MBA Glossary

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is the process of comparing a company's performance metrics, processes, or practices against industry leade…

Change Management

Change management is the structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state…

Due Diligence

Due diligence is the comprehensive investigation and analysis conducted before a major business transaction, typically a…

Growth Strategy

A growth strategy is a plan for increasing a company's revenue, market share, or profitability over time. It encompasses…

Hypothesis-Driven Approach

A hypothesis-driven approach starts with an educated initial answer to a business question, then systematically tests th…

Issue Tree

An issue tree is a hierarchical, visual breakdown of a business problem into its component parts. It starts with a core …

M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions)

Mergers and Acquisitions refers to the consolidation of companies through various financial transactions. A merger combi…

Market Entry Framework

The market entry framework provides a structured approach for evaluating whether a company should enter a new market. It…

MECE

MECE stands for Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive. It is a structuring principle used in consulting to break c…

Profitability Framework

The profitability framework is a structured approach to diagnosing why a company is not making enough money. It breaks p…

Stakeholder Analysis

Stakeholder analysis is the systematic identification and assessment of all individuals, groups, or organizations that c…

Synergies

Synergies are the additional value created when two companies combine that neither could achieve independently. Revenue …

Value Proposition

A value proposition is a clear statement of the tangible and intangible benefits a company delivers to its customers tha…

ARPU

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) measures the average revenue generated per user or customer over a specific period, typi…

Burn Rate

Burn rate is the pace at which a company spends its cash reserves before generating positive cash flow from operations. …

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

Customer Acquisition Cost is the total cost of acquiring a new customer, calculated by dividing all sales and marketing …

CAGR

CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) represents the smoothed annualized rate of growth between two points in time, assumin…

DCF (Discounted Cash Flow)

Discounted Cash Flow is an intrinsic valuation method that estimates the present value of an investment based on its exp…

EBITDA

EBITDA stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization. It is a widely used financial metric …

IRR (Internal Rate of Return)

The Internal Rate of Return is the discount rate at which the Net Present Value of all cash flows from a project equals …

LTV (Lifetime Value)

Lifetime Value represents the total net revenue a business can expect from a single customer account throughout their en…

NPV (Net Present Value)

Net Present Value is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and cash outflows over a period of time. I…

P/E Ratio

The Price-to-Earnings ratio compares a company's current share price to its earnings per share (EPS). It indicates how m…

ROI (Return on Investment)

Return on Investment measures the gain or loss generated on an investment relative to its cost, expressed as a percentag…

Unit Economics

Unit economics analyzes the direct revenues and costs associated with a single unit of a business model—typically one cu…

Working Capital

Working capital is the difference between a company's current assets (cash, inventory, accounts receivable) and current …

4P's of Marketing

The 4P's of Marketing—Product, Price, Place, and Promotion—comprise the marketing mix framework that companies use to de…

Brand Equity

Brand equity is the commercial value that derives from consumer perception of a brand name rather than from the product …

Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is the strategic process of establishing a distinct and valued place for a brand in the target custome…

Customer Journey

The customer journey maps every interaction and touchpoint a customer has with a brand, from initial awareness through c…

Go-to-Market Strategy

A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is the plan for launching a product or entering a new market, encompassing target customer…

Market Penetration

Market penetration measures the percentage of a target market that a company has captured, or refers to the strategy of …

Market Share

Market share is the percentage of total industry sales captured by a specific company within a defined market over a giv…

Marketing Funnel

The marketing funnel visualizes the customer's path from first brand awareness to final purchase, typically structured a…

NPS (Net Promoter Score)

Net Promoter Score measures customer loyalty by asking "How likely are you to recommend this product/service to a friend…

Product-Market Fit

Product-market fit describes the degree to which a product satisfies strong market demand. Achieved when customers enthu…

STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning)

STP is a three-step marketing framework: Segmentation divides the market into distinct groups with common needs; Targeti…

TAM SAM SOM

TAM (Total Addressable Market) is the total market demand for a product. SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market) is the por…

Bottleneck Analysis

Bottleneck analysis identifies the constraining step in a process that limits overall throughput and capacity. Based on …

Capacity Utilization

Capacity utilization measures the extent to which a company uses its installed productive capacity, expressed as a perce…

Inventory Turnover

Inventory turnover measures how many times a company sells and replaces its inventory within a given period. Calculated …

Just-in-Time

Just-in-Time (JIT) is an inventory management strategy that aligns raw material orders with production schedules so mate…

Lead Time

Lead time is the total elapsed time from when a process begins until it is completed, or more specifically, from when a …

Lean Manufacturing

Lean manufacturing is a production methodology focused on minimizing waste within a manufacturing system while simultane…

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is the business practice of contracting an external organization to perform functions or produce goods that …

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a data-driven quality management methodology that aims to reduce process variation and defects to near-perf…

Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management (SCM) encompasses the planning, execution, and optimization of all activities involved in sourci…

Throughput

Throughput is the rate at which a system produces its output over a specific period of time. In manufacturing, it is uni…

Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an organization-wide approach to continuous quality improvement in all processes, prod…

Value Chain

The value chain, developed by Michael Porter, describes the full range of activities a company performs to bring a produ…

A/B Testing

A/B testing is a controlled experiment that compares two variants (A and B) of a webpage, feature, or marketing element …

Agile Methodology

Agile methodology is an iterative approach to project management and software development that emphasizes flexibility, c…

Churn Rate

Churn rate measures the percentage of customers who stop using a product or service during a given time period. Calculat…

Feature Prioritization

Feature prioritization is the disciplined process of evaluating and ranking potential product features to determine buil…

Freemium Model

The freemium model offers a basic version of a product for free while charging for premium features, capacity, or functi…

MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

A Minimum Viable Product is the simplest version of a product that delivers enough core value to attract early adopters …

Product Lifecycle

The product lifecycle describes the stages a product goes through from introduction to decline: Introduction (launch, lo…

Product Roadmap

A product roadmap is a strategic document that communicates the vision, direction, and planned evolution of a product ov…

Retention Rate

Retention rate measures the percentage of customers who continue using a product or service over a given period. It is t…

Sprint Planning

Sprint planning is the Agile ceremony at the start of each sprint where the team selects work items from the product bac…

Technical Debt

Technical debt is the implied cost of future rework caused by choosing quick, expedient solutions in software developmen…

User Story

A user story is a concise description of a feature from the end user's perspective, following the format: "As a [type of…

Ansoff Matrix

The Ansoff Matrix is a strategic framework that maps four growth strategies based on whether products are existing or ne…

Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard is a strategic management framework that measures organizational performance across four perspect…

BCG Matrix

The BCG Matrix (Boston Consulting Group Growth-Share Matrix) categorizes a company's business units or products into fou…

Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy, developed by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, advocates creating uncontested market space (blue oce…

Competitive Advantage

Competitive advantage is a set of attributes or capabilities that allows a company to outperform its rivals consistently…

Disruption

Disruption, as defined by Clayton Christensen, occurs when a smaller company with fewer resources successfully challenge…

Economic Moat

An economic moat, a term coined by Warren Buffett, describes a company's durable competitive advantage that protects its…

First-Mover Advantage

First-mover advantage refers to the competitive benefit gained by being the first company to enter a market or introduce…

PESTEL Analysis

PESTEL Analysis examines six macro-environmental factors that affect every industry: Political (government policy, trade…

Pivot

A pivot is a fundamental change in a company's business strategy, product, target market, or business model based on lea…

Porter's Five Forces

Porter's Five Forces is a framework for analyzing the competitive intensity and attractiveness of an industry. The five …

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis evaluates a company's strategic position by examining internal Strengths (advantages over competitors), We…

VRIO Framework

The VRIO Framework evaluates whether a company's resources and capabilities provide a sustainable competitive advantage …