Pedagogy Of Commerce -Paper 6 & 7 - B.Ed Notes

Pedagogy Of Commerce, Paper 6 and 7 notes

PEDAGOGY OF COMMERCE: In this article on Pedagogy Of Commerce, we will discuss all the Pedagogy of commerce-related terms, concepts, etc.

Ques: What do you mean by Pedagogy Of commerce? Is it science or an art or both? Discuss the nature and scope of Pedagogy Of commerce/ Business Studies.

Meaning of Commerce

All the activities which are undertaken in connection with the production of things and carrying them from the place of production to the place of consumption are called business. In short, the activities connected with the production are called industry, and the activities connected with the transport of goods produced from the factories to the consumers are called commerce.

Business Activities:

Industry
Commerce (Trade, Auxiliaries to Trade)

There is a long way which has to be covered in taking the finished products from the place of production to the place of consumption. It is a misconception that commerce is only the purchase and sale of goods. In commerce, all those activities are included whose objective is to remove the obstacles in the distribution of goods. This process begins in the following way.

Definitions of commerce

Various scholars have defined the word in the following way.

In the words of Evelyn Thomas, “Commercial occupations deal with the buying and selling of goods, the exchange of commodities, and the distribution of the finished products.”

According to James Stephenson, “Commerce is the sum total of those processes which are engaged in the removal of the hindrances of persons (trade), place (transport and insurance), and time (warehousing) in the exchange (banking) of commodities.”

In the words of William R. Spreegal, “Commerce is mainly concerned with the transfer of goods. The activities related to classification, integration, storing, finance-management and transportation and insurance are to be performed in it.”

Characteristics of commerce

On the basis of above definitions following are the characteristics of commerce:

Commerce is the distribution system of goods.
In commerce, all the activities related to the sale and purchase of goods and those which help in sales and purchase of goods are included.
Commerce creates utility.
It brings industry and consumers close to each other.
Commerce helps in providing the good at a relevant price, at a proper time at the proper place, in proper form to the proper person.
It is a study of human beings as producers and consumers.
It is a study of distribution and exchange.

Components of commerce

On the basis of the definition of commerce we can divide it into two parts:

Trade

In general words, trade means buying and selling goods with the purpose of getting profit. In other words, trade means the exchange of goods and services for the purpose of material profit of both the buyer and the sellers. We can carry it on the smallest as well as largest scale. Trade can be classified into two categories:

Home trade: Home trade means buying and selling things within the national boundaries. It includes the following:

Local trade: It has limits to some village, town, or district.
State trade: It is a trade among different districts of a state.
National trade: It is a trade among different states of the country.

Foreign trade: When trade crosses the national boundaries and reaches the foreign land then we call it as foreign trade. It includes:

Import Trade: When a businessman of a country buys some goods from the businessman of another country.
Export trade: When the trader of our country sells something to the trader of another country.
Entrepot trade: When a country imports some goods from another country and then exports the same goods to some third country.

Auxiliaries to Trade

Commerce includes not only trade but also various other subsidiary activities which are undertaken to overcome the hurdle appearing in the way of trade. The following activities are included in it:

Middlemen

There are fewer producers and a large number of consumers. Hence, it is not possible for all the consumers to purchase goods directly from the producers. So, there is a need for middlemen to establish contacts between producers and consumers. They consist of wholesalers, retailers,s, etc.

Banking

Money is required from the moment when raw material is purchased till the sale of the finished product. Hurdles of finance in the form of cash, letter of credit, the need for foreign exchange, to expand the business arises and these can be eliminated with the help of banking. The other means than banks as finance companies, stock exchanges are also utilized in the present-day economy to raise funds.

Advertising

Nowadays a producer, to attract the customer towards his product, has to provide full knowledge of it to the customer. Advertising helps in this activity. It enhances the knowledge of the customers and eliminates the hindrance of information.

Insurance

Whether goods are sold on a small scale or large scale, at the time of storage and transporting of these goods from one place to another, the risk is always there as damage of goods, theft of goods, the effect of natural calamities, etc. Insurance can solve this problem.

Warehousing

There remains a time gap between the manufacturing of any product and consumption of that product. So we have to store finished products. hence we can solve this problem by warehousing.

Transportation

Today, the trade has been extended from local level to national as well as international level. Hence, there is a need for transportation. So we can eliminate the hindrance of a trade by transport i.e. by carrying commodities from the production place to place where there is need.

Communication

There is a large distance between the producers, middlemen, and consumers. The means of communication like telephone, telegram, letter, telex, etc. help in finalizing the business deals. Due to the availability of modern means of communication as a computer, internet, etc., we perform business on an international basis.

Packaging

In the present-day economy, the importance of packaging is increasing day by day. It is needed to maintain the quality of the product and to send it safely. It also provides an attractive look to the product.

Stock and produce exchange

Stock and produce exchange can also be called a measure of the economic growth of a country. These are the important activities of the business. Stock exchange provides a platform for the sale and purchase of shares and debentures whereas produce exchange is an effective means of providing the goods. The stock exchange can have a good impact on disinvestment and providing the proper environment for trade and industries but it can destroy it also.

Thus it is clear that during the sale and purchase of goods there arise many hindrances and these hindrances can be eliminated with the help of commerce.

Nature of commerce

In the nature of commerce, we have to indicate whether it is a science or an art, a positive science or normative science, whether it can pass moral judgments in business. In order to decide whether commerce is a science or an art firstly we have to understand the meaning of ‘science’ and ‘art’.

Commerce – A science

Science is a systematized body of knowledge, which traces the relationship between cause and effect. Science is not a mere collection of facts, because a mere collection of facts can never constitute a science. To understand the meaning of science, we should know about the characteristics of science which are as follows:

The attitude of science is objective.
It has a fixed explanation.
It has the power to predict.
The important characteristic is that is systematic.

Thus we find that commerce is that branch of knowledge where the various facts relevant to it have been systematically collected, classified, and analyzed. Judged from this point of view, commerce is a full-fledged science.

Some writers seem to imagine that commerce cannot be given the dignified status of a science because:

Lack of exactness in commerce.
Scientific laws are completely true and fixed, whereas in commerce there is no such type of laws because it is based on human efforts which change according to the different situations.
The data on which scientific laws based are correct and true but the data in commerce can’t be so exact and true.
There is the inability to predict the future course of events as accurately as the physical sciences can.

It is no doubt, true that commerce cannot predict the future course of events as accurately as natural sciences and it very often happens that business prophecies are falsified by subsequent events. But on the basis of this only we can’t deny the scientific nature of commerce studies. The only reason for this lack of predictability is that commerce deals with highly complex and various forces, some of which are not amenable to correct prediction. Commerce deals with men endowed with freedom of will and there are no guarantee that they will act in a preconceived manner.

Commerce – An art

An ‘art’ like science is also a systematized body of knowledge. The object of art is the formulation of percepts immediately applicable to policy. The practical aspect of the art distinguishes it from science, which may be merely theoretical. Commerce, in certain respects, is an art as well.

There are several branches of commerce, which offer us practical guidance in the development of trade, in managing an institution. It provides occupational training to the students like clerical, accountancy, etc. It develops human values into the students like patience, honesty, cooperation, brotherhood, etc.

These human values help the students in later life as a businessman. It teaches how to accumulate money and how to invest that.

Thus we can say that commerce is both a science and an art because as a science, it formulates certain rules, principles, and theories while as an art, it gives them a practical shape.

It is both an academic discipline and a vocational discipline. In the words of Proof. Cossa, “Science provides us theoretical knowledge whereas art provides training in practical practices.

Scope of commerce

Commerce today covers a vast field and comprises many branches of scholarship in its fold. Like the bee it sucks honey from every flavor: The subject matter of commerce is very wide because it includes all the commercial activities performed by the man in the economy.

Commerce is a body of organized knowledge and thoughts about trade affairs. It is a science of arts, trade, and aids to trade; aids to trade are insurance, transport, communication, advertisements, etc.

The scope of commerce has to be broad enough to acquaint the pupils with a wide range of trade activities that are meaningful to them. We generally study the following facts to have a knowledge of the scope of commerce.

The subject matter of commerce

Commerce has its own subject matter. The Commerce area is both a knowledge subject and a skill subject. The objectives of the study of commerce are both preparatory to further studies in colleges and terminal to enter into the careers of middle-level lives of employment. Its subject matter is very vast.

The subject matter of commerce includes the study of general commerce, economics, geography, commercial laws, book-keeping, business management, accountancy, advertising and salesmanship, office practices, etc. Most of the subject matter serves to introduce the students to the activities of business enterprises.

According to University Education Commission 1948-49. Professional business education should include mathematics, statistics, theory of organization, business structure; finance, including management and budgeting of assets and of expenses; philosophy, history, and theory of law and organization of work including economic; process analysis and procedures, standardization of skills, cost analysis and the like.

Form of trade organization and types of trade

If we want to get organized knowledge about the problems of commerce, firstly we have to get knowledge about the nature and types of trade. When the trade is carried on within a country it is known as internal trade. The scope of this type of trade limits to the country and its problems can be solved by keeping the situations of the country in mind. But the problems related to international or foreign trade are different.

The problems related to it may be transportation, exchange control, imperial preference, tax, and toll, etc. thus internal and foreign trade is two different parts of commerce and there is a need to think about the problems related to it from different angles.

It is necessary to understand the organization of the trade to understand its problems. In an ancient period when the field of exchange was limited, the trade was in the hands of individual traders.

So in the present-day economy, there is planning to abolish the role of these middlemen, but their role is so specific and important that it is difficult to finish their complete role. The wholesaler buys the goods in large quantities from the producer or manufacturer or their authorized dealer and sells the same to the retailer in small quantities. Later on, the retailer sells these things to the customers as per their need.

Limitations of commerce

While studying the scope of commerce, we come to know about the limitations as follows:

It studies only business activities.
Commerce is completely a positive science.
It includes the study of activities related to business.
It studies the activities which are undertaken to overcome the hurdle appearing in the way of trade.

Thus commerce is a vast discipline comprises of different branches of management. We can summarize it as:

Social intercourse: The dealing of one person or class in society with another, familiarity.
The exchange or buying and selling of commodities, especially the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places and communities, extended trade or traffic.
To carry on trade, to traffic.
It deals with goods and services.
Deals with the creation of form, place, and time utilities.
Deals with a profit motive.

We hope that this article on Pedagogy Of Commerce has been beneficial for you. We have included all the pedagogy of commerce related terms and will continue the same topics in our next pedagogy of commerce articles. If you have any issue regarding this pedagogy of commerce article and its content, feel free to mail/contact us with the subject pedagogy of commerce. We will shortly get back to you.

Pedagogy Of Commerce Notes, Paper 6 and 7