Eco-Ent

Economic Conditions

Economic conditions can be considered the economic characteristics that describe the state of an economy. Often, people comment that the economy is in terrible shape, that the economy is doing well, or that the economy is inherently sound.

Economic Development

The term "economic development" is widely used by the ordinary public and the popular media. The concept, however, is not quite as well understood as its frequent use may suggest.

Economic Forecasts

Economic forecasts are widely used at the firm, industry, and economy-wide level. For a firm, economic forecasts facilitate planning for future production, expansion, or contraction.

Economic Policy

The term "economic policy" is used to refer to macroeconomic policies used by governments to stabilize the overall economy. Until the Great Depression of the 1930s and the advent of Keynesian economics, there were no conscious attempts on the part of the U.S.

Economic Profit

Also known as residual income, economic profit is a managerial accounting concept that considers how well a business is performing by, among other things, deducting the firm's capital costs from its profits. What is left is known as an economic profit, as opposed to the familiar accounting profit that appears on corporate income statements, and some believe this better suggests how well the company is using capital to build economic value.

Economic Theories

Economic theories broadly fall under two categories: microeconomics and macroeconomics. In most basic terms, microeconomics deals with the economy at a smaller level or at a smaller scale, such as the market for a particular product (e.g., automobiles) or the behavior of an individual firm in a particular industry (e.g., decisions made by one of the Big Three in the U.S.

Economies of Scale

Economies of scale is a concept that arises in the context of production of a good or service, and other similar activities undertaken by a business or nonbusiness organization. "Economies of scale" refers to economic efficiency that results from carrying out a process (such as production or sales) on a larger and larger scale.

Economies of Scope

In terms of industrial organization, economies of scope are present in enterprises that develop and manufacture a variety of related products. Such corporations extend expertise in core competencies or technologies to the full range of products related to those core competencies or technologies.

Electronic Commerce

Electronic commerce (or e-commerce) can be defined as the process of two or more parties making business transactions via computers and some type of network, either a direct connection or the Internet. E-commerce began in the 1970s when large corporations began creating private networks to transfer information between business partners using a process called electronic data interchange (EDI).

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Electronic data interchange (EDI) is the use of computer and telecommunication technology to move data between or within organizations in a structured, computer retrievable data format that permits information to be transferred from a computer program in one location to a computer program in another location, without manual intervention. An example is the transmission of an electronic invoice from a supplier's invoicing software to a customer's accounts receivable software.

Electronic Mail

From its roots as an obscure mode of communication among computer hobbyists, academics, and military personnel, e-mail use has burgeoned to a medium of mass communication. According to published estimates from International Data Corp., a technology market research firm, as of 1998 there were 82 million personal and business e-mail accounts in the United States.

Embargo

An embargo is a state-sponsored prohibition on the movement of goods between nations. Embargoes amount to economic warfare and in fact are often used during times of war and hostilities.

Embezzlement

Embezzlement is a form of fraud that involves misappropriation of money or property by someone who has been entrusted with it by virtue of their position or employment. Larceny and theft, on the other hand, involve taking, by trespass or force, money or property that belongs to someone else.

Emerging Markets

The term "emerging markets," while commonly used, is difficult to define. From the perspective of the United States, an emerging market would be one to which a previously untapped potential for U.S.

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)

Employee assistance programs (EAPs) were established in the late 1960s with the goal of maintaining productivity. EAPs provide employees with counseling and referral services for such problems as alcohol and substance abuse and other mental-health problems.

Employee Benefits

Employee benefits are indirect means of compensating workers; employees receive these benefits above and beyond their wages. Unlike wages alone, benefits foster economic security and stability by insuring beneficiaries against uncertain events such as unemployment, illness, and injury.

Employee Dismissals

Employee dismissals are terminations from employment executed by an employer against the will of an employee. Two basic types of dismissals exist: reductions in force (RIF), which are also referred to as layoffs or corporate downsizing, and behavior-related terminations.

Employee Motivation

Closely related to employee satisfaction and morale, employee motivation may be considered both an action and a status. The action occurs when management takes steps to foster a work environment where employees are self-driven to perform their job tasks at a level that meets or exceeds management's standards.

Employee Outplacement

Before the 1980s, there hardly seemed to be a need for the service that today is called employee outplacement. Employment opportunities abounded and large salaries were common for executives, managers, and supervisors.

Employee Publications

Employee publications serve as a communications link between an organization's top management and the rest of the organization's employees. These publications can take many forms including newsletters, newspapers, magazines, and various means of electronic communication including the Internet and in-house intranet systems.

Employee Rights

Employee Stock Options and Ownership (ESOP)

Employee stock ownership occurs when the people who work for a corporation hold shares in that corporation. In general, management experts believe that turning employees into shareholders increases their loyalty to the company and leads to improved performance.

Employee Turnover

Employee turnover occurs when employees voluntarily leave their jobs and must be replaced. Turnover is expressed as an annual percentage of the total workforce.

Employment

Information on employment is usually provided by citing the unemployment rate which, in turn, is expressed in percentage terms. The unemployment rate itself is defined as the percentage of labor force unemployed.

Employment Services

Employment services include companies that specialize in providing human resource solutions to other companies. Employment service providers take the form of employee and executive recruiting firms, professional employer organizations (employee leasing companies), and temporary employment companies.

Empowerment

Empowerment in business means knowing how to "humanize" the work environment so management and employees work together to enhance productivity and achieve greater personal and professional success. An empowered company understands and appreciates that the "human factor" can add or subtract from the bottom line.

Empowerment Zones

An empowerment zone is an economically distressed American community that receives tax incentives and grants from the federal government under the Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities Act of 1993. The act provided for the designation of nine empowerment zones nationwide—six urban and three rural—as well as 95 enterprise communities, which receive similar benefits on a smaller scale.

Enterprise Zones

An enterprise zone is a well-defined geographic area in which certain governmental rules and regulations are set aside so as to intensify economic activity within the zone's borders. It is generally hoped that through the relaxation of government strictures—most often in the form of tax breaks—the enterprise zone will become revitalized through the attraction of new industries and businesses and new investment in already existing economic activities.