Business Essentials
Instructor's Resource Manual
Joseph Cooke
Business Essentials
14th Edition
Global Edition
Ronald J. Ebert
Ricky W. Griffin
, Chapter 1: The Global Business Environment
Chapter Overview
Many students come to an introduction to business class not quite sure what it’s all about. The
course has something for everyone, from those who have been in the business world a while to
those just getting started. As the book unfolds, students develop an understanding of the
foundations of business and will be able to apply what they learn about business to many aspects
of the course.
This first chapter dives right into the world of business, explaining what business is, what its main
goals and functions are, and how the external environments of business affect the success and
failure of any organization.
Learning Objectives
1-1. Define the nature of U.S. business, describe the external environments of business, and discuss
how these environments affect the success or failure of organizations.
1-2. Describe the different types of global economic systems according to the means by which
they control the factors of production.
1-3. Show how markets, demand, and supply affect resource distribution in the United States,
identify the elements of private enterprise, and explain the various degrees of competition in the
U.S. economic system.
1-4. Explain the importance of the economic environment to business and identify the factors used
to evaluate the performance of an economic system.
1-5. Learn about the skills you will gain through this text.
LIST OF IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES: INSTRUCTOR’S CHOICE
Activity Description Time Limit
1. Icebreaker: What Do You Students assess their level of 20 min.
Know About Business? knowledge about business and set their
own learning goals for the class.
2. Up for Debate: Comparing Teams of students discuss types of
25 min.
Economic Systems economic systems.
Students consider how parts of the
3. Small Group Discussion:
external environment affect businesses
Scanning the Environment 30 min.
and industries.
1-1
© 2025 Pearson Education, Ltd. All rights reserved.
, CHAPTER OUTLINE
Learning Objective 1-1:
Define the nature of U.S. business, describe the external environments of business, and
discuss how these environments affect the success or failure of organizations.
Business, Profit, and the External Environment
Are businesses large, successful corporations, once-great but struggling companies, multinational
giants, or local supermarkets and family-owned operations?
A. Business and Profit
A business is an organization that provides goods and services to earn profits. Profits are the
difference between a business’s revenues and expenses.
1. Consumer Choice and Demand
In a capitalistic system like that of the United States, consumers have freedom of choice. In turn,
businesses must take into account consumer demand as shown through wants and needs in their
pursuit of profits.
2. Opportunity and Enterprise
Opportunity involves goods or services that consumers need or want, especially if no one else is
supplying them or if existing businesses are doing so inefficiently or incompletely.
3. The Benefits of Business
Businesses produce most of the goods and services consumed, employ most working people, create
most innovations, and provide opportunities for new businesses to serve as suppliers. Further,
businesses contribute to the quality of life and the standard of living in a society. Businesses
provide incomes for owners, taxes to support government, and support to charities and community
leadership.
B. The External Environments of Business
The external environment consists of everything outside an organization’s boundaries that might
affect it. Managers must understand their environment to understand how to operate and compete
within it. Businesses can also influence their environments. Six major dimensions of the external
environment are:
1. Domestic Business Environment
The domestic business environment refers to the environment in which a firm conducts its
operations and derives its revenues. It includes customers, suppliers, and competitors.
2. Global Business Environment
The global business environment refers to the international forces that affect a business; various
factors including international trade agreements, international economic conditions, and political
unrest affect the global environment at both the general and immediate levels. International market
opportunities, suppliers, cultures, competitors, and currency values can impact any business.
1-2
© 2025 Pearson Education, Ltd. All rights reserved.
, 3. Technological Environment
The technological environment generally includes all the ways by which firms create value for
their constituents; technology includes human knowledge, work methods, physical equipment,
electronics and telecommunications, and various processing systems used to perform business
activities.
4. Political-Legal Environment
The political-legal environment reflects the relationship between business and government, usually
in the form of government regulation of business.
5. Sociocultural Environment
The sociocultural environment includes the customs, mores, values, and demographic
characteristics of the society in which an organization functions.
6. Economic Environment
The economic environment refers to relevant conditions that exist in the economic system in which
a company operates.
Use In-Class Activity 1: Icebreaker: What Do You Know About Business?
Time Limit: 20 minutes
1-3
© 2025 Pearson Education, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Instructor's Resource Manual
Joseph Cooke
Business Essentials
14th Edition
Global Edition
Ronald J. Ebert
Ricky W. Griffin
, Chapter 1: The Global Business Environment
Chapter Overview
Many students come to an introduction to business class not quite sure what it’s all about. The
course has something for everyone, from those who have been in the business world a while to
those just getting started. As the book unfolds, students develop an understanding of the
foundations of business and will be able to apply what they learn about business to many aspects
of the course.
This first chapter dives right into the world of business, explaining what business is, what its main
goals and functions are, and how the external environments of business affect the success and
failure of any organization.
Learning Objectives
1-1. Define the nature of U.S. business, describe the external environments of business, and discuss
how these environments affect the success or failure of organizations.
1-2. Describe the different types of global economic systems according to the means by which
they control the factors of production.
1-3. Show how markets, demand, and supply affect resource distribution in the United States,
identify the elements of private enterprise, and explain the various degrees of competition in the
U.S. economic system.
1-4. Explain the importance of the economic environment to business and identify the factors used
to evaluate the performance of an economic system.
1-5. Learn about the skills you will gain through this text.
LIST OF IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES: INSTRUCTOR’S CHOICE
Activity Description Time Limit
1. Icebreaker: What Do You Students assess their level of 20 min.
Know About Business? knowledge about business and set their
own learning goals for the class.
2. Up for Debate: Comparing Teams of students discuss types of
25 min.
Economic Systems economic systems.
Students consider how parts of the
3. Small Group Discussion:
external environment affect businesses
Scanning the Environment 30 min.
and industries.
1-1
© 2025 Pearson Education, Ltd. All rights reserved.
, CHAPTER OUTLINE
Learning Objective 1-1:
Define the nature of U.S. business, describe the external environments of business, and
discuss how these environments affect the success or failure of organizations.
Business, Profit, and the External Environment
Are businesses large, successful corporations, once-great but struggling companies, multinational
giants, or local supermarkets and family-owned operations?
A. Business and Profit
A business is an organization that provides goods and services to earn profits. Profits are the
difference between a business’s revenues and expenses.
1. Consumer Choice and Demand
In a capitalistic system like that of the United States, consumers have freedom of choice. In turn,
businesses must take into account consumer demand as shown through wants and needs in their
pursuit of profits.
2. Opportunity and Enterprise
Opportunity involves goods or services that consumers need or want, especially if no one else is
supplying them or if existing businesses are doing so inefficiently or incompletely.
3. The Benefits of Business
Businesses produce most of the goods and services consumed, employ most working people, create
most innovations, and provide opportunities for new businesses to serve as suppliers. Further,
businesses contribute to the quality of life and the standard of living in a society. Businesses
provide incomes for owners, taxes to support government, and support to charities and community
leadership.
B. The External Environments of Business
The external environment consists of everything outside an organization’s boundaries that might
affect it. Managers must understand their environment to understand how to operate and compete
within it. Businesses can also influence their environments. Six major dimensions of the external
environment are:
1. Domestic Business Environment
The domestic business environment refers to the environment in which a firm conducts its
operations and derives its revenues. It includes customers, suppliers, and competitors.
2. Global Business Environment
The global business environment refers to the international forces that affect a business; various
factors including international trade agreements, international economic conditions, and political
unrest affect the global environment at both the general and immediate levels. International market
opportunities, suppliers, cultures, competitors, and currency values can impact any business.
1-2
© 2025 Pearson Education, Ltd. All rights reserved.
, 3. Technological Environment
The technological environment generally includes all the ways by which firms create value for
their constituents; technology includes human knowledge, work methods, physical equipment,
electronics and telecommunications, and various processing systems used to perform business
activities.
4. Political-Legal Environment
The political-legal environment reflects the relationship between business and government, usually
in the form of government regulation of business.
5. Sociocultural Environment
The sociocultural environment includes the customs, mores, values, and demographic
characteristics of the society in which an organization functions.
6. Economic Environment
The economic environment refers to relevant conditions that exist in the economic system in which
a company operates.
Use In-Class Activity 1: Icebreaker: What Do You Know About Business?
Time Limit: 20 minutes
1-3
© 2025 Pearson Education, Ltd. All rights reserved.
