Business Flash Cards (MVIS 2025)

What is Gross Profit?

It's the money a company makes from selling its products or services, after paying for the direct costs to make them.

What is Revenue?

It's the total money a company makes from selling its products or services before any costs are taken out.

What is Profit Margin?

It's how much profit a company makes compared to its sales, often shown as a percentage.

What is Markup?

The extra money added to the cost of a product to decide its selling price.

What does ROCE stand for?

Return on Capital Employed

What is ROCE?

Return on Capital Employed shows how well a company uses the total money invested in it to make profits.

What is Current Ratio?

Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities.

What are Current Assets?

Current Assets are assets that are expected to be converted into cash or used within one year, including cash, accounts receivable, and inventory.

What are Current Liabilities?

Current Liabilities are obligations a company must pay within one year, including accounts payable, short-term debt, and other short-term obligations.

What is Gross Profit Margin?

Gross Profit Margin is calculated by taking Gross Profit and dividing it by Revenue, expressed as a percentage. It indicates the percentage of revenue that exceeds the cost of goods sold.

What is Below-The-Line (BTL) promotion

Marketing activities aimed at specific individuals or groups rather than the general public.

6 examples of Below-The-Line promotions

• Loyalty programmes

• Email marketing to existing customers

• Personalised discounts or offers

• Direct mail

• Sponsorship of small community events

• Free samples or in-store demonstrations

What is Sole Trader?

A person who is the exclusive owner of a business.

What is  a discount?

A reduction in the price of a product or service.

What is Venture Capital?

Money that investors give to new businesses to help them grow, in exchange for owning part of the company.

What is a Franchise?

A business model where a company allows another to operate using its brand and model in exchange for payment.

What is Cost of Sales?

The cost involved in producing the goods or services that you sell.

What is Profit?

A financial gain.

What is Marketing Mix?

The key elements businesses use to market their products or services - Product, Price, Place, Promotion

What is an Overdraft?

When you spend more money than your bank account actually has and the bank covers the shortfall.

What is Retained Profit?

The money a company earns that it keeps (reinvests, saves, or uses to pay debt)

What is Crowdfunding?

Raising small amounts of money from many people (the crowd)

What does Capital intensive production mean?

It is the production process that relies heavily on machinery, equipment and technology rather than labour.

What is a fixed cost?

Expenses that remain the same no matter how much a company produces, such as rent, property tax, insurance, and depreciation.

What is the span of control?

The number of employees that each manager is responsible for managing.

What is the Total Revenue?

The total amount of money that you made from your sale of goods and services.

What is the break-even point?

The point when the total cost and the total revenue are equal.

Raw Materials

Anything that we can take or grow naturally from earth

Core Business

The main activity a business does.

Clustering

When a businesses from the same or similar industries locate close to each.

Exploited

To treat another unfairly for personal benefit.

Examples of Exploitation

Workers paid low wages, made to work long hours, or in unsafe, poor conditions.

Limited Liability

If something goes wrong in the business, they the owner(s) only lose the money they invested in the business and NOT their personal belongings.

Public Limited Company (PLC)

Companies that sell shares to the public on the stock exchange.

Private Limited Companies (Ltd)

Companies that sell shares privately and cannot trade them on the stock exchange.

Define non-financial business

Any business whose main activity is not providing financial services.

Define Financial business

Any business whose main activity IS providing financial services.

Define demography.

The study of population (size, age, income, lifestyle) that helps identify the target market.

What are government grants?

Financial incentives offered to businesses to locate in certain areas, often for regeneration or job creation.

What is meant by business rates?

Local government charges (tax) on business premises, based on rental value.

What are trade blocs?

Groups of countries removing trade barriers to promote free trade. Example: EU, ASEAN, USMCA.

What is protectionism?

When governments use tariffs, quotas, or subsidies to protect domestic industries from foreign competition.

Define Market Pull.

The influence of being located close to customers to increase sales.

Define End Product.

The final finished good or service produced, ready for sale to customers.

Define Industrial Tradition.

When a certain area is historically known for a particular industry due to skills, raw materials, or reputation.

Define Constraints.

Limits or restrictions that affect business decisions, e.g. legal, financial, or environmental.

Define World Trade Organisation (WTO).

An international body that promotes free trade and reduces trade barriers.|

Define Partnership

Shared ownership.
Shared costs and liability.
Shared profits and losses.

Define Public Corporations

Organisations owned and controlled by the government.

Pvt. Ltd. or Ltd.

Private Limited Company

PLC

Public Limited Company

Shares of Private Limited Companies

Shares can be sold privately to friends, family, and staff.
Shares cannot be publicly advertised for sale.

Public Limited Companies

Shares can be sold to the public.
Shareholders have limited liability.
Must follow strict legal and financial regulations.

Test marketing

The process of launching a new product, service, or marketing campaign to a small, limited segment of the market before a full-scale release to gather real-world feedback and data.

Cash inflows

Any money that enters your business

Cash outflows

The movement of cash out of a business or organization, representing the expenses or payments made during a specific period.

Net cash flow

The total cash generated by a business over a specific period, calculated as total cash inflows minus total cash outflows.

Cash flow forecasting

Predicting the future flow of cash in to and out of a business' bank accounts.

Opening balances

The amounts that your business has in each of its accounts at the start of a particular period of time.

A social enterprise

A business with a primary social or environmental mission that uses commercial strategies to achieve that mission.

Boston Matrix

A model which helps businesses analyse their portfolio of businesses and brands.

Five stages of a product life cycle (PLC)

Development, Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Decline

E-newsletter

Email that is sent out on a regular basis

Market research

The process of collecting and analyzing information about a market, customers, and competitors to make informed business decisions, identify opportunities, understand market trends, and assess product viability

4 main types of taxation

Income tax, VAT, National Insurance(NI) , Corporation Tax

What does dispute mean?

A serious disagreement or argument .

What is depreciation ?

Losing value of the tangible things because of its usage and age.

What is amortization ?

Losing value of the intangible things because of the new things.

What does EBITDA stand for?

Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortization.

4 categories in the Boston Matrix

1. Star , 2. Cash Cow, 3. Question Mark, 4. Dogs

What does Star mean in the Boston Matrix ?

Have high growth and high market share meaning the products are doing well in the fast-growing market.
(wrt to Boston Matrix)

What does Cash Cow mean in the Boston Matrix

Don't have high growth but have high market share meaning the products in the market don't grow much but bring steady profit.
(wrt to Boston Matrix)

What does Question Mark mean in the Boston Matrix?

Has high growth but doesn't have a high market share meaning they are new or struggling products in the fast-growing market.
(wrt to Boston Matrix)

What does Dogs mean in the Boston Matrix?

Have both low growth and market share meaning the products are not doing well, weak and hard to make profit.
(wrt to Boston Matrix)