Business in Context

4th Edition
David Needle
9781861529923

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Learning objectives

Click on the chapter links below to access the learning objectives for each chapter

Chapter 1 > Chapter 2 > Chapter 3 > Chapter 4 > Chapter 5 > Chapter 6 > Chapter 7 > Chapter 8 > Chapter 9 > Chapter 10 > Chapter 11 > Chapter 12 > Chapter 13

1. The Concept of Business in Context

• Define and illustrate business as a broadly-based and varied activity.
• Identify and illustrate the key activities of business and the relationships between them.
• Identify the strategic, organizational and environmental contexts within which business operates.
• Articulate the complex interactions that operate within and between business activities and their contexts.
• Use the Business in Context model to analyse a variety of business situations and cases.
• Define systems and contingency theories as they apply to business and assess their contribution to an understanding of business.

2. Globalization

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Define globalization and the key issues and debates associated with it.
• Describe and assess the different perspectives on globalization.
• Assess the main causes and drivers of globalization in an historic perspective.
• Articulate the links between globalization and the development of the multinational and transnational corporations.
• Articulate the links between globalization and the emergence of strategic alliances and joint ventures as a dominant business form.
• Identify key success criteria for strategic alliances and joint ventures.
• Assess the impact of globalization on the economy and on the production of goods and services.
• Assess the relationship between globalization and political change, particularly the creation of political alliances.
• Assess the relationship between globalization and culture change.
• Identify the limitations to globalization.

3. The Environment and Business: Economy, State, Technology and Labour

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Identify those aspects of the environment that most influence and are influenced by business and assess the relative importance of those influences over time.
• Illustrate and explain how the different aspects of the environment interact with each other and with business.
• Explain the main differences between Anglo-Saxon, social market, Asian and transitional models of capitalism and assess their impact on the economy and the role of the state.
• Explain the concepts of GDP, FDI and deindustrialization.
• Identify the types of state intervention and the problems associated with them.
• Assess the role of the business community as a pressure group.
• Critically assess the significance of and issues related to economic and political integration in a modern global economy.
• Assess the impact of changing technology, more especially information and communications technology and e-commerce on business competitiveness and on the labour market.
• Identify changing trends in both the labour market and trade unions and assess the impact of globalization upon them.

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Define culture and explain its different forms.
• Assess the relative impact of convergence and cultural diversity on business practices and their relevance to the modern manager.
• Assess the links between convergence and globalization.
• Critically assess the contribution of Geert Hofstede to an understanding of culture and business.
• Assess the value of culture in explaining business behaviour.
• Assess the relative importance of those factors, which have contributed to the growth and decline of the Japanese economy and the lessons they hold for managers generally.
• Explain the process of Japanization.

5. Organizational Aspects of Business

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Illustrate the interrelationships between goals, structure, ownership, size, and organizational and corporate culture.
• Explain the nature of goals, the role they play, and the causes and consequences of goal conflict in organizations.
• Identify the factors influencing organizational structure, explain the different types of structure and assess the suitability of different types of structure in different situations.
• Critically assess the relationship between structure and performance, and recent trends in structure, including delayering, down-sizing and the flexible firm.
• Explain the different forms of ownership and articulate the relationship between ownership and control.
• Assess the differences between management and control in the public and private sectors and the impact of privatization.
• Explain the impact of organizational size on business behaviour.
• Define the small firm and assess its role in relation to owners, customers and the economy.
• Explain the difference between organizational and corporate culture, and critically assess the contribution of these concepts to organizational performance.

6. Management and Leadership

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Define management and articulate the difficulties inherent in such definitions.
• Assess the wide range of management roles and managerial behaviour.
• Explain the reasons for the ‘manager’s right to manage’.
• Recount the various models of management and explain the reasons for their
  change over time.
• Explain the contribution of key writers and offer a critique of the main theoretical
  models.
• Assess management activities and explain their link to the theoretical models.
• Articulate the differences between management and leadership.
• Explain the significance of leadership to modern management.
• Assess the different theories of leadership in the context of modern organizations.

7. Management Strategy

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches to strategy and how they interact.
• Assess the uses of strategy in different organization contexts.
• Use simple models to assess the general and immediate competitive environments of an organization and demonstrate the limitations of such models.
• Illustrate the links between strategy, goals, structure, ownership, size and culture at the level of the firm.
• Explain the concepts and assess the value of resource analysis, core competence, value chain and portfolio analysis.
• Explain the various kinds of strategic option and demonstrate the basis for the selection of a particular strategy in different situations.

8. Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Define business ethics and corporate social responsibility and explain the relationship between them.
• Explain the historical and theoretical origins of business ethics.
• Explain and illustrate the complexities involved in doing business ethically.
• Identify and assess the issues involved in corporate social responsibility between the firm and its numerous stakeholders.
• Assess the arguments for doing business ethically.
• Identify and explain the various mechanisms used in organizations for ethical business and corporate social responsibility.

9. Innovation

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Identify and differentiate between the concepts and activities of invention, innovation, entrepreneurship and research and development (R&D).
• Explain how innovation is the product of the interaction of a number of environmental and organizational variables.
• Explain the relationship between innovation and other functional areas of business such as operations and marketing.
• Identify the different types of innovation and forms of R&D.
• Assess critically the meaning of entrepreneurship and the role of the entrepreneur and identify the key variables influencing entrepreneurial success.
• Critically assess the contribution of innovation to a firm’s profitability and nation’s economic growth.
• Identify the role of state intervention in innovation and assess its contribution.
• Assess the link between innovation and technology.
• Critically assess the relative influence on innovation of organization size, structure and culture.
• Explain and assess the different strategic approaches to innovation.
• Explain the difference between tacit and explicit forms of knowledge and their contribution to innovation.

10. Operations

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Identify the key objectives of operations and their contribution to competitive advantage and explain the conflicting nature of those objectives.
• Explain the difference between the operations function in a manufacturing and service organization.
• Define operations as a system and as a transformational process.
• Identify and explain the key activities of operations management and assess their contribution to organizational effectiveness.
• Articulate the problems and issues involved in planning and control.
• Assess the different approaches to quality control.
• Explain supply chain management and just-in-time.
• Explain the link between technology, the design of operations systems and the impact of jobs.
• Explain the impact of operations on the size and structure of the organization.
• Identify and assess key operations strategies.

11. Marketing

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Define marketing and trace its development as an area of activity.
• Identify the operation of marketing in a number of different contexts.
• Identify the various elements of marketing.
• Explain how these elements form the basis of the marketing mix and articulate how this operates.
• Assess the various approaches to buyer behaviour.
• Critically assess the significance of branding and market segmentation and the value of the product life-cycle.
• Explain the role of marketing in relation to the economy, the state and technological change.
• Assess the factors influencing the operation of marketing in different organizational contexts.
• Evaluate different marketing strategies.

12. Human Resource Management

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Define personnel management and HRM and distinguish between the two.
• Critically assess the developments associated with HRM.
• Identify and explain the key activities associated with HRM and how they are carried out.
• Assess the key external changes and their impact upon HRM policies and practice.
• Explain the role of the state and the role of the economy in relation to HRM.
• Identify variations in HR practice due to cultural differences.
• Critically assess the effectiveness of HRM in an organizational context and explain the barriers to effective performance.
• Identify and assess a range of HRM strategies.

• 13. Finance and Accounting

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Outline the contribution of finance and accounting to business decisions.
• Distinguish between different types of funding for business activities and assess their relevance.
• Identify and explain the contribution of management accounting to business decisions.
• Identify the different types of financial report and explain their value to business decisions.
• Identify the various stakeholders who can make use of published financial reports.
• Identify differences in accounting practice around the world and offer a limited
• explanation.
• Assess the impact of organization size and structure on accounting practices.
• Describe the limitations of accounting information in its contribution to strategy.

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