Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn more
Skip to content
Newer Version Available
Cover of Exploring Business v4.0
Published: 
July 2020
Page Count: 
812
ISBN (Digital): 
978-1-4533-3427-0

Exploring Business

Version 4.0
By Karen Collins

Key Features

  • Includes COVID-19 Information.
  • Over 200 hyperlinks to videos and webpages enrich online courses, engage students, and reinforce or augment many of the presented topics.
  • The extensive instructors’ manual offers ample material to guide an instructor teaching an in-class, online, or hybrid course. 
  • Free Homework System that grades questions, furnishes feedback to students and class statistics to instructors.
  • The text has an entrepreneurial chapter order that follows the steps an entrepreneur would take in starting a business. This chapter order can be changed to accommodate an instructor’s preference.
  • Covers the “essentials” and maintains academic rigor without burdening students and  instructors with unnecessary detail.
  • End-of-chapter cases on five key areas of skill and knowledge endorsed by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB): Learning on the Web, Career Opportunities, The Ethics Angle, Team-Building Skills, and The Global View.
  • Supportive in-text learning features include:
    • Modular chapter format is built around learning objectives, interim summaries called “Key Takeaways,” and interactive exercises.
    • Active figures, which simulate the process that a faculty member goes through in class when diagramming a concept on the board, one piece at a time.
    • Active exercises, which engage students in active learning and help them master key concepts.
    • Active assessment questions, which provide students with instant feedback and reinforce learning.
    • At the end of each chapter, there are thought-provoking questions, problems, and cases based on well-known companies. They require students to gather information, assess a situation, think about it critically, and reach a conclusion.
  • Optional business plan project for students to work on alongside the course, including an Excel template to prepare financial reports. A “Business Plan Project” packet is available for any instructor wishing to integrate the Business plan project into their course.
  • Integrated Nike Case Study available for instructors who wish to introduce students to business using a dynamic case study. A “Nike Case” packet is available for any instructor wishing to integrate the Nike case into their course.
  • Author-written supplementary materials provide robust instructional support and include an instructor manual, test items, quizzes, PowerPoint lecture slides, and free online homework grading.
  • Customizable

Educators

Request Examination Copy Read Online Adopt This Book Customize this Book

Students

Online Access Price:  $35.95 Color Printed Textbook with Online Access Price:  $60.95
Buy This Book Redeem My Code

Exploring Business v4.0 is suitable for introduction to business or introduction to entrepreneurship courses taught at the undergraduate level at two- and four-year colleges and universities.

Exploring Business is a complete teaching package in which every component is conceptualized and written by the author to enhance student learning and support successful teaching initiatives. The book’s broad range of features connect with students at every level of preparation and without overwhelming them with details. Exploring Business conveys the excitement of the business world through the use of over 75 real-world examples—and features an optional, running case study for those instructors who want to expose students to case-based learning. An additional, optional business plan project provides a hands-on learning opportunity by giving budding entrepreneurs practice with conceptualizing a new business.

New in This Version

  • The early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business environment is introduced in Section 1.3 “Getting Down to Business” and coverage of the topic is integrated throughout.
  • Comparison of capitalism and socialism (Chapter 1: The Foundations of Business)
  • Updated information on mergers and acquisitions (Chapter 3: Selecting a Form of Business Ownership)
  • Extensive revisions to ethics discussions now includes the opioid crisis and expanded discussions of environmental crises (Chapter 4: Business Ethics and Social Responsibility)
  • More information about labor unions has been included (Chapter 6: Recruiting, Motivating, and Keeping Quality Employees)
  • Expanded discussion of artificial intelligence (Chapter 7: Product Design and Development)
  • Added subsections on automation, robots, and 3-D printing (Chapter 8: Operations Management in Manufacturing and Service Industries)
  • Coverage of Generation Z (Chapter 10: Marketing: Providing Value to Customers)
  • New discussion of the “Internet of Things” (Chapter 11: Operating in a Digital Marketing and Social Networking Environment)
  • Expanded section on crowdfunding (Chapter 13: Managing Financial Resources)
FlatWorld Homework System

FlatWorld Homework

FlatWorld Homework includes multi-format questions written specifically for your FlatWorld book, which you can access through our stand-alone interface or integrate with your learning management system.

Request a demo

In order to give you the best experience, it is important that we have accurate data about your correct school. If you are unable to find the correct school above, please enter the name and web address here so that we can add it to our system.



Instructor’s Manual

Instructor’s Manual

The Instructor’s Manual guides you through the main concepts of each chapter and important elements such as learning objectives, key terms, and key takeaways. Can include answers to chapter exercises, group activity suggestions, and discussion questions.

Instructor’s Manual

PowerPoint Lecture Notes

PowerPoint Lecture Notes

A PowerPoint presentation highlighting key learning objectives and the main concepts for each chapter are available for you to use in your classroom. You can either cut and paste sections or use the presentation as a whole.

PowerPoint Lecture Notes

Test Generator - powered by Cognero

Test Generator - powered by Cognero

FlatWorld has partnered with Cognero, a leading online assessment system, that allows you to create printable tests from FlatWorld provided content.

Test Bank Files for Import to Learning Management Systems

Test Bank Files for Import to Learning Management Systems

For your convenience, we've packaged our test items for easy import into Learning Management Systems like Blackboard, Brightspace/D2L, Canvas, Moodle, or Respondus.

Test Item File

Test Item File

Need assistance in supplementing your quizzes and tests? Our test-item files (in Word format) contain many multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and short-answer questions.

Sample Syllabi

Sample Syllabi

Sample syllabi provide useful templates to help new faculty adopters revise their teaching plans to match their assigned FlatWorld textbook or lend insights to existing adopters on how to organize their classes.

Download
Other Supplements

Other Supplements

Solutions manuals, sample exams, video learning segments, workbooks, cases and lab manuals are just some of the extras our books will offer depending on the needs of the course. Click here to see what this textbook offers.

At FlatWorld, we take pride in providing a range of high-quality supplements alongside our titles, to help instructors teach effectively. Supplements are available for instructors who have registered their adoption with us. If you need to review or preview something specific, please contact us.


Sign up for FlatWorld

Already registered? Sign in here

Karen Collins Lehigh University

Karen Collins (PhD Virginia Tech) was Professor Emerita of Accounting at Lehigh University. Karen previously coordinated Lehigh’s Introduction to Business course taken by all first-year business students. Exploring Business and its robust package of support materials is based on Karen's innovative and successful approach to many years teaching and coordinating the course. For her service in this area, Karen was honored with an "Innovation in Teaching Award" from the Middle Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration. 

Karen was the recipient of numerous other teaching awards, including the "Deming Lewis Faculty Award" (for the faculty member who had the strongest influence on the ten-year graduating class); "Stabler Award for Excellence in Teaching" (for the faculty member who best demonstrates a mastery of his or her field and superior ability in communicating it to others), Coopers and Lybrand’s "Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award" (given to ten faculty members nationally in recognition of excellence in teaching), Coopers and Lybrand's "Faculty Internship" (given to one faculty member nationally based on his or her positive influence on students), and the "Andersen Consulting Faculty Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching" (a two-year fellowship given to a faculty member who demonstrates excellence in course development). This last fellowship allowed Karen to work with course designers at the firm’s national offices in Chicago in the development of the Introduction to Business course. 

Karen's research interests included upward mobility of women in accounting, quality of life issues, stress, and ethnic diversity in the accounting profession.

Additions & Errata

04/24/23:

Section 6.8: The previously broken link in the "Ethics Angle" was updated.

Section 11.4: The link in the end of section "Exercise" was updated.

10/19/21:

Section 7.10: Under "The Global View," in order to fix a video link issue, we have added the following sentence: "Then watch the following video, titled 'Fake Goods Creating Real Problem': https://youtu.be/yvAmcSje_j4." We also changed question number 5 to read: "What efforts are being made to stop counterfeiters?" The accompanying Instructor's Manual has also been updated.

6/4/21:

Section 1.3: The discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic was updated to include more current information.

2/3/21:

Section 4.6: Updated "From Drug Addict to Successful CEO to Manufacturer of Medical Masks" subsection to "Zoom and the COVID-19 Pandemic" for a more recent example.

12/22/20:

Section 9.4: One instance of "exporters" was changed to "importers" in the discussion of "Currency Valuations and Exchange Rates".

Section 9.6: All instances of "North American Free Trade Association" were corrected to "North American Free Trade Agreement".

10/14/20:

Section 11.4: The third Key Takeaway was corrected to read "12 percent" rather than "8 percent": "Although only about 12 percent of retail sales take place online today, the trend is moving upward."

Back to top