S
- Sales Channels
- See Distribution Channels
- Sales Cycle
- The average length of time of the overall sales process from initially contacting a customer prospect to finally making the sale
- Sales Frequency
- The measure of the time intervals between purchases for repeat or recurring sales
- Scalability
- The ability to increase the number of units produced (either products or service engagements) and experience a decrease in the average cost of each unit (economic scalability or "economies of scale") and the ability to rapidly grow your new venture with few - or at least manageable - operational constraints on growth (operational scalability)
- Seasonality
- The extent to which the ability to produce a product or service or the ability to sell a product or service depends on the time of year or season
- Self Service
- The situation when a company allows customers or potential customer to serve themselves, typically through an automated interface such as a website or an interactive voice response system, rather than be served by a live service agent
- SG&A
- Sales, General and Administrative Expenses, also known as Overhead (and if Sales expenses are not included, G&A); includes all fixed costs or indirect costs such as rent, debt payments, lease payments, insurance, salaries of supervisory personnel, etc.
- Sole Proprietorship
- A company that is owned by a single individual without formal incorporation
- Statement of Retained Earnings
- A financial statement of a company's retained earnings changes including any profits or losses, paid dividends or other changes to retained earnings
- Stock
- The equity in a company or a share of that equity in the form of a stock certificate; a company can have several types of stock; see Common Stock and Preferred Stock
- Stock Options
- The option granted to an employee to buy the company's stock at a pre-determined price (the strike price) and at a pre-determined time (the vesting schedule); often tied to an employee's performance or the company's performance as influenced by the employee
- Subsidiary
- A company that is a separate legal entity, but is owned by a Parent Company
- Substitutes
- The substitute products or services for the products or services that you offer
- Supplier Concentration
- The amount of supplier market share concentrated among the largest suppliers within an industry; an indication of the market power of the largest suppliers
- Supplier Switching Costs
- The costs involved in switching from one supplier to another
T
- Technological Change (or Trend)
- The extent to which technology plays a major role in shaping the market conditions and the competitive landscape; where a new and exciting technology can cause large changes in market share shifting from one competitor to another
T (continued)
- Technology Leverage
- The ability to use technology in order to automate a business process and reduce costs, increase productivity and/or increase quality
- Telemarketing
- Any direct marketing by telephone to a customer prospect (also known as telesales)
- Time Value of Money
- Since money today is worth more than money in the future, the value of money in the future is that amount of money discounted by an interest rate, which either represents the cost of capital or a rate that represents the interest that might have been earned if that money was received today rather than in the future. This concept is usually expressed in terms of Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) or Net Present Value (NPV).
- Total Investment
- The total size of the investment or capital required to buy or build the company, fully develop the opportunity or fully fund the business plan
- TPR
- A promotional term used by retailers and retail sales analysts that means "Temporary Price Reduction"
- Trademark
- Legal protection given to a brand name and/or logo
U
- Unmet Needs
- The needs of a consumer or business that are not properly met or addressed by current products or services
- Unsecured Debt
- Any debt that is not guaranteed or secured by an asset, where the creditor does not have the right to any assets to satisfy the debt in the event that the debtor defaults
- Up-Sell
- The ability to move the customer relationship from a lower-priced/valued product or service to a higher-priced/valued product or service
V
- Value Chain
- The systematic approach of examining the activities that create and build value in a company; typically divided into primary activities and support activities
Primary Activities are as follows:
- Inbound Logistics: goods or services received from suppliers
- Operations: goods manufactured or assembled or services are delivered
- Outbound Logistics: distribution of finished goods
- Marketing and Sales: preparation of the offering to meet the needs of target customers
- Service: all areas of customer service
Support Activities are as follows:
- Procurement: purchase of goods, services and materials
- Technology Development: development of innovative technology
- Human Resource Management: recruiting, training, managing and compensating of employees
- Firm Infrastructure: corporate or strategic planning, finance, accounting and control - Value Proposition
- The value your product or service provides to your customer; answers the question "why should I buy this product or service?"
- Value Proposition Distinctiveness
- The ability to deliver a product or service to your customers that provides value that is decidedly different than other products or services, not just in price, quality or service, but in performance or value created
- Venture Capital
- An investment made by angel investors or venture capitalists in a company (typically an early-stage start-up company) in exchange for equity ownership and with the expectation of an eventual exit and financial return
- Venture Capital Fund
- A professional, institutionally-backed fund funded by outside investors in a pooled investment partnership that invests that venture capital in early stage companies or start-ups that are too risky for the public equity markets or institutional loans
- Venture Capitalist
- An individual that makes venture capital investments. Often called a "VC" for short and sometimes jokingly referred to as a "Vulture" Capitalist because they typically demand so much ownership and control in exchange for their investment.
W
- Working Capital
- The amount of money that a company has tied up in funding its day to day operations through cash, accounts receivable, inventory and other current assets
Working capital usually finances the cash cycle of a business - the time required to convert raw materials into finished goods, finished goods into sales and accounts receivables into cash
Usually expressed as the difference between Current Assets and Current Liabilities