Entrepreneurs

They are the people who manage, organise and plan the resources needed for business activity in pursuit of organisational objectives. They are risk takers who exploit business opportunities in return for profits.

Entrepreneurship

It refers to the collective knowledge, skills and experiences of entrepreneurs.

Goods

They are physical products produced and sold to customers, such as laptops, books, contact lenses, perfumes and children's toys.

Needs

They are the basic necessities that a person must have to survive, including food, water, warmth, shelter and clothing.

Primary sector

It refers to businesses involved in the cultivation or extraction of natural resources, such as farming, mining, quarrying, fishing, oil exploration and forestry.

Production

It is the process of creating goods and/or services, adding value in the process.

Quaternary sector

It is a subcategory of the tertiary sector, where businesses are involved in intellectual and knowledge- based activities that generate and share information, such as research organisations.

Secondary sector

It refers to businesses concerned with the construction and manufacturing of products.

Services

They are intangible products sold to customers, such as the services provided by airlines, restaurants, cinemas, banks, health and beauty spas, schools and hospitals.

Tertiary sector

It refers to businesses involved with the provision of services to customers.

Wants

They are people's desires, i.e. the things they would like to have, such as new clothes, smartphones, overseas holidays and jewellery.

Cooperatives

They are for-profit social enterprises set up, owned and run by their members, who might be employees and/or customers.

Company (or corporation)

It refers to a limited liability business that is owned by shareholders. Certificate of incorporation: It gives the company a separate legal identity from its owners (shareholders).

Deed of partnership

It is the legal contract signed by the owners of a partnership. The formal deeds specify the name and responsibilities of each partner and their proportion of any profits or losses.

Incorporation

It means that there is a legal difference between the owners of a company and the business itself. This ensures that the owners are protected by limited liability.

Initial public offering (IPO)

It occurs when a business sells all or part of its business to shareholders on a public stock exchange for the first time. This changes the legal status of the business to a publicly held company.

Limited liability

It is a restriction on the amount of money that owners of a company can lose if the business goes bankrupt, i.e. shareholders cannot lose more than the amount they invested in the company.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

They are private sector not-for-profit social enterprises that operate for the benefit of others rather than primarily aiming to earn a profit, such as Oxfam and Friends of the Earth.

Partnerships

They are a type of private sector business entity owned by 2-20 people. They share the responsibilities and burdens of running and owning the business.

Private sector

It is the part of the economy run by private individuals and businesses, rather than by the government, such as sole traders, partnerships, privately held companies and publicly held companies.

Privately held company (Private Limited Company)

It is a business owned by shareholders with limited liability but whose shares cannot be bought by or sold to the general public on a Stock Exchange.

Publicly held company (Public Limited Company)

It is an incorporated limited liability business that allows shareholders to buy and sell shares in the company via a public Stock Exchange.

Public sector

It is the part of the economy controlled by the government. Examples include state healthcare and education services, the emergency services, social housing and national defence.

Sole trader

It is a self-employed person who runs the business on his/her own. This means s/he has exclusive responsibility for its success (profits) or failure (unlimited liability).

Social enterprises

They are revenue-generating businesses with social objectives at the core of their operations. They can be for- profit or non-profit business entities, but all profits or surpluses must be reinvested for that social purpose rather than being distributed to shareholders and owners.

Stock exchange

It is a marketplace for trading stocks and shares of publicly held companies (or public limited companies). Examples include the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Unlimited liability

It is a feature of sole traders and ordinary partnerships who are legally liable or responsible for all monies owed to their creditors, even if this means that they have to sell their personal possessions to pay for their debts.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

It is the conscientious consideration of ethical and environmental practice related to business activity. A business that adopts CSR acts morally towards all of its various stakeholder groups and the well-being of society as a whole.

Ethical code of practice

It is the documented beliefs and philosophies of an organisation, so that people know what is considered acceptable or not acceptable within the organisation.

Ethical objectives

They are organisational goals based on moral guidelines, determined by the business and/or society, which direct and determine decision-making.

Ethics

They are the moral principles that guide decision-making and business strategy. Morals are concerned with what is considered to be right or wrong, from society's point of view.

Mission statement

It refers to the declaration of an organisation's overall purpose. It forms the foundation for setting the objectives of a business.

Objectives

They specify what an organisation strives to achieve. They are the goals of an organisation, such as growth, profit, protecting shareholder value and ethical objectives.

Strategic objectives

They are the longer-term goals of a business, such as profit maximisation, growth, market standing and increased market share.

Strategies

They are the various plans of action that businesses use to achieve their targets. They are the long-term plans of the organisation as a whole.

Tactical objectives

They are short-term goals that affect a unit of the organisation. They are specific goals that guide the daily functioning of certain departments or operations.

Tactics

They are the short-term plans of action that businesses use to achieve their objectives.

Vision statement

It is an organisation's long-term aspirations, L.e. where the business ultimately wants to be.

Conflict

It refers to situations where stakeholders have disputes or differences regarding certain issues or matters. This can lead to arguments and tension between the various stakeholder groups.

Customers

They are the clients of a business. As a key external stakeholder group, customers seek to have value for money. such as competitive prices and good quality products.

Directors

They are senior executives who have been elected by the company's shareholders to address business activities on behalf of their owners.

Employees

They are the staff of an organisation. They have a stake (an interest and involvement) in the organisation they work for.

External stakeholders

They are individuals and organisations not part of the business but have a direct interest in its activities and performance. Examples include customers, suppliers and the government.

Financiers

They are the financial institutions and individual investors who provide sources of finance for an organisation. They are interested in the organisation's ability to generate profits and to repay debts.

Government

It refers to the ruling authority within a state or country. As an external stakeholder group, the government is interested in businesses complying with the law with regards to the conduct of business activities.

Internal stakeholders

They are members of the organisation, namely the employees, managers, directors and shareholders (owners) of the business.

Local community

It refers to the general public and local businesses that have a direct interest in the activities of an organisation, namely to create jobs and to conduct business activities in a socially responsible way.

Managers

They are an internal group of stakeholders responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the business.

Pressure groups

It consist of individuals with a common concern (such as environmental protection) who seek to place demands on organisations to act in a particular way or to influence a change in their behaviour.

Stakeholder conflict

It refers to differences in the varying needs and priorities of the various stakeholder groups of a business.

Stakeholder mapping

It is a model that assesses the relative interest of stakeholders and their relative influence (or power) on an organisation.

Shareholders (or stockholders)

They are the owners of a limited liability company. Shares in a company can be held by individuals and other organisations.

Stakeholders

They are individuals or organisations with a direct interest (known as a stake) in the activities and performance of a business, such as shareholders, employees, customers and suppliers.

Suppliers

They are an external stakeholder group that provide a business with stocks of raw materials, component parts and finished goods needed for production. They can also provide commercial services, such as maintenance and technical support.

Acquisition (Takeover)

It is a method of external growth that involves one company buying a controlling interest (majority stake) in another company, with the agreement and approval of the target company's Board of Directors.

Average cost

It refers to the cost per unit of output.

Backward vertical integration

It occurs when a business amalgamates with a firm operating in an earlier stage of production, such as a car manufacturer taking over a supplier of tyres or other components.

Conglomerates

They are businesses that provide a diversified range of products and operate in a range of different industries.

Demerger

It occurs when a company sells off a part of its business, thereby separating into two or more businesses. It usually happens due to conflicts, inefficiencies and incompatibilities following an earlier merger of two or more companies.

Diseconomies of scale

They are the cost disadvantages of growth. Average costs are likely to eventually rise as a firm grows due to a lack of control, coordination and communication.

Economies of scale

It refers to lower average costs of production as a firm operates on a larger scale due to gains in productive efficiency, such as easier and cheaper access to source of finance.

External diseconomies of scale

It occurs due to factors beyond a company’s control which cause average costs of production to increase as an industry grows.

External economies of scale

It occurs when an organisation's average cost falls as the industry grows. Hence, all firms in the industry benefit.

External growth (or inorganic growth)

It occurs when a business grows and evolves by collaborating with, buying up or merging with other organisations.

Financial economies of scale

They are cost savings made by large firms as banks and other lenders charge lower interest (for overdrafts, loans and mortgages) because larger businesses represent lower risk.

Forward vertical integration

It is a growth strategy that occurs with the amalgamation of a firm operating at a later stage in the production process, such as a book publisher acquiring book retailers.

Franchising

It refers to an agreement between a franchisor selling its rights to other businesses (franchisees) to allow them to sell products under its corporate name in return for a fee and regular royalty payments.

Horizontal integration

It is an external growth strategy that occurs when a business amalgamates with a firm operating in the same stage of production.

Internal diseconomies of scale

It occurs due to internal problems of mismanagement, causing average costs of production to increase as a firm grows.

Internal economies of scale

It occurs within a particular organisation (rather than the industry as a whole) as it grows in size.

Internal growth (organic growth)

It occurs when a business grows using its own capabilities and resources to increase the scale of its operations and sales revenue.

Joint venture

It is a growth strategy that combines the contributions and responsibilities of two or more different organisations in a shared project by creating a separate legal enterprise.

Lateral integration

It refers to external growth of firms that have similar operations but do not directly compete with each other, such as PepsiCo acquiring Quakers Oats Company.

Managerial economies of scale

It occurs when larger businesses can afford to hire specialist managers, thereby improving the organisation's overall efficiency and productivity. The salary of managers remain the same as the production increases, which decreases the cost per unit of the product.

Merger

It is a form of external growth whereby two (or more) firms agree to form a new organisation, thereby losing their original identities.

Optimal level of output

It is the most efficient scale of operation for a business. This occurs at the level of output where the average cost of production is minimised.

Purchaser

It refers to the acquiring company in an acquisition or the buyer of another company in a takeover.

Purchasing economies of scale

It occurs when larger organisations can gain huge cost savings per unit by purchasing vast quantities of stocks (raw materials, components, semi-finished goods and/ or finished goods).

Risk bearing economies of scale

It occurs when large firms can bear greater risks than smaller ones due to having a greater product portfolio.

Specialisation economies of scale

It occurs when larger firms can afford to hire and train specialist workers, thus helping to boost their level of output, productivity and efficiency.

Strategic alliances

They are formed when two or more organisations join together to benefit from external growth, without having to set up a new separate legal entity.

Synergy

It is a benefit of growth, which occurs when the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts when two or more business operations are combined. It creates greater output and improved efficiency.

Hostile takeover

It occurs when a company buys a controlling interest in another firm without the prior agreement or approval of the target company's Board of Directors.

Target company

It refers to the organisation that is purchased by another in an acquisition or takeover deal.

Technical economies of scale

They are cost savings by greater use of large-scale mechanical processes and specialist machinery, such as mass production techniques which help to cut average costs of production.

Vertical integration

It takes place between businesses that are at different stages of production.

Gross domestic product (GDP)

It is the value of a country's annual output or national income.

Host country

It is any nation that allows a multinational company to set up in its country.

Multinational company (MNC)

It is an organisation that operates in two or more countries, with its head office usually based in the home country.

Protectionist policies

They are measures imposed by a country to reduce the competitiveness of imports, such as tariffs (import taxes), quotas and restrictive trade practices.

Added Value

The difference between the selling price of a product and the cost of producing or buying that product.