business management definition essay

What Is Business Management? And Why It Can Be a Great Career Choice

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What Is Business Management?

Business management is the process of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the activities of a business or organization to achieve its goals and objectives. It involves overseeing all aspects of a business, from finance and operations to marketing and human resources. Business managers must be skilled in leadership , communication, and problem-solving, and must be able to make strategic decisions that drive the success of the organization.

Key Takeaways

• Business management involves planning, organizing, directing, and controlling various activities to meet organizational objectives. Key skills include leadership, effective communication, and strategic decision-making.
• The field of business management is expected to see an 8% growth in job opportunities from 2022 to 2032. This growth includes diverse roles such as retail supervisors and administrative services managers—offering competitive salaries and career advancement.
• Earning an associate’s degree in business management provides critical skills needed for entry-level management roles. Most programs are designed to be flexible, often available online, and include comprehensive support to ensure student success.

Every Organization Needs Leaders

Not everyone can be a leader or manager at work, and many people don’t want the responsibilities of overseeing employees and processes. Fortunately, others feel called to work in management roles and want to make a meaningful impact on their teams and their employers.

Some managers go through company training to learn the skills they need. Others who are new to management “learn by doing,” having to figure things out as they go. Some entry-level managers start the job with formal management education under their belts, which helps them be more confident in their supervisory roles.

Associate Degree in Business Management

If a rewarding career in management is on your life’s bucket list, here’s something that can help you conquer that goal: Get a degree in business management.

The University of Cincinnati Online offers an Associate of Business Management Technology (BMTN) degree program that’s focused, flexible, and designed for today’s modern students.

Our BMTN program prepares you to move into an entry-level supervisory or management position in a wide variety of business settings, with a format that allows you to:

• Study part or full-time . If you attend full-time, you’ll get your associate degree in two years. Your time in the program will move quickly, and you’ll have your degree before you know it.
• Earn a degree online . 100% of the courses are offered online, and there are no campus visits required — a big time-saver for you.
• Learn on your schedule . If you want to study on weeknights or prefer the weekend, the program gives you the flexibility you need to balance your studies with work and family obligations.
• Get the support you need . Our program is 100% engineered for your success. You learn from experienced educators and get access to helpful tools and technical support. We pair you with a Student Success Coordinator who’s with you from enrollment to graduation — they’ll be your biggest champion.

Business Management Curriculum

Our program curriculum is expertly designed to help you excel in the business world. You’ll complete a minimum of 60 credit hours to graduate, studying subjects that include Entrepreneurship, Financial Accounting, Introduction to Marketing, Personal Selling and Sales Management, and Fundamentals of Human Resources.

Completing UC Online’s business management degree equips you with skills that are highly sought after by employers, such as:

• Effectively communicating in a business setting
• Analyzing scenarios and drawing suitable conclusions
• Demonstrating effective team management skills
• Executing the four functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling
• Using critical thinking skills to solve problems and make decisions based on accepted business principles

Managers Are in Demand Today

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects employment in management occupations to grow 8% between 2022 to 2032, faster than the average for all occupations. With a projected 1.1 million openings each year, the opportunities for you to work in management are broad.

If you do some research online, you’ll see a variety of entry-level manager positions, including positions like these:

Ready to Grow Your Management Expertise?

A career in business management can offer a range of opportunities for personal and professional growth. With the right education and experience, individuals can develop the skills needed to succeed in this challenging and rewarding field. From leading teams and making strategic decisions to navigating complex business environments, business management requires a diverse set of skills and a commitment to lifelong learning.

Pursuing a degree in business management can be a great way to kickstart your career or take your next step in leadership. Whether you aspire to be an entrepreneur, a corporate executive, or a community leader, an associate degree in business management can help you achieve your goals and make a positive impact on the world around you.

The UC Online staff is ready to answer your questions about the Associate of Business Management Technology program. You can connect online with an advisor , or call our associate degree specialists’ team at 833-556-7877 .

We look forward to helping you manage and lead!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the key purpose of business management.

The primary purpose of business management is to oversee and coordinate the various activities within an organization to ensure they align with and achieve the company’s goals and objectives. This involves optimizing resources and guiding teams to maintain efficiency and drive organizational success.

What are business management skills?

Business management skills encompass a range of abilities, including leadership, effective communication, critical thinking, and strategic planning. These skills enable managers to efficiently coordinate activities, solve problems, make informed decisions, and lead teams towards achieving the organization’s goals.

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What Is (Business) Management? Laying the Ground for a Philosophy of Management

• Open access
• Published: 24 December 2019
• Volume 19 , pages 173–189, ( 2020 )

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• Vincent Blok 1  

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In this article, we philosophically reflect on the nature of business management. We move beyond the political paradigm of the conceptualization of management in order to lay the ground for a philosophy of business management. First, we open-up the self-evident conceptualization of business management in contemporary management practices by comparing ancient and contemporary definitions of management. Second, we develop a framework with six dimensions of the nature of business management that can guide future philosophical and empirical work on the nature of business management: management control, people management, asset management and entrepreneurial action, management as participation, management as responsive action and management as constituting meaning.

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Investigating the Philosophical Foundations of Management and Business

Xenophon’s Philosophy of Management

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Introduction

Today, business management seems to be only a special case of management as more general human condition. Management is everywhere, ranging from people’s self-management to social network management, and from household management to planetary management in the context of global warming. This raises the question what is actually meant with the concept of business management. Often, management is self-evidently understood as managerial power and mechanism to control, inspired by the scientific management theory that is still taught in business schools today. In order to develop a better understanding of the contemporary meaning of the concept, one would expect to find deeper insights in the sub-discipline of philosophy of management. It is striking however that this sub-discipline, to the best of my knowledge, never raised the philosophical question what management is. This particular question is both absent in historical and systematic reflections in the field of philosophy of management (Blok 2019a ). Footnote 1 For instance, in the first volume of the Philosophy of Management journal, Alan Bray raised the provocative question “Why is it that management seems to have no history?”, indicating that the practice of management as a corpus of knowledge and skills received only little attention in the literature (Bray 2001 ). With this, we do not mean that philosophers are not consulted to reflect on issues in management. In his Introduction to the philosophy of management for instance, Paul Griseri, one of the leading experts in the field, introduces in section one “the ‘what’ of management”, but he in fact only answers the question about the what of organisations, work and leadership in this section (Griseri 2013 ) (Tables 1 , 2 and 3 ).

A possible explanation why many non-philosophers define business management self-evidently in terms of managerial power and mechanism of control, while philosophers of management seem to omit the question ‘what is management’, may be that the concept of management is ‘highjacked’ by political philosophers like Michel Foucault. Foucault framed management as governmental technique that indicates the modern governmentality of the world (Foucault 2009 ). On the one hand, it is acknowledged that our understanding of governmentality originates from the Christian pastorate that governs society and is understood as an oikonomia, i.e. as an administration of society according to the model of the management of a household business. On the other hand, economic management is a priori understood from the perspective of political governance as government of populations. Footnote 2 With this, the concept of management is already understood from a bio-political paradigm and becomes such a general characteristic of all relations in modern society, that it does not seem to be able anymore to characterize the particular phenomenon of business management. Footnote 3 This general understanding of the nature of management in our ‘societies of control’ may explain why applied philosophers with a special interest in business management shy away from the question ‘what is management’ and instead, turn to questions like what is work, what is an organization, and what is leadership.

And yet, the question of what is business management is a legitimate question in the field of philosophy of management. To answer this question, we have to put the political paradigm of the conceptualization of management between brackets in order to articulate the particular nature of business management. We also have reason to follow this strategy. First, if the political paradigm of the conceptualization of management stems from the model of the management of the household business, an economic paradigm of management may inform us about the particular phenomenon of business management. Second, if we experience a discomfort with the orthodoxy of business management as managerial power and mechanism of control, we should reflect on this particular context of management and look for alternative conceptualizations of business management that can help us to open up this self-evident notion for philosophical reflection. Instead of being hemmed in by the structures of its self-evident conceptuality, the task of philosophy of management is to develop new theories of imagination for management science (cf. Tsoukas and Cummings 1997 ; Komporozos-Athanasiou and Fotaki 2015 ; Deslandes 2018 ).

In this article we reflect on the nature of business management to contribute to the development of a philosophy of management. Footnote 4 In this, the philosophical method of explorative confrontation is employed to open up the concept of management and critically develop our understanding of business management (Blok 2020 ). Our approach is explorative because it consists in the articulation of a deeper understanding of philosophical and scientific sources about management. Our approach is confrontational because we thereby analyse and disrupt the preconceptions held in the tradition to develop our understanding of business management. We explore the limitations and tensions in the definition of management provided by Taylor, Fayol and others.

In section one, we first open up the self-evident concept of management as it appears in philosophical history and in contemporary management theory. We identify a first set of three common characteristics of management, as well as three areas that challenge the self-evident conceptualization of management as managerial power and mechanism of control. Subsequently, we philosophically reflect on the nature of management to move beyond this self-conceptualization of management in section two, and provide three additional characteristics of management. In section three we draw our conclusions.

Because philosophical reflection on business management is still in its infancy, we do not pretend to develop a full philosophy of management in this article. Instead, we lay the ground for such a philosophy by developing a framework with six dimensions of the nature of business management that can guide future philosophical and empirical work on the nature of business management.

Opening up the Self-Evident Concept of Management

Management in xenophon and contemporary management theory.

In management theory, the concept of business management has a long tradition. It is normally understood as managerial power and mechanism to control, inspired by the scientific management theory that is still taught in business schools today. Henry Fayol and Frederick Taylor can be seen as the founders of management theory, who introduced scientific management (Taylor 1911 ) in general and five functions of management in particular: planning, organizing, instruction, coordination and control (Fayol 1949 ). Further insights in the nature of management was provided by Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick for instance, who extended Fayol’s work and coined the POSDCORB acronym to indicate the nature of management: planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgetting (Urwick 1952 ; Gulick and Urwick 2012 ). Koontz and O’Donnell’s developed principles of management as well, such as principles of planning, organizing, staffing etc. (Koontz and O’Donnell 1972 ). These later developments in management theory are also influenced by scholars who indicated the importance of soft skills in management (mintzberg, 2005 ), social and informal processes in management (Follett 1940 ), or studied management from the perspective of organizational behaviour (Miner 2002 ).

One way to open up the concept of management for philosophical reflection is by tracing the different meanings it has in history. Historical analysis can help us to question the self-evidence of the current association of management and mechanisms of control, to deconstruct the presupposed concepts that always already structure our understanding of management, and to explore the sedimentary conceptual structures which show themselves in the words and notions we self-evidently use in our understanding of management practices (Blok 2019b ). One of the first philosophical conceptualizations of business management occurred in the work of Xenophon ( 2013 ). In Oeconomicus, published around 385 b.c. , Xenophon introduces a dialogue between Socrates and Critobulus, a wealthy young man, and Ischomachus, a noble and successful manager, about oikonomia . Oikonomia, as Xenophon understood it, is not comparable with our contemporary understanding of economics and is primarily concerned with household management (Deslandes 2018 ). The domain of the household is not limited to the private sphere of the house in which we live, but extents to all property that enables the owner of the household to make a living. Instead of analysing Xenophon’s work itself in detail in this article, we rely on an earlier contribution on this topic and render nine dimensions of Xenophon’s concept of business management (Blok 2019a ) which enable us to open-up its self-evident conceptualization of management in terms of managerial power and mechanisms of control.

It is striking that this early conceptualization of management resonates pretty much with the management theory provided by Henry Fayol. If we compare Xenophon’s dimensions with the five functions of management according to Fayol’s management theory, we see that the first, second and fifth function of management corresponds with the first dimension of business management that we can find in Xenophon’s work, the third and fourth function of management corresponds with the fifth dimension we can find in Xenophon’s work. We can even argue that Xenophon’s conception of people management already moves beyond the mechanistic perspective of management that is often associated with scientific management, and prefigures the people-oriented perspective that is introduced by the human relations school (Mayo 2003 ).

Xenophon’s dimensions of management also resonate pretty much with contemporary definitions, for instance the one that can be found in the Oxford Dictionary of Business and Management. Management in the verbal sense concerns the act of managing an organization or a part of it in order to make most effective use of available resources, and management in the substantive sense concerns the people involved in these type of managerial activities, i.e. the directing, planning and running of the business operations (Law 2009 ; Statt 2004 ). According these definitions, management has three main components: 1) it concerns an organizational skill to establish and maintain the functional order of the organization that is taught at business schools, which corresponds with the first dimension of business management that we can find in Xenophon’s work; 2) it concerns the ability to motivate subordinates, which corresponds with the fifth dimension of business management that we can find in Xenophon’ work; 3) it has an entrepreneurial sense and concerns the recognition and exploitation of new business opportunities, which corresponds with the eighth dimension of business management that we can find in Xenophon’s work. Another similarity is that management is generally seen as something that can be learned by training, which corresponds with the sixth dimension of business management that we can find in Xenophon’s work, although the extent to which people management can be taught remains disputable. In sum, there are three common characteristics of management: a) management consists in the establishment and maintenance of a functioning order of the business; b) management consists in the engagement in the business operations via the work done by other people; c) management consists in proper asset management and entrepreneurial action in order to serve business and society. We take these common characteristics in Xenophon and contemporary definitions of management as a first set of dimensions of our conceptualization of management.

Questioning the Self-Evident Conceptualization of Management as Managerial Power and Mechanism of Control

At the same time, some dimensions of management that we find in Xenophon’s work enable us to question the self-evident conceptualization of management as managerial power and mechanism of control:

While currently, business management is mainly focussed on the establishment and maintenance of a functioning order of the business to make profit, Xenophon shows the intrinsic relation between business and society; the aim of business management is to serve private and public interests in an integrated way in order to evoke public admiration (second, third and ninth dimension of business management that we can find in Xenophon’s work).

According to contemporary definitions, management concerns the act of managing an organization in order to make most effective use of available resources. The manager is an efficient and powerful agent according to traditional management science in general and scientific management in particular (Fayol 1949 ; Taylor 1911 ). Management concerns a skill that can be learned at business schools, and this skill enables the individual professional to direct, plan and control the business operations. Although the roles and tasks of business management can be combined with other professional tasks, it often involves a strict division of labour between the manager of the business operations who executes the five functions of management and the workforce, and a strict division of labour between the knowledge and skills of the business manager – leadership and finance for instance, − and sector specific or disciplinary knowledge and skills of the workforce. In this respect, the manager remains external to the primary process of the business operations, and this separation of the primary process ensures the differentiation between hierarchical levels on which the manager is dependent. Further, by withdrawing himself from the primary process in which the workforce is highly dependent on each other, the manager becomes independent and manages and controls the primary process via instrumental control systems (management by numbers). This can be contrasted with Xenophon, who highlights the necessity of sector specific expert knowledge and skills of the manager, and the necessity of the involvement of business managers in the business operations via direct labour (fourth dimension of management that we can find in Xenophon’s work).

While the role of risk and misfortune is normally acknowledged in modern conceptualizations of business management, the radical fallibility and vulnerability of management is often not systematically reflected upon in the literature (Deslandes 2018 ). It is often taken as something that can be managed and controlled, for instance by risk management practices. Xenophon’s conception of management can help us to acknowledge the fundamental limitations of business management and the vulnerability of the manager, i.e. the fundamental role of risk and misfortune and the impossibility to establish full control; there is no such thing as Taylor’s ‘one best way’ to operate the business. In similar vein, the exploitation of new entrepreneurial business opportunities, may always turn out to fail (Blok 2018 ). This possibility of failure fundamentally limits the ambition of business managers to establish and maintain full control of the business operations. In other words, Xenophon’s concept of business management helps to acknowledge the limitations of management control, i.e. the fundamental role of risk and misfortune and the impossibility to establish full control (Blok 2019a )(seventh dimension of management that we can find in Xenophon’s work). In this respect, Xenophon can be seen as prefiguring some aspects of Fiedler’s contingency management theory, especially his acknowledgement that there is no absolute best way to manage the business, and the situational character of the management style of the manager (cf. Fiedler and Garcia 1987 ).

Based on this first round of reflection on the nature of business management, we cannot draw conclusions regarding these three contested areas of management yet. But by comparing dimensions of business management provided by Xenophon with the self-evident understanding of business management in contemporary management theory, we open up this concept for further philosophical reflection in the next section.

Toward a Philosophy of Management

In this section, we continue our reflections by focussing on the act of management itself. Although the three characteristics that are common in Xenophon’s conception and contemporary definitions – e.g. management as establishment of a functioning order of the business, people management and asset management and entrepreneurial action – are certainly true, it is questionable whether we do justice to the nature of management if we only conceive the phenomenon from the perspective of its utility, that is, the idea that the nature of management can be conceived based on its effects (e.g. management of effective use of resources, serving private and public interests), and not from the perspective of the action and behaviour that is involved in the act of management. For this reason, we acknowledge the three characteristics that are common in Xenophon’s conception and contemporary definitions as dimensions of management, and concentrate on three additional characteristics of business management in this section. In this, we take the three contested areas of management that we identified in the previous section as point of departure in order to build on but also move beyond contemporary conceptualizations of management as managerial power and mechanisms of control. We subsequently reflect on management as participation (§2.1), management as resistance and responsive action (§2.2) and management as constituting meaning (§2.3).

Management as Participation

As we have seen in the previous section, management is often conceptualized as external to the primary process of the business operations. The business manager manages and controls the primary process via instrumental control systems. We can frame this externality and instrumentality of management practices in terms of a loss of participation , namely as a loss of participation in the primary process of the business, while we can argue on the contrary that the importance of participation of the manager in the primary process. This loss of participation of management is often criticized for its focus on computation and calculation, resulting in high levels of bureaucracy. First, because comparability requires standardisation, the loss of participation of management can be criticized because it neglects the singularity of the individual professionals in favour of general governance mechanisms and common corporate goals (Robert 2001 ). Second, following from the first objection, the loss of participation of management can be criticized because it neglects the moral impulse of individual managers (Bauman 1989 ) that leads to unethical behaviour in management practices (Jackall 1988 ). Third, because of the emerging gap between the management level and the workforce level, the loss of participation of management can be criticized because of its lack of understanding of and feeling for the professionals that are involved in the primary process.

At the same time, we can question this loss of participation in many contemporary management practices and open a new perspective on management as participation in the primary process of the business operations. Footnote 5 Business management is a particular domain of knowledge, but the proper use of this knowledge, for instance via teaching and coaching of employees, requires experience as well. Management can be seen as expert knowledge, that is, proven knowledge based on experience, which requires the participation of the manager in the primary process to constitute know-how, that is, his or her actual engagement in the primary process of the business to produce a product or service for instance . The know-how of management does not only concern practice based knowledge how to plan and control the business operations, but first and foremost, the practice based knowledge how to make the product the business sells on the market. This know-how not only enables the business manager to teach and manage his or her employees, but also to enjoy the pleasure of engagement in the primary process of the business operations, and to appreciate the beauty of the functioning order that is accomplished under the manager’s supervision, next to his or her ability to plan and control the business operations in a proper way. In other words, while current management practices may be characterized by a loss of participation, we could argue that this loss of participation is not a necessary characteristic of the nature of management, and that management is in fact characterized by participation . Footnote 6

As participation is a relational term, management as participation raises the question who is participating in management. We can argue that management as participation is self-referential, that is, embedded in the manager’s abilities or capacities, in his or her ego or self. The ego or self of the manager is the singular condition that determines in which business he is involved. This singular condition can be found in the manager’s particular disciplinary interests (healthcare or engineering for instance), in his or her personal or family history (gender differences, family businesses or regional industries for instance), in his or her physical or cognitive abilities (talents in math or communication for instance) etc. The self or ego of the manager is the singular condition that constitutes a range of possibilities for action and behaviour, while it closes off others. All actual activities the manager engages in remain embedded in the ego or self of the manager as centre of his or her participation in the business operations. Most often we do not pay attention to the self-referentiality of management, but only in case of a discrepancy between the manager’s abilities and his or her actual performance, for instance in case of a manager of a healthcare institution without any professional experience as health professional, or in case of a manager of a bio-industry company who took over the family business but does not have any affinity with animals. This shows that the ego or self of the manager is not a passive receptor of experiences that subsequently engages him in management practices, but that this self is always already intentionally involved in the business practices, and is determining which business opportunities for action and behaviour he can take advantage of, and which not.

With this self-referentiality of management, we don’t want to claim that management as participation is primarily subjective. If the self of management is characterized by a relational term – i.e. participation in the primary process – we can formally argue that the self of this relation is not given prior to the relation; management is practice based know-how, which means that the actual participation in the business operations constitute the self or ego of the manager at the same time, namely his or her know-how. In fact, management as participation means that the self of the manager and the primary process which he manages are co-constitutive (see further §2.3).

This first additional characteristic of management – management as participation - enables us to question the loss of participation of management that can be encountered in many contemporary management practices, and to open a new perspective on the nature of business management. The transition from the loss of participation of management to management as participation provides a first additional characteristic of the concept of business management.

Management as Resistance and Responsive Action

How can we further characterize the act of management? What initiates this act? The notion of failure may provide an appropriate starting point to reflect on the question what initiates the act of management. It is often argued that business management starts with a problem , for instance a problem that is experienced by consumers – e.g. connectivity – and is addressed by the introduction of new products or services – e.g. the cell phone. In this respect, managers can be seen as problem solvers. In some cases, these problems or market failures provide opportunities for the manager to establish a profitable business. In others, like in green entrepreneurship, the point of departure is found in ecosystem failures like climate change; natural resources like air and water are not easy to allocate to markets and it is difficult to hold markets accountable for environmental problems like climate change resulting from increased or changed production and consumption processes. For green entrepreneurs, ecosystem failures provide new business opportunities, for instance new products and services that reduce environmental degradation, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. In similar vein, social enterprises solve societal problems in their business operations. What these cases of profit-, sustainability- and society- driven businesses have in common is that the act of management is initiated because of the experience of a problem or failure that is found in the world. This problem provides a business opportunity for the manager and may lead to profit if the business is successful, but also to social or sustainability benefits in case of social enterprises for instance. Another commonality is that instead of facing the reality of this problem or failure in the world, and instead of bending to the facts just because they are real, the manager is oriented towards opportunities that are not real yet but can become real due to his or her act of management. This means that management is not so much characterized by managerial power to control the business, but by resistance, namely resistance against the world as it currently is organized and arranged, and by the manager’s decision to change the world; the manager experiences a problem or failure in the world and decides not to leave it this way but to initiate new business operations or to change current business operations in order to address this problem. In case of a profit driven business, this resistance and decision to change the world can be found in a gap in the market that the business manager solves by developing new products or services that meet customer needs. In case of a sustainable business, this resistance can be found in resistance against sustainability related ecosystem failures and in the decision of the manager to take the responsibility to change the world by engaging in sustainable entrepreneurial action.

The idea that management is characterized by resistance and the decision to change the world opens another perspective on management control. As argued earlier, business management is often understood in terms of the managerial power to control; it concerns the functional order and ordered arrangement of the business that is led by the manager who is in control of the business, so that its efficient functioning is guaranteed and maintained. Although control is definitely important to sustain the business and serves the survival of the firm, it is also criticized for its focus on computation and calculation and neglectance of the individual professional in favour of bureaucratic control as we have seen. We can prevent this criticism by arguing that management controls have to be balanced with another aspect of management that can be associated with resistance and action to change the world; business management involves the decision to change the world, and can be associated with the entrepreneurial sense of management as recognition and exploitation of new business opportunities. In this way, management as resistance and action enables us to conceptualize the nature of business management beyond mere control, namely as resistance against problems or failures in the world and the desire to change the world in order to address this failure. Footnote 7 The decision to change the world doesn’t accept the status quo and results in an acting out upon this desire to change the world, rather than bearing and managing this impulse. Management is not only focussed on control but involves a new beginning to address the problem or failure in the world. This beginning is conditioned by the problem or failure that the manager experiences. At the same time, the manager is the arché of this beginning and the one who initiates the acting out to address the problems or failures in the world that he experiences. This acting out of the manager may consist in the establishment of new start-ups, the introduction of new products and services, but also in the entrepreneurial decision to engage in sustainable or social business opportunities or in changes in the current business practices in order to make them socially responsible for instance.

The idea that management control is accompanied by management as resistance and acting out to change the world also shows the structural role of contingency and the possibility of misfortune in management. Every acting out is performed in an environment in which also other actors operate, like customers, suppliers and competitors. This means that acting out at the same time suffers from the acts by others, and this explains why the acting out of the manager may lead to an unlimited variety of consequences. On the one hand, what comes out of the acting out of the manager cannot be calculated upfront and always has unexpected elements in it, as its beginning is determined by the singularity of the self-referentiality of the manager. On the other hand, the success of his or her acting out is not guaranteed. There is always the risk of failure or misfortune, for instance the entrepreneurial risk of bankruptcy or misfortune. To the extent that the success of the acting out of the manager to exploit new business opportunities is fundamentally incalculable – entrepreneurial risk is said to be uninsurable (Knight 1921 ) - managerial decision making processes are not processes that can be fully determined and calculated via the various steps involved in decision making processes, but remain fundamentally contingent. This structural contingency involved in management as acting out can partly be limited by management control, but cannot be fully lifted by control measures. In this respect, contingency and the possibility of misfortune are structural characteristics of management as acting out to address the problems or failures in the world.

Because the fundamental uncertainty of management as acting out can never be fully controlled by management control, the act of management always remains exposed to risks and possible misfortune. For this reason, we can argue that business management is in need of the public approval that provides the firm a social license to operate (Blok 2017b ). This approval by society can be gained if the business operations are responsive to social needs, next to profitability for instance. In case of business operations that involve significant risks for employees or users, responsiveness may require that the manager becomes responsive to these concerns in the (re)design and execution of the business operations. In other words, because the act of management is always intrinsically exposed to fundamental risks and the possibility of misfortune, the acting out of management to solve problems or failures in the world should at the same time be characterized by his or her responsiveness to societal needs and concerns. In fact, acting out and responsiveness belong together and are mutually dependent, as acting out alone can change the world without any guarantee that the way the manager addresses problems and failures in the world is ethically acceptable and societally desirable. At the same time, responsiveness alone can consists in the acknowledgement of a problem or failure in the world without any engagement in its solution. Only in responsive action, the manager engages in such a solution of problems or failures in the world that is ethically acceptable and societally desirable. One can think of firms like the Grameen bank that have other social purposes next to profit maximization, but also of our example of green entrepreneurs who try to address ecosystem failures. With this responsiveness of managerial acting out, we can substantiate the idea that management has not only economic significance but also moral significance.

Nonetheless the permanent exposure to risks and the possibility of misfortune, management as responsive action to change the world is also characterized by fundamental optimism , namely the manager’s belief that he is able to make the difference in business operations. To explain this, one could refer to the concept of self-efficacy, which is often associated with entrepreneurial behaviour. Self-efficacy affects people’s choice of action and their persistence to engage in this action (Bandura 1997 ). The manager beliefs that he is in control in the sense that he has the power to change the world in a responsible way, and this experience of power motivates manager’s resistance to the status quo.

With this characteristic of management as responsive action, we also encounter another aspect of the self-referentiality of management. The self or ego of the manager is existentially involved in his or her choice for responsive action, which involves a risky endeavour without guarantee of success. The manager either existentially chooses and engages in responsive action without certainty about his or her future success or misfortune, or will be no manager at all; management consists in bearing these risks, and in responsive action nonetheless these fundamental risks involved. In other words, the self or ego of the manager him- or herself is at stake in their decision to take responsibility for the problems or failures he experiences in the world. The self of the manager emerges only in this choice that decides about his or her future prosperity or distress. This capability to act in a risky and uncertain environment can be framed in terms of an action competence (Blok et al. 2016 ). Action competence is the “capability … to involve yourself as a person with other persons in responsible actions and counter-actions for a more humane world” (Schnack 1996: 15). It is a moral competence of the manager to take responsibility for problems and failures in the world, which involves the manager’s believe that he is capable to change the world by addressing these failures in a responsible way. To the extent that management starts with resistance against problems or failures in the world, the desire to change the world is the impulse for his or her decision to engage in responsive action to change the world to address this failure in a responsible way. In this respect management as responsive action is existentially embedded in the disposition or ethos of the manager to do the right thing and how to live the good life. This can be recognized in pro-active firms that actively contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals , but also in the social entrepreneur who never wanted to start a business, but primarily engages in entrepreneurial action in order to address sustainability related ecosystem failures. Footnote 8

This second additional characteristic of management – management as responsive action – enables us to question another aspect of the loss of participation in many contemporary management practices – namely the disconnection of business management and the ethos of the manager, i.e. his or her knowledge about the good life – and the lack of attention for the consequences of the structural role of uncertainty and possibility of misfortune for our conceptualization of business practices. It also opens a new perspective on the nature of business management as responsive action. The transition from management control to management as responsive action provides a second additional characteristic of the concept of business management.

Management as Constituting Meaning

While currently, business management is often understood in terms of the establishment of a functioning order of the business in order to make profit, we questioned this orientation towards profit already; the examples of social enterprises and sustainable businesses showed already that profit may be an important condition for firm survival, but does not necessarily define the nature of business management. We can argue that a pure focus on profit maximization is only a special case of the performance of management as responsive action. This raises the question in what the primary performance of business management actually consists, if it is not profit.

We encounter another particular performance of business management if we reflect for a moment on Xenophon’s conceptualization of management. Xenophon characterizes management as the establishment of a functioning order in which all natural resources have their proper place, all human resources have their proper task and role, and the manager regulates and governs the proper use of these natural and human resources. He provides the example of a ship:

“Now I saw this man in his spare time inspecting everything that is needed as a matter of course on the ship. I was surprised to see him looking them over and asked what he was doing. ‘Sir’, he answered, ‘I am looking to see how the ship’s equipment is stored, in case of any accident, or whether anything is missing or mixed up with other equipment’” (Xenophon 2013 : 8. 15-16).

Business management is understood here as the establishment of a functioning order in which all natural resources have their proper place, all human resources have their proper task and role, and the owner of the assets regulates and governs the proper use of these natural and human resources in order to make profit. In first instance, this functioning order of the business enables the manager to act appropriately in times of setback or unforeseen circumstances that threaten the survival of the ship in stormy whether. It also constitutes a “paradise” of beauty that evokes admiration (Xenophon 2013 : 4.13; 4.21), for instance the ship in which all equipment is well stored and provides peace of mind and energy to work in.

With this, it becomes clear that the particular performance of management consists in the establishment of a functioning order . Only within such an order, resources can have their proper role and function. The establishment of order indicates that the manager has a very specific performance next to his or her participation in the primary process and engagement in responsive action. The particular production of the manager does not only consist in the production of new or changed products and services to address problems or failures in the world, but also in the production of order.

What is order? Negatively said, we can argue that the production of order has nothing to do with the production of products or services, or metaphysically understood beings. The ordered functioning of a firm concerns a meaningful arrangement of these beings, in which these beings have their proper place. This arrangement of beings is not attached to these beings themselves, but the orderly arrangement of the primary process of the business to produce particular products and services assigns all resources their proper place; there is not a particular arrangement attached to wood or iron, but in a primary process to produce hammers for instance, wood and iron have their proper place, while wool or grain wouldn’t have such a proper place in this particular primary process. If Xenophon associates this orderly arrangement of the business operations with a paradise of beauty that evokes admiration, it is the orderly arrangement of the physical and natural resources – the rope, the net, the sailor in case of the ship – that constitutes a meaningful whole that relates all these separate beings to each other and brings them together in a world for fishing for instance, that enables the act of fishing. Not the production of goods – i.e. fish – is the primary task of the business manager, but the constitution of a meaningful world order for the business operations. This meaningful arrangement of the business operations is beautiful, not these resources that have their proper place in this meaningful world of fishing, i.e. in this proper environment for fishing. In this case, fishing is the organizing principle in light of which the business operations function as a meaningful order in which natural and human resources have their proper place. But we can also think of sustainable businesses that embrace sustainability as normative principle in light of which the business operations are (re)designed and improved. Positively said, therefore, we can argue that management originates from the experience of dis-order and consists in resistance against this dis-order by the articulation of order. The primary performance of management consists in the constitution of a meaningful arrangement of the business operations in which all natural and human resources have their proper place, role and task and are arranged in such a way that they enable the manager to produce new or changed products and services for instance. This meaningful arrangement of the business operations is not naturally given, nor produced by the managerial power to control the business, but is articulated by the manager’s participation and responsive action to address the problems and failures in the world. With this performance, the natural resources of the business receive their proper place, all human resources involved receive their proper task and role, and even the manager as regulator and governor of the proper use of these natural and human resources receives his or her proper place for the first time.

We therefore frame this particular performance of business management as constitution of a meaningful world for the proper execution of the business operations, for instance a meaningful world for fishing, producing hammers etc. that enables the business manager to address the problems or failures that he experiences in the world. This shows on the one hand the intimate relation between the world of the business operations and the world of society it operates in and is responsive to in managerial action; business in society means that the world for the business operations is constituted in such a way that its actions are responsive to problems or failures in the world of society. On the other hand, the world of business and society never coincide, as the world of society is characterized by a plurality of (competing) businesses that constitute a multiplicity of co-existing but different worlds of businesses in society. The world of the different businesses may partly overlap with each other, but the world of society is always beyond the actual world that is constituted by the individual business manager, and always remains open for new beginnings or new configurations of responsive actions by a new generation of managers. Footnote 9

With this, we encounter another aspect of the self-referentiality of management. The self or ego of the manager is not only the subject of the constitution of a meaningful arrangement or world of the business operations, as he establishes and maintains the orderly arrangement of the business, in which the human resources involved in the business operations have their proper place and are at home. The manager is also object of this meaningful world for the business operations, at it gives him his or her proper task and role in the primary process as well. This means that the meaningful arrangement of the business operations is not constituted once and for all, but only is in the actual execution of the maintenance of this meaningful arrangement by the responsive action of the manager. With this dual role of the manager as subject and object of the constitution of a meaningful world for the business operations, the importance of business integrity as congruency between the principles of the business and its operations, as well as management integrity as congruency between the manager’s role as subject and object of this meaningful arrangement of the business, becomes clear.

This third additional characteristic of management – management as constitution of a meaningful world for the business operations – enables us to question the main focus on profit that can be encountered in many contemporary business practices, and to open a new perspective on the primary performance of business management. The transition from management for profit to management as constituting meaning provides a third additional characteristic of the concept of business management.

Based on this second round of reflection on the nature of business management, based on three contested areas of business management, we have opened the self-evident conceptualisation of business management as managerial power to control the business environment, and articulated three additional characteristics of the concept of management.

In this article, we laid the ground for a philosophy of business management. Based on our comparison of Xenophon’s concept of management with contemporary definitions of management in §1, we identified three common characteristics of management that can be seen as dimensions of the concept of management: e.g. management as establishment and maintenance of a functioning order of the business, management as engagement in business operations via the work done by other people (people management), and asset management and entrepreneurial action in order to increase profit and pleasure. Next, we reflected on three contested areas in management that we identified based on our comparison of Xenophon’s conception of management with contemporary definitions of managerial power to control the business environment, namely management as profit maximation, the instrumentalization of management, and management as limitless bureaucratic control. Based on these contested areas in management, we opened up the self-evident conceptualization of business management for philosophical reflection. In §2, we engaged in such reflection and developed three additional characteristics of business management: management as participation; management as resistance and responsive action; management as constituting meaning. These three characteristics of business management move beyond the self-evident conceptualization of management and highlight the possible importance of three ‘new’ dimensions beyond its conceptualization as managerial power to control.

By combining the findings of this article, we provide a first framework with six dimensions of what the nature of management might be, that can guide future philosophical and empirical work.

The first three characteristics of business management can also be found in textbooks in management and economics. They describe more or less contemporary management practices. The last three characteristics can be found in practice as well, but have a different status as they substantiate our opposition to the dominant concept of management as managerial power and mechanisms of control that is still taught in business schools today, and opens up a new perspective on business management. The normative, rather than descriptive nature of the last three dimensions is not at all problematic, as the development of new theories of imagination for management science is necessary to prevent that we remain intellectually imprisoned by the structures of its self-evident conceptualization (cf. Komporozos-Athanasiou and Fotaki 2015 ).

With our reflections on the nature of management, we do not want to claim to have established a full philosophy of management. Several questions remain to be asked, for instance how the self-referentiality of management is related to the human condition in general (e.g. management as human condition); what explains the loss of participation in many contemporary business practices; how can the participation of the self or ego of the manager in the business operations be aligned with the non-participation of the self or ego of the manager in his or her responsiveness to societal needs; how can management as control and management as resistance and responsive action to change the world enhance and strengthen each other; in what does the particular nature of ethical management consists, and how is business ethics perceived from the perspective of this philosophy of management; how is the meaningful – economic - world constituted by business management and the meaningful – political - world constituted by non-business management related to each other; to what extent does our concept of business management move beyond Foucault’s concept of management as modern governmentality of the world? With our reflections on the concept of management, we laid the ground for such philosophical questions by providing six building blocks that can guide future research in the philosophy of management.

In fact, interest in the history of the concept of management is more often found outside the particular sub-domain of philosophy of management, for instance Mondzain ( 2005 ) and Agamben ( 2007 ).

According to Foucault for instance, there are three co-existing types of power relations: 1) legal power in which the sovereign state defines normative codes of what is allowed and what is not; 2) executive power that safeguards the obedience to the legal system, like police and penitentiary detention systems; 3) biopolitical power as government of populations (Foucault 2009 ). In biopolitical power, “the massive, compact disciplines are broken down into flexible methods of control” (Foucault 1979 : 211).

Both private and public institutions are understood as economic-political actors (Blok 2019b ).

Although we explicitly focus on business management in this article, it is assumed that at least some of the characteristics are applicable on organizational management as well.

If we positively characterize management as participation, we do not take the notion of participation in the sense developed and criticized by Levinas ( 1969 ). According to Levinas, participation is radically opposed to ethics, which is responsive to the singularity of another person. Participation is always characterized by the reduction of the otherness of the other person to the same in favour of a common ground in which the singularity of the other is neglected in favour of their commonality. From this perspective, participation is always participation in a generality (unifying principle, common ground etc.) in which the singularity of the other person is neglected. This neglecting of the other consists in either the assimilation of the other to myself (self-confirmation) or in the submission of myself to the other person (self-denial)(Blok 2017a ). In fact, we agree with Levinas’ criticism of participation (Blok 2019c and §2.3) but highlight here another aspect of participation as relation to the self as engaged actor, instead of a relation to the other (cf. Stiegler 2005 ).

A legitimate question is what explains the loss of participation in many contemporary management practices. One could point at the ambiguity in the Greek and Latin conceptualization of action: “To the two Greek verbs archein (‘to begin’, ‘to lead’, finally ‘to rule’) and prattein (‘to pass through’, ‘to achieve’, ‘to finish’) correspond the two Latin verbs agere (‘to set into motion’, ‘to lead’) and gerere (whose original meaning is ‘to bear’). ... In both cases the word that originally designated only the second part of action, its achievement – prattein and gerere – became the accepted word for action in general, whereas the words designating the beginning of action became specialized in meaning, at least in political langue. Archein came to mean chiefly ‘to rule’ and ‘to lead’ when it was specifically used, and agere came to mean ‘to lead’ rather than ‘to set into motion’. Thus the role of the beginner and leader, who was a primus inter pares (in the case of Homer, a king among kings), changed into that of a ruler; the original interdependence of action, the dependence of the beginner and leader upon others for help and the dependence of his followers upon him for an occasion to act themselves, split into two altogether different functions: the function of giving commands, which became the prerogative of the ruler, and the function of executing them, which became the duty of his subjects” (Arendt 1958 : 289). This split in the meaning of action may explain why management is primarily associated with a loss of participation. A full answer to this question would require however a broader reflection on the political economy in which contemporary management functions, and is therefore beyond the scope of this article.

Sometimes management is opposed to entrepreneurship because the latter concerns the exploration and exploitation of new business opportunities, while the first maintains the functioning order of existing business operations. To the extent that the entrepreneur has to direct, plan and control the exploitation of new business opportunities as well, we see entrepreneurship as a special case of business management in line with contemporary definitions (see §1.2).

As this article focusses on the nature of business management, we identify responsive action as general characteristic of management. This characteristic forms the basis of particular business ethical reflections on the role of business management. But contrary to management as participation in the business operations for instance, responsiveness does not necessarily imply any participation, which involves a reduction of the other person (or society at large) to the interests values of the business manager (Levinas 1969 ). Ethical responsiveness can consist in responsive action to address societal problems and failures without any participation, but in response to the call of the other person (or society at large)(Blok 2019c ). The further exploration of the business ethical implications of our concept of management is beyond the scope of this article.

This plurality of worlds also shows why the responsiveness of the world of business to the world of society does not necessarily imply any participation of the world of business in the world of society, but constitutes a multiplicity of co-existing worlds that enable ethical responsibility for the problems or failures of the world without any participation. The further elaboration of this relation is beyond the scope of this article.

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Business Essay Examples

13 Business Essay Examples for Students

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What is a Business Essay?

A business essay is a type of academic writing that focuses on business-related topics and issues. These essays can cover a wide range of topics such as marketing, finance, management, entrepreneurship, and more.

The importance of business essay lies in presenting a well-researched and informed analysis. To do this effectively, writers need to conduct extensive research and analysis on the topic at hand.

Referring to examples of business essays can help you gain insight into the structure, tone, and content of a well-written essay.

Business Essay Examples For Students

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Types of Business Essay with Examples

When it comes to business essay writing, there are several different types that you might encounter. 

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Case Studies

A case study is an in-depth analysis of a specific business situation or problem. It involves extensive research and data analysis to provide recommendations.

Case studies often showcase the application of theory to real-world business scenarios.

Research Papers

Research papers involve a more academic approach to business writing. They typically require an extensive literature review, data analysis, and original research. 

Business research papers aim to contribute new knowledge to the field of business. These often involve a hypothesis or research question.

Argumentative Essays

Argumentative business essays aim to persuade the reader to adopt a particular point of view or take a specific action. They present an argument and use evidence and logic to support their claims. 

Argumentative essays can address various business topics such as management practices, ethical issues, or market trends.

White Papers

A white paper is a document that provides a detailed explanation of a particular issue or problem, often with recommendations or solutions. 

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Comparative Essays 

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Executive Summary

The executive summary is a brief overview of your entire essay. It should summarize your main points and highlight your recommendations. 

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Introduction

The introduction sets the stage for the rest of the essay. It should introduce the topic, provide background information, and explain the purpose of the essay. 

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Industry Analysis

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Finally, you'll wrap up your essay by summarizing your main points and reiterating your recommendations. 

This section should be clear, concise, and impactful. 

By following this structure, your business essay will be well-organized, coherent, and easy to follow for your readers.

Tips for Using Business Essay Examples Effectively

Now that you have quite a few business essay examples at hand, you should know how to use them effectively:

• Use them as a guide, not a template : While it's great to learn from examples, you should never copy them outright. Instead, use them as a starting point for your own research and writing.
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• Use them to inform your own research and writing : Pay attention to the research methods, sources, and evidence used in the example essay. This can give you ideas for your own research and help you strengthen your arguments.
• Avoid plagiarism and ensure proper citation: Whenever you use ideas or information from an example, make sure to cite your sources. This will help you avoid plagiarism and maintain academic integrity.

You now have a plenty of business essay examples on different topics to help you get started!

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Free Business Essay Examples & Topics

If you are studying law, economics, finances, or management, the chances are that you will have to write a business essay. It is a fairly standard assignment encountered at a school or college level. Thus, every student should at the very least know the basics concerning this particular phenomenon.

What is business? Everyone has a vague understanding of the term, but there is also a specific definition. A business is a commercial, professional, or industrial organization involved in entrepreneurship. It is not necessarily motivated by financial gain – a charity can also be a business. The nature of business refers to its operations, its mission statement, and the type of service or product it provides. The organization’s size can range from sole ownership to large multinational conglomerates.

Our experts have selected some business essay examples for you to check out so that you won’t struggle with your task. Besides, in this article, you will find advice for writing these papers. You will see how to organize your work best and which elements to include in your essay.

In this section, you will see the top recommendations for starting a business essay. The tips here are of most use for argumentative and persuasive writing assignments. These are the most popular styles for essays about business.

1. Pick a topic or analyze a given one.

If you’re free to choose one, select a topic that you find intriguing. Identify a relevant central idea to discuss. When writing an essay on an assigned topic, determine the exact question that needs to be addressed. Double-check the essay format that you have to follow.

2. Research and take notes.

Examine the topic to get a better understanding of the specific field. After identifying a central idea of the business essay, search for the information relevant to your paper. There are plenty of data available online. Yet, books and journals from your local library are also great resources. While researching, note all the useful sources to find them again later.

3. Create a reference list.

In most essays on business, you’ll have to illustrate your points and provide credible sources. Thus, collect the bibliography to indicate all the required citations. It’s a good idea to compile the references before you begin writing. This way, you won’t have to rush to get it all together at the end.

4. Write a thesis statement and create an outline.

Just like any successful organization requires a business plan, your essay requires a solid outline. Create your objectives and formulate your thesis statement around them. Ensure that your points and supporting evidence correspond directly to your central idea.

5. Revise and edit.

Most school and college students don’t bother to double-check their academic works once they are done. However, only with revision and editing will your essay truly achieve success. Check for grammar mistakes and the flow of your sentences. Ensure the logical order of your analysis. If anything sounds off, better to change it before submitting it.

Even after reading these steps, you may still be at a loss as to how to write a business essay. Examples of works written by other students can help you analyze relevant ideas. You can peruse the ones we have provided underneath the article.

In the previous section, we mentioned that you need to create an outline for a successful paper. Thankfully, most essays have the same general structure they follow. We will analyze it in more detail below.

In essence, a business essay structure consists of the following:

1. Introduction. It is the place for you to explain the general idea behind your topic. This is also where you will provide a thesis statement. In the introduction, you will have to identify the central elements of the essay. Make sure you establish communication with the reader.

2. Background. You will always want to clarify specific terms or concepts essential to your audience. Thus, provide relevant definitions and context in your introduction or separate paragraph if your task allows it. For example, most people probably know what leadership is but will struggle to understand social responsibility. If you are writing a case study, important background information is necessary to include in your essay.

3. Main Body. Using your selected sources, create a detailed analysis of the topic. Make sure to incorporate:

• Arguments in favor of your position.
• Examples as evidence to support your claims.
• Counterarguments as evidence that you’ve examined the topic from different perspectives.

Don’t forget to include quotes and citations from relevant sources. These will provide credibility to your research.

4. Conclusion. In your last paragraph, provide a concise discussion of the separate points. Re-examine your thesis statement and reiterate it in different words. Summarize your findings and make sure that they relate to the purpose presented in the introduction.

Thank you for checking our recommendations. Below, you will find business essay examples on different topics. Good luck writing your assignment!

29718 Best Essay Examples on Business

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• Words: 2733

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Historical Development of Operations Management

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Walmart problems and solutions essay.

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H&M Target Market Analysis – Case Study

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Is Business Ethics an Oxymoron

• Subjects: Business Ethics

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Apple Case Study

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Apple Company: Problems and Solutions

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International HRM Case Study: Apple Inc.

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Recruitment and Selection Process of Apple Company

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Factors Affecting Employee Relationships

• Subjects: Employee Relationships
• Words: 6901

Nestle: Production and Operations Management Analysis Report

Promotional techniques and target market of fruit juice.

• Subjects: Marketing Project

The Four-Day Workweek and Its Positive Effects

• Subjects: Workforce

McDonald’s Case Study Problem Statement: Improper Resource Management

• Subjects: Company Missions

Pepsi Company Advantages and Disadvantages

Anthropologie retail store company analysis, real-life examples of organizational behavior.

• Words: 1676

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• Subjects: Recognizable Brand
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The Difference Between Organizational Conflict and Misbehavior

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Objectives of Nike Corporation: Marketing Strategies Report

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Apple Company and Its Impact on Society

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• Words: 1724

Back Bay Battery Strategic Innovation Simulation

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Coca Cola Operations Management and Inventory

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Aspects of the Diversification Strategy of Disney

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• Words: 3792

Tesla Corporate Social Responsibility: Issues, Activities, and Strategy

• Subjects: Company Information
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BMW: Case Study Essay

• Words: 1417

Porter’s Five Forces Analysis on the Hospitality Industry

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McDonald’s Operation Management & Supply Chain

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Cotton On: Growing Retail Brands

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Nicosia Model and Engel Blackwell Miniard Model of Consumer Behaviour

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McDonald’s Ethical Issues: Examples of Unethical Marketing Practices

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An Analysis of External and Internal Environments of McDonald’s

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Issues and Recommendations for Apple Case Study

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Google Democratic Leadership Style – Compared to Amazon

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Principles of Management in McDonald’s

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Coca-Cola Business Communication in Practice

• Words: 2025

Application of the Porter’s Five Forces: Beer Industry

• Subjects: Industry
• Words: 1356

What I Learned in Human Resource Management – Essay

• Words: 5457

Human Resource Management at the Apple Inc. and Sony Corporation

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The Origin of Organizational Culture

• Subjects: Strategic Management

Fashion Clothing Company’s Financial Statements

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Starbucks Quality Management and Performance Improvement

• Words: 1440

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• Words: 3954

Samsung Company’s Management Information System

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• Words: 2280

Yoga for Stress Management

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A Clothing Boutique as a Business Idea

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Satyam Scandal and Corporate Governance Failure

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The Role of the Business Communication

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Digital Marketing

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The Treadway Tire Company

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• Subjects: Brand Management

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• Subjects: Logistics
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How to Write a Business Essay

Table of Contents

What is a Business Essay?

A business essay is a written analysis or interpretation of a particular business-related question or problem. Its main purpose is to present a compelling argument, supported by evidence, to persuade or inform its readers about a specific aspect of business, whether it be management, marketing, finance, ethics, or any other business-related topic.

Overview of Different Types of Business Essays:

• Analytical Essays : These essays dissect a business scenario or problem, analyze the components, and present the findings in a structured manner.
• Persuasive Essays : Aimed at convincing the reader about a particular point of view or business strategy. These require strong arguments and supporting evidence.
• Case Studies : These essays involve a detailed examination of a particular company or event. The writer explores the subject’s background, present conditions, and potential future implications.
• Comparative Essays : These contrast two or more items, such as different leadership styles, market strategies, or economic theories, to understand their distinctions and implications.
• Problem-Solution Essays : Identify a problem within a business context and propose a feasible solution, backing it up with factual evidence and analysis.

Understanding the Assignment:

Tips for comprehending essay prompts and instructions:.

• Read Carefully : Take time to read through the essay prompt several times to understand precisely what is being asked.
• Highlight Keywords : Identify action words such as “analyze”, “compare”, “critique”, or “discuss” to grasp the type of response required.
• Clarify Doubts : If anything is unclear, do not hesitate to seek clarification from the instructor or peers.

Importance of Identifying the Essay’s Objectives and Audience:

• Objectives : Understanding the purpose of your essay is crucial. Is it to inform, persuade, or analyze a business concept or strategy? Knowing this guides your research and writing process.
• Audience : Knowing who will read your essay (e.g., academics, business professionals, peers) helps tailor the language, complexity, and tone of the content to suit their level of understanding and interest.

Research and Analysis:

How to conduct thorough research using credible sources:.

• Library and Online Databases : Utilize academic libraries and online databases for reputable sources such as journals, books, and authoritative articles.
• Government and Industry Reports : These can provide reliable statistics and insights.
• Case Studies and Company Records : Great for specific insights and real-world evidence.

Methods for Analyzing Information Relevant to the Essay Topic:

• Create an Outline : This helps organize thoughts and data logically.
• SWOT Analysis : Evaluate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to the essay topic.
• Comparative Analysis : If applicable, compare different theories, case studies, or data sets to draw informed conclusions.
• Critical Thinking : Challenge assumptions and explore alternative viewpoints. This deepens the analysis and strengthens arguments.

In the following sections, we will delve deeper into how to structure your essay effectively, develop a robust argument, and polish your work through careful editing and proofreading.

Planning and Outline:

Creating a robust business essay outline:.

A well-structured outline serves as the backbone of your essay. It can be detailed or brief, but it should clearly map out the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

• Thematic Organization : Group your research findings into themes or categories that will become the basis for your paragraphs or sections.
• Sequential Flow : Ensure that there is a logical progression of ideas from one paragraph to the next.
• Balance : Allocate a proportional amount of content for each section according to its importance in supporting your thesis.

Strategies for Organizing Thoughts and Research Findings:

• Mind Mapping : Use this to visually organize your thoughts around the central topic.
• Bullet Lists : Make simple bullet lists to arrange facts and arguments in order of impact or relevance.
• Post-it Notes : These can be rearranged easily to help you decide on the best structure for your essay.

Writing the Business Essay Introduction:

Crafting a compelling opening statement:.

• Hook : Begin with a strong hook that captures the reader’s attention, such as a striking statistic, a rhetorical question, or a relevant anecdote.
• Relevance : Briefly relate the opening to the wider business context to show the significance of your essay topic.

Establishing Context and Stating the Thesis:

• Background Information : Provide a concise overview of the topic’s background necessary for understanding the ensuing discussion.
• Thesis Statement : Clearly articulate your thesis, presenting your central argument or stance, which the rest of your essay will support.

Body Paragraphs:

Structuring arguments logically:.

• Topic Sentences : Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that presents the main idea of the paragraph.
• Coherence : Make sure that each sentence flows logically from one to the next, maintaining coherence within and between paragraphs.

Use of Evidence and Examples to Support Points:

• Credible Evidence : Support your arguments with data and evidence from credible sources.
• Real-World Examples : Incorporate examples from actual business practices to illustrate your points more vividly.
• Explanation : Don’t just present evidence, but also explain how it supports your argument or relates to your thesis.

Concluding the Business Essay:

Techniques for summarizing the main points effectively:.

• Restate the Thesis : Reinforce the thesis statement, putting it in the context of the provided evidence and arguments.
• Summarize Key Arguments : Recap the key points made in the body, highlighting how they collectively support your thesis.

Discussing Implications, Recommendations, or a Call to Action:

• Implications : Discuss the broader implications of your findings or argument for the business world or a specific sector.
• Recommendations : If appropriate, offer well-grounded recommendations for action or further investigation.
• Final Thought : Leave the reader with a provocative final thought or question to underscore the essay’s significance and encourage further reflection.

The conclusion of your essay is not merely an endpoint but a decisive component that ties together your analysis, reinforcing the significance of your argument and its implications in the business field.

Referencing and Citation:

Guide to proper referencing styles commonly used in business essays:.

• APA (American Psychological Association) : Often used for business, psychology, and social sciences, it focuses on the author-date method of in-text citation.
• Harvard : A common author-date reference style where the citations are parenthetical, with a reference list at the end.
• Chicago : Known for its footnote or endnote style, but also has an author-date system; prevalent in history and some business publications.
• MLA (Modern Language Association) : Utilizes parenthetical citation; less common in strict business fields but sometimes used in business humanities.

To correctly format citations and references, refer to the specific style guide or use citation tools like Zotero, EndNote, or Mendeley.

Importance of Avoiding Plagiarism:

• Ethical Writing : Presenting others’ words or ideas as your own is unethical and can lead to severe academic and professional consequences.
• Originality : Original work is valued and demonstrates your own understanding and analysis of the topic.
• Credibility : Proper citation builds credibility and allows readers to verify sources, fostering trust in your analysis.

Editing and Proofreading the Business Essay:

Best practices for revising the essay:.

• Multiple Rounds : Go through several rounds of editing, focusing on different aspects each time—structure, argument flow, evidence, and then language.
• Peer Review : If possible, have a peer review your essay for fresh perspectives on content and clarity.
• Distanced Review : After writing, take a break before editing to review your work with fresh eyes.

Grammar, Punctuation, and Style Considerations:

• Consistency : Ensure consistent use of tense, voice, and person throughout your essay.
• Clarity and Brevity : Use clear and concise language; avoid jargon unless your audience is familiar with it.
• Punctuation and Grammar : Use tools like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor to catch common mistakes, or consult grammar guides for complex issues.

Business Essay Writing Tips:

• Understand the Business Lingo : Familiarize yourself with business terminology to make your essay more authoritative.
• Active Voice : Prefer active voice over passive for clarity and dynamism.
• Real-Life Application : Always consider how theoretical concepts apply in real-world business scenarios for more impactful writing.
• Critical Analysis : Go beyond describing concepts; analyze and critique them to add depth to your essay.
• Stay Updated : Use current examples and case studies, as the business world is continually evolving.

Additional Resources:

• Books : “The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White for style, “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser for nonfiction writing.
• Online Guides : Purdue OWL for comprehensive writing resources, Harvard Business Review for real-world business insights.
• Tools : Google Scholar for research, Grammarly for grammar checks, Turnitin for plagiarism detection.
• Databases : Business Source Complete, JSTOR, and SSRN for scholarly articles and publications.

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Definition And Study On Management Management Essay

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2. WHO ARE MANAGERS?

3. what is an organization, 4. why study management, 4.1 to study leadership, 4.2 to increase teamwork, 4.3 to improve knowledge, 4.4 to accelerate productivity.

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4.5 To Plan Future Of Organization

5. conclusion, 5.2 reflection, cite this work.

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Guide: How to Create an Amazing Management Essay

By: Henrique Bertulino

A management essay is not unlike any other academic article. As with any academic assignment, the essay's primary purpose is to assess students' knowledge in the subject "Management." The main difference lies in understanding whether a student has some practical skills versus the vast majority of academic assignments that first assess theoretical knowledge.

What Does a Management Essay Mean?

Example: duties of corporate managers, example: human resource management, example: knowledge management, example: leadership and management, example: mba in global management, example: network management, example: organizational behaviour, example: performance management, example: real estate risk management, example: risk management, example: strategic management, models of management, five components of management, four processes of management.

To create this essay, follow the structure:

• The essay introduction , which explains the relevance of the topic. Why is this topic exciting and requires special consideration?
• A thesis is a statement within the framework of the topic, which would be formulated by you. The thesis, not the topic, is your essay's central idea, which you have to justify.
• Arguments. There must be at least three of them. Each argument should support your thesis from different sides. Each argument should be self-contained and complete.
• Conclusion. Here you should evaluate the potential of the topic. Perhaps there are other points of view? Do I need to raise it in the future? In conclusion, there is a return to the introduction and a search for ways for a possible discussion.

A management essay is a small piece of work written by a given structure and in strict accordance with a management program . The essay reflects the author's subjective point of view, based on the analysis of theoretical and analytical materials.

Some students still think that governance is research in which only executives or true management professionals can benefit, but governance is a skill that everyone uses every day. Organization and planning are essential for any corporation. However, they can come in handy in our day to day interactions with people and even when planning and evaluating the various tasks we face.

In a real business environment, any employee with governance skills becomes a precious asset. Even so, many students mistakenly believe that reading a book or two on the subject will teach them everything they need to know about governance. In practice, this is a skill that can only be learned outside the university. The good news is that having a strong theoretical background helps a lot in a real professional environment. And writing management essays is one of the surest ways to gain much-needed knowledge.

Interesting Management Essay Topics

Management is needed to define and set goals, achieve them with people and resources, coordination, and control. Without a competent governance system or self-organization, effective economic activity in any area is impossible: business classes , public administration, non-commercial projects. If you are at the Faculty of Management, then you need to consider topics from experts:

• The conceptual evolution of management.
• Labor motivation in modern conditions.
• A psychological portrait of personality. Assessment of the manager's business qualities.
• Influence of information technology on the success of the firm.
• Power and leadership: essence and meaning.
• The nature of work and requirements for the professional competence of managers.
• Business plan of the company: essence, structure, characteristics of the main sections.
• Limitations of the manager's effectiveness and their overcoming.
• The central dilemma of the American manager: revitalization of people and the importance of ideas.
• The state of the US economy: does the manager have maneuver?

Now that you have an idea of what to write about, consider a business paper template .

Legal entities are corporate clients with whom representatives of any business want to cooperate. A corporate account manager usually contacts them. Many commercial organizations build their business precisely on such cooperation.

The main task of a modern company is to attract and retain a corporate client. Certain programs and techniques are implemented, employees are introduced to the staff, whose duties include attracting profitable partners and interacting with them. This position is called a corporate account manager.

Based on the results of psychological observations and surveys, I determined the following typology of managers:

• Melancholic. This type of manager is slow. His communication style is impassive and apathetic, which gradually arouses the client's dissatisfaction and pushes them to an early conclusion of the negotiations.
• Erudite. Managers of this type inspire buyers' confidence since they can answer all their questions, draw many analogies, and quickly navigate the situation.
• Executor. The creative approach is not his element. A manager of this type will act strictly "by the instructions."

I can conclude that no company can exist without corporate managers. Such people must have the ability to communicate and attract customers.

The leaders of most organizations focus on production management, finance, marketing. At that time, human resources continue to be the weakest link in the overall governance system. I want to prove that the importance of human resource governance should come first.

First, human resource management directly affects a company's capitalization. The share of intangible assets in the total assets of the organization is growing.

Secondly, as the organization's most important internal competence, human resource governance ensures leadership in the competitive struggle. Since it is one of the most important competitive advantages of the organization, it becomes a guarantee of its success and survival in the face of increased competition.

Thirdly, according to several experts, human resource governance allows companies to move from the number of goods successfully working to the number of leaders in a certain market segment.

As you can see, we cannot do without human resource management. I believe that every company should take care of this.

Knowledge management is a concept that emerged about two decades ago, sometime in the 1990s. Perhaps one can immediately define the term "knowledge management" - it is the organization and systematization of information and knowledge in a company.

What does a knowledge management system consist of? The obvious answer is from information and data available to all organization members through special portals and content governance systems. A content governance system is the most evident and operational component of a knowledge governance system.

Does knowledge governance have a future? Of course. Let's take the bibliometric analysis results: we count the number of articles in business literature that describe certain business concepts. Most of these concepts are gaining popularity quickly, reaching their peak in about five years, and then their performance almost as rapidly falling. Knowledge management is not just a modern trend. This concept has a future.

There are too many managers globally, and also few leaders are ready to prove themselves. A leader is needed wherever you need to initiate and manage change. Where it is necessary to maintain an established order of things, you can limit yourself to management.

An effective leader does the right thing and focuses on the top priorities. It creates an inspiring vision for the future and sets a strategic direction. The leader empowers employees, motivates them, and energizes them.

An effective manager performs the tasks assigned to him, organizes the work, and does things right, offers a market research proposal for a new product. As a manager, you plan, give directions, manage work, measure performance, and control people and processes.

In terms of the spectrum of actions, management is broader than leadership. The leader deals mainly with the behavioral aspects. The manager deals with both behavioral and non-behavioral. I believe that a person working in a large company should be a leader and a manager at the same time. After all, if a person has such skills, then the company's growth will increase significantly.

Global management is a relatively new phenomenon resulting from globalization's rapidly developing process in the objective strengthening of international economic, political, scientific, technical, and spiritual and cultural ties. Global governance emerged due to the transformation of international relations and the functional necessity of managing the spontaneous globalization processes.

Global management is a system of institutions, principles, standards, political, legal, and moral norms. With the help of which relations and processes of the global, transnational level are regulated. The first who gave global governance an academic sound was J. Rosenau, an American specialist in international relations, a political science professor at George Washington University. He immediately separated the concept of global governance from the UN system. He presented global governance as something more than formal institutions and organizations through which international affairs governance is carried out through the UN system and its bodies.

Thanks to this system, international organizations increase their global governance participation with limited political authority. The development of such a system should be at a high level, and each country should contribute.

Even a five-minute network downtime can lead to significant losses. Therefore, to prevent unforeseen situations, it is necessary to apply an integrated and structured approach to network management, including, among other things, the implementation of proactive actions.

Managing a computer network is an integral and, in many cases, the primary responsibility of a network engineer or administrator. At first glance, what is challenging about this work? From an ordinary employee's perspective, it looks like this: after receiving a message from network users about certain malfunctions, the network engineer eliminates them. Such work can be characterized as reactive support.

Unfortunately, a reactive approach is often insufficient for servicing an extensive network. At some point, the number of error messages starts to increase like an avalanche, which can cause the failure of critical network services.

Since the computer network is a business-critical tool for any modern enterprise, even a five-minute network downtime can lead to significant losses. Therefore, the network engineer must exclude the possibility of such situations occurring.

Organizational behavior manifests itself in a social, technological, and ecological environment, its activities, relationships with other organizations, and individuals. The science of organizational behavior provides a set of tools used at various levels of analysis. For example, it allows managers to analyze individuals 'behavior in an organization and understand interpersonal relations problems in two individuals' interactions.

Also, knowledge of organizational behavior is instrumental in examining the dynamics of relationships within small groups. In situations where it is necessary to coordinate two or more groups' efforts, managers are interested in emerging intergroup relationships.

Finally, organizations can be viewed and managed as holistic systems, which are formed by intra-organizational relationships.

Organizational behavior as science grew out of behaviorism - a direction in psychology that studies the experimental behavioral responses of a person's mental organization to external stimuli. I believe that every manager should study this direction for his development.

Company performance management is a list of processes that help develop and implement a business strategy, analyze processes, track results, make informed decisions, and draw the right conclusions. These processes' main task is to control employees' work so that individual contribution helps in achieving the company's overall goals.

Individual efforts must be consistent with the organization's overall objectives: you need to link individual activity with a common business goal, establish performance metrics, and help employees understand how well they perform. For this, tools and incentives are used, such as rewards, bonus and rating systems, personal growth plans, and key indicators discussion.

Analytical tools such as time tracking, productivity analysis, and key metrics are also used to achieve this goal. I believe that the company's efficiency should be in every company because teamwork will not work without this.

Among the elements of the market economy, real estate occupies a special place, which acts as a means of production and an item or object of consumption. Real estate acts as the basis of personal existence for citizens. It serves as the basis for economic activity and the development of enterprises and organizations of all ownership forms.

Any enterprise bears the risks associated with its production, commercial, and other activities. Any entrepreneur is responsible for the consequences of governance decisions. The risk factor forces the entrepreneur to save financial and material resources, to pay special attention to the calculations of the effectiveness of new projects and commercial transactions.

Risk can be managed. Various measures can predict a risk event's occurrence to a certain extent and take steps to reduce the degree of risk. The classification of risk largely determines the effectiveness of the organization of risk governance.

Ultimately, all types of risks in one way or another have a financial dimension, either increasing the costs of a project or transaction, or reducing income, or leading to exceeding the planned investment timeframe, or, in the extreme case, to the loss of not only income but also the capital.

When starting a new business or project, it is necessary to prepare for force majeure situations. Competent risk management methods will help minimize losses and not miss out on profits even in a critical situation. Therefore, competent risk governance in the financial sector is worth its weight in gold.

To manage risks, they are first identified and measured. For each organization, the set of inherent threats differs depending on the type of activity, the environment. It is necessary to identify them, analyze them, and select suitable methods of dealing with them.

A competently built risk management system will allow you to extract benefits for the enterprise from any threat and adequately cope with crises. The risk manager must select suitable hazard governance techniques and make quick, non-standard, but strategically sound decisions.

Strategic management is a company's series of actions to achieve long-term goals that allow a business to survive in competition and thrive in any external environment. The more unstable the conditions in this environment, the more the company needs a clear strategy.

The strategic management system includes developing the company's mission and goals and actions to achieve them. To develop an effective corporate strategy - the company's governance needs to answer three key questions: What is its current situation, and what opportunities and resources does it have? Where are you planning to move to in the future? How can we achieve these goals?

As you can see, strategic management is a powerful governance system and a priority task for the company's governance team. Learning its foundations allows the manager to develop the so-called "helicopter view" thinking. A manager who possesses strategic governance tools can actively shape its future, so he will always value it.

What Management Means: Simple And Understandable

Management is the process of managing an organization or part of it, and the people involved in this process - managers. Management is a social science that includes psychological and economic aspects, so a talented manager knows how to outwit a competitor in harsh market conditions.

The object of management's work is people, the team in a company, an authority, or a non-profit organization.

Management is an activity carried out by heads of companies, enterprises, or people among whom leadership positions are distributed.

The task of governance is to organize the well-coordinated work of the team within the company or enterprise. The internal and external elements function as efficiently as possible, minimizing time and financial costs for certain actions and processes.

The management model is a set of principles and governance strategies developed, taking into account national, historical, geographical, socio-cultural, and other factors. There are three main or traditional management models:

• The American model of management. Americans' national traits greatly influenced its development and formation as a disposition for success and freedom of expression, confidence in their exclusivity, exclusivity struggle for leadership, and the obsessive assertion of their superiority.
• The Japanese model of management. Typical national traits of the Japanese: restraint, modesty, refusal to stick out their own "I," diligence, diplomacy, frugality, accuracy. The formation of the Japanese governance model was influenced by their specific culture and features of economic development.
• The European model of management. Their methods and models of governance appeared and developed in Western Europe in the post-war period. The development of European management is a merit of several countries at once: Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Norway. This governance model is based on the principles of social harmony.

There are five main components of management:

• marketing is a social process aimed at meeting the needs and requirements of individuals and groups by creating and offering valuable goods and services and exchanging them with other people;
• business planning - a document for the development of an enterprise, defining its further path of work;
• accounting - modern management accounting provides managers with the information necessary for making governance decisions;
• finance - a well-defined financial function is necessary for successful work in conditions of tough business competition and will allow the enterprise to achieve tangible material results;
• organization - issues of managing various flows (human, material, energy, financial).

Management processes are divided into four types:

• planning and approach to solving situations;
• organization of team activities;
• leading and managing people for a common goal;
• controlling and evaluating team performance.

This is where our journey into the world of management ends. We have provided you with many examples and tips. Use the information in your essay, and you will get an A +.

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Business Essay and the Best Way of Its Writing

• Academic Writing Tips

• Social Science
• Political Science

Business is an essential aspect of today’s evolving world. It is a lucrative industry that impacts many sectors, including education. Business-related courses are popular as many students are pursuing the programs. There are many branches in the business field, from business management to finance. College tutors often give students different business papers to test their knowledge as part of the assessment.

A business essay is an academic assignment that involves writing a paper that responds with a strategic and analytical approach to specific situations occurring in the market. Each business essay has a different topic that students tackle. However, the primary purpose of such essays is to collect relevant facts that align with the research question and analyze the data to get solutions.

Writing a business essay might seem simple, but it requires impressive writing skills and extensive research. You must be familiar with the topic to know the paper’s direction. Topic selection is a tricky section that affects the entire writing process. It is essential to identify a relevant topic to assist you in crafting a remarkable paper. You have to write a well-structured and compelling paper to get good grades. Presenting accurate arguments with supporting examples from reliable sources is an essential research aspect. Thus, a business essay must follow the required academic standards and theoretical frameworks.

However, writing is not everyone’s cup of tea, and incorporating logical arguments can be challenging. If you are stuck, you can check any business essay example online to understand the format. You will know how to structure the paper and relate it to the relevant themes.

That is why our writing service is here to help needy students craft exceptional essays. We will connect with a proficient business essay writer to help with the research and writing process. Get flawless documents from us and earn the best score in your class.

Business Essay Format

Most learners often overlook the importance of having a business essay format. It is imperative to use a format to help you outline your work. Proper thought organization and articulation are essential aspects that translate into a well-written business essay.

Below is an example of the format:

• Introduction
• Background information
• Introduce main topics
• Thesis statement
• Topic sentence
• Research explanation
• Restate points
• Significance of the study

The above outline is a map that will guide you to know what to include in each section. In addition, you will understand what the assignment requires you to do from the introduction to the conclusion.

If you still find it challenging to get the proper format, you can study a relevant business essay example from our site and jumpstart your paper. Whether you need a business school essay or a business plan essay, we have you covered.

Write Business Essay In 5 Steps

While writing might seem challenging, with the proper format and topic familiarity, you are on the right track. It is imperative to understand the writing process before composing your business essay. You need to read the prompt carefully to know what you are supposed to research and write about.

Here is an overview of the writing process in 5 simple steps:

• Topic Selection

Choosing a good topic is mandatory in crafting an excellent paper. You must select a theme that aligns with the research question. Additionally, ensure you select a familiar topic you are passionate about to avoid writing mistakes and illogical paragraphs.

• Extensive Research

Conduct extensive research to get facts and supporting evidence. Narrow down your theme and include only good points. Avoid broad topics because you will waste time during research.

• Essay Outline

Make sure you use a proper outline to organize your thoughts and line of arguments. Follow the format essay

Start writing your paper while using the required academic format. Organize your work and include the introduction, main body paragraphs, or conclusion.

• Editing and Proofreading

Finally, edit and proofread your essay to eliminate grammatical and spelling mistakes.

The above steps will help you during business essay writing to craft remarkable papers. It would be best to plan your time adequately to avoid rushing through the process. However, you must select an appropriate topic for your paper. It could be a business management essay or a marketing paper. No matter the subject discipline, ensure you follow the correct procedure.

Business Essay Topics

Our experts have compiled a list of different business essay topics to inspire your writing:

• Discuss the importance of bookkeeping in a business.
• Evaluate the impact of value addition in products.
• An analysis of income and expenditure transactions.
• Analyze the supply-chain industry.
• The effects of product promotion in business growth.
• How to develop an effective marketing strategy.
• Impact of policymaking in enhancing company productivity.
• What is multilevel marketing?
• Impact of technology in the business world.
• Discuss the challenges affecting entrepreneurship.
• Significance of human resource management.
• Explore the importance of budget analysis.
• How does technology impact advertising?
• The importance of a financial strategy.
• How to start an online business.
• How can organizations profit from sustainable practices?
• How to develop a positive organizational culture.
• The importance of employee diversity in an organization.
• Effective ways of fraud prevention in a company.
• Explore the communication channels in an organization.

Let us look at interesting argumentative business essay topics

• Discuss the influence of cultural differences on international companies.
• A comprehensive analysis of cryptocurrencies.
• Discuss the ethical dilemmas in international organizations.
• The influence of globalization on the business community.
• Should large organizations have a social media presence?
• Causes and effects of economic recession.
• Impact of politics on business growth.
• Discuss the effective strategies of negotiating cross-cultural business deals.
• Explore the integrity of online entrepreneurship.
• The impact of corporate social responsibility in an organization.

The field is quite diverse with various course programs. You can derive different topics from these programs to get logical arguments. So, get inspiration from the compelling business school essay examples and craft exceptional papers.

How To Start A Business Essay

Knowing how to start a business essay is essential for academic writing. The first step entails topic selection because it will determine the essay’s direction. Identifying a relevant topic is vital, and you need to ensure you get the suitable theme. It will also help save you time during research and simplify the writing process.

When it comes to essay writing service , business papers are among the assignments that require extensive research and analysis. Read the essay prompt carefully to understand the tutor’s expectations. Then, make sure you conduct a comprehensive brainstorming session to get the major points for your paper. Having the right points will help you compose logical arguments in a flawless manner.

Moreover, it would help to read previous essays and publications from reliable essays widely. You will get essential data to support your arguments. Besides, the sources will help you cite your essay correctly.

Start your essay with an insightful introduction and include your perspective regarding the topic. Incorporate a powerful thesis statement that informs your readers of the paper’s direction and the major points you will discuss.

Proceed to write the body paragraphs with a topic sentence that captures all significant arguments. Each paragraph should have well-explained arguments that flow logically.

Finally, conclude your business essay by restating your main points and the significance of the study.

Still, need help with your paper? Worry no more. Our competent business essay writers are on standby, ready to assist you with any academic paper. Stop wasting time and reach out to us. We will help you score top-of-the-class grades within no time.

The paper “Enterprises Resource Planning Success and Failure” is an outstanding example of a business essay. An Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system according to Aslan et al. (2012, p.693) is a management system within an organization that has sets of connected inclusive software, which may be used when espoused and put into practice effectively, to oversee and connect every organizational function. Basically, ERP systems may be employed as a tool for helping to improve the supply chain network as well as the level of performance by helping in decreasing cycle times.

Besides that, ERP systems have been utilized routinely in capital-intensive industries like building, construction, manufacturing, as well as defence. Latterly, ERP systems have advanced further and nowadays they are prevalent in industries such as education, health care, finance, hospitality, and telecommunications. Fundamentally, the benefits of ERP systems are hard to realise not unless a strong disposition, as well as participation, is established within the organisation; so, the article seeks to critically analyse ERP success and failure experienced by organisations.

BodyAs mentioned by Hellens et al. (2005, p.283), ERP systems are built upon a single database and application, as well as a coordinate that is unified in the whole organization. For that reason, every application serving different departments such as HR, accounting, and supply chain are integrated firmly under a single ERP system. Al-as observed by Al-Masha et al. (2003, p.354), ERP systems are useful when successfully implemented because they accelerate the process of decision-making. So, the success of ERP systems depends on the ability of an organisation’s managers to efficiently oversee the operation of a business, given that ERP systems can help them reduces operation costs.

Success drivers of ERP systems can be categorised into two: operational and technological drivers. In this case, operational drivers are associated with ways of improving organisational performance, supporting business strategies, as well as cutting production costs. On the other hand, technological drivers are predominantly associated with compliance with existing rules and regulations. The notion of success varies as the process of implementation continues, in that for planning and implementation (the first two stages of the cycle) success is mainly rooted in completing the ERP project to the standards that are acceptable within the budget as well as a time limit.

As pointed out by Hanafizadeh et al. (2010), stabilization as well as Improvement (the last two stages of the cycle) success is founded on the seeming impact of the ERP system on the performance of the organization. As indicated in Hanafizadeh et al. (2010) study, there are scores of factors vital for the success of ERP systems; support is top management one of the factors, and it involves encouraging commitment, positivity, and support of top management in the ERP project. Another factor is the utilization of knowledge as well as experience of system and technology consultants.

Additionally, the balanced project team is crucial for the success of ERP systems because it includes the integration of employees and information technology with the broad knowledge of the processes in the organization. As evidenced in Hellens et al. (2005) study, the accuracy of the information is crucial to the success of ERP project, so, data loaded from accessible legacy systems must at all times be of high quality. ERP project cannot succeed if the project management teams do not have a well-defined, detailed project plan related to the goals of the project.

Change management is also a success factor in the implementation of ERP project; so, careful attention has to be offered to this, considering that several changes in business processes are experienced during ERP systems implementation. Training and education are also important given that technical expertise regarding the ERP system, its reference model, and facts regarding its working are useful in the process of implementation. Other factors crucial for success consists of, availability of experts who aside from being in top management will frequently help the organization realize ERP system benefits.

Failure of ERP projects has been prevalent, and this has continued to bite worldwide across all business platforms. As pointed out in Xue et al. (2005, p.279) study, ERP poise substantial benefits like improving customer service, reducing manufacturing costs and boosts productivity, but these benefits are only realised after successfully implementing the ERP systems. Nevertheless, statistics show that implementation of ERP systems is still a failure amongst scores of companies. Statistically, 90 per cent of ERP systems implementations in Asia countries, especially China are either completed late or use more money and resources than those stipulated in budget.

In Xue et al. (2005) study, where they differentiated implementation success of ERP system in China as well as western countries, they noted that China had a higher percentage of failure which was attributed mainly to lack of support from top management as well as data inaccuracy. Other factors that led to ERP failure include poor participation, education and training, insignificant time ensuing from a minimal understanding of cross-operational organisational processes (Dechow & Mouritsen, 2005, p.691). Furthermore, ERP systems are exceedingly expensive, and also the need for the organisation to hire consultants to assist in the configuration as well as implementation, results in further escalation of price; thus, creating a high possibility of failure.

The cost used on consultants is almost thrice the cost of an ERP system; this negatively affects the productivity of the company and can lead also to the failure of the ERP system. ConclusionIn conclusion, it has been argued that ERP systems are beneficial because they improve the flow of information between every function of the company and also manages the connections to external stakeholders. Currently, the key basis of competitive advantage is the capability of a business to improve the processes of the supply chain.

This necessity has created the need for more advanced information systems like ERP systems. The articles have heightened numerous factors critical to the success of ERP, and which have allowed companies to efficiently plan their resources resulting in business efficient functionality and increased productivity. Failures as discussed in the article are caused by lack of support from top management, data inaccuracy, and lack of sufficient education and training.

The paper “New iPhones Show a Hit For Apple as Quarterly Profit Fluctuate 13 Percent” is an outstanding example of a business literature review. Yao (2014) explains that China is expected to provide information about its weakest growth since the occurrence of the global financial crisis within the third quarter while the property downturn is assessed based on manufacturing and investment. As a result, more pressure has been put on Beijing to unveil new stimulus measures. According to Yao (2014), the market assumes that the Communist Party leader will be able to adjust to the gradual slowdown. This will happen only in circumstances where there are no possibilities of experiencing a potentially destabilizing fluctuation in unemployment. However, anything weaker would lead to more speculations of key stimulus measures, for instance, an interest rate cut. Although the leadership has consistently provided steady aid specifically to vulnerable sectors of the economy, it has been noted that several stimuli have been ignored because China is still struggling to pay a huge local government debt (Yao 2014).

Article 2: New iPhones show a hit for Apple as quarterly profit fluctuate 13 percent

Due to strong demand for APPLE’s new larger-screen iPhones released in September, its quarterly profit increased by 13 percent. This also enabled APPLE to overcome the sluggish iPad sales (Jones 2014). Despite the more intensifying competition felt by Samsung Electronics as APPLE’s leading Smartphone competitor, Jones (2014) points out that the iPhone is attracting more consumers who are also ready to pay high prices particularly for cutting-edge handsets. Through its latest phones, Apple is profitably catching with its major competitors, such as, Samsung that have from time to time managed to post attractive sales of larger phones. It has also been noted that the marketing strength that iPhone has gained stands in contrast to sluggish iPad sales and the issues affecting Samsung’s Smartphone business (Jones 2014).

Article 3: Coal not the solution for poverty

Couchi (2014) examines that cheap coal-fueled electricity is highly considered by miners and politicians as the best alternative way out of poverty, particularly for developing nations. However, Africa has not considered this. In the business report provided by Couchi (2014) about the U.S financial group Citi, it can be noted that the booming market for African electricity has been a result of the coal approach. In the attempt to reinforce coals bearish outlook, Couchi (2014) reports that Citi discovered that a new International Energy Agency (IEA) outlook on the commodity is in contrast with the idea of BHP, the US coal producer Peabody as well as the Minerals Council of Australia which maintains that coal would play an integral role in minimizing energy poverty, particularly for developing countries. Despite its metallurgical and thermal forms, coal is considered the second-biggest mineral exported from Australia after iron ore (Couchi 2014).

Article 4: Ebola could be in the headlines, but tobacco is yet another killer in Africa

Research conducted by The Guardian (2014) shows that although Ebola dominates the headlines, there is yet another killer pandemic of great importance that continues to kill many people in the African continent unnoticeably. It is has been noted that tobacco kills at least one between two long term smokers. Currently, it is anticipated to kill 1 billion people globally before 2100. This is relatively more compared to the current number of people who die of Ebola. The Guardian (2014) terms this global issue as injustice and inequality because Transnational Tobacco Companies (TTCs), such as UK-based British American Tobacco (BAT) earn humungous profits yet they cause economic damage worthy over half a trillion dollars each year. Besides, TTCs contribute more to environmental degradation and thus create risks that compromise the health as well as the sustainability of populations. To earn more profits, TTCs are currently shifting and expanding their business to untapped markets in regions with unrestricted opportunities for growth (The Guardian 2014).

Article 5: NAB, ANZ lead pack in building home-lending share

The home loan is still considered the major driving force in recovering credit growth for banks. In this case, National Australian Bank (NAB) and ANZ are on the frontline to encourage the big banks in taking the advantage of the mortgage market, while home and business lending are sustainably becoming strong. Therefore, NAB and ANZ have put on media their fastest growth out of the big in all the past three months (Yeates 2014). Despite the faster growth and expansion made by NAB compared to their rivals in home lending, Yeates (2014) notes that analysts see business lending as a bigger concern because the bank has lost shares and faced more pressure, particularly on its margins. Generally, the home loan market is considered a major driving force that enables banks to recover from credit growth regardless of the risks associated with life specifically in business lending (Yeates 2014).

The paper “Globalization and Culture” is an outstanding example of a business essay. Today, it is common to hear people refer to the world as ‘a global village’. This has been a result of the process of globalization. This process has opened up and improved trade across regional and national borders. Not only has globalization enhanced economic interactions across nations but also improved access to information and uplifted the fight for human rights, among other benefits. Recent technological and communication developments along with improved road networks have been the key drivers of globalization. However, critics of globalization say that these benefits have been realized at a very high price: that of surrendering regional and national cultural values, mainly, for Western morals (Kwame, 2007).

Regarding this debate, two key schools of thought emerge. From one angle critics argue that globalization spreads out any and every culture all over the realm, leading to cultural heterogeneity and deeper understanding between diverse groups. This is mainly defined through the global production and distribution of commodities such that people in different parts of the world have access to commodities they would otherwise have never seen. A case in point is the cultural interaction between the United States and Japan. Teens in the U.S interact with the Japanese culture through their comic books, animations and video games, while teens in Japan interact with the American culture through watching TV shows and Hollywood movies produced in the U.S (Kwame, 2007).

On the flip side, critics argue that globalization erodes the regional and national cultural identity through cultural homogeneity. This leads to a cohesive global culture constituting diluted varieties of regional and national cultural nuances. For instance, French pastries, ‘American’ fried chicken, and Japanese sushi can be eaten in almost any part of the world. Restraint chains such as MacDonald’s and Starbucks have influenced traditions and behaviors in different countries. Even though champions of globalization claim that this merely affects consumer goods and media broadcasting, critics contend that it deteriorates customary culture ((Kwame, 2007; Czinkota, 2003).

Culture is a prevalent aspect in business whether it is in marketing, production, or human resource management. It is a key variable in the function of success in new markets (Czinkota, 2003). People’s purchasing decisions are based on a product’s design, style or color that supports their religious beliefs and practices. Empirical evidence shows that the success or failure of a company, especially, in a foreign market is reliant upon the effective managerial exercise of local religious beliefs and practices. Therefore, managers ought to be on familiar terms with their market’s religious differences given that religion influences people’s attitudes. For instance, Asians have a different attitude toward authority and women that differs from Western beliefs and practices. Whereas many parts of the world, including Asia, South America, and Africa, value collectivism very much, Americans are more individualistic. Chinese, Latin Americans and Koreans take time casually even as Americans are more proactive.

Failing to appreciate the religious beliefs and practices of the market will often lead to lots of inadvertent mistakes, such as being socially violent, cultural mix-ups, tarnished interpersonal relations, poor negotiations. As a consequence, the company’s future performance dwindles as profits decline. Lack of religious competence, or religious dogmatism, can easily put at risk millions of dollars through fruitless negotiations, lost purchases or sales, and pitiable customer relationships (Czinkota, 2003).

Cultural Literacy

Culture is a broad system that includes traditions, beliefs, attitudes, values, institutions and social interactions. This system reflects the global crunch facing the human race, and so it is a cultural catastrophe (UNESCO 1997). Dealing with such a cultural diversity calls for an important skill referred to as cultural competence. Chrisman (2007) defines cultural competence as ‘attitudes, practice skills, and system savvy for cross-cultural conditions’. The key force in work involving cultural competence is the people’s flexibility and ability to appropriately consider and treat the general public politely and in a proper way fitting their culture. Cultural literacy takes account of cultural competence plus the capacity to analytically mirror, and if needed institute change in, one’s a specific culture. Cultural literacy also comprises the capacity to examine the actions of central cultures measured against other cultures. This becomes very much useful in business. A case in point is the understanding of the effect of globalization or cross-cultural businesses on indigenous cultures all over the world.

Cultural literacy has been likened to an iceberg, through the iceberg model of culture. This is due to the expanse contextual material one requires to understand the culture. Cultural literacy often involves much more than the information essentially spoken. In other words, to understand the meaning of a cultural term, one has got to have much information that is not revealed by the bare meaning of that term. The clear cultural meaning of the term is like the ‘tip of an iceberg’ meaning that the deeper understanding lies below the casual meaning of the term and it constitutes a person’s own applicable information. It is known that 15 per cent or less of an iceberg can be seen above the water surface, 85 per cent or more of the iceberg is submerged below the water surface. This means that there is quite a different picture depicted shallowly from that which is the actual translation in the literature, giving the imprint that implied information comprises relatively tiny bits and pieces of information, left out by the correspondent due to dismissal or suitability (Hawkes, 2001).

Figure 1: Iceberg Model of Culture

It has been stated earlier that culture is a broad system that among other aspects involves religion. The world is very diverse in terms of culture as well as religion. Each culture embodies a creation in itself and yet it is not closed. Cultures give religious convictions semantics, and religions provide decisive connotation to each culture. Religion is a way of life for numerous cultures saturating every one human action. In other cultures, it characterizes the utmost ambitions of human life, and for others, religion is an institution that claims to convey a meaning of deliverance (Hawkes, 2001).

The paper “The Different Communications ” is an outstanding example of a management assignment. Phone: 23 rd August: the communication was made to remind that the bill for the mobile phone is outstanding and if not paid within the date will have a fine imposed on it. The communication was successful as it helped to fulfill my need and acted as a reminder. Further, the call also ensured that it was complete and all the details like outstanding amount, due date, late fine, and other details were provided. The call was complete and highlighted the important aspect which if ignored could have an impact on my usage.

Radio: 24 th August: The communication was made regarding the areas which are having huge traffic and showed the roads which should be avoided. The communication was successful as it helped to fulfill my requirements by highlighting the different roads which need to be avoided and which need to be used. The communication was further clear and loud regarding the different roads and path which should be avoided. This method acted as one where proper guidance was provided and acting in the correct way was highlighted so those correct decisions can be taken.

Communications that were unsuccessful

Television: 24 th August: The communication was made regarding the sale of women’s garments. The communication was ineffective because in the first instance it didn’t meet my needs and requirements as I was not looking to shop. Secondly, the message was not constructed properly as it didn’t speak about the brands which were available on sale, the different garments which were available, and also didn’t highlight the date when the sale would end.

Phone: 25 th August: The communication was made regarding the mobile bill payment which has already been made. The call was ineffective because it was not required as the payment has been made and I had the required receipt. The call was instead a wastage of time. In addition to it, the call was not constructed properly and required to focus on areas through which a message would have been enough as a source of communication to ensure that the payment was correctly entered.

Reasons for communication not to be successful

The communication process can be improved in the following ways

Firstly, ensuring that the communication which is made is required and is addressed properly so that the person who receives the communication gains from it (Nicholas, 2013)

Secondly, providing complete information is essential as it will serve as a benchmark to evaluate the manner in which different information is passed (Anne & Bochner, 2007). It will also help to understand the important matter which has been spoken and will help to highlight the manner in which changes can make so that proper communication and message is passed

Thirdly, the targeted audience was wrong and it is important to correct the audience (Mehrabian and Susan, 2007). This will help to improve the validity and reliability of the communication and will ensure that the process of communication becomes effective and is directed towards the correct person

Fourthly, the process of communication needs to be improved and changed so that the message is correctly interpreted and passed with the same intention (Imahori & Lanigan, 2012). This will help the listeners to evaluate the message in the correct form and will help to ensure maximum response.

Fifthly, the media which are used needs to be chosen wisely as the usage of a message instead of a phone call for bill paid confirmation would have been more helpful and could have caught the attention of the audience in a better way. This would have multiplied the effectiveness of communication and would have helped to understand the important points and issues.

The process of communication thereby requires working on the smaller and important aspect so that the overall process of communication improves and helps to provide the required dimensions through which effectiveness can be gained in the manner messages are passed.

The paper “Why Did Telefonica Initially Focus on Latin America” is a perfect example of a business assignment. Based on Telefonica’s objectives of rapidly increasing shareholder value, profits and achieving growth, it had to take advantage of location economies. Hence, the company initially focused on Latin America, as it must have perceived FDI to be a means for circumnavigating trade barriers. Indeed, the reasons why Telefonica initially focused on Latin America are perceivable through the lens of the Uppsala Model Theory.

According to the theory, the internalisation of a company across many foreign markets is correlated to psychic distance, where the first entry is to foreign markets that are familiar and closer in regards to the psychic distance of the host country, before making subsequent entries in foreign markets with greater psychic distance. Psychic distance comprises the differences in culture, language and political systems (Falvo & Parshad 2005).

Within the perspective of Uppsala Model Theory, it should be argued that companies tend to gradually increase their activities in international markets through a series of incremental stages, where the succeeding steps are anchored in learning and adapting to foreign markets (Pandian & Sim 2002).

This implies that the firms fast gain experience from the markets, where they have closer cultural ties before expanding to foreign markets. For instance, Telefonica had to first gain experience as a telecoms operator in Latin America, since the region has deep cultural ties with Spain, where it is headquartered.

Strategic competitive advantages

The company’s decision to slowly expand to Europe appeared opportunistic as well as strategic. Europe had initially possessed trade barriers that lowered the chances of successful entries. Essentially, there is a correlation between culture and national competitive advantage, where countries that are likely to impose trade barriers, in terms of competition are bypassed in preference to those that are less competitive (Enu & Attah-Obeng 2010). This argument is based on Dunning’s Eclectic Theory, which hypothesises that a company will always seek to leverage their specific advantages, including marketing, knowledge, skilled personnel, technology and information (Dunning 2001).

In this case, the Latin American markets were growing rapidly. They also experienced an increased high adoption rate and usage of mobile phones and internet connections. Additionally, after the Spanish government privatised Telefonica and deregulated the Spanish telecommunications market, the company’s core objective became increasing shareholder value, profits and achieving growth.

This implies that profit maximisation is a major drive to foreign direct development; through the use of particular advantages the company has (Glesem et al. 1990). It, therefore, had to select a region that would enable it to achieve higher profits. The company selected Latin America over Europe. Latin America had few entry barriers, such as competition and government regulations, while Europe had greater barriers due to more competitors. This implies that imperfect competition within the marketplace is a key incentive for expanding abroad. Besides, European mobile telecommunications operators had agreed they would not invade each other’s markets. However, after the entry of America Movil into Latin America, Telefonica faced a stronger competitor, forcing it to expand to Europe.

Commenting on other student’s post:

Why did Telefonica initially focus on Latin America?  Why was it slower to expand in Europe, even though Spain is a member of the European Union?

While the student hinted at the growth of multinational enterprises, a brief outline detailing why the company expanded and reasons for expansion could have provided a more relevant backdrop. Additionally, the reference to the Socialist Party by Popular Part in the general election of 1996 was irrelevant and out of context. The student’s decision to link the factors for the European Union to the opening of the telecommunications sector was misplaced. Rather, the student should have selected reasons why Telefonica selected to begin operating in Latin America before making headway to Europe. However, reference to high competition in the sector in Europe was justified.

Accordingly, the student should have explored the close cultural ties between Spain and Latin America, as the major drivers that triggered Telefonica to first launch in the region before expanding to Europe. In supporting the argument, a reference to a relevant theory, such as the Uppsala Model Theory could have pointed to the reasons why internationalisation of a company across many foreign markets is correlated to psychic distance (Uhasselt. be 2005). This includes why the initial entry is mostly made in foreign markets that are familiar and closer in regards to the psychic distance of the host country. Afterward, an explanation of what this meant to Telefonica based on the theory could have been appropriate (Gustafsson & Zasada 2011). For instance, the student should have stated that firms get to fast gain experience from the markets where they have closer cultural ties before expanding to foreign markets.

The student should have based his arguments on Dunning’s Eclectic Theory, which proposes that firms tend to use their peculiar advantages such as marketing, knowledge, skilled personnel, technology and information (Rugman 2010). Further, he should have stated that companies view FDI as a means to circumnavigate trade barriers before going forth to describe the correlation between culture and national competitive advantage, where countries that are likely to impose trade barriers in terms of competition are bypassed in preference to those that are less competitive.

While the student was also justified in arguing that the company sought to maximise profitability and to increase shareholder value, no basis was provided to support the argument, based on the case study. At this stage, the student should have suggested a theory to support his argument (Morgan & Katsikeas 1999). Later, the student should have provided examples from the case study to defend the choice of the theory he selected. However, the student provided examples outside the case study, such as “Telefonica has been able to establish footprints in 24 countries and having an average of 120,000 professionals with consolidated revenues of 24,957 million euros in January-June 2014 and more than 315.7 million customers at June 2014”

Additionally, the reasons the student outlined as the likely motivators for Telefonica to launch first in Latin America before making entries in Europe cannot be justified, as they have not been argued appropriately. For instance, in suggesting political developments, taking policy advantage and the fact that the markets shared a common language, the student should have discussed the concept of psychic distance and the related theory, such as the Uppsala Model Theory.

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What is International Business Management? A Comprehensive Guide for 2023

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What is International Business Management?

Importance of international business management, why study international business management, the scope of international business management , types of international business degrees, jobs to pursue with an international business management degree, get the global outlook with emeritus.

We live in a highly interconnected world and that is inevitably reflected in the way we do business. As such, it has become increasingly important to stay on top of business trends in today’s global economy to succeed. And to do that, organizations need to have an understanding of how international business management works. This not only involves understanding the way other countries do business but also includes knowing the right way to interact with people from different cultures. Therefore, if you are interested in a globally relevant career and succeeding at it, you should know what is international business management and all that it entails.

The following article will explain what is international business management, how important it is, and why you might want to study it.

International business management offers students a deeper understanding of various business management practices, such as finance, marketing, supply chains, human resources, and operations from across the world. It helps students prepare for careers that involve working either abroad or for organizations conducting business on a global scale. 

Getting a degree in international business is a great way to learn how to operate a business on a global scale. Working professionals who take advantage of such opportunities not only have the chance to enhance their business knowledge but also have the potential to contribute their skills and expertise in other countries. 

Let us understand the significance of being adept at business management on a global scale.

• You can help businesses to increase their stake in the global marketplace to maximize their profits
• You learn how to work successfully in a global business environment 
• Helps in expanding your professional network and forming long-lasting ties with other professionals from different parts of the world  
• Offers great employment opportunities at prestigious international organizations

Earn a Global Perspective

You will get the opportunity to learn about various international challenges that are faced by organizations during your studies. It provides a glimpse into a variety of important factors, including international boundaries, businesses that operate internationally, the global economy, and how to negotiate with people from different countries with distinct cultures.

Enhance Management Skills

A degree in international business management will have you working on individual and group projects, preparing reports, and presenting your perspective and thoughts. You will be able to sharpen a variety of soft skills such as problem-solving, decision-making, strategic thinking, leadership, and delegating, all of which are requisite when doing business internationally.

Get a Competitive Edge

Businesses need to collaborate across multiple nations and cultural traditions to be successful in today’s competitive business climate. If you want to work abroad or in a company that does business all over the world, you must have an awareness of how things operate in an international environment. Studying about it will give you an advantage over other applicants and put you in a better position to get the job that you want.

ALSO READ: What is Business Management? How to be a Good Business Manager

The rapid expansion and development of global markets have led to a rise in the demand for individuals who are knowledgeable about international business management. This field can therefore offer any number of opportunities to qualified and deserving candidates.

If you have a degree in international business management, you can seek employment in any industry, from healthcare and the automobile sector to IT. A degree in international business management is also applicable across a vast number of roles, including that of a business development manager, financial trader, sales and marketing executive, external auditor, supply chain manager, data scientist, etc.

Learning what is international business management also includes knowing the different types of degrees that fit your career goals better.

International Economics

This degree focuses on understanding logistics, operations, and issues associated with the global economy.

International Banking and Finance

It will help one learn about the trading behavior that occurs within financial markets. Also, it enables one to learn the techniques that organizations use to attain their financial goals.

International Marketing

This degree will teach you to apply marketing fundamentals in an international context.

International Human Resources Management

This focuses on recruiting, organizing, and managing human resources on a global scale.

International Operations Management

This degree will help you learn about the procedures used by global businesses to manage their products and services.

International Business Administration

This is all about how to apply business management principles and practices in the context of a global business.

International Affairs

This degree focuses on how to address a variety of global challenges. These include economics, human rights, sociocultural conditions, and politics when operating at the international level.

International Accountant

You develop knowledge and expertise about the principles of international tax law.

Policy Analyst

As a policy analyst, you can assist companies in resolving difficult policy-related problems that could span sectors including healthcare, security, and the environment.

International Economist

The job involves studying financial markets, exchange rates, and the impact that trade policies can have on countries’ economies. 

International Human Resources Manager

This involves creating and implementing hiring, managing, and firing policies on a global scale that are in line with distinct work cultures and international labor law.

Global Marketing Manager

This role is all about assisting companies in locating attractive consumer markets around the world, which enables companies to expand their customer base and penetrate international markets. 

Professionals skilled in business strategy, management, finance, and data analytics are increasingly in demand in today’s fast-evolving global business practices. With time and effort, it is possible to capitalize on this demand and advance your career in international business management. The online business management courses offered by Emeritus will be able to increase your chances of pursuing a lucrative career in this area. It’s an effective way to improve your resume and learn the skills to lead, negotiate, and strategize. 

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Business Essay Topics to Write with Impact

Business essays are a common requirement for students pursuing various business-related courses. The key lies in choosing a familiar subject out of various business essay ideas that spark inspiration, one that can be thoroughly researched with ample sources, intriguing facts, or statistical data. In this article, we offer a comprehensive list of business essay topics ideas for you to write a paper that is unmatched!

Business Essay Topics Ideas: Navigating the Selection Process

Selecting the most suitable business essay topics can prove to be a challenging endeavor. Due to the intricate and sensitive nature of the subject, it is crucial to handle business terminologies with care while ensuring that your chosen topic remains intact. To aid you in this process, our custom coursework writing has compiled a set of important tips that will assist you in identifying an impressive essay topic.

• First and foremost, choose a topic that aligns with your personal interests and passions. This will not only make the writing business essay more enjoyable but also enable you to delve deeper into the subject matter.
• Additionally, opt for a business essay topic that offers a wide scope for research. Having access to a wealth of resources and information will enhance the quality and depth of your analysis.
• Select argumentative business essay topics that provide a rich pool of information and sources for reference. This ensures that you have a solid foundation to support your arguments and analysis.
• Prioritize topics that offer evidence, examples, or facts to substantiate the major points of your thesis statement. This not only strengthens your arguments but also demonstrates your understanding of the subject matter.
• Avoid the temptation to opt for overly broad subjects, as they can be challenging to cover comprehensively within the given deadline. Instead, focus on more specific aspects that allow for in-depth analysis and exploration. For instance, if you're writing an expository paper, you can enhance your approach by utilizing an expository essay outline . This will help you structure your major points more efficiently and ensure a clear and logical flow of ideas in your writing. 
• For case studies, consider selecting a business essay example centered around well-established companies and discussing their successes or failures. By offering concrete solutions, you can showcase your critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

50+ Business Essay Topics Ideas: Unleashing the Best Choice

While there is an abundance of business essay topics ideas to explore, we have curated a selection of exceptional choices to assist you in this endeavor. Take a thorough look at our handpicked list and discover an ideal topic that will serve as a solid foundation for crafting a detailed and engaging business essay.

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Business Management Essay Topics

Business management is a broad field that covers various topics affecting the management of business operations. It encompasses finance, marketing, sales, human resources, and supply chain management. The principles of business management are applicable to all types of businesses, whether small or large. Here are some topics from our ' Do my essay ' experts that can help you explore this area.

• Leadership Styles and Their Impact on Organizational Performance: Analyze different leadership styles (e.g., autocratic, democratic, transformational) and their effects on employee motivation, job satisfaction, and overall organizational performance.
• The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Effective Management: Explore the importance of emotional intelligence in managerial roles, examining how self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills contribute to effective leadership and team management.
• Strategic Human Resource Management: Discuss the role of human resource management in achieving organizational objectives, focusing on topics such as talent acquisition, employee development, performance management, and retention strategies.
• Ethical Decision Making in Business: Examine ethical challenges faced by managers and organizations, analyzing frameworks and approaches for making ethical decisions and creating an ethical culture within the business environment.
• Change Management and Organizational Resilience: Explore strategies for effectively managing organizational change, considering topics such as change communication, employee engagement, resistance management, and building organizational resilience.
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Discuss the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in driving business growth and success. Analyze topics such as fostering a culture of innovation, managing risk, and strategies for promoting entrepreneurial thinking within organizations.
• Strategic Marketing Management: Examine the importance of strategic marketing in achieving competitive advantage, discussing topics such as market segmentation, targeting, branding, product development, pricing, and promotional strategies.

Business Law Essay Topics

Business law is a critical component of any business operation. It covers a wide range of topics, including contracts, intellectual property, securities, and trade secrets. Here are some business law essay topics:

• The Role of Intellectual Property Laws in Protecting Innovation and Creativity in the Business World.
• The Legal and Ethical Implications of Data Privacy and Cybersecurity in Business Operations.
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Balancing Legal Obligations and Ethical Considerations in Business Practices.
• The Impact of Antitrust Laws on Promoting Fair Competition and Preventing Monopolies in the Market.
• The Legal Challenges and Opportunities of International Business Transactions: Navigating Cross-Border Trade and Investment Laws.
• The Role of Employment Laws in Protecting Employee Rights and Promoting Fair Labor Practices in the Workplace.
• The Legal and Ethical Implications of Corporate Governance: Ensuring Accountability and Transparency in Business Organizations.
• The Impact of Consumer Protection Laws on Safeguarding Consumer Rights and Regulating Business Practices.
• Legal Challenges and Strategies for Managing Contracts and Negotiations in Business Transactions.
• The Role of Environmental Regulations in Balancing Business Operations and Sustainable Development.

Business Ethics Essay Topics

Business ethics refers to the set of moral principles that govern the decisions and actions of businesses, and if you need assistance, professionals can help you ' write my research paper ' to explore this topic in-depth. Meanwhile, here are some business ethics essay topics:

• Ethical Dilemmas in the Workplace: Analyzing Real-Life Scenarios and Decision-Making Processes.
• The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Promoting Ethical Business Practices.
• The Impact of Ethical Leadership on Organizational Culture and Employee Behavior.
• Ethical Considerations in Marketing and Advertising: Balancing Profitability and Consumer Protection.
• The Ethics of Workplace Diversity and Inclusion: Promoting Equality and Fairness.
• Ethical Issues in Supply Chain Management: Ensuring Fair Labor Practices and Environmental Sustainability.
• The Ethical Implications of Technology and Artificial Intelligence in Business Operations.
• Whistleblowing and Corporate Misconduct: The Role of Ethics in Promoting Accountability.
• The Ethics of Corporate Governance: Ensuring Transparency and Responsible Decision-Making.
• Ethical Challenges in International Companies: Navigating Cultural Differences and Corruption Risks.

Business Administration Essay Topics

Business administration covers various topics related to the administration and management of business operations. Here are some ideas you can also use as dissertation topics :

• Effective strategies for managing employee diversity in business operations.
• Effective supply chain management strategies.
• Business incubation and entrepreneur support strategies.
• Effective leadership and its impact on business performance.
• Best practices in business decision-making and problem-solving.

International Business Essay Topics

International business operations are characteristic of companies that operate on a global scale. Here are some international business essay topics:

• The impact of globalization on international business operations.
• The impact of cultural differences on international business negotiations and operations.
• Digital transformation challenges and opportunities for global businesses.
• Effective entry strategies for multinational corporations into emerging markets.
• Effective strategies for managing global supply chain operations.

And if If you're wondering how to write a nursing essay focused on international business operations, here are some essay topics to consider:

• The Impact of Globalization on Nursing Practice: Analyze how globalization has influenced the nursing profession on a global scale, considering factors such as international collaboration, workforce migration, and cross-cultural challenges.
• Ethical Considerations in International Healthcare: Explore the ethical dilemmas faced by nurses working in multinational healthcare settings, examining issues like cultural relativism, patient autonomy, and disparities in healthcare access.
• Strategies for Managing Cultural Diversity in Nursing: Discuss effective strategies and best practices for nurses to navigate cultural diversity in international healthcare environments, emphasizing the importance of cultural competence, effective communication, and respectful care.
• Nursing Leadership in Global Healthcare Organizations: Examine the leadership skills and competencies required for nurses to succeed in global healthcare organizations, focusing on aspects such as cross-cultural leadership, strategic decision-making, and managing international teams.
• International Collaborative Research in Nursing: Explore the benefits and challenges of international collaborative research projects in nursing, discussing the importance of knowledge exchange, research ethics, and the potential impact on healthcare outcomes.

Organizational Behavior Essay Topics

Organizational behavior studies the behavior of people and organizations in the workplace. Here are some topics to create a thorough business essay example:

• The relevance of leadership and management in organizational behavior.
• The impact of motivation theories on business performance.
• Diversity management strategies in organizational behavior.
• The impact of workplace stress on employee performance and mental health.
• Effective communication strategies in organizational behavior.

Trending Business Essay Topics for Exam

Here are some current business essay topics ideas that are likely to be examined in exams:

• The Rise of E-commerce: Transforming Traditional Retail
• Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility: Balancing Profit and Environmental Impact
• The Gig Economy: Redefining Employment Relationships
• The Role of Big Data Analytics in Business Decision-Making
• The Influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Business Operations

Good Business Essay Example

If you are one of those students who don't need business essays and need college essay writing services you've come to the right place too. Our professional writers have done it for you. In the next section, you can explore a business essay example.

Final Words

With our comprehensive list of business essay topics ideas, we've laid the foundation for your inspiration to take flight. With your chosen topic in hand, you're now prepared to conquer the world of business essays and create a masterpiece that will captivate your readers and leave them amazed. So, take the leap and let your business essay reach new heights of excellence!

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Now, are you looking for answers to common questions about business essays? In this FAQ section, we address some of the most frequently asked questions to help you navigate the world of business essay writing.

What to Consider When Choosing the Best Business Essay Topics?

Why is writing a business essay important.

Annie Lambert

specializes in creating authoritative content on marketing, business, and finance, with a versatile ability to handle any essay type and dissertations. With a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a passion for social issues, her writing not only educates but also inspires action. On EssayPro blog, Annie delivers detailed guides and thought-provoking discussions on pressing economic and social topics. When not writing, she’s a guest speaker at various business seminars.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

What is leadership?

All leaders, to a certain degree, do the same thing. Whether you’re talking about an executive, manager, sports coach, or schoolteacher, leadership is about guiding and impacting outcomes, enabling groups of people to work together to accomplish what they couldn’t do working individually. In this sense, leadership is something you do, not something you are. Some people in formal leadership positions are poor leaders, and many people exercising leadership have no formal authority. It is their actions, not their words, that inspire trust and energy.

Get to know and directly engage with senior McKinsey experts on leadership

Aaron De Smet is a senior partner in McKinsey’s New Jersey office, Carolyn Dewar is a senior partner in the Bay Area office, Scott Keller is a senior partner in the Southern California office, and Vik Malhotra and Ramesh Srinivasan are senior partners in the New York office.

What’s more, leadership is not something people are born with—it is a skill you can learn. At the core are mindsets, which are expressed through observable behaviors , which then lead to measurable outcomes. Is a leader communicating effectively or engaging others by being a good listener? Focusing on behaviors lets us be more objective when assessing leadership effectiveness. The key to unlocking shifts in behavior is focusing on mindsets, becoming more conscious about our thoughts and beliefs, and showing up with integrity as our full authentic selves.

There are many contexts and ways in which leadership is exercised. But, according to McKinsey analysis of academic literature as well as a survey of nearly 200,000 people in 81 organizations all over the world, there are four types of behavior that account for 89 percent of leadership effectiveness :

• being supportive
• operating with a strong results orientation
• seeking different perspectives
• solving problems effectively

Effective leaders know that what works in one situation will not necessarily work every time. Leadership strategies must reflect each organization’s context and stage of evolution. One important lens is organizational health, a holistic set of factors that enable organizations to grow and succeed over time. A situational approach  enables leaders to focus on the behaviors that are most relevant as an organization becomes healthier.

Senior leaders must develop a broad range of skills to guide organizations. Ten timeless topics are important for leading nearly any organization, from attracting and retaining talent  to making culture a competitive advantage. A 2017 McKinsey book, Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths (Bloomsbury, 2017), goes deep on each aspect.

How is leadership evolving?

In the past, leadership was called “management,” with an emphasis on providing technical expertise and direction. The context was the traditional industrial economy command-and-control organization, where leaders focused exclusively on maximizing value for shareholders. In these organizations, leaders had three roles: planners (who develop strategy, then translate that strategy into concrete steps), directors (who assign responsibilities), or controllers (who ensure people do what they’ve been assigned and plans are adhered to).

What are the limits of traditional management styles?

Traditional management was revolutionary in its day and enormously effective in building large-scale global enterprises that have materially improved lives over the past 200 years. However, with the advent of the 21st century, this approach is reaching its limits.

For one thing, this approach doesn’t guarantee happy or loyal managers or workers. Indeed, a large portion of American workers—56 percent— claim their boss is mildly or highly toxic , while 75 percent say dealing with their manager is the most stressful part of their workday.

For 21st-century organizations operating in today’s complex business environment, a fundamentally new and more effective approach to leadership is emerging. Leaders today are beginning to focus on building agile, human-centered, and digitally enabled organizations able to thrive in today’s unprecedented environment and meet the needs of a broader range of stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers, and communities, in addition to investors).

What is the emerging new approach to leadership?

This new approach to leadership is sometimes described as “ servant leadership .” While there has been some criticism of the nomenclature, the idea itself is simple: rather than being a manager directing and controlling people, a more effective approach is for leaders to be in service of the people they lead. The focus is on how leaders can make the lives of their team members easier—physically, cognitively, and emotionally. Research suggests this mentality can enhance both team performance and satisfaction.

In this new approach, leaders practice empathy, compassion, vulnerability, gratitude, self-awareness, and self-care. They provide appreciation and support, creating psychological safety so their employees are able to collaborate, innovate, and raise issues as appropriate. This includes celebrating achieving the small steps on the way to reaching big goals and enhancing people’s well-being through better human connections. These conditions have been shown to allow for a team’s best performance.

More broadly, developing this new approach to leadership can be expressed as making five key shifts that include, build on, and extend beyond traditional approaches:

• beyond executive to visionary, shaping a clear purpose that resonates with and generates holistic impact for all stakeholders
• beyond planner to architect, reimagining industries and innovating business systems that are able to create new levels of value
• beyond director to catalyst, engaging people to collaborate in open, empowered networks
• beyond controller to coach, enabling the organization to constantly evolve through rapid learning, and enabling colleagues to build new mindsets, knowledge, and skills
• beyond boss to human, showing up as one’s whole, authentic self

Together, these shifts can help a leader expand their repertoire and create a new level of value for an organization’s stakeholders. The last shift is the most important, as it is based on developing a new level of consciousness and awareness of our inner state. Leaders who look inward  and take a journey of genuine self-discovery make profound shifts in themselves and their lives; this means they are better able to benefit their organization. That involves developing “profile awareness” (a combination of a person’s habits of thought, emotions, hopes, and behavior in different circumstances) and “state awareness” (the recognition of what’s driving a person to take action). Combining individual, inward-looking work with outward-facing actions can help create lasting change.

Introducing McKinsey Explainers : Direct answers to complex questions

Leaders must learn to make these five shifts at three levels : transforming and evolving personal mindsets and behaviors; transforming teams to work in new ways; and transforming the broader organization by building new levels of agility, human-centeredness, and value creation into the entire enterprise’s design and culture.

An example from the COVID-19 era offers a useful illustration of this new approach to leadership. In pursuit of a vaccine breakthrough, at the start of the pandemic Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel increased the frequency of executive meetings  from once a month to twice a week. The company implemented a decentralized model enabling teams to work independently and deliver on the bold goal of providing 100 million doses of vaccines in 12 months. “The pace was unprecedented,” Bancel said.

What is the impact of this new approach to leadership?

This new approach to leadership is far more effective. While the dynamics are complex, countless studies show empirical links among effective leadership, employee satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability.

How can leaders empower employees?

Empowering employees , surprisingly enough, might mean taking a more hands-on leadership approach. Organizations whose leaders successfully empower others through coaching are nearly four times more likely to make swift, good decisions and outperform other companies . But this type of coaching isn’t always natural for those with a more controlling or autocratic style.

Here are five tips to get started  if you’re a leader looking to empower others:

• Provide clear rules, for example, by providing guardrails for what success looks like and communicating who makes which decisions. Clarity and boundary structures like role remits and responsibilities help to contain any anxiety associated with work and help teams stay focused on their primary tasks.
• Establish clear roles, say, by assigning one person the authority to make certain decisions.
• Avoid being a complicit manager—for instance, if you’ve delegated a decision to a team, don’t step in and solve the problem for them.
• Address culture and skills, for instance, by helping employees learn how to have difficult conversations.
• Begin soliciting personal feedback from others, at all levels of your organization, on how you are experienced as a leader.

How can leaders communicate effectively?

Good, clear communication is a leadership hallmark. Fundamental tools of effective communication  include:

• defining and pointing to long-term goals
• listening to and understanding stakeholders
• creating openings for dialogue
• communicating proactively

And in times of uncertainty, these things are important for crisis communicators :

• give people what they need, when they need it
• communicate clearly, simply, and frequently
• choose candor over charisma
• revitalize a spirit of resilience
• distill meaning from chaos
• support people, teams, and organizations to build the capability for self-sufficiency

Learn more about our People & Organizational Performance Practice .

Is leadership different in a hybrid workplace?

A leader’s role may look slightly different in remote or hybrid workplace settings . Rather than walking around a physical site, these leaders might instead model what hybrid looks like, or orchestrate work based on tasks, interactions, or purpose. Being communicative and radiating positivity  can go a long way. Leaders need to find other ways to be present and accessible, for example, via virtual drop-in sessions, regular company podcasts, or virtual townhalls. Leaders in these settings may also need to find new ways to get authentic feedback. These tactics can include pulse surveys or learning to ask thoughtful follow-up questions that reveal useful management insights.

Additional considerations, such as making sure that in-person work and togetherness has a purpose, are important. Keeping an eye on inclusivity in hybrid work  is also crucial. Listening to what employees want, with an eye to their lived experience, will be vital to leaders in these settings. And a focus on output, outcomes, results, and impact—rather than arbitrary norms about time spent in offices— may be a necessary adaptation in the hybrid era .

How should CEOs lead in this new world?

Just as for leadership more broadly, today’s environment requires CEOs to lead very differently. Recent research indicates that one-third to one-half of new CEOs fail within 18 months.

What helps top performers thrive today? To find out, McKinsey led a research effort to identify the CEOs who achieved breakaway success. We examined 20 years’ worth of data on 7,800 CEOs—from 3,500 public companies across 70 countries and 24 industries. The result is the McKinsey book CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest (Scribner, March 2022). Watch an interview with the authors for more on what separates the best CEOs from the rest .

Getting perspective on leadership from CEOs themselves is enlightening—and illustrates the nuanced ways in which the new approach to leadership described above can be implemented in practice. Here are a few quotes drawn from McKinsey’s interviews with these top-level leaders :

• “I think the fundamental role of a leader is to look for ways to shape the decades ahead, not just react to the present, and to help others accept the discomfort of disruptions to the status quo.” — Indra Nooyi , former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo
• “The single most important thing I have to do as CEO is ensure that our brand continues to be relevant.” — Chris Kempczinski , CEO of McDonald’s
• “Leaders of other enterprises often define themselves as captains of the ship, but I think I’m more the ship’s architect or designer. That’s different from a captain’s role, in which the route is often fixed and the destination defined.” — Zhang Ruimin , CEO of Haier
• “I think my leadership style [can be called] ‘collaborative command.’ You bring different opinions into the room, you allow for a really great debate, but you understand that, at the end of the day, a decision has to be made quickly.” — Adena Friedman , CEO of Nasdaq
• “We need an urgent refoundation of business and capitalism around purpose and humanity. To find new ways for all of us to lead so that we can create a better future, a more sustainable future.” — Hubert Joly , former chairman and CEO of Best Buy

What is leadership development?

Leaders aren’t born; they learn to lead over time. Neuroplasticity refers to the power of the brain to form new pathways and connections through exposure to novel, unfamiliar experiences. This allows adults to adapt, grow, and learn new practices throughout our lifetimes.

When it comes to leadership within organizations, this is often referred to as leadership development. Programs, books, and courses on leadership development abound, but results vary.

Leadership development efforts fail for a variety of reasons. Some overlook context; in those cases, asking a simple question (something like “What, precisely, is this program for?”) can help. Others separate reflections on leadership from real work, or they shortchange the role of adjusting leaders’ mindsets, feelings, assumptions, and beliefs, or they fail to measure results.

So what’s needed for successful leadership development? Generally, developing leaders is about creating contexts where there is sufficient psychological safety in combination with enough novelty and unfamiliarity to cultivate new leadership practices in response to stimuli. Leadership programs that successfully cultivate leaders are also built around “placescapes”—these are novel experiences, like exploring wilderness trails, practicing performing arts, or writing poetry.

When crafting a leadership development program, there are six ingredients to incorporate  that lead to true organizational impact:

• Set up for success:
• Focus your leadership transformation on driving strategic objectives and initiatives.
• Commit the people and resources needed.
• Be clear about focus:
• Engage a critical mass of leaders to reach a tipping point for sustained impact.
• Zero in on the leadership shifts that drive the greatest value.
• Execute well:
• Architect experiential journeys to maximize shifts in mindsets, capabilities, and practices.
• Measure for holistic impact.

A well-designed and executed leadership development program can help organizations build leaders’ capabilities broadly, at scale. And these programs can be built around coaching, mentoring, and having people try to solve challenging problems—learning skills by applying them in real time to real work.

What are mentorship, sponsorship, and apprenticeship?

Mentorship, sponsorship, and apprenticeship can also be part of leadership development efforts. What are they? Mentorship refers to trusted counselors offering guidance and support on various professional issues, such as career progression. Sponsorship is used to describe senior leaders who create opportunities to help junior colleagues succeed. These roles are typically held by more senior colleagues, whereas apprenticeship could be more distributed. Apprenticeship  describes the way any colleague with domain expertise might teach others, model behaviors, or transfer skills. These approaches can be useful not only for developing leaders but also for helping your company upskill or reskill employees quickly and at scale.

For more in-depth exploration of these topics, see McKinsey’s insights on People & Organizational Performance . Learn more about McKinsey’s Leadership & Management  work—and check out job opportunities if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.

Articles referenced include:

• “ Author Talks: What separates the best CEOs from the rest? ,” December 15, 2021, Carolyn Dewar , Scott Keller , and Vik Malhotra
• “ From the great attrition to the great adaptation ,” November 3, 2021, Aaron De Smet  and Bill Schaninger
• “ The boss factor: Making the world a better place through workplace relationships ,” September 22, 2020, Tera Allas  and Bill Schaninger
• " Leading agile transformation: The new capabilities leaders need to build 21st century organizations ," October 1, 2018, Aaron De Smet , Michael Lurie, and Andrew St. George
• " Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths ," 2017, Scott Keller  and Mary Meaney
• “ Leadership in context ,” January 1, 2016, Michael Bazigos, Chris Gagnon, and Bill Schaninger
• “ Decoding leadership: What really matters ,” January 1, 2015, Claudio Feser, Fernanda Mayol, and Ramesh Srinivasan

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The Science of Strong Business Writing

• Bill Birchard

Lessons from neurobiology

Brain scans are showing us in new detail exactly what entices readers. Scientists can see a group of midbrain neurons—the “reward circuit”—light up as people respond to everything from a simple metaphor to an unexpected story twist. The big takeaway? Whether you’re crafting an email to a colleague or an important report for the board, you can write in a way that delights readers on a primal level, releasing pleasure chemicals in their brains.

Bill Birchard is an author and writing coach who’s worked with many successful businesspeople. He’s drawn on that experience and his review of the scientific literature to identify eight features of satisfying writing: simplicity, specificity, surprise, stirring language, seductiveness, smart ideas, social content, and storytelling. In this article, he shares tips for using those eight S’s to captivate readers and help your message stick.

Strong writing skills are essential for anyone in business. You need them to effectively communicate with colleagues, employees, and bosses and to sell any ideas, products, or services you’re offering.

• Bill Birchard is a business author and book-writing coach. His Writing for Impact: 8 Secrets from Science That Will Fire Up Your Reader’s Brain will be published by HarperCollins Leadership in April 2023. His previous books include Merchants of Virtue, Stairway to Earth, Nature’s Keepers, Counting What Counts, and others. For more writing tactics, see his website .  

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Business Management - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas

Business management is the process of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the activities and resources of a business. It involves developing strategies, policies, and procedures to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Effective business management requires the ability to analyze data, make informed decisions, manage people, allocate resources, and adapt to changing market conditions. It also involves working collaboratively with employees, stakeholders, and customers to create a positive and productive work environment. Business managers must possess strong leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills to succeed in today’s competitive business landscape.

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Business Management Theory and Philosophies Explained

What are the three management theories?

The three main classifications of management theory are Classical Management Theory (1900s), Behavioral Management Theory (1910s), and Modern Management Theory (1940s). Each of the three major management theories contains sub-theories, including notable schools of thought like Scientific Management, Human Relations, and Management Science.

Management theory underpins everything accomplished by western enterprises in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, from auto industrialization to the dot-com boom. 1 2

As such, management theory has been an active field since the late 1800s and is closely studied by MBAs and executives alike.

I’ve compiled the most prominent management theories, organized them by era, and summarized them in order to assist your studies. We’ll cover each of the three major management theories and the key figures behind each school of thought:

• Classical Management Theories (Frederick Taylor, Henry Fayol)
• Behavioral Management Theories (Elton Mayo, Douglas McGregor)
• Modern Management Theories (Robert Kahn, Paul R. Lawrence)

What is management theory?

A management theory attempts to provide one or more ways to solve problems of “management.” “Management” can be defined as: 3

Determining a goal, planning and organizing around the goal, and leading and controlling efforts to ensure successful completion of the goal

How is management theory applied in the workplace?

When Henry Ford set 40–hour work-weeks, that was an example of applied management theory. The same could be said of Silicon Valley Unicorns flattening the corporate hierarchy to encourage innovation, or trendy e-commerce companies hitching their wagons to social causes to draw principled talent.

New isn’t syonomous with “better” in management theory; just look at Steve Jobs, who employed a famously autocratic style when the opposite leadership approach was in vogue. Apple had more in common with classical management theories of the 1800s than socially-driven ones popular with most Bay Area companies, but the results can’t be argued with.

In practice, most organizations employ a variety of strategies that match the efficiencies of each style with the recruiting and retention needs of their specific market. Additionally, many management theories established more than a century ago are still in use in Western corporations, such as the LPC and Contingency Theory for matching leaders and teams.

What is the history of management theory?

Historically in the West, many approaches to management and leadership were autocratic and dictatorial in nature.

In effect, the person in charge would bark orders and the people below them would be expected to follow.

In business, things began to change near the end of the 19th century. It was at this point that management theory began with an era often referred to as “Classical Management.” 4

In the following sections, we’ll take a look at the main eras in the development of management theory, including which business management theories came during each era, who was responsible for prominent theories, and the impacts of each era on modern workplaces.

Summary of the three core management theories

Classical Management Theories

Two main theories were developed during the Classical Management era:

• Scientific Management theory
• Administrative Management theory

Scientific Management theory is primarily attributed to Frederick W. Taylor (1856-1915), an engineer who was known for his efforts to improve industrial efficiency. According to the theory of Scientific Management, the scientific method can be applied to production in order to increase efficiency and performance.

From his studies, Taylor created Four Principles of Scientific Management , which are as follows:

• Gather objective data on work, experiment, and standardize policies and procedures;
• Scientifically select, train, and develop workers;
• Work cooperatively with workers; and
• Fairly divide work and responsibilities and reward workers appropriately.

At approximately the same time as Taylor was developing Scientific Management, Administrative Management theory was also being developed.

Administrative Management theory is primarily attributed to two theorists:

• Max Weber (1864-1920) , a German sociologist who made significant contributions to the areas of management, economics, and sociology. 5
• Henri Fayol (1841-1925) , a French engineer and executive who is known as the father of Modern Management.

Unlike Scientific Management, which has a focus on lower-level supervision and management of production, Administrative Management has a focus on higher-level duties at the organizational level.

Thus, Administrative Management focuses on using organizational structure, management, and control in order to increase efficiency and performance.

One of Weber’s greatest contributions to management theory was his Theory of Bureaucracy . This theory states that a bureaucracy has the following characteristics: 6

• Specialization;
• Formalized rules;
• Hierarchical structure;
• Well-trained employees;
• Managerial dedication; and
• Impartiality of management.

Another notable contribution from Weber was his classification system of authority, which included the following types:

• Traditional;
• Charismatic; and
• Rational-legal

One of Fayol’s greatest contributions to management theory was his 14 Principles of Management. These principles included:

• Division of work;
• Discipline;
• Unity of command;
• Unity of direction;
• Subordination of individual interests to the general interests;
• Remuneration;
• Centralization;
• Line of authority;
• Stability of tenure of personnel;
• Initiative; and
• Esprit de corps

Fayol was also “credited with the original planning-organizing-leading-controlling framework” via his Five Functions of Management. These functions included:

• Organizing;
• Coordination; and

Behavioral Management Theories

The era of Behavioral Management began around the mid-1910s, marking a change in perspective from more structural and mechanistic to humanistic. The most notable names of this era include:

• Elton Mayo (1880-1949) , an Australian psychologist who is known as the father of the Human Relations movement.
• Douglas McGregor (1906-1964) , an American management professor who is known for his management and motivational theories.

In particular, Mayo is best known for his contributions to the Hawthorne Experiments, which looked to “inspire company loyalty, discourage high employee turnover and unionization, and present a good face to the public.” These studies led to numerous discoveries by Mayo, including that:

• Workplace problems are caused by human and social factors;
• Workplace policies and procedures influence workers’ attitudes; and
• Motivation, productivity, and job satisfaction depend more on cooperation, involvement, and recognition than on physical working conditions.

McGregor is best known for his Theories X and Y, which detail two different management styles. The following chart compares and contrasts each of the two perspectives. 7 8

Modern Management Theories

Finally, we move to the modern era of management theories.

This era began approximately in the 1940s and primarily includes the following two approaches:

• Management Science
• The Organizational Environment

Management Science essentially came as an evolution of Frederick W. Taylor’s Scientific Management, took place during World War II, and has a focus on “using models and data to improve business performance.”

What may be seen as the most significant development in the field was George Dantzig’s simplex method for solving linear programming problems, which helps with management tasks like “allocating resources, scheduling production and workers, planning investment portfolios, and formulating marketing and military strategies.” 9

Other Management Science techniques include:

• Nonlinear programming;
• Network models;
• Project scheduling;
• Inventory and supply chain models;
• Queuing models;
• Simulation models;
• Decision analysis;
• Goal programming;
• Forecasting; and

Organizational Environment , meanwhile, is based on two main theories:

• The Theory of Open Systems
• Contingency Theory

The Theory of Open Systems was theorized primarily by Robert Kahn (1938), an American electrical engineer, and Daniel Katz (1903-1998), an American psychologist.

The Theory of Open Systems states that an organization is always interacting with its environment through a three-step process such that inputs are received from the external environment, transformed through organizational processes, and then output back to the outside environment. In summary:

• Receiving inputs from its external environment;
• Processing and transforming inputs through internal organizational subsystems and processes; and
• Sending outputs back to the outside environment

Considering this open system, the theory then states that management must respond to its external environment. First, management must determine and organize appropriate internal dimensions, capabilities, and structures. Then, they must optimally align these internal characteristics with the external domains in which they can compete and serve customers.

Contingency Theory can primarily be attributed to Paul R. Lawrence (1922-2011), an American sociologist, and Jay Lorsch (1932), an American organizational theorist. This theory states that a business’ organization is contingent upon the nature of the work and varying needs of the people. More specifically, it states that:

• Businesses with consistent and predictable tasks should be organized with formalized procedures, classical management hierarchies, and directive supervision; while
• Businesses with inconsistent and/or unpredictable tasks should be less defined and more flexible, allowing for greater participation by all of those who are involved.

Thus, by matching the organization to the task, the task to the people, and the people to the organization, everyone is made to feel competent and motivated to produce.

The impact of management theories today

It is easy to see how all of these management theories have impacted workplaces today.

For starters, Scientific Management’s focus on productivity was clearly an early step in the evolution of Total Quality Management (TQM) systems we see today and in the field of Management Science.

Second, Administrative Management led to numerous future developments, like Sociology and Management as fields of study, the organizational structures of today, and countless management styles. 10

Third, Behavioral Management led to greater human relations, Organizational Behavior and Organizational Psychology as fields of study, and is largely responsible for the improved working conditions, compensation, and benefits that employees now receive. 11

Fourth, Management Science continues to improve productivity and business performance in countless organizations by optimizing functions like scheduling, production, and distribution.

And finally, the Organizational Environment has contributed by helping businesses improve organizational structure, design, and competitiveness. So, it is without question that these management theories have had a dramatic impact on industry, society, and each of us as productive individuals.

Summary of management theory development over time

The following chart is a quick and simple summary of the three main eras of management theory, including the primary approaches and figureheads of each era:

While management theory has certainly evolved over time, the wide majority of past theories are still useful to this day. As a result, regardless of where you’re at in your personal and business development, knowledge of these management theories and philosophies will surely have an impact on your decisions as an owner or manager of a business.

• The Open University . (2020). Discovering management .
• The Wharton School . (2020). Management .
• University of Minnesota . (2010). Sociology: Understanding and changing the social world .

D. S., & Cortes, A. H. (2019). Principles of management . OpenStax   ↩

Conerly, T. R., Holmes, K., & Tamang, A. L. (2021). Introduction to Sociology 3e . OpenStax.   ↩

Kelley School of Business. (2017). Practical management science, 6e .   ↩

London Business School. (2021). Management science and operations .   ↩

Weber, M. (1946). From Max Weber: Essays in sociology. Oxford University Press.   ↩

Reeves, M., Wesselink, E., & Whitaker, K. (2020). The end of bureaucracy, again?   ↩

MIT. (2021). Douglas M. McGregor .   ↩

Morse, J. J., & Lorsch, J. W. (1970). Beyond theory y .   ↩

Levy, D. (2005). George B. Dantzig, operations research professor, dies at 90 .   ↩

Katz, D. (1966). The social psychology of organizations .   ↩

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e . OpenStax.   ↩

Written by Patrick Ward Follow

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Writing A Decent Business Management Definition Essay

Introduction.

A decent business management definition essay should have proper structure, content, logic, and conclusion. One should remember that this is a composition of the description of business management, but it does not mean every part of the essay must only define the meaning. In the first paragraph, the writer should give a broad and well-accepted meaning. Later, he or she should compare various types of meanings and conclude with his or her definition. As one can see that the approach for writing a composition on a broader topic like this requires pyramid approach. A pyramid approach can be defined as progressive writing from broader to a single precise meaning. In this regard, one must pre-plan a proper structure for various paragraphs.

Building the content

Moving ahead, after first paragraph one must give a supporting comparison between the various type of explanation for business and management. Here one must use references to support the source of each explanation. In this paragraph, the reader should be made aware of different definitions and their context. Also, one must introduce the various component of a system. For example, in the field of shipping industry description business and management completely differ from that of a research organization. One should give supporting evidence for the terms and explanation from various fields. It is also the second paragraph where, one can highlight main objective of this article and how it deals with it.

Supporting statements

One must define various components of business management system such as a manager, organization, and the qualities each component have. A suitable reference must support meaning of each component. Students generally do not cite proper reference because they do not read through the references. It is advised that students should cite articles and papers with coherence. Further, each paragraph of the article must be coherent which means should speak common goal. Proper referencing, supporting, argument and examples can help in maintaining coherence in the essay. Depending on the size of composition writer, should adjust the length of definition, example, and supporting arguments.

In the end, we can conclude that a good business management definition composition must have a pyramid approach to the structure, and coherent throughout all paragraphs. In the end, a solid conclusion must be written. End conclusion needs to have the specific demarcation of business management, with respect to the examples and argument in the essay.

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