Open Educational Resources and Business

Introduction to Business (OpenStax) – LibreTexts (CC BY 4.0)

Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond.

This Introduction to Business course develops students’ understanding of business fundamentals with learning design structured around timely, real-world case studies and examples. Key topics include the role of business, the global economic and legal environment, ethics, marketing, accounting and finance, and managing processes and operations. Enriched OER content (text, video, simulations, etc.) orients students to the shifting business landscape and prepares them for success in business program curriculum and the workplace.

Fundamentals of Business, Third Edition (2020) covers the following topics in Business: Teamwork; economics; ethics; entrepreneurship; business ownership, management, and leadership; organizational structures and operations management; human resources and motivating employees; managing in labor union contexts; marketing and pricing strategy; hospitality and tourism, accounting and finance, and personal finances.

Note: The version adapted by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Services is unpublished as of 12/31/24.
Exploring Business is adapted from a work produced by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution. The version adapted by Saylor Academy is an old resource that has not been revised.

Except where otherwise noted, all material in Boundless courses are licensed under a CC BY-SA license. Click the words “Licenses and Attributions” at the bottom of each page for copyright and licensing information specific to the material on that page. The Boundless Business textbook is a college-level, introductory textbook that provides an overview of the fascinating subject of Business. Boundless works with subject matter experts to select the best open educational resources available on the web, review the content for quality, and create introductory, college-level textbooks designed to meet the study needs of university students.

This text provides business terminologies, concepts, and current business practices. It covers five major topics: the context of business, entrepreneurship and legal forms, marketing, accounting, finance, and banking, and management.

The Business Fundamentals book covers the common business topics focusing on entrepreneurial start-ups: business models, marketing, accounting, finance, and banking, management, and growth strategies for start-ups.
Note: It has not been updated, revised, or reviewed recently.

Note: The version by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Services is unpublished as of 12/31/24.
The Business Communication for Success is adapted from a work produced by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution. It has not significantly updated the original 2010 text.  It provides a comprehensive, integrated approach to studying and applying effective written and oral business communication.

It has fourteen chapters and covers the key concepts of media innovation and entrepreneurship that media, communication, or journalism students need, especially as content and technology businesses’ development is very different from traditional brick-and-mortar entrepreneurship.

It provides instruction in steps, builds writing, reading, and critical thinking, and combines a comprehensive grammar review with an introduction to paragraph writing and composition. This step-by-step approach provides a clear path to student-centered learning. A wide range of writing levels and abilities are addressed, helping each student prepare for the next writing or university course. It has fourteen chapters covering topics:  Writing basics, punctuation, word choice, sentence variety, writing process, revising and presenting, selecting the right formats, and citing techniques.

This course allows students to develop effective written communication strategies specifically for the workplace. It has sixteen chapters covering these topics:  From idea gathering to drafting to delivery, this course will prepare students to write a variety of documents, including memos, letters, and reports, tailored to professional audiences.

This textbook is designed for beginning-intermediate English language learners. It is composed of 7 chapters, each of which covers specific speaking and listening learning objectives and includes dialogues, interviews, discussions, and conversation activities. Each chapter includes listening and speaking components such as dialogues, interviews, discussions, and conversation activities. Each chapter also focuses on ten target words from the New General Service List of English vocabulary. The textbook includes an audio component that consists of recorded conversations of native and non-native English speakers, as well as links to additional listening resources on the web. Available in PDF, MS Word, and online.

The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business (PDF) (CC BY-NC-SA) This textbook provides a general overview of the legal environment for business students.  It covers topics:  laws and business, the court system, litigation, dispute resolution, contracts, torts, personal and intellectual property, criminal law, legal forms, discrimination, and the global legal environment.
Please note: This is an older resource that has not been revised or updated. May be outdated.

Business Ethics is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the single-semester business ethics course.   It has 11 chapters and includes features designed to enhance student learning, including case studies, application scenarios, and links to video interviews with executives, all of which help instill in students a sense of ethical awareness and responsibility. Available as a PDF and online for free. 

This book has been specifically created to make it easier for professors to offer a law school course on global corruption. It is also designed as a resource tool for all persons working in the anti-corruption field. The first chapter sets out the general context of global corruption: its nature and extent, and some views on its historical, social, economic, and political dimensions. Each subsequent chapter sets out international standards and requirements with respect to combatting corruption — mainly in the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and the OECD Bribery of Foreign Officials Convention (OECD Convention). The laws of the United States and the United Kingdom are then set out as examples of how those Convention standards and requirements are met in two influential jurisdictions. Finally, the law of Canada is set out. Thus, a professor from Africa, Australia, New Zealand, or English-speaking countries in Asia and Europe has a nearly complete coursebook. For example, that professor can delete the Canadian sections of this book and insert the law and practices of their home country in their place. While primarily directed to a law school course on global corruption, this book will be of interest to professors teaching courses on corruption from other academic disciplines and lawyers, and other anti-corruption practitioners. Available in PDF and online.

Introduction to Intellectual Property provides a clear, effective introduction to patents, copyright, trademarks, and trade secrets. Students and instructors may use the text in formal courses and apply intellectual property considerations to entrepreneurship, marketing, law, computer science, engineering, design, or other fields. The luminaries involved in this project represent the forefront of knowledge and experience, and the material offers numerous examples, scenarios, exercises, and references.
Note: Web Version Last Updated on Mar 31, 2023

Fundamentals of Business Law (Randall et al., 2020) – Pressbooks (CC BY)
This book is an introductory survey of the legal topics required in undergraduate business law classes. It exceeds the requirements for BUS-125 course. It is available online, word doc, and pdf formats on Open Textbook Library. It has been extensively reviewed in Feb 2021 and Jun 2022.

Foundations of Business Law and the Legal Environment (Saylor Foundation – PDF) (CC BY-NC-SA)
This textbook has 32 chapters and provides a comprehensive view of the legal issues in the business environment.  It covers a wide range of topics such as laws and business, ethics, the court system, constitutional law, administrative law, contracts, criminal law litigation, torts, dispute resolution, personal and intellectual property, legal forms, third-party rights, products liabilities, partnerships, corporate finance, etc.
Please note that this is an older resource. The book was published in 2012 and it does not appear to have been reviewed or revised.

 Business Law I Essentials is a brief introductory textbook designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of courses on Business Law or the Legal Environment of Business. The concepts are presented in 14 chapters in a streamlined manner and cover the key concepts necessary to establish a strong foundation in the subject. The textbook follows a traditional approach to the study of business law. Each chapter contains learning objectives, explanatory narratives and concepts, references for further reading, and end-of-chapter questions. Business Law I Essentials may need to be supplemented with additional content, cases, or related materials and is offered as a foundational resource that focuses on the baseline concepts, issues, and approaches. Available in PDF and online.

This textbook provides context and essential concepts for business students to understand what an information system is, how it is built for businesses to run their companies, and develop competitive advantages.  This book is divided into three parts. Part 1 discusses what an information system (IS) is and its components. Part 2 discusses how people use IS for personal and professional development, how businesses use IS to create and sustain competitive advantages, and how people build and support IS. Part 3 discusses the role of IS in globalization, the ethical and legal implications, and emerging trends of the future.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Toolkit (Swanson, 2020) – LibreTexts (CC BY-SA) This textbook is designed for upper-year undergraduate students and graduate students studying fundamental entrepreneurship concepts. It has ten chapters covering key topics of entrepreneurship such as opportunity recognition, business model, financing, and innovation. Available in pdf, online, eReader, and common cartridge

This textbook and its accompanying spreadsheet templates were designed with and for students wanting a practical and easy-to-follow guide for developing a business plan. It has eight chapters walking through the steps to develop the plan.

This textbook is intended for use in introductory Entrepreneurship classes at the undergraduate level. It has 15 chapters covering key topics of entrepreneurships such as: opportunity recognition, business model, financing, ethics, invention, and innovation.  OpenStax indicates that this book has been used in over 200 classrooms. Ancillaries may be available with an account.

A gap exists in management curricula between conventional business practices that assume infinite resources and safe waste disposal on the one hand, and the sustainability innovation that today’s new market conditions demand. There are now well-developed and vetted frameworks, analyses, and tools, such as cradle-to-cradle design, green chemistry, industrial ecology, The Natural Step, and markets for ecological services, as well as newly forged and creative ways of collaborating and organizing to maximize innovative outcomes. These ideas are explored. Emphasis in the collection is on private sector examples, but social enterprise and entrepreneurship cases are also included.

Entrepreneurs who are interested in creating social NGOs would benefit from this book. This handbook will guide students through the steps of starting and operating an NGO. The online version includes several translations such as Arabic, Chinese, French, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Available in PDF and online.

Principles of Marketing is designed to meet the scope and sequence for a one-semester marketing course for undergraduate business majors and minors. Principles of Marketing provides a solid grounding in the core concepts and frameworks of marketing theory and analysis so that business students interested in a major or minor in marketing will also be prepared for more rigorous, upper-level elective courses.

The Power of Selling is the perfect textbook to teach students about the proven process of selling. More important, it teaches students how to apply the tenets of selling to how to sell themselves and get the job they want, with the same process professional sales people learn (or brush up) on their own selling skills. The content can be applied to agricultural sales as well.

 Except where otherwise noted, all material in Boundless courses is licensed under a CC BY-SA license. Click the words “Licenses and Attributions” at the bottom of each page for copyright and licensing information specific to the material on that page. The Boundless Marketing textbook has 17 chapters and is a college-level, introductory textbook that covers marketing topics: marketing environment, consumers, business, service and global marketing, the 4Ps, social media marketing, and social responsibility. Quizzes and PowerPoints are available.

It has 23 chapters, and carries five dominant themes throughout in order to expose students to marketing in today’s environment: Service dominant logic, sustainability, ethics and social responsibility, global coverage, and metrics.

Through good economic times and bad, marketing remains the pivotal function in any business. Determining and satisfying the needs of customers through products that have value and accessibility and whose features are clearly communicated is the general purpose of any business. It is also a fundamental definition of marketing. This text introduces students to the marketing strategies and tools that practitioners use to market their products. Available as PDF.

Principles of Marketing teaches the experience and process of actually doing marketing – not just the vocabulary. It carries five dominant themes throughout in order to expose students to marketing in today’s environment: Service dominant logic, sustainability, ethics and social responsibility, global coverage, and metrics. Content originally pulled from Saylor Academy.

Customer centricity is about organizational transformation making the customer the focus of business decisions, processes, product development, services, and procedures. It has eight chapters and covers topics:  customer centricity, being a customer service representative, managing a customer service team, and using a contact center.

Principles of Management (OpenStax) – LibreTexts (CC BY 4.0)

Principles of Management is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the introductory course on management. This is a traditional approach to management using the leading, planning, organizing, and controlling approach. Management is a broad business discipline. Key topics include the role of business, the global economic and legal environment, ethics, marketing, accounting and finance, and managing processes and operations.  Openstax indicates that this book is used in 294 classrooms.

Note: The version by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Services is unpublished as of 12/31/24.
In 16 chapters, Principles of Management teaches management principles to tomorrow’s business leaders by weaving three threads through every chapter: strategy, entrepreneurship, and active leadership. 

Except where otherwise noted, all material in Boundless courses are licensed under a CC BY-SA license. It has 16 chapters covering topics such as organizational theory, culture, behavior, and structure, leadership, and ethics.  PowerPoint files and quizzes are available.

Small Business Management in the 21st century (Cadden, Lueder, 2012) – PDF (CC BY-NC-SA)

The book has 15 chapters and covers key aspects of small business management that small business owners need to know.

Note: The version by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Services is unpublished as of 12/31/24.
The book has 14 chapters and teaches HRM strategies and theories that any manager—not just those in HR—needs to know about recruiting, selecting, training, and compensating people.

The book is intended to be a capstone course.  It has 15 chapters and covers various aspects of retail management and store operations including merchandising, operations, layout, store organization, site location, and customer service.

The book has 15 chapters and covers various key aspects of global business such as world economies, monetary system, capital marketing, importing and exporting, global supply chain. Content on LibreTexts, originially pulled from Saylor Academy

Introductory Business Statistics 2e aligns with the topics and objectives of the typical one-semester statistics course for business, economics, and related majors. The text provides detailed and supportive explanations and extensive step-by-step walkthroughs. The author places a significant emphasis on the development and practical application of formulas so that students have a deeper understanding of their interpretation and application of data. Problems and exercises are largely centered on business topics, though other applications are provided in order to increase relevance and showcase the critical role of statistics in a number of fields and real-world contexts.