Glossary

Click any term in a chapter to see its short definition inline; the full list lives here.

BCG Growth-Share Matrix

Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks, Dogs — portfolio framework based on market growth and relative market share.

EBITDA

Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization — a proxy for operating cash flow.

Emotional Intelligence

Ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions effectively. Goleman's five domains: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skills.

Net Present Value

Sum of discounted future cash flows minus initial investment. Positive NPV = value-creating project.

Nudge

A choice-architecture intervention that alters behavior predictably without forbidding options or significantly changing incentives (Thaler & Sunstein).

Porter's Five Forces

Rivalry, supplier power, buyer power, threat of substitutes, threat of new entrants. Used to assess industry attractiveness.

SWOT

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats — a foundational strategy framework.

Triple Bottom Line

People, Planet, Profit — measuring performance across social, environmental, and financial dimensions.

VUCA

Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity — a framework for environments where traditional planning breaks down.

Weighted Average Cost of Capital

Blended cost of a firm's debt and equity, weighted by their share of total capital. Used as the discount rate in NPV/DCF analysis.