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Understanding Business Twelefth Edition Nova Community College Anandale
Understanding Business by Nickels, McHugh, and McHugh has been the number one textbook in the introduction to business market for several editions for three reasons: (1) The commitment and dedication of an author team that teaches this course and believes in the importance and power of this learning experience, (2) we listen to our customers, and (3) the quality of our supplements package.
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First published January 1, 1000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
October 3, 2021
(The English review is placed beneath Russian one)
Эта книга, после прочтения, оставила те же чувства, что и книга «Социология» John J. Macionis, т.е. это интересный базовый курс по данному предмету. Я бы не сказал, что я узнал что-то новое из книги, но для тех, кто ничего не знает о том, как работает бизнес или кто только начинает изучать этот вопрос, т.е. студенты колледжей, это книга станет лучшим вариантом для первого знакомства с данной темой. Если же у читателя за спиной прочитано более сотни книг по бизнесу, то он может спокойно пропустить эту книгу, т.к. ничего нового он из неё не узнает. Повторюсь, это именно что базовый курс, где рассматривается великое множество тем, но предлагается только базовая информация. Да, текст довольно простой и поэтому читается книга быстро. Да и выбор тем очень хороший. Тут нет спорных и неоднозначных моментов, а предлагаются уже давно принятые теории. К примеру, в теме «Мотивация», предлагаются теория Маслоу, теория Тейлора, теория X и теория Y. Да, все эти теории входят в любой учебник по менеджменту. А вот спорные теории, как например, теория, которая описывается в книге «Маверик», тут отсутствует. Нет и других спорных теорий, также как не глубокого освещения вопроса. И оно даже к лучшему, т.к. в ином случаи мы бы получили в 10 раз толще учебник. Ведь книга предлагает целых 6 разделов, из которых два последний раздела, это маркетинг и финансы. Т.е. 4 первых раздела книги будут освещать тему введение в бизнес, где будут рассказывать общепринятые идеи, а некоторые читатели могут даже предположить, что первые 4 главы, это вообще самоочевидные вещи. Вполне допускаю, ибо я сам думал об этом. Ну, или не 4 главы, но три точно, ибо 4 глава посвящена теме мотивации персонала, в которой довольно хорошо объясняется данный вопрос. В главе посвящённой правовому аспекту создания фирм, говорится с точки зрения американских законов, т.е. какие налоговые послабления существуют и пр., и поэтому вся глава будет интересна и полезна только самим американцам. Третья же глава довольно мутная, ибо там будет говориться о лидерстве и менеджменте. Но лично для меня все книги связанные с темой лидерства являются мутными и неконкретными. Так что более конкретными являются 4, 5 и 6 главы, т.е. мотивация персонала, маркетинг и финансы. Главу, связанную с маркетингом, я не читал, ибо я и так прочитал более 200 книг по маркетингу, а также пару учебников по маркетингу, поэтому я просто пролистал данную главу, читая лишь заглавия к главам. И судя по заглавиям, это довольно качественное представления маркетинга, того, чем он должен заниматься в компании. Книга рассматривает маркетинг как мозг компании и поэтому авторы не сводят весь маркетинг к рекламе или интернет-маркетингу, а предлагают стратегический подход. Тем не менее, я бы рекомендовал всё же читать классику, т.е. книгу «Маркетинг. Менеджмент» Котлера. А вот что мне доставило удовольствие, так это чтение самой сложной для меня темы связанной с бизнесом – финансы и бухгалтерия. Авторы объясняют эту тему просто великолепно.
Так что, рискну предположить, что и для тех, кто совсем не знаком с бизнесом, книга объясняет всё и делает это просто и ясно. Это определённо чрезвычайно качественный учебник, который рассказывает всё, что связанно с бизнесом. Да, пусть некоторые темы и кажутся, возможно, скучными и затянутыми, а некоторые моменты - довольно очевидными, но последние 3 главы, определённо вытащили учебник из разряда посредственной литературы. И самое главное, что после чтения этого учебника читатель может обратиться к более профессиональной литературы, не боясь, что он что-то не поймёт. Так что, повторюсь, это отличное начало для дальнейшего изучения того, как устроен бизнес и как он работает (или должен работать).
This book, after reading it, left the same feelings as the book "Sociology" by John J. Macionis, i.e., it is an interesting basic course on the subject. I wouldn't say I learned anything new from the book, but for those who know nothing about how business works or who are just beginning to study the subject, i.e., college students, this book will be the best option for a first introduction to the subject. If the reader has read more than a hundred books on business, he can safely skip this book, because he will learn nothing new from it. Again, this is a basic course, which deals with a lot of topics, but offers only basic information. Yes, the text is quite simple, and therefore it is a quick read. And the choice of topics is very good.
There are no controversial and ambiguous points here, but rather long-established theories are offered. For example, in the theme of "Motivation", proposed theories Abraham Maslow, Taylor's theory, theory X, and theory Y. Yes, all of these theories are included in any management textbook. But there are no controversial theories, such as the theory described in the book "Maverick" by Ricardo Semler. There are no other controversial theories, nor is there any in-depth coverage of the issue. That is even better because otherwise, we would have gotten ten times the thickness of the textbook. After all, the book offers a total of 6 sections, of which the last two are marketing and finance. That is, the first 4 sections of the book are going to cover the topic of introduction to business, where they will tell generally accepted ideas, and some readers may even assume that the first 4 chapters are even self-evident things. Fair enough, because I've been thinking about that myself. Well, maybe not 4 chapters, but three for sure, because chapter 4 is devoted to the topic of staff motivation, which explains the issue quite well.
The chapter on the legal aspect of setting up a firm talks in terms of American laws, i.e., what tax benefits exist, etc., and so the whole chapter will be interesting and useful only to Americans themselves.
The third chapter is quite vague because it will talk about leadership and management. But for me, all books related to the subject of leadership are murky and unspecific.
So, chapters 4, 5, and 6 are more specific, i.e., personnel motivation, marketing, and finance. I did not read the chapter related to marketing because I have already read more than 200 books on marketing, as well as a couple of textbooks about marketing, so I just flipped through this chapter, reading only the titles to the chapters. And judging by the titles, it's a pretty high-quality introduction to marketing, what marketing should do in a company. The book looks at marketing as the brain of the company, and so the authors do not reduce all marketing to advertising or Internet marketing but offer a strategic approach. Nevertheless, I would recommend reading the classics, i.e., the book "Marketing Management" by Philip Kotler, Kevin Keller.
But what I did enjoy was reading about the most difficult topic for me related to business - finance, and accounting. The authors explain this topic very well.
So, I would guess that even for those who are not at all familiar with the business, the book explains everything and makes it simple and clear. This is definitely an extremely high-quality textbook that covers everything related to business. Yes, even though some of the topics may seem boring and lengthy, and some of the points are rather obvious, but the last 3 chapters have definitely pulled the textbook out of the category of mediocre literature. And most importantly, after reading this textbook, the reader can turn to more professional literature without worrying that he will not understand something. So, again, this is a great start for further study of how business is structured and how it works (or should work).
Эта книга, после прочтения, оставила те же чувства, что и книга «Социология» John J. Macionis, т.е. это интересный базовый курс по данному предмету. Я бы не сказал, что я узнал что-то новое из книги, но для тех, кто ничего не знает о том, как работает бизнес или кто только начинает изучать этот вопрос, т.е. студенты колледжей, это книга станет лучшим вариантом для первого знакомства с данной темой. Если же у читателя за спиной прочитано более сотни книг по бизнесу, то он может спокойно пропустить эту книгу, т.к. ничего нового он из неё не узнает. Повторюсь, это именно что базовый курс, где рассматривается великое множество тем, но предлагается только базовая информация. Да, текст довольно простой и поэтому читается книга быстро. Да и выбор тем очень хороший. Тут нет спорных и неоднозначных моментов, а предлагаются уже давно принятые теории. К примеру, в теме «Мотивация», предлагаются теория Маслоу, теория Тейлора, теория X и теория Y. Да, все эти теории входят в любой учебник по менеджменту. А вот спорные теории, как например, теория, которая описывается в книге «Маверик», тут отсутствует. Нет и других спорных теорий, также как не глубокого освещения вопроса. И оно даже к лучшему, т.к. в ином случаи мы бы получили в 10 раз толще учебник. Ведь книга предлагает целых 6 разделов, из которых два последний раздела, это маркетинг и финансы. Т.е. 4 первых раздела книги будут освещать тему введение в бизнес, где будут рассказывать общепринятые идеи, а некоторые читатели могут даже предположить, что первые 4 главы, это вообще самоочевидные вещи. Вполне допускаю, ибо я сам думал об этом. Ну, или не 4 главы, но три точно, ибо 4 глава посвящена теме мотивации персонала, в которой довольно хорошо объясняется данный вопрос. В главе посвящённой правовому аспекту создания фирм, говорится с точки зрения американских законов, т.е. какие налоговые послабления существуют и пр., и поэтому вся глава будет интересна и полезна только самим американцам. Третья же глава довольно мутная, ибо там будет говориться о лидерстве и менеджменте. Но лично для меня все книги связанные с темой лидерства являются мутными и неконкретными. Так что более конкретными являются 4, 5 и 6 главы, т.е. мотивация персонала, маркетинг и финансы. Главу, связанную с маркетингом, я не читал, ибо я и так прочитал более 200 книг по маркетингу, а также пару учебников по маркетингу, поэтому я просто пролистал данную главу, читая лишь заглавия к главам. И судя по заглавиям, это довольно качественное представления маркетинга, того, чем он должен заниматься в компании. Книга рассматривает маркетинг как мозг компании и поэтому авторы не сводят весь маркетинг к рекламе или интернет-маркетингу, а предлагают стратегический подход. Тем не менее, я бы рекомендовал всё же читать классику, т.е. книгу «Маркетинг. Менеджмент» Котлера. А вот что мне доставило удовольствие, так это чтение самой сложной для меня темы связанной с бизнесом – финансы и бухгалтерия. Авторы объясняют эту тему просто великолепно.
Так что, рискну предположить, что и для тех, кто совсем не знаком с бизнесом, книга объясняет всё и делает это просто и ясно. Это определённо чрезвычайно качественный учебник, который рассказывает всё, что связанно с бизнесом. Да, пусть некоторые темы и кажутся, возможно, скучными и затянутыми, а некоторые моменты - довольно очевидными, но последние 3 главы, определённо вытащили учебник из разряда посредственной литературы. И самое главное, что после чтения этого учебника читатель может обратиться к более профессиональной литературы, не боясь, что он что-то не поймёт. Так что, повторюсь, это отличное начало для дальнейшего изучения того, как устроен бизнес и как он работает (или должен работать).
This book, after reading it, left the same feelings as the book "Sociology" by John J. Macionis, i.e., it is an interesting basic course on the subject. I wouldn't say I learned anything new from the book, but for those who know nothing about how business works or who are just beginning to study the subject, i.e., college students, this book will be the best option for a first introduction to the subject. If the reader has read more than a hundred books on business, he can safely skip this book, because he will learn nothing new from it. Again, this is a basic course, which deals with a lot of topics, but offers only basic information. Yes, the text is quite simple, and therefore it is a quick read. And the choice of topics is very good.
There are no controversial and ambiguous points here, but rather long-established theories are offered. For example, in the theme of "Motivation", proposed theories Abraham Maslow, Taylor's theory, theory X, and theory Y. Yes, all of these theories are included in any management textbook. But there are no controversial theories, such as the theory described in the book "Maverick" by Ricardo Semler. There are no other controversial theories, nor is there any in-depth coverage of the issue. That is even better because otherwise, we would have gotten ten times the thickness of the textbook. After all, the book offers a total of 6 sections, of which the last two are marketing and finance. That is, the first 4 sections of the book are going to cover the topic of introduction to business, where they will tell generally accepted ideas, and some readers may even assume that the first 4 chapters are even self-evident things. Fair enough, because I've been thinking about that myself. Well, maybe not 4 chapters, but three for sure, because chapter 4 is devoted to the topic of staff motivation, which explains the issue quite well.
The chapter on the legal aspect of setting up a firm talks in terms of American laws, i.e., what tax benefits exist, etc., and so the whole chapter will be interesting and useful only to Americans themselves.
The third chapter is quite vague because it will talk about leadership and management. But for me, all books related to the subject of leadership are murky and unspecific.
So, chapters 4, 5, and 6 are more specific, i.e., personnel motivation, marketing, and finance. I did not read the chapter related to marketing because I have already read more than 200 books on marketing, as well as a couple of textbooks about marketing, so I just flipped through this chapter, reading only the titles to the chapters. And judging by the titles, it's a pretty high-quality introduction to marketing, what marketing should do in a company. The book looks at marketing as the brain of the company, and so the authors do not reduce all marketing to advertising or Internet marketing but offer a strategic approach. Nevertheless, I would recommend reading the classics, i.e., the book "Marketing Management" by Philip Kotler, Kevin Keller.
But what I did enjoy was reading about the most difficult topic for me related to business - finance, and accounting. The authors explain this topic very well.
So, I would guess that even for those who are not at all familiar with the business, the book explains everything and makes it simple and clear. This is definitely an extremely high-quality textbook that covers everything related to business. Yes, even though some of the topics may seem boring and lengthy, and some of the points are rather obvious, but the last 3 chapters have definitely pulled the textbook out of the category of mediocre literature. And most importantly, after reading this textbook, the reader can turn to more professional literature without worrying that he will not understand something. So, again, this is a great start for further study of how business is structured and how it works (or should work).
May 22, 2009
Easy to read and understand; this book didn't make me lose focus, like some of my other textbooks.
February 7, 2020
Great textbook!!
December 21, 2022
i mean, it was a good textbook. had to read it for business class lol
May 15, 2021
I now understand why college books are so expensive. This book has so much easy to ingest material and information which is geared to help the student. I learned a lot about business and business practices in a detailed and easy-to-understand format. Bravo
Buy the textbook now:
Understanding Business 12th edition
Buy the textbook now:
Understanding Business 12th edition
July 19, 2021
Just a textbook. Achieved what it set out to do.
December 24, 2017
A supplemental text appropriate for high school Business Studies courses
April 2, 2019
I liked that this book did a good job of explaining concepts clearly.
April 15, 2023
Masters the art of never giving any useful details about any topic it discusses. Only offering shallow perspectives.
June 8, 2023
This book gives you information to know more about business.
December 24, 2023
I had to read this for a core class for grad school. It was an excellent book that portrayed information about all areas of an organization in a concise and clear way.
January 19, 2024
I read this book for a college class. It was clear, concise, and easy to understand.
December 4, 2024
While the information is valuable, someone needs to fire the editor. The amount of typos and misspelled words drove me nuta.
January 8, 2025
(Core 2nd Edition) ISBN 9781264629275
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 23, 2025
Use for Intro to Business. I liked that it touched on every aspect of business (A)
z-textbooks
August 3, 2017A fairly decent intro to business, marketing, and economics. The definitions are excellent--the definition in the glossary is the EXACT same thing as what's written in the text of the chapters, which sounds like a "duh" factor, but is actually quite rare in college textbooks. The review points at the end of each chapter are good for, well, reviewing, and the sidebar boxes throughout the chapters are actually interesting and apply directly to the chapter's themes (again, should be a "duh" factor for all textbooks, but it's more of an exception than the rule).
The only thing that annoyed me was that a lot of this seemed biased toward the oblivious middle class--those perfect people who have the ideal life that you think they went back in time and stole it from someone in the 1950s or 60s. It is easy to look past some of these instances, but other times, it's obvious the the authors are of the older generation who are blissfully unaware that much of their college audience is millennials, and therefore, not gonna believe this perfect world kind of shit.
Much of the "start your own business" advice given is geared towards those who have a unique business model, and preferably have "invented" something. Other types of businesses, like niche retail and others where you are selling pre-made goods are not really given much acknowledgement.
Made me squinty-mad while I was reading some chapters, but overall a keeper.
The only thing that annoyed me was that a lot of this seemed biased toward the oblivious middle class--those perfect people who have the ideal life that you think they went back in time and stole it from someone in the 1950s or 60s. It is easy to look past some of these instances, but other times, it's obvious the the authors are of the older generation who are blissfully unaware that much of their college audience is millennials, and therefore, not gonna believe this perfect world kind of shit.
Much of the "start your own business" advice given is geared towards those who have a unique business model, and preferably have "invented" something. Other types of businesses, like niche retail and others where you are selling pre-made goods are not really given much acknowledgement.
Made me squinty-mad while I was reading some chapters, but overall a keeper.
January 22, 2011
Pretty standard textbook on business. The book is well written, and contains many entertaining anecdotes. It feels a little dated as it was written pre-2008 recession, but it gets the job done of helping readers understand the many aspect of business, including trade entrepreneurship, ethics, management, human resources, IT, marketing, and financing. A good read for anyone wanting to take a textbook approach to business.
May 12, 2015
This book was required reading material for an online introductory to business course I took this semester. It has a very good readability and is not dry and boring like many textbooks. The authors made an effort to include many examples and even a little humor when appropriate. I feel this book did a very good job of educating me on the basics of business.
December 13, 2012
As indicated by my rating, most excellent ... close to perfect in its order, accessability, etc.
I'll be re-reading this yet again March through May as the class cycles back (up next: Entrepreneurship).
I'll be re-reading this yet again March through May as the class cycles back (up next: Entrepreneurship).
September 1, 2013
I thought this was a decent textbook with a good overview of many of the topics that will hopefully be addressed in more depth in future classes.
It has an easy to follow format with many areas for review so it makes studying easier.
It has an easy to follow format with many areas for review so it makes studying easier.
September 19, 2008
reading it for class, that is
April 3, 2010
Colorful, interesting, down-to-earth, realistic, applicable... this is a keeper! The only reason I gave it four stars was out of sanity--it's a textbook.
But I LLLLLIIIIIIKED it.
But I LLLLLIIIIIIKED it.
April 26, 2011
As far as textbooks go it wasn't bad at all. Pretty easy to read.
Read
September 30, 2011Reading this for school.
June 16, 2012
This is one meaty text. Real world examples and some fairly entertaining connected videos make this a good, modern textbook.
December 30, 2012
This was another textbook we had to read for my class Business Systems at University of Phoenix.
March 25, 2013
I super liked this textbook. It was easy to read and follow for my Straighterline business course. And it really is just a beautiful book! So glad I own it! :)
March 11, 2013
Not bad for an introduction to business course. However, for high business classes, it would be useless, as it only scraps the surface of each major topic.
May 12, 2021
Textbook classic business introduction.
Covers most of the business aspects and logics.
Worth to put on the shelf and read now and then for career/business advise.
Covers most of the business aspects and logics.
Worth to put on the shelf and read now and then for career/business advise.
Read
January 5, 2014SO GOOD AND HELP FUL FORME
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews