Business Glossary for Entrepreneurs

1. Above line advertising: Above the Line Advertising for which a payment is made and for which commission is paid to the advertising agency. See also 'below the line' and 'push versus pull promotion'
2. Absentee Policy: The policy that covers allowed absence from the workplace and the penalties that accrue for excessive absence. This policy is typically part of the employee handbook. A policy about attendance requirements, scheduled and unscheduled time off, and measures for dealing with workplace absenteeism. Repeated absenteeism can lead to termination. Absences are generally accepted and sometimes compensated if their frequency and rationale fall within an organization's attendance policy.
3. Absolute advantage: The situation that exists when a given amount of resources can produce more of some product in one country than in another.
4. Absolute rating: A rating method where the rater assigns a specific value on a fixed scale to the behavior or performance of an individual instead of assigning ratings based on comparisons between other individuals.
5. Accessibility: The extent to which a contractor's or employer's facility is readily approachable and does not inhibit the mobility of individuals with disabilities, particularly such areas as the personnel office, worksite and public areas.
6. Accommodating: A conflict management style in which one cooperates with the other party while not asserting one's own interest.
7. Account balance: The amount in an account.
8. Account Management: The process by which an agency or supplier manages the needs of a client.
9. Account Number: The number assigned to an account.
10. Account Title: The name given to an account.
11. Account: A record summarizing all the information pertaining to a single item in the accounting equation. It is also a section in a ledger devoted to a single aspect of a business (e.g. a Bank account, Wages account, Office expenses account). Each separate category of asset, liability, equity, revenue or expense for which transactions are recorded separately. An account can have a debit or credit balance. Account records are usually kept as separate pages in a book called a ledger. Accounts are sometimes called ledger accounts.
12. Accounting cycle: This covers everything from opening the books at the start of the year to closing them at the end. In other words, everything you need to do in one accounting year accounting wise.
13. Accounting Equation: The basis for the entire accounting process: Assets = Liabilities + Equity.
14. Accounting equation: The formula used to prepare a balance sheet: assets = liability + equity
15. Accounting Equations: and equation showing the relationship among assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity
16. Accounting Period: The period of time over which a company's business transactions are recorded and at the end of which the company's financial statements are printed. Most accounting systems have an accounting period of one month.
17. Accounting records: Organized summaries of a business’s financial activities
18. Accounting System: a planned process for proving financial information that will be useful to management
19. Accounting: The recording, classifying, summarizing, and interpreting of events of a financial character. These events can include income, expenses, and cash flow.
20. Accounts Payable: An account in the nominal ledger which contains the overall balance of the Purchase Ledger.
21. Accounts Payable: Liabilities that result from a purchase of goods or services on an open account. Amounts owed to suppliers of goods or services.
22. Accounts Payable: Money owed by the company for goods and services provided by its suppliers.
23. Accounts Payable: Trade accounts of businesses representing amounts owed for goods or services received.
24. Accounts Receivable Ledger: A subsidiary ledger which holds the accounts of a business's customers. A single control account is held in the nominal ledger which shows the total balance of all the accounts in the sales ledger.
25. Accounts receivable: Amounts owed to a company by customers as a result of delivering goods or services and extending credit in the ordinary course of business.
26. Accounts Receivable: An account in the nominal ledger which contains the overall balance of the Sales Ledger.
27. Accounts Receivable: Trade accounts of businesses representing amounts due for goods sold or services rendered.
28. Accredited Program: Modular study that is assessed by exam or by project based assignments towards achieving a qualification.
29. Accrual method of accounting: Most businesses use the accrual method of accounting (because it is usually required by law). When you issue an invoice on credit (i.e. regardless of whether it is paid or not), it is treated as a taxable supply on the date it was issued for income tax purposes (or corporation tax for limited companies). The same applies to bills received from suppliers. (This does not mean you pay income tax immediately, just that it must be included in that year's profit and loss account).
30. Accrual Method: A method of stating income whereby revenues are recognized in the accounting period in which they are earned, not when the payment is received. Most businesses are required by law to use the accrual method of accounting.
31. Accrual-Basis Accounting: An accounting system in which income is recorded when it is earned rather than when it is paid, and expenses are recorded when an obligation is established rather than when the money is paid.
32. Accruals: If during the course of a business certain charges are incurred but no invoice is received then these charges are referred to as accruals (they 'accrue' or increase in value). A typical example is interest payable on a loan where you have not yet received a bank statement. These items (or an estimate of their value) should still be included in the profit & loss account. When real invoice is received, an adjustment can be made to correct estimate. Accruals can also apply to the income side.
33. Accrued Expenses: Expenses which have been incurred but have not yet been paid and recorded in the books because no invoice has been received.
34. Accumulated Depreciation Account: An account held in nominal ledger which holds the depreciation of a fixed asset until the end of the asset's useful life. It is credited each year with that year's depreciation, hence the balance increases over a period of time. Each fixed asset will have its own accumulated depreciation account.
35. Acid-test ratio: Also called the quick ratio, the ratio of current assets minus inventories, accruals, and prepaid items to current liabilities.
36. ACORN: A Classification of Residential Neighborhoods, a database which divides up the entire population of the country in terms of the type of housing in which they live.
37. Acquisition Value: The users' perception of the relative worth of a product or service to them. Formally defined as the subjectively weighted difference between the most a buyer would be willing to pay for the product or service, less the actual price of the item. Time user must spend to 'acquire' is often used as a surrogate for 'relative worth or price paid,' in library research. For example, a user might be willing to expend drive time and a brief time in the library to check out a best seller, but not wait two weeks for a copy to be returned.
38. Acquisition: one company acquiring control of another by purchase of a majority shareholding.
39. Acquisition: Typically the purchase of a company or a significant business asset. In the defense industry, acquisition means the purchase of products and systems.
40. Active listening: A technique for improving the accuracy of information reception by paying close attention to the sender.
41. Activities, Interests, and Opinions (AIO): A measurable series of psychographic (as opposed to demographic) variables involving the interests and beliefs of users. Note, because psychographics are usually expensive to gather, yet offer a more precise profile of users, demographic variables are usually relied upon.
42. Activity Based Costing (ABC): An ABC system identifies and then classifies the major activities of a facility's production process into one of the following four categories: unit-level, batch-level, product-level, and facility-level activities. Costs in the first three categories of activities are assigned to products using bases (i.e. cost drivers) that capture the underlying behavior of the costs that are being assigned. The costs of facility-level activities, however, are treated as period costs or allocated to products in some arbitrary manner.
43. Actor-observer effect: The propensity for actors and observers to view the causes of the actor's behavior differently.
44. Added value: The difference between the market value of the output and the cost of the inputs to the organization.
45. Added Value: The increase in worth of a product or service as a result of a particular activity - in the context of marketing, the activity might be packaging or branding.
46. Additive tasks: Tasks in which group performance is dependent upon the sum of the performance of individual group members.
47. Adjusting entries: Journal recorded to update general ledger accounts at the end of a fiscal period
48. Adjustments: Changes recorded on a worksheet to update general ledger accounts at the end of a fiscal period
49. Adjustments: Journal entries to record accrued expenses, depreciation, accrued revenues, bad debts, and other items which must be recorded at the end of the accounting period in order to state income accurately. The journal entries to record adjustments are called adjusting entries.
50. Administrative Services Only (ASO): The hiring of a firm (usually a health care vendor) to handle certain administrative tasks. The firm does not assume any risk but merely carries out specialized functions that employer cannot or does not want to do; e.g. an employer funds own dental insurance claim payments but pays the ASO firm to process claims.
51. Adopter Categories: Persons or agencies that adopt an innovation are often classified into five groups according to the sequence of their adoption of it. (To illustrate this think of individual use of the Internet within the library, and for an agency, libraries that offer Internet access to the general public. 1) Innovators (first 2-5%); 2) Early adopters (10-15%)' 3) Early majority (next 35%); 4) Late majority (next 35%); 5) Laggards (final 5-10%). This is important when considering how long it may take for the general public to 'adopt' a product or service.
52. ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line: Technology that allows data to be transmitted over copper pair telephone lines at up to 8 Mbps. The technology allows internet access and telephony services to be available simultaneously.
53. Advanced information technology: The generation, aggregation, storage, modification and speedy transmission of information made possible by the advent of computers and related devices.
54. Advertisement: A specific paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or services.
55. Advertising Campaign: A series of advertisements planned around a central theme.
56. Advertising: Promotion of a product, service, or message by an identified sponsor using paid-for media.
57. Advertising: The placement and purchase of announcements and persuasive messages in time or space in any of the mass media by business firms, nonprofit organizations. This has not been a traditional method of informing the public, rather public service announcements, which are placed at no cost, are the norm for libraries.
58. Advertorial: An advertisement which is designed to have the appearance of an editorial. Advertorials are normally labeled as "Advertising" or "This is an advertisement". Similar in practice to an infomercial.
59. Advocacy Advertising: Advocacy advertising expresses a viewpoint on a given issue, often on behalf an institution. Examples are to be found in anti-Drink-Driving campaigns.
60. Adware: ‘Adware’ is a component in software applications that displays ads while the program is running. For example, adware is included with web-based email programs that give you free email in exchange for viewing ads. Adware “piggybacks” on programs you download from the Internet. Tucked away in the fine print of user agreements for many “free” downloads and services is a stipulation that the company will use adware to post advertisements on your computer. For more information about adware and how to remove it from your computer, see http://security.ucdavis.edu/101_adware.cfm. Adware Free software which includes pop-up banner advertisements which cannot be dismissed.
61. Affective commitment: Commitment based on identification and involvement with an organization.
62. Affiliate Marketing: A form of marketing or advertising used on the internet. Companies that sell products or services online link to relevant sites. The advertising on the other or 'affiliate' sites is paid for according to results.
63. Affinity Marketing: Marketing effort targeted at individuals sharing common interests that predispose them towards a product, e.g. an auto accessories manufacturer targeting motoring magazine readers. Also, a campaign jointly sponsored by a number of disparate organizations that are non-competitive but have a particular interest in common.
64. Affirmative Action Plan (AAP): A written set of specific, results-oriented procedures to be followed. Intended to remedy the effects of past discrimination against or underutilization of women and minorities. The effectiveness of the plan is measured by the results it actually achieves rather than by the results intended and by the good faith efforts undertaken.
65. Affirmative action: Proactive policies aimed at increasing the employment opportunities of certain groups (typically, minority men and/or women of all racial groups). Title 5, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that affirmative action be taken in employment of persons with disabilities by Federal contractors. Affirmative action was designed to rectify past discrimination but has been controversial since its inception.
66. AFS Andrew File System: A system that allows users a potion of space on a server and allows them to share files. It requires special software to access, but may also be accessed through a web portal. An example is MySpace.
67. After Sales Service: Services received after the original goods or service has been paid for.
68. After-Sale Service: All service preformed after the sale of the product, e.g., delivery, instruction, installation or maintenance.
69. Age norms: Widely accepted expectations in society about appropriate behavior for a person at a given age.
70. Agent (Insurance): An employee who sells the products owned by the company, in contrast to a broker, who sells the insurance products of several companies. See Broker.
71. Agent: A person granted the authority to act on behalf of another person or entity, known as the "principal." The actions and decisions of the agent can be binding on the principal.
72. Agent: Intermediary who assists in the sale and/or promotion of goods and services by does not take title to them.
73. Aggregate demand: It is the total of all desired expenditure at any time by all groups in the economy.
74. Aggregation: A concept of market segmentation that assumes that most consumers are alike. A library of the past had an 'opening day' collection of materials that could be found in most towns and cities. Today's libraries are more aware of considering the unique needs of individuals in the market area.
75. Aggregation: The concept indicating that pooling of demand or other random variables reduces the variance of the resulting aggregated variable.
76. Agile Organization: Aterm applied to an organization that has created the processes, tools, and training to enable it to respond quickly to customer needs and market changes while still controlling costs and quality.
77. Aging: The length of time merchandise has been in stock. For the library this could be of benefit by gaining knowledge about the duration of certain goods.
78. Aida (AIDA): Attention, Interest, Desire and Action: a model describing process that advertising or promotion is intended to initiate in mind of a prospective customer.
79. Aiuapr (AIUAPR): Awareness, Interest, Understanding, Attitudes, Purchase, Repeat purchase: a buying decision model.
80. Al Ajr: Refers to commission, fees or wages charged for services.
81. Al Ghunm bil Ghurm: This provides the rationale and the principle of profit sharing in Shirkah arrangements. Earning profit is legitimized only by engaging in an economic venture, risk sharing and contributing to economy.
82. Al- Kafalah (Suretyship): Literally, Kafalah means responsibility, amenability or surety, Legally in Kafalah a third party become surety for the payment of debt. It is a pledge given to a creditor that the debtor will pay the debt, fine etc. Suretyship is creation of an additional liability with regard to claim, not to debt or the assumption only of a liability and not of debt.
83. Al Rahn Al: An arrangement whereby a valuable asset is placed as collateral for a debt. Collateral may be disposed off in an event of a default.
84. Al- Rahn: Pledge, Collateral; legally, Rahn means to pledge or lodge a real or corporeal property of material value, in accordance with the law, as security, for a debt or pecuniary obligation so as to make it possible for the creditor to recover the debt or some portion of the goods or property. In the pre-Islamic contracts, Rahn implied a type of earnest money which was lodged as a guarantee and material evidence or proof of a contract, especially when there was no scribe available to put it into writing. The institution of earnest money was not accepted in Islamic law and the common Islamic doctrine recognized Rahn only as a security for the payment of a debt.
85. Al Wadia: Resale of goods with a discount on the original stated cost.
86. Al-‘Aariyah (Gratuitous loan of non-fungible objects: Al-‘Aariyah means loan of a particular piece of property, the substance of which is not consumed by its use, without anything taken in exchange, In other words, it is the gift of usufruct of a property or commodity that is not consumed on use. It is different from Qard that is the loan of fungible objects which are consumed on use and in which the similar and not the same commodity has to be returned. It is also a virtuous act like Qard. The borrowed commodity is treated as liability of the borrower who is bound to return it to its owner.
87. Allocation: The assignment of costs incurred in one area or function of a plant or company to another because of the service to the charged unit.
88. All-you-can-afford budgeting: An approach to the advertising budget that establishes the amount to be spent on advertising as the funds remaining after all other necessary expenditures and investments are covered. Libraries often relegate all promotion related materials and services into this category. Also called the statement of financial condition, it is a summary of the assets, liabilities, and owners' equity
89. Al-Sarf: Basically, in pre-Islamic times it was exchange of gold for gold, silver for silver and gold for silver or vice versa. In Islamic law such exchange is regarded as ‘sale of price for price’ (Bai al Thaman bil Thaman), and each price is consideration of the other. It also means sale of monetary value for monetary value: currency exchange.
90. Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): An informal process to resolve disputes. Involved parties meet with a trained third party who assists in resolving the problem by arbitration, mediation, judicial settlement conferences, conciliation or other methods. Though usually voluntary, ADR is sometimes mandated by a judge as a first step before going to court.
91. Amana/Amanah: Lit: reliability, trustworthiness, loyalty, honesty. Technically, an important value of Islamic society in mutual dealings. It also refers to deposits in trust. A person may hold property in trust for another, sometimes by implication of a contract.
92. Amanah: It refers to deposits in trust. A person can hold a property in trust for another, sometimes by express contract and sometimes by implication of a contract. Amanah entails absence of liability for loss except in breach of duty. Current Accounts are regarded as Amanah (trust). If the bank gets authority to use Current Accounts funds in his business, Amanah transforms into a loan. As every loan has to be repaid, banks are liable to repay full amount of the Current Accounts.
93. Ambiance: An overall feeling or mood projected by a store through its aesthetic appeal to human senses. A brightly colored children's room is more appealing to juveniles than an area sectioned off within the adult room which blends in.
94. Ambient Media: Originally known as 'fringe media', ambient media are communications platforms that surround us in everyday life - from petrol pump advertising to advertising projected onto buildings to advertising on theatre tickets, cricket pitches or even pay slips. See also 'buzz'.
95. Ambush Marketing: A deliberate attempt by an organization to associate itself with an event (often a sporting event) in order to gain some of the benefits associated with being an official sponsor without incurring the costs of sponsorship. For example by advertising during broadcasts of the event. See also 'buzz'
96. Americans: With Disabilities Act (ADA): Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is part of a federal law that prohibits discrimination against someone with a disability, defined as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity." Disability is decided on a case-by-case basis and does not include conditions such as substance abuse. This law applies to the whole employment cycle, from application through advancement and termination.
97. Amortization: Paying off debt in regular installments over a period of time, or deducting certain capitalized expenditures over a specified period of time.
98. Amortization: The depreciation (or repayment) of an (usually) intangible asset (e.g. loan, mortgage) over a fixed period of time. Example: if a loan of 12,000 is amortized over 1 year with no interest, the monthly payments would be 1000 a month.
99. Amortization: The systematic reduction of an asset, specifically when referring to a long-lived intangible asset such as goodwill or intellectual property. It usually means the allocation of costs of intangible assets to the periods that benefit from these assets. See also depreciation.
100. An analysis of the level of sales at which a project would make zero profit.
101. Analysis: In marketing and other social science disciplines, a variety of statistical and none statically methods are used to analyze data, instead of sheer intuition, or simple descriptive statistics-- which have been the norm in the library filed.
102. Analytical reports: Provide data, analyses, conclusions, and, if requested, recommendations.
103. Anchoring effect: The inadequate adjustment of subsequent estimates from an initial estimate that serves as an anchor.
104. Annualize: To convert anything into a yearly figure, e.g. if profits are reported as running at £10k a quarter, then they would be £40k if annualized. If a credit card interest rate was quoted as 1% a month, it would be annualized as 12%.
105. Ansoff Matrix: A model relating marketing strategy to general strategic direction. It maps product-market strategies - e.g. market penetration, product development, market development and diversification - on a matrix showing new versus existing products along one axis and new versus existing markets along the other.
106. Anti-adware: Anti-adware is software that can detect and remove adware from your computer. Adware programs often “piggyback” on programs you choose to download “free” from the Web. You may have numerous such programs on your computer and not be aware of it. Anti-adware scans your computer and shows you how many adware programs you have downloaded. You can then choose to delete these programs or keep them on your computer.
107. Anti-spyware: Anti-spyware is software that can detect and remove spyware from your computer. Spyware programs often “piggyback” on programs you choose to download “free” from the Web. You may have numerous such programs on your computer and not be aware of it. Anti-spyware scans your computer and shows you how many spyware programs you have downloaded. You can then choose to delete these programs or keep them on your computer.
108. Anti-virus: A software to protect email, instant messages, and other files by removing viruses and worms. Anti-virus software downloads new virus protection updates to protect against new threats. It also quarantines infected files to keep a virus from spreading on your computer and can repair infected files so you can use them without fear of damaging your computer or spreading a virus to others.
109. Applicant Tracking System (ATS): A software application that began as a way to electronically handle recruitment needs but has since expanded to the entire employment life cycle. Onboarding, training and succession planning capabilities now exist, for example. An ATS can be implemented on an enterprise level or small business level, depending on the size and needs of the company. Applicant Tracking Systems may also be referred to as Talent Management Systems. An ATS saves time and increases efficiency and compliance for those tasked with managing human capital.
110. Application Service Provider (ASP): Other common terms are SaaS (software as a service), on-demand or Web-based services. A business that provides computer-based services to customers over a network, as opposed to installing the software on a company server (hosted). This is a cost-effective solution for small and medium-sized businesses, who may find it hard to keep up with the increasing costs of specialized software, distribution and upgrades. Smaller, periodic payments replace one-time lump sum pricing. The ASP can be accessed from any location via the Internet. HRmarketer.com is an example.
111. Appreciation: The increase in the value of an asset.
112. Apprentice: A junior person, sometimes called a protégé, who has a mentor.
113. Arbitration: A form of alternative dispute resolution in which a neutral third party (an arbitrator) considers the competing parties´ arguments and evidence and renders a decision or award. Arbitration can be binding or non-binding.
114. Arbun: Down payment; a nonrefundable deposit paid by a buyer retaining a right to confirm or cancel the sale.
115. Architecture: The network of relationships and contracts both within and around the organization.
116. Argumentative Customers: Customers who seem to disagree with, question or look for error in almost everything and
117. Arrears: Bills which should have been paid. For example, if you have forgotten to pay your last 3 months rent, then you are said to be 3 months in arrears on your rent.
118. Artificial intelligence (AI): A field of study that attempts to replicate elements of human thought in computer processes; includes expert systems, genetic algorithms, neural networks, and fuzzy logic
119. ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Exchange. ASCII files are often referred to as "text" files or "plain text" files. They contain no formatting information.
120. Asset Led Marketing: Asset led marketing uses product strengths such as the name and brand image to market both new and existing products. Marketing decisions are based on the needs of the consumer and the assets of the product.
121. Asset: Any possession that has value in an exchange. All the physical things and other items of value owned by a company. They are listed on the left side of the balance sheet. Assets include finished and unfinished inventory, land, buildings, cash, and money owed to the company by customers. Anything of value that is owned, they are also a firm's productive resources.
122. Assets: Assets represent what a business owns or is due. Equipment, vehicles, buildings, creditors, money in the bank, cash are all examples of the assets of a business. Typical breakdown includes 'fixed assets', 'current assets' and 'non-current assets'. Fixed refers to equipment, buildings, plant, vehicles etc. Current refers to cash, money in the bank, debtors etc. Non-current refers to any assets which do not easily fit into the previous categories (such as deferred expenditure ).
123. Assets: The tangible and intangible goods, intellectual property, and goodwill that are listed under the asset column in the balance sheet for a company. Any beneficial item owned by a company.
124. Assignments: An assessed work based project report. Assignments are part of the assessment procedure when studying for a qualification
125. ATM: Asynchronous Transfer Mode.
126. Atmospherics: The physical characteristics of the library such as architecture, layout, signs and displays, color, lighting, temperature, access, noise, assortment, prices, special events, etc., that serve as stimuli and attention attractors of users to the library or information agency.
127. Attainable point: any combination of goods and services that can be produced using currently available resources.
128. Attitude: A fairly stable emotional tendency to respond consistently to some specific object, situation, person, or category of people. Attitudes enduring systems of positive or negative evaluations, emotional feelings, and action tendencies with respect to an object. Consumer's overall liking or preference for an object.
129. Attribute: A critical property of an activity or operation
130. Attribution: The process by which causes or motives are assigned to explain peoples' behavior.
131. Attrition: A gradual voluntary reduction of employees (through resignation and retirement) who are not then replaced, decreasing the size of the workforce.
132. Attrition: A term used to describe voluntary and involuntary terminations, deaths, and employee retirements that result in a reduction to the employer's physical workforce.
133. Audience: The number and/or characteristics of the persons or households who are exposed to a particular type of advertising media or media vehicle. In a library this could be a certain number of people that attend a library program.
134. Audit Log: Audit logs allow computer administrators, such as campus TSCs, to get a good idea of where visitors are coming from, how often they return, and how they navigate through a site.
135. Audit: A review or examination of an individual´s or organization´s records to determine legal compliance or proper record keeping.
136. Audit: The process of reviewing the library's strengths and weaknesses (internally), and opportunities and threats (externally) to shed light on the agency's performance.
137. Authentication: This security measure is the process of determining whether someone is who they say they are. On campus, a common method of authentication is the login ID and Kerberos password.
138. Authorization: Refers to the process of giving someone permission to do or have access to something. Before you are able to set up a campus login ID and Kerberos password, you must be authorized to do so.
139. Autocratic leadership: Leader determines policy of the organization, instructs members what to do/make, subjective in approach, aloof and impersonal.
140. Autonomy: The freedom to schedule one's own work activities and decide work procedures.
141. A-V: Audio-Visual.
142. Availability: That time or percentage of time that a resource unit or activity center is ready to process or be activated.
143. Avoiding: A conflict management style characterized by low assertiveness of one's own interests and low cooperation with the other party.
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144. Background Screening / Pre-employment Screening: Testing to ensure that employers are hiring qualified and honest employees and that a prospective employee is capable of performing the functions required by the job. The screening can involve criminal background checks, verification of Social Security numbers, past addresses, age or year of birth, corporate affiliations, bankruptcies, liens, drug screening, skills assessment and behavioral assessments. If an employer outsources pre-employment screening, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that there must be a consent and disclosure form separate from an employment application.
145. Backlog: The amount of actual demand, orders or contracts that are in the pipeline for future sales. Can be expressed in units of production time or dollars; e.g. six weeks of firm orders for a plant that can produce $2 million dollars per week would be a $12 million backlog.
146. Backroom Costs: Indirect costs that do not add direct value to a product and may or may not be necessary to support its production. Examples are matching supplier material receipts to their invoices to make sure that they are being paid accurately; sending invoices to customers; matching computer inventory records to actual inventory; accounting for product costs at each station on a production routing; keeping track of hazardous materials receipt, control, and proper disposal; tracking customer warranty issues; operation of the computer systems that control the production process, etc.
147. Backward integration: The process whereby an organization acquires the activities of its inputs, e.g. manufacturer into raw material supplier.
148. Bad Debts Account: An account in the nominal ledger to record the value of un-recoverable debts from customers. Real bad debts or those that are likely to happen can be deducted as expenses against tax liability (provided they refer specifically to a customer).
149. Bad Debts Reserve Account: An account used to record an estimate of bad debts for the year (usually as a percentage of sales). This cannot be deducted as an expense against tax liability.
150. Bad Debts: The amounts not paid when a customer fails to pay all or part of what is owed. You make an adjusting entry to record it as an expense.
151. Bai al Dayn: Debt financing: the provision of financial resources required for production, commerce and services by way of sale/purchase of trade documents and papers. Bai al-Dayn is a short-term facility with a maturity of not more than a year. Only documents evidencing debts arising from bona fide commercial transactions can be traded.
152. Bai al Salam: This term refers to advance payment for goods which are to be delivered later. Normally, no sale can be affected unless the goods are in existence at the time of the bargain. But this type of sale forms an exception to the general rule provided the goods are defined and the date of delivery is fixed. The objects of this type of sale are mainly tangible things but exclude gold or silver as these are regarded as monetary values. One of the conditions of this type of contract is advance payment.
153. Bai Al-Arboon: A sale agreement in which a security deposit is given in advance as a partial payment towards the price of the commodity purchased. This deposit is fortified if the buyer failed to meet his obligation.
154. Bai Bahaman Jail: This contract refers to the sale of goods on a deferred payment basis. Equipment or goods requested by the client are bought by the bank which subsequently sells the goods to the client an agreed price which includes the bank's mark-up (profit). The client may be allowed to settle payment by installments within a pre-agreed period, or in a lump sum. Similar to a Murayama contract, but with payment on a deferred basis.
155. Bai Muja (Deferred Payment Contract): A contract involving the sale of goods on a deferred payment basis. The bank or provider of capital buys the goods (assets) on behalf of the business owner. The bank then sells the goods to the client at an agreed price, which will include a markup since the bank needs to make a profit. The business owner can pay the total balance at an agreed future date or make installments over a pre-agreed period. This is similar to a Murabaha contract since it is also a credit sale.
156. Bai‘Muajjal: Literally it means a credit sale. Technically, a financing technique adopted by Islamic banks that takes the form of Murabaha Muajjal. It is a contract in which the seller earns a profit margin on his purchase price and allows the buyer to pay the price of the commodity at a future date in a lump sum or in installments. He has to expressly mention cost of the commodity and the margin of profit is mutually agreed. The price fixed for the commodity in such a transaction can be the same as the spot price or higher or lower than the spot price.
157. Bai′ bil Wafa: Sale with a right in the seller, having the effect of a condition, to repurchase (redeem) the property by refunding the purchase price. According to majority of Fuqaha it is not permissible.
158. Bai′ Salam: Salam means a contract in which advance payment is made for goods to be delivered later on. The seller undertakes to supply some specific goods to the buyer at a future date in exchange of an advance price fully paid at the time of contract. According to normal rules of the Shariah, no sale can be affected unless the goods are in existence at the time of the bargain, but Salam sale forms an exception given by the Holy Prophet (SAW) himself to the general rule provided the goods are defined and the date of delivery is fixed. It is necessary that the quality of the commodity intended to be purchased is fully specified leaving no ambiguity leading to dispute. The objects of this sale are goods and cannot be gold, silver or currencies because these are regarded as monetary values exchange of which is covered under rules of Bai al Sarf, i.e. mutual exchange is hand to hand without delay. Barring this, Bai′Salam covers almost everything which is capable of being definitely described as to quantity, quality and workmanship.
159. Balance of payments (BOP): Record of the transactions of a country with the rest of the world.
160. Balance Sheet - A report of the status of a firm's assets, liabilities and owner's equity at a given time (2) Income Statement - A report of revenue and expense which shows the results of business operations or net income for a specified period of time.
161. Balance sheet: A financial statement that reports assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity on a specific date
162. Balance Sheet: A summary of all the accounts of a business. Usually prepared at the end of each financial year. The term 'balance sheet' implies that the combined balances of assets exactly equal the liabilities and equity.
163. Balance Sheet: A summary of what a company owns and owes on a particular day.
164. Balanced Scorecard: A popular strategic management concept developed in the early 1990's by Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton, the balanced scorecard is a management and measurement system which enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. The goal of the balanced scorecard is to tie business performance to organizational strategy by measuring results in four areas: financial performance, customer knowledge, internal business processes, and learning and growth.
165. Balanced Scorecard: A strategic planning and management system that is used to tie business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor performance against goals. Developed in the early 1990's by Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton, the balanced scorecard measure four areas of business: internal business processes, financial performance, customer knowledge, and learning and growth.
166. Balanced Scorecard: A technique allowing a company to monitor and manage performance against defined objectives. Measurements might typically cover financial performance, customer value, internal business process, innovation performance and employee performance.
167. Balanced Stock: The composition of merchandise inventory in the colors, sizes, styles and other assortment characteristics that will satisfy user wants. For the library this would mean, services and materials based upon users’ wants and needs.
168. Balancing Charge: When a fixed asset is sold or disposed of, any loss or gain on the asset can be reclaimed against (or added to) any profits for income tax purposes. This is called a balancing charge.
169. Bandwidth: The capacity of a network or data connection to transmit data.
170. Bank statement: a report of deposits, withdrawals, and bank balances sent to a deposit by a bank
171. Bankrupt: If an individual or unincorporated company has greater liabilities than it has assets, the person or business can petition for, or be declared by its creditors, bankrupt. In the case of a limited company or corporation in the same position, the term used is insolvent.
172. Banner Adverts: Advertisements on web pages used to build brand awareness or drive traffic to the advertisers own website.
173. Banner: The Banner Student Information System is a computerized database of UC Davis student information organized into several modules. Access to student information in the Banner system is available only to those with a legitimate educational need or institutional business purpose.
174. Bar Codes: A series of vertical lines printed on most packages that identifies item and other information when read by a scanner
175. Barcode An information technology application that uniquely identifies various aspects of product characteristics, increasing speed, accuracy, and productivity of distribution process. Most library materials are bar-coded for security.
176. Barriers to entry: Barriers that make it difficult for firms to enter an industry and offer competition to existing producers or suppliers.
177. Base Wage Rate (or base rate): The monthly salary or hourly wage paid for a job, irrespective of benefits, bonuses or overtime.
178. Batch: The number of production units in an aggregation of units that can be produced by an activity that produces in batches. A multiple of units in a plant designated for any purpose such as packaging, outside services, etc.
179. Batool Maal: Treasury.
180. BCG (Boston Consulting Group) Matrix: Model for product portfolio analysis also called Growth-Share Matrix. Products can be classified as: Stars, Cash Cows, Dogs and Question Marks.
181. Behavioral based interview: An interview technique which focuses on a candidates past experiences, behaviors, knowledge, skills and abilities by asking the candidate to provide specific examples of when they have demonstrated certain behaviors or skills as a means of predicting future behavior and performance.
182. Behavioral competency: The behavior of the employee which is the subject of measurement and appraisal in terms of whether or not the behaviors shown by an employee are those identified by job analysis/competency profiling as those contributing to team and/or organizational success.
183. Behavioral competency: The behavior qualities and character traits of a person. These act as markers that can predict how successful a person will be at the position he/she is applying for. Employers should determine in advance what behavioral competencies fit the position and create interview questions to find out if the candidate possesses them.
184. Behavioral risk management: The process of analyzing and identifying workplace behavioral issues and implementing programs, policies or services most suitable for correcting or eliminating various employee behavioral problems.
185. Behavioral Segmentation: The division of a market on the basis of consumers’ responses to a product.
186. Behavioral-based interview: An interview technique used to determine whether a candidate is qualified for a position based on their past behavior. The interviewer asks the candidate for specific examples from past work experience when certain behaviors were exhibited.
187. Behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS): An appraisal that requires raters list important dimensions of a particular job and collect information regarding the critical behaviors that distinguish between successful and unsuccessful performance. These critical behaviors are then categorized and appointed a numerical value which is used as the basis for rating performance.
188. Behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS): An appraisal that requires raters to list important dimensions of a particular job and collect information regarding the critical behaviors that distinguishes between successful and unsuccessful performance. These critical behaviors are then categorized and appointed a numerical value used as the basis for rating performance.
189. Below the Line Advertising: Non-media advertising or promotion when no commission has been paid to the advertising agency. Includes direct mail, point of sale displays, giveaways. See also, 'above the line' and 'push versus pull promotion'.
190. Benchmark Job: A job commonly found in the workforce for which pay and other relevant data are readily available. Benchmark jobs are used to make pay comparisons and job evaluations.
191. Benchmarking: A systematic process for examining the products, services, and work processes of firms that are recognized as illustrating the best practices for organizational improvement.
192. Benchmarking: A technique using quantitative or qualitative data to make comparisons between different organizations or different sections of the organizations.
193. Benchmarking: A technique using specific standards to make comparisons between different organizations or different segments of the organizations, with the intent of improving a product or service.
194. Benchmarking: Benchmarking is defined as a process of continuous comparison of a company’s performance on predetermined measure against that of the best in an industry or a class, considered the standard or the reference. Benchmarking is one of the most popular business management tools for establishing competitive advantage and initiating performance improvements. The Benchmarking process supports the adoption of best practices with enhanced organization performance. The goal is to attain low-cost producer status.
195. Benchmarking: The comparison of practice in other organizations in order to identify areas for improvement. Note that the comparison does not have to be with another organization within the same industry, simply one whose practices are better at a particular aspect of the task or function.
196. Benefit Segmentation: The process of grouping users into market segments on the basis of the desirable consequences sought from the product. For example, the library market for children's books may include children and parents who are benefiting by developing the library and reading habit, and or recent immigrants who benefit from learning the language of the new country. Each is receiving a benefit from the product or service.
197. Benefit: The advantage consumers may receive from using a product.
198. Benefits (benefits package): Benefits are a form of compensation paid by employers to employees over and above the amount of pay specified as a base salary or hourly rate of pay. Benefits are a portion of a total compensation package for employees.
199. Benefits Administration: Software that helps companies manage and track employee participation in benefits programs such as healthcare, flexible spending accounts, pension plans, etc. This software helps automate and streamline the complex and otherwise time-consuming tasks of benefits administration.
200. Bereavement leave: Paid days off following the death of an employee’s spouse, parent, child grandparent or in-law so that the employee may attend funeral proceedings, etc.
201. Bereavement leave: Paid or unpaid time off following the death of an employee’s relative or friend. This time, generally ranging from one to three days, is given so that the employee can make arrangements, attend the funeral and attend to other matters related to the deceased. Many organizations are flexible in terms of how much time an employee takes off.
202. Best Practice: Denotes that practice considered the most effective for an industry. Best practices continually evolve. Best practices are often assessed across industries to set new "best practice" standards.
203. Bill of Material (BoM): A bill of material is an ordered listing of all the parts in a finished product. The listing usually includes the part number, how many of each part is required, and a brief word description of the part. It is best practice to use only words that appear in a parts dictionary. Bills of material are usually organized by indenting subsystems.
204. Bill: A term typically used to describe a purchase invoice (e.g. an invoice from a supplier).
205. BIOS Basic Input /Output System: See Webopedia's definition of BIOS.
206. Biosocial life stages: Alternating periods of stability and transition, with predictable themes that are based in psychological and biological factors and patterns of social expectations.
207. Bits per second (or bps): Measure of data transmission for a modem or network. As the name implies, bits per second is the number of bits that pass a certain point in one second.
208. Black Space: The business opportunities that a company has formally targeted and organized itself to capture. Compare with 'white space'.
209. BlackBerry: a wireless handheld messaging device that allows the employee to take the office with him wherever he goes.
210. Blank Endorsement: only endorser’s signature
211. Blended E-Learning: An integrated program with a blend of interactive online tuition, face-to-face classroom workshops, assignments and a Learning Log.
212. Blended workforce: A workforce is comprised of permanent full-time, part-time, temporary employees and independent contractors.
213. Blog (Web LOG): A blog is basically a journal that is available on the Web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger.” Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in chronological order, with the most recent additions featured most prominently.
214. Blog: A Web log written for and posted to the Internet using such software as www.blogger.com. Readers access the blog through the Web (e.g., http://hrmarketer.blogspot.com/) or subscribe to the blog’s RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed and receive alerts when there is a new posting. Blogs are becoming increasingly important to HR suppliers in order to increase their company’s visibility, communicate with customers, and promote their products or services to establish themselves as thought leaders.
215. Blogs/Blogging Contraction of Web log: An internet publishing device allowing an individual or company to express their thoughts and opinions. Businesses can use blogs as a marketing communication channel.
216. Bluetooth: A protocol for short-range wireless communication between multiple kinds of devices, like PDAs, computers, and cell phones that provides transfer speeds of up to 2Mbps.
217. Bluetooth: Open specification for short range communication between wireless devices.
218. Body language: Nonverbal communication by means of a sender's bodily motions, facial expressions, or physical location.
219. Body Language: The nonverbal signals communicated in interactions through facial expressions, arms, legs and hands--or nonverbal communication. This can be positive ( a smile) or negative (a frown.)
220. Bond: a written promise by a company, government, or other institution to pay the face amount at the maturity date. Periodic interest payments are usually required.
221. Bonds: Securities issued by the U.S. government, corporations, federal agencies, or state or local municipalities. Bonds are sometimes further classified as follows:
222. Bonus: A cash award granted to employees by the employer, usually based on personal and/or company performance. Bonuses can also come in the form of extra vacation time, gifts and other nonmonetary awards.
223. Boundary roles: Positions in which organizational members are required to interact with members of other organizations or with the public.
224. Bounded rationality: A decision strategy that relies on limited information and that reflects time constraints and political considerations.
225. Bounded rationality: The principle that managers reduce tasks, including implementation, to a series of small steps, even though this may grossly oversimplify the situation and may not be the optimal way to proceed.
226. Brainstorming: An attempt to increase the number of creative solution alternatives to problems by focusing on idea generation rather than evaluation.
227. Brand Extension: Process by which a company develops new products to be marketed under an existing brand name.
228. Brand Management: The process by which marketers attempt to optimize the 'Marketing mix' for a specific brand.
229. Brand Name: The name under which a company sells its products.
230. Brand Value: The value which a brand would be given if represented on a company balance sheet.
231. Brand: A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is trade name. Library could be considered a trade name.
232. Brand: The set of physical attributes of a product or service, together with the beliefs and expectations surrounding it - a unique combination which the name or logo of the product or service should evoke in the mind of the audience.
233. Branding: Promoting a product or service by identifying and then marketing its key differentiators from competitors. The differentiator/s often inspire the name, phrase or logo for which the product or service becomes known.
234. Branding: The additional reassurance provided to the customer by the brand name and reputation beyond the intrinsic value of the assets purchased by the customer.
235. Branding: The process of identifying and differentiating an organization’s products, processes or services from another organization by giving it a name, phrase or other mark.
236. Breach of Contract: A violation of or failure to perform according to the terms and conditions of an agreement.
237. Breakeven: The point at which the total costs of undertaking a new strategy are equal to the total revenue from the strategy.
238. Breton Woods: Agreement System of largely fixed currency exchange rates between the leading industrialized nations of the world. In operation from 1944 to 1973.
239. Broad banding: A pay structure that consolidates a large number of narrower pay grades into fewer broad bands’ with wider salary ranges.
240. Broadband: A pay structure that exchanges a large number of narrow salary ranges for a smaller number of broader salary ranges. This type of pay structure encourages the development of broad employee skills and growth while reducing the opportunity for promotion.
241. Broadcast Television: A method of distributing television signals by means of stations that broadcast signals over channels assigned to specific geographic areas.
242. Brochure: A small book or pamphlet providing product information.
243. Broker: An individual who acts as an agent for a buyer and a seller and charges a commission for his/her services. An example of a large brokerage firm is Marsh. An example of a state firm is ABD in California.
244. Brown Goods: Electrical goods such as TVs, videos, stereo systems etc, used for home entertainment. So called because they were originally cased in Bakelite, a brown plastic.
245. Browser (or Web browser): An application (such as Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer) that locates and displays a Web page, allowing the user to jump from place to place by selecting highlighted text or graphics. (See link.)
246. Browser: A customer who is just looking without focusing attention any particular item of merchandise.
247. Budget: A detailed schedule of financial activity, such as an advertising budget, a sales budget, or a capital budget.
248. Budget: A financial forecast of income and expenses for a specified period of time.
249. Budget: A quantitative economic plan prepared and agreed in advance. It is used for planning and control purposes.
250. Budget: The detailed financial component of the strategic plan that guides the allocation of resources and provides a mechanism for identifying deviations of actual from desired performance so corrective action can be taken. A budget assigns a dollar figure to each revenue and expense related activity. A budget is usually prepared for a period of one year by each component of an organization. A budget provides both a guide for action and a means of assessing performance. A budget is a library's post control system.
251. Building to Customer Order versus Building to Forecast: Building to customer order means that at least the final assembly, packaging, and shipping awaits a firm order for the product. Building to forecast means that the product is manufactured to a forecasted demand. Building to customer order means that the product is pulled by customer order rather than pushed by a forecast.
252. Bullying (workplace bullying): According to the Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute workplace bullying is "repeated, health-harming mistreatment, verbal abuse, or conduct which is threatening, humiliating, intimidating, or sabotage that interferes with work, or some combination of the three."
253. Bumping: Giving long-standing employees whose positions are to be eliminated the option of taking other positions within the company that they are qualified for and that are currently held by employees with less seniority.
254. Bumping: The practice of allowing more senior level employees whose positions have been slotted for elimination or downsizing the option of accepting an alternative position within the organization, for which they may be qualified to perform and which is currently occupied by another employee with less seniority.
255. BUPPIE Black Urban Professional: A demographic grouping.
256. Burden: Also known as overhead and sometimes as indirect costs. It is the support system cost with respect to the direct costs for manufacturing a product. Burden rates vary widely among operations depending on the equipment investment and other factors. Burden rates include all indirect costs and are usually referenced to direct labor cost excluding fringes required for the direct product manufacture.
257. Bureaucracy: Max Weber's ideal type of organization that included a strict chain of command, detailed rules, high specialization, centralized power, and selection and promotion based on technical competence.
258. Bureaucratic Organization: Official decision making is circumscribed by laws, rules, and regulations which often result in inflexibility, "red tape" and slowness to act. A hierarchical business structure, unlike business that operates in a competitive environment that does not reward slow decision making if it results in poor sales or customer service. Libraries are often linked to large bureaucracies, government or schools and universities.
259. Burnout: Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment among those who work with people.
260. Business Activity: The effort of an organization that enable it to produce and / or distribute goods or services.
261. Business Communication: The exchange of message to encourage the buying and selling of goods or services.
262. Business continuity planning: Broadly defined as a management process that seeks to identify potential threats and impacts to the organization, and provide a strategic and operational framework for ensuring the organization is able to withstand any disruption, interruption, or loss to normal business functions or operation.
263. Business Cycle: Periods of expansion and contraction in economic activities.
264. Business Ethics: ethics of the business (the company).
265. Business Plan: A planning document that describes a company, its market, its management team, its potential, its competitors, and all other relevant information about its business and its prospects.
266. Business Plan: A strategic document showing cash flow, forecasts and direction of a company.
267. Business Policies: Statement outlining practices the business from a set amount of resources.
268. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO): The managing of an organizations business applications by a technology vendor.
269. Business Strategy: The means by which a business works towards achieving its stated aims.
270. Business to Business (B2B) Relating to the sale of a product for any use other than personal consumption. The buyer may be a manufacturer, a reseller, a government body, a non-profit-making institution, or any organization other than an ultimate consumer.
271. Business to Consumer (B2C) Relating to the sale of product for personal consumption. The buyer may be an individual, family or other group, buying to use the product themselves, or for end use by another individual.
272. Business: An organization that produces or distributes goods or services that safety the needs of society.
273. Business-to-Business (B2B): Transactions between businesses.
274. Business-to-Customer (B2C): Electronic transactions between businesses and their customers.
275. Buyer’s Market: The best time for consumers to buy; characterized by large supply, small demand and low prices.
276. Buyers: Individuals who have the responsibility for working with vendors and arranging the terms of the sale.
277. Buying Behavior: The process that buyers go through when deciding whether or not to purchase goods or services. Buying behavior can be influenced by a variety of external factors and motivations, including marketing activity.
278. Buying Decision: A small decision that a customer makes which leads to the final decision to buy a good or service.
279. Buying Motive: The reason or benefit that causes people to make a purchase to satisfy wants and needs; the reason customers make purchases.
280. Buying Process: A series of sequential steps taken by industrial or retail buying personnel to purchase goods and services.
281. Buzz Marketing: A viral marketing technique that attempts to make each encounter with a "prospect" appear to be a personal, spontaneous interaction instead of an obvious marketing pitch. For example, the advertiser reveals information about their new product to a few opinion leaders within their target audience. In theory, these opinion leaders then talk about your product with their peers, thus beginning a word-of-mouth campaign where other buyers are flattered to be included in the group of those "in the know". A typical buzz marketing campaigns is initiated in chat rooms, where marketing representatives assume an identity appropriate to their target audience and pitch their product. Blogs are another popular media for buzz marketing.
282. Buzz: Buzz marketing uses 'word-of-mouth' advertising: potential customers pass round information about a product. See also 'viral marketing'
283. Bypassing: When people miss each other with their meaning.
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284. C Corporation: A corporation where the entity is taxed separately from its owners under subchapter C of the Internal Revenue Code.
285. Cable Television: A method of distributing television signals by means of coaxial or fiber-optic cables. Some libraries have programs on public access channels.
286. CAD: Computer aided design is a process of generating and manipulating product designs through computer software. The software allows all information of a part to be generated and stored electronically at a computer terminal and transferred to other sites or machines.
287. CAD: Computer-Aided Design, Creates and communicates designs electronically
288. Cafeteria Plan: A plan in which an employer offers employees a variety of different benefits. The employee is able to choose which benefits would fit their individual needs. Examples of benefits offered in the cafeteria include group-term life insurance, dental insurance, disability and accident insurance, and reimbursement of healthcare expenses.
289. CAGR: (Compound Annual Growth Rate) The year on year growth rate required to show the change in value (of an investment) from its initial value to its final value. If a $1 investment was worth $1.52 over three years, the CAGR would be 15% [(1 x 1.15) x 1.15 x 1.15]
290. Called-up Share capital: The value of unpaid (but issued shares) which a company has requested payment for. See Paid-up Share capital .
291. CAM: Computer aided manufacturing (often used synonymously with CAD) is a similar process of generating manufacturing processes electronically.
292. CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act): Congressional legislation that regulates commercial emails (i.e. commercial advertisement or promotion) and sets clearly defined opt-out standards. Any billing, warranties, product updates or customer service information is not included in this act. E-mail newsletters that are not considered advertisements are also exempt.
293. Capability-based resources: Covers the resources across the entire value chain and goes beyond key resources and core competencies.
294. Capacity: For a process or activity, the maximum THROUGHPUT that can be sustained.
295. Capital account: A term usually applied to the owners’ equity in the business.
296. Capital Allowances (UK specific): The depreciation on a fixed asset is shown in the Profit and Loss account, but is added back again for income tax purposes. In order to be able to claim the depreciation against any profits the Inland Revenue allow a proportion of the value of fixed assets to be claimed before working out the tax bill. These proportions (usually calculated as a percentage of the value of the fixed assets) are called Capital Allowances.
297. Capital Expenditure: The cash cost of acquiring capital equipment or goods. Capital expenditures result in depreciation that is the cost that appears on the P&L statement.
298. Capital Expenditures: Business spending on additional plant equipment and inventory.
299. Capital: (1) Assets less liabilities, representing the ownership interest in a business, (2) a stock of accumulated goods, especially at a specified time and in contrast to income received during a specified time period, (3) accumulated goods devoted to the production of goods, and (4) accumulated possessions calculated to bring income.
300. Capital: An amount of money put into the business (often by way of a loan) as opposed to money earned by the business.
301. Capital: the account used to summarize the owner’s equity in a business
302. Capitalism: An economic system in which individuals privately own the productive resources of land and capital.
303. Career orientation: The fairly stable pattern of preferred occupational activities, talents, values, and attitudes.
304. Career skills portfolio: The sum total of one's occupational skills, abilities, and knowledge.
305. Career stages: General patterns of developmental issues, key tasks, and changes in work role activities.
306. Career: An evolving sequence of work activities and positions that individuals experience over time as well as the associated attitudes, knowledge, and competencies that develop throughout one's life.
307. Carrier: A vendor in the employee benefits space. More commonly used in reference to health care. Carriers (e.g., Met Life, Blue Cross, Aetna, etc.) sell their products through Brokers & Consultants, but may also sell to an employer directly.
308. Cartel: A group of producers who enter into a collusive agreement to restrict output in order to raise prices and profits.
309. Carve-Out: The elimination of coverage of a specific category of benefit services (e.g. vision care, mental health/psychological services, or prescription drugs). The employer opts out of certain services with one vendor and contracts another to deliver them.
310. Cash Book: A journal where a business's cash sales and purchases are entered. A cash book can also be used to record the transactions of a bank account. The side of the cash book which refers to the cash or bank account can be used as a part of the nominal ledger (rather than posting the entries to cash or bank accounts held directly in the nominal ledger - see 'Three column cash book').
311. Cash budget: Budget for cash planning and control that presents expected cash inflow and outflow for a designated time period.
312. Cash Cows: high market share and low growth rate
313. Cash Discount. An incentive offered by the seller to encourage a buyer to pay within a stipulated time. For example, if the terms are 1%/10/net 30, the buyer may deduct 1 percent from the amount of the invoice (if paid with 10 days); otherwise the full amount is due within 30 days.
314. Cash Equivalents: Investments of high liquidity and safety with a known market value and a very short-term maturity.
315. Cash Flow - A report which analyzes the actual or projected source and disposition of cash during a past or future accounting period.
316. Cash Flow Forecast: A report which estimates the cash flow in the future (usually required by a bank before it will lend you money, or take on your account).
317. Cash flow from operations: The sum of net income plus non-cash expenses that were deducted in calculating net income.
318. Cash Flow: A report which shows the flow of money in and out of the business over a period of time.
319. Cash Flow: An accounting presentation showing how much of the cash generated by a business remains after both expenses (including interest) and principal repayment on loans are paid. A projected cash flow statement indicates whether the business will have cash to pay its expenses, loans, and make a profit. Cash flows can be calculated for any given period of time, normally done on a monthly basis or yearly basis.
320. Cash Flow: The beginning and ending net cash as a result of cash that has flowed through an operation over a given period of time.
321. Cash Payments Journal: a special journal used to record only cash payment transactions
322. Cash: The value of assets that can be converted into cash immediately.
323. Casual employment: The practice of hiring employees on an as-needed basis, either as a replacement for permanent full-time employees who are out on short and long-term absences or to meet employer’s additional staffing needs during peak business periods.
324. Category Management: Products are grouped and managed by strategic business unit categories. These are defined by how consumers views goods rather than by how they look to the seller, e.g. confectionery could be part of either a 'food' or 'gifts' category, and marketed depending on the category into which it’s grouped.
325. Cause Related Marketing: Partnership between a company or brand and a charity or 'cause' by which the charity benefits financially from the sale of specific products.
326. CC-FIT Campus Council for Information Technology: The campus-wide coordinating council that provides recommendations on issues related to information and educational technology at UC Davis. See http://ccfit.ucdavis.edu/ for more information.
327. CD-R Compact Disc-Read: A CD on which data can be written only once. Most can store 650 megabytes of data.
328. CD-ROM Compact Disc-Read Only Memory: A compact disc formatted for data storage. Most CD-ROMs can store 650 megabytes of data or more.
329. CD-RW Compact Disc-Rewritable: A CD on which data can be written and changed multiple times, with the same storage capacity as a CD-ROM.
330. CDs: CDs, or certificates of deposit, are interest-bearing debt instruments issued by banks with maturities from a few weeks to several years.
331. Census Block: Usually a well-defined rectangular area bounded by streets or roads. It may be irregular in shape and may be bounded by physical features such as railroads or streams. Census block do not cross boundaries of countries, tracts, or block numbering areas.
332. Census Tract: A small, relatively permanent area (US) into which metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and certain other area are divided for the purpose of providing statistics for small areas. When census tracts are established they are designed to be homogeneous with respect to population characteristics, economic status and living conditions. Census tracts generally have between 2,500 and 8,000 residents.
333. Census: A complete canvass of a population.
334. Central tendency: The tendency to assign most rates to middle-range job performance categories.
335. Central traits: Personal characteristics of a target person that are of particular interest to a perceiver.
336. Centralization: Combining of disparate inventories at a central location implying that the total inventory and logistics cost needed to meet anticipated demand can be lower. Availability may be a problem at regional locations.
337. Centralization: The extent to which decision making power is localized in a particular part of an organization.
338. Ceteris paribus: Literally, "other things being equal"; usually used in economics to indicate that all variables except the ones specified are assumed not to change.
339. CGI Common Gateway Interface: CGI is a part of a Web server that allows the functionality of a Web page to be extended by calling other programs on the server that performs actions beyond the scope of regular HTML. CGI programs can help make Web pages more interactive.
340. Chain of command: Lines of authority and formal reporting relationship.
341. Chain Store System: A group of retail stores of essentially the same type, centrally owned and with some degree of centralized control of operation. This would be similar to the public library's system of branches.
342. Chain Stores: Businesses that have a central management that determines policies, advertising, and pricing for all stores.
343. Change agents: Experts in the application of behavioral science knowledge to organizational diagnosis and change.
344. Change management: A deliberate approach for transitioning individuals or organizations from one state to another in order to manage and monitor the change. Change management can be conducted on a continuous basis, on a regular schedule (such as an annual review), or when deemed necessary on a program-by-program basis.
345. Change management: The deliberate effort of an organization to anticipate change and to manage its introduction, implementation, and consequences.
346. Change options matrix: This links the areas of human resource activity with the three main areas of strategic change: work, cultural and political change.
347. Change: The implementation of a program or plan to move an organization and/or its members to a more satisfactory state.
348. Changeability of the environment: The degree which the environment is likely to change
349. Channel of Distribution: An organized network of agencies and institutions which in combination perform all the functions required to link producers with end customers to accomplish the marketing task. For a library this would include vendors, publishers as well as library facilities.
350. Channels of Distribution: Paths or routes that goods and services take from the producer to the ultimate consumer or industrial user; also known as distribution channels.
351. Channels: The methods used by a company to communicate and interact with its customers.
352. Charge Back: Refers to a credit card order which has been processed and is subsequently cancelled by the cardholder contacting the credit card company directly (rather than through the seller). This results in the amount being 'charged back' to the seller (often incurs a small penalty or administration fee to the seller).
353. Charisma: The ability to command strong loyalty and devotion from followers and thus have the potential for strong influence among them.
354. Chart of accounts: a list of accounts used by a business
355. Chart of Accounts: A list of the accounts in a ledger, arranged by account number.
356. Check- a business form ordering a bank to pay cash from a bank account
357. Checking account: a bank account from which payment can be ordered
358. Checking: Examining the quantity and quality of received goods.
359. CIM: Computer-integrated-manufacturing. Popular in the 1980s, it implied fully computer-controlled manufacturing processes. It has been supplanted by lean manufacturing concepts in the main. Classification: The designation of the job function that an employee is proficient in and assigned to, e.g. machinist, welder, assembler.
360. CIM's grid of marketing competencies required to achieve business aims. CIM's new syllabus structure is mapped out against each marketing level as identified in the grid.
361. CIO: Chief Information Officer, a common corporate position.
362. Circular-Flow Diagram: This is a visual model of the economy that shows how the money flows through markets (markets for G & S and markets for factors of production) among households and firms.
363. Circulation: The number of copies of a print advertising medium that are distributed. For the library field, this is numbers of items checked out by users.
364. Classic Merchandise: The merchandise that is not influenced by style changes for which a demand virtually always exists. For the library this might be print encyclopedias, indexes, and classical literary works.
365. Classical viewpoint: An early prescription on management that advocated high specialization of labor, intensive coordination, and centralized decision making.
366. Classified Statements: Financial statements that group accounts into sets that give similar information. For example, typical classifications on a balance sheet would be current assets, long-term investments, plant and equipment, current liabilities, and long term liabilities.
367. Clean Slate: The Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004 establishes a clean slate scheme to limit the effect of an individual's convictions in most circumstances (subject to certain exceptions set out in Section 19) if the individual satisfies the relevant eligibility criteria.
368. Click-through: The act of a user clicking on an internet advertisement that opens a link to the advertiser's website.
369. Client Loyalty: The devotion of a client to a particular business.
370. Client server: A network arrangement with a server and one or more clients. Both the server and the clients are stand-alone computers. The server provides resources (such as data management) and allows clients to share information with each other. Examples of client/server applications used at UC Davis include Banner (the Student Information System) and DaFIS (the Financial Information System).
371. Closed economy: An economy that has no foreign trade.
372. Closing entries- journal entries used to prepare temporary accounts for a new fiscal period
373. Closing the Books: The process of posting closing entries to clear the revenue and expense accounts and to transfer the net income to the Retained Earnings account at the end of an accounting year. It is done to ensure that the books are ready to record the next accounting year’s transactions. When you close the books, the balance of the Current Earnings account is transferred to the Retained Earnings account.
374. Clustering: A statistical method of forming natural groupings in which a number of important characteristics of a large diverse group are identified in order to define target markets. For a library such a cluster might include higher education levels, and income.
375. CNC: Computer numerical control generally refers to equipment that is operated through the use of digital information rather than human input. For instance, a CNC milling machine will automatically produce the desired net shape of a part as specified by the controlling program.
376. Coaching: A method of training an individual or group in order to develop skills or overcome a performance problem. Coaching can be between a manager and a subordinate or an outside professional coach and one or more individuals. There are many coaching methods and models, but close observation, accountability and feedback on progress and performance are usually included.
377. Coaching: A one-to-one process between a manager and subordinate, whereby the former will ‘train’ the latter. See also Mentoring.
378. COBOL Common Business Oriented Language: A programming language developed in the 1960s and still used in business applications.
379. COBRA: Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. 1985 Federal law that requires employers to offer continued health insurance coverage to terminated employees and their beneficiaries. The coverage may continue for the following cases: termination of employment, change in working hours, and change in dependent status or age limitation, separation, divorce, or death.
380. Code of ethics: written statement setting forth the principles that guide an organization’s decisions.
381. Coefficients of Variation: The ratio of the standard deviation to the mean for statistical demands & processes. See P-K Formula.
382. Co-employment: The relationship between a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), or employee leasing firm and an employer, based on a contractual sharing of liability and responsibility for employees.
383. Coercion: A breach of duty by the employer leading a worker to resign."
384. Coercive power: Power derived from the use of punishment and threat.
385. Cognitive ability testing: A testing instrument used during the selection process in order to measure the candidate’s learning and reasoning abilities.
386. Cognitive biases: Tendencies to acquire and process information in an error-prone way.
387. Cognitive dissonance: A feeling of tension experienced when certain cognitions are contradictory or inconsistent with each other.
388. Collaborating: A conflict management style that maximizes both assertiveness and cooperation.
389. Collaborative product commerce (CPC): Facilitates electronic communication and exchange of information among designers and suppliers.
390. Collective Bargaining: One or more unions meeting with representatives from an organization to negotiate labor contracts.
391. Collective Bargaining: The process by which [an] employer[s] will negotiate employment contracts with [a] union[s].
392. Collusion: is an illegal agreement between 2 or more companies to commit a wrongful act.
393. Commission: A form of income calculated as a percentage of sales.
394. Common Shares: Shares that have no preference as to dividends and no fixed rate of return. This is the most common type of share, and normally has voting rights attached to it. Since common shares are typically the only type of shares with voting rights, the shareholders who control the majority of the common shares usually control the company.
395. Communication Skills: Ability to express oneself clearly and simply.
396. Communication: An exchange of information in which the words and gestures are understood in the same way by both the speaker and the listener.
397. Communication: The process by which information is exchanged between a sender and a receiver.
398. Community Analysis: For a public library this is a market research exercise reviewing library statistics, population served characteristics, users and other stakeholders in the library characteristics to better profile the library's market area.
399. Community relations: The library's interactions with the locality in which it operates, with emphasis on disseminating library-related information to foster trust in the library or information organization's activities.
400. Company Leader: Information about and contract with potential customers provided by a company, its advertising, participation in trade shows or telephone and mail solicitation.
401. Company’s security policy: access rules that identify every type of message that the company doesn’t want.
402. Comparative advantage (theory of): A country has a comparative advantage in producing a good over another if the opportunity cost of producing that good is lower.
403. Comparative Advertising: Advertising which compares a company's product with that of competing brands. Must be used with caution to avoid accusations of misrepresentation from competitors.
404. Comparison Shop: The act of visiting other businesses to learn what competing stores are selling and the prices they are charging.
405. Compensation: Applying one's skills in a particular area to make up for failure in another area.
406. Compensation: Pay structures within an organization. It can be linked to employee appraisal. Compensation is effectively managed if performance is measured adequately.
407. Compensatory time-off plan: The practice of giving employees paid time off that can be used in the future in lieu of paying them overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 per week. While an acceptable practice in the public sector, the FLSA places very strict limitations on the use of compensatory time off for private sector employers.
408. Competencies: ‘An underlying characteristic of a person’ ‘motive, trait, skill, aspect of one’s self-image or social role, or a body of knowledge’.
409. Competency Modeling: A set of descriptions that identify the skills, knowledge, and behaviors needed to effectively perform in an organization. Competency models assist in clarifying job and work expectations, maximizing productivity, and aligning behavior with organizational strategy.
410. Competency-based pay: Competency based pay is a compensation system that recognizes employees for the depth, breadth, and types of skills they obtain and apply in their work. Also known as skill based and knowledge based pay.
411. Competency-based pay: Competency-based pay, alternately known as skill-based and knowledge-based pay, determines compensation by the type, breadth and depth of skills that employees gain and use in their positions.
412. Competing: A conflict management style that maximizes assertiveness and minimizes cooperation.
413. Competition: The rivalry among sellers trying to achieve such goals as increasing profits, market share and sales volume by varying the elements of the marketing mix: price, product, distribution and promotion. The agency changes to better meet consumer wants and needs. For a library competition may be bookstores, community events, video stores or even other libraries.
414. Competition: The rivalry between two or more businesses to attract scarce customer dollars.
415. Competitions: Sales promotions that allow the consumer the possibility of winning a prize.
416. Competitive advantage: ‘People are the source of competitive advantage’. Other systems in an organization can be copied but not the people in the organization.
417. Competitive advantage: In the context of Human Resources, competitive advantage refers to the quality of the employees, as a competing organization’s systems and processes can be copied but not its people. All other things being equal among competing companies, it is the company with better employees that has the competitive advantage.
418. Competitive Advantage: The product, proposition or benefit that puts a company ahead of its competitors.
419. Competitive advantage: The significant advantages that an organization has over competitors. Such advantages allow the organization to add more value than its competitors in the same market.
420. Competitor profiling: Explores one or two leading competitors by analyzing their resources performance, current products and strategies.
421. Complaining Customers: Clients who believe everything is going wrong for them and everyone is either taking advantage of them or not really trying to help.
422. Complaint: Customer’s expression of dissatisfaction.
423. Complementary goods: goods that are jointly consumed with another good (Ex: tea and sugar), a decrease in the price of one good results in increase in demand for the other, vice versa.
424. Complementary Goods: Products that are used together; e.g., skirts and blouses, boots and skis, napkin rings and napkins.
425. Complementors: The companies whose products add more value to the products of the base organization than they would desire from their own products by themselves - e.g. Microsoft software adds significantly to value of the Hewlett Packard Personal Computer.
426. Complexity: The extent to which an organization divides labor vertically, horizontally, and geographically.
427. Compliance: Conformity to a social norm prompted by the desire to acquire rewards or avoid punishment.
428. Component percentage: Percentage relationship between one financial statement item and the total that includes that item
429. Compressed workweek: An alternative work schedule in which employees work fewer than the normal five days a week but still put in a normal number of hours per week.
430. Compromise: A conflict management style that combines intermediate levels of assertiveness and cooperation.
431. Computer security: Refers to the measures taken to protect computers from threats posed by hackers, viruses, thieves and other destructive forces. A secure computer has the ability to protect itself and the information it houses from these forces. See also Network Security. For practical information and instructions on what you can do to secure your computer, see the Cyber-Safety Basics.
432. Computer-aided design and manufacture (CAD/CAM): Electronic link between automated design (CAD) and automated manufacture (CAM)
433. Computer-aided engineering (CAE): Tests functionality of CAD designs electronically
434. Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM): Automated manufacturing systems integrated through computer technology; also called e-manufacturing
435. Computing account: A computing account is what lets you use shared computer resources. A UC Davis computing account consists of several components: a UCD Login ID, password, and Service IDs.
436. Concentrated Buying Strategy: A tactic of purchasing from only a few suppliers to gain more favorable prices and better relations.
437. Concentration ratio: The degree to which value added turnover is concentrated in a few firms in an industry.
438. Concept Testing: Exploring the concept or idea for a product in order to obtain feedback.
439. Condition of employment: An organization’s policies and work rules that employees are expected to abide by in order to remain continuously employed.
440. Confidential Data: Any information you don't want others to obtain without your permission, including (but not limited to) your social security number, home address, phone numbers of friends/family/colleagues/students, your drivers’ license or bank account numbers, a list of all your passwords, your home address or phone numbers, your employee ID number, digital images, word documents containing personal text, etc.
441. Confidentiality agreement: An agreement between an employer and employee in which the employee may not disclose proprietary or confidential information.
442. Confidentiality agreement: An agreement restricting an employee from disclosing confidential or proprietary information.
443. Confidentiality: Keeping privacy
444. Confirmation bias: The tendency to seek out information that conforms to one's own definition of or solution to a problem.
445. Conflict of Needs: Situation that occurs when a customer needs two or more items at the same time but can afford only one.
446. Conflict stimulation: A strategy of increasing conflict in order to motivate change.
447. Confusion Marketing: Controversial strategy of deliberately confusing the customer. Examples are alleged to be found in the telecommunications market, where pricing plans can be so complicated that it becomes impossible to make direct comparisons between competing offers.
448. Congruence: A condition in which a person's words, thoughts, feelings, and actions all contain the same message.
449. Conjunctive tasks: Tasks in which group performance is limited by the performance of the poorest group member.
450. Consensus cues: Attribution cues that reflect how a person's behavior compares with that of others.
451. Conservative shift: The tendency for groups to make less risky decisions than the average risk initially advocated by their individual members.
452. Consideration: The extent to which a leader is approachable and shows personal concern for subordinates.
453. Consistency cues: Attribution cues that reflect how consistently a person engages in some behavior over time.
454. Constructive dismissal: An employer’s behavior (either one serious incident or a pattern of incidents) creates a negative work environment, leading to an employee’s resigning. Such behavior is considered a breach of contract and gives the employee the right to seek compensation in court.
455. Consultants: An outside individual who supplies professional advice or services to companies for a fee. Large HR consulting firms include Aon, Mercer, Hewitt and Watson Wyatt. Large HR consulting firms typically work with companies who have more than 1,500 employees.
456. Consumer Behavior: The behavior of the consumer or decision maker in the market place of products and services. Library user behavior is often captured in library literature under use studies.
457. Consumer Behavior: The buying habits and patterns of consumers in the acquisition and usage of goods and services
458. Consumer Buying Power: Cash and credit a consumer has available to spend.
459. Consumer Characteristics: The demographic, lifestyle and personality characteristics of the consumer. For a library this would be the user.
460. Consumer Goods: Products that are purchased and consumed by their ultimate users.
461. Consumer Market: A market composed of individuals who purchase goods or services to satisfy their personal desires.
462. Consumer Price Index for any period: it measures the cost in that period of a standard basket of goods and services relative to the cost of the same basket of goods and services in a fixed year, called the base year.
463. Consumer Satisfaction: The degree to which a consumer's expectations are fulfilled or surpassed by a product. User satisfaction with library services and materials is often difficult to determine because: 1) there is no clear ring of the cash register at the end of the day; 2) privacy issues concerning use of library materials and services usually deter marketing-type exit interviews; 3) and little research is conducted in this area due to lack of expertise.
464. Consumer surplus: The difference between the maximum amount a person is willing to pay for a good and its current market price.
465. Consumer: A person who uses a good or service.
466. Consumer: Individual who uses a product or service.
467. Consumer: The ultimate user of goods, ideas or services. Also the buyer or decision maker, for example, the parent selecting children's books is the consumer.
468. Consumption: The process or activity of using goods and services.
469. Contingency approach: An approach to management that recognizes that there is no one best way to manage, and that an appropriate management style depends on the demands of the situation.
470. Contingency Planning: Developing plans to provide alternative plans to the main plan. This is proactive management that deals with events considered unlikely to occur. For example, while a library budget may appear to be adequate and stabile, a contingency plan should be in place in case of cutbacks in funding.
471. Contingency Recruiting (Search): Contingency recruiters conduct frontline talent searches and represent either employers or individuals seeking placement. Contingency firms are not paid unless a candidate is successfully placed.
472. Contingency theory: Fred Fiedler's theory that states that the association between leadership orientation and group effectiveness is contingent upon how favorable the situation is for exerting influence.
473. Contingency theory: of leadership: Argues that leaders should be promoted or recruited according to the needs of the organization at a particular point in time. See also Style theory and Trait Theory
474. Contingent Staff: Temporary staff that supplements a companys workforce. Contingent staff may be hired through a staffing firm. Businesses that have fluctuating seasonal staff demands or are in need of temporary call center representatives often use contingent workers.
475. Contingent workers: Employees who may be: casual labor, part-timers, freelancers, subcontractors, independent professionals and consultants.
476. Continuance commitment: Commitment based on the costs that would be incurred in leaving an organization.
477. Contra account: An account created to offset another account. e.g. a Sales contra account would be Sales Discounts. They are accounts included in the same section of a set of books, which when compared together, give the net balance. Example: Sales=10,000 Sales Discounts=1,000 therefore Net Sales=9,000. This example, affecting the revenue side of a business, is also referred to as Contra revenue . The tell-tale sign of a contra account is that it has the opposite balance to that expected for an account in that section (in the above example, the Sales Discounts balance would be shown in brackets - e.g. it has a debit balance where Sales has a credit balance).
478. Contract for services: An agreement with a self-employed person for a specific job.
479. Contract for services: An agreement with an independent contractor.
480. Contract of service: An employment agreement.
481. Contract of service: Another term for employment agreement.
482. Contrast effects: Previously interviewed job applicants affect an interviewer's perception of a current applicant, leading to an exaggeration of differences between applicants.
483. Contribution Margin: Sales minus the variable costs—the contribution of a sale to the fixed costs of an operation
484. Control Charts: Statistical charting process that is used to identify sporadic and chronic faults in a process. Mean and variance measurements of a product are charted and acceptable limits are set on these values. An out of control process can be identified and adjustments made to remedy the situation through the use of control charts.
485. Control group: A group of research subjects who have not been exposed to the experimental treatment.
486. Controlling: The process of setting standards, evaluating their achievement and taking corrective measures to ensure that goals are met.
487. Controls: Employed to ensure that strategic objectives are achieved and financial, human resource and other guidelines are not breached during the implementation process or the ongoing phase of strategic activity.
488. Controls: The process of monitoring the proposed plans as they are implemented and adjusting for any variances where necessary.
489. Convenience Goods: Items that consumers purchase frequently and with a minimum of effort.
490. Convenience Product: A consumer good and/or service (such as soap, candy bar, and shoe shine) that are bought frequently, often on impulse, with little time effort spent on the buying process. A convenience product usually is low-priced and is widely available. For a public library this type of material might be newspapers or magazines, or perhaps a quick selection of other materials with little browsing or research. These materials or services are usually located within facility for easy and quick access.
491. Convenience Sample: A non probability sample of individuals who just happen to be where the study is being conducted when it is being conducted. For example, a library could interview people exiting the library asking, 'Were you satisfied with the materials and services, if not why?'
492. Conversion Rate: A conversion rate is defined as the relationship between visitors to a web site and actions considered to be a ‘conversion’, such as a sale or request to receive more information. A 2006 study by ‘WebSideStory’ showed the following conversion stats for these major search engines: AOL traffic 6.17%, MSN traffic 6.03%, Yahoo traffic 4.07% and Google traffic 3.83%. Search optimization (SEO) is far less expensive than an aggressive paid search campaign and gets you the same amount of traffic. Plus, the effects are longer lasting, and conversions are frequently in the same range (or even higher) than paid ads on engines.

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