UNIT 3: Company structure

1. Organizational structure: the levels of management and division of responsibilities within an organization
2. Hierarchy: the levels of management in any organization, from the highest to the lowest. A level of hierarchy refers
to managers, supervisors, other employees who are given a similar level of responsibility in an organization
3. Chain of command: the structure in an organization which allows instructions to be passed down from senior
management to lower levels of management
4. Span of control: the number of subordinates working directly under a manager
5. Directors: senior managers who lead a particular department or division of a business
6. Line managers: people who have responsibility for people below them in the hierarchy of an organization
7. Supervisors: junior managers who have direct control over the employees below them in the organizational
structure.
8. Staff managers: specialists who provide support, info and assistance to line managers
9. Delegation: giving a subordinate the authority to perform a particular task
10. Decentralization: taking decision away from the centre of an organization - way from the head office
11. Autonomous: independent, able to take decisions without consulting someone at the same level or higher in the
chain of command
12. Function: a specific activity in a company, eg production, marketing, finance
13. Line authority: the power to give instructions to people at the level below in the chain of command
14. Report to: to be responsible to sb and to take instructions from them
UNIT 4: Managing across culture
1. Glocalization: is a combination of the words “globalization” and “localization”. The term is used to describe a
product or service that is developed and distributed globally but is also adjusted to accommodate the user or
consumer in a local market
2. Culture is defined as the complex system of values, traits, morals, and customs shared by a society
3. Context refers to the stimuli, environment, or ambience surrounding an event
4. The Lewis model was developed by linguist and leading cross-cultural specialist Richard D.Lewis. The model
divides humans into 3 clear categories, based not on nationality or religion but on behavior, namely Linear-active,
Multi-active and Reactive
5. High-context culture is a culture by which the rules of communication are primarily and dominantly transmitted
through the use of contextual elements. These include specific form of body language, the social or familiar status of
an individual, and the tone of voice employed during speed. High-context cultures usually do not have rules that are
explicitly written or stated
6. Low-context culture refers to a culture whereby most communications take place through verbal language and
rules are directly written out or stated for all to view
7. Power distance: is the distribution of power among individuals within a culture and how well unequal levels of
power are accepted by those with less power.
8. Sales culture: when selling is seen as the most important thing in an organization, rather than other activities
9. Business culture: the way that companies in general behave, the way business is done, etc in a particular place
10. Long-hours culture: where people are expected to work a long time each day
11. Macho culture: the values typically associated with men - strength, etc.
12. Company/corporate culture: the way a particular company works and the things that its employees believe are
important
13. Learning culture: when learning and innovation are seen as important
14. Logic: thought based on reason and judgement rather than feelings and emotions
15. Confrontation: a face-to-face disagreement or argument
16. Compromise: reducing demands or changing opinions in order to agree
17. Intuition: understanding or knowing without consciously using reason
18. Improvise: do sth when necessary without having already planned it
19. Status: respect, prestige or importance given to sb
20. Collectivist: believing that the group is more important than the individual
UNIT 5: Recruitment
1. Recruitment: the process from identifying that the business needs to employ someone up to the point at which
applications have arrived at the business
2. Employee selection: the process of evaluating candidates for a specific job and selecting an individual for
employment based on the needs of the organization
3. A job analysis: identifies and records the responsibilities and tasks relating to a job
4. A job description: outlines the responsibilities and duties to be carried out by someone employed to do a specific
job
5. A job specification: a document which outlines the requirements, qualifications, expertise, physical characteristics,
etc, for a specified job.
6. Internal recruitment: when a vacancy is filled by someone who is an existing employee of the business
7. External recruitment: when a vacancy is filled by someone who is not an existing employee and will be new to the
business
8. Induction training: an introduction given to a new employee, explaining the business’s activities, customs and
procedures and introducing them to their fellow workers
9. On-the-job training: occurs by watching a more experienced worker doing the job
10. Off-the-job: involves being trained away from the workplace, usually by specialist trainers.
UNIT 7: Classification of businesses
1. The primary sector of industry extracts and uses the natural resources of Earth to produce raw materials used by
other businesses
2. The secondary sector of industry manufactures goods using the raw materials provided by the primary sector
3. The tertiary sector of industry provides services to consumers and the other sectors of industry
4. A mixed economy has both a private sector and a public state sector
5. Public sector: the sector of the economy in which organizations are owned and controlled by the state
(government)
6. Private sector: the sector of the economy in which organizations are owned and controlled by individuals
7. Privatisation: the sale of state-owned assets such as public corporations to the private sector
8. Sole trader: a business owned and operated by one person
9. Limited liability: the liability of shareholders in a company is limited to only the amount they invested
10. Unlimited liability: the owners of a business can be held responsible for the debts of the business they own. Their
liability is not limited to the investment they made in the business
11. Partnership: a form of business in which two or more people agree to jointly own a business
12. Shareholders: the owners of a limited company. They buy shares which represent part-ownership of the company
13. Private limited company: business owned by shareholders but they cannot sell shares to the public
14. Public limited company: business owned by shareholders but they can sell shares to the public and their shares
are tradeable on the Stock Exchange.
UNIT 8: Production
1. Production: the process of converting inputs such as land, labor, and capital into saleable goods, for example
shoes and cell phones
2. Inventories: the stock of raw materials, work-in-progress and finished goods held by a business
3. Lean production: the production of goods and services with the minimum waste of resources
4. Job production: the production of items one at a time
5. Batch production: the production of goods in batches. Each batch passes through one stage of produciton before
moving onto the next stage
6. Flow production: the production of very large quantities of identical goods using a continuously moving process
7. Just-in-time: is a production method that involves reducing or virtually eliminating the need to hold inventories of
raw materials or unsold inventories of the finished product.
8. Lead time, purchasing power, optimum capacity, assembly line, finished good, product recall, offshore production,
planned obsolescence, supply chain, zero defects, capacity planning, raw materials, manufacturing cost, random
sampling, resource allocation
9. Production run: a period of producing one particular product without adapting the production equipment
10. Obsolescence: becoming out of date, being replaced by something newer and better or more fashionable
11. Storage: keeping things for use in the future
12. Theft: taking something that belongs to someone else, stealing things
13. Opportunity cost: the benefits or advantages lost by spending money in one way rather than another

UNIT 9: Logistics
1. Logistics: the marketing activity that involves planning, implementing, and controlling the physical flow of materials,
final goods, and related information from points of origin to points of consumption to meet customer requirement at a
profit
2. Inbound logistics: the area of logistics that involves bringing raw materials, packaging, other goods and services,
and information from suppliers to producers
3. Materials handling: the movement of goods within a warehouse, from warehouses to the factory floor, and from the
factory floor to various workstations
4. Outbound logistics: the area of logistics that involves managing the flow of finished products and information to
business buyers and ultimate consumers (people like you and me)
5. Reverse logistics: the area of logistics that involves bringing goods back to the manufacturer because of defects or
for recycling.
6. Agile: able to move quickly and easily
7. Lean: using small quantities and avoiding and waste
8. Supply chain: a network of facilities that performs the function of procurement of materials, transformation of these
materials into finished products and the distribution of these products to customers
9. Logistics management: that part of supply chain management which plans, implements, and controls the flow and
storage of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption
10. Cargo: goods carried by a ship, aircraft or other vehicle
11. Customs clearance: the act of passing goods through customs so that they can enter or leave the country

UNIT 10: Quality

1. Quality: to produce a good or a service which meets customer expectations
2. Quality control: the checking for quality at the end of the production process, whether it is the production of a
product or service
3. Quality assurance: the checking for quality standards throughout the production process whether it is the
production of a product or service
4. Total quality management: the continuous improvement of products and processes by focusing on quality at each
stage of production
5. Cycle time: how long various activities take to complete one production run
6. Design for manufacture: looking at how easy it is to make a new product, not just the features
7. Supplier capability reviews: asking questions to find out if your suppliers are able to meet quality standards
8. Scrap: materials or small parts that are no longer useful
9. product recalls: the return of products, for example because they’re faulty or dangerous
10. Benchmarking: going outside the firm to see what excellent competitors are doing, and adopting the best
practices
11. Defect
12. Durability: regular performance according to specification
13. Goodwill: customers’ satisfaction with and loyalty to a company
14. Scarp: to sell defective goods for the price of the recyclable materials they contain
15. Serviceability: ease of maintenance and repair
16. Leading indicators are those that a future income. For example, predict levels of staff satisfaction are often a
leading indicator of quality. A more motivated workforce will make fewer mistakes
17. Lagging indicators are those that show a result. For example, warranty claims are a lagging indicator of quality.
Fewer claims mean that earlier actions to improve quality are now working (a lag is a delay between two events)
18. Tolerance is the amount by which a parameter (ex: size) can vary from the norm before the piece becomes a
defect
19. ISO 9000: is a set of international standards of quality. Companies can be audited for compliance with one of the
standards, and then publicly state that they’re ISO 9000- certified)
20. Nonconformance is when a requirement has not been met. It does not need to be a serious defect, it could be a
simple mark on the surface that spoils the appearance
21. Key performance indicators are statistical measure of how well an organization is doing in particular areas. The
term is particularly common in production and operations, but is used throughout business
22. Six sigma is the name of a well-known quality methodology. It takes a highly disciplined approach to eliminating
approach to eliminating defects in manufacturing. This term originally comes from statistics
UNIT 12: Marketing
1. Market: the set of all actual and potential buyers of a good or service, the place where people buy and sell, the
people who trade in a particular good; to make goods available to buyers and to encourage them to buy them
2. Market leader: the company with the largest market share
3. Market nicher: a small company that concentrates on one or more particular niches or small market segments
4. Market research (GB) or marketing research (US): the collection, analysis and reporting of data relevant to a
specific marketing situation. (e.g. a proposed new product)
5. Market segment: part of a market; a group of customers with specific needs, defined in terms of geography, age,
sex, income, occupation, lifestyle, etc
6. Market segmentation: the act of dividing a market into distinct group of buyers who have different requirements or
buying habits
7. Market share: the sales of a company or brand or product expressed as a percentage of total sales in marketing,
the process of identifying and satisfying consumer’s needs and desires
8. Marketing channel: the set of intermediaries a company uses to get its goods to their end users
9. Marketing mix: the set of all the various elements in a marketing programme, and the way a company integrates
them
10. Marketing strategy: a plan or principle designed to achieve marketing objective
11. Product life cycle: the standard pattern of sales of a product over the period that it is marketed
12. Distribution channel: all the companies or individuals (middlemen) involved in moving goods or services from
producers to consumers
13. Sales representative: someone who contacts existing and potential customers, and tries to persuade them to buy
goods or services
14. Market opportunities: possibilities of filling unsatisfied needs in sectors in which a company can profitably produce
goods or services
15. Product features: the attributes or characteristics of a product, such as size, shape, quality, price, reliability, etc
16. Price elasticity: the extent to which supply or demand (the quantity produced or bought) of a product responds to
changes of price
17. Market skimming: setting a high price for a new product, to make maximum revenue before competing products
appear on the market
18. Market penetration: the strategy of setting a low price to try to sell a large volume and increase market share
19. Wholesaler: an intermediary that stocks manufacturers’ goods or merchandise, and sells it to retailers and
professional buyers
20. Product differentiation: making a product (appear to be) different from similar products offered by other sellers, by
product differences, advertising, packaging, etc.
UNIT 13: Advertising
1. Advertorial: a paid-for advertisement which includes editorial content, normally identified in a print magazine with
the word “advertisement” printed as a head across the top of the page to distinguish it from genuine (in theory
unbiased) editorial content
2. Advertising agency: the organization that takes care of advertising for clients
3. Advertising campaign: a time limited set of ads, campaigns may run across different media, and for one month or
ten years but can be categorized together as they are the execution of a central idea
4. Demographics: describing an audience by age, gender, ethnicity, or location - i.e the facts about them
5. Focus groups: small, select groups representing a target audience who are paid to answer questions at the behest
of a market research organization
6. Product placement: the practice of paying for a branded product to be used by a character in a movie - e.g. James
Bond driving a BMW Z3
7. Product positioning: establishing the market niche of a product - which may not be as the brand leader - and
advertising to the appropriate segment of the audience
8. USP: Unique Selling Proposition/ Point - a highlighted benefit of a product which makes it stand out from all rival
bands
9. Brand-switcher: a consumer who shows no loyalty to a particular brand, but changes among competing products
10. Brand image: the public’s beliefs and perceptions about particular product
11. Redeemable coupon: a certificate offering consumers a price reduction on a particular product
12. Free sample: an amount of a new product given to consumers to encourage them to try it
13. Loss leader: a popular product sold with no profit, in order to attract customers to a store
14. Industrial buyer: someone who purchases goods or services that will be used in the production or supply of other
goods or services
15. Purchasing cycle: the average length of time between a consumer’s repeat purchases of the same product
16. Price-conscious: strongly influenced by the price when goods or services
17. Brand-loyalty: the commitment of consumers to a particular brand
18. Initial trial: the first time a consumer buys a product to see what it’s like
UNIT 14: Banking
1. Deposit: to place money in a bank, or money placed in a bank
2. Liquidity: available cash, and how easily other assets can be turned into cash
3. Collateral: anything that acts as a security or guarantee for a loan
4. A mortgage: a type of loan used to purchase or maintain a home, land, or other types of real estate. The borrower
agrees to pay the lender over time, typically in a series of regular payments that are divided into principal and
interest/ the property then serves as collateral to secure the loan
5. Overdraft: something that occurs when you make a purchase with your debit card or write a check for an amount
that exceeds your checking account’s available balance. Many bank accounts offer overdraft protection to help avoid
overdraft fees. Some banks don’t charge overdraft fees at all
6. A current account: an account at a bank against which checks can be drawn by the account depositor; a checking
account
7. A savings account: a deposit account maintained by a financial institution in which a customer can deposit and
withdraw money
8. A deposit account: a bank account that generally earns higher interest than an interest-bearing checking account.
Savings account limit the number of certain types of transfers or withdrawals you can make from the account each
monthly statement cycle.
9. Solvency: when banks have enough money to cover potential losses. Banks are expected to maintain a sufficient
level of capital to remain solvent and avoid failure. The FDIC and other federal regulators work with banks to maintain
standards of solvency
10. Maturity date: this is the date of expiration for the contractual obligation of a financial instrument. For example,
certificates of deposit have a maturity date that depends on the length of the CD term. When the CD matures, you
have the option to withdraw the money. Some banks and credit unions also allow you to roll it into a new CD or
enable the CD to renew automatically.
11.
UNIT 19: Accounting and financial statements
1. Income: all the $ received from business activities during a given period
2. Expenditure: all the $ that a business spends on goods or services during a given period
3. Budget: a financial operating plan showing expected income and expenditure
4. Asset: anything owned by a business - cash, building, machines, equipment, etc. --> tài sản có
5. Liabilities: all the $ that a company will have to pay to someone else in the future, including debts, taxes, and
interest payments --> tài sản nợ
6. Credit: an entry in an account, recording a payment received -->
7. Debit: an entry in an account, recording a payment made -->
8. Intangible: sth without a material existence, which you can’t touch
9. Accrued: a liability, which has been incurred, but not yet invoices to the company --> dồn tích
10. Deferred: delayed or postponed until a later time
11. Cost accounting: calculating all the expenses involved in producing sth, including materials, labor and all other
expenses
12. Tax accounting: calculating how much an individual or a company will have to pay to the local and national
governments (and trying to reduce this to a minimum)
13. Auditing: inspecting and reporting on accounts and financial records --> kiểm toán
14. Accounting: preparing financial statements showing income and expenditures, assets and liabilities
15. Managerial or management accounting: providing info that will allow a business to make decisions, plan future
operations and develop business strategies
16. Creative accounting: using all available accounting procedures and tricks to disguises the true financial position
of a company
17. Bookkeeping: writing down the details of transaction(debits and credits)
18. Balance sheet (statement of financial position): a statement showing the value of a business’s assets, its
liabilities, and its capital or shareholders’ equity (money the business has that belongs to its owners)
19. Cash-flow statement: a statement giving details of money coming into and leaving the business, divided into day-
to-day operations, investing and financing --> báo cáo dòng tiền
20. Income statement/ statement of income/ profit and loss statement, profit and loss account: a statement showing
the difference between the revenues and expenses of a period --> báo cáo thu nhập
21. Calculate liabilities, calculate taxes, keep records, pay liabilities, pay taxes, receive income, record expenditure,
record income, record transactions, value assets, value liabilities
22. Amortization: Loss of value of intangible assets
23. Dividend: a part of the profits of the company for a particular period of time that is paid to shareholders for each
share that they own
24. Depreciation: loss of value of tangible assets
25. Goodwill: the value that a company has in addition to its assets, such as a good reputation with its customers
26. Operating income: money earned from a company’s normal activities not including exceptional items
27. Operating profit: profit relating to a company’s normal activities of providing goods or services, before tax is
deducted
28. Operating expenses: cost related to a company’s normal activities of providing goods or services
29. Forensic accounting: when a company’s financial records are officially checked because the illegal activity is
suspected
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UNIT 23: THE BUSINESS CYCLE
1. Downturn: a decline in economic activity
2. Upturn: an increase in economic activity
3. Expectations: beliefs about what will happen in the future
4. Consumption: purchasing and using goods and services
5. Balance of payments: the difference between the funds a country receives and those it pays for all international
transactions
6. GDP: The total market value of all goods and services produced in a country during a given period
7. Equilibrium: demand = supply
8. Deficit: an amount of money that is smaller than is needed
9. Surplus: exceeding quantity compared to demand
10. Fiscal policy: government actions concerning taxation and public expenditure
11. Monetary policy: government or central bank actions concerning the rate of growth of the money in circulation
12. Keynesianism: the economic theory that government monetary and fiscal policy should stimulate business activity
and increase employment in a recession
13. Business cycle model: model showing the increases and decreases in a nation’s real GDP over time, this model
typically demonstrate an increase in real GDP over the long run, combined with short-run fluctuations in output
14. Expansion: the phase of the business when output is increasing (mở rộng)
15. Recession: … output is decreasing --> suy thoái
16. Depression: a deep and prolonged recession --> khủng hoảng
17. Peak: the turning point in the business cycle between a expansion and a contraction, output has stopped
increasing and begins to decrease (đạt đỉnh)
18. Trough: … recession and an expansion, output bottoms out and begins to increase again (chạm đáy)
19. Recovery: GDP begins to increase following a contraction and a trough in the business cycle, an economy is
considered in recovery until real GDP returns to its long-run potential level (phục hồi)
20. Liquidity: the state of being available in money rather than in other kinds of properties
21. Potential output: the maximum level of output at full employment, at that point, the economy experiences only its
natural rate of unemployment, no more or less (sản lượng tiềm năng)
22. Growth trend: the straight line in the business cycle model, which is usually upward-sloping and shows the long-
run pattern of change in real GDP over time (xu hướng phát triển)
23. Postive output gap: the difference between actual output and potential output when an economy is producing at
full employment output, when there is a positive output gap, the rate of unemployment is less than the natural rate of
unemployment and an economy is operating outside of its production possibilities curve.
24. Negative output gap: the difference between actual output and potential output when an economy is producing at
full employment output, when there is a negative output gap, the rate of unemployment is greater than the natural
rate of unemployment and an economy is operating inside of its production possibilities curve.
25. Consumer discretionary: goods that are dispensable
26. Economic stimulus: an action that stimulates the growth of the economy
UNIT 24: CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
1. Ethical standard: a rule for moral behavior in a particular area
2. Ethical behavior: doing things that are morally right
3. Ethical lapse: temporary failure to act in the correct way
4. Ethical dilemma: a choice between 2 actions that might both be morally wrong
5. Ethical stance: a stated opinion about the right thing to do in a particular situation
6. Ethical issue: an area where moral behavior is important
7. Business ethics: standards of business behavior that promote human welfare and “the good”
8. Corporate social responsibility (CSR): a company’s commitment to improving or enhancing community well-being
through discretionary contributions of corporate resources. There are 5 dimensions of CSR: Environment, social,
economic, stakeholder and volunteerism

UNIT 25: EFFICIENCY AND EMPLOYMENT

1. Flexible labor market: a situation in which it is easy for companies to hire non-permanent staff
2. Downsizing: decreasing the number of permanent employees working for an organization
3. Outsourcing/ contracting-out: using other businesses as subcontractors to supply components or services
4. Job-sharing: employing two or more people on a part-time basis to perform a job normally available to one person
working full time
5. Relocation/delocalization: moving some of a business’s activities (ex: accounting, production) to another place or
country
6. Delayering: removing unproductive parts of the management hierarchy to make organizations more flexible and
efficient
7. Rationalization/ restructuring: reorganizing a company, business or system in a new way to reduce costs and
improve efficiency and effectiveness
8. Contract work: temporary employment by an organization to do a specific project/piece of work
9. Casual work: temporary employment that is not regular or fixed
10. Rightsizing: another way of saying downsizing, though it could also describe increasing the size of an
organization, perhaps as an attempt to correct a previous downsizing
11. Euphemism: the use of a word or phrase used to avoid saying an unpleasant or offensive word
12. Let go = lay off

UNIT 27: INTERNATIONAL TRADE

1. Free trade: imports/ exports without any barriers (a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also
be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade)
2. Protectionism: restricting imports by means of trade barriers <tariffs, quotas> (the economic policy of restraining
trade between nations, through such methods as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other
restrictive government regulations designed to discourage imports, and prevent foreign take-over of local markets
and companies
3. A strategic industry: an industry which is essential for the promotion or stabilization of the growth of the locality in
which that industry is situated.
4. Absolute advantage: the ability to produce goods at a lower cost/ more efficiently than any other
5. Comparative advantage: inability of a nation to produce a good more efficiently than any other nations, but an
ability to produce that good more efficiently than it does any other good.
6. Tariff: a duty/ tax levied upon goods transported from 1 customs area to another, for either protective or revenue
purposes. Tariff raise the prices of imported goods, thus making them generally less competitive within the market of
the importing country, unless that country does not produce the items so tariffed.
7. Quota: restriction on the amount (measured in units or weight) of a good that can enter or leave a country during a
certain period of time
8. An infant industry: a new industry, which in its early stages experiences relative difficulty or is absolutely incapable
of competing with established competitors abroad.
9. International trade: purchase, sale, or exchange of goods and services across national borders
10. Trade barriers: government laws, regulations, policies or practices that either protect domestic products from
foreign competitors or artificially stimulate exports of particular domestic products
11. Autarky: the (impossible) situation in which a country is completely self-sufficient and has no foreign trade
12. Barter/ counter trade: direct exchanges of goods, without the use of money
13. Visible trade/ merchandise trade: trade in goods
14. Invisible imports and exports: trades in services (banking, insurance, tourism and so on)
15. Deficit: a negative balance of trade or payments
16. Surplus: a positive balance of trade or payments
17. Balance of trade: the difference between what a country receives and pays for its exports and imports of goods
18. Balance of payments: the difference between a country’s total earnings from exports and its total expenditure on
imports
19. Dumping: the act of selling exports at artificiallly low prices, below those charged by domestic firms, and often at
less than the costs of production
20. Embargo: a type of trade protectionist measure banning the trade of a certain good, or banning trade with a
particular country