Business Terms I

1. Business the activity of making, buying, or selling goods or providing services

in exchange for money.
2. Economy the process or system by which goods and services are produced,
sold, and bought in a country or region; thrifty and efficient use of material
resources.
3. Free-market economy a market-based economy where prices for goods and
services are set freely by the forces of supply and demand and are allowed to reach
their point of equilibrium without intervention by government policy.
4. Economics a social science concerned chiefly with description and analysis of
the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
5. Consumer a person who acquires goods and services for his or her own
personal needs.
6. Producer a person or business enterprise that generates goods or services for
sale.
7. Supply the amount of a commodity available for meeting a demand or for
purchase at a given price.
8. Demand the desire for goods or services in an economy, measured as the
amount people are ready to buy at a given price.
9. Price the quantity of one thing that is exchanged or demanded in barter or sale
for another; the amount of money given or set as consideration for the sale of a
specified thing.
10. Competition rivalry among businesses for sales to potential customers.
11. Fair/pure competition competition based on the factors of price, quality,
and service; not on the abuse of near-monopoly powers, competitor bashing,
predatory pricing, etc.
12. Oligopoly a market condition in which sellers are so few that the actions of
any one of them will materially affect price and have a measurable impact on
competitors.
13. Monopoly exclusive control by one group of the means of producing or
selling a commodity or service.
14. Monopolistic competition a type of imperfect competition such that many
producers sell products that are differentiated from one another (e.g. by branding
or quality) and hence are not perfect substitutes.
15. Barter trading in which goods or services are exchanged without the use of
cash.
16. Inflation a continuing rise in the general price level usually attributed to an
increase in the volume of money and credit relative to available goods and
services.
17. Business Ethics the application of moral standards to business
situations.
18. Code of Ethics a guide to acceptable and ethical behavior as defined
by the organization.
19. Social Responsibility the recognition that business activities have an
impact on society and the consideration of that impact in business
decision making.
20. Social Audit a comprehensive report of what an organization has done
and is doing with regard to social issues that affect it
21. Career a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement
especially in public, professional, or business life.
22. Business Writing professional communication used in organizations to
communicate with internal or external audiences.
23. Application Letter a letter to a company from a person who is looking for a
job, usually in response to a job advertisement.
24. Curriculum Vitae a document giving details of your education and past
employment, used when you are applying for a job.
25. Interview a somewhat formal discussion between a hirer and an applicant or
candidate, typically in person, in which information is exchanged, with the
intention of establishing the applicants suitability for a position.
26. Sole proprietorship a type of business entity that is owned and run by one
natural person and in which there is no legal distinction between the owner and the
business.
27. Partnership a legal relation existing between two or more persons
contractually associated as joint principals in a business.
28. Corporation an artificial person created by law with most of the legal rights
of a real person, including the rights to start and operate a business, to buy or sell
property, to borrow money, to sue or be sued, and to enter into binding contracts.
29. Company a business organization that makes, buys, or sells goods or
provides services in exchange for money.
30. Board of directors the top governing body of a corporation, the members of
which are elected by the stockholders.
31. Entrepreneurship the process of designing a new business, i.e. a startup
company offering a product, process or service.
32. Share unit of account for various investments, the stock of a corporation, but
is also used for collective investments such as mutual funds, limited partnerships,
and real estate investment trusts.
33. Stock the shares of ownership of a corporation.
34. Shareholder/Stockholder a person who owns a corporations stock.
35. Management the process of coordinating people and other resources to
achieve the goals of an organization.
36. Business Plan a carefully constructed guide for the person starting a
business.
37. Strategy a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of
uncertainty.
38. Objective a specific statement detailing what an organization intends to
accomplish over a shorter period of time
39. Policy a plan or course of action intended to influence and determine
decisions, actions, and other matters.
40. Human resources management all the activities involved in acquiring,
maintaining, and developing an organizations human resources.
41. Manager someone who controls resources and expenditures of a company.
42. Motivation the individual internal process that energizes, directs, and
sustains behavior; the personal force that causes you or me to behave in a
particular way.
43. Social needs the human requirements for love and affection and a sense of
belonging.
44. Labor Union an organization of workers acting together to negotiate their
wages and working conditions with employers.
45. Business Negotiation the act of discussing an issue between two or more
parties with competing interests with an aim of coming to an agreement.
46. Socializing process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, language,
social skills, and value to conform to the norms and roles required for integration
into a group or community.