Executive MBA

The first Executive MBA Program debuted in 1943 at the University of Chicago. Executive MBA degrees are designed for senior professionals and executives who work full-time. They allow students to earn competency in a variety of strategic and decision-making areas. Executive MBAs are distinguished from regular MBAs by the experience of their students.
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David Ricardo

English economist David Ricardo lived during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Ricardo formulated the "Classical" system of political economy, and introduced several economic concepts, such as labor theory of value, comparative advantage, and the benefits of free trade. Ricardo's most famous book, "On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation", was published in 1817.
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Business plan contests

There are numerous business plan contests for the best written business plans. The highly competitive contests offer prizes that range from thousands of dollars to over a million dollars, with additional perks, such as support, mentoring, technology and positive media coverage. Business plan contests are held all over the world. Most of them are affiliated with colleges and universities.
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Law of diminishing returns

In economics, the law of diminishing returns states that if one factor of production is increased while the others remain constant, the overall returns will relatively decrease after a certain point. For example, adding workers beyond the number of available machines will produce diminishing returns because idle workers are being paid.
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World's youngest CEO

Suhas Gopinath was recognized at age 17 as the world's youngest CEO in 2003, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Gopinath founded Globals Inc, a web solution and networking company in 2000 when he was 14. Gopinath is currently president and CEO of Globals, which has offices in 11 countries, employing 600 people.
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Profit margin

Net profit margin equals net income divided by net sales. A high profit margin indicates that a company is earning a good return over the cost of its merchandise sold. According to Fortune's latest rankings, the highest profit-margin industries were computer network and communication equipment, mining and oil production, and pharmaceuticals.
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Metrics 2.0

Metrics 2.0 is an online business and market intelligence platform designed to generate useful and timely business insights. The service offers a unique research infrastructure to identify, aggregate, analyze, and synthesize the most relevant publicly available data -- research, surveys, stats, facts, figures, and forecasts -- from thousands of sources. Learn more at metrics2.com.
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North American Free Trade Agreement

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. went into effect in 1994. Among other things, the treaty eliminated a large number of tariffs on goods shipped between the three countries. Since then, Canada and Mexico have become America's number-one and -two trading partners, respectively.
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Keystone

In retailing, a "keystone" markup refers to an item selling at twice the wholesale price or production cost. For example, if a product is sold wholesale to a retailer for $5, the retailer will keystone the product and sell it for $10. Most retailers generally expect to sell items off the shelf for at last at the keystone price. However, markups can vary.
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Succession planning

In business, succession planning is the process of identifying key positions within the organization as well as the process to develop suitable personnel to fill these roles in the future. Succession planning enables an organization to develop talented employees for future higher level and broader responsibilities. Succession planning typically focuses on the senior management level.
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When do you delegate?

When do you delegate a task? As suggested by the editors at MindTools.com, delegate when: there is someone with the expertise to complete the task, the task provides a growth opportunity for another person, the task is recurring, you have enough time to delegate the task effectively, or the task is not critical for your long-term success.
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The Rule of Three

The Rule of Three was developed by authors Jagdish Sheth and Rajendra Sisodia. The rule states that three companies will ultimately dominate any one industry. In fast food, for example, McDonalds, Burger King and Wendys dominate. All other players go under or become specialized or niche players. Sheth and Rajendra's book of the same title was published in 2002.
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Kaizen

Kaizen is the Japanese-born philosophy of continuous improvement. Kaizen as a business practice was adopted in Japan following the Second World War. Kaizen activities are engaged to continually improve all functions of a business, from the manufacturing floor to the CEO's office. Kaizen was made popular by Toyota and has been applied by many businesses around the world.
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Elasticity

Elasticity is a general economic term for a ratio of change. Elasticity in business is most commonly applied to supply and demand, and how they respond to changes in price. For example, demand for gold is much more sensitive to price increases as compared to price changes in gasoline. Product substitution factors heavily in demand and supply price elasticity.
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Generation Y

Generation Y includes individuals born between 1977 and 1994 and comprise about 20% of the population, or 70 million people in the U.S. Also known as Millennials, this group has three major characteristics: they are ethnically and racially diverse, they are independent because of divorce, single parents and day-care, and they feel empowered thanks to many activities and overindulgent parents.
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Wall Street

The 1987 film "Wall Street" tells the story of Bud Fox and his dealings with high-powered broker Gordon Gekko. Gekko befriends Fox when he learns the airline Fox's father works for is ripe for a corporate raid. The good life entices further illegal activity and leads to indictments for Fox and Gekko. Wall Street was directed by Oliver Stone and starred Michael Douglass and Charlie Sheen.
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Alfred P. Sloan

Alfred P. Sloan is credited as the inventor of the modern corporation. As president of GM, Sloan introduced concepts considered common by today's standards: the breakdown of business divisions, market research, public relations, and advertising. Sloan also came up with the revolutionary idea of annual vehicle model changes.
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Business failure

The majority of new business ventures do not make it past five years. A business rule of thumb says 40% of all new businesses die within the first year, and over 80% of start-ups fail within the first five years.
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Three to six different ways

A sales and marketing rule of thumb says audience members take in only about one third of what presenters say. If you want an audience to remember the important points of a presentation, make each point three to six different ways.
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Authentic leadership

The challenge of providing "authentic" organizational leadership lies in the context of uncompromising honesty and unpretentiousness, according to communication consultants Ivy Sea. Public corporation leaders are more challenged than their private counterparts given the pressures of providing short-term shareholder value versus mid-term management objectives and long-term corporate goals.
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400 richest Americans

Forbes magazine's 2006 list of the 400 richest Americans consisted exclusively of people worth $1 billion or more. This marked the first time since the famous annual list began being published in 1982 that no millionaires appeared on it. As a group, the top 400 wealthiest Americans were worth over $1 trillion.
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Women and minority CEOs

The number of women and minority CEOs in the Fortune 500 represents less than 3% of the list. The growth of these two CEO groups has been slow but steady over the past decade. According to a recent NPR report, the main reason for the relatively slow growth is that there are still too few senior leaders of color and women throughout corporate America and at Fortune 500 companies.
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The CCI

The Consumer Confidence Index was established in 1967 as a monthly report compiled by the Conference Board. The CCI measures consumer attitudes and buying intentions, with data available by age, income and region. The survey data is one factor used in the Federal Reserve's interest rate changes. Another widely-used consumer confidence index is the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index.
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Theodore Roosevelt

"The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it." - Theodore Roosevelt.
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Compete.com

Compete.com provides free information for every site on the Internet, including site traffic history and competitive analytics, promotional codes across thousands of online retailers, and site-specific trust scores based on up-to-the-minute data from Compete and third party security services.
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Morning person

Sleep experts say about ten percent of us are "morning people", twenty percent are "night owls", and the rest are somewhere in between, according to a recent Seattle Times article. Some tips to become a morning person: accommodate to how much sleep you require, get sunlight exposure as soon as you wake up, and adopt a consistent sleep schedule.
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Vacation

It takes twenty-five years of service in the United States to achieve the mandated minimum vacation allotments in other comparable countries, according to an Economic Policy Institute study. France, Austria, and Denmark mandate at least 25 vacation days per year to employees. There is no mandated vacation time in the United States.
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Productivity

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average U.S. worker in today's workplace needs to work only eleven hours per week to produce as much as one working forty hours per week in 1950.
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360 evaluation

The 360 evaluation feedback method was first used in the 1940s. Analogous to the multiple points on a compass, the 360 method provides each employee the opportunity to receive performance feedback from his or her supervisor, peers, staff members, co-workers and customers. The 360 method has produced measured debate regarding its success, effectiveness, and validity.
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British and American corporate execs

British and American corporate executives are not created equally. British company shareholders usually vote on executive compensation packages. They also vote to reduce compensation that is deemed excessive. The British disclose more on executive pay packages as well as divide the roles of chairman and CEO in their companies.
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