Primary Sources
These archives from Gale Primary Sources provide researchers with first-hand content, including economic and financial literature like editorials, news, surveys, statistics, and industry reports.
Business, Industry, and Finance
Apply yourself to the field of business, industry, and finance. This includes companies, how they are managed, and their interactions with other businesses, governments, economies, and employees or contractors. The study of business can focus on an entire industry, such as the automotive or technology industry, or a single establishment. Those interested in studying business can examine it from a global perspective or with a narrow scope of a single country or region.
Regardless of size and location, all businesses have certain characteristics in common. For example, the primary goal of all businesses is to maximize profits and minimize costs. This requires a basic understanding of economics and finance. Many businesses employ financial analysts who look at the market and the economy as a whole to recommend the best strategy. Larger businesses have legal departments to ensure compliance with federal safety regulations, tax laws, and antitrust rules.
All businesses need workers, even if the only employee is the business owner. Businesses with multiple employees must manage them, which involves offering compensation and other benefits such as health care coverage. To assist in managing employees, larger corporations create human resource departments. In some industries, workers have formed unions to enter into collective bargaining with management.
All businesses must also find a way to promote themselves to current and prospective customers through a variety of promotional strategies and tactics to increase market share. Marketing in the twenty-first century includes a combination of traditional and digital tactics. Traditional marketing includes buying ads in print, creating flyers and brochures, sponsoring events, and launching direct mail advertising campaigns. Digital marketing includes search engine optimization (SEO) or search engine marketing (SEM), digital advertising, content marketing, email promotions, hosting and maintaining a website, and social media campaigns (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and blog posts).
Sales is the critical function of a business. Depending on the business model, sales can be completed through inside sales, outside sales, or online sales. Inside sales relies on communication with customers by email, phone, or online. Outside sales is more formal and is often done face-to-face with a customer. Online sales rely on selling products and services through an e-commerce platform, often with no one-on-one communication between the buyer and the seller.
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