23 terms in 3.9
automation
Using technology/machines for tasks traditionally done by humans.
Assessing greater use of digital technology
Digital Technology in Business
The use of digital tools — automation, e-commerce, big data, AI, and data mining — to transform business operations and strategy.
Assessing globalisation and internationalisation
diseconomies of scale
The increase in average (unit) cost that occurs when a business becomes too large to manage efficiently.
Assessing a change in scale
economies of scale
The reduction in average (unit) cost as output increases, because fixed costs are spread over more units and greater scale brings operational efficiencies.
emerging economy
Country moving from developing toward developed status.
export
Selling goods/services to foreign countries.
External Growth (Mergers and Takeovers)
Growth achieved by combining with or acquiring another business, rather than growing from within.
globalisation
The increasing integration of the world's economies through trade, investment, migration, and the free flow of information and technology.
horizontal integration
Merging with competitor at same supply chain level.
innovation
Introduction of new ideas, products, services, or ways of doing business that create value.
Assessing innovation
Innovation (Product and Process)
The development and successful commercial application of new ideas — product innovation creates new offerings, process innovation improves how things are made or delivered.
intrapreneurship
Entrepreneurial behaviour and innovation by employees within a large organisation, acting as if they own the project they are developing.
Kaizen
(Continuous Improvement).
Kaizen (Continuous Improvement)
A Japanese management philosophy of continuous, incremental improvement involving all employees at every level of the business.
licensing
Granting right to use intellectual property/brand/technology.
merger
Combination of two companies into single entity.
multinational
Operating across multiple nations.
Offshoring and Reshoring
Offshoring moves business activities to lower-cost countries abroad; reshoring brings them back to the home country.
organic growth
Growth achieved by a business from within, through increasing sales, expanding capacity, or developing new products using its own resources.
overtrading
When a business expands faster than its financial resources can support, leading to cash flow problems despite being profitable.
synergy
The principle that combined businesses create more value together than they would separately — 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.'
takeover
Acquiring control of business through purchasing shares/assets.
vertical integration
Growth by acquiring businesses at different stages of the same supply chain — forward (towards customers) or backward (towards suppliers).