business essay topics for college students

business essay topics for college students

Exploring Contemporary Business Practices in the Digital Age: Key Topics for College Students

1. Introduction to Contemporary Business Practices

– Intellectual Curiosity – Cross-Functional Abilities – Problem Orientation – Fast Learning – The ability to Innovate

The transitory aspects of this matrix pose difficult challenges for professors. Traditional pedagogical methods tend to reflect the functional purview of tenured faculty members. That is, the faculties are individually expert in their chosen fields, and the curricula reflect the disciplines as if they were taught in hermetically sealed vaults. The push for cross-functional, fast tracks in college curricula signifies recognition among business sponsors for a well-rounded employee within a business computing environment. Such honors programs meld curricula with professional certificate requirements provided to students. Similarly, experiences gained through exploratory assignments can enhance students’ transrenaissance abilities. Company sponsors seek attributes such as:

The business arena today is as dynamic yet interdependent as at any period in our capitalistic society. Corporate contractions, through acquisitions and mergers, business reengineering, and a greater focus on the core capabilities of enterprises are coupled with dramatic growth and change. A common thread among these activities is the proactive use of information technology tools and infrastructure. The impact of IT infrastructure and tools on business organizational forms and operating environments is staggering. In particular, contemporary college students, regardless of their major, will experience far more intangible interactions as consumers and job seekers. Managers, in turn, will have far different organizational forms or business models to choose from to serve these consumers. The optimization of this very extensive new matrix requires both IT knowledge and operating skills that enhance functional areas through the innovative use of tools.

Several key topics should be explored within the curriculum to provide college students with an understanding of the business practices in the digital age. In identifying these key topics, it was thought that insights gained through assignments would be particularly useful. Many key topics are a product of recent business history and are also shaped by current and future business trends. It is suggested that the following key topics, and others analyzed by students, are explored in the college classroom.

2. The Impact of Technology on Business Operations

Our chosen business concepts present real-world challenges and applications of theory, and they are also some of the areas that can be particularly resistant to change. For example, an ongoing tension between stakeholders and businesses will occur as long as there are differences in the perceptions and desires of these two groups. Information technology continually advances, customer expectations continue to change, and individuals and communities use technology for their changing informational and networking needs. Furthermore, the business world seems to be in a state of constant focus on costs, benefits, and risks associated with investment in information technology. These tensions or other inhibitors identified in the course of addressing each area present a wide array of opportunities for learning in a college setting. Furthermore, as these make for easy bridges between the academic and business communities, such discussions can also increase the perceived value clients might expect from such (institutional) relationships.

In discussing the impact of technology on business operations, we have chosen to introduce and explore a number of individual topics that are central to this discussion, including website development and sharing economies. More detailed explanations of concepts, as well as re-introductions of these when they are discussed in other specialized literature, can be found herein.

Focusing on the impact of technology on business operations, this article is aimed at providing educators and business practitioners in both academic and corporate environments with knowledge of important concepts related to business. By doing so, we hope to overcome these areas of frustration, which ultimately works toward closing the gap between the academic and business community.

3. Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Digital Age

One of the challenges for entrepreneurs is that the rapid growth in technology and knowledge management has moved them from operating to developing and protecting that development from infringement. This field, more than others, presents entrepreneurs with the problem of converting knowledge processes into marketable, revenue-generating technology and intellectual property. To address the needs of entrepreneurial enterprises, the age-old issue of protecting intellectual property rights is once again being redefined. Civil legal institutions, such as courts and the Patent and Trademark Office, and criminal law institutions, such as the National Intellectual Property Rights Center and the SBA through its Office of Advocacy and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, must present a welcome environment for entrepreneurs to do business.

Innovation is the cornerstone of entrepreneurship, whether in big business or entrepreneurial ventures. Small businesses and entrepreneurs are often recognized as the pioneers in adopting or leading innovation in technology, business practices, or new products. The level of growth in the small business sector has been directly linked to the amount of innovation found in that sector. As the economy becomes more service-oriented, entrepreneurs look for new markets and new sectors of business to fill. Through innovation, entrepreneurs have created new economic growth patterns, which have tended to replace older innovation cycles.

4. Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability in Business

Moreover, companies that engage in corporate citizenship are finding that the financial benefits are impressive. Public relations support, customer loyalty, an edge on EU and other government contracts for environmental sustainability all position companies as winners. Many businesses now recognize the reinforcement of company loyalty and morale by joining the charity concerns of their employees in the towns where they do business. For example, employee-designed philanthropic works are a growing feature of corporate social goals, and employees increasingly expect companies to make such contributions. Small businesses make strong contributions to charity work in American cities. The period from 1996 to 1999 generally saw a strong increase in contributions in relationship to corporate profits. The terror attack and Hurricane Katrina caused a temporary lull in contributions, but the long-term trend remains resolutely upward.

Business today is more aware than ever before of the need to balance three powerful commitments: profitability, concern for social values, and protection of the environment. Not that all businesses heed corporate responsibility in all situations, but the principle has reasserted itself with a vivid voice at the turn of the 21st century. While some major businesses have long practiced corporate social responsibility, a significant increase in corporate responsibility in the last half-century has occurred, particularly with the greater emphasis placed on environmental concerns. Changing attitudes about the relationship between business and society have and increasingly must respond to society’s demands. Business and society are bound together; there is no other choice.

5. Globalization and International Business

Globalization involves organizations that perform most of the activities beyond their home countries. The parent company – a legal person established in another country – operates abroad primarily through a majority-owned direct investing affiliate of a foreign subsidiary, a branch, or an affiliate over which the parent has significant control. This accredited control results in the MNE organization or MNE with standardized accounting procedures, typically referred to as the MNE organization’s worldwide consolidated group of entities. Depending on the size of the control condition, the MNE organization may be identified by alternative parts of its worldwide consolidated financial report.

Globalization includes the increased international movement and exchange of goods, services, concepts, and information. Multinational enterprises are considered as the central actors of globalization. However, the historical role of MNEs has been changing over time with respect to the emerging mode of enlarging foreign market shares: joint ventures and franchise arrangements performed better than establishing subsidiaries or branches globally. Recently, a new international business model has emerged. The offspring of MNEs is reducing its financial and operational resources due to a higher level of its local recognition, its advanced digital business knowledge, and a wider span of control of its headquartered parent company. These MNEs affiliates are known as ‘a thin ship’ operating on an expanding egg yolk (market share). At the same time, an avant-garde global financial market is continuously enhancing the local (passive) financing of these globally established affiliate representatives.