Summary of Selected Concepts from ‘Key Concepts in Management’ by Jonathan Sutherland and Diane Canwell (summary by Gil Dekel, PhD)

This is a very short and concise summary of a few management concepts from Jonathan and Diane’s book (with page numbers as they appear in the book):

24

Benchmarking –

Pre-determined set of standards to measure activities.

28-29

Board of directors –

Administrative governing board, providing leadership and direction.

34-35

Brand loyalty –

Customer preference to buy a particular brand in a product category. As brand loyalty increases customers become less sensitive to price increases. Also customers will be less attracted by competitors’ offers.

36

Branding –

The creation of an association between the name of a product and values, to differentiate the product from competitors, and create a hook for the advertising.

39

Bricks and clicks / Clicks and mortar –

The combination of traditional forms of business with virtual; combining face-to-face direct business, with website business.

41

Bureaucracy –

Highly routine tasked organisational structure.

42

Business capacities –

Unique characteristic of a business, such as expertise, knowledge or positioning in the market, which can determine the future direction of the business.

43

Business model –

There are many forms of business model; all try to explain the functions of a business.

46

Business plan –

Illustrates the market, the solution, the ability to deliver the product/service to the market, and the opportunities for growth.

50-51

Business strategy –

A campaign to achieve defined goals or outcomes in a time frame, usually between three and seven years.

56

Cash flow –

Net funds that gone through the organisation over time, usually defined as earnings.

74-75

Corporate culture –

The beliefs, values, norms and traditions of an organisation which affect the behaviours of its members.

75

Corporate strategy –

Overarching strategy for deploying resources to move an organisation forward.

85

Decentralization –

A gradual dispersal of decision-making control across an organisation.

105

Emotional intelligence –

The intelligence that individual have and which helps them understand, manage and motivate others.

107

Entrepreneur –

An individual associated with a degree of risk-taking and a flair for identifying potential business opportunities.

114

Feedback –

Any information that helps assess the success or failure of actions taken.

118

Forecasting –

An attempt to predict a variable, such as the demand for products.

119

Free cash flow –

The amount of cash a business has after it paid for expenses and investments. This amount can reveal the actual working capital of a business.

121

Functional authority –

Authority which is exercised by managers based on their specialism in specific area, unlike line management authority.

130

Green mail –

A scheme of buying shares in another company for the purpose of selling it back to them at a high price. This is how it works: a company ‘A’ secretly buys shares from company ‘B’, and then declares it wishes to take over B and buy major shareholding. Company B then wishes to purchases as much shares of their company in order to gain control back. Company A then happily sells its original shares it bought secretly, at a profit.

141

Horizontal merger –

Joining together businesses with similar product lines or service.

149

Innovation –

The gradual acceptance of a new product. Innovation has key stages: Awareness, Interest, Evaluation, Trial, and Adoption.

150

Intangible resources –

Invisible assets that have no physical presence, such as goodwill, brand names, patents, trademarks, copyrights and franchises.

151

Intellectual capital –

Business knowledge, expertise and relations that are used to decide and to do things that benefit the company.

153

Intrepreneur –

An entrepreneur within the organisation. This individual is responsible for developing new enterprises within the organisation itself.

158

Job analysis –

Identify the components parts of a particular role.

169

Knowledge management –

Recognising that information and abilities are valuable intangible assets that employees can bring. An organisation will seek to support individuals that are able to impart knowledge as part of their job.

180

Liquidation –

Turning a business’s assets into readily available cash.

185

Management audit –

A review of the operations, and assessment on the return on investment of those operations in an organisation. The purpose of an audit is to increase efficiency, and provide a better means of measuring the organisation’s performance.

193

Market segmentation –

Identification of target markets, in order to make marketing easier by addressing the needs of smaller groups of customers, and finding niches.

210

Mission statement –

The organisation’s business vision: the values, purpose, and where the business wishes to be in the future (rather than where it is now).

210-211

‘MOST’ analysis –

– Mission (where the business intends to go),

– Objectives (key goals which will help achieve the mission),

– Strategies (analysis of options available),

– Tactics (how the strategies will be put into action).

212

Motivation –

Instilling the drive to take actions in employees.

220-221

Non-price competitions –

Establishing differences based on other factors than price, which differentiate a product. These include factors such as convenience, taste, prestige.

225

Operating budget –

A forecast of a business’ future financial needs, incorporating estimates of costs as well as revenues: sales, production, and cash flow.

235

Organisational structure –

The way in which the organisation is divided into sub-units, and the locations of the decision-making responsibilities in the structure.

243-244

STEEPLE analysis –

An assessment of the factors in the environment in which a business operates, and how they affect the business:

–          S (social and cultural influences),

–          T (Technological and product innovation in the market),

–          E (Economic and market competition),

–          E (Education, training and employment in society),

–          P (Politic influences)

–          L (Legal),

–          E (Environmental impact that the business have).

251

Positive sum game –

International trade benefit all countries involved, even if some countries benefit more than others. International trade only occurs because both parties benefit from it. Globalization enhances world’s prosperity, and does not exclude or marginalize countries.

263

Quality assurance –

Standards which are aimed mainly at ensuring customer satisfaction, such as the ISO 9000. If a business meets these standards, it is usually assumed to have achieved quality assurance.

267

Relationships marketing –

An attempt to develop long-term relationship with customers, since it is cheaper to retain existing customers than attracting new ones. To develop long-term relationship a business will focus on the product benefits rather than features, and on contact with the customers (emphasising trust, honesty, and promise keeping).

267-268

Research and development –

Steps that businesses are taking when looking for producing new products:

–          assessing how the product fits in with current products,

–          checking if current production methods can make the new product,

–          testing the production process,

–          costing,

–          market research,

–          producing a test batch, and testing it in the market.

277-278

The seven Ps –

–          product,

–          place,

–          price,

–          promotion,

–          process (steps needed),

–          physical evidence (tangible results),

–          people.

278

The seven S framework –

Inter relations between seven key factors in a business:

–          Strategy (environment, competition, customers),

–          Structure (organisational chart of authority and control),

–          Systems (procedures),

–          Staff (employees),

–          Style (behavioural patterns),

–          Shared values (central beliefs),

–          Skills (core competences of the business).

287-288

SWOT Analysis –

–          Strengths (the key advantages of the business),

–          Weaknesses (where does the business fall short),

–          Opportunities (outside factors and changes that can offer opportunities to the business),

–          Threats (outside factors and changes that can pose threats to the business).

—About reviewer Gil Dekel, click here.

20 January 2011. This work © Gil Dekel.
‘Key Concepts in Management’ is published by Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire, UK, 2004, series Palgrave Key Concepts.