1. An introduction to business:
1.1 Definitions：
Organizations mediate between the wider society and the individual, and joining an organization as an employee exposes the individual to substantial direction and control. Despite the self-activity of their members, organizations as corporate bodies do have economic and political powers above and beyond those of the particular individuals that comprise them.（个人理解的含义为：商业是一个连接个人与外部社会的中介组织。个人通过成为这种中介组织的雇员来控制组织的走向。尽管每个组织中的个体有其自身的行动（或者说价值观吧），但组织作为一个合作的整体有其凌驾于个人之上的经济政治力量。）
另一个简短的定义：A deliberate arrangement of people to accomplish some specific purpose.（商业就是一群人组成的一个严密的组织去完成一些特定的目标。）
这里面可以看到商业的三个重要组成部分：一个清晰的目标（Distinct purpose）；由人组成（People）；有严密的组织架构（Deliberate structure）
1.2 Business, roles and responsibilities
Fundamentally, business need to balance the needs & expectations of stakeholders（平衡干系人的需求与期望）
There are also many useful frameworks including the triple bottom line,which is the idea that business should have 3 areas of focus:
Economic: a focus on Profit
Social: a focus on People
Environment: a focus on the Planet
1.3 Success?
想一想为什么有的公司能这么成功，但是有的没有
1.4 Stakeholders分析模型
Definition: The stakeholders in a firm are individuals and constituencies that contribute, either voluntarily or involuntarily to its wealth-creating capacity and activities, and who are therefore its potential beneficiaries and or risk bearers.（干系人指一些能有意无意地影响到公司盈利能力，从而让自己从中获利或者经历风险的个人或组织）
分类：
Internal- operate within the business and core to its day to day functioning.
External- outside the firm but who care about or are affected by its activities and performance
存在的问题：
Business需要平衡干系人的需求，因为干系人关心的点未必是和商业目标一致的。比如说，经理总是希望以最低的公司雇人；但是员工却希望拿到尽可能高的工资。同理，供应商希望能以更高的价格卖东西；但是我们却希望以更低的价格买进。
问题分析流程：
i、Identified stakeholders（确定干系人）
ii、Identified their interest（明确干系人的利益——他关心的是什么？）
iii、Indicate their competent interest（从economic，social，environment三个方面看有什么因素会影响他们的利益？）
Competing interests可以从另外3个角度来分析影响stakeholders利益的因素:
Resources base 关心钱（或者说经济）的：Investors, Customers and Employees
Industry structure 关心行业发展（或者说社会）的：Supplier, Competitors and regulator
Social political Arena 关心环境的：Government, Local communities, Protest group
vi、Address whether we can balance the interest or not -If not , there is issue (No need to resolve it)（分析，当干系人利益受到影响的时候，我方能否平衡（或者说解决）这一影响对我方的影响。如果不行，那就是问题，需要去解决。）
1.5 Creating & adding Value
Businesses create “value” for customers by doing things like（商业的本质是为市场（消费者）提供价值）：
i、Providing Quality Products & Services– what do they offer to the marketplace
ii、Focusing on Exceptional Customer Service– often a key source of competitive advantage
iii、Building efficient and effective systems of work – reflected in the resource-based view (RBV) affirm success
The Input /Output Model:
可以从以下6各方面评价它：
Environmental(climate change, emissions, pollution);political(policy, unrest & conflict, elections);economic(interest & exchange rate, competition, price);social cultural(demographics,diversity, buying trends);technology(online, mobile computing, robotics);legal(law, regulations, health & safety).
Value Chain:
The Primary Activities:
–Inbound logistics（采购）– these are the processes related to receiving, storing and distributing inputs internally（包括内部的采购，储存和资源分配）
–Operations（生产）– these are the transformation activities that change inputs into outputs that are sold to customers
–Outbound logistics（出厂物流）– these activities deliver your product or service to your customer, like collection, storage, and distribution
–Marketing and sales（营销）– these are the processes you use to persuade customer to purchase from you instead of your competitors
–Service（服务）– these are the activities related to maintaining he value of your product or service to your customers, once it has been purchased
The Support Activities:
–Procurement（资源取得）– this is what the organization does to get the resources it needs to operate
–Human Resource Management（人力资源管理）– this is how well the company recruits, hires, trains, motivates rewards and retains its workers
–Technological Development（科技发展）– these activities relate to managing and processing information as well as protecting the companies’ knowledge base
–Infrastructure（基础设施）– these are the companies’ support systems, and the functions that allow it to maintain its daily operations
2.The central role of managers
Four functions of management：
–Planning（计划）typically involves understanding your environment, developing strategies, setting goals etc.（分析当前环境，想出应对策略，设定目标等）
–Organizing（组织）typically involves designing the organization, and deciding on and managing the work of the team（对人员进行分组，并分配工作）
–Leading（领导）typically involves understanding behavior, inspiring, motivating, influencing, communication etc.（通过沟通，影响力，发掘员工内部动力，激励法，理解员工行为等方法来领导完成工作）
–Controlling（规范）typically involves defining standards, and measures of performance and success（指定一些标准，绩效考评等来规范员工）
3.Critical thinking in business
简单的说就是用第一周的那八个点来批判性地看第二周讲的三个主要模型（stakeholder分析模型；Value Chain模型；Four functions of management）
