Summary Business Management Notes (MNB1501

Business Management Notes (MNB1501) Study Unit 1: The Business World and Business Management The role of business in society • Transformation of resources into goods and services society needs. • Business cannot operate without society. • Needs and values of society influence what business does? - Protecting the environment. • Organizations influence behaviour patterns of people in a particular society by developing new products. - Impact of cell phones & tablets on social life. • Success of business has an impact on the prosperity of a society. - Mining towns. Needs and need satisfaction • Humans have many varied and seemingly unlimited needs. • Society has limited resources to satisfy those needs, which requires a choice to be made about how best to utilize the limited resources. • Most people have limited resources (money) to afford our unlimited wants, so we have to decide how best to utilize the little we have to obtain the greatest satisfaction. • Decision to obtain the maximum benefit (satisfaction) with the limited resources = Economic Principal. • Consumerism = the social force that protects consumers from unsafe products and malpractices by exerting moral and economic pressure on business. • According to Maslow, all humans have same basic needs, but not everybody strives to satisfy the same ones also that once basic needs (hunger) are satisfied, we strive to satisfy the next level - Security etc. • Unlimited needs (Maslow’s hierarchy): 1. Physiological Needs (hunger, thirst) 2. Security Needs (protection) 3. Social Needs (love, recognition) 4. Esteem Needs 5. Self-Realisation Needs • Basic Physical and Psychological needs may overlap • Limited Resources 1. Natural Resources (land, forests, water) 2. Human Resources (labour, physical and mental talents) 3. Capital (buildings, machinery, computers – Not for final human consumption) 4. Entrepreneurship (Individuals who accept the risk, also rewarded with profits for the risks)