Business Concepts, Marketing, and Operations Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes covering unique selling propositions, the business growth stage, market research, quality management strategies, market segmentation, operating systems, marketing mix, consumer behaviour, and external influences on operations.

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

The feature or benefit that makes a business's product different from its competitors, ranking the business against rivals on criteria customers care about most.

Growth Stage

The period where a business expands beyond its initial market and becomes established in its industry, characterized by rapidly rising sales, profits, and market share.

Target Market

The group of actual and potential customers whose needs and wants a business aims to satisfy.

Market Research

The process of collecting and analysing information about customers, competitors, and the market before making business decisions.

Primary Research

Market research that gathers new data directly from customers, such as through surveys or focus groups.

Secondary Research

Market research that uses information that already exists, like government statistics.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

A strategy where every employee takes responsibility for continuously improving quality, built on ethics, integrity, trust, training, teamwork, leadership, and communication.

Quality Control

A strategy for managing quality that involves checking products after they are made and removing any that are defective.

Quality Assurance

A strategy for managing quality that works early in the process, setting agreed standards and processes so faults are prevented rather than detected.

Market Segmentation

The process of classifying a customer market into smaller groups of individuals who share similar needs.

Geographic Segmentation

Classifying customers by location, such as country, city, or climate.

Demographic Segmentation

Classifying customers using measurable characteristics like age, gender, income, or occupation.

Psychographic Segmentation

Grouping people by lifestyle, values, or attitudes.

Behavioural Segmentation

Grouping customers based on how they act, such as purchase frequency or the benefits they seek.

Production System (Operating System)

The process a business uses to turn resources into finished goods or services through inputs, transformations, and outputs.

Inputs

The resources used in a production system, including land, labour, capital, ingredients, and machinery.

Transformations

The value-adding process where a business changes inputs into something customers are willing to pay for.

Outputs

The finished goods, services, or ideas sold to customers.

Marketing Mix

The combination of four decisions a business makes to sell its product: product, price, place, and promotion.

Psychological Factors

Internal influences originating within the individual that shape buying decisions, including motivation, perception, learning, attitudes, and personality.

Socio-cultural Factors

External influences from other people that shape buying decisions, including social class, family, culture, and reference groups.

Mass Market

A consumer market that includes almost all customers and sells basic necessities, such as water, food, or electricity.

Niche Market

The smallest consumer market type, serving a highly specialised group, which allows higher prices but limits the required production output.

Technological Change

An external influence that introduces new equipment and systems to improve business productivity and reduce operational errors.

Deregulation

The removal or reduction of government rules in an industry, which lowers barriers to entry and increases competition.