AS Level Business Studies: Definitions

• Marketing


  The management task that links the business to the customer by identifying and meeting the needs of customers' profitability-it does this by getting the right product to the right place at the right time
• Marketing objectives


  The goals set for the marketing department to help the business achieve its overall objectives
• Marketing strategy


  Long-term plan established for achieving marketing objectives
• Market orientation


  An outward-looking approach basing product decisions on consumer demand, as established by market research
• Asset-led marketing


  An approach to marketing that bases strategy on the firm's existing strengths and assets instead of purely on what the customer wants
• Product orientation


  An inward-looking approach that focuses on making products that can be mad
• Equality


  Where everyone is treated in the same way and has the opportunity to fulfill their potential
• Product orientation


  An inward-looking approach that focuses on making products that can be made-or have been made for a long time-and then trying to sell them
• Social marketing


  This approach considers not only the demands of consumers but also the effects on all members of the public (society) involved in some way when firms meet these demands
• Demand


  The quantity of a product that consumers are willing and able to buy at a given price in a time period
• Supply


  The quantity of a product that firms are prepared to supply at a given price in a time period
• Equilibrium price


  The market price that equates supply and demand for a product
• Market size


  The total level of sales of all producers within a market
• Market growth


  The percentage change in the total size of a market (volume or value) over a period of time
• Market share


  The percentage of total sales in the total market sold by one business. This is calculated by the following formula: Firm's sales in time period/total market sales in time period * 100
• Direct competitor


  Business that provides the same or very similar goods or services
• USP (Unique Selling Point)

  The special feature of a product that differentiates it from competitors' products
• Product differentiation


  Making a product distinctive so that it stands out from competitors' products in consumers' perception
• Niche marketing


  Identifying and exploiting a small segment of a larger market by developing products to suit it
• Mass marketing


  Selling the same products to the whole market with no attempt to target groups within it
• Consumer profile


  A quantified picture of consumers of a firm's products, showing proportions of age groups, income levels, location, gender and social class
• Market segment


  A sub-group of a whole market in which consumers have similar characteristics
• Market segmentation


  Identifying of different segments within a market and targeting different products or services to them
• Market research


  The process of collecting, recording and analysing data about customers, competitors and the market
• Primary research


  The collection of first-hand data that is directly related to a firm's needs
• Secondary research


  Collection of data from second hand sources
• Qualitative research


  Research into the in-depth motivations behind consumer buying behaviour or opinions
• Quantitative research


  Research that leads to numerical results that can be statistically analysed
• Focus groups


  A group of people who are asked about their attitude towards a product, service, advertisement or new style of packaging
• Sample


  The group of people taking part in the market research survey selected to be representative of the overall target market
• Random sampling


  Every member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected
• Systematic sampling


  Every nth item in the target population is selected
• Stratified sampling


  This draws a sample from a specified sub-group or segment of the population and uses random sampling to select an appropriate number from each stratum
• Quota sampling


  When the population has been stratified and the interviewer selects an appropriate number from each stratum
• Cluster sampling


  Using one or number of specific groups to draw samples from and not selecting from the whole population, e.g. using one town or region
• Open questions


  Those that invite a wide-ranging or imaginative response-the results will be difficult to collate and present numerically
• Closed questions


  Questions to which a limited number of pre-set answers are offered
• Marketing mix


  The four key decisions that must be taken in the effective marketing of a product
• Customer relationship management (CRM)

  Using marketing activities to establish successful customer relationships so that existing customer loyalty can be maintained
• Brand


  An identifying symbol, image or trademark that distinguishes a product from its competitors