Business and Its Publics/2009 Section 23 Vocabulary Wiki

Business and its Publics (BiP) 2009. Section 23 Vocabulary Wiki.

Enter new vocabulary terms here, and sign your name. Then contribute definitions to open vocabulary terms. BiP2009S20 20:51, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Enter new definitions in the format of Definition List as follows:

Word: Definition of the word

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Longer Phrase: phrase defined at length, such that, even with a relatively large window width one can see that the wrapping of the text maintains the indentation of the definition and thus a highlight of the defined term. This accentuates readability of the list.

501(c)(3): Tax law provision granting exemption from the federal income tax to non-profit organizations. This ensures that the non-profit organizations serve the public interest and are accountable for how they spend their money - MinJu Park

Angel Investor: Someone who provides fuding for business start-up or very early-stage business. They typically invest in a business idea/concept or a person. Examples include successful enterprenuers, family and friends - MinJu Park

Bottom Line: The net income that a company generates. This is the "bottom line" on an income statement and reflects how profitable a company is. Generally, companies seek ways to maximize the amount of money they generate and their goals are oriented around the bottom line. - May Zhan

Business Cycle: the fluctuations of economic expansion and contraction that is measured by real gross domestic product. -John Huh

Carrying Trade (Simon Li): The business of transporting goods from one place/country to another by water or land - MinJu Park

Chamber of Commerce: A business association/network that strives to protect and promote the business interests of the community - MinJu Park

Command Economy: A system in which the government holds control over the economy in terms of production, consumption, income distribution, etc. -John Huh

Concessionaire: In terms of privatization, the person, group, or company that has been contracted by the government (or other employer) to run the subsidiary business or service. (Nolan Lindeke)

Consortium: A group of investors and/or companies who come together in order to finance projects requiring large amounts of capital. (Nolan Lindeke)

Debit: An entry signifying an increase in an asset or expense account or a decrease in a liability, revenue or equity account - MinJu Park

Debt (Simon Li): An amount owed to a person or organization for funds borrowed. Unlike deficit, which is a flow that has to be measured over a period of time, debt is a stock, which can be measured at any one time.

Deficit (ie; Budget Deficit)(Simon Li): The amount by which a government, company, or individual's spending exceeds its income over a particular period of time (opposite is surplus). For example, if total US exports were $10 and total US imports were $15, then the budget deficit is $5. However, this does not mean the US owes foreign exporters $5 but means that spending has gone outside of the United States instead of to the domestic market.

Double Bottom Line: A term used for socially responsible businesses who outside of the first bottom line (profit) have a second bottom line to measure their success in terms of social impact. - Jimmy Cai

Elasticity: sensitivity to change of one variable in response to the change of another. In economics, calculated as the percent change in quantity over the percent change in price.-John Huh

Eleemosynary: relating to or supported by charity - Yuhe Cong

Employee Free Choice Act: This is a pending legislation in the United States. EFCA strives to make it easier for employees to join labor organizations/unions and to establish stricter guidelines for the employers whose workers hope to form a union - MinJu Park

Environmental Sustainability (Simon Li): The ability to conduct business while maintaining the current environment, which could mean preserving current resources or finding innovative ways to renew resources. Robert Kennedy mentioned the idea of an accessible energy grid that allows users to sell the extra energy they generate, creating greater efficiency and less waste. - May Zhan

Environmental Technology (ET): Green/clean technology of applying environmental science to conserve resources that lead to sustainable development; could be the next "thing" after IT that leads to renewed economic growth. - Simon Li

Expropriation: the confiscation of a private asset in order to establish social equality. -John Huh

Fiscal Policy: a way to adjust the economy through government spending and/or collection of taxes and other revenues. -John Huh

IMF: International Monetary Fund - a United Nations agency to promote trade by increasing the exchange stability of the major currencies - David Jiang

Incremental vs Marginal Analysis (?): Marginal compares the benefit of a one-unit expansion or contraction of service, while incremental compares the benefit of one or more alternatives. (Jeff Wang)

Management Risk: The chance that management entities may put their own interests before those of the company that they are entitled to. Management risk is very relevant now because of recent scandals with Enron and Worldcom in which management risk was exploited.-John Huh

Mark-to-market Accounting: Also known as fair value accounting, mark-to-market accounting refers to the process of adjusting the value of an asset to reflect its current market value rather than keep a book value that may be outdated. The implications of mark-to-market accounting are relevant today because of the recent economic crisis. Because the value of sub-prime mortgages dropped significantly, many financial firms were forced to write off their assets and some to declare bankruptcy. - May Zhan

Market Accountability: Refers to 3 aspects of the market that make its participants accountable---first, participants in the market have a clear understanding of business/ethical standards. Second, they are able to measure these standards. Third, there are consequences for failure to meet these standards - MinJu Park

Market Capitalization: A standard used to measure the value of a corporation, given by the company's share price times the number of shares outstanding. Because the public plays an important role in determining a company's stock price, Market Capitalization is a good measurement of both stock valuation and public opinion of such corporation. (Nolan Lindeke)

Market Power: When one entity has a significant influence over the quantity or price of goods/services sold in a market. It exists when there is a monopoly or oligopoly - MinJu Park

Millennium Development Goals: eight international development goals that 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by 2015. Goals include: eradication extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, ensuring environmental sustainability, and developing a global partnership for development. (Vivian Lee)

Moral Hazard: occurs when the insured party behaves differently and thus creates a problem for insurance companies by altering the ability of markets to allocate resources efficiently. Moral hazard can be seen in many recent scandals. -John Huh

NGO: Non-Government Organization - an organization that is not part of the local or state or federal government - David Jiang

Perquisite: A benefit that goes beyond salary. (Bonuses, medical/dental insurance, etc) - Jimmy Cai

Piece Rates: In piecework employment, the piece rate is the price paid to employees per unit produced or action performed. (Sarah Walloga)

Scalability: The ability of a company to expand its operations and increase in size. (Sarah Walloga)

Securitization: The process in which one takes a single or group of assets and financially engineers them into securities, or an agreement of ownership.-John Huh

Shareholder Value: The notion that businesses' only responsibility is to maximize gains for shareholders, as explained by Milton Friedman - MinJu Park

Social Entrepreneurship (SE): Occurs when an entrepreneur uses entrepreneurial principles to create and manage a venture that creates value for the poor or those who usually cannot afford the services. Social entrepreneurship combines good business practice with social change. - May Zhan

Social Justice (Jiyuan Zhuang): Based on the concepts of human rights and equality, social justice occurs when justice is achieved in every aspect of society. All individuals and groups receive fair treatment and an impartial share of the benefits of society. The term is sometimes used by the political left to refer to a need for greater economic egalitarianism. - May Zhan

Soft Incentives (David Jiang): Incentives that are offered by certain companies as benefits for its employees. These incentive don't necessarily have a monetary value, but create a more appealing atmosphere. Examples include physical attractions to an office building, such as recreational facilities and nice couches, or activities such as company fun days. (Sarah Walloga)

Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV): a instrument utilized by companies to fulfill temporary goals and objectives in isolation to the entire firm. This is relevant because of AIU's decision to ride a SPV in the interest of separating their name from that of AIG. -John Huh

Stabilization Policy: a set of measures carried out to bring the economy back to balance or a way to fine tune the economy. -John Huh

Straw man argument: An argument that creates a false characature of your opponent. Intellectual short cut. (Sarah Walloga)

Telecommunications Act of 1996: This act provided a complete reform of the Communications Act of 1934. It was designed to foster competition among local telephone, long distance telephone, cable and other communications companies - MinJu Park

TLA: Three letter acronym (NGO, WTO, IMF)- Yuhe Cong

Trade-offs: A decision that involves dispersing one thing to gain more of another. -John Huh

Transfer Payment: Redispersion of income into the economy. This may include welfare, social security, etc.-John Huh

Triple Bottom Line: A term used by socially responsible firms which refers to profit, people and planet. These three criterion of economics, social responsibility and ecological responsibility help gauge a company's success in engaging in socially responsible behavior. - Jimmy Cai

Utilitarianism: The doctrine that the right action is the one which will produce the most happiness for the most people. There is a sort of "happiness calculator" which would distinguish between different qualities of pleasure; Greatest Happiness can be viewed as a sum between happiness and unhappiness. - David Jiang

Wage Incentive (Hard Incentive?): Motivating employees by offering higher compensation for higher output. (Jeff Wang)

Wage Restraint (Tatyana Belousov): Collective governmental effort to control the incomes of labour and capital, usually by limiting increases in wages and prices. The term often refers to policies directed at the control of inflation, but it may also indicate efforts to alter the distribution of income among workers, industries, locations, or occupational groups.

Wagner Act: Also known as Nations Labor Relations Act of 1935, the Wagner Act protects the rights of workers in the private sector to organize labor unions, to engage in collective bargaining, and to take part in strikes to make a demand - MinJu Park

Winner-Take-All Society: A society, in which winners of the competition get a disproportionately large share/prize. The gap between the winners and the losers widens, leading to greater and greater inequality - MinJu Park

World Bank: An international institution that provides advice and financing to developing nations - Jimmy Cai
WTO: World Trade Organization - an international organization based in Geneva that monitors and enforces rules governing global trade - David Jiang

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