Learning Objectives

Chapter

1

1 Distinguish between business and not-for-profit organizations.
2 Identify and describe the factors of production.
3 Describe the private enterprise system, including basic rights and

entrepreneurship.
4 Identify the six eras of business, and explain how the relationship era—including

alliances, technology, and environmental concerns—influences contemporary business. 5 Explain how today’s business workforce and the nature of work itself is

changing.
6 Identify the skills and attributes managers need to lead businesses in the

21st century.
7 Outline the characteristics that make a company admired by the business

community.

iStockphoto

The Changing Face of Business

S nuggie: The Break-out
Blanket Hit

I

f the first thing you do when preparing to curl up with a good textbook like this one is to reach for your Snuggie, you have plenty of company. Sales of the funky blanket with sleeves were expected to reach as high as 20 million units in just the second year the cozy accessory was available. Combined with the 5 million blankets sold in the first year, that volume will bring the value of total retail sales of the
Snuggie to more than $300 million.
That’s a respectable profit for an inexpensive product whose unique design and ungainly shape have made it the butt of YouTube parodies and late-night talkshow jokes. It means Allstar Marketing Group, which markets the Snuggie, is obviously doing something right, though Scott Boilen, president of the company, does admit to being surprised at his unlikely product’s rapid rise to pop-culture success.
Despite being compared to a backwards coat, the fleecy Snuggie has ridden its growing popularity in two new directions: into much greater availability in a wider variety of stores and into a whole new range of styles and colors.