Business Chapter 1: Managing Within the Dynamic Business Environment

1) The growth of international competition. 2) The increase of free trade among nations.
1) Improvements in transportation and communication.2) Communication advances --> Internet

- it directly accounts for 7% of the Canadian economy.- Every $1 of manufacturing output in Canada generates $3.05 in total economic activity.- it accounts for 2/3 of Canada's total exports of goods and services.

What caused people to move from farming to industry is the inventions of such things as the harvester and the cotton gin and ongoing improvements to such equipment. The farming industry has become so efficient with technology that many farmers lost their jobs and so moved on to work in factories.
Many people in industry shifted to the service sector as improvements in technology enabled businesses to reduce their payrolls while increasing their output. Since staffing has been downsized by many companies, business has become more complex and specialized companies have relied more heavily on outside services firms. They also want to be more efficient so they contract out services creating more opportunities for business people. Other service firms have axpanded to provide the traditional services that used to be performed by women as women have entered the workforce and there's a need for these services.

Any activity that seeks to provide goods and services while operating at a profit.

Risk is the chance an entrepreneur takes of losing time and money on a business that may not prove to be profitable. Profit is the amount of money left over after all other expenses (such as taxes, salaries, equipment, etc.) are paid. A Loss occurs when a business's costs and expenses are more than its revenues.

Stakeholders are all the people that stand to gain or lose by the policies and activities of a business. Offshoring entails sourcing part of the purchased inputs outside of the country (ie. purchasing the hard drive of a computer made locally, from China. Outsourcing means contracting with other companies to do some or all of the functions of a firm.

The goal of business leaders is to try to balance the needs of all stakeholders and still make a profit.

Entrepreneurs are people who risk time and money to start or manage a business.

The 5 factors of production are:1. Land (Natural resources)2. Labour (workers)3. Capital Goods (machinery & buildings)4. Entrepreneurship 5. Knowledge
China and Russia have a lot of land but they are not wealthy because no one is utilizing that land while Hong Kong has very little land and it is quite wealthy. If there are no entrepreneurs to create a business, then no workers would be hired and no capital goods bought and sold.
Basically all these factors contribute to wealth but without entrepreneurship and knowledge (managed information), land, labour, and capital goods are not of much use.

1. The legal & regulatory environment2. The economic environment3. The technological environment4. The competitive environment 5. The social environment 6. The global environment

Scanning the business environment on a continual basis is important to organizations so that they can take advantage of trends. These trends could affect the organization's ability to achieve its objectives, steer clear of threats, or take advantage of new opportunities.

Revenue is the total amount of money a business takes in during a given period by selling goods and services while profit is the amount of money above and beyond salaries and other expenses.

Somebody else assumes the entrepreneurial risk and provides you with the benefits such as paid vacation time and health insurance.

You don't get the benefits of paid vacation time and health insurance so you have to provide for that yourself, but you can potentially make a large profit and become a billionaire as many were entrepreneurs.

- Keep taxes & regulations to a min.- place laws that minimize corruption- letting business people create contracts that are enforceable in court- recognize the role of foreign competition in Canada, in order to ensure that small businesses have an equitable opportunity to participate in the Canadian economy..