Business Terms and Words – Part 5a - Ajit Patel UK, Sanda Wellbeing and Sanda Wellness Group, Goldsh
Earnest Money - Money paid in good faith as a deposit, usually for a property, to show that the buyer is serious about doing business with the vendor.
Earn-Out - An arrangement in which an extra future conditional payment is made to the seller of a business in addition to the original price, based upon certain criteria being met.
Easterlin Paradox - A theory that beyond satisfaction of basic needs, increasing wealth of a country does not produce increasing happiness, suggested by US professor of economics Richard Easterlin based on his research published in 1974.
Easy Monetary Policy - A policy which enables the public to borrow money easily, at low interest rates, in order to expand the economy by investing the money in business activities.
E-Business - Electronic Business. Using the internet to conduct business or enable businesses to link together.
E-Commerce - Electronic Commerce. The buying and selling of products and services over the Internet.
Econometrics - Using mathematics and statistics to study the economy.
Economic Growth - An increase in a region's or nation's production of goods and services.
Economic Life - The period of time during which an asset, e.g. property, vehicle, machinery, etc., is expected to be usable, including repairs and maintenance, before a replacement is required.
Economic Union - Also known as a Common Market. An agreement between a group of countries which allows the free flow of goods, services, labour, etc., between the member countries and usually has a common currency.
Economies Of Scale - In manufacturing, the more units being made the cheaper each unit costs to produce.
Economy - The management of money, currency and trade of a nation. The efficient management of resources.
Ecotourism - Nature based travel to unspoilt places in the world with a view to conservation and to bring economic benefit to the local people. Also known as Ecological Tourism.
E-Currency - Electronic currency. Used on the Internet for making and receiving payments. Companies which provide this service include Paypal and E-Gold.
Edutainment - Products or media which both educate and entertain at the same time, such as TV, books, computer software.
E-Enabled - Being able to communicate and/or conduct business using the internet.
Egalitarian - Believing that everyone is equal and should all have the same rights and opportunities in life.
E-Lance - Freelance working using the Internet to sell services or goods anywhere in the world.
Elasticity Of Demand - The measure of whether people require more or less of a product or service after a price change.
Electronic Cottage - A home which has the necessary electronic equipment, such as telephone, computer, etc., from which to run a business.
Electronic Data Exchange - A means of exchanging documents between businesses using electronic equipment such as computers.
Electronic Purse - A type of microchipped smartcard which stores small amounts of money to enable payment for purchases, especially on the Internet, instead of having to use cash.
Embezzlement - Dishonestly appropriate goods or money from one's employer for personal gain; steal from one's employer, typically by electronic administrative methods, thus abusing a position of trust or responsibility.
Emolument - Total wages, benefits or compensation paid to someone for the job they do or the office they hold.
Emoticon - Used in e-mails, internet chat rooms and text messages, symbols which represent facial expressions, e.g. :-) = smile.
Emotional Capital - Emotional experiences, values and beliefs of a company's employees that make good working relationships and a successful business. Low emotional capital can result in conflict between employees, low morale and poor customer relations.
Emotional Intelligence - The ability or skill of a person to understand and control their emotions, and to understand and assess and respond appropriately to the feelings and situations of others. Commonly abbreviated to EQ (Emotional Quotient, alluding to the concept of IQ - Intelligence Quotient), Emotional Intelligence theory seeks to enable a sophisticated practical appreciation and application of the concept of intelligence, especially in work, management, leadership and human relationships.
Empirical - Information derived from experience, observation or experiment rather than from theory or subjective opinion. From Greek - empeiros, meaning skilled - in turn from peira, meaning trial or experiment.
Employee - An individual who is hired and paid by another person, company, organisation, etc., to perform a job or service.
Employee Buyout - A transaction in which employees purchase all or most of a company's shares, thereby gaining control of the company.
Employee Ownership - A business model and constitutional framework in which staff hold significant or majority shares of a company, thereby ensuring higher levels of loyalty and commitment, and fairness in the way that business performance relates to employee reward. The John Lewis Partnership is one of the prime and most successful examples of the concept.
Employee Self Service - An Internet based system which enables an employee to access their personal records and payroll details, so they can change their own bank account details, contact details, etc.
Employee Stock Option - Allows specified employees the right to purchase shares in the company at a fixed price.
Employer - A person, business, organisation, etc., that pays for the services of workers.
Employment Equity - Promotes equal employment opportunities for everyone, regardless of gender, race, ability, etc.
Employment Law - Also known as Labour Law. The branch of the law that deals with the legal rights of employees, e.g. workplace safety, discrimination, compensation, etc.
Encrypt - Convert data into code which cannot be easily understood by people who have no authorisation to view it.
End Consumer - An individual who buys and/or uses a product or service.
End Marker - Used at the end of a take in a film, TV program or audition to cover a mistake or to remind people who the person auditioning was during auditions.
Enterprise - A company or business. A business project, often one which is sometimes difficult and/or risky.
Enterprise Application Integration - Software technology that links computer programs, data bases, etc., within an organisation, so that information can be shared.
Entrepreneur - An ambitious person who starts new business ventures in order to make a lot of money, often taking financial risks.
Environmental Impact Assessment - The effect that a proposed project, such as a new building or development, will have on the environment.
Environmentalist - An individual who is concerned about the protection, conservation and improvement of the natural environment.
Eponym/eponymous - A person's name or another sort of name which is used as the name or title or brand for something such as a business or brand or book or other product or concept. The word 'eponymous' also describes any name which features in a concept/book/etc and is actually the name of the concept/book/etc. For example, a story written about a man called John, which is called 'John' or 'John's Adventures', or 'A Story of John', etc., could be described as 'eponymously titled', and the character John could be referred to as the 'eponymous character'. Many eponymous names have become very well-known and entered language to the extent that the origins of the word are not widely appreciated, or largely forgotten altogether. Many have become genericized tradenames. There are thousands of famous eponyms (eponymous names) in business and life in general. Here are a few varied examples, starting with some very big examples of words which have acquired genericized descriptive meanings far beyond their original eponyms:
Biro - in many parts of the world this means generally any ballpoint pen, in addition to being the Biro brand of ballpoint pen. Biro is named eponymously after its Hungarian inventor László Bíró, 1899-1985.
Levi jeans are named after Levi Strauss, the US businessman who co-registered the original riveted design and begain producing the eponymous working jeans in the late 1800s.
William H Hoover and son, Herbert W Hoover, Sr., bought a patent for a vaccuum cleaner in the early 1900s. They built a very big household equipment business, and the word 'hoover' became a way to clean the floor. Few people consider the word's origins.
Jacuzzi, the brand, and the general reference to a bubbling hot tub, is named after seven Jacuzzi brothers, Italian US immigrants whose business developed in the early 1900s from aeronautics, though water pumps, to whirlpool bathtubs.
Thermos/Dewar (vacuum) flask - alternatively named after James Dewar its 1892 inventor, and the German company Thermos, which exploited Dewar's failure to patent his innovation and first produced the product commercially.
Dunlop and Goodyear - industrial brand names, especially tyres/tires named after the founders/inventors of original pneumatic tyre/tire technologies and companies.
The Victorian age is (obviously, but often disregarded) an eponymously named era, after Queen Victoria.
The Buzz Lightyear character in Toy Story is named after US astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and Yogi Bear was named after Yogi Berra, the baseball player.
Glastonbury, the huge music festival event and brand is named after its village location of Glastonbury.
Homer's ancient Greek classic The Odyssey (and therefore the modern word odessey too) is named after the main character, Odysseus.
The Heimlich manoeuvre abdominal thrusts emergency first-aid treatment is named after its conceiver Henry Heimlich.
Yale University, Connecticut, US, is named after Elihu Yale, an early-18th century English businessman philanthropist benefactor.
Earl Grey tea is named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, Viscount Howick, British Prime Minister 1830-1834.
The Pavlova fruit-meringue dessert is named after Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, 1881–1931, for whom Australia and New Zealand claim to have devised the pudding when she visited on tour.
Beef Wellington is named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852).
The American Bell Telephone Company (which became American Telephone & Telegraph Company, AT&T) was named after Alexander Graham Bell, 1847-1922, Scottish/British/US/Canadian scientist and inventor (of the first viable telephone, amongst other things).
The giant Casio corporation was established in 1946 by Japanese engineer Tadao Kashio. (Casio's second product was a calculator; the first was a finger ring to enable cigarettes to be smoked to the stub.)
Dolby/Dolby Surround audio systems are named after US engineer Ray Dolby, b.1933, inventor of the Dolby noise reduction system.
In ice-skating, the jumps called Axel, Lutz and Salchow are named after figure skaters Axel Paulsen (Norway), Alois Lutz (Austria), and Ulrich Salchow (Sweden).
E-Procurement - Electronic procurement. Businesses using the internet to purchase from, or sell goods and services to, other businesses.
Equal Pay Act - In Britain, a government Act of 1970 which gives women the right to earn the same money and to receive the same benefits as men for performing the same job.
Equilibrium Price - The price at which the demand of a particular product or service is equal to the quantity supplied.
Equity Accounting - When a company records, in its financial records, profits which can be claimed from an affiliated company which they part own.
Escape Clause - A condition in a contract which allows the contract to be broken in particular circumstances.
Esoteric/Esoterica - These words (adjective/noun) refer to language, communications or concepts which are understood only by people of expertise or good knowledge of the subject concerned. Advertising and other communications intended for the general public should not be esoteric, although much of this sort of language is highly esoteric, for example instruction manuals for technical products, and most corporate terms and conditions - usually because these materials are written by specialists who are unable to translate complex terminology into everyday recognizable language. Professional communicators such as advertisers, trainers, leaders, writers of manuals and instructions, etc., should aim instead to be exoteric, which refers to communications which are inclusive, and simple to understand by everyone. This relates strongly to the concept of accessibility. The words are respectively from Greek esotero, within, and exotero, outer. The less commonly used noun forms of the words are esoterica and exoterica, i.e., materials that are respectively inaccessible and accessible.
E-Tailer - An retailer who uses the internet to sell goods and/or services to the public.
Ethernet - Technology, invented by The Xerox Corporation, which connects computers in a local area network (LAN).
Ethics - Offering a definition for 'ethics' is not easy, just as it is not easy to define 'love' or 'justice' or fairness'. Ethics is a challenging concept to define because interpretations depend on philosophical perspective, and one's particular situation in the world. Therefore definitions of ethics tend to be rather vague and open, and tend to include and depend on words which have varying interpretations too, such as morality, and justice, duty, etc. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ethics as: ".. Ethics - 1. Moral principles that govern a person's behaviour (US behavior), or the conducting of an activity. And 2. The branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles..." The OED additionally summarises three main branches of ethical theory: firstly, a) Drawing on the principles of Aristotle, this notion asserts that ethics are underpinned by virtues such as justice, charity, and generosity, which act in ways that benefit the person progressing them, and the person's society. Secondly, b) This concept of ethics, advanced notably by Kant, puts duty central to ethical behaviour, so that people from their knowledge of their duty as being rational human beings, obey a categorical imperative to respect other rational human beings. Thirdly, c) 'Utilitarianism' asserts that the guiding principle of Ethical conduct should be the greatest happiness or benefit of the greatest number of people (which is often referred to as 'the greater good')..." Philosophers, academics of all kinds, and lots of extremely wise men have debated ethics for millennia, and in this writer's humble opinion, an absolute definition of ethics is not possible, just as there is no absolute definition of 'love'. Each one of the above definitions contains at least one subjective reference point by which to determine whether something is ethical or not. Moreover, most major industries and societal organizations, have established their own ethical codes, which to varying degrees around the world - for example religion, medicine, corporate governance and banking, education, international finance, armaments, climate change, resources and food, national and local government, charity and the arts - commonly conflict with and contradict each other, often to an alarmingly different and confusing extent. Mostly in our lives, fortunately, ethics are common sense, because mostly people understand what is right and wrong. Right and wrong is basically at the heart of ethics, but of course when people are in conflict, one person's right may be another person's wrong, and 'right' and 'wrong' are themselves just as difficult to define scientifically. Big ethical questions of the modern age - that illustrate this challenge include subjects such: as euthanasia, abortion, globalization, climate-change, technology, human rights, and the basis for wars and armed interventions. In my humble opinion (again), being very pragmatic about the future of the human race, then it is difficult to argue against the notion that the 'greater good' is ultimately the most significant and useful modern definition of ethics, subject to (again in my humble opinion) that 'greater good' decision-making critically includes necessary addititional considerations such as love, care, humanity, compassion, creativity, inclusiveness, transparency, research and testing, and any other relevant positive helpful aspects of relationships and communications, and implementation and follow-up. I'm open to better or extended definitions of ethics, and I thank Patrick for suggesting that this definition be included on this website.
Ethics Committee - In medicine, an independent body which is appointed to examine and consider the rights and safety of people taking part in clinical trials.
Ethnic Monitoring - Recording and evaluating the racial origins of employees in a company to ensure that all races are represented fairly.
Euphemism - the replacement of a strong/offensive word or phrase with an alternative word or phrase considered to be milder/inoffensive. Euphemisms are used widely and very wrongly by politicians and business people attempting to avoid responsibility and personal acknowledgment of mistakes, bad decisions and unjustifiable actions, etc. Euphemisms in such situations are part of 'spin', or spinning a story.