Introduction to the 11th edition
Understanding Business: Legal, Ethical, and Global Environments, 11th Edition features an integrated, student-friendly learning system that can be fully customizable and adaptable to instructors’ and students’ diverse teaching needs. The text reflects the dynamic nature of business in today’s world by including the most current and relevant examples, cases, statistics, and issues. It meets AACSB standards and is supported by a comprehensive technology package. An innovative new tool called Business Insight provides students with an in-depth view of important topics, illustrating the ways they are implementing ideas and practices to improve their business environment.
The Eleventh Edition includes several notable revisions:
Weighted boxed features provide material at various levels of further exploration .
Learning Outcomes, Key Terms, End-of-Chapter Review Questions and Cases, Ethics in Action, Trade Connection, Information Technology, Social Media and the Net, and Green Business and Global Perspective highlight key learning topics and engage students in examining the role of law and ethics in the global business environment.
MyBizLab (www.mybizlab.com) provides an online study center, which can be packaged with the text, that helps students prepare for class, quizzes, and exams. This outstanding online teaching and learning resource features pre- and post-tests with instant feedback, section quizzes, interactive exercises, video cases, "what happens next" case studies, and more.
Business and the legal environment
The legal environment in which a business operates has become increasingly complex, and there are a multitude of different areas of law that require a business to be aware of in relation to their operations. In the 11th edition, the author presents government regulation, employment law, consumer protection statutes (including the FTC Act and FDA), and property rights in a clear and concise manner and relates them to business operation. Adding depth to this area of the text, the 11th edition tackles the Fourth Amendment search and seizure debate, as well as a discussion of the use of noncompete contracts to protect trade secrets.
As in prior editions, the text includes a number of features such as "Think like a Lawyer," "Did You Know?," "Take it to Court!" and "Critical Thinking Cases" throughout the text with the chapter-ending cases having a well-crafted "Legal Environment in Action" section. The text is filled with a selection of business related, relevant legal concepts, including a very good discussion of real property, including mortgages and foreclosure (both residential and commercial) considering the aftermath of the real estate crisis over the last decade.
On the topic of intellectual property, the author provides a superb discussion of its importance to businesses, from trade secrets to patents and beyond. In addition, the author provides some recent developments in the area of intellectual property, from the Supreme Court’s decision in Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Co. up through the impact of recent revelation of the National Security Agency ("NSA") research on big data.
In summary, the text provides the latest information regarding legal issues that may impact the operations of a business today and its future decision-making.
Business and the ethical environment
In Business: Law, Ethics, Global Business 11th Edition – Ethical Decision Making in Business
The frameworks for ethical decision making in Business: Law, Ethics and Global Business 11th Edition are described on page 20. The frameworks include each of the Following:
· The form of intuitive ethics. This basic framework helps people understand ethical situations in their own terms through a kind of basic feeling asked, "is it right?"
· Utilitarian reasoning. This common way of thinking suggests that the best action is the one providing the greatest benefit to the most people.
· Rights and duties. A second sense of the law is that of rights, obligations, and duties of individuals, implying a kind of categorical imperative to act in the way that others might want you to act.
· Virtue ethics. This approach to ethics is directed at what kind of person a person should be.
· Practical wisdom. This understanding emphasizes the need to act in a deliberate and reflective manner—similar to virtue ethics, but with a focus on maintaining the right relationships between individuals, or more broadly between groups. This is reflected in the Golden Rule, treating others as we would want to be treated.
In Business: Law, Ethics and Global Business 11th Edition, the author provides a balanced approach by using the approaches above to show how managers make decisions forcefully when necessary, while also showing the effects of a more inductive approach when working with others, particularly subordinates.
The global business environment
Emerging consumer markets are valuable to companies that want to maintain high sales and profits and in some cases might even be the key for survival. Despite several worldwide economic recessions affecting consumer and business spending, the global economy is expanding. Emerging markets present businesses with opportunities that existing markets do not. Business operations in emerging markets tend to have high returns on investments because companies can divide costs by a larger number of consumers. Furthermore, buying from new emerging markets can circumvent tariffs. However, finding emerging markets is a challenge. In the global economy, companies are constantly developing new products and services which can increase pressure to move into new markets quickly. Emerging markets change quickly and companies that fail to recognize this movement risk being late to international markets and losing their competitive edge . But if a company enters an emerging market too soon, they could face slow sales, low consumer awareness, increased advertising costs, and ineffective distribution of products.
Emerging markets are not restricted to the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) designation. An emerging market is any country that has a lower than average GDP but positive economic outlook. Emerging markets can resemble advanced economies in many ways such as having a high growth potential, transforming their legal institutions to support local businesses, improved life expectancy, growing real estate values, and young workers willing to adopt new technologies. The public and private sectors in emerging markets represent growth opportunities to U.S. exporters. Emerging markets can lead to increased market share, higher profits, and lower production costs.
Legal, ethical and global environment integration
Understanding Business offers a richer treatment of the legal, ethical and global environments of business than most business law texts because of the way in which it weaves these issues into the overall structure of the book. In fact, Understanding Business is one of the few business law texts I’m aware of that integrates these three important perspectives . . . the legal, the ethical and the global . . . throughout each chapter.
In this edition we’ve added an integrated case study at the end of each chapter that will provide insight on how these three environments work together in the real world. This is a unique feature of Understanding Business. There are no other business law books we’re aware of that offer integrated case studies on the legal, ethical and global environments of business.
Teaching and learning applications
As students and professionals seek to deepen their knowledge of business law, ethics, and global business concepts, the 11th Edition of Understanding Business: Legal, Ethical, and Global Environments, presents a versatile resource. This critical resource can support a wide range of academic programs, including core undergraduate courses in business law, research papers, and business ethics projects. Take, for example, an undergraduate business law course such as "Business Law, Legal, Ethical, and Global Environments." This resource enables students to take a practical and comprehensive approach to international trade and business transactions. Through real-world case studies, they can gain important insights into the challenges and solutions facing domestic and international business communities. By reading this resource , students will increase their understanding of the interplay of law, ethics, and global business in a contemporary context. This understanding can be invaluable in obtaining a future career in business.
For effective use of this resource, readers are encouraged to review the book’s table of contents, which provides a concise overview of the entire text, providing a useful roadmap for the relevant material. Within this resource, readers are introduced to cases and scenarios that help them apply the concepts of law, ethics, and global business to a variety of contexts. In conjunction with course materials and other relevant literature, this casebook will allow readers to fully develop their professional skills, regardless of whether they focus on business law or other areas of business.