Business key terms

Closeness to something, such as customers, workers, suppliers or rival businesses.

How close a business is to its customers or potential customers.

How close a business is to the customers it aims to serve.

Setting a price to influence customers’ perception of value, such as charging £9.99 rather than £10.

A business owned by shareholders, with limited liability, that can offer its shares for sale to the general public.

A company whose shares can be offered to the public and whose shareholders have limited liability.

Activities used to build positive relationships with the public and manage a business's reputation, including communication with the media.

Reductions in the cost per unit of supplies that a business can gain by buying in larger quantities, for example through bulk-buying discounts.

A reduction in average unit cost because a business buys larger quantities of materials or components and receives bulk discounts.

Non-numerical information, such as customers’ reasons for choosing a product or views about its quality.

Research that gathers descriptive information about opinions, preferences and reasons, often through open questions.

The extent to which the characteristics of a good or service satisfy customers’ needs and expectations.

Organising and checking processes to prevent mistakes and ensure that output meets customer requirements.

Inspecting or testing products against agreed quality standards to identify faults.

An expected level of performance or a product characteristic against which actual quality can be checked.

Numerical information, such as sales figures, costs or survey percentages, that can be measured and compared.

Research whose findings are expressed numerically, often using closed questions with a limited choice of responses.

A product with low market share in a high-growth market; also called a problem child.

A set of questions used to collect information from respondents.

A basic material used to make a product, such as fruit used to make juice.

A change an employer must reasonably make to remove or reduce a disadvantage experienced by a disabled applicant or worker.

The process of attracting and identifying suitable candidates for a job vacancy.

A business that carries out recruitment tasks on behalf of an employer, such as advertising vacancies and shortlisting applicants.

Processing waste materials so that they can be used to make new products.

The loss of a job because the business no longer needs that role.

Evidence about a candidate’s abilities and suitability provided by someone who knows them in a professional capacity.

The percentage of output judged unsuitable for sale because it does not meet the required standards.

The ability of a product or service to perform as expected without failures.

Working away from the employer’s usual workplace, often from home, using technology to access work and communicate.

The basic wage or salary paid to an employee for their work.