Business Administration and Marketing Fundamentals

A comprehensive vocabulary flashcard set covering key terms, company classifications, stakeholders, core business processes, environmental spheres, and marketing frameworks from the lecture notes.

Business Administration (BWL)

A sub-discipline of economic sciences within the social sciences that deals with all operational aspects of a company, including marketing, finance, organization, and personnel.

Resources (BWL)

All necessary means, such as raw materials, human labor, and energy, required to manufacture a product or deliver a service efficiently.

Company (Unternehmen)

An economically and legally independent entity that manufactures goods or provides services for households and other enterprises.

First Sector (Agricultural Sector)

The economic sector comprising primary production industries, specifically agriculture, forestry, and fisheries.

Second Sector (Industrial Sector)

The economic sector comprising production-focused industries, including mining, manufacturing, construction, water supply, and energy supply.

Third Sector (Service Sector)

The economic sector encompassing all commercial entities providing services rather than primary raw materials or manufactured goods.

Nonprofit Organization (NPO)

A non-profit-oriented organization whose self-generated revenue is typically insufficient to cover total costs, relying on donations and public subsidies.

Public Companies

Enterprises owned entirely by the state or public sector, such as SBB or Swiss Post.

Mixed Companies

Enterprises jointly owned by private households and public authorities, such as Berner Kantonalbank or Swisscom.

Private Companies

Enterprises operating without any financial or ownership participation from the state.

KMU (SME)

Small and medium-sized enterprises employing fewer than $250$ people, which account for approximately $99\text{Memory}\text{--}99JS$ or $99\times 10^0$ percentage ($99JS$) of all businesses in Switzerland.

Microenterprise

A company size classification designating businesses that employ between $1$ and $9$ staff members.

Small Enterprise

A company size classification designating businesses that employ between $10$ and $49$ staff members.

Medium Enterprise

A company size classification designating businesses that employ between $50$ and $250$ staff members.

Large Enterprise

A company size classification designating businesses that employ $250$ or more staff members.

GmbH (LLC)

A legal business entity form in Switzerland requiring a minimum statutory capital of $\text{CHF}\text{ }20'000.-$.

Aktiengesellschaft (AG)

A legal business entity form in Switzerland requiring a minimum statutory capital of $\text{CHF}\text{ }100'000.-$.

Double Taxation (Doppelbesteuerung)

A taxation process where a corporate legal entity pays profit taxes on earnings, and shareholders pay income taxes on the distributed dividends.

Core Processes (Kernprozesse)

Primary operational processes directly tied to customer orders that create added value, structured across procurement, production, and sales phases.

Support Processes

Operational activities that assist and facilitate the smooth execution of primary core processes, such as administrative purchasing.

Management Processes (Führungsprozesse)

Executive operational tasks involving administrative planning, organization, communication, and control.

Production Factor: Labor

Human physical and mental effort invested in creating goods or rendering services.

Production Factor: Land / Environment

Natural resources, raw materials, geographical locations, and environmental elements utilized in production.

Production Factor: Capital

Physical operational assets like machinery, equipment, tools, buildings, and infrastructure utilized in production, excluding liquid financial capital.

Stakeholders (Anspruchsgruppen)

Individuals or organizations that have an interest in, are affected by, or exercise influence over a company's business activities.

Technological Environmental Sphere

The external environment encompassing technological inventions, innovations, and legal frameworks for technology protection like patents.

Economic Environmental Sphere

The external environment comprising conditions in factor markets, product and service markets, inflation, and government fiscal policy interventions.

Ecological Environmental Sphere

The natural environment comprising raw material availability, environmental regulations, climate changes, and natural phenomena.

Social Environmental Sphere

The external environment comprising changing societal customs, cultural norms, family structures, legal rules, and political developments.

Marketing Concept

A documented plan outlining all operational marketing activities of the sales core process, spanning from market analysis to tactical adjustments.

Market Research (Marktforschung)

The process of collecting, recording, and analyzing data about market conditions and customer preferences using observations, surveys, and feedback.

Sales Volume (Absatz)

The total physical quantity of products or services sold within a specific time period.

Revenue (Umsatz)

The total monetary value generated from sales, calculated as $\text{Revenue} = \text{Sales Volume} \times \text{Sales Price}$.

Market Volume (Marktvolumen)

The total combined sales revenue generated by all suppliers active in a specific market.

Market Share (Marktanteil)

The percentage proportion of total market volume generated by a specific enterprise, calculated as $\frac{\text{Company Revenue}}{\text{Market Volume}} \times 100$.

Market Segmentation

The practice of dividing a broader consumer market into distinct target groups based on shared characteristics and purchasing behaviors.

SMART Criteria

A goal formulation principle requiring targets to be Specific, Measurable, Accepted, Realistic, and Time-bound.

Market Penetration

An Ansoff Matrix growth strategy aimed at expanding market share and revenue using existing products within existing markets.

Market Development

An Ansoff Matrix growth strategy aimed at introducing existing products into new geographic regions or untapped target customer segments.

Product Development

An Ansoff Matrix growth strategy aimed at launching new or upgraded products into existing customer markets.

Diversification

An Ansoff Matrix growth strategy aimed at launching brand-new products or services into completely new target markets.

4P Model

The foundational marketing mix framework consisting of Product, Place, Price, and Promotion.

7P Model

An expanded marketing mix framework tailored for services that adds People, Physical Facilities, and Process to the classic 4Ps.