Essential Business Concepts: A Glossary of Terms
Chapter 9: Production Systems
Key Concepts
– Inventory control: Determining the right quantities of supplies and products to have on hand and tracking where those items are.
– Productivity: The efficiency with which an organization can convert inputs to outputs.
– Quality: The degree to which a product or process meets reasonable or agreed-upon expectations.
– Inventory: Goods and materials kept in stock for production or sale.
– Mass production: The creation of identical goods or services, usually in large quantities.
– Mass customization: A manufacturing approach in which part of the product is mass-produced, and the remaining features are customized for each buyer.
– Lean systems: Systems (in manufacturing and other functional areas) that maximize productivity by reducing waste and delays.
– Capacity planning: Establishing the overall level of resources needed to meet customer demand.
– Scalability: The potential to increase production by expanding or replicating its initial production capacity.
– Value Webs: Multidimensional networks of suppliers and outsourcing partners.
Chapter 10: Employee Motivation
Key Concepts
– Motivation: The combination of forces that move individuals to take certain actions and avoid other actions.
– Scientific Management (theory): A management approach designed to improve employees’ efficiency by scientifically studying their work.
– Theory X: A managerial assumption that employees are irresponsible, unambitious, and dislike work and that managers must use force, control, or threats to motivate them.
– Expectancy Theory: The idea that the effort employees put into their work depends on expectations about their own ability to perform, expectations about likely rewards, and the attractiveness of those rewards.
– Goal-setting theory: A motivational theory suggesting that setting goals can be an effective way to motivate employees.
– Theory Y: A managerial assumption that employees enjoy meaningful work, are naturally committed to certain goals, are capable of creativity, and seek out responsibility under the right conditions.
Chapter 12: Labor Relations
Key Concepts
– Work rules: A common element of labor contracts that specifies such things as the tasks certain employees are required to do or are forbidden to do.
– Union shop: A unionized workplace in which employees are required to maintain union membership.
– Locals: Local unions that represent employees in a specific geographic area or facility.
– Authorization Cards: Cards signed by employees to indicate interest in having a union represent them.
– Certified election: A secret-ballot election overseen by the NLRB to determine whether a union gains the right to represent a group of employees.
– Decertification: A vote by employees to take away a union’s right to represent them.
– Progressive discipline: An escalating process of discipline that gives employees several opportunities to correct performance problems before being terminated.
– Unfair labor practices: Unlawful acts made by either unions or management.
Chapter 13: The Art and Science of Marketing
Key Concepts
– Marketing: The process of creating value for customers and building relationships with those customers to capture value back from them.
– Marketing research: The collection and analysis of information for making marketing decisions.
– Market penetration: Selling more of a firm’s existing products in the markets it already serves.
– Marketing Strategy: An overall plan for marketing a product; includes the identification of target market segments, a positioning strategy, and a marketing mix.
– Market: A group of customers who need or want a particular product and have the money to buy it.
– Market segmentation: The division of a diverse market into smaller, relatively homogenous groups with similar needs, wants, and purchase behaviors.
– Strategic Marketing planning: The process of examining an organization’s current marketing situation, assessing opportunities and setting objectives, and then developing a marketing strategy to reach those objectives.
Chapter 14: Product and Pricing Strategies
Key Concepts
– Expense items: Inexpensive products that organizations generally use within a year of purchase.
– Capital items: More expensive organizational products with a longer useful life, ranging from office and plant equipment to entire factories.
– Fixed cost: Business costs that remain constant regardless of the number of units produced.
– Variable cost: Business costs that increase with the number of units produced.
– Product development process: A formal process of generating, selecting, developing, and commercializing product ideas.
– Test marketing: A product development stage in which a product is sold on a limited basis to gauge its market appeal.
– Brand extension: Applying a successful brand name to a new product category.