A successful storefront operation that is considering the addition of an e-business component will face numerous challenges. This video explores the thinking behind the decision of Powell's Books, a thriving regional bookseller, to venture into e-business. The questions they had to ask included: Is there a market for the product? How do we accurately build a data base of books? What type of staffing will be needed? Will we need different equipment? How does a company logistically...

Every business begins with an idea from an entrepreneur. This video explores how an entrepreneur's idea to open a small grocery store during the Great Depression resulted in a major regional grocery store chain called Minyard Food Stores.

E-business presents unique challenges in the area of security, privacy, and ethics. This video explores these challenges in light of the ease with which information can be collected from online customers. Consumer confidence in online privacy and security is key to the continued growth of e-commerce.

Every business begins with an idea that blossomed in the mind of an entrepreneur - a person who decides to take a risk to make a profit. This video examines two successful businesses created by entrepreneurs: Minyard Food Stores and Tootsie Roll industries. Minyard Food Stores began as a small family-owned neighborhood market and grew to a large regional grocery chain. Tootsie Roll Industries began with the idea of selling wrapped penny candy and now sells millions of its candy products...

No matter whether a business is a storefront, online or a combination of the two, certain principles apply to all. This video presents the basic elements of a business, including profit, a business plan, marketing plan, finance, accounting, logistics, knowing your customer, having a unique product or service to sell, anticipating challenges that may arise, and adopting procedures and operations to deal with these challenges.

In the business system, companies don't operate in isolation, nor do they function in of world of little change and perfect predictability. Successful companies must constantly monitor their strategies, practices, procedures, and operations to respond to the forces of change in a marketplace.

All businesses must balance four forces: risk, profit, competition and customer satisfaction. This video profiles two companies that understand this balancing act: Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey Circus and Dat'l Do-It Hot Sauces Company in St. Augustine, Florida.

An entrepreneur's idea for a business is based on satisfying needs and wants. This video explores how an entrepreneur with the idea of selling wrapped penny candy built Tootsie Roll Industries, a company that now sells millions of its candy products daily.

Not all businesses want to be giant corporations. Some businesses start small and stay small because their goals do not include expansion or growth. This video profiles such a business, the Bear-Hawk Indian Store and Museum in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The internet has grown from one of the world's best kept secrets to an indispensable business tool. In the process, entrepreneurs have learned that the fundamentals of running a successful e-business are the same as operating a traditional storefront enterprise.

Competition in the global arena sometimes forces companies that have been competing throughout their histories to suddenly become partners. This is quite common in the aerospace industry. This video looks at alliances between companies (and countries) that have teamed up to work together on NASA's international space station.

Many competing businesses offer what appear to be identical products or services to the same target market. But certain companies emerge from the pack and win customer acceptance and market share beyond that of their competitors by defining a niche for themselves and satisfying their customers. This video focuses on Southwest Airlines, a company that has defined a niche for itself in the highly competitive air transportation market by knowing its customers and hiring quality employees who...

Balancing risk and profit means the entrepreneur has to determine what level of risk he's willing to take. This video explores the process of looking at risks by an entrepreneur and the affect of risk on the long-range profitability of the business.

The circus is classic entertainment and, as a business, it's an excellent example of balancing risk and profit. This video features the Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey Circus as it risks its resources to make a profit. By knowing its competition and its target customers it provides the best service it can offer.

One of the most competitive business fields in the United States is health care. This video features the Presbyterian Healthcare System as an example of how hospitals that have been fierce competitors for decades are now working together and creating partnerships. The reason for this change is that alliances, rather than individual competition, are becoming important in serving the broad geography that the health care industry needs to serve.

This video shows how business affects all aspects of our lives. When business is thriving, so is the economy of a community. But when business moves out, jobs vanish.