Business

Question 1

Bargaining unit

Answer 1

A group of employees recognized by the National Labor Relations Board to be an appropriate body for collective bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act.

Question 2

Barriers to entry

Answer 2

Obstacles that impede an organization as it seeks to enter a market.

Question 3

Branding

Answer 3

A community-wide communication effort to convey the mission and the competitive advantage of an organization.

Question 4

Breach of contract

Answer 4

A contracting party’s failure or refusal to perform its obligations specified in a contract.

Question 5

Business model

Answer 5

The underlying structure of an organization; the means through which an organization creates and delivers value to its customers and earns revenues.

Question 6

Business plan

Answer 6

A model of a specific strategy or function that guides design, operations, and goal setting.

Question 7

Certificate of need

Answer 7

Certificate or approval for new services and for construction or renovation of hospitals or related facilities; issued in many states.

Question 8

Collective bargaining

Answer 8

An activity whereby union and management officials attempt to resolve conflicting interests in a manner that will sustain and possibly enrich their continuing relationships.

Question 9

Contract

Answer 9

A voluntary, deliberate, and legally binding agreement between two or more competent parties; usually written but sometimes spoken or implied.

Question 10

Core competencies

Answer 10

The internal activities and functions central to fulfilling an organization’s mission; strategically valuable, they are the essence of what makes the organization unique in providing value to its customers.

Question 11

Crisis communications plan

Answer 11

A process for disseminating information to all organizational stakeholders in the event of an emergency.

Question 12

Defamation

Answer 12

The act of making untrue statements about another that damage the person’s reputation; written defamation is libel, and oral defamation is slander.

Question 13

Disruptive innovation

Answer 13

Innovation that creates a new market by discovering new categories of customers, eventually displacing the existing market; occurs when new technologies are harnessed or when new business models exploit old technologies.

Question 14

Economies of scale

Answer 14

Reductions in unit cost as a result of an increase in number of products or services produced.

Question 15

First movers

Answer 15

Organizations that consistently search for innovation opportunities and attempt to gain competitive advantages by being among the first to enter a new market or industry.

Question 16

Five Forces model

Answer 16

A framework devised by Harvard economist Michael Porter for analyzing the degree of competition in a market and the ability of established organizations to influence prices.

Question 17

Forecasting

Answer 17

Use of data from the past and present to analyze trends and predict the future; also called scenario planning.

Question 18

Four basic types of market structure

Answer 18

(1) Perfect competition, (2) monopolistic competition, (3) oligopoly, and (4) monopoly; each type reflects the number Of organizations in a market and their degree of market influence.

Question 19

Four Ps

Answer 19

Four attributes that have traditionally been used to establish an organization’s market position: (1) product, (2) price, (3) promotion, and (4) place.

Question 20

Gantt chart

Answer 20

A bar chart that lays out the schedules, steps, and time frames of a project or projects.

Question 21

Gap analysis

Answer 21

A method of identifying the distance between an organization’s current position and its desired position with regard to its mission, vision, and values.

Question 22

Generic strategies

Answer 22

Commonly used strategies that combine a target market (e.g., a small segment of a population) and a type of differentiation (e.g., low cost).

Question 23

Healthcare disparities

Answer 23

Differences in access to or availability of healthcare facilities and services; related but different, health disparities refer to variation in the rates of disease occurrence and disabilities among socioeconomic, geographic, social, cultural, and sexual- or gender identity-defined population groups.

Question 24

Herfindahl-Hirschman Index

Answer 24

A measure of market concentration calculated by squaring the market share percentage of each organization in a market and then summing the numbers.

Question 25

Horizontal expansion

Answer 25

The acquisition or merger of two or more organizations that produce similar products or services.

Question 26

Internal environmental analysis

Answer 26

Evaluation of an organization’s products, assets, operations, and other factors to determine whether the organization is carrying out its mission effectively and efficiently.

Question 27

Malfeasance

Answer 27

Wrongdoing or improper and dishonest conduct, especially by a person who holds public office or a position of trust.

Question 28

Market share

Answer 28

The percentage of total sales volume in a market captured by a brand, product, service, or company.

Question 29

Market structure

Answer 29

The organizational characteristics of a market that exert a strategic influence on the intensity and form of competition.

Question 30

Marketing

Answer 30

The deliberate effort to establish fruitful relationships with exchange partners and stakeholders.

Question 31

Portfolio analysis

Answer 31

A method of assessing an organization’s products or strategic business units that considers various factors, including competitive position, profitability, growth, and mission importance.

Question 32

Product (or service) life cycle

Answer 32

Four distinct but not wholly predictable stages every product or service goes through: (1) introduction to the market; (2) growth in utilization and revenue; (3) maturity, when utilization and revenue stabilize; and (4) decline, when utilization and revenue start to fall and eventually become too little for the product or service to remain viable.

Question 33

Project charter

Answer 33

A tool commonly used in project management to clarify the key components of a project (e.g., scope, desired outcomes, participants, resources, time frames, responsible parties) and to ensure that the project’s definition and desired outcomes coincide with an organization’s strategic priorities and goals.

Question 34

Scenario analysis

Answer 34

A technique of proposing alternative futures that could come to pass if a specified environmental change occurs; used by leaders to better understand and plan for future contingencies.

Question 35

Segmentation

Answer 35

The division of a market into subsets of consumers with similar needs and wants; enables marketers to focus their marketing efforts on consumers most likely to buy a product or use a service.

Question 36

Stakeholders

Answer 36

Persons who have a claim to or obtain some benefit from an organization.

Question 37

Strategic action cycle (four stages)

Answer 37

(1) Strategic planning, (2) budgeting, (3) implementing strategy, and (4) controlling problems and monitoring progress.

Question 38

Strategic alliance

Answer 38

A long-term, formal, and mutually beneficial relationship between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed-upon goals or to meet a critical business need while remaining independent organizations.

Question 39

Strategic management

Answer 39

Opportunities that, when narrowed for use in business plans, involve quantum shifts in service capabilities or market share, usually by interaction with competitors, large-scale capital investments, and revisions to several line activities.