BUSS 3 Key Terms

The extend to which production or operations depends on investment in and use of capital e.g. machinery, it, systems, buildings etc.

Project managment tool that uses network analysis to help manage complex and time sensitive operations.

Factors which result in higher unit costs as production output reaches too high a level.

Cost advantages that a business can exploit as a result of expanding its scale of production. Economies of scale reduce the average unit cost of production

A measure of the ability of a business to achieve the required level of production whilst minimising the use of resources.

Where a business decides to stay in its existing location despite potentially better locations being available to it.

Putting a new idea or approach into action - the commercial exploitation of ideas.

Method of lean production, where production resources arrive at the moment they are required rather than being held in stock.

A cultural approach to lean production and quality assurance - involves encouraging employees to constantly seek and impliment small incremental changes to production in order to improve quality and efficiency.

The extent to wwhich production or operations depend on investment in and use of labour e.g. peoople, training

The level of output per unit of labour

The period of time between an order being placed and being recieved

An approach to managment that focuses on cutting out waste while ensuring quality still

Where marketing costs per unit sold can be lowered by spreading marketing costs over larger output.

The minimum output a business needs to achieve in order for it to be able to minimise unit costs

A business which owns operations in more than one country

Breaking a project down into seperate activities and their requirments

Where a business has work, done for it overseas

Where a business has work done for it by someone else

Measures of how effective a business is in turning resources (e.g. labour hours) into output.

Cost savings that arise from buying in bulk or from a more powerful relationship with a supplier due to increased output.

A restriction on the volume or quantity of a good that can enter or be sold in a market (form of trade barrier)

The size or output of a business, best measured relative to that of direct competiors

Part of outsourcing - where another business is used to provide part of the production process

A tax levied on imports to increase their price compared with domestic goods (form of trade barrier)

Reductions in unit costs arising from the effective use of technology.

The key measure of productive efficiency - calculated as total costs by total output (over a specific period)