Business, Marketing, and Hospitality Terminology

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key management, marketing, finance, legal, and hospitality concepts from the lecture notes.

Absenteeism

Employees missing work, often a sign of stress or low morale.

Absolute privilege

Protection that lets courtroom participants speak freely without being sued for defamation.

Accounts receivable

Money customers owe the business.

Accrual accounting

Recording revenue and expenses when earned or incurred, not when cash moves.

Active listening

Paying full attention, showing understanding, and responding to the speaker.

Advance order

A regular order placed now for delivery at a future date.

Adventure travel

A niche market built around active, risky activities like skydiving.

Amenities

The extras a hospitality business provides, such as linens, toiletries, and Wi-Fi.

Antitrust (Sherman Act)

Federal law against monopolies and anticompetitive practices.

Arbitration

Settling a dispute with the help of an uninvolved third party.

Avoidance

A risk response of not doing the activity that creates the risk.

Balance sheet

A statement of assets, liabilities, and equity at a point in time.

BATNA

Best alternative to a negotiated agreement; your fallback if talks fail.

Behavioral segmentation

Grouping customers by actions like rate of use or benefits sought.

Blanket order

One order covering several repeated or seasonal purchases.

Blind testing

Judging products without knowing the brand, to avoid bias.

Brand champion

The person responsible for bringing the brand to life in the company.

Brand loyalty levels

Recognition (aware of the brand), preference (prefers it but accepts substitutes), insistence (accepts only that brand).

Brand promise

An agreement that a business will consistently deliver what customers expect of its brand.

Break-even analysis

Finds the sales level where revenue equals total costs.

Buffer inventory

Extra stock held for uncertain supply or demand.

Business risk

The chance of loss or lower profit from business decisions or conditions.

Can-cutting

Opening canned goods to compare their contents.

Capital resources (capital goods)

Money, machinery, equipment, and supplies used to produce goods and services.

Cause-and-effect (fishbone) diagram

Sorts the possible causes of a problem into categories.

Certificate of deposit (CD)

A lending investment that holds money for a fixed period at set interest.

Coercive power

Forcing others to act through threats or punishment.

Commercialization

Full-scale production and launch; the product’s life cycle begins.

Community of practice

A group sharing an interest that meets to improve; shortens new-hire learning curves.

Competitive advantage

The edge from offering something better or different than competitors.

Conflict of interest

A personal interest that could compromise professional judgment.

Contingency plan

An alternative course of action if the main plan fails.

Continuous improvement

An ongoing effort to raise the quality of a process, good, or service.

Contraction

A period of declining economic activity after the peak.

Convention and visitors bureau (CVB)

Promotes a destination to travelers and meeting planners.

Cost leadership

A strategy of offering lower prices than competitors.

Credit card fees

The interchange fee goes to the issuing bank, the assessment fee to the card brand, and a processing fee to the processor.

Critical incident interview

An expert walks through a significant event to capture knowledge.

Customer relationship management (CRM)

Strategies and technology for building long-term customer value; focuses on the business’s needs.

Customs duty

A tax on goods carried across international borders.

Data mining

Searching databases for patterns, relationships, trends, and anomalies.

Dealer incentive

A limited-time manufacturer discount to intermediaries.

Demographics

Physical and social characteristics of a population (age, gender, income).

Directing

The management function of guiding and motivating workers; the “heart” of management.

Division of labor

Breaking a large job into smaller tasks.

Divisional structure

An organization split into units by product, process, territory, or customer type.

Drop shipment

A supplier ships directly to the customer.

Dummy invoice

A blank form where a receiver lists a shipment’s contents.

Eminent domain

The government’s right to take private property for public use.

Enterprise risk management (ERM)

A company-wide approach to identifying and planning for risk, tied to strategy.

Ethical dilemma

A situation with a right and wrong choice where doing right may cost you.

Ethnocentrism

Believing your culture is better than others.

Executive summary

A short overview of a report’s key points for busy readers.

Exit interview

A conversation with a departing employee for closure and knowledge capture.

Extinction

Withholding reinforcement to change a behavior.

Family branding

One brand name across many products, which makes new products easier to launch.

Fiat currency

Money with no intrinsic value, accepted because the government says so.

Focus strategy

Targeting a narrow market segment more effectively than competitors.

Follow-up

Contacting a customer after a sale to confirm satisfaction; the last selling step.

Geotourism

Travel interested in unique or threatened natural environments.

Gross private domestic investment

Business spending on capital goods, inventory, and construction counted in GDP.

Gross profit

Revenue minus cost of goods sold.

Guest recovery

Turning a dissatisfied guest into a satisfied one.

House of quality matrix

Checks whether a product meets customer needs.

Human directional

A person holding or wearing signs to advertise.

Hybrid structure

An ownership form blending corporation features with a proprietorship or partnership.

Incrementalism

Gradual erosion of ethical values through small compromises.

Inelastic demand

Demand that stays about the same when price changes (necessities).

Institutional promotion

Builds a company’s image, not a product; includes patronage and public-service promotion.

Internal control

Policies that protect assets and keep records accurate, like receipts for every sale.

Knowledge harvest

Interviewing experts to document what they know.

Lagging indicator

An economic measure that confirms a trend after it happens (unemployment).

Legal procedure

The rules for enforcing rights in court, including a chance to defend yourself.

Lien

A legal claim on property as security for a debt.

Lockout

An employer shuts out employees during a labor dispute.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Physiological, safety, social, esteem, self-actualization.

Matrix structure

Combines divisional and functional structures.

Money market account

A low-risk lending investment with a minimum balance and limited withdrawals.

Obedience to authority

Tendency to comply with those in power, which can cause unethical choices.

Pareto chart

A bar graph ranking problems so the biggest are fixed first.

Penetration pricing

A low starting price to gain market share fast.

Personal selling

Person-to-person promotion that identifies needs; effective with corporate travel departments and meeting planners.

Petty cash fund

A small cash fund for minor expenses.

Phishing

Fraudulent messages that trick people into revealing information.

Price lining

Selling at a limited set of predetermined prices.

Product bundling

Selling several items as one package, often at one price.

Product extension

Using an established brand to launch a new, related product.

Product mix width

The number of product lines carried; a narrow mix has few.

Psychographic segmentation

Grouping by lifestyle, interests, values, or social class.

Psychological pricing

A slightly adjusted price (like $\$9.99$) that feels cheaper.

Pull strategy

Promoting to consumers so demand pulls the product through the channel.

Pure risk

A risk with only loss or no loss (a flood).

Quality assurance

A system that prevents defects before they occur.

Quality control

Checking for defects after production.

Reasonable care

The care a prudent business owes guests; failing it can be negligence.

Reorder point

The inventory level that triggers a new order.

Repositioning

Changing how a product is perceived to refresh its image or reach a new market.

Residence time

How long a customer stays in a restaurant.

Return on investment (ROI)

Net profit divided by investment.

Scalar principle

Authority flows in a clear chain from top to bottom.