GCSE Business

Overview

For parents: Each exam board teaches Business slightly differently. Ask the school which board they use — it's the key to revising the right content.

Topics

Business key terms

Original definitions for core course vocabulary, informed by the references below. Not an official or exhaustive board-specific glossary.

40 of 40 terms

Entrepreneur

A person who organises resources to establish a business and accepts the risks involved.

Enterprise and ownership

Enterprise

The ability to identify opportunities and organise resources to pursue them while accepting risk.

Enterprise and ownership

Business objective

A target that a business aims to achieve within a stated period.

Enterprise and ownership

Stakeholder

A person or group that affects, or is affected by, a business's activities.

Enterprise and ownership

Sole trader

A business owned by one individual who has unlimited liability for its debts.

Enterprise and ownership

Partnership

A business owned by two or more people who share its management and returns under an agreement.

Enterprise and ownership

Limited liability

Legal protection limiting owners' responsibility for business debts to their investment or agreed contribution.

Enterprise and ownership

Private limited company

An incorporated business whose shares cannot be offered for sale to the general public.

Enterprise and ownership

Public limited company

An incorporated business permitted to offer its shares to the public, whether or not stock-exchange listed.

Enterprise and ownership

Social enterprise

A business that trades primarily to achieve social or environmental aims and mainly reinvests surpluses towards them.

Enterprise and ownership

Market research

The collection and analysis of information about customers, competitors and markets.

Marketing and customers

Primary research

Research that gathers new information specifically for the current investigation.

Marketing and customers

Secondary research

Research using information originally collected for another purpose.

Marketing and customers

Market segmentation

Dividing a market into groups of customers with shared characteristics or needs.

Marketing and customers

Target market

The customer group towards which a business directs its marketing.

Marketing and customers

Marketing mix

The combination of product, price, promotion and place used to meet customer needs.

Marketing and customers

Unique selling point

A distinctive product or business feature that offers customers a reason to choose it over competitors.

Marketing and customers

Brand

An identity that distinguishes a seller's products and carries associations for customers.

Marketing and customers

Product life cycle

A model showing how a product's sales may change from introduction through growth, maturity and decline.

Marketing and customers

Market share

A firm's sales expressed as a percentage of total sales in its market over the same period.

Marketing and customers

Revenue

Income earned from sales before costs are deducted.

Finance and performance

Fixed cost

A cost that does not change with output within a given period and relevant production range.

Finance and performance

Variable cost

A cost whose total changes as output changes.

Finance and performance

Profit

The surplus remaining when total costs are deducted from total revenue.

Finance and performance

Cash flow

The movement of money into and out of a business over time.

Finance and performance

Net cash flow

Cash inflows minus cash outflows during a period.

Finance and performance

Break-even output

The level of sales at which total revenue equals total costs.

Finance and performance

Contribution per unit

Selling price per unit minus variable cost per unit; it helps cover fixed costs and then profit.

Finance and performance

Margin of safety

The amount by which actual or forecast sales exceed break-even sales.

Finance and performance

Working capital

Current assets minus current liabilities, indicating resources available for day-to-day operations.

Finance and performance

Recruitment

The process of attracting applicants to fill a job vacancy.

People and operations

Selection

Choosing the most suitable applicant for a job using relevant evidence and criteria.

People and operations

Training

Planned activities that develop employees' knowledge and skills for work.

People and operations

Motivation

The forces that influence employees' willingness to make an effort towards work goals.

People and operations

Delegation

Giving a subordinate authority to carry out a task while retaining overall responsibility.

People and operations

Span of control

The number of employees directly supervised by one manager.

People and operations

Productivity

Output produced per unit of input, such as output per worker per hour.

People and operations

Capacity utilisation

Actual output as a percentage of the maximum output possible over a period.

People and operations

Quality assurance

Planned systems that prevent defects by maintaining standards throughout production.

People and operations

Economies of scale

Reductions in average cost resulting from an increase in the scale of production.

People and operations

Exams

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Revision

Tell GCSE.es which Business topics feel weak. Your dashboard then picks a short, timed next step — learn the key idea, check yourself, review mistakes.

Practice

• ✓ Key terms you tap to reveal
• ✓ Quick multiple-choice quizzes
• ✓ 3, 6, 9 and 12-mark exam-style questions
• ✓ Marking with feedback and a model answer

Available free inside your GCSE journey. Questions are written by GCSE.es, not taken from real past papers.

Resources

Short, focused tasks for the Business topics you find hardest — learn the key idea, check yourself, then try a marked exam-style question.