Business Studies 2024

• Role of business


  • Producing goods and services
  • Profit, employment, incomes, choice, innovation, entrepreneurship and risk, wealth and quality of life
• Revenue


  The money a business receives as payment for its products
• Operating expenses


  All the costs of running the business except the costs of goods sold
• Profit


  What remains after all business expenses have been deducted from sales revenue
• Income


  The money received by a person for providing his or her labour, or a business from a return on its investments
• Wage


  The money received by workers, usually on a weekly basis, for services they provide as an employee
• Salary


  A fixed amount of money paid on a regular basis, usually fortnightly or monthly, to a permanent employee of a business
• Shareholders


  The people who are part owner of a company because they own a number of shares
• Dividend


  A part of a business's profit that is divided among shareholders
• Research and Development (R&D)


  A set of activities undertaken to improve existing products, create new products and improve production
• Risk


  Refers to the possibility of loss
• Primary


  Specialise in the collection of raw materials
• Secondary


  Includes businesses that take a raw material and make it into a finished or semi-finished product (production)
• Tertiary


  Specialise in retail and services
• Quaternary


  Specialise in the transference of information between 2 or more groups
• Quinary


  Specialise in services that used to be performed at home
• Micro business


  Up to 5 employees
• Small


  Up to 19 employees
• Medium


  Between 20 and 199 employees
• Large


  200 or more employees
• Local business


  A local business has a very restricted geographical spread and only serves the surrounding area
• National business


  A national business operates across the country
• Global business


  Global businesses have expanded to access the world market. They are usually TNCs, where they have their headquarters in their base country and wholly owned or partially owned businesses in other countries
• Limited Liability


  Limited liability a feature of corporate ownership that limits each owner's financial liability to the amount of money he or she has paid for the business's shares. Personal assets of the owner are protected
• Unlimited Liability


  Unlimited liability when the business owner is personally responsible for all the business's debt. Personal assets of the owner are not protected
• Sole Trader


  Sole trader is a business that is owned and operated by only one person
• Partnership


  Partnership a legal business structure that is owned and operated by between 2 and 20 people with the aim of making a profit
• Government Enterprise


  Government enterprises are government-owned and operated businesses
• Public Company


  A company that issues shares of stock to be traded on a public exchange or an unlisted securities market. It has at least one shareholder, with no maximum number
• Private Company


  Proprietary (private) company is an incorporated business and usually has between 2 and 50 private shareholders
• Business environment


  The business environment refers to the surrounding conditions in which the business operates, and can be divided into two broad categories: External and internal
• Float


  The raising of capital in a company through the sale of shares to the public
• Geographical spread


  Refers to the presence a business has across a suburb, city, state, country or the world
• Incorporated


  Refers to the process companies go through to become a separate legal entity from the owner/s
• Industry


  Businesses that are involved in similar types of production
• Multinational corporation (TNC)


  A company that has branches in many different countries
• Privatisation


  The process of transferring the ownership of a government business to the private sector
• Prospectus


  A document giving details of a company and inviting the public to buy shares in it
• SME (Small to medium enterprise)

  (Defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as)Firms with fewer than 200 full-time equivalent employees and/or less than $10 million turnover
• Venture capital


  Money that is invested in small and sometimes struggling businesses that have the potential to become successful