Entrepreneurship - McGraw-Hill Introduction to Business

Italian Artisans Thrive with 3D Printing

June 17, 2015

In the 1960s Northeast Italy’s artisans banded together to form small family-owned businesses that depended closely on one other. Each company manufactured a single part of a finished product that held the entire town’s attention. For instance, the tiny burg of Montebelluna specialized in making ski boots, with dozens of companies contributing parts like buckles and foam linings. The town eventually became famous for its high quality footwear, producing about three-quarters of the world’s ski boots at its height. One Continue reading →

3D Printing, Manufacturing, Product Development, Innovation, Global, Italy, Entrepreneurship

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 5: Forms of Business Ownership, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Benefit Corps Help Shareholders and Society

June 13, 2015

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While nonprofit organizations do the world an immeasurable amount of good, their restrictive structure can prove frustrating for some entrepreneurs. After all in order to stay afloat, many nonprofits depend on the generosity of donors, a source of capital that could suddenly dry up at anytime. That’s why a few startups are combining the social drive of nonprofits with sustainable business models to form benefit corporations, or “B-corps” for short.

On the surface these companies seem like normal firms: they Continue reading →

Product Development, Corporate Social Responsibility, Ethics, Product Distribution, Entrepreneurship, A to Z, Labor Relations

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 5: Forms of Business Ownership, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 10: Motivation, Chapter 13: Marketing

Picking the Best Web Address Out of What’s Left

May 24, 2015

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In today’s Internet-centric world, companies of all kinds must establish a professional web presence or run the risk of wasting away in the dark ages. Accomplishing this task is often easier said than done, though, especially when it comes to setting up a website compared to a social media profile. Not only do websites require knowledge of coding and design in order to work, but they also need to have a logical URL address so users can easily access it. Continue reading →

Product Development, Branding, Marketing, Small Businss, Entrepreneurship, Silicon Valley

Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

The Motor City’s Burgeoning Bike Business

March 17, 2015

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With Detroit officially out of bankruptcy, business leaders and entrepreneurs are looking to the city’s mighty manufacturing past as an example for its future. After all, Detroit is full of old factories that can be fixed up and rented out cheaply. But it’s not just carmakers who are flocking back to the Motor City: over the last several years at least seven bicycle manufacturers have set up shop in the area as well.

Some of these bike builders rent small Continue reading →

Product Development, Innovation, Cycling, Detroit, Entrepreneurship, Manufacturing

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 14: Product and Price

The Spotlight Fades on Rockstar Energy

February 19, 2015

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Even though Rockstar wasn’t the first energy drink to hit the market, it didn’t take long for the brand to make a big impact in a crowded field. Consumers quickly responded to Rockstar’s affordable price and large serving size, which set the brand apart from more exclusive products like Red Bull. During its first six years, revenue at Rockstar soared as high as $405 million while it grew at an average annual rate of 103 percent.

By 2007, however, the Continue reading →

Management, Entrepreneurship, Product Development, Food, Rockstar

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 10: Motivation, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion

Engineering an Educational Franchise

February 18, 2015

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For many entrepreneurs, great ideas can come along when least expected. In the case of Dori Roberts, her job as a high school engineering teacher laid the foundation for her million-dollar concept. Over the course of her 11 years in teaching, Roberts noticed that many of her students discovered a love for engineering late in their school careers. She then made it her mission to introduce engineering to kids at a younger age, starting out with an after school bridge-building Continue reading →

Product Development, Education, Childcare, STEM, Franchising, Entrepreneurship

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 5: Forms of Business Ownership, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship

Success and Failure in India’s Tricky Marketplace

February 13, 2015

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With a consumer pool of more than one billion people, India has become the next big expansion destination for companies around the world. While some businesses are still working the bugs out of their strategies for the subcontinent, other operations have hit the ground running and quickly grabbed up market share. Domino’s, for instance, now sells more pizza in India than anywhere else besides the U.S. thanks to its savvy combination of local and Western tastes. On the other hand, Continue reading →

India, Global, Product Development, Entrepreneurship, Retail, Domino’s

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Immigrants Make Big Impact on U.S. Economy

February 2, 2015

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From the first colonists to the heyday of Ellis Island, the U.S. has largely been built upon the backs of people who were not born here. But the economic impact of immigrants is more than just a matter of history. Even today, immigrants are the entrepreneurial engines that power the nation. From 1996 to 2011, the business startup rate for immigrants grew by more than 50 percent. In contrast, the number of companies started by U.S.-born citizens dropped by 10 Continue reading →

Immigration, Startups, Global, Entrepreneurship, Human Resources, Demographics

Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

Pivoting from One Business Plan to Another

December 10, 2014

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When Michael Garrity founded CommunityLend in 2010, he thought his company was in a perfect position to capture an untapped market. After all, the 2008 financial crisis made many banks wary of lending too much cash, presenting a golden opportunity to non-traditional operations like CommunityLend. Plus, the company’s peer-to-peer model was the first of its kind in Garrity’s home country of Canada, marking a major advantage for the startup.

Despite these benefits, though, CommunityLend had trouble finding qualified borrowers for Continue reading →

Retail, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Social Media, Finance

Chapter 5: Forms of Business Ownership, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 8: Organizational Culture and Structure, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Half Prices Books Thrives Against the Odds

November 25, 2014

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In a world of Amazon and e-readers, there’s just not much room for independent bookstores. Over the past five years, mom and pop bookshops have seen revenues decrease by an average of 3.2 percent annually. But not every company in this discouraging industry is feeling the squeeze. In fact, the Dallas-based retailer Half Price Books is growing at a rate of five stores per year. Revenues rose from $50 million in 1995 to $240 million in 2013, remarkably avoiding Continue reading →

Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Retail, Distribution, Resale, Half Price Books

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution