Page 37 - Business Principles and Management

44681_01_ch1_p002-027 pp4.qxd 2/16/07 3:32 AM Page 24

C HAPTER 1 A SSESSMENT

APPLY WHAT YOU KNOW

23. Why is the supply and demand of products important to both busi-
nesses and consumers?
24. Why do you believe some innovations are successful whereas
others are not?
25. Do you believe that most U.S. businesses are getting better at meet-
ing the challenges of global competition? Why or why not?
26. Do you believe it is more important for a business to be more
effective, be more efficient, or try to balance both? Justify your
choice.
27. Why do you believe employees would want to work in a business
that believes in empowerment even when it often means more
work and responsibility?

MAKE CONNECTIONS

28. Research Use your school library or the Internet to identify the top 10
industries in the United States based on the number of businesses in
the industry. Prepare a bar chart to report your findings. Make sure
to carefully label all of the information.
29. Math Use the U.S. GDP figures shown below to answer these ques-
tions: (a) What is the actual number of dollars for 1970? Show all
the necessary digits. (b) What is the percent of increase for each
decade? (c) Calculate the total percent of increase from 1970 to
2000. (d) Determine the average yearly increase in the GDP for the
period shown.
Year GDP ($)
1970 1.036 trillion
1980 2.784
1990 5.744
2000 9.963
30. Technology Use a word-processing or desktop publishing program to
create a historic timeline that illustrates every decade from 1950 to
the present. Use the Internet to identify an important innovation
that had a major impact on businesses and consumers for each de-
cade. Complete the timeline by listing the innovation, the inventor
of the innovation, and the year it was developed.
31. Speaking You are a manager at a company that is implementing a
program to empower employees. Prepare a speech that could be
presented to the employees that will inform them about the pro-
gram and the benefits to them and to the business. You may want
to prepare a slide presentation using a computer to support your
speech.
32. Writing At a library or on the Internet, find a recent article about
problems a U.S. company or industry is having in competing with
foreign companies. Write a report describing the problems and
what the U.S. companies are doing to compete more successfully.

24