What business is and the world it works in: Where to start

A hairdresser, a car factory and a hospital look like they have nothing in common. Each one turns resources into something people need. Telling them apart takes a handful of words. Every later chapter of the course takes those words for granted. This chapter, What business is and the world it works in, sets those words out one idea at a time.

The list runs from why a business exists to what it uses and what it sells. Then come two ways of sorting businesses, and it ends on how fast their world changes. Each video leans on the words of the one before, so a first pass goes in order.

What a business is for: needs, wants and adding value comes first, because it sets the words the rest of the chapter uses. With no business behind you at all, this is the one to press first. The common slip there is saying why a business would want to add value, instead of how the value gets added. Factors of production and opportunity cost covers the resources every business needs, and the choice an owner makes about using them. Opportunity cost is not on every course. Where it is, the slip is mixing it up with risk. Goods, services and types of market sorts what a business sells, and who it sells to. Some courses want only goods and services, while others add more pairs of terms and the types of market. The usual mistake is calling a service sold to the public a commercial service. Primary, secondary and tertiary sectors is the first way of sorting businesses, by what they produce. A lot of answers here go wrong in the same way. They give an example business, or a factor of production, when the question wants the name of the sector. Private sector and public sector sorts businesses a second way, by who owns them. If the two meanings of the word sector keep blurring for you, watch this one straight after the last. Watch for the idea that a public limited company belongs to the government. If you already know the basics and want the world businesses compete in, go straight to The dynamic business world: change, new ideas and consumer power. Students there often take dynamic to mean having customers all over the world. Every one of these can be searched by its name or by its code. The quickest route is the scholafly.com website, which indexes every video in every subject. Whatever your course, the place to begin is needs, wants and adding value.

Next in the chapter is What a business is for: needs, wants and adding value. Hopefully that's next in your feed, but if not, search for ScholaFly B U oh one, oh one.

Every other video is on scholafly.com too, easy to search by video code or by keyword. Whatever you're revising, go there and have a look, or, watch the next video.