Unit 7A Glossary

BTEC Level 3 Business Studies. Unit 7: Business Decision Making

5Cs analysis - Company, Collaborators, Customers, Competitors, and Context

7ps - The extended marketing mix - product, price, promotion, place, people, processes and physical evidence

Aims and objectives - The goals and targets of a business

Ansoff Matrix - An analytical tool to devise various product and market growth strategies, depending on whether businesses want to market new or existing products in either new or existing markets.

Behavioural segmentation - Dividing a market into segments based on their buying habits

Benchmarking - The process of comparing the performance of a firm's products, services, or procedures to those of another company regarded as the best in the industry.

Best practice - An optimal way recognised by industry to achieve a stated goal or objective

Boston Matrix - A model which analyses a product portfolio according market share and market growth. Products are categorised as question marks, stars, cash cows and dogs

Brand recognition - An objective to increase the familiarity of the business amongst the population

Business ideas - Thinking processes on how to profitably create products, services, and processes.

Business location - The geographical site of a business

Business models - A plan that details how a company creates, delivers, and generates revenues

Business objectives - The aims or targets that a business works towards.

Business premises - The buildings and facilities where business operations take place.

Business systems - Protocols outlining how to conduct tasks in an organisation to meet business objectives.

Buy or rent - A choice of whether to purchase an asset or use an asset belonging to another business for a regular fee

Buy outright - To pay in full for an asset

Change in ownership - A sole trader becomes a partnership or limited company

Changes to processes - Adapting the way in which tasks are completed such as manufacturing.

Competition in the market - Rival firms selling the same or similar products and services.

Competitive pressures - Rivalry from other businesses in the market that can cause a business to change their aims and objectives

Competitor analysis - The practise of identifying rivals and potential rivals and understanding their strengths and weaknesses

Conditions of employment - The specific details of a job offer, such as working hours, salary or wages, and responsibilities.

Consumer rights and protection - Regulations that protect the rights of those buying and using products

Costs and returns - The benefits and drawbacks of a business decision

Current trends - The latest preferences and behaviours of customers.

Data processing tools - Processing tools used to store large amounts of data relevant to a business organisation

Data protection - Legislation aimed at preventing individuals' personal information from being misused, exploited, or mismanaged.

Demographic segmentation - Segmenting markets by age, gender, income, ethnic background, and family life cycle

Economic climate - The general state of the economic systems in which a company operates.

Economic trends - The overall direction of inflation, balance of payments, interest rates and exchange rates

Efficiency savings - An objective to reduce costs by reducing waste

Employment rights and protection - Regulations that protect the rights of workers

Entrepreneur - A person who begins a business and is willing to risk losing money in order to profit.

External environment - Factors beyond the business's control that can have an impact on its operations. These include political, economic, social, technological and environmental.

Financial resources - Money or other items of value that are used to acquire goods and services

Financial returns - A measurement of the financial gains of a decision or business action.

Financing growth - The use of investment from additional owners to increase the size of the business

Flat organisational structure - An organisational structure that has a wide span of control, few management levels and a short chain of command.

Full-time staff - An employee who is contractually obliged to work a minimum number of hours per week. Usually between 30 - 35.

Gap in the market - A group of customers who's needs are not currently being met by current goods and services on offer.

Geographic segmentation - The grouping of consumers on the basis of where they live

Growth - An objective to increase the size of a business, e.g. by increasing sales

Health and safety at work - Regulations to ensure that employers do everything practical to ensure the safety of their staff and their visitors.

Hierarchical organisational structure - A formal or traditional structure where the organisational chart has many layers of authority.

Hire purchase - To rent an asset until the final payment where ownership is transferred

Human resources - The function of an organisation responsible for staff. Innovations - New or improved products and processes

Internal environment - The processes and culture within an organisation including interactions with staff and processes.

International business - A business that operates in multiple countries.

Intrapreneurship - Displaying traits of an entrepreneur but when employed within a larger organisation.

Just-in-case - A traditional stock management system where buffer stocks are held

Just-in-time processes - Organising purchasing of goods so that they arrive as and when they are needed in the production process

Lease - To rent an asset for a period of time for a fee

Legislation - Laws or sets of laws to regulate industry.

Likely demand - A prediction of the amount of a product or service that will be bought.

Limited companies - Firms owned by shareholders who have limited liability.

Local business - A business that operates in a small area.

Long-term strategy - Business goals that are aimed to be achieved over a number of years.

Management information systems - Systems used to aid decision-making by storing and evaluating various sorts of data.

Management responsibilities - Ensuring team objectives are met.

Market development - An objective of company growth by identifying and developing new market segments for current company products

Market segmentation - Dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers who have different needs, characteristics, or behaviours

Market share - An objective to increase the proportion of the market controlled a business.

Market trends - The overall direction of buying and selling in a market

Marketing plan - An outline of the strategies to be used to appeal to the target market

Matrix organisational structure - A flexible organisational structure in which teams are formed within functional areas and across functional areas.

National business - A business that operates in multiple locations within one country.

New markets - Customers that a business does not yet sell to

Non-current assets - Items of value that the business will not be converted to cash within the next year.

Non-financial returns - When the benefits of a decision or business decision cannot be measured by money.

Operational decisions - Day to day choices made within a business

Organisation of the workforce - Allocating roles and responsibilities to different people within the workforce.

Organisational structure - The organisation of employees in a company to carry out its operations.

Part-time staff - Employees who have agreed hours that are less than a full time contract.

Partnerships - Businesses with two or more owners

Physical resources - Tangible items that a business uses in production such as premises, vehicles and machinery.

Porter's Five Forces - Threat of entry, threat of substitutes, supplier power, buyer power, and competitive rivalry.

Procurement practices - To processes to purchase equipment and materials in an organisation

Procurement systems - The processes involved in buying equipment, raw materials and other resources by a business.

Product development - An objective to achieve company growth by offering modified or new products to current market segments

Product innovation - The process of developing a new product or upgrading an existing one in order to find a new way to meet customer needs.

Product Life Cycle - The stages through which goods and services move from the time they are introduced on the market until they are taken off the market.

Product portfolio - The range of goods sold by a business

Production processes - Actions and steps in converting inputs such as raw materials into finished goods.

Profit maximisation - An objective to increase the amount of revenue left after costs.

Psychographic segmentation - Dividing a market into different segments based on social class, lifestyle, or personality characteristics

Quality assurance - Systematic methods to ensure high quality throughout the production process.

Quality circles - Groups of employees brought together on a regular basis to discuss ways in which quality can be improved.

Quality control - Methods to check the standards of goods at various stages of production by testing a sample.

Quality processes - Methods used to ensure high standards in production of goods and services such as testing and inspection

Recruitment process - Efforts to attract the best staff for positions in the organisation

Regulation - Government intervention in an industry affecting how firms manage their operations.

Sales maximisation - An objective to increase the number of products bought by customers.

Sales systems - The processes involved in selling products to customers and receiving payment

Social and economic trends - Changes in people's lifestyles and the movement of money in the economy.

Sole trader - A business owned and operated by one person

Sources of finance - Where or how firms receive funds for investment or liquidity, such as working capital, loans, or overdrafts

Stages of business growth - Development, introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

Start-up - A business in the early stages of development. There is high investment requirements and low revenue at this stage.

Take-over - When a failing company is bought out by another and ownership is transferred

Target market - The intended buyers of a product

Total quality management - A philosophy in which everyone in an organisation works together to continuously improve quality and ensure customer satisfaction.

Training methods - The ways in which skills are developed in staff

USP - A feature of a product that makes it stand out from its rivals

Wage rates - The money given to employees in exchange for work they do.