COURSE TITLE : Introduction to Business

COMPUTER CODE : BB003

PRE-REQUISITE : NIL
CREDIT HOURS : 3.5
SEMESTER : September - December 2010
LECTURER : Mr. Alexander Tay
TUTOR : Mr Gilbert

Description
This subject is designed to provide an introduction to students on the business
environment and an overview of its more important aspects. Students will be acquainted
with the general structure of a business and the role of a manager.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
 Identify the business system and business ethics.
 Apply financial and marketing principle in real situation.
 Evaluate the usage of e business.

Course Outline
Introduction to Business Environment
Forms of Business Ownership
Competing in Global Market
Social Responsibilities & Business Ethics
Legal Environment
Management and Leadership
Human Resource Management
Motivating Employees
Marketing
Pricing Products
Using E technology

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 WEEK TOPICS
1 Lecture 1
30 August – 5 Introduction to Business
September 2010
2 Lecture 2
6 September – 12 Introduction to Business Environment
September 2010
3 Lecture 3
13 September – 19 Forms of Business Ownership
September 2010
4 Lecture 4
20 September – 26 Competing in Global Market
September 2010
5 Lecture 5
27 September – 3 Social Responsibilities & Business Ethics
October 2010
6 Lecture 6
4 October – 10 Legal Environment
October 2010
7 Lecture 7
11 October – 17 Midterm Examination
October 2010
8 Lecture 8
18 October – 24 Management and Leadership
October 2010
9 Lecturer 9
25 October – 31 Human Resource Management
October 2010
10 Lecturer 10
1 November – 7 Motivating Employees
November 2010
11 Lecture 11
8 November – 14 Marketing
November 2010
12 Lecture 12
15 November – 21 Pricing Products
November 2010
13 Lecture 13
22 November – 28 Using E technology
November 2010
14 Review for Final Examination
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 29 November – 5
December 2010
Assessment

Assignment (Submit on week 11 Lecture 30%

class)
Mid-term Exam (Held on week 7 Lecture 30%
Class)
Final Exam 40%
TOTAL 100%

Group Assignment
Instructions
Get into groups of six (6) or seven (7) students in one group. Answer the question below
(must be typed: New Times Roman, font size 12, double spacing) and submit your
assignment on week 11 (08 November 2010) lecture class.

Business Development Plan

Assignment Overview
This is a business plan assignment which is intended to be entirely yours, you
will decide what products or services to offer and how you will organize it,
manage it, finance it and distribute the products/services. You may let your
imagination work freely in this exercise in the sense that you may imagine
producing an entirely new (legal) product or service or open a restaurant, build
cars, begin a day care center or become a doctor.

When you select a product, consider what the competition is doing, whether
there are likely to be enough potential customers to make offering your product
worth while and how you will tell customers that your product/service exists.

If you are one of those hardy entrepreneurial souls who really wants to bring a
product or service to market, this will be an opportunity to outline for yourself the
beginnings of your business. For those of you simply seeking some insight into
the world of business, you should gain some understanding of the complexities
involved in creating a business.

A typical business plan has this general format:

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 1. Mission Statement: Defines the reason for being in business and
describes what the firm plans to do better or differently from competitors.

2. Marketing: Often a detailed plan on its own which identifies target markets
and related demographic data, what type of image the firm wishes to
project, method of promotion of the product or service, and an analysis of
competitors to determine where opportunities lie.

3. Merchandise Purchasing: How and from whom are you going to get the
materials and services you need.

4. Organization: How are you going to organize to get started, how will you
change the organization to deal with anticipated growth? Have you
identified each persons duties and responsibilities?

Business Development Plan Part 1

Selecting a Product or Service

You are now an entrepreneur. Start with your product or service. What is it you
intend to offer?

On your sheet of paper:

1. Identify the product or service you wish to offer. (It must be legal.)
2. How will your product or service be used?
3. Identify the group of people who you believe are your potential customers.
4. Discuss why you think it can be successful, i.e. generate a profit for your
efforts.
5. Discuss what you consider to be potential problems in getting your
entrepreneurial effort off the ground

Business Plan Part 2

Selecting a Business Type
For this assignment, you will be selecting the type of legal organization you will
use to operate your business. Your choices are:

1. Sole Proprietorship
2. Partnership
3. Corporation or S corporation
4. Limited Liability Company (LLC)
5. Franchise which includes one of the above forms

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When selecting your business form, you must consider your desire for control
over the organization, the range of skills and amount of experience you have to
operate the business, your ability to gain financing, the time you have available to
do everything that needs to be done, etc. Each of these factors and others
impact the form of organization you choose.

Business Development Plan Part 3

Designing the Organization for Start Up

You have selected your product and business type, now it time to choose the
physical organization of your business. That is to say, how you plan to organize
and staff your firm. For this assignment:

1. Prepare a brief written overview of what your organization will look like
when you open it.
2. You are to design an organizational chart.
3. When you have completed the organizational chart, write a job description
of the supervisor of that "box". If your organization is to be a one person
firm, show in organizational chart form the major functions you will need to
carry out and provide a brief description of what those functions are.

Business Development Plan Part 4

Marketing Your Product
How do you plan to market your product or service? How do you plan to tell your
potential customers about what you have to offer? Who are your potential
customers? Where do they live? How will they find you or your product or
service?

You need to inform your potential customers what your product/service is, make
sure that they can actually acquire it and also make sure that there are enough
potential customers to make your efforts worthwhile.

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 B0002 Economic
Assessment for Group Assignment

Student Name Student ID Course / Tutorial

No. Assessment Criteria Marks Marks

Allocation Given
1 Executive Summary 5 Marks
2 Product or Services offering 5 Marks
3 Business types Selection 5 Marks
4 Organizational Structure Design 5 Marks
5 Marketing Planning 5 Marks
6 Structure, Layout, Language, and Reference 5 Marks
Total: 30 Marks

Comments:
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
____

Signature of markers:____________________________________
Name of markers:_______________________________________
Date:__________________________________________________

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Textbook

Core Text
Nickels, W.G.; McHugh, J.M. & McHugh, S.M. (2008), Understanding Business, 8th
Edition, McGraw Hill Irwin, ISBN 978-0-07-110136-3

Reference
Griffin, R.W. & Ebert, R.J. (1999), Business, 5th Edition, Prentice-Hall International.
ISBN 0-13-081747-3

Reminder

• Students who did not achieve 80% attendance will be barred from sitting the final
examination

• Submission of Assignments and Deadlines:

The following penalties would apply to late submission
of assignments:

One (1) day late – deduct 30%

Two (2) days late – deduct 60%
Three (3) days late – deduct 90%

Assignments received three days after the due date will not be graded.

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