Business, Consulting, and Finance

Consulting

Consulting is the practice of helping companies increase their efficiency and profits by addressing the major operational or strategic challenges they’re facing. There are four main types of consulting: management strategy / consulting, financial consulting, information technology (IT) consulting, and Human Resources staffing / consulting.

Consumer Products/Retail

The general consumer products industry produces goods that the public wants or needs. It produces two types of goods: durable and nondurable. Durable goods have a long life span and hold up over time; examples of durable goods are cars, electronics, tools, and washing machines. Nondurable goods, which do not last as long, include such products as food, cosmetics, and clothing. General consumer products are sold in retail stores, door-to-door, by mail order, and online.

• Today, retail is a complex and diverse field. It involves the selling of all types of physical goods, such as automobile parts, pharmaceuticals, clothing, health care products, books, and food, as well as services, such as automobile repair or rug cleaning. The retail field consists of supermarkets, department stores, chain stores, specialty stores, variety stores, franchise stores, mail-order houses, online merchants, and door-to-door sellers.

Data Analytics

Data analytics is the process of examining data sets in order to draw conclusions about the information they contain, increasingly with the aid of specialized systems and software. Data analytics technologies and techniques expand across a multitude of industries (consumer products, healthcare, manufacturing), and enable organizations to make more-informed business decisions.

• A data analyst is similar to a data scientist, but are often not responsible for creating the algorithms used for data discovery and acquisition. Rather than creating their own data projects, data analysts often find themselves tackling specific business tasks using existing tools, systems, and data sets. Both careers share a common goal: to discover how to use information to answer questions and solve problems for the benefit of their business/industry.

Startup/Entrepreneurship

In sum, entrepreneurship is the process of starting and developing a company, with the aim of delivering something new or improved to the market, or by organizing the means of production in a superior way.  This process is principally organized through the formation of a startup company, is managed by entrepreneurs, often under considerable personal and financial risk, and is temporary in duration, as a phase in a business’s lifecycle.  

• A key distinction between start-ups and other small or young businesses is an aspiration (realized or not) to substantially grow.  As companies mature out of the start-up phase, they evolve into sustainable businesses, are acquired or sold to public investors, or decay and may eventually shut down, as new companies start-up and take their place.

Finance/Banking

Finance is a broad term that describes two related activities: the study of how money is managed and the actual process of acquiring needed funds. It encompasses the oversight, creation and study of money, banking, credit, investments, assets and liabilities that make up financial systems.

Insurance

The insurance industry comprises companies and people who develop insurance policies, sell, administer, and regulate them. Some insurance companies offer investment products and employ people who develop, sell, administer, or service these products. Insurance is about managing risk, for both the insurance company and its customers. The insurance industry is divided into three main branches: life insurance, health insurance, and property and casualty insurance.

Marketing/Sales

Marketing refers to activities undertaken by a company to promote the buying or selling of a product or service, to consumers or other businesses. A sale is a transaction between two or more parties in which the buyer receives goods--either tangible or intangible--services, and / or assets in exchange for money or other assets paid to a seller. 

Real Estate

The real estate industry encompasses the many facets of property, including development, appraisal, marketing, selling, leasing, and management of commercial, industrial, residential, and agricultural properties. This industry can fluctuate depending on the national and local economies, although it remains somewhat consistent due to the fact that people always need homes and businesses always need office space.

Sports Business

Sports business (management) is the study and practice of all people, activities, businesses, or organizations involved in producing, facilitating, promoting, or organizing andy sports-related business or product. The sports business industry consists of numerous other segments, some of which are sports tourism, semi-professional sports, recreation, high school and college sports, outdoor sports, and sports-service businesses such as sports marketing firms, sports sponsorship management companies, and sport governing bodies. Essentially, in the sports business industry, there are numerous jobs that combine two interests into one job (e.g. photography, computer programming).