F
Fixed costs
Costs that do not vary in the short run with the number of items sold or produced. They have to be paid whether the business is making any sales or not. They are also known as overhead costs.
Gross profit
Made when sales revenue is greater than the cost of sales.
Induction training
An introduction given to a new employee, explaining the firm’s activities, customs and procedures and introducing them to their fellow workers.
Job satisfaction
The enjoyment derived from feeling that you have done a good job.
Leadership styles
The different approaches to dealing with people and making decisions when in a position of authority – autocratic, laissez-faire or democratic.
Flow production
Where large quantities of a product are produced in a continuous process. It is sometimes referred to as mass production.
Gross Profit Margin
Horizontal integration
When one business merges with or takes over another one in the same industry at the same stage of production.
Job production
Where a single product is made at a time.
Laissez-faire leadership
Makes the broad objectives of the business known to employees, but then they are left to make their own decisions and organise their own work.
Franchise
A business based on the use of the brand names, promotional logos and trading methods of an existing successful business. The franchisee buys the licence to operate this business from the franchisor.
Globalisation
The term now widely used to describe increases in worldwide trade and movement of people and capital between countries.
Incorporated businesses
Companies that have separate legal status from their owners.
Job specification
A document that outlines the requirements, qualifications, expertise, physical characteristics and so on, for a specified job
Line managers
Managers who have direct responsibility over people below them in the hierarchy of an organisation.
Factors of production
Resources needed to produce goods or services. There are four factors of production and they are in limited supply.
Global warming
A gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally thought to be caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants in the atmosphere.
Informative advertising
Where the emphasis of advertising or sales promotion is to give full information about the product.
Job analysis
Identifies and records the responsibilities and tasks relating to a job.
Lean production
A term for those techniques used by businesses to cut down on waste and therefore increase efficiency, for example, by reducing the time it takes for a product to be developed and become available for sale.
Fiscal policy
Any change by the government in tax rates or public-sector spending
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
The total value of output of goods and services in a country in one year.
Inflation
The increase in the average price level of goods and services over time.
Just-in-time (JIT)
A production method that involves reducing or virtually eliminating the need to hold inventories of raw materials or unsold inventories of the finished product. Supplies arrive just at the time they are needed.
Kaizen
A Japanese term meaning ‘continuous improvement’ through the elimination of waste.