QA/QC

The terms quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) are sometime used interchangeably. QA encompasses the necessary activities to ensure that a system, process, or work flow meets its objectives, for example, process audits or checklists. QC represents activities that measure the quality of a finished product or service. QC verifies established standards.
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John Maynard Keynes

In response to the Great Depression, British economist John Maynard Keynes introduced the idea that governments could intervene through monetary policy to mitigate the adverse effects of recessions, depressions, and inflation. So profound was this idea that an entire branch of macroeconomics called "Keynesian Economics" developed through the twentieth century.
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Credits, exemptions and deferrals

Most U.S. businesses must file and pay income tax. The tax code provides a variety of credits, exemptions and deferrals that allow some companies to pay less than others. Data-tracking company Capital IQ cited the following three companies that paid less than 1 percent of their earnings on taxes over a recent five year period: CMS Energy (0%), Chesapeake Energy (.3%), and Boeing (.7%).
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Nightly Business Report

Nightly Business Report (NBR) is the nation's most-watched evening business news program. Distributed by PBS, it is carried by more than 250 public stations across the nation. NBR premiered in 1979 as a 15-minute local news program. Over the years, NBR has received numerous awards, including its first national Emmy Award in 2005. Visit NBR online at pbs.org/nbr.
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Index of Lagging Indicators

The Index of Lagging Indicators is published monthly by The Conference Board. A lagging economic indicator changes after the overall economy has changed and reflects historical performance. Some examples are labor costs, business spending, the unemployment rate, the prime rate, outstanding bank loans, and inventory book value.
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General Partnership

A General Partnership is a legal business arrangement where two or more parties conduct business together. General partnerships provide a means of raising capital quickly and allow people to combine resources and expertise. Partners are personally liable for business debts and liabilities, and may also be liable for debts incurred, decisions made, and actions taken by the other partner or partners.
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Delaware

Almost half of all Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in the state of Delaware. Delaware’s business laws are some of the most flexible and pro-businesses laws in the nation. Also, the state's courts provide better corporate counsel than other courts due to their greater experience. Delaware charges no income tax on corporations not operating within the state.
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America's oldest continuing business

According to the editors of BusinessHistory.net, J.E. Rhoads & Sons is America's oldest continuing business. J.E. Rhoads is a conveyer belt manufacturer that began making buggy whips in Delaware County, Pennsylvania in 1702. The company later made canvas conveyor belts and flat belts for water mills. J.E. Roads is located in Branchburg, New Jersey.
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The Euro

The U.S. dollar and the European Union euro are competing international reserves. Since 2002, the euro has increased its standing considerably, mostly at the expense of the dollar. The U.S. dollar was surpassed by the euro in terms of cash in circulation in December 2006. Many economists believe the euro will at some point replace the dollar as the world's primary reserve currency.
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BusinessWeek

BusinessWeek magazine has been reporting business news since 1929. Key business news and features are published weekly in the magazine, and daily at its website businessweek.com and its mobile site businessweek.mobi. BusinessWeek has been ranking U.S. business school MBA programs annually since 1998. BusinessWeek circulations is nearly 1 million copies.
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The human brain

The human brain functions as right brain and left brain. The right brain is creative or emotional, the left brain is the analytical and judgmental. The right brain is stimulated by such things as the creative process and meeting new people. Activities that stimulate the left brain include solving puzzles and performance of learned tasks. Most people are dominant to either the left or right brain.
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Marketing Mix

The traditional "Marketing Mix" is product, price, place and promotion. This encompasses a wide array of things, such as advertising, public relations, sales, and market research. Advertising is usually the largest expense of most marketing plans, followed by public relations and market research.
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Rodgers Adoption/Innovation

The Rodgers Adoption/Innovation curve is a bell-shaped curve representing consumers and their innovation adoption characteristics. The stages are: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. Most consumers lie in the early and late majority category. According to Rodger's curve, about 2.5% of consumers are considered innovators.
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Are you a good listener?

A very important quality of being an effective team member is being a good listener. Are you a good listener? The editors of EffectiveMeetings.com offer the LADDER to become a better listener. Look at the person speaking to you; Ask questions; Do not interrupt; Do not change the subject; Empathize; and Response, verbally and non-verbally.
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Benchmarking

Benchmarking is the process of determining the best standard for a given process, service, or product, and using that standard to measure the effectiveness of your processes, services or products. Benchmarking allows organizations to measure the effectiveness of improvement plans. Benchmarking is a moderately expensive process, but most organizations find it very cost-effective.
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Good to Great

The book "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't" (Jim Collins 2001) is a top ten business book. Collins sorted through over 1,400 companies looking for those that made substantial improvements over time. Collins concludes that truly great companies cultivate a corporate culture that rigorously promotes people to think and act in a disciplined manner.
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How to Succeed in Business

The 1967 film "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" tells the story how J. Pierpont Finch, a young window-washer with big ambitions, buys a book called How to Succeed in Business and earns a rapid succession of promotions through a combination of charm, luck, and careful strategy. Matthew Broderick starred in a Broadway revival of the film in the 1990s.
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Business valuation

There are several methods of calculating the value of a business. One general business rule of thumb says the purchase price of an existing business is roughly one times the next twelve months' net revenue.
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Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie established American's steel industry. Carnegie came to the U.S. as a Scottish boy in 1848. After several jobs he established his own steel company that grew to be America's largest. Carnegie gave $350 million away as gifts to community and education organizations. His foundation is credited with spending nearly $60 million to build 2,500 libraries throughout the world.
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National debt

The United State registered its first national debt in 1791 when it owed creditors $75 million dollars. The national debt steadily decreased to its lowest historical level of $45 million dollars in 1811. Since then, the debt has increased, especially during times of pronounced defense and entitlement spending. The current national debt is over $14 trillion dollars and climbing
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Oprah Winfrey

"Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate and to connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives." --- Oprah Winfrey.
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Lemonade Day

Lemonade Day is a nation-wide event that teaches kids the skills they need to be successful. Celebrated the first Sunday in May, children learn to set goals, develop a business plan, establish a budget, seek investors, provide customer service, and give back to the community. Lemonade day is the perfect opportunity to show kids they care and train the next generation of entrepreneurs.
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Leadership

"Leadership is the ability to get extraordinary achievement from ordinary people." - Brian Tracy.
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Peter Drucker

"Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision."

-- Peter Drucker, management consultant and author.
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The four-minute mile

English runner Roger Bannister broke the widely-held assumption that it was impossible for a human to run a mile in under four minutes. He became the first to do this when he ran a mile in 3.594 minutes in Oxford on May 6, 1954. In addition to being a skilled runner, Bannister used his knowledge as a physician to research the mechanical aspects of running and to develop scientific training methods.
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Parkinson's Law

Parkinson's Law states that the amount of work will expand so as to fill the time available for its completion. This cynical observation was articulated in the 1958 book "Parkinson's Law: The Pursuit of Progress" by British historian and author C. Northcote Parkinson.
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Vacation days

American workers receive on average about twelve vacation days a year. The typical American worker gives back an average of three vacation days, according to a recent survey by Expedia.com, leaving nearly 421 million vacation days unused. The survey estimates that 31 percent of employees do not take all their vacation days.
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U.S. job cuts

Already reeling from job cuts in the telecom, dot com and software industries, the U.S. economy posted a staggering 248,332 layoffs in the weeks following the 911 tragedy. There were nearly two million job layoffs in the U.S. in 2001, the highest ever recorded for one year. The U.S. economy has been recording annual layoffs of over one million since 2000.
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Chief Learning Officer

The Chief Learning Officer, a relatively new executive level position, is in charge of employee training, education, and learning structures across the enterprise, as well as providing the expertise to ensure everyone has access to the intellectual tools, information and data they need. The primary success factor of the CLO is to translate learning into strategic business capabilities and assets.
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