Business Strategy, Development,
Application, 4th Canadian Edition
by Gary Bissonette
Complete Chapter Solutions Manual
are included (Ch 1 to 14)
** Immediate Download
** Swift Response
** All Chapters included
** Excel Files included
, INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL
Chapter 1: Understanding and Managing Today’s Business Enterprise
Chapter Summary
In this chapter, we have described the nature of business and discussed the ways in which
businesses strive to maintain their viability and relevancy through interacting with the
marketplace in ways that meet the needs, wants, and desires of targeted customers. Our
discussion focused on the interaction of business as a commercial endeavour, guided by
employee interaction and supported by organizational efficiency and structure. This process
results in the development of a business system and ultimately a business model, which together
are designed to deliver desired goods and services to the marketplace. Utilizing productive
resources at their disposal (assets, labour, capital, and managerial acumen), businesses seek to
create demand, generate revenue, and drive a profit from the sale of such goods and services,
thereby ensuring their long-term profitability and growth. While striving for profitability,
businesses are being increasingly challenged by customers, and the marketplace at large, to be
good corporate citizens, acknowledging their responsibility to act in a socially acceptable manner
and respecting the finite nature and scarcity of resources. This evolving requirement of
businesses is resulting in a significant emphasis on resource sustainability and environmental
initiatives.
To help you to understand why some companies are more successful than others, this chapter’s
focus emphasizes (at a macro level) the importance of positioning, and developing and
communicating a value proposition to the customer group that a business is trying to attract, in a
manner that differentiates the business’s products and services from those of its direct
competitors and that attempts to develop and sustain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
The creation of this value proposition takes into consideration both tangible and intangible
benefits that the product or service offers, and looks to determine the extent at which price will
become a key decision criterion within the customer’s purchase decision. The chapter closes with
a discussion associated with the importance and interrelationship between strategy and tactics
and the need for managers to recognize that in order to be successful, businesses not only have to
properly develop a plan for serving the marketplace, but also must be effective in the
implementation of this plan.
Learning Objectives
This chapter is designed to provide students with:
1. A macro-level understanding of what business is
2. An overview of the major components of a business model and how their successful
1-1
, INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL
development and execution determines business performance
3. An awareness of the overarching role of the business owner or “C-suite” management
team
4. An understanding of how businesses plan
5. Exposure to the concept of visionary leadership
6. Via a Management Reflection, an overview of the relationship between business strategy
and business model development, and the importance of successfully executing both for a
business to achieve its identified objectives
Advanced Topics to Enhance Learning – Applicable Supporting Appendices
The following additional appendices can be added to the delivery of this chapter’s materials for
instructors interested in offering an advance understanding of a particular subject matter.
Appendix A – Analyzing Business Situations (SCQA Method)
Appendix B – The Business Model and Profitability
Management Reflection – The Business Decision-Making Landscape
Being in business goes beyond simply developing your value proposition and understanding its
asset base and cost structure. It is about being able to understand the macro environment around
you; the resources, capability, and capacity that you possess; and the ability to communicate to
the marketplace the uniqueness and importance of the products/services you offer. At its core
base, developing and managing a business requires its owners/managers to:
create a vision of the opportunity in the marketplace
confirm that the market size of customers is large enough that, once commercialized, the
opportunity can enable the organization to make a profit and sustain this profitability for
the anticipated planning cycle and beyond
confirm that a position within the market is feasible, which will enable the company to
compete in a manner that is superior to its direct competition
confirm that the market situation will stay constant long enough for the business plan to
be developed and executed confirm that the business has the resource base and the
capability to execute the strategy
execute the strategy in an efficient and effective manner, achieving the objectives set
forth within the business plan created
As this process demonstrates (see Figure 1.12), being in business is really a question of
developing strategy and executing tactics across your business model. Strategy is the
development of plans and decisions that will guide the direction of the firm and determine its
long-term performance. Strategy focuses on the vision of the firm and the opportunity it believes
exists in the marketplace. It also checks that the life expectancy of the product or service is long
enough to ensure that the initial investment can be recovered and that the firm can make a profit.
Finally, strategy development assesses whether the firm has the competencies and resources to
compete in this targeted market. Tactics are the immediate-term actions that a firm executes to
1-2
Application, 4th Canadian Edition
by Gary Bissonette
Complete Chapter Solutions Manual
are included (Ch 1 to 14)
** Immediate Download
** Swift Response
** All Chapters included
** Excel Files included
, INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL
Chapter 1: Understanding and Managing Today’s Business Enterprise
Chapter Summary
In this chapter, we have described the nature of business and discussed the ways in which
businesses strive to maintain their viability and relevancy through interacting with the
marketplace in ways that meet the needs, wants, and desires of targeted customers. Our
discussion focused on the interaction of business as a commercial endeavour, guided by
employee interaction and supported by organizational efficiency and structure. This process
results in the development of a business system and ultimately a business model, which together
are designed to deliver desired goods and services to the marketplace. Utilizing productive
resources at their disposal (assets, labour, capital, and managerial acumen), businesses seek to
create demand, generate revenue, and drive a profit from the sale of such goods and services,
thereby ensuring their long-term profitability and growth. While striving for profitability,
businesses are being increasingly challenged by customers, and the marketplace at large, to be
good corporate citizens, acknowledging their responsibility to act in a socially acceptable manner
and respecting the finite nature and scarcity of resources. This evolving requirement of
businesses is resulting in a significant emphasis on resource sustainability and environmental
initiatives.
To help you to understand why some companies are more successful than others, this chapter’s
focus emphasizes (at a macro level) the importance of positioning, and developing and
communicating a value proposition to the customer group that a business is trying to attract, in a
manner that differentiates the business’s products and services from those of its direct
competitors and that attempts to develop and sustain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
The creation of this value proposition takes into consideration both tangible and intangible
benefits that the product or service offers, and looks to determine the extent at which price will
become a key decision criterion within the customer’s purchase decision. The chapter closes with
a discussion associated with the importance and interrelationship between strategy and tactics
and the need for managers to recognize that in order to be successful, businesses not only have to
properly develop a plan for serving the marketplace, but also must be effective in the
implementation of this plan.
Learning Objectives
This chapter is designed to provide students with:
1. A macro-level understanding of what business is
2. An overview of the major components of a business model and how their successful
1-1
, INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL
development and execution determines business performance
3. An awareness of the overarching role of the business owner or “C-suite” management
team
4. An understanding of how businesses plan
5. Exposure to the concept of visionary leadership
6. Via a Management Reflection, an overview of the relationship between business strategy
and business model development, and the importance of successfully executing both for a
business to achieve its identified objectives
Advanced Topics to Enhance Learning – Applicable Supporting Appendices
The following additional appendices can be added to the delivery of this chapter’s materials for
instructors interested in offering an advance understanding of a particular subject matter.
Appendix A – Analyzing Business Situations (SCQA Method)
Appendix B – The Business Model and Profitability
Management Reflection – The Business Decision-Making Landscape
Being in business goes beyond simply developing your value proposition and understanding its
asset base and cost structure. It is about being able to understand the macro environment around
you; the resources, capability, and capacity that you possess; and the ability to communicate to
the marketplace the uniqueness and importance of the products/services you offer. At its core
base, developing and managing a business requires its owners/managers to:
create a vision of the opportunity in the marketplace
confirm that the market size of customers is large enough that, once commercialized, the
opportunity can enable the organization to make a profit and sustain this profitability for
the anticipated planning cycle and beyond
confirm that a position within the market is feasible, which will enable the company to
compete in a manner that is superior to its direct competition
confirm that the market situation will stay constant long enough for the business plan to
be developed and executed confirm that the business has the resource base and the
capability to execute the strategy
execute the strategy in an efficient and effective manner, achieving the objectives set
forth within the business plan created
As this process demonstrates (see Figure 1.12), being in business is really a question of
developing strategy and executing tactics across your business model. Strategy is the
development of plans and decisions that will guide the direction of the firm and determine its
long-term performance. Strategy focuses on the vision of the firm and the opportunity it believes
exists in the marketplace. It also checks that the life expectancy of the product or service is long
enough to ensure that the initial investment can be recovered and that the firm can make a profit.
Finally, strategy development assesses whether the firm has the competencies and resources to
compete in this targeted market. Tactics are the immediate-term actions that a firm executes to
1-2
