Str-The

Strategy

Strategy—the firm's choice concerning how to deploy its resources—has content and timing. The strategy of each business unit defines which are its preferred customers to serve and which product/technological parameters are most appropriate for satisfying this demand (content).

Strategy Formulation

Strategy formulation is vital to the well-being of a company or organization. There are two major types of strategy: (1) corporate strategy, in which companies decide which line or lines of business to engage in; and (2) business or competitive strategy, which sets the framework for achieving success in a particular business.

Stress in the Workplace

Generally defined as a negative physical or emotional reaction to a demanding environment, stress in workplaces is considered a significant and costly problem for the business world. Its impact extends from the immediate human toll on those who experience it to many costs and inefficiencies that can diminish business effectiveness.

Subsidiary

When one company acquires more than 50 percent of the voting stock of another company, thereby obtaining control of its operations, the acquired company becomes a subsidiary of the acquiring company. The acquiring company becomes the subsidiary's parent company.

Subsidies

A subsidy is a government payment to individuals, businesses, other governments, and other domestic institutions and organizations. Unlike government purchases, for which the government receives goods or services, subsidies do not provide the government with any goods or services in return.

Suggestion Systems

Suggestion systems are a form of employee-to-management communication that benefit employees as well as employers. They provide a two-way channel of communication between employees and management, with management accepting or rejecting employee suggestions and in some cases commenting on them.

Summit of the Americas

A Summit of the Americas was held in Miami, Florida, on December 9-11, 1994, and was attended by U.S. President Bill Clinton and the heads of 34 other participating governments.

Supervision

Supervision is a somewhat misunderstood term in its business context. Generally, supervision applies to management of first-level, or production, employees.

Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management—a term that first appeared in the late 1980s—refers to the management of a distribution channel across organizations. All the members of the channel, from suppliers to end users, coordinate their business activities and processes to minimize their total costs and maximize their effectiveness in the market.

Sustainable Development

The term "sustainable development" is used widely throughout the world today, and it is used in many contexts. Yet, it has become almost a buzz word, used by many people without a clear articulation of its meaning.

Sustainable Growth

The concept of sustainable growth was originally developed by Robert C. Higgins.

Tactical Asset Allocation

Tactical asset allocation is an investment strategy that centers on altering investment proportions to take advantage of differences in expected performance of various asset classes. As an asset allocation strategy, the technique attempts to evaluate the expected performance of broad asset classes (such as stocks, bonds, and cash), rather than predicting which individual securities are likely to outperform in the upcoming period.

Taft-Hartley Act

Passed in 1947, the Taft-Hartley Act remains the cornerstone of United States labor law today. This act amended the Wagner Act of 1935.

Taguchi Methods

There has been a great deal of controversy about Genichi Taguchi's methodology since it was first introduced in the United States. This controversy has lessened considerably in recent years due to modifications and extensions of his methodology.

Takeovers

In the market for corporate control, management teams vie for the right to acquire and manage corporate assets and strategies. If an outside group acquires control of a target corporation, the transaction is termed a takeover.

Taxes and Taxation

To claim that taxes and taxation always have been unpopular is to state the obvious. Every American schoolchild learns about the Stamp Act of 1765 and how widespread resentment against "taxation without representation" precipitated the American Revolution.

Teams

The concepts of teamwork, team building, and self-directed work teams have penetrated nearly every segment of the business world in recent decades. More and more businesses are introducing or expanding teamwork as part of their production processes, with varying results.

Technical Analysis

Technical analysis is research into the supply and demand of investments based on historic trade information, in terms of both price and volume. Technical analysts, often called chartists, believe that it is possible to detect the onset of a movement in stock or market value from one equilibrium condition to another.

Technology Management

Technology has become the key strategic resource needed for the success, indeed the survival, of a business, corporation, or nation. The Persian Gulf War was won by United Nations forces in a short time (a ground attack lasting 100 hours in February 1991), due to the technological sophistication of U.S.

Technology Transfer

Technology transfer is the dissemination of technical knowledge, skills, and products from a point of origin into a broader sphere of use.

Telecommuting

Telecommuting is generally defined as using technology to travel to one's job, rather than physically commuting to it. For instance, telecommuters might log onto home computers and dial in to their company's computer system to perform the normal tasks of their jobs.

Telemarketing

Telemarketing is a direct market technique for selling goods and services, making appointments, and generating sales leads over the telephone. Although the telephone has been used as a sales tool for nearly a century, the term telemarketing was first used by AT&T in the early 1980s in conjunction with a long-distance phone service sales campaign.

Telephony (Voice Telecommunications)

Telephony or voice telecommunications refers to the communication of sound over a distance using wire or wireless telephones and related technology.

Temporary Employment

Temporary employees typically work for firms for brief and often fixed periods, in contrast with permanent full- and part-time workers. Temporary employees are part of the category contingent workers, which also includes part-time employees and contract workers, and temporary employees are either hired directly or are provided to client firms by temporary employment agencies, as is most often the case.

Tender Offers

A tender offer asks the stockholders of a firm to submit, or tender, their shares for an established price. While tender offers may be made for any type of securities, they are usually made for common stock.

Term Structure of Interest Rates

The term structure of interest rates describes the differing yields to maturity (YTM) on similar debt securities, with yields typically being higher the longer the period until maturity. For instance, a U.S.

Thailand, Doing Business in

Thailand, formerly known as Siam, is one of the most important trading nations in Southeast Asia. At just under 200,000 square miles, Thailand is approximately three-fourths the size of Texas.

Theory of Constraints

Sometimes known as constraint analysis, the theory of constraints (TOC) is a systematic and iterative approach to management that emphasizes adapting business practices in order to best cope with limitations, or constraints, that stand in the way of key objectives. The goal of TOC is to maximize the efficiency of a process selectively at the most critical points and thereby maximize profitability, quality, or other corporate objectives.