Ent-Fac

Entrepreneurship

Various organizations and writers define "entrepreneurship" and "entrepreneur" in different ways. Nevertheless, these definitions of "entrepreneurship" tend to have some common features and suggest that entrepreneurship involves planning and starting a business, taking advantage of a business opportunity, assuming the risks of a business venture, and providing some kind of innovation.

Environmental Law and Business

Observers have called 1970 the "year of the environment." On April 22,1970, the first celebration of Earth Day took place. Also that year, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was passed by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created on December 2, 1970, by executive order of President Richard Nixon to "permit coordinated and effective government action on behalf of the environment." Fifteen different environmental programs from various federal offices were combined and placed under the jurisdiction of the newly created EPA. The EPA was designed to serve as an "umbrella agency" through which most federal environmental laws, regulations, and policies would be administered.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) became operational on July 2,1965, as a result of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII has since been amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991.

Equal Opportunity

Equal opportunity refers to the equality of access to jobs, promotions, and other opportunities in corporations, associations and nonprofit organizations. Historically, equal opportunity in the United States was associated with African Americans and, later, women seeking to level out fundamental social inequities.

Ergonomics

Ergonomics is the study of work and, more specifically, the study of the relationship between the work performed and those who perform the work. The word was formed from a blending of two others: the Greek word ergon, or work, and economics, which originally meant household management.

Error Analysis

The analysis of errors in business and economic statistics involves identifying and gauging the gap between a statistical estimation and the underlying reality the statistic is intended to portray. Put simply, most statistics are assumed to be affected by one or more forms of error, whether it be from faulty sampling, inexact mathematical modeling of complex phenomena, random events that skew measurements, or other sources.

Escalator Clauses

Purchase contracts, transportation contracts, commercial leases, and collective bargaining agreements are among the different types of contracts that may contain escalator clauses. When included in such contracts, escalator clauses indicate that both parties have agreed that the base prices, wages, or rents in the original contract may increase over time under certain conditions.

Estate Taxes

Estate taxes are one form of death taxes, the origins of which extend to ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Estate taxes are distinct from inheritance taxes, in that the former are levied on a decedent's estate before any distributions are made, whereas the latter are imposed on the estate's heirs—the recipients of those distributions.

Euro

The euro is the world's newest and undoubtedly the world's most publicized unit of currency. Amidst much media coverage, the euro made its official debut for banking purposes on January 1,1999, although no one will be able to carry a euro around in pocket, wallet, or purse until January 1,2002.

Eurobond Market

The Eurobond market is made up of investors, banks, borrowers, and trading agents that buy, sell, and transfer Eurobonds. Eurobonds are a special kind of bond issued by European governments and companies, but often denominated in non-European currencies such as dollars and yen.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Headquartered in London, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is a financial institution created to further develop capitalist interests in central and eastern Europe. The EBRD has a 23-member board of directors and is run by five vice presidents and one president.

European Free Trade Association (EFTA)

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a trading bloc that was established by the Convention of Stockholm. The treaty was signed on January 4, 1960, and became effective on May 3 of that year.

European Monetary System

The European Monetary System (EMS) is an organization established in 1979 for the purpose of stabilizing the exchange rates of those European Community (now European Union) members who wished to participate in it. "Exchange rate" refers to the value of a country's currency in relation to the currency of another country.

European Union

What started off in 1957 as the European Economic Community (EEC, popularly called the Common Market) evolved into the European Community (EC) by 1967, a change that implied a social as well as an economic order. In 1993 the European Community gave way to the European Union under the Maastricht Treaty, which brought together 370 million people under a common economic and quasi-political entity that constitutes the world's largest trading power.

Excess Profits Tax

An excess profits tax, also sometimes referred to as a windfall profits tax, is a corporate income tax that is levied on profits above a specified level. It is assessed in addition to any corporate income tax already in place.

Excise Tax

An excise tax is a type of tax that is applied to a specific commodity or type of goods, such as cigarettes, gasoline, and alcoholic beverages. While the excise tax is assessed on and paid by the manufacturer, the actual tax burden is usually passed along to the consumer by incorporating the amount of the excise tax into the final selling price of the product.

Executive Development

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when successful business executives were considered to have been born, not made. For the most part, business owners considered executive skills unnecessary.

Exit Strategies

Exit strategies are techniques used by companies to abandon products, divisions, or even entire industries. Exit strategies are implemented when a company decides that it is no longer beneficial to remain active in a given market or industry.

Expected Value

Expected value is a statistical concept that is applied to many business situations. Often, the term may be loosely used.

Expense Accounts

Expense accounts, also called expense allowances, are plans under which companies reimburse employees for business-related expenses. These expenses include travel, entertainment, gifts, and other expenses related to the employer's business activity.

Experience and Learning Curves

Learning curves graphically portray the costs and benefits of experience when performing routine or repetitive tasks. Also known as experience curves, cost curves, efficiency curves, and productivity curves, they illustrate how the cost per unit of output decreases over time as the result of learning and experience.

Expert Systems

Expert systems are computer applications that combine computer equipment, software, and specialized information to imitate expert human reasoning and advice. As a branch of artificial intelligence, expert systems provide discipline-specific advice and explanation to their users.

Exporting

Exporting refers to the act of producing goods or services in one country and then selling or trading them abroad. Exporting is usually conducted by the company that manufactures the product or provides the service, through either direct or indirect channels.

Externalities

Externalities, or "spillover effects," are the effects of actions that are external to, or do not directly affect, the entity performing the act. These effects may be either positive or negative.

Facility Management

Facility management (FM) is concerned with operating and maintaining commercial and industrial properties. This function may be performed by in-house corporate staff or by an outside firm specializing in facilities management.

Factor Analysis

Factor analysis is a statistical technique that is used to determine the extent to which a group of measures share common variance. Factor analysis is sometimes termed a "data reduction" technique because the method is frequently used to extract a few underlying components (or factors) from a large initial set of observed variables.

Factoring

Credit analysis and accounts receivable are an important part of managing cash flow and maintaining firm liquidity. For smaller firms managing credit and accounts receivable can be difficult.