Business Studies Key Terms

Key vocabulary and definitions related to business studies.

Business Activity Statement (BAS)

Records of a business’s claims for input tax credits and accounts for GST payable.

Business Associations

Organizations that support businesses through the provision of training and education programs, advice, and information.

Business Environment

The surrounding conditions in which the business operates, divided into internal and external categories.

Competitive Advantage

The ability of a business to develop strategies that ensure it has an ‘edge’ over competitors.

Competitors

Other businesses or individuals who offer rival, or competing, goods or services to the ones offered by the business.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Managing a business in such a way that the broader social welfare of the community, including its employees, customers, suppliers, and the environment, is taken into consideration when making business decisions.

Customers

The people who purchase goods and services from a business, expecting high quality at competitive prices.

Economic Conditions

The set of influences that relate to economic activity, including interest rates, wages, unemployment, exchange rates, and inflation.

Employment

When a person works one hour or more in a specified week.

Environmental Lobby Groups

Special interest groups that promote environmental issues to the public, government, and businesses.

Exchange Rate

The price of one country’s currency expressed in terms of another country’s currency.

External Environment

Factors over which the business has little control, divided into operating and macro categories.

Globalization

The effect of hi-tech communications, lower transport costs, and unrestricted trade and financial flows turning the whole world into a single market, producing a more integrated global economic system.

Goods and Services Tax (GST)

A broad-based tax of 10 percent on the supply of most goods and services consumed in Australia.

Interest Rate

The price charged or paid for the use of money that has been deposited or borrowed.

Offshoring

The practice of moving some of a business’s processes or services to the same or another business located overseas.

Special Interest Groups

The groups of people who attempt to directly influence or persuade a business to adopt particular policies or procedures.

Suppliers

Those businesses or individuals that supply the materials and other resources that the business needs to conduct its operations.

Supply Chain

The range of suppliers from which the business purchases materials and resources.

Technological Considerations

Methods, systems, and devices that are the result of scientific knowledge being used for practical purposes.

Tax Rate

The percentage of income or the value of a good, service, or asset paid as tax.

Triple Bottom Line

The economic, environmental, and social performance of a business.

Unemployment

When a person who, during a specified period, is not employed for one hour or more, but is actively seeking work and is currently available for work.

Unions

Organizations formed by employees in an industry, trade, or occupation to represent them in efforts to improve wages and working conditions.