Business Studies [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] ^+What is Business Studies?^+ ^+Business studies is the study of how businesses are set up, financed,organised and controlled, how people are employed, managed and paid, howgoods are developed, produced and sold, how goods and services arepriced and how the local, national and international government help orhinder businesses.^+1 In studying the setting up of a business there are many aspects thatneed to be considered. Such as the type of business ownership^+s whichare suitable for the entrepreneur, where the capital will be comingfrom, what goods or services could be considered to sell and where thebusiness should be located. The extensive amount of research, which iscarried out before the business operates, is also studied. There are many sources of finance open to the entrepreneur, which alsoneed to be studied in depth. The business owner has to set the rightprice for its goods or services ^+ a price which is of convenience to theconsumer and which is affordable for the owner. This is possible byusing break-even analysis, and again market research. Owners ofbusinesses need to constantly consider the financial situation of thefirm this may include constructing various balance sheets and amonthly/annually profit and loss account ^+ construction of these areimportant in business. Charts and graphs are also constructed so thatthe state of the business can be analysed in depth. Labour in a business involves many aspects. The recruitment of newemployees ^+ from the advertising of the post right through to theselection of the most appropriate candidate. It also includes

training/education involved in business and even how to motivate anemployee and the different payment methods they can receive. The mainsections in an organisation chart actually breaks up the sections inbusiness ^+ marketing, finance, production and labour. Trade unions arealso a part of labour in business ^+ employees can sometimes causepotential harm to the business as well as being a valuable asset, thestages of what a trade union can do are also studied. Market research is also very important to any firm the marketing mixbreaks it down into individual sections which are important in businessstudies ^+ product, place, price and promotion. There are many differenttypes of research and different types of sampling methods, which theresearcher has to consider before preceding. The source of the good or service is a part of business studies, whatraw materials are needed, how was it made and why was the product made ^+is there a market for it. The life of a product before production isstudied as well as the life of a product when it is in the market andalso when it leaves. External influences such as the government can help or destroybusinesses. Many different types of external influences and othermatters that cause harm to businesses are looked at. It is also important to be aware of the various automation methods usedin business to improve efficiency. Many firms use information technologyin various ways such as ^+ EPOS systems and banking, business studiesinvolves briefly the studying of this. Overall, business studies is not just about simply looking at how to runa business it is about finding out how businesses and otherorganisations actually operate and how the factors that influence modernbusinesses are dealt with. All the above points and possibly more arestudied in great depth in a business studies course.