Tema 1: La Empresa y su Entorno - Business Economics PDF

# Economía de la Empresa ## Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas (ADE) ### Tema 1: La Empresa y su Entorno #### Unidad didáctica ##### Tema 1: La Empresa y su Entorno ###### INDICE * **I. PRESENTACION** * **II. OBJETIVOS** * **III. ESQUEMA** * **IV. CONTENIDO** * **1. La empresa...

# Economía de la Empresa ## Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas (ADE) ### Tema 1: La Empresa y su Entorno #### Unidad didáctica ##### Tema 1: La Empresa y su Entorno ###### INDICE * **I. PRESENTACION** * **II. OBJETIVOS** * **III. ESQUEMA** * **IV. CONTENIDO** * **1. La empresa como realidad socioeconómica.** * **1.1. La función de la empresa como agente económico.** * **1.2. La responsabilidad social de la empresa.** * **2. Concepto de empresa. Evolución de la teoría de la empresa.** * **2.1. Concepto y características de la empresa.** * **2.2. Los elementos de la empresa.** * **2.3. Evolución de la teoría de la empresa.** * **2.4. La empresa como sistema.** * **3. La figura del empresario.** * **3.1. El emprendedor.** * **4. El entorno de la empresa.** * **4.1. Concepto y tipos de entorno.** * **4.2. El entorno macroeconómico y la macroeconomía.** * **4.2.1. Los problemas macroeconómicos.** * **4.3. El análisis del Entorno.** * **V. RESUMEN** * **VI. GLOSARIO:** * **VII. BIBLIOGRAFIA** **I. PRESENTACIÓN** The company is the primary focus of the Business Economics course. This first chapter will introduce the concept and economic reality of the company, as well as everything that surrounds it. The entrepreneur is an individual or collective body that sets company goals and makes the decisions to achieve them. The entrepreneur has undergone significant historical evolution in its defining characteristics. This unit will serve as a foundation for the rest of the units, as it aims to place you in the business reality, defining what a company is, its function in the market and in the economic system, what its characteristics and components are, and briefly reviewing the evolution of company theory. **II. OBJECTIVES** After studying this unit, you'll be able to: - Understand the concept of a company. - Understand the functions of a company as an economic agent. - Appreciate the social responsibility of companies. - Distinguish the characteristics of the company, as well as the elements that compose it. - Understand the company's evolution. - Understand and analyze the macroeconomic environment surrounding the company. - Assess the influence of the environment on the activity of companies. **III. ESQUEMA** A schematic of the company, showing its elements: - **Función:** Organize the productive process, anticipate national output, assume risks, develop the economic system, reduce costs. - **Características:** It's an organization, a production, a decision, a social system, a financial unit. - **Elements:** Passive factors, active factors or human capital, theories. - **Environment:** General -Political-Economic-Sociocultural-Technological-Ecological-Legal. Specific -Suppliers-Intermediaries-Clients-Competition-Intermediaries-Financials-Government-Unions. **IV. CONTENT** **1. The company as a socio-economic reality** Businesses are present in all aspects of our lives, proving that they are a socio-economic reality. They are studied by social and technological disciplines, making an interdisciplinary approach necessary to understand them. - **Economic Perspective:** The company is efficiently organized with the objective of achieving certain economic objectives, producing goods and services for the market. - **Internal or Administrative Perspective:** It entails human, technical, and financial elements organized in a hierarchy, leading to a directive function or entrepreneur. **1.1. The company's function as an economic agent** Taking into consideration a basic representation of the circular flow leads to the relationship between consumers and companies: - **Companies:** supply productive factors - goods and services. - **Families:** demand goods and services - supply productive factors. **1.2. The social responsibility of the company** Companies go above and beyond the pursuit of profit by committing to a series of social obligations: complying with laws, norms of coexistence, and general rules, aiming to benefit the entire country and ensuring the survival of the system. **2. Concept of company. Evolution of company theory** **2.1. Concept and characteristics of the company.** A company is an economic unit combining various factors, organized in a certain structure, and located in one or more physical and spatial areas. Its objective is to achieve certain results, including profits, and it is based on a specific property and control relationship. - **Organization**: It has an internal structure and an entrepreneur, seeking profits. - **Production**: Combines several economic factors to obtain products or services. - **Decision**: Achieves objectives through specific functions related to the rest of the economic system. - **Social**: It involves individuals with formal or informal relationships. - **Financial**: Invested in the market to reach its goals and ensure growth. **2.2. Elements of the company.** A company's elements can be divided into two groups: - **Passive factors**: include intangible resources, tangible resources, and financial resources. - **Active factors**: are the individuals necessary to transform these resources into goods/services (owners, employees, managers). **2.3. Evolution of company theory** Theories of the company are categorized as either focusing on microeconomics or organization. - **Neoclassical theory:** A theory that has been active until the beginning of the 20th century, it represents the company as an intermediary between the supply and demand markets. The firm's actions are dictated by the general equilibrium reached by the price and quantity agreements. However, this theory ignores the social and organizational dimensions of a company. - **Administrative theory:** This theory, which emerged in the 20th century, rejects the neoclassical approach. Instead, it focuses on the hierarchical relationship found in a company. - **Contractual theory:** This theory focuses on the costs of exchange and the company's ability to reduce them. - **Agency theory:** This theory focuses on the relationship between owners (principals) and managers (agents). - **Strategic theory:** This theory proposes managing the company to ensure its survival through constant change and adaptation to its environment. - **Systems theory:** This theory sees the company as an open system. **2.4. The company as a system.** Understanding a system means taking into account the relationship between its parts and how they interact. - **External Perspective:** the company is an open system that receives inputs and delivers outputs to its environment. - **Internal Perspective:** the company can be deconstructed into subsystems without losing sight of the relationship between them. **3. The role of the entrepreneur** The entrepreneur is considered an individual or collective body that sets company goals and makes the decisions to achieve them. - **First stage (Industrial Revolution):** Company ownership and management are completely concentrated in the hands of the founding family. The individual is both owner and manager. - **Second stage:** The family's capital ownership divides among several heirs. New shareholders are introduced. The family still maintains control and has a majority stake. - **Third stage:** The company's capital is distributed among the public, leading to a separation of ownership and management. Management has more control. **3.1. The entrepreneur.** The entrepreneur is characterized by their willingness to take risks and start projects. They are skilled at identifying and acting upon a business opportunity even if they lack resources. **4. The company's environment** The company’s environment is composed of external factors that could influence its actions and results. **4.1. Concept and types of environment.** - **General environment:** includes political, economic, social, technological, ecological, and legal factors. It can be analyzed using the PESTLE framework. - **Specific environment:** includes suppliers, intermediaries, clients, competitors, and the surrounding society. **4.2. The macroeconomic environment and macroeconomics** - **Macroeconomics:** The study of the economy as a whole. It aims to provide a simplified view of the economy while providing tools for analysis. - **Macroeconomic indicators:** are aggregate variables, measuring production, prices, and growth. **4.2.1. Macroeconomic problems.** The five main macroeconomic problems are Economic Growth and Productivity, Inflation, Unemployment, the Public Deficit, and the External Deficit. - **Economic Growth and Productivity:** Factors influencing growth: resources, capital, technology, knowledge, specialization, and productivity. Productivity is defined as the relationship between production and the resources used to achieve it. - **Inflation:** Defined as the sustained increase in prices. It's measured using the CPI, which reflects the cost of a basket of goods and services used by a typical household. - **Unemployment:** Two main groups: individuals in the workforce and those not in the workforce. - **Public deficit:** The difference between public spending and public revenue. - **External deficit:** The difference between imports and exports. **4.3. The analysis of the Environment** - **Dynamic Environment:** The constantly changing environment presents challenges to business decisions. **4.4. Analyzing the Environment using DAFO** * **Internal Analysis**: identify strengths and weaknesses. * **External Analysis**: identify opportunities and threats. **V. RESUME** - The company is a socio-economic reality that performs several key functions in the market economy. - The company is different from a legal entity, a social entity, and a technical or physical unit. **VI. GLOSSARY** - **Deficit exterior:** When imports exceed exports. - **Deficit público:** When government spending exceeds revenue. - **Deflación:** A sustained decline in prices. - **Deflator del PIB:** A measure of the price changes of all final goods and services in an economy. - **Eficiencia:** The ability to achieve an objective with minimal use of resources. - **Empresa:** An economic unit responsible for production. - **Entorno específico:** It includes the factors directly affecting the company. - **Entorno general:** Includes the political, economic, social, technological, ecological, and legal factors. - **Estanflación:** A stagnant economy with high inflation. - **Explotación:** A technical unit. - **Inflación:** A sustained increase in prices. - **IPC or Índice de Precios de Consumo**: A measure of price changes for goods and services. - **Macroeconomía:** The study of the economy as a whole. - **PIB or Producto Interior Bruto:** The total value of all finished goods and services produced in a country during a given year. - **Planta:** The physical location where the company operates. - **PNB or Producto Nacional Bruto:** The total value of all finished goods and services produced by the country's residents, regardless of location. - **Población activa:** Individuals who are employed or actively seeking employment. - **Población en edad de no trabajar:** Individuals who have not yet reached the legal working age. - **Población en edad de trabajar:** Individuals who have reached the legal working age. - **Población inactiva:** Individuals who are not employed and are not actively seeking employment. - **Productividad:** The relationship between production and resources used. - **Relación de agencia:** A relationship between the principal and the agent, where the principal delegates authority. - **Recesión:** Decline in economic activity. - **Sociedad:** A legal entity or legal form of a company. - **Tasa de actividad:** The percentage of the population actively seeking employment. - **Tasa de desempleo:** The percentage of the population actively seeking employment who is unemployed. **VII. BIBLIOGRAFIA** * **Basic bibliography:** * **Complementary bibliography:** This is a comprehensive overview of the first chapter. Using this markdown format, you can have a structured, comprehensive, and easy-to-read study guide.