Introduction to Business
How businesses create value: the economic environment, forms of ownership, management, people, marketing, operations, accounting, finance, trade and ethics in the United States.
BUS-101 Year 1 3 credits 12 lessons · 5 h 46 min
Offered by HSM University · Business Foundations
This is the American version of this course. See the Canadian version.
What you'll learn
- Explain how a business creates value and calculate revenue, costs, profit and margins.
- Describe how markets, competition, the business cycle, inflation and interest rates affect business decisions.
- Compare sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, LLCs and franchises in the United States.
- Test a business idea, calculate break-even and margin of safety, and identify suitable sources of start-up financing.
- Apply the four functions of management, SWOT analysis, SMART goals and basic organizational design.
- Describe the main human resource activities and the employment, anti-discrimination and labor relations laws that govern them in the United States.
- Use segmentation, positioning and the four Ps, and evaluate marketing with acquisition cost and customer lifetime value.
- Analyze an operation's capacity, productivity, quality, inventory and supply chain risks.
- Read a balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement in a Form 10-K and calculate key financial ratios.
- Apply the time value of money, compare debt and equity, explain the role of banks and capital markets, and calculate NPV.
- Explain comparative advantage, exchange rate risk, market entry modes, trade barriers and the current North American trade environment.
- Analyze ethical dilemmas, legal duties and sustainability issues, and write a one-page business brief.
Course content
12 lessons · 5 h 46 min total · final exam
- 1 What business is and how organizations create value 32 min · quiz
- 2 The economic environment: markets, competition and the business cycle 28 min · quiz
- 3 Forms of business ownership in the US 28 min · quiz
- 4 Entrepreneurship and small business 28 min · quiz
- 5 Management and organization 29 min · quiz
- 6 Human resources and the workforce 28 min · quiz
- 7 Marketing: understanding and reaching customers 28 min · quiz
- 8 Operations and supply chains 28 min · quiz
- 9 Accounting and reading financial statements and the 10-K 28 min · quiz
- 10 Finance, banks and capital markets 33 min · quiz
- 11 Global business and trade 28 min · quiz
- 12 Ethics, law and sustainability, and writing a business brief 28 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Description
How businesses create value: the economic environment, forms of ownership, management, people, marketing, operations, accounting, finance, trade and ethics in the United States.
Part of the Business stream, typically taken in year 1.