theme 3

corporate aims

long term ideas of how the business should develop

corporate objective

a goal that a business strives to achieve in order to meet its long term aim

critical appraisal

assesses if the corporate aims and mission statement continue to reflect the current corporate vision

mission statement

a set of guiding principles which is often used to steer stakeholders in order to achieve businesses aims and objectives

ansoffs matrix

a strategic tool used to analyse business growth

cost leadership

a strategy of seeking lower costs to allow a business to reduce prices and increase sales and revenues

diatinctive capabilities

a skill or attribute possessed by a business

diversification

new product to new market

market development

marketing of an existing product in new markets

market penetration

selling existing products in an existing market

porters strategic matrix

identifies the sources of competitive advantage that a business might achieve in a market

SWOT analysis

helps identify internal strengths and weaknesses and also external opportunities and threats

PESTLE analysis

Political

economical

social

technological

legal

environmental

porters five forces

threat of substitutes

threat of new entrants

bargaining power of customers

bargaining power of suppliers

competitive rivalry

external economies of scale

the average cost reductions available to all businesses as the industry grows

risk bearing EOS

as a firm grows they may diversify to reduce risk

corporate culture

an unwritten code of conduct within a business organisation that reflects its values

extrapolation

when the trend line is extended to forecast future sales

moving averages

a succession of averages derived from successive segments of a series of values

investment appraisals

the evaluation of an investment project to determine whether or not it is likely to be worthwhile

decision trees

a decision making tool showing the possible outcomes of a decision with the estimated probability and expected monetary value of these outcomes

critical path analysis

the process of planning the sequence of activities in a project in order to discover the most efficient way of completing the project whilst ensuring that all stages are finished

free float

the time in which a task can be delayed without affecting the project completion time