| Course | BUS-1010 Introduction to Business |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Written assignment 1: business trends in diverse, global environments |
| Length | About 850 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | Bachelor of Science in Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for BUS 1010 Module 1
Passaic Fire Sauce Company: The Business Environment, a First Export Decision and Social Responsibility
Student Name
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Thomas Edison State University
BUS-1010: Introduction to Business
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
Passaic Fire Sauce Company: The Business Environment, a First Export Decision and Social Responsibility
The three answers below use a single composite business as their example. Passaic Fire Sauce Company is a small-batch hot sauce maker in Paterson, New Jersey, founded by two cousins in 2022. It employs nine people, sells through about 60 independent grocery stores in New Jersey and New York and online, and buys most of its dried chiles from growers in Mexico. Each answer is written to the module's 250 to 500 word range.
Question 1: How Does the Business Environment Shape a Small Company?
The textbook describes a business environment made up of economic and legal, technological, competitive, social and global forces that surround every firm and that no single firm controls (Nickels et al., 2016). For Passaic Fire Sauce, each force is visible in daily decisions.
The economic environment sets its costs and its customers' spending. When grocery prices rose, shoppers traded down from $9 craft sauces to store brands, and the company responded with a smaller $5.50 bottle. Interest rates matter too, because its new bottling line was financed with a bank loan. The legal environment includes food safety rules, nutrition labeling requirements and New Jersey's permits for commercial kitchens, all of which add cost but also protect the brand from competitors who cut corners.
Technology has lowered barriers to entry. An online store, inexpensive label printing and social media videos let the cousins reach customers across the country without a distributor, something that would have been impossible for a nine-person company a generation ago. The same tools let hundreds of other small sauce makers do the same, which is why the competitive environment is crowded. Passaic competes by emphasizing what large brands cannot easily copy: chiles sourced from named farms and flavors drawn from the Peruvian, Dominican and Mexican communities of Paterson.
Social and global forces complete the picture. Demand for spicy and international flavors has grown as American tastes have diversified, and the company's own neighborhood is its test market. Its dependence on Mexican chiles links it to weather, crop prices and exchange rates far from New Jersey. A small business cannot control these forces, but it can watch them and adjust faster than a large competitor.
Question 2: Should the Company Begin Exporting?
A Toronto specialty grocer has offered to carry three Passaic sauces. Exporting would expand the company's market and could lower its unit costs by spreading fixed costs over more bottles. Research on exporters suggests caution as well as promise. Bernard et al. (2007) summarized studies across many countries showing that exporting firms tend to be larger, more productive and more capital-intensive than firms that sell only at home, and that these differences exist before they begin to export. In other words, exporting is easier for firms that are already efficient; it does not automatically make a firm efficient.
For Passaic, the costs of entry are specific. Canada requires bilingual English and French labels with nutrition information in its own format, which means new labels for each sauce. Shipping glass bottles across the border adds freight, brokerage and the risk of breakage. The exchange rate creates another uncertainty: if the Canadian dollar weakens, either Passaic's price in Toronto rises or its margin falls. On the other hand, trade between the United States and Canada is governed by a free trade agreement that keeps most tariffs on goods like these at zero, and the grocer would handle distribution.
A sensible approach is a limited trial: one sauce, a single grocer and a contract that sets prices in U.S. dollars. If the trial shows steady reorders, the company can add products and stores; if not, it has learned about exporting at modest cost.
Question 3: What Does Social Responsibility Mean for a Small Food Company?
Carroll (1991) described corporate social responsibility as a set of layered obligations: to be profitable, to obey the law, to act ethically beyond what the law requires and to contribute to the community. For a nine-person company, the layers are practical rather than abstract.
Profit comes first because a company that fails cannot employ anyone or support its neighborhood. Legal responsibility means accurate labels, allergen warnings and safe production. The ethical layer is where small choices matter most. Passaic markets its sauces as made with farm-sourced chiles, so it has an obligation to know how those farms treat their workers, even though no law requires it; the cousins now visit their main supplier each year and pay a premium for chiles from a cooperative that publishes its wages. Honest marketing is part of the same layer: the company stopped calling one sauce all-natural after learning that a thickener it used did not fit most customers' understanding of the term.
The philanthropic layer is the most visible but the least essential. Passaic donates sauce to a Paterson food pantry's monthly community dinner and hires through a local reentry program. These efforts build loyalty in the neighborhood that is also its core market, which shows that responsibility and business interest can align when the commitments are genuine.
References
Bernard, A. B., Jensen, J. B., Redding, S. J., & Schott, P. K. (2007). Firms in international trade. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(3), 105-130. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.21.3.105
Carroll, A. B. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizons, 34(4), 39-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/0007-6813(91)90005-G
Nickels, W. G., McHugh, J. M., & McHugh, S. M. (2016). Understanding business (11th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Reading the BUS 1010 Module 1 assignment instructions
BUS-1010 includes six written assignments worth 30% of the grade together, six discussions worth 20%, a proctored midterm worth 30%, and a final paper with an outline due in Module 4. The syllabus asks you to answer every essay question in each assignment, with each answer between 250 and 500 words, written in your own words and supported by course materials and outside sources that you cite. Module 1's questions usually concern the dynamic business environment, economics and global trade, and ethics or social responsibility. Proofread carefully, since spelling, grammar and clarity are part of what mentors read for, and use the Nickels, McHugh and McHugh textbook as your main source.
How the BUS 1010 Module 1 example is put together
Instead of answering each question with a different example, the sample introduces one composite company in a short opening and uses it in all three answers, which makes each answer concrete and saves words for analysis. Every answer has its own heading and stays within the syllabus word range. The first answer organizes the environment by the textbook's categories and gives a consequence for each. The second uses research on exporting firms to frame a real decision and ends with a specific recommendation. The third applies a four-layer model of responsibility to choices the company actually made. Sources are cited in each answer and listed once at the end. A short closing line in each answer ties it back to the question.
Where the marks sit in the BUS 1010 Module 1 rubric
Mentors grade BUS-1010 written assignments on whether each question is fully answered, whether the answers show critical thinking rather than repeated textbook definitions, whether points are supported with course materials and outside sources, and whether the writing is clear and correct. The syllabus sets the 250 to 500 word range per answer, so answers far outside it lose points. Examples that apply concepts to a business, a recommendation where the question invites one, and properly cited sources raise the grade. Because the written assignments carry 30% of the course grade, steady quality across all six matters. Mentors also check that each answer actually takes a position where the question asks for one.
BUS 1010 Module 1 help from the desk
Many first submissions in this course answer with definitions copied or paraphrased from the textbook, which the syllabus asks you not to do. Explain ideas in your own words and apply them. Another is uneven length, with one long answer and two short ones; keep each within 250 to 500 words. Students also forget to cite sources in each answer, or rely only on the textbook. Choose a real or realistic business you know and use it throughout. Proofread for spelling and grammar, which mentors notice. Our writers can prepare BUS 1010 written assignment answers built around the questions in your course and a business you choose.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Thomas Edison State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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BUS 1010 Module 1 questions, answered
Where can I find a free BUS 1010 Module 1 sample paper?
This page shows the full first written assignment for Introduction to Business: three essay answers about one composite company, each within the syllabus word range, with sources and margin notes.
How long should each BUS-1010 essay answer be?
The syllabus asks for 250 to 500 words per question, about one to two double-spaced pages, written in your own words.
Do I need outside sources in BUS-1010 written assignments?
Yes. The syllabus asks you to support your points with course materials and outside sources and to cite and document all of them.
What forces make up the business environment?
The textbook groups them as economic and legal, technological, competitive, social and global forces. Each affects costs, customers or competition in different ways.
How is BUS-1010 graded?
Six discussions count for 20%, six written assignments for 30%, the proctored midterm for 30% and the final paper and its outline for the rest.