商务英语专业术语

名词解释
Unit one
Sole proprietorship: a business owned and controlled by one person for profits.
Incorporator/shareholder: owners of the corporation who hold shares which represent the ownership of the company.
Unlimited liability: obligation to pay one’s debts not only with one’s own business, but with one’s own personal properties when the company goes bankrupt.
Partnership: a business co-owned and controlled by two or more persons for profits.
Unit two
Target market: a market that represents a group of people who have similar needs and wants and are believed to have interest in the same products.
Unit three
Industrial products: products and services purchased by business to produce other consumer products or industrial products.
Unit four
Wholesaler: a middleman who buys large quantities of good from producers and sells them to retailers.
Retailer: served as middleman buying goods from producers and selling them to customers. They are owners of the goods..
Unit six
Departmentalization: assigning tasks and responsibilities to different departments.
Centralization: in a centralized organization, most decision-making authority is kept in the hands of upper level managers, and most lower-level decisions must be approved by upper management before they can be carried out.
Decentralization: as a business grows, more and more decisions should be made at lower levels of management to increase efficiency.
Span of management: it means that the number of employees a manager supervises.
Unit seven
Performance appraisal: it is an evaluation based on regular basis which can indicate an employee’s strengths and weakness and know his due contribution to the goals of a firm.
Closed promotion system: promoting decisions are made only by the managers. It may save time and energy. But decisions are dependent too heavily on the manager’s impression on the employees.
Open promotion system: job vacancies and their specifications are openly posted. All employees who feel qualified for the jobs can apply for them. And the managers can have final say as who will be promoted.
Unit eight
Management by objectives(MBO): it helps managers in setting and carrying out their plans and allows employees to participate in setting their goals and determining the manner by which they achieve their tasks.
Three types of leadership style: 1) autocratic leadership style(boss-centered style): this style retains full authority for decision making and employees have little or no point.
2) participative leadership style(democratic style): this style allow the leaders to accept some employee input, but the leader usually uses their authority to make decisions.
3) free-rein leadership style(subordinate-centered style): this style delegates much authority to employees and allow them to make decisions to complete the objective.
Unit ten
Intentional tort: wrongful act that results in injury to someone due to intentional action.
Common law: law made

by judges and also called unwritten law. Judgment is on case-by-case basis and previous court decisions are often referred to.
Statutory law: law established by legislative bodies and also called written law. Statutory law takes precedence if a conflict occurs between it and common law.
Consideration: parties of the contract must exchange items of value.
Patent: an exclusive right granted by the government to allow the inventor to make, use or sell his invention.
Warranty: a promise by the manufacturer or seller that the product will work reasonably well.
Chapter 11
Endowment life insurance: It can provide savings and life protection, but premium is higher and build-up cash value of savings is faster.
Proximate cause: the insurance company can only provide compensation when the insured risk is direct or closest cause of the loss the insured suffers.
Insurance: a risk-sharing mechanism whereby many individuals contribute to a pool of money which will be used to compensate those contributors who suffer losses.
Indemnity: it is an insurance contract that promises to pay for the replacement or repair of lost or damaged goods. The insured can’t obtain more compensation than the amount of loss he actually suffers.
Subrogation: the insurance company can only provide compensation when the insured risk is direct or closest cause of the loss the insured suffers.
Chapter 12
Comparative advantage: if a country can make something better or more cheaply than it other country can make, it has a comparative advantage.
Protective tariff: tax imposed to restrict the particular kind of products to protect national industry and home market.