Exploring Business: United States Edition

Exploring Business by Collins TOC
1. THE FOUNDATIONS OF BUSINESS
2. THE CHALLENGES OF STARTING A BUSINESS
3. BUSINESS ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
4. MANAGING FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS
5. RECRUITING, MOTIVATING, AND KEEPING QUALITY EMPLOYEES
6. DEVELOPING AND PRODUCING GOODS AND SERVICES
7. MARKETING: PROVIDING VALUE TO CUSTOMERS
8. BUSINESS IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT 9. THE ROLE OF ACCOUNTING IN BUSINESS
10. MANAGING FINANCIAL RESOURCES
11. MANAGING INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY
 

Collins is the only Introduction to Business book to teach students the topics of business through an in-depth study of a single company--Nike.
 
 
How do you show your students the relationships between what they are learning in the classroom and what happens in the real business world?
 
What happens when your students don’t see the connections between the theory they are learning in the classroom and what is happening in the real business world?
 
Integrated Nike Case Study: An online case study based on extensive research and executive interviews (www.exploringbusinessonline.com) immerses students in all aspects of Nike.  It consists of 26 individual case notes, linked to specific chapter content, exploring all aspects of business through the example of Nike.  These case notes are located online. allowing updates to be made every semester, so students are always learning about what is happening at Nike now, not what happened a year ago. 

• To complement the case notes there are 4 streaming videos featuring key Nike executives discussing Nike’s history, corporate responsibility challenges and initiatives, product innovation programs, and entrance into the soccer shoe market.  The videos are found at www.exploringbusinessonline.com.
• A Nike related memo writing assignment accompanies each chapter, reinforcing the concepts the students have learned and asking them to explore how these topics are addressed at Nike.                             
• Nike Questions are located in each chapter and are multi-part questions covering one of the case notes in the chapter.  The questions allow students to think further about the information presented to them in the Nike case notes.  Additional tests in the Test Item File also cover this information.
• Author Karen Collins has been developing, teaching, and coordinating the Introduction to Business course built around this integrated Nike case for many years.  She has developed extensive teaching notes and materials for the team of instructors who teach this course, and these notes and materials are provided in the extensive Instructor’s Manual.

  
OTHER POINTS OF DISTINCTION
 
How do you integrate a business plan into your course?
 
Business Plan Project: The author feels that teaching students to develop a business plan is a key component of an Introduction to Business course.  It aids in helping students understand how the functional aspects of business interact.  The optional business plan project is introduced in Chapter 2, and the 10-section business plan is integrated through the subsequent chapters.  An online, easy-to-use Excel template is located at www.exploringbusinessonline.com to help students complete the financial aspects of the business plan.  Professors who wish to link the business plan project to the study of Nike may choose to have their students develop business plans around a fictitious company in the same industry as Nike.
 
 
How do your students learn concepts outside of the classroom?
 
Active Figures: At www.exploringbusinessonline.org many of the graphs and figures from the book have been animated and narrated to simulate what happens during a lecture and to allow students more learning experiences outside of the classroom.
 
 
What is the hardest part about prepping a new class or a new text?
How does having a comprehensive supplement package make your life easier?
 
Instructor’s Manual: Karen Collins has developed this course for herself and many other instructors and has provided a complete package of materials that allows you to easily integrate the Nike case into your course, as well as additional materials to help you prepare a meaningful classroom experience for your students.  The Instructor's Manual includes teaching notes, a plethora of in-class activities, and author-prepared answers to the end-of-chapter material and all of the supplemental materials that Karen uses in her own class and provides to instructors who teach with her.