January 9, 2012 1. DEFINITIONS a. Business: The activities connected with the production, movement, acquisition, and exchange of goods and services in a market for profit. b. Business: Any organization that maintains itself by taking in resources and increasing their value for customers. c. A Business: An organization that provides goods or services to earn profits. d. Business: Any activity that seeks to profit by providing goods and services to others. 2. History of Business in the United States e. Colonial (1600-1800s): Focused mostly on religious freedom, but colonies functioned as business enterprises for their home countries overseas. i. Discovery, expansion, power, independence, industrialization, rural to urban shift. f. Entrepreneurial (mid 1800s to about 1900): ii. Increasing industrialization, expansion (move west). g. Production (Early to mid 1900s) iii. Reducing costs, improving productivity and manufacturing efficiency. h. Marketing (Mid to late 1900s) iv. Increasing revenues, increased competition. i. Service? Global Information? (2000 – present) 3. Protestant Ethic j. Also referred to as the Protestant Work Ethic, the Puritan Ethic, and the Puritan Work Ethic. k. Identified by German sociologist, economist, and political scientis Max Weber (1864-1920) in his book Die Protestantische Ethik un der Geist des Kapitalismus (The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism) (1904-1905). The protestant ethic urges: v. Hard Work for the glory of God vi. Self Control & Sobriety: Allowed for a buildup of excess capital vii. Self Reliance viii. Perseverance: God won’t ever give up on you, keep trying. ix. Saving and Planning ahead x. Honesty & “Observing the rules of the game” 4. Industrial Revolution l. The term originally referred to the developments that transformed Great Britain, between 1750 and 1830, from a largely rural population making a living almost entirely from agriculture to a town-centered society engaged increasingly in factory manufacture. 5. Military Industrial Complex m. Term coined by Dwight D. Eisenhower in his presidential “farewell speech” in 1961. The relationship between government and the money it spends on maintaining and equipping a standing military. Money spent on: xi. The Department of Defense xii. Contracts given to companies in the defense industry xiii. Monies spent in defense industry-related areas n. Spending on military buildup – for example, prior to armed conflict – can act as a significant boost to the economy.
January 13, 2012 1. GDP & GNP a. Gross Domestic Profits (GDP): The value of all goods and services produced within a country, regardless of the nationality of the company producing them. b. Gross National Product (GNP): The value of gods and services produced by a country’s companies, regardless of their location around the globe. c. Ways of reporting GDP and GNP: i. Both GDP and GNP are generally given in $US and may be expressed in terms of absolute (total value) or per capita (literally, per head; total value divided by the number of people in the country’s population) ii. They may also be shown as Real GDP/GNP, that is, they have been adjusted for inflation, or as Nominal (unadjusted) figures. 2. Inflation: the increase in prices over time or a declin in the value or purchasing power of money d. Cost push- the cost o2 raw materials and the cost of wages increase, and the costs are passed on to consumers. e. Demand Pull- There is more demand for a product than there is supply, and supliers are able to raise prices for extra profit 3. Consumer Price Index: Measures change in the cost of typical wage-earner purchases of goods and services expressed
