London, United Kingdom

Business Studies and Strategy

Language: English Studies in English
Subject area: economy and administration
University website: www.westminster.ac.uk
Business
Business is the activity of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling goods or services. Simply put, it is "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit. It does not mean it is a company, a corporation, partnership, or have any such formal organization, but it can range from a street peddler to General Motors." The term is also often used colloquially (but not by lawyers or public officials) to refer to a company, but this article will not deal with that sense of the word.
Business Studies
Business Studies is an academic subject taught in schools and at university level in many countries. Its study combines elements of accountancy, finance, marketing, organizational studies and economics. Business Studies is a broad subject in the Social Sciences, allowing the in-depth study of a range of specialties such as accountancy, finance, organisation, human resources management and marketing.
Strategy
Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία stratēgia, "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a high-level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art of the general", which included several subsets of skills including "tactics", siegecraft, logistics etc., the term came into use in the 6th century CE in East Roman terminology, and was translated into Western vernacular languages only in the 18th century. From then until the 20th century, the word "strategy" came to denote "a comprehensive way to try to pursue political ends, including the threat or actual use of force, in a dialectic of wills" in a military conflict, in which both adversaries interact.
Business
I believe that leaders and leadership teams working together in a proper design will run the business more effectively than by hierarchical, command-and-control managing. But I can't prove that. And there are no models.
Marvin Bower (1966) The Will to Manage p. 7.
Strategy
For her own breakfast she'll project a scheme,
Nor take her tea without a stratagem.
Edward Young, Love of Fame (1725-28), Satire VI, line 187
Business
Everybody knows by now, all businessmen are completely full of shit; just the worst kind of low-life, criminal, cocksuckers you could ever wanna' run into – a fuckin' piece of shit businessman. And the proof of it, the proof of it is, they don't even trust each other. They don't trust one another. When a business man sits down to negotiate a deal, the first thing he does is to automatically assume that the other guy is a complete lying prick who's trying to fuck him outta his money. So he's gotta do everything he can to fuck the other guy a little bit faster and a little bit harder. And he's gotta do it with a big smile on his face. You know that big, bullshit businessman smile? And if you're a customer – Whoah! – that's when you get the really big smile. Customer always gets that really big smile, as the businessman carefully positions himself directly behind the customer, and unzips his pants, and proceeds to service...the...account. 'I am servicing this account. This customer needs service.' Now you know what they mean. Now you know what they mean when they say, 'We specialize in customer service.' Whoever coined the phrase 'let the buyer beware' was probably bleeding from the asshole. That's business.
George Carlin, You Are All Diseased (1999)
Ships are responsible for almost 5 % of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. An EU initiative is designing smart energy management strategies that will result in more energy-efficient shipping.
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