BUSINESS ACUMEN COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE WITH QUESTIONS AND 100% VERIFIED ANSWERS

Which two key elements does an effective organization include? - ANSWER Human Interaction & Structure Identify key influencers and decision-makers - ANSWER Where does the power lie, who do employees listen to, who will be the opponents, how do you address concerns How to help achieve objectives of decision-makers - ANSWER Build alliances Investment forecasting questions - ANSWER Where do we have to invest to generate profit, what is our maintenance capital expenditure, what is our investment capital expenditure. Business analytics - ANSWER Refers to skills, technologies, applications, practices of exploration an investigation of business performance to drive planning Strategic analysis - ANSWER Evaluating the industry and market economics, understanding business and competitive strength and weaknesses, determining possible future changes 2 Special consideration to partnerships with finance - ANSWER Need data from finance to support numbers. Collaboration should be continuous channel for cultivating data sources Connecting with other business units - ANSWER Keep up to date on org challenges, work on key initiatives, discover challenges of line managers, identify and develop proactive measures Employee connections - ANSWER Understand needs of emplotees in diff units and ar diff levels, know who you can turn to for help Individual contributors - ANSWER Communication position = me, focus on own comp, how do you pay decisions affect them, primary communication around major program changes Managers - ANSWER Communication position: me and my staff. How levels are set, guidance and setting and adjusting staff pay, guidance in communicating pay related issues Executives - ANSWER Communication position: me, my staff, the organization. Managing pay for large groups, understanding broad program objectives Presenting to executives - ANSWER Articulate the problem, provide relevant facts and data, recommend a solution 3 Key performance indicators - ANSWER Cost analysis, cost leverage, operating profit, marginal cost Cost analysis - ANSWER Fixed cost - do not vary; staff, audit fees, maintenance, rent Variable costs - vary for each dollar of revenue, sales low equals costs low, sales high equals production cost high, wages of production staff, sales comp, Raw materials, shipping Cost leverage - ANSWER If org grows revenue faster than costs profit growth will accelerate. Find a balance in order to maximize profit Macroeconomics - ANSWER is the study of a nation's overall economic issues and how an economic system maintains and allocates its resources. How do factors of production influence the overall supply of goods and services? - ANSWER A change in the cost or availability of any of the inputs considered to be factors of production can shift the entire supply curve, either increasing or decreasing the amount available at every price. pure competition - ANSWER market structure, in which large numbers of buyers and sellers exchange homogeneous products and no single participant has a significant influence on price. 4 monopolistic competition - ANSWER market structure in which large numbers of buyers and sellers exchange heterogeneous products so each participant has some control over price. oligopoly - ANSWER market situation in which relatively few sellers compete and high start-up costs form barriers to keep out new competitors. monopoly - ANSWER market situation in which a single seller dominates trade in a good or service for which buyers can find no close substitutes. On which economic system is the U.S. economy based? - ANSWER The U.S. economy is based on the private enterprise system. What is privatization? - ANSWER Privatization is the conversion of government-owned and operated companies into privately held businesses. frictional unemployment - ANSWER applies to members of the workforce who are temporarily not working but are looking for jobs. seasonal unemployment - ANSWER joblessness of workers in a seasonal industry. cyclical unemployment - ANSWER people who are out of work because of a cyclical contraction in the economy. 5 structural unemployment - ANSWER people who remain unemployed for long periods of time, often with little hope of finding new jobs like their old ones. Describe the four stages of the business cycle - ANSWER The four stages are prosperity, recession, depression, and recovery. Prosperity is characterized by low unemployment and strong consumer confidence. Recession may include consumers postponing major purchases, layoffs, and decreased household savings. A depression occurs when an economic slowdown continues in a downward spiral over a long period of time. In recovery, consumer spending increases and business activity accelerates. What are some measures that economists use to determine the health of an economy? - ANSWER Gross domestic product (GDP), general level of prices, core inflation rate, the Consumer Price Index, and the unemployment rate are all measures used to determine the health of an economy. monetary policy - ANSWER government actions to increase or decrease the money supply and change banking requirements and interest rates to influence bankers' willingness to make loans. expansionary monetary policy - ANSWER government actions to increase the money supply in an effort to cut the cost of borrowing, which encourages business decision makers to make new investments, in turn stimulating employment and economic growth