Customer centricity is about organizational transformation making the customer the focus for business decisions, processes, product development, services, and procedures. Some companies purport to be customer centric but they fall short in connecting this concept throughout all functional areas of the business.  While it is important to offer superb customer service, being customer centric is far more than that.  It's about mapping the customer journey to discover customer needs and wants, what's working and what is not, then taking action to improve the customer experience. 

Customer loyalty is built through providing exceptional customer experiences.  This in turn increases revenues through positive company image, referrals, and increased customer lifetime value. Most organizations today realize that they must focus on the customer to remain competitive.

[From the author, Prof. Kerri Shields:]

During my time as a corporate trainer, I designed and delivered training programs in “Exceeding Customer Expectations” as one of the various sessions my employer delivered. In 2016 I designed a college course called, “Customer Service and Relationship Building” and then in 2018 I designed another college course called, “Customer Centric Strategy” which became the catalyst for this OER book.

Mainly to create this book I have researched many sources and compiled the resources that support the concept of customer centricity.  When I teach this college course I also include exercises for students on Salesforce CRM using the Trailhead learning platform.  It is important for students to learn technologies used in business today and especially those used to support building long-lasting positive relationships with customers.  Another exercise I usually provide students is one in which they use the Hootsuite platform to practice promoting a business through social media and to respond positively and within the realm of the company brand/image to customer inquiries and complaints.

I hope you find the content interesting and the lessons helpful, and maybe you get a few ideas for practicing customer service skills from the exercises in each chapter. I’ve also included an H5P interactive element in each chapter so readers can self-check their understanding of chapter content. Finally, I’ve created a slide deck with slides for each chapter that presenters may use to help share the chapter content with their audiences.

I will try my best to update it from time to time just in case some videos or resources become obsolete or outdated. 

Sincerely,

Professor Kerri Shields

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This book focuses on explaining differences amongst organizations regarding various attributes, forms, and outcomes. By focusing on the “how” of new venture creation and management to produce well-established organizations, the authors aim to increase our understanding of the antecedents of most management research assumptions. New ventures are the source of most newly created jobs generated in an economy, new industries and markets, innovative products and services, and new solutions to economic, social, and environmental problems. However, most management research assumes a well-established organization as the starting point of their theorizing.

Building on the notion of guided attention, the book details how entrepreneurs can allocate their transient attention to identify potential opportunities from environmental change and how entrepreneurs allocate their sustained attention to form beliefs about radical and incremental opportunities requiring entrepreneurial action. The authors explain how entrepreneurs build such communities and engage community members over time to co-construct potential opportunities for new venture progress. Using the lean startup framework, they connect the dots between the theorizing on identifying and co-constructing potential opportunities and the startup of new ventures. This leads to a new overarching framework based on (1) co-creating a startup, (2) organizing a startup, and (3) performing a startup to bring together the many disparate threads of research on new ventures. The authors then theorize on the importance of knowledge in organizational scaling.

Based on cutting-edge research from the leading entrepreneurship journals, this book expands knowledge on the cognitive aspect of the new venture creation process.

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This textbook is intended for use in introductory Entrepreneurship classes at the undergraduate level. Due to the wide range of audiences and course approaches, the book is designed to be as flexible as possible. Theoretical and practical aspects are presented in a balanced manner, and specific components such as the business plan are provided in multiple formats. Entrepreneurship aims to drive students toward active participation in entrepreneurial roles, and exposes them to a wide range of companies and scenarios. 

Summary of Contents page:

Preface

Chapter 1 The Entrepreneurial Perspective

Chapter 2 The Entrepreneurial Journey and Pathways

Chapter 3 The Ethical and Social Responsibilities of Entrepreneurs

Chapter 4 Creativity, Innovation, and Invention

Chapter 5 Identifying Entrepreneurial Opportunity

Chapter 6 Problem Solving and Need Recognition Techniques

Chapter 7 Telling Your Entrepreneurial Story and Pitching the Idea

Chapter 8 Entrepreneurial Marketing and Sales

Chapter 9 Entrepreneurial Finance and Accounting

Chapter 10 Launch for Growth to Success

Chapter 11 Business Model and Plan

Chapter 12 Building Networks and Foundations

Chapter 13 Business Structure Options: Legal, Tax, and Risk Issues

Chapter 14 Fundamentals of Resource Planning

Chapter 15 Next Steps

Appendix A Suggested Resources

Index

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This book is designed for upper year undergraduate students and graduate students studying fundamental entrepreneurship concepts.

Contents Page:

Acknowledgements

Introduction

    Chapter 1 – Introduction to Entrepreneurship

    Chapter 2 – Opportunity Recognition and Design Thinking

    Chapter 3 – Evaluating Entrepreneurial Opportunities

    Chapter 4 – Business Models

    Chapter 5 – Business Planning

    Chapter 6 – Financing Entrepreneurship

    Chapter 7 – Business Set-Up, Start-Up, and Growth

    Chapter 8 – Strategic Entrepreneurship

    Chapter 9 – Innovation and Entrepreneurship

    Chapter 10 – The Entrepreneurial Environment

References

The Language of Entrepreneurship

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Historically, entrepreneurs have always played a central role in the development of nation states. Aside from rentier states, which depend extensively on the availability of mineral resource rents, most economically prosperous nations in the world have strong, innovative and competitive business enterprises and entrepreneurs as the bedrock of their economic development and prosperity. It was arguably because of the above historical fact that the World Bank in 1989 declared that entrepreneurs will play a central role in transforming African economies. Chapters in this book contribute to our understanding of the theory, structure and practice of entrepreneurship in diverse African countries. Case studies examined include: African multinational banks and businesses, female entrepreneurs, culture and entrepreneurship, finance and entrepreneurship and SMEs.

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Fundamentals of Business, fourth edition (2023) is an 434-page open education resource intended to serve as a no-cost, faculty-customizable primary text for one-semester undergraduate introductory business courses. It covers the following topics in business: Teamwork; economics; ethics; entrepreneurship; business ownership, management, and leadership; organizational structures and operations management; human resources and motivating employees; managing in labor union contexts; marketing and pricing strategy; hospitality and tourism, accounting and finance, personal finances, and technology in business. The textbook was designed for use in Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business introductory level business course, MGT1104 Foundations of Business and is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike 4.0 license.

Table of Contents

• Ch. 1: Teamwork in Business

• Ch. 2: The Foundations of Business

• Ch. 3: Economics and Business

• Ch. 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility

• Ch. 5: Business in a Global Environment

• Ch. 6: Forms of Business Ownership

• Ch. 7: Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development

• Ch. 8: Management and Leadership

• Ch. 9: Structuring Organizations

• Ch. 10: Operations Management

• Ch. 11: Motivating Employees

• Ch. 12: Managing Human Resources

• Ch. 13: Union/Management Issues

• Ch. 14: Marketing: Providing Value to Customers

• Ch. 15: Pricing Strategy

• Ch. 16: Hospitality and Tourism

• Ch. 17: Accounting and Financial Information

• Ch. 18: Personal Finances

• Ch. 19: Technology in Business

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Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among people, businesses, institutions, and governments of different countries in many aspects surrounding human lives. It is not a threat to sovereignty or a form of Westernization.

This book discusses international economics and globalization, explores global business strategies, deliberates business ethics and corporate social responsibility, and examines other related aspects from a global perspective.

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Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond.  

Summary of Contents page:

Preface

Chapter 1 Understanding Economic Systems and Business

Chapter 2 Making Ethical Decisions and Managing a Socially Responsible Business

Chapter 3 Competing in the Global Marketplace

Chapter 4 Forms of Business Ownership

Chapter 5 Entrepreneurship: Starting and Managing Your Own Business

Chapter 6 Management and Leadership in Today's Organizations

Chapter 7 Designing Organizational Structures

Chapter 8 Managing Human Resources and Labor Relations

Chapter 9 Motivating Employees

Chapter 10 Achieving World-Class Operations Management

Chapter 11 Creating Products and Pricing Strategies to Meet Customers' Needs

Chapter 12 Distributing and Promoting Products and Services

Chapter 13 Using Technology to Manage Information

Chapter 14 Using Financial Information and Accounting

Chapter 15 Understanding Money and Financial Institutions

Chapter 16 Understanding Financial Management and Securities Markets

Chapter 17 Your Career in Business

Index

References

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This is a modular open textbook designed for entrepreneurial journalism, media innovation, and related courses.

For students enrolled in a journalism or communications course, there is—bar none—no better place to embrace and refine nearly every skill you will need to know than learning about media entrepreneurship and innovation.

In the course of envisioning, prototyping and launching, you will integrate multimedia production, social media distribution, design thinking, data collection and analysis, and audience engagement strategies.

As added benefits, you will develop business skills, begin to understand how to develop a product, how to discover customers, and how to manage all these activities so that you can deliver a new entrepreneurial startup. Or you may go the intrapreneurial route and spearhead a new venture inside your existing media organization.

Face it: You will be stepping into a world where media entrepreneurship is at an all-time high.

It’s clear that media entrepreneurs are articulating some new value propositions for their audiences. Nowadays, entirely new breeds of journalism are emerging from the imaginations of news entrepreneurs: mission-driven journalism, restorative narratives, soft-advocacy journalism, solutions journalism and activist journalism.  Moreover, new media ventures are reaching out and engaging audiences in fresh, new ways, often building robust civic communications ecosystems.

In learning about media innovation, you will be part of the creative process and a contributor to these new trends.  

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Business Ethics is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the single-semester business ethics course. This title includes innovative features designed to enhance student learning, including case studies, application scenarios, and links to video interviews with executives, all of which help instill in students a sense of ethical awareness and responsibility.

Summarised Contents Page:

Preface

Chapter 1 Why Ethics Matter

Chapter 2 Ethics from Antiquity to the Present

Chapter 3 Defining and Prioritizing Stakeholders

Chapter 4 Three Special Stakeholders: Society, the Environment, and Government

Chapter 5 The Impact of Culture and Time on Business Ethics

Chapter 6 What Employers Owe Employees

Chapter 7 What Employees Owe Employers

Chapter 8 Recognizing and Respecting the Rights of All

Chapter 9 Professions under the Microscope

Chapter 10 Changing Work Environments and Future Trends

Chapter 11 Epilogue: Why Ethics Still Matter

Appendix A The Lives of Ethical Philosophers

Appendix B Profiles in Business Ethics: Contemporary Thought Leaders

Appendix C A Succinct Theory of Business Ethics

Answer Key

Index

This Special Issue on “Business Models and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)” presents five research studies that examine transformative business models designed to support the United Nations SDG Agenda for 2030. The studies examine SDGs from the firm to national levels. Every organization has a business model that defines how the organization is designed to function. It is the engine that powers an organization, defining the value proposition of the venture, how it balances resources with the ecosystem where it operates, and how it generates cash flow and creates value. Changes to an organization’s business model are recognized as a fundamental approach to implementing innovations for sustainability. The capability to transform or transition to new business models is an important source of competitive advantage, providing leverage to improve the performance of an organization. A sustainable business model includes pro-active management, monetary and non-monetary value for a broad range of stakeholders, and takes a long-term perspective. A sustainable business model is where change, success, and hope for our planet’s future rests. 

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This book presents novel research results in the dynamics of values, rationality, and power in organizations. Through this understanding, readers will gain insights and frameworks to understand others' actions within their environment. Armed with the knowledge of how values, rationality, and power influence people's actions, readers will gain tools they can use to navigate the complexity of organizations to foster wise action.

Summary of Contents page:

Introduction

Other Books by Brad C. Anderson

Educators Interested in Teaching Organizational & Managerial Wisdom

I. Chapter 1: An introduction to wisdom

II. Chapter 2: Organizational and managerial wisdom

III. Chapter 3: Critical realism -- A framework to understand organizations

IV. Chapter 4: Values

V. Chapter 5: Rationality

VI. Chapter 6: Power

VII. Chapter 7: Values and power

VIII. Chapter 8: Rationality and power

IX. Chapter 9: Values, rationality, and power -- Personal considerations

X. Chapter 10: Values, rationality, and power -- Organizational considerations

XI. Chapter 11: Tools to develop your wisdom

XII. Chapter 12: Finding the courage to act

XIII. Appendix 1: The Seniors Program

Further Reading

About the Author 

The field of ethics management grew dramatically over the last two decades in South Africa. ... One of the areas that matured significantly is ethics reporting. As ethics management is becoming more sophisticated, a greater need for more relevant and accurate reporting on the ethics performance of organisations has emerged. The Ethics Reporting Handbook is a direct response to this demand for more guidance on what needs to be reported in the process of governing and managing the ethics performance of organisations.

The Ethics Reporting Handbook is the second in the EthicsSA Handbook series. The first publication in this series was the Social & Ethics Committee Handbook. The purpose of the Handbook Series is to provide practitioners with a practical guide and reference work that can assist them in improving the ethics performance of their organisations.

EthicsSA partnered with the Institute of Internal Auditors of South Africa (IIA SA) to produce the Ethics Reporting Handbook. The field of ethics management is a multidisciplinary field in which boards of directors, board committees, ethics officers, internal auditors, external auditors, and others play an important role. 

This textbook provides an innovative, internationally oriented approach to the teaching of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics. 

Drawing on case studies involving companies and countries around the world, the textbook explores the social, ethical, and business dynamics underlying CSR in such areas as global warming, genetically modified organisms (GMO) in food production, free trade and fair trade, anti-sweatshop and living-wage movements, organic foods and textiles, ethical marketing practices and codes, corporate speech and lobbying, and social enterprise. The book is designed to encourage students and instructors to challenge their own assumptions and prejudices by stimulating a class debate based on each case study.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Corporations and their Social Responsibility

Chapter 2 Debating CSR: Methods and Strategies

Chapter 3 Global Warming

Chapter 4 Genetically Modified Organisms

Chapter 5 Social Entrepreneurship

Chapter 6 Marketing Ethics: Selling Controversial Products

Chapter 7 Organic Food: Healthy Alternative or Marketing Ploy?

Chapter 8 Fair Trade

Chapter 9 CSR and Sweatshops

Chapter 10 Corruption in International Business

Chapter 11 Corporations and Politics: Citizens United

Chapter 12 Animal Rights and CSR

A higher purpose is not simply about profit. Symbolising the motivations of our actions and efforts, it reflects something much more aspirational and contributes to our global society.

This open access book offers novel solutions to ensure employees support a wider organizational meaning whilst guaranteeing that the company benefits from the employee’s individual sense of purpose. Advocating a shift from previous models and theories, this book contributes to debate and offers insight for both scholars and practitioners. The chapters bring together academic rigour and practical models to help readers distinguish between the fads and influential strategies.

Exploring the development of purpose at each level of business, from strategy and leadership to communication, this book avoids theoretical jargon and provides new approaches to building sustainable purpose-driven organizations. 

Business Finance Essentials is a text designed to provide students with an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of business finance without the additional cost of a textbook. This book has been developed with over a decade of classroom use in both face-to-face and online classes at Pittsburg State University. The goal was to create a resource to introduce students to the important elements that go into financial decision making which applies to corporations and their own personal lives in a simple framework. Whether it is learning about time value of money, bonds, capital budgeting or retirement planning, this book should make that process as straight-forward as possible.

With the explosion of Open Educational Resource materials over the past few years, we saw this as a tool that could be made available to faculty as a launching point for their courses. Using a Creative Commons license that allows users to modify it to their needs with their own additions or through adding other resources, it is intended as not the final product, but the starting point. We hope that this process will keep the material current and flexible enough to help students gain not only a better grasp of finance, but also an interest in the field.

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Our Principles of Accounting textbook (vol. 1 & 2) adheres to the scope and sequence requirements of accounting courses nationwide. We have endeavored to make the core concepts and practical applications of accounting engaging, relevant, and accessible to students. 

Contents page:    (for Volume 1: Financial Accounting)

Chapter 1: The Role of Accounting in Society

Chapter 2: Introduction to Financial Statements

Chapter 3: Analyzing and Recording Transactions

Chapter 4: The Adjustment Process

Chapter 5: Completing the Accounting Cycle

Chapter 6: Merchandising Transactions

Chapter 7: Accounting Information Systems

Chapter 8: Fraud, Internal Controls, and Cash

Chapter 9: Accounting for Receivables

Chapter 10: Inventory

Chapter 11: Long-Term Assets

Chapter 12: Current Liabilities

Chapter 13: Long-Term Liabilities

Chapter 14: Corporation Accounting

Chapter 15: Partnership Accounting

Chapter 16: Statement of Cash Flows

Our Principles of Accounting textbook (vol. 1 & 2) adheres to the scope and sequence requirements of accounting courses nationwide. We have endeavored to make the core concepts and practical applications of accounting engaging, relevant, and accessible to students. 

Contents page:      (for Volume 2: Managerial Accounting)

Chapter 1: Accounting as a Tool for Managers

Chapter 2: Building Blocks of Managerial Accounting

Chapter 3: Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis

Chapter 4: Job Order Costing

Chapter 5: Process Costing

Chapter 6: Activity-Based, Variable, and Absorption Costing

Chapter 7: Budgeting

Chapter 8: Standard Costs and Variances

Chapter 9: Responsibility Accounting and Decentralization

Chapter 10: Short-Term Decision-Making

Chapter 11: Capital Budgeting Decisions

Chapter 12: Balanced Scorecard and Other Performance Measures

Chapter 13: Sustainability Reporting

This text has been adapted from the following resources:

• Business Math: A Step-by-Step Handbook (2018, Revision A) by J. Olivier, under a CC BY-NC-SA License.

• Business Precalculus by D. Lippman, under a CC BY-SA 3.0 United States License.

Summarised Contents Page: 

Acknowledgements

Attributions

I. Main Body

1. Review of the Basics

2. General Business Management Applications

3. Human Resources and Economic Applications

4. Marketing Applications

5. Accounting Applications

6. Simple Interest

7. Functions and Lines

8. Systems of Equations and Linear Programming

9. Polynomial and Rational Functions

10. Exponential and Logarithmic Functions

11. Finance

Business Math: a step-by-step handbook was written to meet the needs of a twenty-first century student. It takes a systematic approach to helping students learn how to think and centers on a structured process termed the PUPP Model (Plan, Understand, Perform, and Present). This process is found throughout the text and in every guided example to help students develop a step-by-step problem-solving approach.

This textbook simplifies and integrates annuity types and variable calculations, utilizes relevant algebraic symbols, and is integrated with the Texas Instruments BAII+ calculator. It also contains structured exercises, annotated and detailed formulas, and relevant personal and professional applications in discussion, guided examples, case studies, and even homework questions.

Relevance:

As educators, we constantly hear, “…and when will I ever use that in my life?” This textbook demonstrates to students both personal and professional applications in discussions, guided examples, case studies, and even their homework questions:

1. On a personal level, students are shown realistic scenarios, companies, and products that they commonly are exposed to. It is always easier to learn something when students can relate to it.

2. On a professional level, this textbook demonstrates business situations in different business fields so that students can see applicability regardless of their chosen career path. Whether students are planning on becoming accountants or marketers, there are applications to be found in this textbook.

Introductory Business Statistics is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the one-semester statistics course for business, economics, and related majors. Core statistical concepts and skills have been augmented with practical business examples, scenarios, and exercises. The result is a meaningful understanding of the discipline, which will serve students in their business careers and real-world experiences. 

In this book, you will be introduced to the concept of information systems, their use in business, and the larger impact they are having on our world.

This book is written as an introductory text, meant for those with little or no experience with computers or information systems. While sometimes the descriptions can get a little bit technical, every effort has been made to convey the information essential to understanding a topic while not getting bogged down in detailed terminology or esoteric discussions.        

Table of Contents:

Part 1: What Is an Information System?

Chapter 1: What Is an Information System?

Chapter 2: Hardware

Chapter 3: Software

Chapter 4: Data and Databases

Chapter 5: Networking and Communication

Chapter 6: Information Systems Security

Part 2: Information Systems for Strategic Advantage

Chapter 7: Does IT Matter?

Chapter 8: Business Processes

Chapter 9: The People in Information Systems

Chapter 10: Information Systems Development

Chapter 11: Globalization and the Digital Divide

Chapter 12: The Ethical and Legal Implications of Information Systems

Chapter 13: Future Trends in Information Systems