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Term Description
ABB
(Activity Based Budgeting)		 Activity Based Budgeting uses activity based cost measures to better estimate budget requirements for new and existing programs. The use of ABB can provide greater accuracy and a more relevant standard for techniques such as variance analysis.
ABC
(Activity Based Costing)		 Activity Based Costing is an accounting system that assigns costs to products based on the resources they consume. The costs of all activities are traced to the product for which they are performed. Overhead costs are also traced to a particular product rather than spread arbitrarily across all product lines. The true cost of a product can be determined with much more fidelity than was previously available with a traditional accounting system. An ABC system gives visibility to how effectively resources are being used and how all activities contribute to the cost of a product.
ABM
(Activity Based Management)		 Activity Based Management is a formal management system, which uses the "true" cost of producing goods and services to aid in management decision making. These costs may be employed in "what if" scenarios that can provide solid estimates for strategic planning and operational decisions.
Aggregation

One company leads hierarchically, positioning itself as a value-adding intermediary between producers and customers.

The firm organizes supply and demand in a "virtual" marketplace.
Organized hierarchically with only slight value integration.

Agora

A business web that handles a complex exchange between buyers and sellers. Prices are "discovered" through real-time, on-the-spot negotiations, through one-to-one haggling and multiparty auctions and exchanges. ‘Agora’ was the name for a marketplace in ancient Greece.

The firm provides a "virtual" place for commerce to take place.
Highly self organized with a low level of value integration.

Alliance

The most ‘virtual’ of business webs, participants are members of a creative community that designs useful things, create knowledge, or produces dynamic shared experiences.

Still in its infancy in a business context, it aims to achieve high value integration without hierarchical control.
A current example is the Linux operating system by Red Hat, Inc. developed and augmented through the ‘open source’ concept.
Balanced ScoreCard The balanced scorecard is a management system that enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. It provides feedback around both the internal business processes and external outcomes in order to continuously improve strategic performance and results. When fully deployed, the balanced scorecard transforms strategic planning from an academic exercise into the nerve center of an enterprise.
E-Commerce The conducting of business communication and transactions over networks and through computers, especially buying and selling over the World-Wide Web and the Internet, electronic funds transfer, smart cards, digital cash and all other ways of doing business over digital networks.
Economic Control

A continuum of control of content, pricing, and flow of transactions. One extreme is strictly hierarchical; the other self-organization. In the hierarchical context, there are firms such as General Motors in which operational decisions are dictated in a command pyramid.

The stock markets are an example of self organizing entity. No single firm drives the content of its transactions.
E-Mail Relationship Management System (ERM) An ERM automatically categorizes messages from customers, prioritizes them, then routes them to the appropriate departments, or responds to the messages directly.
External Assets External assets include all available resources outside that are outside of the companies direct control but provide value to you customers. Strategic partnerships, co-branding relationships and goodwill are all examples of external assets.
Interactive Voice Response

A telecommunications system that uses a prerecorded database of voice messages to present options to a user, typically over telephone lines. User input is retrieved via tone key presses.

When used in conjunction with voice mail, for example, these systems typically allow users to store, retrieve, and route messages, as well as interact with an underlying database server, which may allow for automated transactions and data processing.

Internal Assets Internal assets include not only tangible resources, but also intangible resources such as an employee's skills and knowledge that are directly controllable by the company.
Life-cycle costing Life-cycle costing is a method of comparing costs of equipment or buildings based on original costs plus all operating and maintenance costs over the useful life of the equipment. Future costs are discounted.
Model A model is a representation of something, either as a physical object which is usually smaller than the real object, or as a simple description of the object or idea which might be used in calculations.
Performance Management

Performance management is a process that builds on performance measurement approaches, such as the balanced scorecard.

Whereas the balanced scorecard offers a framework for the collection of strategic information, performance management ensures that results are used to influence the selection of strategic actions and to foster the renewal of dynamic, competitive strategy.

Unlike most tools and techniques, performance management is a continuous, enterprise-wide process, rather than a one-time, isolated event.

Pure-Play An entity whose primary choice of order processing and collection is Internet based.
Push technology Push technology implies that a server initiates content delivery to their clients. It is often used in cases where clients want to keep updated with the new data a server generates.
Stakeholders Stakeholders in your company can include anyone who has an interest in the success of the business. This may include customers, shareholders, and employees.
Strategic Leverage

The productivity of existing tangible and intangible (information, knowledge, relationships) assets is enhance through carefully planned deployment through technological means.

Such assets may be organized through various forms of economic control with a focus on high value integration.

Strategic Planning Strategic planning is the process of determining a company's long-term goals and then identifying the best approach for achieving those goals.
Supply Chain A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these finished products to customers. Supply chains exist in both service and manufacturing organizations, although the complexity of the chain may vary greatly from industry to industry and firm to firm.
Target Costing Target costing is a technique for product and service development in which the final price, including profit, is determined first based on market research. The product or service development is then planned to meet these targets. If it is determined that the target costs cannot be achieved, the project is discontinued.
Technology Technology encompasses Internet related hardware and software that can be leveraged to enhance processes in a business or organization. It includes enablers such as Intranets, Virtual Private Networks (VPN), Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), and Telephony systems such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR).
Value Chain Partnered companies help produce a highly integrated value proposition through a managed process. Products are custom tailored to match customer needs.
Value Integration

This refers to the nature of value that the firm adds to the raw materials in incorporates.

High value integration can be seen in companies such as Dell, which assemble components manufactured by other firms into custom computer packages.

Low value integration would occur in forums in which raw materials from many sources are presented in their original form, example most retailers.
Virtual Private Networks (VPN) Virtual Private Networks provide a secure connection through an otherwise insecure network, typically the Internet. VPNs are generally cheaper than real private networks using private lines but rely on having the same encryption system at both ends. The encryption may be performed by firewall software or possibly by routers.
 
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