Top risks

The following are the top risks for global business identified for some of the world's most important industry sectors in a recent Ernst & Young report: regulatory and compliance risk; global financial shocks; aging consumers and workforce; inability to capitalize on emerging markets; Industry consolidation/transition; and energy shocks.
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AOL Time Warner

AOL Time Warner holds the record for the largest annual net loss recorded in U.S. corporate history. The company posted a 2002 net loss of $98.7 billion, just two years after the celebrated merger of AOL and Time Warner. Huge losses mounted after the merger as AOL's Internet service business faced significant price competition on the heels of a precipitous decline in subscriber base.
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Effective teams

A team is considered a success when it can accomplish something much bigger and work more effectively than a group of the same individuals working on their own. There are two critical success factors in building effective teams. One is the team has a diversity of skills and personalities. The second is that each team member's efforts are directed toward the team's overall goals and objectives.
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U.S. Savings Rate

The U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that Americans spent more than they earned in 2006, showing no interest in saving money. The resulting savings rate of -1 percent was the lowest recorded national savings rate since the Great Depression. The savings rate in the U.S. has been in decline since 1985, when Americans saved 11.1 percent of their disposable income.
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Small Business Administration

The U.S. Small Business Administration helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Since its founding in 1953, SBA has delivered nearly 20 million loans, loan guarantees, contracts, counseling sessions and other forms of assistance to small businesses. SBA works through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations.
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Rising health care costs

Rising health care costs are a top concern for most businesses. Several ideas have been tried to counter these rising costs. More employer health plans are offering managed care plans such as HMOs or PPOs. Some plans have limited treatment and coverage options. Others have offered low deductible plans to encourage care, while others have offered high deductible plans to encourage savings.
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Wiki

A Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly. Ward Cunningham is credited with developing the first Wiki. Wikipedia is the most well-known wiki of all the online wikis.
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Four basic personality types

People come in four basic personality types. Type A is independent, direct and focused on results. Type B is social, enjoys being part of a group and being at the center of attention. Type C is devoted to facts, details and verifiable accuracy. Type D is typified by stability, guidelines and enjoys routine. Generally, opposites clash in business environments and attract on a personal level.
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SWOT

A SWOT analysis is a basic, straightforward model that assesses what an organization can and cannot do well. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Once complete, SWOT determines what may assist the firm in accomplishing its objectives, and what obstacles must be overcome or minimized to achieve desired goals.
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Deductive and Inductive reasoning

Deductive reasoning works from the more general to the more specific. Deductive reasoning is considered "top down". It begins with a general idea and narrows down into a more specific hypothesis. In contrast, inductive reasoning moves from specific observations to broader generalizations and theories. Inductive reasoning is considered "bottom up".
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Golden

A Golden Parachute provides an executive with a lucrative severance package of bonus, stock or other perks, in the event of their termination. A Golden Handshake is a large payment made to an executive upon termination of employment. A Golden Handcuff is terms and conditions built into a person's employment agreement such that there would be penalties for leaving the engagement early.
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The Abilene paradox

The Abilene paradox is a term coined by Jerry B. Harvey. It occurs when a group of people collectively decide on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of any of the individuals in the group. It involves a common breakdown of group communication in which each member mistakenly believes that their own preferences are counter to the group's and do not raise objections.
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China Shakes the World

James Kynge's award-winning book "China Shakes the World: A Titan's Rise and Troubled Future -- and the Challenge for America" describes China's 21st century rise to economic power. Kynge chronicles China's significant growth in export of manufactured goods, workers, and investments, its environmental issues, and government corruption.
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Ego-surfing

Narcis-surfing describes the act of searching online for yourself to see where, when, and how often you show up. This is also referred to as Ego-surfing. On a related note, recent news stories have told of parents coming up with highly unique names for their newborn children in the hopes of getting them high search results on Google or Yahoo when they become adults.
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Gerard Swope

As president of General Electric during the 1920s and 1930s, Gerard Swope introduced several revolutionary business concepts to corporate America. Swope developed the idea of consumer lending when he established GE Credit to help sell its electric appliances to new customers. Swope is also credited with the concept of offering corporate perks to employees such as profit sharing.
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The cost of selling

The cost of selling to new customers is usually much higher than selling to an existing customer. A good strategic business rule suggests to acquire new customers at break even and make all your profit on repeat sales.
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Delegation rule of thumb

A management delegation rule of thumb suggests to delegate a task to another person if it can be accomplished 75% to 80% as well as you.
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The creative class

Carnegie Mellon professor Richard Florida coined the term "creative class". The creative class is a fast-growing, highly educated, and well-paid segment of the workforce. Corporations have learned to cater to this segment as they have become increasingly dependent on this group for profits and for growth. Large creative class cities include San Francisco, Austin, and San Diego.
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Fortune 500

The Fortune 500 is the annual ranking of the largest publicly traded companies by revenue. The first Fortune 500 list was published in 1955. General Motors, Exxon Mobile, and U.S. Steel were tops in revenue in 1955. Only Wal-Mart, General Motors Corp. and Exxon Mobil have topped the lists since 1954.
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Private jet airplanes

Corporate use of private jet airplanes has jumped by nearly 70% since the early 1990s. According to an article published in the USA Today, the significant increase is attributable to three factors: heightened security since 911, IRS tax code that allows tax breaks for executive flights, and the growing acceptance by corporate boards that personal flight time is a necessary CEO perk.
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Recession and economic downturn

The federal government is reacting much quicker to recession and economic downturns as compared to past recessions. Historically, recessionary cycles have lasted longer, sustained high unemployment rates, and saw stock indexes tumble. The wait-and-see approach for recessions has been replaced with swift interest rate cuts and consumer stimulus spending bills aimed to put more money in the economy.
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Vince Lombardi

"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence regardless of their chosen endeavor." - Vince Lombardi.
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Way Back Machine

The Way Back Machine is a search engine that retrieves past versions of websites. You enter a website address and the Way Back Machine retrieves from its Internet archive all previous, captured versions of that website. This may be of practical use or it may provide amusement in looking back at previous versions of websites. Try out the Way Back Machine at archive.org.
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The Internet

The Internet was born on October 29, 1969. UCLA computer science professor Leonard Kleinrock led a team of engineers in sending the first message from one remote computer to another on ARPANET, a network developed by the Department of Defense. The actual message sent from UCLA to the Stanford Research Institute is the text "lo".
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Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard concept is a management and measurement system which enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. The goal of the balanced scorecard is to tie business performance to organizational strategy by measuring results in four areas: financial performance, customer knowledge, internal business processes, and learning and growth.
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Who Moved My Cheese

The bestselling book "Who Moved My Cheese, An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life" is about adjusting to accept change. The book tells a brief tale of two mice and two humans who live in a maze and are faced with the issue where someone moves their cheese. Positive principles are to anticipate change, let go of the old, and do what you would do if you were not afraid.
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The Peter Principle

The "Peter Principle" is the theory suggesting that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to a level at which they are incompetent. Canadian-born author Laurence Johnston Peter coined and described this concept in his classic "The Peter Principal", a national bestselling book published in 1969.
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Flow

American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defines the concept of "flow" as a heightened condition of focus, productivity and happiness that most humans strive for. People who emerge from flow experiences are more self-confident, capable, and sensitive. Many organizations recognize Csikszentmihalyi's flow concepts in their management philosophy in order to increase creativity and productivity.
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