Business and Trade Terminology: Key Definitions

Posted on Feb 2, 2025 in Economy

Key Business and Trade Terms

Shareholder: Someone who owns shares in a company.
Management: People who are in charge of a particular company or organization, instead of its employees.
Workforce: The people who work in a particular factory or organization.
President: The person in charge of a large company, bank, etc.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO): The manager with the most authority in the normal, everyday management of a company. The job of the CEO is sometimes combined with other jobs, such as President.

Marketing: Activities to design and sell a product or service by considering buyers’ wants or needs.
Public Relations: The work of explaining to the public what an organization does, so that they will understand it and approve of it; the relationship between an organization and the public.
Information Technology: The study or use of electronic processes for storing information and making it available.
Personnel: The department in an organization that deals with employing, training, and helping employees.
Finance: The management of money by organizations in order to raise investments.
Production: The process of making or growing things to be sold as products, usually in large quantities.
Research and Development: The department in a company responsible for developing new products and improving existing products.

Bill of Lading: A document that gives information about goods being transported.
Carriage (Transport): When goods are moved by vehicle from one place to another.
Consignment (Shipment): A quantity of goods delivered at the same time.
Estimate: A statement of how much it will probably cost to build or repair something.
Freight (Cargo): Goods carried in large quantities by ship, plane, train, etc.

List Price: The usual or official price for something, before any reductions.
Net Price: The price actually paid by a buyer after any reductions.
Retailer: A business that sells goods to members of the public, rather than to shops, etc.
Supplier: A company that provides a particular type of product.
Tender (Bid): An offer to do a job or provide goods or services for a particular price, usually as part of a competition between several companies for the same work.
Warranty: A written promise that a company gives to a customer, stating that it will repair or replace a product they have bought if it breaks during a certain period of time.
Wholesaler: A person or company that sells goods in large quantities to businesses, rather than to the general public.

Consumer Society: A society in which buying goods and services is considered to be one of the most important parts of people’s lives.
Dump (Waste Disposal Site): To put waste in a particular place, especially illegally.
Ethics: Moral rules of behavior that should guide members of a profession.
Fair Trade: A system in which two countries agree not to charge import taxes on particular goods they buy from each other.
Packaging: Material, boxes, etc., used for wrapping goods to protect them.
Pollution: When substances make air, water, soil, etc., dangerously dirty.
Recycle: To put used objects or materials through a special process so that they can be used again.