Land

natural resources that can be used by an enterprise.

Labour

skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers who can work for an enterprise.

Capital

human-made aids to production.

Risk

the possibility that events in relation to an enterprise do not turn out as expected.

Business enterprise

a type of enterprise that usually has profit as its main objective.

Creative

the introduction of something original and imaginative rather than imitated.

Enterprise

a business organised and run by an entrepreneur who makes decisions and takes risks.

Innovative

the introduction of something new or different.

Positive attitude

the tendency to be optimistic.

Social enterprise

a type of entereprise that does not usually have profit as its main objective.

Stakeholders

various groups with a strong interest in a particular enterprise, including customers/consumers, employees/employers, suppliers, lenders, the local business community, the local government.

Customer

a person or organisation that buys goods and/or serices from an enterprise.

Supplier

businesses that provide resources to enterprises which allow them to produce goods and services.

Enterprising

the showing of initiative, imagination, energy and resourcefullnes.

Action plan

a plan that outlines the actions required to achieve particular aims and objectives and which provides a way of monitoring progress.

Business organisation

an organisation that has been established with the purpose of producing and selling particualr goods and services.

Sole trader

a person responsible for setting up and running an enterprise that he or she runs alone.

Partnership

a type of business organisation owned by two or more people.

Unlimited liability

the need for sole traders and partners (except limited partners) to pay the debts of an enterprise out of their personal funds.

Limited company

a company that is legally independent from its shareholders, who as a result have limited liability.

Limited liability

legal protection that allows shareholders to be liable for company debts only up to the value of their shareholding.

Co-operative

a type of business organisation owned by its customers or its employees.

Franchise

an arrangement whereby one company gives the right to another company to supply its products.

Franchisee

the enterprise allowed by a company to conduct business using that company’s name and brand.

Franchisor

the company that allows another company to conduct business using its name and brand.

Social enterprise

a type of organisation that does not have profit as its main objective.

Leadership style

the distinctive way in which decisions are taken in an enterprise.

Autocratic

leaders, who assume a great deal of power and responsibility in an enterprise, taking all the major decisions.

Democratic

leaders, who encourage others in the enterprise to be involved in decision making as much as possible.

Laissez-faire

leaders, who allow employees to carry out a range of activities with relatively few guidelines or directions.

Influencing skills

this skill is vital in a number of situations like negotiating, building a team, dealing with stakeholders.

Team buidling

the process of improving the effectiveness and motivation of people working together in a team.

Delegation

where responsibility is passed down to others in an enterprise.

Problem-solving

entrepreneurs need to recognise the ‘core’ of a problem and have the ability to look at it from different perspecitves in order to find a solution.

Prioritisation and time management

entrepreneurs need to be able to focus on the most important aspects of their work.

Self-confidence

the entrepreneur needs to be confident in the themselves, their ability to succeed and and in their product and their enterprise from their business to acutally succeed.

Resourcefulness

to achieve success, entreprenuers need to have (or be able to gain) various resources that are necessary to the success of their enterprises.

Innovation

the process of putting a new idea into practice. There is product and proccess innovation.

Taking calculated risks

making sure that every decision or risk taken has to align with the current state of the enterprise and the objectives and goals of it.

Taking responsibility

an entrepreneur must be accountable for all the decisions taken in order to succeed.

Motivation and determination to succeed

without this skill then the entrepreneur wouldn’t be so determined and will to see the business be in its highest levels and isn’t ambitious enough which could lead to the business’s failure.

Creativity

this is necessary and essential so that they can brainstorm new and different products to set the business apart from its competitors to succeed.

Perseverance

the determination and persistence to achieve something despite experiencing difficulties.

changing needs or wants for a product

changes in taste and fashion, changes in the size and structure of population, changes in real income, advances in technology.

Changes in government policy

availability of grants and subsidies, changes in taxation, changes in the law.

Globalisation

the tred towards worldwide markets in goods and services.

Unique selling point (USP)

a feature of a product that makes it different from other similar products, and therefore more attractive to people who might buy it.

SWOT analysis

an acronym for strenghts, weeknesses, opportunities, and threats; it is a structured planning method that evaluates these four elements of an enterprise.

PEST analysis

the analysis of the wider macro-environment of an enterprise including political, economic, social and technological, environmental and legal factors.

Technology

the use of tools, machines and science in the production of goods.

Risk-keen

the attitude to risk which recognises that a high level of risk is likely to lead to a high level of profit.

Risk optimisers

a person willing to accept a certain amount of risk in the interest of making significant profits.

Risk reducer

a person who wishes to reduce the amount of risk faced by an enterprise to reduce the likelihood of failure.

Risk avoider

a person who wishes to avoid any possibility of risk in order to ensure the continued existence of an enterprise.

Risk-averse

an attitude to risk charaterised by being unwilling or disinclined to take any risk.

Corporatve social responsibility

the willingness of an enterprise to accept responsibility for its actions and how they may have an impact on a variety of stakeholders.

Pressure group

an organisation that aims to influence governments and enterprises to adopt the policies and actions it favours.

Ethical principle

a way of doing something according to a set of moral principles, values and beliefs.

Social impact of enterprise

the impact either positive or negative, that an enterprise may have on communities and society.

Fairtrade

fairtrade changes the way trade works through better prices, decent working conditions and a fairer deal for farmers and workers in developing countries.

Negotiation

an interaction of influences that aims to reach an outcome that will satisfy the interests of those invovled. It invovles resolving disputes, agreeing upon courses of action(auction, brinkmanship, good guy/bad guy), bargaining for individual or collective advantage, reaching outcomes to satisfy outcomes to satisfy the interests of those involved.

Negotiation style

a particular approach to the process of negotation.

SMART objectives or targets

objectives or targets that are specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and time-based.

Grant

a payment that is usually given to support a particular project or service.

Lease

a contractual arrangement whereby an asset is used for a specified period of time on payment of rent.

Lessee

the person or organisation that rents an asset from a lessor.

Lessor

the person or organisation that rents out an asset to a lessee.

Loan

money that is lent by a financial institution to a borrower.

Mortgage

a form of loan that is usually secured against a property.

Overdraft

a situation when an account is allowed to go into debt.

Subsidy

a payment usually given to keep the selling price lower than would otherwise be the case.

Crowdfunding

the practice of funding an enterprise project or venture by raising small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the internet.

investment

the process of purchasing capital assets.

Share or equity

a contribution to the finance needed by an enterprise organised as a limited company. A share certificate is issued to the shareholder.

Venture capital

a collective investment scheme desgined to provide private equity capital for relatively small expanding enterprises.

Credit

a sum of money that an enterprise allows an entrepreneur before requiring payment and/ or a sum of money that an enterprise allows a customer before requiring payment.

Creditor

a person or organisation that is owed money.

Debt

a sum of money that is owed by a person or organisation.

Debtor

a perrson or organisation that owes money.

Trade credit

the credit extended by a seller to the purchaser of goods and services.

Cash flow

the inflow of money into and the outflow of money out of an enterprise.

Surplus

the amount by which an enterprise’s income exceeds its exenditure or spending over a particular period of time.

Deficit

the amount by which an enterprise’s exenditure or spending exceeds its income over a particular period of time.

Solvency

the degree to which the current assets of an enterprise are greater than its current liabilities.

Break-even

the break-even point is when the total revenue of an enterprise exactly matches the total costs and the enterprise is not making either a profit or a loss.

Variable costs

the costs of an enterprise that vary directly with changes in the level of output.

Fixed costs

the costs of an enterprise that do not vary directly with changes in the level of output.

Contributions

the difference between sales revenue and variable costs.

Profit

the difference between the sales revenue and the total costs of an enterprise.

Loss

the gap or shortfall between an enterprise’s sales revenues and the total costs incurred in producing the output of the enterprise.

Income

all of the incomings of an enterprise received from different sources over a specific period of time.

Revenue

the income received from the sales of goods and/or services of an enterprise over a specific period of time.

Expenditure or spending

all of the outgoings of an enterprise over a specific period of time.

Debt

a sum of money that is owed by a person or organisation.

Income statement, or profit and loss account

a statement which shows the net profit of an enterprise after all the expenses have been deducted.

Budget

a financial statement of income and expenditure prior to a particular period of time.

Budget variance

the difference between a budgeted or anticipated figure and the actual figure.

Gross profit

the sales revenue of an enterprise less the cost of sales.

Net profit

the gross profit of an enterprise less all other expenses.

Stakeholders

the various people and groups with a strong interest in a particular enterprise, including customers, employees, suppliers and the community.

Social responsibility

the idea that an enterprise has a responsibility towards the wider society and environment.

Growth

the increase in size of an enterprise through internal and/or external expansion.

Legal compliance

the process or procedure to ensure that an enterprise follows relevant laws, rules and regulations.

Profit

the difference between the total revenue and the total cost of an enterprise.

Profit maximisation

the goal of many enterprises to make the gap between total revenue and total cost as wide as possible.

Sales revenue maximisation

where an enterprise aims to maximise the revenue received from sales rather than its profit.

Satisficing

where an enterprise aims for an adequate level of profit, rather than profit maximisation.

Action planning

a plan that outlines the actions required to achieve particular aims and objectives and which provides a way of monitoring progress.

Business plan

a document that summarises the main objectives of an enterprise and how these objectives are to be achieved.

Marketing

the process of communicating relevant information in order to influence the behaviour of consumers in ways which will benefit the enterprise.

Consumer sovereignty

the importance of changes in consumer preferences in determining the allocation of scarce resources in an economy.

Want

an item that is desirable, but not essential.

Need

an item that is essential for survival.

Market orientation

an approach where an enterprise takes decisions on the basis of consumer demand.

Market research

the collection and analysis of information that relates to the consumption of products or services.

Primary research

the collection of first-hand or original information (information that does not already exist) through different forms of field research.

Field research

ways of gaining first-hand information through such methods as a questionnaire or an interview.

Quantitative research

the gaining of information in the form of hard objective data like statistics.

Qualitative data

the gaining of information in the formm of soft subjective data like opinions and attitudes.

Secondary research

the collection of information that already exists through different forms of desk research.

Desk research

the ways of gaining second-hand information through such methods as analysing sales figures from inside an enterprise or using government research reports from outside the enterprise.

Customer satisfaction

the degree to which the products supplied by an enterprise, and the qaulity of the service provided in the selling of those products , meet or exceed the expectatios of customers.

Focus group

a small number of people who are brought together to give feedback on a specific product or service.

Mystery shopper

a person employed by a market research firm to visit retail establishments, posing as a casual shopper, to collect information on products and the quality of service.

Mass media

a mixture of various technologies that are used to reach an audience.

Website

a set of web pages served from a single web domain; all publicly accessible websites collectively compruse the world wide web.

Social media

websites, other online means of communication and applications that enable users to share information and to participate in social networking.

Word of mouth

people speaking to each other about a particular enterprise or product.

Sponsorship

a sutuation where an enterprise supports an event or an organisation in some way and recieves publicity as a result.

Regional policy

a government policy which is designed to concentrate help and support in particular areas of a country.

Consultant

a person who provides expert advice in a particular are of enterprise activity.

Business and enterprise network

a means of bringing business people together to share, and learn from, their experiences in business and enterprise.

Mentor

an experienced person who will be a source of useful advice.

Incubation centre

a place where resources, space and an appropriate environment are provided for entrepreneurs to start up an enterprise.

SME

small and medium or medium-sized enterprises.

Formal communication

the official channels of communication used within an enterprise.

Informal communication

the unofficial channels of communication used within an enterprise.

Vertical communication

messages between people on different organisational levels of an enterprise; there are two types of vertical communication; downwards and upwards.

Body language

the process of communicating in a non-verbal way through concious or unconcious gestures, movements and mannerisms.

Verbal communication

messages between people in an enterprise that are spoken, such as face-to-face conversation.

Written communication

messages between people in an enterprise that are actually written down, such as in a letter.

Horizontal communication

messages between people on the same organisational level of an enterprise.

Internet

a global system of interconnected computer networks that provides an extensive range of information resources and services.

Intranet

a computer network that shares information resources and services within a particular enterprise.

Shareholder

an individual who contributes funds to a limited company in return for share in that company.

Annual General Meeting (AGM)

a yearly meeting of shareholders that a limited company is usually legally required to hold.

Agenda

a list of items that will be discussed at a forthcoming meeting.

Formal report

a document that is written to provide information, analyse an issue to make recommendations.

Formal report

a document that is written to provide information, analyse an issue and make recommendations.

Minutes

a summary of what has taken place at a meeting.

Notice of meeting

the provision of information about the date, time and place of forthcoming meeting.