QET^® Glossary

Balance sheet, income statement and, depending on legal form, notes and management report at the end of the financial year.

Sets out a company's assets and its equity and liabilities as at a reporting date.

Performance measurement system that translates strategy into objectives from four perspectives: financial, customer, internal processes, learning and growth.

Systematic comparison of one's own performance with the best in order to derive improvements.

Sales volume at which revenue exactly covers total costs. Beyond this point, the company makes a profit.

Fluctuations in overall economic activity: recovery, boom, downturn, recession.

Describes how a company creates value, delivers it to customers and earns money from it.

Excess of cash inflows over cash outflows in a period. Shows how much cash a company generates by itself.

Institution that conducts monetary policy and ensures price stability – in the euro area, the ECB.

Planning and guiding change in structures, processes and behaviour.

All measures a company uses to communicate with the market and the public: advertising, PR, social media.

Rivalry among suppliers for customers. It promotes efficiency and innovation.

Adherence to laws, internal policies and voluntary codes.

Revenue minus variable costs. This amount contributes to covering fixed costs.

A capability that gives a company a lasting competitive advantage that is hard to copy.

Shared values, norms and behaviours that shape how people act within a company.

Rules and structures for directing and supervising a company.

A consistent self-image, internally and externally: behaviour, visual appearance, communication.

Voluntary responsibility towards society and the environment beyond legal obligations.

The degree to which customers' expectations of a product and service are met.

Sustained fall in the general price level.

Spreads the acquisition cost of a fixed asset over its useful life. It reduces profit without any cash outflow.

Conversion of processes, products and business models to digital technologies.

Deliberately valuing and making use of employee diversity, for example in age, background or gender.

Indicates how strongly demand or supply responds to a change in price.

Measures that keep employees with the company over the long term.

Building a credible employer brand in order to attract and retain skilled staff.

Delegating decision-making scope and responsibility to employees.

Share of equity in total capital. Regarded as a measure of financial stability.

Consequences of economic activity for third parties that are not reflected in the price – such as environmental damage.

Steering the economy through government revenue and expenditure.

Costs incurred regardless of production volume, for example rent.

Exchange of goods and services across national borders.

Increasing worldwide interconnection of markets, companies and societies.

Value of all goods and services produced in a country over a period, less intermediate consumption.

Model of a person who makes purely rational and self-interested decisions.

Measures that specifically develop employees' knowledge and skills.

Personnel management: recruiting, developing, retaining and leading employees.

The overall picture that customers, applicants and the public have of a company.

Sets income against expenses for a period. The result is a profit or a loss.

Sustained rise in the general price level. It reduces the purchasing power of money.

Systematic planning and steering of new developments in products, processes and business models.

The price paid for the use of capital over a period of time.

Deployment of capital in assets that are expected to generate future returns.

Materials are delivered exactly when they are needed. This reduces storage costs.

Japanese principle of continuous improvement in small steps, involving everyone.

Systematically building, sharing and using knowledge within the company.

The typical way managers make decisions and deal with employees, e.g. authoritarian or cooperative.

Approach aimed at eliminating waste in all processes and focusing on value creation.

The ability to meet payment obligations on time at all times.

Planning, steering and monitoring a company on the basis of key figures.

Additional benefit from one more unit of a good. It usually decreases as quantity increases.

The market does not allocate resources efficiently, for example because of monopolies or externalities.

Combination of the instruments product, price, place and promotion (the 4 Ps).

A company's written self-image, setting out its mission, vision and values.

Market structure with only one supplier, who can largely set the price.

The drive to act – intrinsically from the task itself or extrinsically through incentives.

Total income from employment and property earned by residents over a period.

Objectives and Key Results: qualitative objectives whose achievement is checked through measurable key results.

The forgone benefit of the best alternative not chosen.

Defines positions, departments and reporting lines – visible in the organisation chart.

Contracting out tasks to external service providers.

Plan, Do, Check, Act – the control loop of continuous improvement.

Setting prices and terms for products and services.

Designing, steering and continuously improving business processes.

Governs the sequence of work steps in time and space within a company.

Stages of a product on the market: introduction, growth, maturity, saturation, decline.

Ratio of profit to capital employed or to revenue.

The quantity of goods that can be bought with a given amount of money.

All measures ensuring that products and processes meet specified requirements – for example under ISO 9001.

Decline in economic output, usually over at least two consecutive quarters.

A company's standing, built up over time through its conduct.

Total sales proceeds in a period: quantity times price.

Identifying, assessing and managing risks to the company.

Orienting corporate management towards increasing value for the owners.

Economic system that combines free competition with social balance.

Employees leaving and being replaced. High turnover costs money and know-how.

All groups with an interest in the company: employees, customers, suppliers, investors, society.

Long-term plan for how a company achieves its goals and positions itself against the competition.

Basic market model: the price settles where the quantity supplied equals the quantity demanded.

Network of suppliers, production and logistics through to the end customer – increasingly subject to due diligence obligations.

Economic activity that combines economic, environmental and social goals without burdening future generations.

Strategic tool that sets strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats against each other.

Measurable objectives for a given period agreed between a manager and an employee.

Company-wide approach in which quality is the responsibility of every employee.

Costs of initiating, agreeing and monitoring business deals.

Share of registered unemployed persons in the total civilian labour force.

A distinctive feature that clearly sets an offering apart from the competition.

Decision-making method that makes alternatives comparable using weighted criteria.

Sequence of activities through which a company creates value for customers (after Porter).

Costs that rise or fall with production volume, such as materials.

A company's long-term, motivating picture of its future.

A healthy balance between working life and private life.

The quality of cooperation as experienced by employees. It influences motivation, health and staff turnover.