10-4 Issuing and Trading Securities: The Primary
and Secondary Markets 180
12 Product and Promotion:
Creating and Communicating
10-5 Personal Investing 183
Value 208
10-6 Keeping Tabs on t he Market 187
12-1 Product: It's Probably More Than You Thought 208
12-2 Product Differentiation and Planning: A Meaningful
Difference 212

Part 4 12-3 Innovation and t he Product Life Cycle: Nuts, Bolts, and
a Spark of Brilliance 216
MARKETING A BUSINESS 12-4 Promotion: Infl uencing Consumer Decisions 220
12-5 A Meaningful Message: Finding t he Big Idea 221
12-6 The Promot ional Mix: Communicating t he
Big Idea 223

13 Distribution and Pricing: Right


Product, Right Person, Right
Place, Right Price 236
13-1 Distribution: Getting Your Product to Your
Customer 236
13-2 Wholesalers: Sorting Out t he Options 239
13-3 Retailers: The Consumer Connection 240

11 Marketing: Building Profitable 13-4 Physical Distribution: Planes, Trains, and Much,
Much More 243
Customer Connections 190 13-5 Pricing Objectives and Strategies: A High-Stakes
11 -1 Marketing: Getting Value by Giving Value 190 Game 245
11 -2 The Customer: Front and Center 194 13-6 Pricing in Practice: A Real-World Approach 247

VI Cont ents

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15-4 Human Resou rce Planning: Drawing

Part 5 the Map 274


15-5 Legal Issues: HR and the Long Arm
MANAGING A BUSINESS of t he Law 283

16 Managing Information and


Technology: Finding New
Ways to Learn and Link 286
'l! 16-1 Information Technology: Explosive Change 286
0
.;
• 16-2 Cloud Computing: The Sky's t he Limit! 292
-) '
';
.,.e; 16-3 Information Technology and Decision Making:

~


.la A Crucial Aid 293
"
!" 16-4 Information Technology and the World
a
.;i of E-commerce 295
16-5 Challenges and Concerns Arising from
New Technologies 299

14 Management, Motivation, 17 Operations Management:


and Leadership: Bringing Putting It All Together 306
Business to Life 252 17-1 Operations Management: Producing Value
in a Changing Environment 306
14-1 Bringing Resou rces to Life 252
17-2 What Do Operations Managers Do? 310
14-2 Motivation: Lighting the Fire 255
17-3 Implications of a Service-Based Economy:
14-3 Planning: Figuring Out Where to Go and How
Responding to Different Challenges 316
to Get There 259
17-4 The Technology of Operations 317
14-4 Organizing: Fitt ing Together t he Puzzle Pieces 263
17-5 Focus on Quality 319
14-5 Leadership: Directing and Inspiring 267
17-6 The Move to Be Lean and Green: Cutting Cost
14-6 Controll ing: Making Sure It All Works 268
and Cutting Waste 323

15 Human Resource Personal Finance Appendix 328


Endnotes 341
Management: Building a
Top-Quality Workforce 270 Glossary 362
Index 379
15-1 Human Resource Management: Bringing Business
to Life 270
Tear-out cards
15-2 Human Resource Management Challenges: Major Online Appendices
Hurdles 271 Appendix 1 : Labor Unions and Collective
Bargaining
15-3 Human Resources Managers: Corporate Black
Sheep? 273 Appendix 2: Business Law

Contents VII

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With love and
appreciation
to Kathy,
the best friend imaginable!

- Maree Kelly

To Jenny,
the book is done, let's play!

- Chuck Williams

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LETTER TO STUDENTS

The idea for t his book-a whole new way of learning- part of t he package. You can access a rich variety of study
began wit h students like you across the country. We paid tools via computer or iPad-the choice is you rs.
attention to students who wanted to learn about business We did one other t hing we hope you'll like. We paid a
w ithout slogging through endless pages of dry text. We lis- lot of attent ion to students' concerns about the high price
tened to students who wanted to sit through class w ithout of college textbooks.We made it our mission to ensure t hat
craving a t riple espresso. We responded to st udents who our package not only meets you r needs but does so w ith-
wanted to use t heir favorite gadgets to prepare for tests. out bust ing your budget'
So we are confident that BUSN w ill meet your needs. This innovative, student-focused package was devel-
The short , lively text covers all t he key concepts w ithout oped by the authors-Maree Kelly and Chuck Williams-
the fluff. The examples are relevant and engaging, and t he and the experienced (engage Learning publishers. The
visual style makes the book fun to read. But the text is only (engage team cont ributed a deep understanding o f stu-
dents and professors across the nation, and the authors
brought years of teaching and business experience.
Maree Kelly,who earned her MBA from UCLA's Anderson
School of Management, spent the first 14 years of her ca-
reer in marketing, building brands for Neutrogena and
The Walt Disney Corporat ion. But her t rue love is teaching,
so in 2000 she accepted a full-time teaching posit ion at
Santa Monica College. Professor Kelly has received seven
Outstanding Instructor awards from t he International
Educat ion Center and has been named four t imes to
Who's Who Among American Teachers.
Chuck Williams' interests include employee recruit ment
and turnover, performance appraisal, and employee t rain-
ing and goal setting. Most recently, he was the Dean of
But ler University's College of Business. He has taught in ex-
ecut ive development programs at Oklahoma State Univer-
Maree Kelly sity, the University of Oklahoma, Texas Christian University,
and the University of t he Pacific. Dr. Williams was honored
byTCU's MJ. Neeley School of Business w ith the undergrad-
uate Outstanding Facu lty Teaching Award, was a recipient
ofTCU's Dean's Teaching Award, and was TCU's nominee for
t he U.S. Professor of the Year competit ion sponsored by the
Carnegie Foundat ion for t he Advancement ofTeaching. He
has written three other text books: Management, Effective
Management: A Multimedia Approach, and MGMT.
We would appreciate any comments or sugges-
t ions you want to offer about this package. You can reach
Chuck Williams at crwill ia@butler.edu, and Maree Kelly
at marcella.kelly@gmail.com. We w ish you a fun, posit ive,
productive term, and look forward to your feedback'

Chuck Williams

Letter to Students IX

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Business Now:
Change Is the Only Constant

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying thischapter, you will be able to:

Define business and discuss the role of b usiness in the economy


Remember to visit
Explain the evolution of modem business
G, Discuss the role of nonprofit organizations in the economy PAGE17
for additional
· Outline the core factors of production and how they affect the economy
STUDYTOOLS
C, Describe today's business environment and discuss each key dimension
• Explain how current business ttends might affect your career choices

• BUSINESS NOW: MOVING AT BREAKNECK SPEED


Day by day, the business world simply spins faster. Industries rise- and
som etimes fall- in the course of a few short months. Technologies forge
instant connections across the globe. Powerful new trends surface and
submerge, sometimes within less than a year. In this fast -paced, fl uid
environment, change is the only constant. According to Ch arles Darwin,
it is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the m ost intelligent,
but the one most responsive to ch ange. And so it is with business.

Successful firms lean forward and embrace the change. and consumers alike in today's dynamic business environ-
They seek the opportunit ies and avoid t he pitfalls. They ment. Digging deeper into cu rrent culture, several leading-
carefully evaluate risks. They completely understand t heir edge trendspotting experts have recently identified an
market, and t hey adhere to ethical practices.Their core goal: array of key trends likely to shape the world's econom ies
to generate long-term profits by delivering unsurpassed as we close out t he turbulent teenage years of the twenty-
value to t heir customers. first century. A few highlight s:
(1'1.'[I' · The relationship between Over t he past decade, • Instant Skill s: Remem ber how the rise of lns-
the price of a good or a service the explosive growth in so-
and the benefits that it offers its tagram made all of us into pseudo professiona l
cial media has played a piv- photographers? Well, Trendwatching.com pre-
customers.
otal new role for businesses d ict s t hat hundreds of m illions of status-h ungry

2 PART ONE: The Business Environment

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. AU Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02·200.202
Copyriglll 2019Ccni;igt lnrnulg. AO Ri.$h1~ Rcstn'Cd. May noc be cqiitd, icunntd. or wplkMtd. in 11b)lc (It in p;an.. Oi.e IIO denmnk rip, M'.llfllt 1hitd pll1)' «wucm may be suppcsia:d from the t.Boot -.ifot t0upi:r(i),
&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin&upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1io R'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.me if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
"consum ers w ill care less about what t hey have or
buy and more about what they can do or create"-
GRETZKY.
seeking services t hat eliminate t ime and learning
barriers to t heir creation o f professional quality
output.
• Fun and Games: Research suggests t hat the aver-
of humor. For instance, Slack al lows users to create
age human attention span, cu rrently only slight ly
longer than that of a goldfish, is decreasing rapidly. custom emojis using colleagues' faces and d isplays
Not surprisingly, ca pturing and retaining the atten- error messages such as, "We've seen this problem
tion of customers, employees, and investors is more clear up wit h a restart of your browser, a solut ion
challenging t han ever. In spite of declining attent ion which we suggest to you now only wit h g reat regret
and self-loat hing.·
spans, creating a sense of fun is gaining momentum
as an effect ive tool for engaging audiences. It's fairly • Robolove: Everyone knows that robots can save
easy to understand why-wouldn't you rat her do t ime and money-and who doesn't like efficiency?
something fun than something boring? Swedish But do we like t he robots themselves? Many people
amusement park Liseberg recent ly released an app imagine a bleak robotic future w ith robocops out of
to accom pany its new Helix roller coaster. Attendees contro l and robo-workers putting human workers
standing in line for the attraction could use t he app to out o f work. That may well happen, but Trendwatch-
play a free Helix-themed game, and every 15 minutes, ing.com predicts that many of us w ill t horoughly
the player w ith the highest score got a pass to ski p enjoy our early contacts w ith robot s. For instance,
the line.This strategy was not only creative, but it also Dusseldorf Airport in Germany recently unveiled the
increased v isitors' funl Similarly, workplace messaging world's first robotic parking valet. Customers leave
app Slack became one of the fastest growing business t heir car, and a robot picks it up and positions the
applications in history due, in part, to its playful sense vehicle in one of 249 ded icated spaces. The system

CHAPTER 1: Bu siness Now: Change Is the Only Constant 3

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. AU Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02·200.202
Copyriglll 2019Ccni;igt lnrnulg. AO Ri.$h1~ Rcstn'Cd. May noc be cqiitd, icunntd. or wplkMtd. in 11b)lc (It in p;an.. Oi.e IIO denmnk rip, M'.llfllt 1hitd pll1)' «wucm may be suppcsia:d from the t.Boot -.ifot t0upi:r(i),
&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin&upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1 io R'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.me if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
connects to the airport's flight database, meaning • I will vote. Always.
that customers find their vehicle ready and waiting
• I will force myself to finally make a phone call.
for them upon their return. Hard to get more conve-
nient than that-and the robotic valet doesn't even • If my first-born is a boy, I promise not to name him
expect a tipl' Uber.

Joking aside, m illennials now represent both


• Virtual Experience Economy: \ the largest customer and the largest employee
Anyone who was nearly p lowed ' segment of the population, which means that
over in 2016 by someone with his or successful businesses must take them seriously.
her head down-totally engrossed As baby boomers continue to retire in record
in the sea rch for an elusive Pokemon
numbers, businesses will soon beg in to face a
(or maybe you were the one plowing severe leadership g ap. Training and develop-
people down)-knows j ust how im- ing m illennials to fill that gap will be a critical
mersive a virtual o r augmented rea lity
' success factor for many businesses in the very
experience can be. Trendspotting near future.
experts at Trendwatching.com bold ly
•Preparing for Generation Z: As the
project that "digital experiences will
last millennials move th rough college
quickly come to ca rry a status- and enter the workforce, Genera-
weight equal to 'real' experiences,
fJ t ion Z-comprised of people born
if not become more sought-after
between 1996 and 2011-is roll ing
and prized.' Take music concerts in right behind them. Generation Z,
for example. The holographic
also known as the Digital Native genera-
"performance· of rapper Tupac's
tion, outnumbers m illennia ls by one m illion
Shakur at the 2012 Coachella music people. In fact, more than a q uarter of Amer-
festival (15 years after the artist's death)
ica's population belongs to th is generation.
garnered more headlines than any other
'II Although it would be easy to characterize
concert that year. A holographic Michael
Generation Z as an exaggerated version of
Jackson made similar waves two years later
millennials, it wou ldn't do them justice-
at the 2014 Billboa rd Awards. China, an ea rly they are fundamentally different. Mil-
developer and adopter of virtual real ity lennials shaped the Internet, but digital
games and shopping programs, seems
poised to become a leading-edge p layer in
11111!_,, Kipargeter/Shutterstock.com natives can't remember a World Without
it. The defining event of generation Z
the virtual experience economy.2 was the Great Recession, which means that many
of them don't trust business. Wh ile their millennial
• Taki ng Millennials Seriously: The m illennial counterparts were glad to be 'wal king billboards"
generation-comprised of people born between for trendy brands such as Hollister, Abercrombie &
1980 and 1995-likely includes many of the stu-
Fitch, and Supreme, the most stylish d igital natives
dents reading this text. Millennials have been at are likely to sport vintage clothing from thrift stores.
the butt end of a lot of jokes about their outsized
Digital natives don't feel entitled to a great job when
sense of entitlement, large number of meaningless
they g raduate college; they think they'll be lucky
trophies, and'addiction'to their cell phones. The to get one. In the meantime, they are saving thei r
Los Angeles Times, for example, recently publ ished a
money, on ly spending when a business offers them
"Mil lennial Pledge"that it suggested all millennials
value. Digital natives use their considerable techni-
affi rm before they qualify for actua l adulthood. A ca l prowess to seek out the best possible values;
few excerpts:
no-frills, only-pay-for-what-you-use businesses are
• Just once, I will try eating without texting. highly appea ling to them. Similar to millennials,
digital natives tend to be extremely tolerant and
• I will not consider the cilantro on my taco to be a inclusive, w ith little understanding of or room in their
vegetable. lives for bigotry of any kind . They also tend to have
• Each yea r, I will pen at least one thank-you note very short attention spans (8 seconds on average),
using what's left of my cursive writing skills. in part because they juggle their lives among an

4 PART ONE: The Business Environment

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. AU Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02·200.202

Copyriglll 2019Ccni;igt lnrnulg. AO Ri.$h1~ Rcstn'Cd. May noc ~ cqi,td, icunntd. or WJII•~ · ,n ~ t (ltC ,n p;an..leMtl~ c lnl:f'YCS lh: .;;hi '° ll'm!Wt addill(lllul ~.. • •Y Ii.mt if ~ -· rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt i1..
· ·Med· ffll · J)Qe lienmnkrigllu M'.llfllt 1hitdp111Y«W11cmmavbesuppcsia:dfromthct.Boot-.itortOupi:r(i).
F.dilOIU.l R,\ic,w.• }w; dttmcd th11111ny :raapprc,:,:!ltd comcm O,M',1 nm mmcnally a««1 die U'ltml lc1n11ni upc,ncn«. cnguge · UIS ·-o
OOPS! WHAT WfRf THfY THINKING1
I Not Every Dumb Move Is an Utter Disaster...

• In the wake of disastrous mistakes and outrageous


mismanagement across our economy, it might be
tough to remember that some mistakes are actually pretty
international airport. Fortunately, t here were no collisions-
the worst harm done was to Siri's reputation as a navigator.'
• Geography lessons needed: In 2016, Coca·Cola sent
amusing. Several examples might help remind you. a promotional tweet featuring an outdated map of Russia.
• Bad fabric, not fat thighs: In early 2013, lululemon Offended Russian patriots responded with pictures of
Athletica was forced to recall its popular (and expensive) yoga themselves pouring the soft drink into toilets with the
pants, because many women found them utterly see-t hrough. hashtag #BanCocaCola.•
Later in the year, t he founder of the firm was forced to resign • Thank you, Captain Obvious! A surprising number of
after blaming the problem on women with fat thighs who firms just can't seem to credit t heir customers with even
rubbed the fabric too sheer with multiple uses.' basic intelligence. Marks & Spencer's labeled one of their
• Apple angst: In a rare display of new product devel· Bread Puddings, PRODUCT WILL BE HOT AFTER HEATING.
opment weakness, Apple released its Maps program before On a Sears hairdryer, DO NOT USE WHILE SLEEPING. And
it was ready for the Big Time. Mostly harmless, the program on packaging for a Rowenta iron, DO NOT IRON CLOTHES
baffled millions of t rusting consumers. But in Fairbanks, ON BODY. While these warnings most likely have a legal
Alaska, it directed hapless users onto active runways of the backstory, it's hard for a reasonable consumer not to see
them as silly goofs.•

average of five d ifferent screens. In sum, millennials As the economy has finally emerged from the Great Re-
approached adulthood hoping to be d iscovered, cession, and unemployment and financial ru in are less o f a
while d ig ital natives approach adulthood planning t hreat, fewer people have been motivated to risk start ing
to work for success.7 new businesses.8 People who do risk their time, money,
and ot her resources to start and manage a business are
t -t a Business Basics: Some Key called entrepreneurs.
Interest ingly, as ent repreneurs create wealth for them-
Definitions selves, they produce a ripple effect that enriches everyone
Wh ile you can certainly recogn ize a business when you around them. For instance, if your new website becomes
see one, more formal definitions may help as you read t he next Facebook, who will benefit7 Clearly, you will. And
through t his book. A business is any organization or you'll probably spend at least some of that money enrich-
activity t hat provides goods and services in an effort to ing your local clubs, clothing stores, and car dealerships.
earn a Profit is the financial reward t hat comes from But ot hers w ill benefit, too,
starting and running a business. More specifically, profit incl uding your members, Any organization or
is the money that a business earns in sales (or revenue}, advert isers on your site and activity that provides goods and
minus expenses such as t he cost of goods and the cost t he staff who support them, services in an effort to earn a profit.
of sa laries. But clearly, not every business earns a profit contractors who build your The money that a business
all the t ime. When a business brings in less money than facilit ies, and the govern- earns in sales (or revenue), minus
it needs to cover expenses, it incurs a loss. If you launch ment t hat collects your expenses, such as the cost of goods
and the cost of salaries. Revenue -
a music label, for instance, you'll need to pay your artists, taxes. The impact of one
Expenses = Profit (or l oss).
lease a studio, and purchase equipment, among ot her ex- successful entrepreneur can
penses. If your label generates hits, you'll earn more than extend to t he far reaches of • When a business incurs
expenses that are greater than its
enough to cover all your expenses and make yourself t he economy. In fact, fast-
revenue.
rich. But a series of duds could leave you hold ing the bag. growing new firms generate
Just the possibility o f earning a profit provides a powerful about 10% of all new jobs •• People who
risk their time, money, and other
incentive for people of all backg rounds to launch their in any g iven year.9 Multiply resources to start and manage a
own enterprises. But unfortunately, t he rate of new busi- t he impact by t housands business.
ness start-ups has been decreasing over t he past few years. of entrepreneurs-each

CHAPTER 1: Bu siness Now: Change Is the Only Constant 5

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. AU Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02·200.202
Copyriglll 2019Ccni;igt lnrnulg. AO Ri.$h1~ Rcstn'Cd. May noc be cqiitd, icunntd. or wplkMtd. in 11b)lc (It in p;an.. Oi.e IIO denmnk rip , M'.llfllt 1hitd pll1)' «wucm may be suppcsia:d from the t.Boot -.ifot t0upi:r(i),
&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin&upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1io ll'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.mt if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
working in his or her own self-interest-and you can see
how the profit motive benefits v irtually everyone.
From a bigger-picture perspective, business drives up
the standard of living for people worldwide, contribut-
ing to a higher quality of life. Businesses not on ly provide
the products and services that people enjoy but also pro-
vide the jobs that people need. Beyond the obvious, busi-
ness contributes to society through innovation-think cars,
TVs, and tablet computers. Business also helps raise the stan-
dard of living through taxes, which the government spends
on projects that range from streetlights to environmental
cleanup. Socially responsible firms contribute even more
by actively advocating for the well-being of the society that
feeds their success.

Henry Ford's assembly line began operation


• THE HISTORY OF BUSINESS: on December 1, 1913. Initially developed for
the Model T, this new production system
PUTTING IT ALL IN CONTEXT allowed manufacturers of all kinds to
output products like never before.
You may be surprised to learn that-unlike today-
business hasn't always been focused on what the customer
wants. In fact. business in the United States has changed
rather dramatically over the past 200-300 years. Most busi- laws to reg ulate business and protect consumers and
ness historians divide the history of American business workers, creating more balance in the economy.

into five d istinct eras, which overlap d uring the periods of • The Production Era: In the early part of the 1900s,
transition: major businesses focused on further refining the
production process and creating greater efficien-
• The Industrial Revolution: Technologica l ad-
vances fueled a period of rapid industrialization in cies. Jobs became even more specia lized, increasing
America from the mid-1700s to the mid-1800s. As productivity and lowering costs and prices. In 1913,
Henry Ford introduced the assembly line, which
mass production took hold, huge factories replaced
skilled artisan workshops. The factories hired large quickly became standard across major manufactur-
numbers of semiskilled workers who specialized in a ing industries. With managers focused on efficiency,

lim ited number of tasks. The result was unprecedent- the customer was an afterthought. But when
ed production efficiency but also a loss of individual customers tightened their belts during the Great
ownership and personal pride in the production Depression and World War II, businesses took notice.
process. The"hard sell" emerged: aggressive persuasion de-
signed to separate consumers from their cash.
• The Entrepreneurship Era: Building on the foun-
dation of the Industrial Revolution, large-scale entre- • The Marketing Era: After World War II, the balance
preneurs emerged in the second half of the 1800s, of power shifted away from producers and toward

bui lding business empires. These industrial t itans cre- consumers, flooding the market with enticing choices.
ated enormous wealth, ra ising the overall standard of To differentiate themselves from their competitors, busi-
nesses began to develop brands, or distinctive identities,
liv ing across the country. But many also dominated
their markets, forcing out to help consumers understand the differences among
competitors, manipulat- various products. The marketing concept emerged: a
· •· • • The consumer focus that permeates successful companies
ing prices, exploiting
quality and quantity of goods and
workers, and decimating in every department, at every level. This approach co11-
services available to a population.
the environment. Toward tinues to influence business decisions today as global
the end of the 1800s, the competition heats up to unprecedented levels.
sense of well-being experienced
by either an individual or a group. government stepped into • The Relationship Era: Building on the marketing
the business realm, passing concept, today, leading-edge firms look beyond each

6 PART ONE: The Business Environment

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. AU Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02·200.202
&f ~pyrit :019Ccni;igt
ilOIU.l R' . _ lwi
dttmcd
lnrnulg. AO Ri.$h1~ Rcstn'Cd. May noc '°
~ cqiitd, icunntd. or wpli~Mtd. in ~ffllc (It in p;an.. 0i.e denmnk rip, M'.llfllt 1hitd pll1)' «wucm may be suppcsia:d from the t.Boot -.ifot tOupi:r(i),
th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcnally a««1 die U'ltml lc1n11ni upcncllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1io R'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.me if ~ -1 rig.las reciric1ions roquitt it.
The Connection Economy
Success today no longer requires building great things, although 2. Trust. Finding ways t o connect and create value only works
t here will always be big rewards for building the best new things when t he players share basic trust.
(see Apple, Tesla, and Virgin, among other success stories). 3. Permission. When you offer ideas to people who give you
According to industry leaders, the most successful firms of t he permission to do so, it's a resource. Without t hat permission,
present rely on connection- either connecting buyers and sellers it's an annoyance. What's new and significant is t hat t he
or connecting consumers and information. Uber, the largest permission must be earned, and not requested.
ride-sharing company, owns no vehicles but connects people to 4. The exchange ofideas. True value emerges when people
rides and drivers to customers. Airbnb, the largest provider of exchange ideas deliberately and with established purpose
accommodations, owns no real estate but connects people to (at a meet-up or conference, for instance).
lodging. Kickstarter and lndiegogo, both giants of crowdfunding,
Godin also emphases t he importance of generosity and art.
have no money to invest but may soon surpass traditional venture
No one wants to connect with a person who always takes but
capital firms by connecting investors to opportunities. According
never gives back. You must add value to all of your interactions
to entrepreneur and author Seth Godin, the connection economy
to make t he connection wort hwhile. Art is important, according
works best when the following four conditions are met:
to Godin, because forward-thinking people are looking for the
1. Coordination. Without coordination, connections can't ext raordinary. Traditional systems are inherently boring and
happen. In fact, the most significant business opportunities unremarkable. In the connection economy, people are seeking
may lie in areas that currently appear chaotic. t he remarkable- the t hings that are truly worthy of remark."

immediate t ransaction wit h a customer and aim to goods and services and contribute in significant ways to
build long-term relationships. Satisfied customers ou r region's economic stability and g rowth.' Nationwide,
can become advocates for a business, spreading t he nonprofits em ploy about one in ten workers, accounting
word with more speed and credibility than even the for mo re paid workers than the entire construction indus-
best promot ional campaign. And cult ivating cu rrent try and mo re than the finance, insurance, and real -estate
customers is more profitable t han constantly seeking sectors combined. And nonprofit m useums, schools, the-
new ones. One key tool is technology. Using t he Web aters, and orchestras have become economic magnet s
and ot her digital resources, businesses gat her detailed for many comm unities, drawing add itional investment. "
information about their customers and use t hese data
to serve them better, "bringing a level of customer
centricity that we've never seen before; according to • FACTORS OF PRODUCTION:
Graeme Noseworthy, market ing directo r for IBM.
THE BASIC BUILDING BLOCKS
Both businesses and nonprofits rely on factors of

• NONPROFITS AND THE


ECONOMY: THE BUSINESS
production-four fundamental resources-to achieve
their object ives. Some combinat ion of t hese factors is cru-
cial for an economic system to work and create wealth. As

OF DOING GOOD you read t hrough the factors,


keep in mind that they don't
Nonprofit o rganizations play a c ritical role in the economy, come free of charge. Human Business-like
resources, for instance, re- establishments that employ people
o ften working hand in hand with businesses to im prove and produce goods and services with
quire wages, while ent repre-
the quality of life in our society. Focusing on areas such as the fundamental goal of contributing
health, human services, education, art, rel ig ion, and cu l- neurs need a profit incentive. to the community rather than
ture, nonprofits are business-like establ ishments, but • Natura l Resources: generating financial gain.
their p rimary goals do not include profits. Chuck Bean, This factor includes all
executive d irecto r of t he Nonprofit Roundtable, explains: inputs that offer value fundamental elements-natural
"By definition, nonprofits are not in t he business of fi nan- in t heir natural state, resources, capital, human resources,
and entrepreneurship-that
cial gain. We're in t he business of doing good . However, such as land, fresh wa- businesses need to achieve their
nonprofit s are still businesses in every ot her sense- ter, w ind, and m ineral objectives.
they em ploy people, t hey take in revenue, they p rod uce deposits. Most natu ral

CHAPTER1: Business Now: Change Is the Only Constant 7

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. AU Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02·200.202
Copyriglll 2019Ccni;igt lnrnulg. AO Ri.$h1~ Rcstn'Cd. May noc be cqiitd, icunntd. or wplkMtd. in 11b)lc (It in p;an.. Oi.e IIO denmnk rip , M'.llfllt 1hitd pll1)' «wucm may be suppcsia:d from the t.Boot -.ifot t0upi:r(i),
&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin&upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1io R'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.mt if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
• Entrepreneursh ip : Entrepreneurs are people
who take the risk o f launching and operati ng their
own businesses, largely in response to the profit
incent ive. They tend to see opportunities where
ot hers don't. and they use their own resources
to capitalize on t hat potentia l. Entrepreneu rial
enterprises can kick-start an economy, creati ng a
tidal wave of opportun ity by harnessing the other
factors o f production. But entrepreneu rs don't
t hrive in an environment that doesn't support
t hem. The key ingredient is econom ic freedom:
freedom of choice (whom to hire, for instance, or
what to produce), freedom from excess regu lation,
and freedom from too much taxat ion. Protection
from corruption and un fair com pet ition is anot her
entrepreneurial "must."

Many businesses work with nonprofits to Clearly, all o f these factors m ust be in place for an
boost their impact in the community. economy to thrive. But which factor is most important ?
One way to answer that question is to examine cur-
rent economies around t he world. Russia and China are
resources must be ext racted, purified, or harnessed; both rich in nat ural resources and human resources, and
people cannot actually create them. (Note that ag- both countries have a so lid level o f capital (growing in
ricu ltural products, which people do create through Ch ina, and deteriorating in Russia). Yet, neither country
planting and tend ing, are not a natural resource.) The is wealthy; bot h ran k relatively low in terms of gross
value of all natural resources tends to rise wit h high nationa l income per person. The missing ingredient
demand, low supply, or both. seems to be entrepreneu rsh ip, limited in Russia largely
• Capital: Th is factor incl udes machines, tools, build- t hrough corruption and in China through government
ings, information, and technology-t he synthetic interference and taxes. Contrast those examples w ith,
resou rces that a business needs to produce goods o r say, Hong Kong. The population is small, and the natural
services. Computers and telecommunicat ions capa- resources are severely limited, yet Hong Kong has con-
bility have become pivotal element s of capital across sistently ranked among t he richest regions in Asia. The
a surprising range o f industries, from financial reason: operating for many years under the British lega l
services to professiona l sports. You may be su rprised and economic system, the government actively encour-
to learn t hat in th is context, capital does not incl ude aged entrepreneursh ip, wh ich fueled the creation o f
money, but, clearly, businesses use money to acquire, wea lth. Recognizing the potential of entrepreneursh ip,
maintain, and upgrade their capital. Ch ina has recently done mo re to relax regulations and
support free enterprise. The result has been t remendous
• Human Resources: This factor encom passes the
physical, intellectual, and creative cont ributions g rowth, which may yet bring China into the ranks o f t he
o f everyone who works w ithin an economy. As wea lthier nations.'2
technology replaces a growing number o f manual

• THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT:


labor jobs, education and motivation have become
increasingly important to human resou rce develop-
ment. Given t he impor- THE CONTEXT FOR SUCCESS
tance o f knowledge to
The workforce effect iveness, No business operates in a vacuum. Outside factors play
setting in which business operates. some business experts, a vital role in determining whether each individual busi-
The five key components are such as management ness succeeds o r fails. Likewise, the broader business
economic environment, competitive
guru Peter Drucker, break environment can make the critical difference in
environment. technological
environment. social environment, out knowledge as it s own whet her an overall economy thrives or d isintegrates. The
and global environment. category, separate from five key dimensions of t he business environment are
human resources. t he economic environment, the competitive environment,

8 PART ONE: The Business Environment

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. AU Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02·200.202
Copyriglll 2019Ccni;igt lnrnulg. AO Ri.$h1~ Rcstn'Cd. May noc be cqiitd, icunntd. or wplkMtd. in 11b)lc (It in p;an.. Oi.e IIO denmnk rip, M'.llfllt 1hitd pll1)' «wucm may be suppcsia:d from the t.Boot -.ifot t0upi:r(i),
&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin&upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1io R'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.me if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
the technolog ical environment. t he social environment.
and the global environment, as shown in Exhib it 1.1. "A banker is a fellow who lends
you his umbrella when the sun
1-sa The Economic Environment is shining, but wants it back the
In September 2008, t he U.S. economy plunged into minute it begins to rain."
the worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression. Huge,
-MARK TWAIN.
venerable financial inst itut ions faced col lapse, spurring AMERICAN AUTHOR
unprecedented bailouts by the federal government
and the Federal Reserve. By the end of the year, t he
stock market had lost more t han a t hird of its value, and
on renewable energy-to position the U.S. economy for
11 .1 million Americans were out of work. Housing prices
stability and growth in the decades to come. (The price,
fell precipitously, and foreclosure rates reached record
of course, was more national debt. which w ill ultimately
levels. As fear swept through the banking industry, neither
counterbalance some of t he benefit s.) Although the U.S.
businesses nor individuals could borrow money to meet
economic recovery cont inued through 2015, t he ent ire
their needs. Economic turmoil in the United States spread
world economy began to stagger in early 2016 as eco-
quickly around the world, fueling a global economic crisis.
nomic instability in China caused frightening ripples
The U.S. economy cont inued to stagger through 2010
around t he globe.
and 2011, w ith unemployment remaining stubbornly
The government also takes act ive steps on an on-
high, although signs of recovery began to emerge in late
going basis to reduce t he risks o f starting and running a
2012, and certa inly in 2013. The Federal Reserve-the U.S.
business. The result: free enterprise and fair competition
cent ral banking system-took unprecedented, proac-
flourish. Despite the economic crisis, research suggests
tive steps to encourage an economic t urnaround. And
t hat most budding ent repreneurs still p lan to launch t heir
President Barack Obama spearheaded passage of a mas-
firms in the next three years. One government policy that
sive economic st imulus package, designed not only to
supports business is t he relatively low federal tax rate, both
create jobs but also to build infrastructure-wit h a focus
for individuals and businesses. A number of states-from
Alabama to Nevada-make their local economies even
more appealing by provid ing special tax deals to att ract
new firms. The federal government also runs ent ire agen-
Exhibit 1.1
cies that support business, such as t he Small Business
The Business Environment Administrat ion. Ot her branches o f t he government, such
as t he Federal Trade Commission, actively promote fair
compet it ive pract ices, which help give every enterprise a
chance to succeed.
Anot her key element o f the U.S. economic environ-
ment is legislation that support s enforceable contracts.
For instance, if you contract a baker to supply your health
food company w ith 10,000 pounds of raw ka le ch ips at
$1.00 per pound, t hat firm must comply or face legal con-
sequences. The firm can't wa it unt il a day before delivery
and jack up t he price to $10.00 per pound because you
wou ld almost certainly respond w ith a successful lawsuit.
Many U.S. businesspeople take enforceable contracts for
granted, but in a number o f developing countries-which
offer some o f today's largest business opportunities-
contracts are o ften not enforceable (at least not in day-
to-day pract ice).
Corruption also affects the economic environment.
Each dimension of the business environment affects both individual A low level of corruption and bribery dramatica lly re-
businesses and the economy in general. duces the risks of running a business by ensuring t hat
everyone plays by the same set o f ru les-rules t hat are

CHAPTER 1: Bu siness Now: Change Is the Only Constant 9

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Copyriglll 2019Ccni;igt lnrnulg. AO Ri.$h1~ Rcstn'Cd. May noc be cqiitd, icunntd. or wplkMtd. in 11b)lc (It in p;an.. Oi.e IIO denmnk rip, M'.llfllt 1hitd pll1)' «wucm may be suppcsia:d from the t.Boot -.ifot t0upi:r(i),
&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin&upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1 io R'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.me if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
clearly visible to every player. Fortunately, U.S. laws keep
domestic corruption mostly-but not completely-at
bay. Other ethical lapses, such as shady accounting, can
also increase the cost o f doing business for everyone
involved. But in t he wake of corpora te ethical meltdowns
such as Enron, the federal government has passed
tough-minded new regulations to increase corporate
Apple Facebook + 48%
accountabi lity. If the new legislation effectively curbs
illegal and unethical practices, every business will have a Google Amazon + 33%
fair chance at success. Coca-Cola Lego + 25%
Upcoming chapters on economics and ethics will ad-
Microsoft Nissan +22%
d ress t hese economic challenges and their significance in
more depth. But bottom line, we have reason for cautious Toyota Adobe + 21%
(some would say very cautious) optimism. The American
IBM Starbucks + 20%
economy has a proven track record of flexibility and resil-
ience, which will surely help us navigate this crisis and un- Samsung Zara + 19%
cover new opportunities. Amazon Mercedes-Benz +18%

Meocecles-Benz Porsche + 18%


t-sb The Competitive Environment
GE Hermes +1 7%
As global competition intensifies yet further, leading-
edge compan ies have focused on customer sat isfaction Sourat: Best Gtobal Brands 2016, htertrand. http://interbrand.001Tl,/best·brands)best"'91ci>al-brands/2016
/ranking!, accessed January 23, 2017.
like never before. The goal: to develop long-term, mu-
tually beneficial relationships with customers. Getting
lnterbrand highlights brands t hat use imagination and
cu rrent customers to buy more of your product is a lot
innovation to deliver value to their customers. Exhibit 1.2
less expensive than convincing potent ial customers to
shows the winners and the up-and-comers in the race
try your product for the first time. And if you t ransform
to capture the hearts, minds, and dollars of consumers
your current customers into loyal advocates-vocal
around the world.
promoters of your product or service-t hey'll get those
new customers for you more effectively than any ad- Leading Edge versus Bleeding Edge Speed-to-
vertising o r discount p rogram. Companies such as Ama- market-the rate at which a firm t ransforms concepts into
zon, Coca-Cola, and Northwestern Mutual life insurance actual products-can be another key source of competi-
lead their industries in customer satisfaction, which t ive advantage. And the pace of change just keeps getting
translates into higher p rofits even when t he competi- faster. In this tumultuous setting, companies that stay ahead
tion is tough. 13 of the pack often enjoy a distinct advantage. But keep in
Customer satisfaction comes in large part from deliv- mind t hat there's a difference between leading edge and
ering unsurpassed value. The best measure of value is t he bleeding edge. Bleeding-edge firms launch products that
size of t he gap between product benefits and price. A prod- fail because t hey're too far ahead of the market. During
uct has value when its benefits to the customer are equal t he late 1990s, for example, in the heart of the dot.com
to or greater than the price that t he customer pays. Keep in boom, Webvan, a grocery delivery service, launched to
mind that the cheapest product doesn't necessarily repre- huge fanfare. But the firm went bankrupt just a few years
sent the best value. If a 99-cent toy from Big Lot s breaks in later in 2001, partly because customers weren't yet ready to
a day, customers may be willing to pay several dollars more dump t raditional grocery stores in favor of cyber-shopping.
for a similar toy from somewhere else. But if that 99-cent Leading-edge firms, on the ot her hand, offer products just
toy lasts all year, customers w ill be delighted by the value as the market becomes ready to embrace them.14
and will likely encourage their friends and family to shop at Apple provides an excellent example of leading edge.
Big Lots.The key to value is q uality, and virtually all success- You may be surprised to learn that Apple-which controls
ful firms offer top-quality about 70% 1s of the digital music player market-did not
products relative to their offer the first MP3 player. Instead, it surveyed the existing
••, • The rate at
which a new product moves from d irect competitors. market to help develop a new product, the iPod, which
conception to commercialization. A recent ranking was far superior in terms of design and ease-of-use. But
study by consulting firm Apple didn't stop with one successful MP3 player. Racing

10 PART ONE: The Business Environment

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&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin& upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1io R'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.me if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
role in both employee sat-
isfaction and st rong stock
performance."
Finding and hold-
ing the best talent w ill
likely become a crucial
competit ive issue in the
next decade as the baby
boom generation begins
to retire. The 500 largest
U.S. companies anticipate
losing about half of their
senior managers over
the next five to six years.
Since January 1, 2011, ap-
proximately 10,000 baby
boomers began to tu rn 65
(the traditional retirement
age) every day, and the
Pew Research Center an-
ticipates that t his trend
will continue for 19 years.
Workforce Magazine named American Express as its top company Replacing t he skills and
for HR management in 2016. Google, Accenture, USAA, and AT&T experience t hese workers
rounded out the rest of the top five. bring to t heir jobs may
be tough: baby boomers
include about 77 million
to stay ahead, t hey soon int roduced t he colorfu l, more af- people, while t he generat ion that follows includes on ly
fordable iPod mini. And before sales reached t heir peak, 46 million. Firms that cult ivate human resources now w ill
they launched the iPod Nano, which essent ially pulled t he find themselves better able to compete as t he market for
rug from under t he blockbuster iPod m ini just a few short top talent tightens.18 However, job market cont raction may
months before the holiday selling season. Why? If t hey not be an issue, because a growing number of baby boom-
hadn't done it, someone else may well have done it instead. ers opt to either post pone ret irement or cont inue working
And Apple is almost maniacally focused on maintaining its part-time during retirement, in the face of inadequate
compet itive lead.'6 financial resources.

1-sc The Workforce Advantage 1-sd The Technological Environment


Employees can contribute anot her key d imension to a firm's The broad definition of business technology includes
competitive edge. Recent research suggests t hat invest ing any tools t hat businesses can use to become more effi-
in worker satisfaction yields tangible, bottom-line resu lts. cient and effective. But more specifical ly, in today's world,
The researchers evaluated the stock price of Fortune maga- business technology usually refers to computers, telecom-
zine's annual list of the ·100 Best Companies to Work for in municat ions, and other digital tools. Over the past few
America· to the S&P 500, which reflects the overall market. decades, the impact of d ig ital technology on business
From 2009 to 2014, cumulat ive stock market returns for the has been utterly transfor-
"100 Best' were up + 205%, compared to + 121% for the mative. New industries
S&P 500. On an annualized basis, this translates to a return of have emerged, wh ile oth- • • • • Any
about + 20.4% per year for t he"l 00 Best;and about+ 14.1% ers have disappeared. And tools-especially computers,
telecommunications, and other
per year for the S&P 500 over the same time period. While some fields-such as t ravel,
digital products-that businesses
the crit ical d ifference in performance most likely stemmed banking, and music-have can use to become more efficient
from employee satisfaction, other factors-such as excellent changed dramatically. Even and effective.
product and superb top management-likely also played a in categories w ith relatively

CHAPTER 1: Bu siness Now: Change Is the Only Constant 11

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&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin&upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1io R'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.me if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
The Uber Syndrome
No doubt about it- senior executives make the most money in are the global economic environment and geopolitical tensions.
business. They also have the most to worry about, however. In a The global economy is more integrated today than ever before,
2015 study of senior executives, one participant described her and a crisis within any major country can quickly spread around
firm's biggest worry as "the 'Uber Syndrome' - where a competitor the world. We've seen t his time and time again in recent years,
with a completely different business model enters your industry from the Grecian debt crisis of 2009 to the Chinese stock market
and flattens you:' In today's tumultuous business world, this plunge of early 2016. Dennis Nally, global chairman of PwC
concern is completely understandable. Analyzing the research, Consultancy, explains why geopolitical tension is a threat to
Fortune magazine editor Geoff Colvin noticed that this year, for the global economy:"[lf] you've got hot spots anywhere in
the first time, most business leaders expected new competitors the world, it creates instability . .. business leaders hate
to be outsiders. Business leaders know they must disrupt- or be instability:'The latest PwC survey of CEOs shows that among
disrupted. The solution to this impending threat, according to American CEOs in particular, there is widespread recognition
the small cohort of highly successful firms that the research dubs that a strong corporate purpose is vital in t he digital world.
"torchbearers;• seems to be to focus more on customers and less In addition, CEOs are focused on building stronger trust with
on competitors. When a disruptive player makes its move, loyal employees and customers alike. So if your life goal is to reach
customers are less likely to defect and destroy your business. the top rung at a major corporation, don't expect to leave your
worries behind. It would seem that t he higher you go, the more
According to a separate survey of CEOs released in 2016, the
pressing the worries."
two largest concerns among chief executives around the world

unchanged products, companies have leveraged technol- networks with suppliers and distributors to create a more
ogy to streaml ine production and create new efficiencies. seamless flow of goods and services.20
Examples include new processes such as computerized Alternative selling strategies thrive on the Internet,
billing, d igital an imation, and robotic manufacturing. For giving rise to a more individualized buying experience. If
fast-moving firms, the technologica l environment repre- you've browsed seller reviews on eBay or received shop-
sents a rich source of competitive advantage, but it clearly ping recommendations from Amazon, you'll have a sense
can be a major threat for companies that are slow to adopt of how personal web marketing can feel. Online technology
or to integrate new approaches. also allows leading-edge firms to offer customized products
The creation of the World Wide Web has trans- at prices that are comparable to standardized products. On
formed not only business but also people's lives. Anyone, the Burton website, for instance, customers can "custom
anywhere, anytime can use the Web to send and receive build" professiona l quality"Custom x· snowboards while sit-
images and data (as long as access is available}. One result ting at home in their pajamas. Nike offers a similar service for
is the rise of e-commerce or online sa les, which allow NikelD shoes, clothing, and gear.
businesses to tap into a worldwide community of potential As technology continues to evolve at breakneck
customers. In the wake of speed, the scope of change-both in everyday life and
the g lobal economic crisis, business operations-is almost unimaginable. In this envi-
m[l!i!m:·~· The service e-commerce has slowed ronment, compan ies that welcome change and manage it
that allows computer user.; to easily from the breakneck 20%+ well will clearly be the winners.
access and share information on the
Internet in the form of text. graphics, g rowth rates of the past five
video, apps, and animation. years, but even so, analysts 1-se The Social Environment
predict that solid growth
, · Business The social environment embodies the values, attitudes, cus-
transactions conducted online, will continue. Business-to-
toms, and beliefs shared by groups of people. It also covers
typically via the Internet business selling comprises demographics, or the measurable characteristics of a
the vast majority of total
•• The population. Demographic factors include popu lation size and
measurable characteristics of a e-commerce sales (and an
density and specific traits such as age, gender, race, educa-
population. Demographic factors even larger share of the
tion, and income. Clearly, given all these influences, the social
indude population size and density, profits}. A growing num-
as well as specific traits such as age, environment changes dramatically from country to country.
ber of businesses have also
gender, and race. And a nation as diverse as the United States features a num-
connected their d ig ital ber of different social environments. Rather than cover the

12 PART ONE: The Business Environment

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&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml ltll'flin& upcriellC'C'. Cengugt lnmillg lnl:f'Yts lh: ris:h1io ll'lfKWt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.mt if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
Do You Do It?
More than 1,000 t imes a minute, someone in America bites into a Jack in the
Box taco- one of more than a million Jack in the Box tacos sold every day.
With such numbers, you might think that Jack unearth ed the secret to
t he perfect-tasting taco . . . but you'd be wro ng. Jack's taco has been
variously described by its fans as:
• "a wet envelope of cat food"
• "vile a nd amazing"
• "disgusting a nd delectable"
• "repulsive and yet irresistible"

So why does the Jack in the Box taco do so well? Food writer Sophie Egan offers three
possible reasons. First, it's cheap. At two for $.99 it's a real deal. Second, it's fried.
As much as we like the idea of fru its and vegetables- fried stuff tastes good! Finally, it's a
metaphorical flip of th e bird to the "food police," who many believe are attempting to exert
too much control over ou r rights to eat whatever we please."

full spectrum, this section focuses on the broad social trends So what does this mean for business? Growing eth·
that have the strongest impact on American business. Under· nic populations offer robust profit potential for firms that
standing the various dimensions of the social environment is pu rsue t hem . For instance, a number o f major brands
crucial since successful businesses must offer goods and ser· such as Coca-Cola, Genera l Mills, Ford, Nestle, Pu ri na,
vices that respond to it. and Walmart have invested heavily in the Hispanic mar·
ket over the past five years. Recognizing the potential of
Diversity While t he American population has al· t he Hispan ic market, Japanese automakers have begun
ways included an array of different cultu res, the United actively targeti ng Latino custom ers. Because o f these ef·
States has become more ethnically diverse in recent forts, Hispanic customers are reportedly 15% more likely
years. Caucasians continue to represent the largest chunk t han any other g roup to buy a Japanese-made car.Toyota,
of the population at 63%, but according to t he direc·
tor of t he U.S. Census Bureau, "The next half century
marks a turning point in continuing t rends-the U.S. will be·
come a plurality nat ion, where the non-Hispanic white pop· Exhibit 1.3
ulation remains the largest single group, but no g roup is in
the majority~ This will probably happen in about 2043. The
U.S. Population Estimates
Hispanic and Asian populat ions will probably cont inue to 80
• 2014
grow faster t han any other et hnic groups. By 2060, nearly one 70
c: • 2060
in three U.S. residents will be Hispanic, up from about one in 0 60
:; 50
six today. This w ill happen even though the overwhelming :,
c. 40
wave of immigration from Mexico to the United States has
stalled and even begun to reverse in the past few years; nev·
!0
30
"#- 20
ertheless, among Mexican-born people worldwide, one in
10 2.0%4.9%
ten currently lives in the United States.22 Exhibit 1.3 demon·
0
strates the shifting populat ion breakdown. Whit e Black Hispanic Asian Two or
But t he national statistics are somewhat misleading, more races
Population Group
since ethnic groups tend to cluster together. African Ameri·
cans, for example, currently comp rise about 37% of t he Swte: Projecbol\S of the Sim and Coltl»$lbOn of the U.S. Populabon: 2014 to 2060, U.S.Census Bureau.
March 2015, https://wWW,.CSl\$1JS.90Y/oontm\/dam/Coosus/l1brary/publicati:lns/20l 5/doolo /p25--1143
Mississippi population, Asians comprise about 39% of t he .p:lf, axes:sed May 9, 2016.

Hawaii population, and Hispanics comprise about 47% of


the New Mexico populat ion.2l

CHAPTER 1: Business Now: Change Is the Only Constant 13

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&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'IC!ml IC!ll'flin&upc,ricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YC!S lh: ris:h1io R'Q'Kl'lt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.mt if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
in particular, has been the top-sell ing brand among Lati- number of people in China over t he age of 60 w ill dou-
nos for more t han ten years thanks to its h ighly targeted ble, leading to a nation where t he retired will outnumber
marketing. Targeti ng an et hnic market can also yield t he entire population o f Western Europe. There are cur-
remarkable results for products that cross over into main- rently six workers to every retiree, but China's one-ch ild
stream culture. Music mogul and entrepreneur Russell policy suggest s that the number of people providing for
Simmons, for example, initial ly targeted his music and t he old w ill rapidly collapse 27
cloth ing to the African American market. but his success The rapidly aging population brings opportunities
quickly spilled over to mainstream culture, help ing him and t hreats for business. Companies in fields t hat cater
build a hip-hop empire.2• to the elderly-such as healthcare, pharmaceut icals,
Growing diversity also affects t he workforce. A di- travel, recreation, and financial management-will clearly
verse staff-one t hat reflects an increasingly diverse boom. But creative companies in ot her fields w ill capi-
marketplace-can yield a powerful competitive ad- ta lize on the trend as wel l by reimagining their current
vantage in terms of both innovation and ability to prod uct s to serve older cl ients. Possibilities incl ude books
reach a broad customer base. From global behemoths, and movies-maybe even video games-with mature
such as Coca-Co la and Verizon, to local corner stores, characters; low-i mpact fit ness progra ms such as water
companies have taken pro active steps to hire and nur- aerobics; and cell phones and PDAs w ith more readable
ture people from a broad range o f backg rounds. And screens. Again, the potential payoff of age diversity is
that doesn't just reflect racial or ethnic roots. True diver- clear: companies w ith older employees are more likely to
sity also incl udes differences in gender, age, religion, and find innovative ways to reach the aging consumer market.
nationality, among other areas. Leading -edge firms have But the larger numbers of retired people also pose sig-
also taken proactive steps to tra in t heir entire workforce nificant threats to overall business success. With a smaller
to manage diversity for top performance.2 s labor pool, companies will need to compete even harder
Effectively managing diversity should on ly become for top talent, driving up recruitment and payroll costs.
easier as t ime goes by. Multiple studies demonst rate that As state and federa l governments stretch to serve the ag-
young American adults are the most tolerant age group, ing population, taxes may increase, putting an additional
and they are moving in a more tolerant direction than ear- burden on business. And as mid-career workers spend
lier generations regarding racial differences, immigrants, more on elder care, they may find themselves w ith less to
and homosexuality. As this generation gathers influence spend on other goods and services, shri nking the size o f
and experience in t he workforce, they are likely to lever- t he consumer market.
age diversity in their organ izat ions to hone their edge in a
fiercely competitive marketplace.26 Rising Worker Expectations Workers of al l ages
continue to seek flexibility from their employers. More-
Aging Population As life spans increase and birth- over, fol lowing massive corporate layoffs in the early
rates decrease, t he American population is rapidly ag- 2000s, employees are much less apt to be loyal to t heir
ing. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that the nation's firms. A study released in 2013 showed that on average,
population age 65 and older w ill more than double employees in Fortune 500 fi rms have a median tenure o f
between 2005 and 2060. By 2060, older Americans w ill on ly 3.68 years. As young people today enter the work-
represent j ust over one in five residents, up from one in force, t hey bring higher expectations for their employers
seven today. Also, t he number of working-age Ameri- in terms of salary, job responsibility, and flexibility-and
cans w ill sh rink from 63% to 57% less willingness to pay dues by
of the population, dramatically working extra-long hours or doing a
increasing t he number o f people In Asia, the average high volume o f "grunt work." Smart
who are depending on each work- firms are responding to the change
ing American. And the United
person's living in worker expectations by forging a
States isn't alone in t his trend. The standards are new part nership wit h t heir employ-
population is aging across the currently set to rise ees. The goal is a greater level o f
developed world, from Western mutual respect through open com-
by 10,000% in one
Europe to Japan. China faces the munication, information shari ng,
same issue, magnified by its huge lifetime! and t raining. And t he not-so-hid-
population. Demographers esti- -NEWSWEEK den agenda, o f course, is stronger
mate that in the next 20 years the long-term performance.28

14 PART ONE: The Business Environment

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&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin&upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1 io R'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.me if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
-
e
8
Ethics and Social ~
Responsibility With
high-profile ethical melt-
downs dominating the
headlines in the past few
years, workers, consum-
ers, and government Over t he past couple of decades, China has been a
alike have begun to magnet for manufacturing jobs because of the high
hold businesses-and the people who run population and low wages-about $3.50 per hour (in-
them-to a higher standard. Federal legislat ion, passed clud ing government-mandated benefit s) versus about
in the wake of the Enron fiasco, demands transparent S19.50 in the United States-although the gap is rap-
financial management and more accountability from idly closing due to double-digit annual wage inflat ion
sen ior executives. And recogn izing their key role in busi- in China. And India has been especially adept at attract-
ness success, a growing number of consumers and work- ing h igh-tech jobs, in part because of their world-class,
ers have begun to insist that compan ies play a proactive English-speaking university graduates who are willing
role in making t heir communities-and often the world to work for less t han t heir counterparts around the
commun ity-bet ter p laces. Sustainability-doing busi- globe.30
ness today without harming the ability of future genera- The migration of j obs relates closely to the globa l
tions to meet their needs-has become a core issue in movement t owa rd free trade. In 1995, a renegot ia-
the market place, driving business policies, investment t ion of the General Agreement on Tariffs and
decisions, and consumer purchases on an unprece- Trade (GATT)-signed by 125 count ries-took bold
dented scale.29 steps to lower t ariffs (t axes on imports) and to reduce
t rade rest rict ions worldwide. The result: goods move
more free ly than ever across international boundar-
1-st The Global Environment ies. Individual groups of count ries have gone even
The U.S. economy operates wit hin the context of t he global further, creating b locs of nations w ith virtually unre-
environment, interacting continually w ith other economies. stricted t rade. Mexico, Canada, and the United States
In fact, over the past two decades, technology and free have laid t he groundwork for a free-t rade mega-market
trade have blurred the lines between individual economies t hrough the North American Free Trade Ag reement
around t he world. Technology has forged unprecedented (NAFTA), and 25 European
links among count ries, making it cost effective-even ef- countries have created a =·-'-'~ An international
ficient-to establish computer help centers in Mumbai to powerful free-trading b loc e<onomic and political movement
serve customers in Boston, or to hire programmers in Bue- t hrough t he European designed to help goods and services
flow more freely across international
nos Aires to make websites for companies in Stockholm. Union, wh ich has been
boundaries.
Not surprisingly, jobs have migrated to the lowest bidder weakened by a severe,
w ith the highest quality-regardless of where that bidder ongoing financial crisis.
An
is based. The free-t rade movement
international trade agreement that
Often, t he lowest b idder is based in China or India. has lowered p rices and has taken bold steps to lower tariffs
Both economies are growing at breakneck speed, largely increased quality across and promote free trade worldwide.
because they at t ract enormous foreign invest ment. virtua lly every p roduct

CHAPTER 1: Bu siness Now: Change Is the Only Constant 15

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Copyriglll 2019Ccni;igt lnrnulg. AO Ri.$h1~ Rcstn'Cd. May noc be cqiitd, icunntd. or wplkMtd. in 11b)lc (It in p;an.. Oi.e IIO denmnk rip, M'.llfllt 1hitd pll1)' «wucm may be suppcsia:d from the t.Boot -.ifot t0upi:r(i),
&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin&upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1io R'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.me if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
category as competition becomes tru ly global. We'll states. And in 2013, Typhoon Haiyan decimated the Phil-
discuss these issues and their implications in more ippines. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq-while a boon
depth in Chapter 3. to the defense industry-have dampened the economic
potential of both areas. With nationalism on the rise, and
A Multi-Pronged Threat In the past decade growing relig ious and ethnic tensions around the world,
alone, war, terrorism, disease, and natural disasters have the global economy may continue to suffer collatera l
taken a horrific toll in human lives across the globe. The damage.3 '
economic toll has been devastating as well, affecting
businesses around the world. The 9/1 1 terrorist attacks
in New York and Washington, D.C., decimated the travel
industry and led to multib illion-dollar government out-
• BUSINESS AND YOU: MAKING
lays for Homeland Security. In 2002, a terrorist bombing IT PERSONAL
at an Indonesian nightclub killed nearly 200 people, de-
stroying tourism on the holiday island of Bali. Similarly, Whatever your career choice-from video game devel-
the 2015 terror attacks in Paris dealt a devastating blow oper to real-estate agent, to web designer-business w ill
to tourism throughout Europe, which was already strug- affect your life. Both the broader economy and your own
gling to handle an overwhelming refugee crisis. The business skills w ill influence the level of you r personal fi-
2003 deadly epidemic of the SARS flu dealt a powerful nancial success. In light of these factors, making the right
blow to the economies of Hong Kong, Beijing, and To- career choice can be a bit scary. But the good news is that
ronto. And the Ebola outbreak of 2014 had a catastrophic experts advise graduating students to "Do what you love~
impact on several impoverished African economies that This is a hardheaded strategy, not softhearted puffery. Fol-
could least afford the hit. Less than two years later, the lowing you r passion makes dollars and sense in today's
Indian Ocean tsunami wiped out the fishing industry on environment, which values less-routine abilities such
long swaths of the Indian and Sri Lankan coastl ines and as creativity, communication, and caring. These abilities
crippled the booming Thai tourism industry. That same tend to be more reward ing for most people than routine,
year, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed homes and programmable skills that computers can easily emulate.
businesses alike and brought the Gulf Coast oil industry Following you r passion doesn't guarantee a fat paycheck,
to a virtual standstill. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy wreaked but it does boost your chances of both financial and per-
$50 b illion of economic damage on the eastern seaboard sonal success.32

~ THf BIG PICTURf


Business today is complex, global, and faster will continue to change the business landscape. And a new focus
moving than ever before. looking forward, on ethics and social responsibility will likely transform the role of
the rate of change seems likely to accelerate yet further. business in society. This book will focus on the impact of change
Although the full impact of the global economic crisis is still in every facet of business, from management to marketing,
unclear, China and India seem poised to gain economic clout, to money, with an emphasis on how the elements of business
raising worldwide competition to a whole new level. Technology relate to each other and how business as a whole relates to you.

16 PART ONE: The Business Environment

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&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin& upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1 io R'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.me if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
•• CAR f f RS IN BUS INfSS
••
I I I
Manager of New Media business st rat egy. According to Sa lary.com, t he median
base sa lary for social media market ing ma nagers in 2016
Wo rk with market ing team to determ ine w hat mot ivat es was $93,6S9, alt hough t here was sig nificant variation
and inspires consumers. Lead development a nd execution based o n compa ny, locatio n, ind ustry, experience, and
of digit al marketing campaigns a cross a variety of platforms benefits. Most new media positio ns require experience
t o bu ild a deep, mea ningful, a nd genuine relatio nship in the field a nd a four· year degree in e ither business or
wit h consumers. Develop and manage interact ive viral commu nication . Many also prefer a mast er's degree in
cam pa igns, integrat e interactive media into t he overall business (an MBA).

STUDY TOOLS 1
LOCATED AT BACK OF THE TEXTBOOK
D Rip-Out Chapter Review Card

D Gainunique per~pectives on key concepts with new concept D Study with existing flashcards and make your own
videos in thee-book
D Increase your comprehension withonline homework and
quizzes

CHAPTER 1: Business Now: Change Is the Only Constant 17

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&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin&upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1 io R'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.me if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
Economics:
The Framework for Business


LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying thischapter, you will be able to:

OD Define economics and discuss the evolving global economic crisis Remember to visit
Analyze the impact of fiscal and monetary policy on the economy

• Explain and evaluate the free market system and supply and demand
PAGE37
for additional
• Explain and evaluate planned market systems
STUDYTDOLS
• Describe the trend toward mixed market systems

• Discuss key terms and tools to evaluate economic performance

• ECONOMICS: NAVIGATING ACRISIS


In September 2008, the United States plunged into a deep economic crisis. The
banking system hovered on the edge of collapse. Property values plummeted,
and home foreclosure rates soared. Massive layoffs put more than a million
Americans out of work. By the en d of the year, the stock market had lost
more than a third of its value, and financial turmoil in the United States
113:l•il A financial and
had sparked sequen tial economic shocks from Europe to
social system of how resources
flow through society, from
South America, to Asia and beyond. The outlook was grim.
production to distribution, to
consumption.

· • • The study of the How did this happen? definitions: The economy is essentiall y a financial and
choices that people, companies, Why? How could the social system. It represents the flow of resources
and governments make in economy get back on through society, from production to distribution, to
allocating society's resources.
track? consumption. Economics is the study of the choices
The Understanding these that people, companies, and governments make in al-
study of a country's overall issues-and how the gov- locating those resources. The field of economics falls
economic dynamics, such as
ernment, businesses, and into two core categories: macroeconomics and micro-
the employment rate, the gross
domestic product, and taxation individuals responded economics. Macroeconomics is the study of a coun-
policies. to them-requires under- try's overall economic dynamics, such as the
standing some basic employment rate, the gross domestic product. and
18 PART ONE: The Business Environment

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. AU Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02·200.202
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&lilOIU.l R"\iew.• lwi dttmcd th11111ny :raapptt:c,;ed comcm O,lC',I nm mmcrially a««1 die U'ltml lcll'flin&upcricllC'C'. Ccngll!" lnmillg lnl:f'YCS lh: ris:h1io ll'm!Wt addill(lllul ronai:M • •Y Ii.mt if ~ -1rig.las rec1ric1ions roquitt it.
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was always up to time in the morning. Cobbett was never too late for
an appointment in his life. Those are the men for my money.’
‘How is dear Mrs. Piper?’
‘Well, I think the missus is a trifle better this morning; but she
mends very slow, poor soul. I don’t believe the doctors can do much
for her.’
Bella sighed, and shook her head sadly, and then went tripping
upstairs to the schoolroom, leaving Mr. Piper standing at the dining-
room door looking after her.
‘A pretty little girl,’ he said to himself, ‘neatly finished off, like a
well-made carriage, or an English watch. No scamping about the
workmanship. Poor Moggie never had as pretty a figure as that,
though she was a trim-built lass when she and me was courting.’
One day, when Bella had finished the weary round of lessons, and
had nearly addled her brains in the endeavour to awaken
Brougham’s sluggish mind to the difference between the active and
the passive voices of the verb ‘amo,’ she paid her usual visit to Mrs.
Piper, and found that lady in tears over a book of sermons.
‘Dear Mrs. Piper,’ cried Bella, with a sympathizing look, ‘have you
been feeling worse this morning?’
‘No, Bella, bodily I’m much the same, but I’ve been giving way. It’s
very wrong of me, I know, but there are times when I do give way.
To-day I haven’t been able to feel quite happy in my mind. I don’t feel
my calling and election sure. I don’t feel myself sealed with the seal
of righteousness. I don’t feel myself a chosen vessel.’
‘You to say this, dear Mrs. Piper! you who have been so good!’
‘If goodness lies in reading sermons, Bella—and in constant
attendance at chapel or church, I may say I have done my duty. We
were chapel people in Great Yafford, you know, my dear; but when
we came to the Park, Piper and me both felt that chapel wasn’t
consistent. Such a house as this, and seven indoor servants don’t
accord with chapel—so we became Church of England people, as
you know, Bella; but I don’t think I ever felt so sure of salvation since.
Mr. Dulcimer is a fine preacher, but he has never given me
assurance of salvation. No more has Mr. Culverhouse, though his
sermons go through my heart like an arrow. Church is very nice,
Bella, and I don’t deny that the bonnets and general appearance of
the congregation bear a higher stamp, but chapel is the place to
make a sinner comfortable in his mind. Since I have been confined
to these rooms, Bella, and my mind has been taken off the
housekeeping, I feel there is something wanting. I should so like to
have a little talk with Mr. Mowler, of Zion Chapel, our old minister. I
know that he would understand me, and——’
‘Not better than Mr. Culverhouse,’ cried Bella, eagerly. ‘You don’t
know how good he is, how tender of one’s feelings, how
sympathetic. I have visited among his poor, and have heard him talk
to sick people. He is an angel of consolation. Do let him come and sit
with you, and read or talk to you.’
‘I shouldn’t mind,’ said Mrs. Piper, ‘but I’m afraid his views are not
evangelical enough for me.’
‘I don’t know much about his views, but I know it is beautiful to
hear him talk. Shall I ask him to come this afternoon?’
‘You may if you like, Bella, if you can take such a liberty. I want
some one to strengthen my hope of redemption. There was a time
when I believed myself one of the elect, but sitting alone up here my
thoughts have dwelt upon many things that never troubled me when
I had the free use of my limbs. I begin to think that church-going and
pious reading may not be all in all. I have been like Martha, troubled
about many things. I have worried myself too much about the things
of this world. I have not considered the lilies of the field, or the birds
of the air. I have not been grateful enough for my many blessings, or
kind enough to my neighbours. Providence has showered wealth
upon me and Piper, and I’m afraid we might have made a better use
of it.’
‘I am sure you have been kind to me,’ said Bella.
‘I might have been kinder. I’m afraid I’ve only been kind because
you’ve been useful to me. I suppose there’s some spots and stains
in the lives of the best of us; but my life seems to me all blackened
over with weeds and foul spots when I look back upon it. Oh, Bella,
to think of the many things I might have done! There’s my own blood
relations! I’ve kept them at arm’s length, only because I thought their
clothes and manners would be a blot upon this house. I’ve been a
slave to this house, and the slavery has killed me. I was a happier
woman when we lived in the Great Yafford Road, and when I helped
to make the beds and dust the rooms every morning, and made my
own pastry and cakes. That was what I was born for, Bella, not to be
cheated and made light of by a parcel of stuck-up servants.’
‘I shall pass Mr. Culverhouse’s lodgings as I go home,’ said Bella.
‘I’ll ask him to come and chat with you.’
‘You may, my dear; though I don’t feel that I shall get the same
comfort from him that I should from Mr. Mowler.’
Bella walked briskly through the Park, reflecting on the foolishness
of human nature. Here was Mrs. Piper, to whom had been given
such great prosperity, and who had made so little use of her
advantages, frittering away life upon trivial anxieties, and missing the
chance of happiness. She looked along the fine old avenue, and
thought how much grandeur and importance a sensible young
woman like herself might have derived from such surroundings. But
on poor Mrs. Piper all these good things had been thrown away. That
poor dull bit of agate looked ridiculous in the splendid setting which
would have been quite in harmony with a shining little gem like Bella
Scratchell. It was a clear bright winter day, the sky blue, the moor a
warm purple, the leafless woods lightly powdered with snow, white
patches lying here and there among the dark trunks of oak and elm.
Bella walked quickly through the Park and along the high road
leading to the village.
CHAPTER VII.
mine own familiar friend.
The house in which Mr. Culverhouse lodged was on the outskirts of
Little Yafford, a comfortable square cottage, with a long slip of
garden between the dusty high road and the shady green porch, a
garden, where in summer tall white lilies, bush roses, double stocks,
and clove carnations grew abundantly in long narrow borders, edged
with a thick fence of irreproachable box. Miss Coyle’s model cottage,
with its green venetians and verandah, shining window-panes, and
general appearance of having come out of a toy-shop, stood on the
opposite side of the way, and even the perfection of Miss Coyle’s
miniature garden did not put to shame the neatness of Mrs.
Pomfret’s larger domain. Mrs. Pomfret was pew opener, and had
occupied that post of honour ever since her marriage with Mr.
Pomfret, the sexton. Mr. Pomfret was in his grave, and the excellent
management whereby Mrs. Pomfret contrived to make so good a
figure and wear such spotless caps, upon the profits of opening
pews and letting lodgings, was a wonder to the housekeepers of
Little Yafford. If Mrs. Pomfret had been disposed to impart the recipe
by which she had done these things, she could have told it in two
words, and those two words would have been, temperance and
industry.
The first of the snowdrops had not yet pierced the dark mould, but
the shining leaves of bay and berberis, and holly and laurel
brightened the long slip of garden. Bella opened the little gate
hesitatingly, as if there were something awful in the act. She felt that
she was making a desperate plunge in calling upon Cyril
Culverhouse; but Mrs. Piper’s sad condition was her justification.
She had seen him very seldom since that evening at the Vicarage,
when Mrs. Dulcimer forced him to a revealment of his feelings. It was
a memory that had lost none of its bitterness with the passage of
time; and yet Bella yearned to see him, and was glad of an excuse
for approaching him.
Mrs. Pomfret opened the door, and saluted Miss Scratchell with a
surprised curtsey. She was a thin little woman, dressed in perpetual
black, and the stiffest of widow’s caps, which framed her small hard
face with a broad band of starched muslin that would have been
trying to the countenance of a Hebe, and which made Mrs. Pomfret’s
complexion look like unpolished mahogany. But Mrs. Pomfret did not
wear a widow’s cap because it was becoming, or comfortable. She
wore it as a badge of respectability.
Mr. Culverhouse was at home. He opened the parlour door at the
sound of Bella’s voice, and looked out.
‘Is it you, Miss Scratchell? How do you do?’ he said, with calm
friendliness. ‘Pray come in. Is Mary Smithers worse? Have you come
to fetch me to her? I am afraid she has not many days to live.’
Bella’s eyes were rapturously devouring the room. His room. It
looked like the room of a gentleman and a student. Those books,
piled row above row in the shabby old bookcase, were his, of course.
There was his open desk upon the table. His hat and cane were on a
side table. There was no disorder, nothing squalid or unsightly.
‘No, I have not come from Mary Smithers,’ said Bella. ‘I want to
enlist your sympathy for poor Mrs. Piper.’
And then Bella explained the sad condition into which Mrs. Piper
had fallen, how in the hour of sickness her soul hankered after the
strong meat of the Baptist chapel where she had worshipped in her
youth, and how she would assuredly seek for comfort from Mr.
Mowler, unless the Church of England came to her rescue.
‘I should have asked Mr. Dulcimer to see her’, said Bella, ‘only,
dear and good as he is, I do not think he is earnest enough to give
hope and comfort to a person in her situation. If you would be so
kind as to call upon her.’
‘I will go immediately.’
‘Oh, how good you are!’ cried Bella, her eyes shining with
enthusiasm.
Mr. Culverhouse reddened. That little gush of flattery reminded
him uncomfortably of his conversation with Mrs. Dulcimer.
‘There is no goodness in a clergyman trying to do his duty, any
more than in a baker carrying round his loaves,’ he said, coolly.
He put on his overcoat, and took up his hat and cane, and he and
Bella went out together. That cool tone of his wounded her keenly.
‘Are you still with Miss Harefield?’ he said, at the garden gate.
Bella gave him an icy look. The mention of that name was a
second stab.
‘No, I have left her some time.’
Cyril saw the look, and perceived the unfriendliness in the tone.
He put down both to a wrong cause. His face was full of care as he
walked to the Park.
‘Mine own familiar friend,’ he said to himself, sadly.
Bella found Mrs. Piper in better spirits on the following day.
‘Oh, my dear, Mr. Culverhouse is a saint!’ she exclaimed, when
Bella had seated herself by the invalid’s sofa. ‘He has given me
great comfort. He has not flattered me, you know, my dear. He does
not deny that I have misused my advantages. I have not done all that
I might for my fellow-creatures. I have taken too much thought of the
letter, and not followed the spirit. Oh, he is a good man.’
‘Is he not?’ cried Bella, delighted at this praise.
‘I shall ask Piper to subscribe double to all his charities. We have
subscribed ’andsome, but we have done it because it was in keeping
with this house to have our names stand out well in the subscription
lists. I should like to give Mr. Culverhouse a sum of money,
unbeknown to anybody, that he might lay it out to my advantage,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break through
and steal. I don’t think I shall ever worry myself about the butcher’s
book any more, Bella. Sickness has opened my eyes to the vanity of
such petty cares.’
Bella sighed, thinking of the harassed housekeeper at home. For
the rich manufacturer’s wife such small cares were vanity, but for
Mrs. Scratchell they were the serious things of life. With her it was
not so much the question as to whether she had been cheated out of
a pound or two of meat, but whether she could honestly afford a
Sunday joint for her children.
‘Mr. Culverhouse said he would call again soon,’ said Mrs. Piper,
and this gave Bella the hope of meeting him at the Park some
morning.
Before the week ended that hope was realized, and with its
realization came another turning-point in Bella’s life—a meeting of
roads, as in the choice of Hercules, when a man or woman goes to
the right or left, choosing the broad smooth highway of inclination, or
the narrow thorny path of duty, according as passion or conscience
is ruler of fate.
Bella had stopped later than usual one afternoon, Horne Tooke
and Brougham having been stupid and rebellious to a degree that
necessitated an exemplary punishment in the shape of three Latin
verbs, and Elizabeth Fry having exhibited a deeper density than
usual as to the intervals of the minor scale. These difficulties had
prolonged the morning’s lessons until after the children’s dinner, and
it was nearly four o’clock when Bella, thoroughly wearied out, put on
her neat little black bonnet and bade her sullen pupils good-bye.
‘I hope you don’t bear malice, Elizabeth,’ she said at parting. ‘I am
obliged to be a little severe about those scales. It’s for your good,
you know. It can’t make any difference to me whether you know how
to change the major into minor.’
‘And I’m sure I don’t see that it can make any difference to me,’
protested the injured Elizabeth. ‘I am not going to be a governess.’
‘Very fortunate for you, my dear,’ answered Bella, lightly, ‘for if you
were obliged to get your living in that way, you would have to be one
of the poor things who don’t object to make themselves generally
useful; which means that they are to make all their pupils’ clothes,
and work a great deal harder than housemaids.’
And, with this arrow shot over Elizabeth Fry’s dull head, Bella
pulled on her gloves and departed, In the hall she met Cyril going
away. He greeted her with friendliness, and they went out into the
wintry twilight together.
‘I am glad you have been to see Mrs. Piper again,’ said Bella,
‘your visits have done her so much good.’
‘I am very happy to hear that. She is a kindly, simple-hearted
creature, sorely tried by prosperity, which is for some natures a
harder ordeal than adversity.’
They walked on for some distance in silence, Bella looking
thoughtfully at her companion, every now and then, speculating upon
the causes of his absent manner and troubled face.
‘I am afraid you have been working too hard lately, Mr.
Culverhouse,’ she said at last. ‘You are looking ill and wearied.’
‘I have been troubled in mind,’ he answered. ‘I am seldom any
worse for what you call hard work—but I have had bitter anxieties
since Christmas. Have you seen Miss Harefield lately?’
‘No,’ answered Bella, ‘she has plenty of friends without me.’
‘I do not think she has many friends—in Little Yafford.’
‘She has the Dulcimers, who are devoted to her.’
‘Mr. Dulcimer is her guardian, and executor to her father’s will. I
am sure he will do all that is right and kind.’
‘Do you mean that Mrs. Dulcimer is not kind to Beatrix?’ asked
Bella, her heart beating fast and fiercely.
From the moment he mentioned Beatrix Harefield’s name in the
same breath with his own anxieties he had in a manner admitted his
love for her.
‘It is not in Mrs. Dulcimer’s nature to be unkind,’ said Cyril, ‘but I
fear she is not so warmly attached to Miss Harefield as she was a
short time ago.’
‘You think perhaps she has been influenced by things that have
been said in Little Yafford,’ suggested Bella, eagerly.
‘I fear so.’
‘I am very sorry for that. I pity Beatrix with all my heart. But deeply
as I compassionate her wretched position, I hardly wonder that
people should feel differently about her since her father’s death.’
‘Do you—her own familiar friend—suspect her of the most awful
crime the mind of man can conceive?’ exclaimed Cyril. ‘She may
well stand condemned in the eyes of strangers if her bosom friend
believes her guilty.’
‘Oh, Mr. Culverhouse, how can you suggest anything so horrible?’
cried Bella.
‘I looked to you for her defence,’ he went on without heeding this
ejaculation. ‘The outside world might suspect her. I, even, who have
seen much in her to admire—and love—but who have had no
opportunity of knowing her thoroughly, I might waver in my judgment
—might be weakly influenced by the evil thoughts of others; but you
who have lived with her like a sister, you must know the very depth
of her heart—surely you can rise up boldly and say that she could
not do this hideous thing. It is not in her nature to become—no, I will
not utter the loathsome word,’ he cried, passionately.
Bella answered nothing. Cyril looked at her searchingly in the grey
evening light. Her eyelids were lowered, her face was grave and
troubled.
‘What!’ he exclaimed; ‘not a word—not one word in defence of
your friend?’
‘What can I say?’ faltered Bella, with an embarrassed air. ‘Do you
want me to tell you what I saw in that gloomy house? No, I had
rather not say a word. Think me unkind, ungenerous if you like. I
shall be silent about all things concerning Miss Harefield and her
father.’
Cyril looked at her for a moment, with a countenance of blank
despair. She saw the look, and it intensified her hatred of Beatrix.
‘How he must have loved her!’ she thought, ‘but will he go on
loving her in the face of a suspicion that is daily growing stronger?’
Outside the Park gates Cyril left her.
‘I am going the other way,’ he said, abruptly, and then he raised
his hat and walked quickly along the high road that led away from
Little Yafford.
‘Where can he be going?’ speculated Bella. ‘I believe he only went
that way to avoid me.’
It was not a promising commencement, but it seemed to Bella’s
scheming little mind that Cyril’s affection, once weaned from Beatrix,
would naturally turn to her. There was no one else in Little Yafford
with any great pretensions to beauty, and a great many people had
praised Bella’s delicate prettiness. So long as he was devoted to
Beatrix, Mr. Culverhouse would no doubt remain stone blind to the
charms of Bella; but Beatrix once banished from his heart, there
would be plenty of room there for a small person with smiling blue
eyes and winning manners.
This was the hope that lured Bella onward upon the ugly road she
had chosen for herself, while jealousy impelled her to do harm to her
rival, even though that wrong might result in no gain to herself.
CHAPTER VIII.
cyril renounces love and fortune.
Cyril Culverhouse was a miserable man. The woman he loved—
the only woman he had ever loved—was free to become his wife,
dowered with estates worth ten thousand a year, and yet he held
himself aloof from her, and shrank from any act which should ratify in
the present the tie that had bound them in the past. He, who should
have been the first to console the fatherless girl in the hour of
bereavement and desolation, to support and counsel her under the
difficulties of sudden independence—he, whose heart yearned
towards her in her loneliness, stood apart and allowed her to believe
him cold and heartless. The struggle had been a hard one; but, after
many troubled days and wakeful nights, he had made up his mind
that it must be so. Beatrix and he could never go hand in hand along
the path of life.
The cloud that hung over her young life might be a shadow which
the light of truth would by and by dispel; but, until the truth should
appear, broad and clear as sunlight, he could not take Beatrix
Harefield to his heart, he could not bind his life with hers.
Did he believe her guilty of that last and worst of crimes, the
murder of a father? Hardly. But he was not fully assured of her
innocence. His mind had been racked with doubt—ever since that
day of the inquest when he had stood in the doorway and watched
her agonized face and listened to her faltering words. There is
nothing that the human mind more unwillingly believes than a
strange coincidence; and that coincidence of Miss Harefield’s
purchase of the laudanum within a week of her father’s death by
laudanum had been too much for Cyril’s faith. Had his beloved been
a penniless orphan, and no worldly gain to be had from loving her,
he might have reconciled his doubt with his honour and married her,
trusting to time for the elucidation of the mystery that now stained
her young life with the taint of possible guilt. But in this case there
was too much for him to win—and in every feeling that drew him to
Beatrix he recognised a snare of Satan. Little by little he had come to
know that public opinion in Little Yafford—and even in the
neighbouring town of Great Yafford—had condemned Beatrix
Harefield. Every detail of her conduct had been canvassed. Her late
appearance on the morning of her father’s death was taken as an
evidence of guilt. She had feared to face the catastrophe her crime
had brought about, and had feigned sleep to stave off the appalling
moment. Or she had simulated that heavy slumber in order to
support her story about the laudanum. Her suggestion that her father
should be sought for in a certain room, and the fact that he was
found in that very room; her lame story—obviously an after thought
—of the laudanum bottle in her mother’s room—all told against her.
The fact that an empty bottle had been found there proved nothing.
Beatrix had no doubt placed it where it was found. There had been
ample time for her to do so between the first and second meetings of
the coroner’s jury. Then as to motive? Well, one need not look very
far for that, argued Little Yafford. Mr. Harefield had been a tyrant,
and had made his daughter’s life miserable. She saw in his death a
release from his tyranny, with the assurance of wealth and
independence. Everybody knew—thanks to Mrs. Dulcimer—how
cruelly the wretched girl had been treated, even forbidden to visit the
Vicarage, where she had always been so happy. And then there was
that secret love affair which had been spoken about at the inquest.
That would give a still stronger motive than her own wrongs. The
more cultured inhabitants of Little Yafford, gentlemen who had
dipped into old magazines and Annual Registers, quoted the case of
Miss Blandy, an unfortunate young woman in the last century, who
had given Henley-on-Thames, the place of her birth and residence, a
classic fame by poisoning her father with ratsbane mixed in his water
gruel.
Again, as to character. Everybody who was familiar with Miss
Harefield—by meeting her occasionally in her drives and rides, or
seeing her once a week at church—was aware that she was a girl of
reserved and even melancholy temperament, from whom anything
strange in conduct or morals might be expected. Then, again, she
was of foreign extraction on the mother’s side, and as such prone to
crime. She was Italian, and with a natural leaning to poison and
parricide. And again, those stock figures of the Borgia and Cenci
were brought forward and contemplated shudderingly in the lurid
glare of their guilt.
Some weak-minded persons clung to the idea that Mr. Harefield
had taken an overdose of opium unwittingly, but this tame and
uninteresting theory was scouted by the majority.
‘If Miss Harefield had not been an heiress we should have heard a
good deal more about her father’s death,’ said Miss Coyle, draining
her ancestral teapot at one of her temperate symposia.
Miss Coyle was quite angry with the coroner for not having looked
deeper into things. She spoke of him contemptuously as a hireling
and a time-server.
Cyril Culverhouse knew what people thought about the woman he
loved—for he loved her none the less because he held himself aloof
from her. His love was deathless. Innocent or guilty he must love her
to the end. He knew what people thought of his beloved; he knew
that even kindly Mrs. Dulcimer shook her head, and shrank from
familiar contact with her husband’s ward. There was no one in Little
Yafford except the Vicar who would take the slandered girl by the
hand and boldly demonstrate his belief in her innocence. He, so
easy-going on most occasions, was firm as a rock here. He would
have Beatrix at his house, as often as she chose to come there—
although the all-powerful Rebecca would hardly look civilly at her as
she waited at table—and although poor Mrs. Dulcimer was sorely
perplexed by her presence. Clement Dulcimer was staunch, and
defied his parishioners, whom he stigmatised generally as a pack of
venomous scandalmongers, whose uncultured minds, unable to
appreciate the strong sound meat of literature, battened upon
carrion.
If Cyril could have had Mr. Dulcimer’s faith he would have had Mr.
Dulcimer’s courage. He was no slave of other men’s opinions, and
would have snapped his fingers in the face of Little Yafford, if all had
been well within. But there was the difficulty. That stricken face of
Beatrix’s, those wild startled eyes—as he had seen them in the
candle-lit room at the Water House—haunted him like an evil dream.
He saw guilt and remorse in those troubled looks—the fear of God
and man. Had he been a man who lived for himself alone, who had
no higher aim in life than his own happiness, Cyril Culverhouse
might have stifled the voice of doubt, and listened only to love’s
pleading. But it was not so with him—he had chosen a loftier kind of
life, he had given himself a loftier aim. He was to live for others, and
to make the lives of others better than their own unaided weakness
could make them. He, who was to be the teacher and counsellor of
others, must be, so far as it is possible for humanity, spotless in his
life and in his surroundings. Could he marry a wife of whom it could
be said in one breath, ‘She was suspected of poisoning her father,’
and in the next, ‘Yes, but she brought her husband ten thousand a
year’?
No. It was clear to him that this fatal cloud of suspicion must make
a life-long severance between Beatrix and him. Love might have
bridged the gulf, but honour and duty held him back. He had not
seen Beatrix since her father’s death, and he had made up his mind
to leave Little Yafford without seeing her. His business was to
announce his resolve in a manner that would give her the least pain
possible; but he knew the blow would be hard to bear. He knew that
she loved him with an intense and all-absorbing love.
‘Oh, God, if she has sinned so deeply for the love of me,’ he
thought, in a moment of horror, finding himself suddenly on the edge
of a black abyss of doubt, down which he dared not look, ‘if to bring
about our union she has done this hideous thing! But no, I will not
believe her guilty. I will pity and deplore her position, the victim of
groundless suspicion. If I dare not sacrifice my duty to my love, I will
at least believe her innocent.’
He remembered that little speech of hers during their chance
meeting on the moor, a speech that had shocked and revolted him at
the time, and had been a painful recollection to him afterwards.
‘Is it wicked to wish for my father’s death?’
Did not that question imply that she had already committed the
sin? Was it possible that the wicked wish, nursed and cherished, had
culminated in the fatal act? The doubt tortured him.
He had wavered for some weeks, not quite clear in his own mind
what step he ought to take, hoping that some new piece of evidence,
some detail in the story of Christian Harefield’s death, might place
the whole business in a new light, and demonstrate Beatrix’s
innocence. But Mr. Harefield had been dead a month, the first
snowdrops were lifting their heads out of the dark borders, the robins
were singing sweetly in the lengthening afternoons, and nothing had
been discovered to improve Miss Harefield’s position in the eyes of
Little Yafford. Nay rather, slander had grown and intensified with
discussion, and people who had timorously hinted their doubts three
weeks ago, now boldly declared their conviction of the young lady’s
guilt.
‘How she can live in that big lonely house, with no one but her
governess for company, is more than I can understand,’ said Miss
Coyle; ‘she must be dreadfully hardened.’
‘Something more will come out before long, you may depend upon
it,’ said Mrs. Pomfret, the pew-opener, to her Sunday afternoon
gossips over the black crockery teapot, with a sphinx squatting on
the lid.
This was the general opinion. Everybody was waiting for
something to come out. The servants had doubtless been paid to
hold their tongues—dark facts had been kept back by bribery. But
the truth would come out sooner or later—even if Mr. Harefield’s
ghost had to walk, like the elder Hamlet.
‘It may be a very long time, but it will all come out sooner or later,’
said Mr. Tudway, an old bachelor retired from the button trade, a
great reader of magazines and annual registers, who knew all about
Miss Blandy, and talked learnedly of Lucretia Borgia and Beatrice
Cenci. ‘Look at Eliza Fenning.’
‘Ah!’ sighed Miss Coyle. ‘Very true.’
She had the vaguest recollection of Eliza Fenning, as associated
uncomfortably with beefsteak dumplings, and hanged in
consequence of the association, but she was not going to exhibit her
ignorance before Mr. Tudway, who was disagreeably self-satisfied on
the strength of his stray paragraphs, and unconsidered scraps of
information.
Beatrix Harefield was slow to discover the current of public feeling.
The shock of her father’s death left her for a little while apathetic to
all smaller emotions, and when that apathy wore off she had a new
and pressing grief in Cyril’s abandonment. Her new sense of liberty
brought her no happiness—no desire to taste the sweets of freedom,
or to exchange the gloom and solitude of the Water House for
brighter scenes. If her independence did not bring Cyril to her side it
brought nothing. Wealth, power, liberty, were valueless without him.
The slow days went by, and she waited for her lover to make some
sign. At first she was inclined to impute his conduct to a restraining
delicacy, but as time went on a horrible fear began to take hold of
her aching heart. He was purposely avoiding her. She had spent her
Sunday evenings at the Vicarage. Kenrick had been there, but never
Cyril. She had heard Mrs. Dulcimer express her regret at the curate’s
absence, heard his excuses, which seemed hardly valid—a sick
parishioner to visit—letters to write.
‘I should have thought he would not like to write letters on a
Sunday evening,’ said Mrs. Dulcimer. ‘It seems rather lax.’
‘Do you think it more lax to write letters than to sit at this table and
talk of worldly things—from the last village scandal to the newest
fashion in bonnet crowns?’ speculated Mr. Dulcimer.
Kenrick was staying at the Vicarage. Mrs. Dulcimer had pressed
him hospitably to remain. There was plenty of shooting in the
neighbourhood. Mr. Piper had made him free of the Park preserves,
and there was good sport to be had on the moor. Altogether Kenrick
felt that he might as well finish out his leave at Little Yafford. The
curate worked so hard that Kenrick and he saw very little of each
other, and Kenrick had not yet ventured to sound Cyril about Beatrix.
It was a delicate subject, and Kenrick felt greatly puzzled by his
cousin’s conduct. Could Cyril be such a fool as to give any heed to
the poisonous tongues of Little Yafford? Kenrick could hardly
imagine such folly, but he found it difficult to account for his cousin’s
avoidance of Miss Harefield on any other ground, unless indeed it
were an overstrained delicacy which held him back from pushing his
suit.
On the evening on which Cyril had arrived at a definite conclusion
as to his line of conduct, his cousin dropped in at his lodgings, after
the Vicarage tea, to smoke a friendly pipe.
‘You are not going out this evening,’ inquired Kenrick when they
had shaken hands.
‘No, I have some letters to write.’
‘Does that mean that I shall be a nuisance if I stay with you for an
hour or two?’
‘Not at all,’ answered Cyril ‘I shall be very glad to have an
evening’s talk, and my letters can be written better towards midnight
than earlier.’
‘That sounds as if the letters were important.’
‘They are important,’ said Cyril, gravely, as he closed the desk
before which he had been sitting for nearly an hour in troubled
thought, trying to frame his letter to Beatrix so that it should wound
as little as possible.
‘What a hermit you are growing!’ said Kenrick. ‘You hardly ever
come to the Vicarage now.’
‘I have so much to do else where.’
‘But on Sunday evenings,’ suggested Kenrick, helping himself to a
pipe from the neat arrangement of meerschaums and briar-woods on
the mantelpiece. ‘Surely you could spare an hour or two after
evening service for social intercourse. That is always the pleasantest
time at the Vicarage.’
‘I have been engaged even on Sunday evenings.’
‘Yes, of course; for a man who visits the poor there must be
always an engagement. That kind of thing has no limit. Poor people
like to be read to and talked to and compassionated. You can’t
suppose they would ever say, “Hold, enough!” But you ought to have
some consideration for your own health and spirits. You are looking
ill and depressed.’
‘I am not ill, but I plead guilty to feeling depressed.’
‘What is the trouble?’
‘I have made up my mind to leave this place—dear as it is to me. I
am going to write to Mr. Dulcimer this evening to tell him my
intention.’
‘You must be mad,’ cried Kenrick. ‘Leave Little Yafford, just when
fortune is ready to pour her favours into your lap—just when Miss
Harefield is free to be your wife. You must be mad, Cyril.’
‘No, I have been sorely perplexed, but I am not mad. I have
deliberately weighed this question. Beatrix Harefield is to me the one
perfect woman—the only woman I can ever love,—but I cannot ask
her to be my wife.’
‘Why not, in heaven’s name?’
‘I had rather not enter into my feelings on that point.’
‘Do you mean that you, a reasonable man, with eyes of your own
and a mind of your own to see and judge with, are going to be led
and ruled by the petty slanderers of Little Yafford; malicious
creatures who envy Miss Harefield her ten thousand a year, and
would like to think—or at any rate to make others think—that she
jumped into fortune by crime?’
‘I despise slanderers and evil speakers,’ said Cyril, ‘but my wife
must be spotless.’
‘Yes, in your own eyes and in the sight of heaven. It can matter to
you very little what Little Yafford thinks of her.’
‘To me individually nothing—to my office a great deal. The wife of
a priest must be above suspicion—her name and fame must be
unshadowed.’
‘Abandon your office, then. You can afford to do it if you marry a
woman with ten thousand a year.’
Cyril turned upon the speaker with eyes that flashed angrily across
a cloud of gray smoke.
‘Kenrick, can you believe for one moment that I took that office as
a means of living, or that the gain of wealth or happiness would
tempt me to surrender it? I should think myself a new Judas if I could
turn my back upon my Master to marry the woman I love.’
‘Keep your office, then, and marry her all the same. Live down this
slander. Stand up bravely before the world with your wife by your
side, and let men say the worst they can of you. Your life and hers
will be your answer.’
‘They would say I had married her because she has ten thousand
a year,’ said Cyril. ‘I should do no good with her money. It would turn
to withered leaves in my keeping. No, I love her—shall love her to
the end—innocent or guilty—but I will not link my life with hers. Every
hour of life would be a struggle between love and doubt.’
‘Innocent or guilty!’ echoed Kenrick. ‘I see you are as bad as the
rest. I should not have thought that possible. You have quite made
up your mind then, Cyril. You abandon all hope of winning Miss
Harefield?’
‘Entirely.’
‘So be it,’ said Kenrick. ‘Then let us talk of other things.’
Though Sir Kenrick proposed a change of conversation he was
curiously silent and absent for the next half-hour, and gave Cyril
ample leisure for thought. The two young men sat smoking and
looking at the fire as they had done on many a previous evening,
each wrapped in his own thoughts. When the clock in the hall struck
ten, Sir Kenrick emptied the ashes out of his pipe, and put it back in
its proper place on the mantelpiece.
‘Well, good night, old fellow,’ he said, in his usual careless style.
‘How soon do you think of leaving this place?’
‘Before the end of the week.’
‘That’s sudden.’
‘Yes; but you remember what the Giaour said,—

‘“Better to sink beneath the shock


Than moulder piecemeal on the rock.”’

Painful partings cannot be too sudden.’


‘You will inconvenience Mr. Dulcimer.’
‘Not much. He got on without a curate for six months before I
came.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘To Bridford.’
‘A horrible manufacturing hole!’ exclaimed Sir Kenrick.
‘A place where there is good work to be done by any man strong
enough to do it.’
‘Oh, you are mad, Cyril, that is all—a fanatic. No fakir with
shrivelled arms was ever worse. But I wish you well, dear fellow,
wherever you go.’
Kenrick went away, wondering at his cousin’s foolishness. He did
not know how far things had gone between Cyril and Beatrix, or he
might have wondered still more. He thought Cyril might have won
Miss Harefield by trying. He did not know she was already won.

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