41 of the Business glossary’s terms, each with the part of the syllabus where you first meet it.
Paid advertising through mass media such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, cinema and outdoor posters, aimed at a broad audience.
The situation in which employees are absent from work without a good reason, often measured as the percentage of working days lost, and a common sign of low motivation.
A costing method that allocates all costs, including a share of overheads, to cost centres or products using a chosen basis such as floor space, labour hours or machine hours.
The principle that submitted work is the student's own, with every idea, quotation and piece of data taken from others acknowledged; breaking it, for example by plagiarism or collusion, is malpractice.
The obligation of an employee or manager to explain and justify their decisions and results to a superior, and to accept the consequences.
The rule that a business's assets always equal its liabilities plus equity, so that total assets minus total liabilities equals equity.
The total depreciation charged on a non-current asset since it was bought, deducted from its original cost in the statement of financial position to give its net book value.
A liquidity ratio that divides current assets minus stock by current liabilities, showing whether a business can pay its short-term debts without selling its stock.
The purchase by one business of a controlling interest (more than 50% of the shares) in another business, which then becomes part of the buyer; friendly when the target's board agrees.
A task within a project that takes time and resources to complete, shown on a network diagram as an arrow labelled with its letter and duration.
The changing of the marketing mix, such as the product, price, promotion or place, to suit the tastes, culture, incomes, laws and competition of each foreign market.
Creativity that improves, modifies or finds new uses for existing products, processes or ideas, usually to meet needs that customers already recognise.
The difference between the price a business charges for its output and the cost of the inputs it buys in from other businesses to produce it.
A formal legal process in which an independent administrator manages an insolvent company and tries to rescue it, or to sell all or part of it, so that creditors recover more than in liquidation.
A difference between budgeted and actual figures that reduces profit, because actual revenue is lower than budgeted or actual cost is higher than budgeted.
An intermediary that negotiates sales or finds buyers on behalf of a producer, usually for a commission, without taking ownership of the products.
The broad, long-term goals of a business, expressed in general terms, that set out what it intends to achieve in order to fulfil its mission.
Systematic and unfair discrimination in the outputs of an automated decision-making system, usually caused by biased training data or by the design of the algorithm.
The spreading of the cost of an intangible asset with a limited life, such as a patent or licence, over that life; the intangible equivalent of depreciation.
An AO2 command term asking for an issue to be broken down to bring out its essential elements or structure, tracing causes, effects and links between them.
A visual signal, usually a board of lights above a production line, that shows when and where a worker or machine has stopped production because of a problem, so that it can be fixed at once.
A yearly meeting at which a company's directors report to its shareholders, who vote on matters such as the election of directors and the dividend.
A planning tool that classifies growth strategies by whether they involve existing or new products and existing or new markets, giving four strategies with different levels of risk.
Research that uses existing knowledge to solve a specific practical problem or to develop a particular product or process.
A formal process of reviewing an employee’s performance against agreed objectives, giving feedback and setting targets and development plans for the future.
A method of resolving a dispute in which an independent third party considers the case of both sides and decides the outcome, which is binding on both if they agree in advance.
The ability of computer systems to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as recognising patterns, understanding language, learning from data and making decisions.
A computing system made of layers of connected nodes that learns to recognise patterns and make predictions by adjusting the strength (weight) of its connections as it is trained on examples.
A selection method in which candidates take part, over one or more days, in activities such as interviews, tests, group exercises, role plays and presentations while trained assessors observe them.
The descriptors, each with a range of marks, against which assessed work is judged; the business research project has seven criteria, A to G, worth 25 marks in total.
The four groups of skills the course assesses: AO1 knowledge and understanding, AO2 application and analysis, AO3 synthesis and evaluation, and AO4 the use of appropriate skills such as calculating and constructing.
Resources owned or controlled by a business that have value and will bring future benefits, such as buildings, machinery, stock, debtors and cash.
An independent examination of a business's final accounts by qualified accountants (auditors), who give an opinion on whether the accounts present a true and fair view.
Technology that adds computer-generated images or information to a live view of the real world, through a phone, tablet or glasses, such as showing how furniture would look in a room.
A leadership style in which the leader makes decisions alone, without consulting employees, and expects instructions to be followed, with close supervision and one-way communication.
The use of machines, robots and software to carry out tasks previously done by people, reducing the need for some types of labour.
The cost per unit of output, calculated as total cost divided by the quantity produced.
The average annual profit of an investment, after deducting its initial cost, expressed as a percentage of the initial cost: ((total returns − capital cost) ÷ years of use) ÷ capital cost × 100.
The revenue received per unit sold, calculated as total revenue divided by the quantity sold; equal to the price when every unit sells at the same price.
The mean value of a business’s stock over a period, found by adding opening stock and closing stock and dividing by 2.