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businessballs - business and management terms Category: Management > business and management Date & country: 13/09/2014, USA Words: 1681

Steering Committee
Also called Steering Group. A group of people who are responsible for monitoring a company's operations or project progress, by ensuring it complies with company policies, resources and costs are approved, etc

Stenographer
A shorthand typist. From Greek: Stenos (narrow) and Graphie (writing)

Stet
Latin for 'let it stand', a term from printing, which extends to proof-reading and copy-checking, editing, etc., to indicate that a word or section marked for deletion (crossed through) within a document or other media is to be retained

Stevedore
Also called Longshoreman. A person who works on the docks, loading and unloading cargo

Sticker Shock
A US term for the feeling of surprise or shock experienced by some customers when they see that the price of an item they were thinking of purchasing is much higher than they expected

Stipend
A fixed, often modest, payment, usually made on a regular basis, to someone, e.g. an apprentice, for living expenses during a training period

Stock
An investor's share of ownership in a company which entitles them to equity in the company, dividends, voting rights, etc

Stock Exchange
An organised market place where shares in companies are traded by professional stockbrokers

Stock Ticker
A display which automatically updates and shows the current prices and volumes of traded shares on the Stock Market

Stockbroker
A person or company who buys and sells shares, bonds, etc., on behalf of others, in return for a fee

Stockholm Syndrome
The effect in which hostage victims form emotional attachment or fondness towards their captors. The Syndrome is named after the 1973 'Norrmalmstorg Robbery' - an armed raid on Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm, Sweden. The bank's employees were held hostage from 23-28 August, during which time some of the victims became emotionally attached to their captors, even defending them after being freed. The term Stockholm Syndrome was first used by criminologist/psychiatrist Nils Bejerot, when assisting police during the siege, referring to the Syndrome in a news broadcast. It was defined in more detail by psychiatrist Frank Ochberg to aid the management of hostage situations. While Stockholm Syndrome chiefly and originally refers to hostage situations the term extends to other forms of 'traumatic bonding', not necessarily dependent on a hostage situation, more broadly describing the somewhat counter-intuitive tendency among certain folk for strong emotional connections to develop within an abusive relationship. At a slightly milder but nevertheless still very worrying level we see the same principle extending to abusive employment situations and other 'working' relationships, where badly-treated and exploited workers can develop strangely positive feelings towards abusive bosses/employers. Whether driven by fear, dependence, gratitude (for limiting the level of abuse), survival impulse, or various other possible factors, the Stockholm Syndrome remains puzzling and paradoxical at any level, and yet a very real human tendency in certain situations

Stocktaking
The process of listing all the items, materials or goods which a shop, company, etc., has in stock. An inventory of merchandise

Stop List/Stoplist
Excluded people, organizations, or other items, typically for reasons of disqualification for failing to meet standards or terms stipulated by the organization responsible for the exclusion. This might be customers excluded from a supply by a provider, or people prevented from membership or involvement with an organisation. Often a stoplist refers to customers 'on stop' because of poor credit rating or payment history, and notably payment default. More technically a stoplist may refer the words excluded ('stopwords') in computerized generation of a concordance, which in publishing refers to a detailed cross-referenced index of key words from a text or book or report, etc. Another example might be a schedule of banned substances or ingredients. Basically a stoplist may refer to a roster or schedule of potentially acceptable items/entities/people excluded or barred for reasons of not meeting qualifying standards

Stop Word/Stopword
A word or term excluded from a word listing or index, notably from a computer-generated concordance in publishing where the exclusion of common words enables time-consuming cross-referencing processes to move faster.

Straight Rebuy
When a business or individual orders the same goods, in the same quantity from the same supplier

Strapline
A subheading in a newspaper or magazine. A slogan attached to a well known brand

Strategic Industry
An industry which is considered essential to the economy of a region or country

Strategic Management
The process of predicting and assessing a company's opportunities and difficulties, and making decisions so the company can achieve its objectives and gain a competitive advantage

Streisand Effect
The term refers to a situation where something becomes hugely publicized as a result of attempts to keep it private, banned, censored or forbidden. The expression derives from a 2003 legal case brought by entertainer Barbra Streisand to remove an online image of her house in Malibu, California, published innocently in a collection of 12,200 photographs by photographer Kenneth Adelman and Pictopia.com, as part of a California State-approved project to record California coast/erosion. The photograph in question, although tagged as 'Streisand Estate' was not visible to search engines as such, and featured several other properties. Streisand's house accounted for 3% of the image. It was not taken with a high definition lens so no great detail could be discerned. Prior to the case the image ('3850') had been viewed six times, which we might safely assume to be mostly or all by Babra Streisand and her representatives. After Streisand's legal action hit the news, image 3850 became extremely famous, was viewed millions of times, and was reproduced widely along with extensive personal details about Barbra Streisand. Later in 2003 the court ruled against and awarded defence costs against Streisand. Integral to the Streisand Effect is embarrassment and loss of reputation for the suppressor. Examples of the Streisand Effect have become far more common in the age of the internet and social media, which together can generate public awareness and keen interest on a global scale in a matter of hours. There are some pre-internet examples of censorship/banning orders fuelling massive publicity and demand, which retrospectively deserve the Streisand Effect term, including several pop music recordings banned by authorities (Frankie Goes To ...

Stress Puppy
A person who seems to thrive on stress, but is always complaining about it

Strike
A work stoppage caused by a disagreement between employees and management over working conditions, pay etc

Strike-Breaker
A person who continues to work, or is employed to work, during a strike

Structural Engineer
A professional who researches, plans and designs structures, such as buildings, bridges, etc

Sub Judice
Term used when a legal case is currently under trial or is being considered by a judge, and any information about the case must not be disclosed to the public

Subcontract
To hire someone to carry out some of the work that you have been contracted to do

Subliminal Advertising
An illegal form of advertising. An image which is flashed onto a screen, usually for about one second, or a message played at low volume, that can influence the person watching or listening but they are not aware of what they have seen and/or heard

Subordinate
Someone who is lower in rank than another person, and is subject to the authority of a manager, etc. Less important

Subpoena
An official summons which requires a witness to attend a court case and testify at a specific time and place. Failure to do so may result in them being punished for contempt of court

Subrogation
The right of an insurer, who has paid out a claim to an injured party, to sue the person, company, etc., who caused the injury

Succession Planning
The process of identifying suitable employees who can be trained and prepared to replace senior staff when their positions become vacant

Summons
An official document which orders a person to appear in court to answer a complaint against them

Sunk Cost
A company's past expenditures which cannot be recovered, and should not be taken into account when planning future projects

Sunset Provision
Also called Sunset Clause. A provision which states that a particular law or regulation will expire on a certain date unless further action is taken to extend it

Superannuation
A pension, for which regular sums are deducted from a person's salary while they are working, which is paid by an employer when the person retires from their job

Supertax
Also called Surtax. An additional tax on something already taxed, e.g. an income above a certain level

Supply And Demand
Supply is the amount of a product or service which is available, and demand is the amount which people wish to buy. When demand is higher than supply prices usually rise, when demand is less than supply prices usually fall

Supply Chain
A chain through which a product passes from raw materials to manufacturing, distribution, retailing, etc., until it reaches the end consumer

Surface Mail
Mail which is transported over land or sea, not by air

Sweat Equity
Term used to describe a person's investment in a project, etc., by the contribution of their time and effort, rather than their money

Sweatshop
A place, often a clothing factory, where people work long hours in poor conditions for low wages

Sweetheart Deal
An agreement or contract which offers very favourable deals to one or both parties, but is often not in the best interest of others, such as shareholders

SWIFT
Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. Founded in Brussels in 1973, a system for transmitting payments, share transactions and other financial messages safely between financial institutions all over the world

Sychophant
A servile person or follower, not necessarily of low rank, who tries to please a (more) powerful or influential person by using flattery, and often by informing on others, from which the word is derived in its original Greek meaning (sykophantes is ancient Greek for informer).

Synergy
The working together of two or more individuals, groups, companies, etc., to produce a greater effect than working individually

Synod
A church council or leadership assembly of clergy, also possibly including the laity ('lay-ity', meaning lay or non-professional members). The term 'The Synod' typically applies to the most senior council of a church, or less definitively may refer to a local diocese or church division. In English prior to 1121 (Chambers says) the word was 'synoth', and derives from Greek via Latin, synodos and synodus meaning a meeting or assembly, or conjunction of the planets, from Greek syn, together, and hodos, way.

T-Commerce
Television Commerce. The purchasing and selling of products and services using interactive television

Tachograph
A device which is fitted to vehicles, especially commercial vehicles, which records the speed, distance and time travelled

Tag
A word or words assigned to or associated with electronic data, usually on a website, to aid searching, finding, analysis, display, organization, etc., of the data. Used as a verb also, for example, to tag or tagging articles, content, etc., when posted onto a website

Tag Line
A memorable slogan or catch phrase used in advertising

Tailor-Made
Adapted or made for a particular purpose or individual

Take-Home Pay
The amount of money received by an employee after deductions, such as tax, insurance, etc

Takeover
The purchase of one company by another

Takeover Bid
A bid made by an organisation or individual to acquire a company, usually by offering to purchase the shares of the company's shareholders

Takeover Panel
A panel set up in certain countries to ensure that all company takeovers comply with laws and regulations, and that all shareholders are treated equally and fairly

Tangible Asset
Physical assets, such as machinery, buildings, vehicles, cash, etc., which are owned by a company or individual

Tare
The weight of packaging used in wrapping and protecting goods which is deducted from the total weight of a product in order to ascertain the actual weight of the goods. The deduction in weight of a vehicle used to transport goods in order to determine the actual weight of the goods

Target Audience
The specific group of people that an advertisement, product, TV program, etc., is aimed at

Target Company
A company that another company or organisation wants to acquire

Target Market
A specific group of people with similar characteristics, needs, lifestyle, etc., at which a company markets its products or services.

Task Force
A group of people formed to work on a particular project or assignment

Tax
A fee imposed by a government on personal or corporate income, products, services, etc., in order to raise revenue to pay for public services

Tax Abatement
Also known as a Tax Holiday. An exemption or reduction of taxes by a government for certain companies for a specific period of time, often as an incentive for industrial development

Tax Allowance
The amount of income that can be earned or received in one year before tax has to be paid

Tax Avoidance
Legal ways of paying the minimum amount of tax possible by making use of allowances and exemptions

Tax Bracket
Based on income levels, the higher the income the higher the tax bracket, therefore people earning more money have to pay a higher rate of tax on the part of their income which is below the lower tax bracket allowance

Tax Evasion
Illegally avoidng paying tax, usually by making a false declaration of income

Tax Exile
A person or business who chooses to leave a country to reside or operate in another country, usually called a Tax Haven, where taxes are much lower or there aren't any

Tax Lien
The right of a tax authority to claim assets belonging to a company or individual who default on tax payments

Team Player
A person in any type of profession who works well as a member of a team

Teaser Ad
A brief advertisement which reveals only a little bit of information about a product, usually not yet available, in order to arouse widespread interest

Teaser Rate
A low rate of interest, for example on a mortgage, loan, credit card, etc., which is below the going market rate and available for only a short period of time in order to attract borrowers

Techie
A person who is very knowledgable, or an expert, in technology, especially computing

Technical Analyst
A stock market analyst who uses charts and computer programs to study investments in order to predict the future of share prices, etc

Technical Support
A service provided by the vendor of technology products, such as computers, mobile phones, televisions, etc., which the purchaser can use if they need help using the product

Telecommunications
Known informally as Telecoms. Communicating over long distances by telephone, e-mail, etc

Teleconference
A conference involving two or more people at different locations, using telecommunications equipment, such as computers, video, telephone, etc

Telemarketing
Also known as Telesales. The selling of goods or services by contacting potential customers by telephone

Teleworking
An arrangement in which the employee works at home and contacts their office or workplace by telephone or computer

Tenant
An individual or business who pays a fee for the use of land, property, etc., to the owner. An occupant

Tenant At Will
A tenant who continues to rent land, property, etc., past the expiration of the lease. Also a tenant who rents property without a written lease, therefore they can be forced to leave without notice from the owner

Tender Offer
An offer, usually above the market price, made to the shareholders of a company by another company or individual as part of a takeover bid

Term Assurance
A form of life insurance which pays out a lump sum if the policyholder dies within a fixed period of time

Terms Of Reference
A document which describes the objectives, scope and purpose of a project, committee, meeting, etc. See 'agree specification/terms of reference' in the project management section. Separately the acronym BOSCARDET provides a useful example structure for TOR headings/sections: Background, Objectives, Scope, Constraints, Assumptions, Reporting, Dependencies, Estimates, Timescales. Note that this particular structure has no specific heading for costs/budgets, and so care must be taken to include these considerations, logically within ''Constraints' or 'Estimates'. There is no standard universal structure for a Terms of Reference document because the situations vary widely in which TOR are used. Responsibility lies with the project manager or leader to ensure all relevant and necessary issues are included in TOR. Local interpretation often produces TOR headings and document structure which may be unique to the particular situation. Where an organization oversees many projects/activities requiring Terms of Reference documents it is likely that organizational 'standard' TOR formats are used. Obviously it makes sense to follow such standards where they apply, mindful of the risks of omission, over-complexity, or unnecessary work, which can arise from routinely applying a standard structure.

Tertiary Industry
Third sector of a country's economy which covers the provision of services, such as transport, schools, financial services, etc., rather than manufacturing or production

Test Case
Term used to describe a court case which establishes legal rights and serves as a precedent for future similar cases

Test Market
In marketing, a product or service which is tested in a particular area of the country before it is launched nationally

Text Message
A written message sent from one mobile phone to another

Text-To-Speech
Describes the converting of text into audible speech on a computer by using speech synthesis techniques

The Big Board
An informal name for the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street

The Big Three
The three largest credit ratings agencies: Standard and Poor's; Moody's, and Fitch. There are hundreds of smaller credit rating agencies, but historically 95% of the market is served/controlled by these three companies. As at 2013 their ownership is all American, except 50% of Fitch in French ownership. These companies have an enormous and controversial influence over corporate and international debt and the workings of credit and debt markets, banking, investments, etc., and consequently also on economies and societies around the world. 'The Big Three' are particularly controversial because of their considerable market dominance, considered by most commentators to be monopolistic (or at least a duopoly, given S&P/Moody's 80% market share), together with potential for conflict of interest in the way that the credit ratings industry operates: Credit rating agencies provide extensive high-value advisory services to the same markets/clients that are subject to the ratings issued by the agencies. Despite the heavy reliance on their assessments and pronouncements, the Big Three agencies failed to identify the toxic nature of the mortgage and related derivative debt 'products' prior to and regarded central to the 2008 global financial collapse, and in some cases awarded very positive ratings for these debts which subequently proved largely valueless and irrecoverable.

Theory Of Constraints
Theory originally developed by Dr Eliyahu Goldratt, which states that every organisation must have at least one constraint that should be overcome by recognising and dealing with the cause of the 'bottleneck', thus enabling the company to achieve its goals

Theory X
Developed by Douglas McGregor in the 1960s, a theory which states that most people in the workplace do not enjoy work and will take every opportunity to avoid doing their job because they are lazy and need to be closely supervised, threatened and disciplined by management

Theory Y
Developed by Douglas McGregor. The opposite to Theory X, a method of managing people in the workplace based on the idea that most workers enjoy their job, are self-motivated and want responsibility, and the managers role is to help the workers realise their full potential by giving them more responsibility, including them in decision-making, etc

Theory Z
A Japanese management style based on the theory, developed by William Ouchi, that workers like to build relationships with other workers and management, to feel secure in their jobs, develop skills through training, and have their family life and traditions valued

Think Tank
A group or organisation which researches and advises on issues relating to technology, economy, politics and social strategy

Third Line Forcing
A situation which occurs when a supplier will only sell a product or service to a customer on condition that it is purchased from a third party nominated by the supplier

Third Party
A person or organisation not principally involved with the other two parties but who has an interest in an agreement or contract. In an insurance policy, the third party is the person whose car, etc is damaged by you in an accident

Third Sector
Part of a country's economy which is non-profitmaking, such as voluntary work, charities, etc

Third World
Refers to poor, underdeveloped nations in South Africa, Asia and South America

Third-Generation
3G. Describes wireless technology which has been developed to send messages and data over networks using mobile phones, computers, etc