Lead community –

Resentfulness

Management pre

UNIT 1 Business Philosophy

Starting up

USEFUL TIPS A philosophy is a set of beliefs about the meaning of the universe and of human life. A business philosophy is a system of ideas about the meaning and the role of business.

What is business? What is business for? Express your ideas. Discuss the following statements in the group. Which do you agree with and which do you disagree with?

1. Business is to make profit for the company’s shareholders.

2. Business is for the benefit of all the company’s stakeholders.

3. Business is for the benefit of the whole community.

4. Business destroys communities.

5. Business brings out the worst in people.

6. Business destroys the natural environment.

7. Business is about risk.

8. Business is about challenge.

9. Business is fun.

10. Business is the best possible way to self–fulfilment.

11. Business makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.

12. Business must be regulated by the state.

13. You have to be ruthless to succeed in business.

3. What is your own philosophy of business?

3. Imagine that the word BUSINESS is an abbreviation. What does each letter stand for?

3. Consider the following quotations. Agree or disagree.

“A good business should be part of society, and you have to have pride in what you do. There’s no pride in making millions of pounds, but there is pride in helping people and the environment.”

“The idea now is global responsibility. Businesses are the true planetary citizens, they can push frontiers, they can change society.”

“In the next decade, environmentalism will be the most important issue for business.”

READING

3. Read and translate the text. Be ready to discuss the main issues.

The Business Vision and Company Mission Statement

Establishing Goals and Plans

Planning helps managers to affect the future. Without a planned course of action businesses are much more likely to sit back, let things happen, and then react to these happenings in a crisis mode. Planning is the process of deciding what we are going to do later, including when and how we are going to do it. It is one of the most effective management tools for reducing risks of business. Planning also provides a means for actively involving personnel from all levels of the organization in the management of the organization. Involvement in the planning process produces a multitude of benefits. Involvement also improves overall organizational morale and loyalty. The experience gained throughout the development of a plan requires managers to think in a future– and contingency–oriented manner.

The overall planning process consists of three major components. They are: MISSION, GOALS, PLANS.

Mission

is the broadest and highest level of goals. It defines the basic purpose of the organization and outlines why the organization exists. A mission statement is a declaration of the unique purpose and scope of operations that distinguishes the organization from others of its type.

While a business must continually adapt to its competitive environment, there are certain core ideals that remain relatively steady and provide guidance in the process of strategic decision–making. These unchanging ideals form the business vision and are expressed in the company mission statement.

In their 1996 article entitled Building Your Company's Vision, James Collins and Jerry Porras provided a framework for understanding business vision and articulating it in a mission statement. The mission statement communicates the firm's core ideology, generally consisting of the following three components:

1. Core values to which the firm is committed

2. Core purpose of the firm.

3. Visionary goals the firm will pursue to fulfill its mission.

The firm's core values and purpose constitute its core ideology and remain relatively constant. The specific phrasing of the ideology may change with the times, but the underlying ideology remains constant.