| Tacit knowledge | Knowledge made up of the judgements, know-how, and other skills of those participating in the innovation process. The type of knowledge that cannot be accurately written down. See also: codified knowledge. |
| Takeover | The buying out of one company by another. |
| Tangency | When two curves share one point in common but do not cross. The tangent to a curve at a given point is a straight line that touches the curve at that point but does not cross it. |
| Tape | Magnetic tape is 1/2 inch wide, and holds about 300,000 customer records (depending on their size). Tape records are sequential (one after the other) whereas disk records can be in random order. Tape is the cheapest way to store information, but the data is hard to get at. Tape is used for backup and for sending information from one computer to another. Direct marketing tapes are 9 track, and 1600 or 6250 bytes per inch. They are ASCII or EBCDIC. |
| Target Marketing | A marketing strategy aimed at a particular individual or group rather than to mass media. |
| Target wealth | The level of wealth that a household aims to hold, based on its economic goals (or preferences) and expectations. We assume that households try to maintain this level of wealth in the face of changes in their economic situation, as long as it is possible to do so. |
| Tariff | A tax on a good imported into a country. |
| Tax identification number | Most LLCs are required to have a federal tax identification number (also known as an EIN). This number is needed to hire employees, open a bank account, report taxes and for state tax purposes. Even if you are converting your sole proprietorship or partnership and already have a tax ID number for that business, the IRS still requires you to obtain a new tax ID number for your company. |
| Tax incidence | The effect of a tax on the welfare of buyers, sellers, or both. |
| Tax status | An election made by a business owner or entrepreneur when they’re filing taxes. Individuals, for example, have the option to file single, married, and/or married but separate. Businesses on the other hand, can choose to file C (or S) corporation, limited partnership, or limited liability. |
| Taylorism | Innovation in management that seeks to reduce labour costs, for example by dividing skilled jobs into separate less-skilled tasks so as to lower wages. |
| Teamwork | Cooperative effort by the members of a group to achieve a common goal. |
| Technically feasible | An allocation within the limits set by technology and biology. |
| Technological progress | A change in technology that reduces the amount of resources (labour, machines, land, energy, time) required to produce a given amount of the output. |
| Technology | The description of a process using a set of materials and other inputs, including the work of people and machines, to produce an output. |
| Telemarketing | Talking on the telephone to prospects or customers. Inbound telemarketing is usually customers or prospects calling your toll free number. Outbound telemarketing is when you place the call to a prospect or customer. Telemarketing can be done by your in-house staff or by an external telemarketing company. |
| Term loans | A business term loan offers a lump sum with a fixed term and repayment amount. With each payment, you’ll pay the principal and interest |
| Terminal | A device that looks like a television screen with a keyboard which, when hooked up to a computer, enables to enter data into the computer, and receive data from it which you see on the screen. The alternative to a terminal is a PC. |
| Terms | The loan terms for short term loans are usually between three and 18 months. |
| Theory of price | The belief that the price of a good can be discovered through the relationship of supply and demand. |
| Third class | Over 85% of all U. S. mail carrying advertising or promotion is sent by third class. It is much less costly than first class. It usually requires postal pre-sort. |
| Tiered pricing | A pricing strategy used to increase revenue and customer count. It involves offering differing versions of a product or service at different price points. Ideally, customers with the highest ability and willingness to spend will purchase the versions with the highest costs, while those with lesser ability and willingness to pay will purchase less expensive versions. |
| Tiger | A Census system for mapping the entire United States by Blocks, complete with roads and other landmarks. Customers and prospects can be shown on a map using geodemographic codes to represent where they are. |
| Time and materials pricing | A pricing model that is based upon the amount of labor and materials used. |
| Time based pricing | A strategy that selects a price based upon the time of day. For instance, a restaurant will often charge less for the very same meal at lunch than at dinner. A strategy that selects a price based upon the time of day. For instance, a restaurant will often charge less for the very same meal at lunch than at dinner. |
| Time horizon | The period between the beginning and end of an investment. Typically, investors will demand higher returns for investments with longer time horizons. |
| Time To Funds | Unlike other sources of small business funding, credit cards are very quick to apply for. Once you’ve been approved, you can expect to have your card in hand within seven to 10 days. |
| Tipping point | An unstable equilibrium at the boundary between two regions characterized by distinct movements in some variable. If the variable takes a value on one side, the variable moves in one direction; on the other, it moves in the other direction. See also: asset price bubble. |
| Tipping point (environmental) | A state of the environment beyond which some process (typically a degradation) becomes self-reinforcing, because of positive feedback processes. On one side, processes of environmental degradation are self-limiting. On the other side, positive feedbacks lead to self-reinforcing, runaway environmental degradation. See also: positive feedback (process). |
| Tolerance | The capacity to endure continued subjection to something such as a drug or environmental conditions without adverse reaction. |
| Too big to fail | Said to be a characteristic of large banks, whose central importance in the economy ensures they will be saved by the government if they are in financial difficulty. The bank thus does not bear all the costs of its activities and is therefore likely to take bigger risks. See also: moral hazard. |
| Top line | The revenue reported on an income statement. |
| Top up auction | An auction in which the winner pays his winning bid, but each other bidder must pay the difference between his bid and the next lower bid. |
| Total surplus | The total gains from trade received by all parties involved in the exchange. It is measured as the sum of the consumer and producer surpluses. See: joint surplus. |
| Trade balance | Value of exports minus the value of imports. Also known as: net exports. See also: trade deficit, trade surplus. |
| Trade costs | The transport costs, tariffs or other factors incurred in trading between markets in two countries that mean that, for affected goods, the law of one price will not hold across each market. See also: law of one price. |
| Trade deficit | A country’s negative trade balance (it imports more than it exports). See also: trade surplus, trade balance. |
| Trade off | A change in one trait to improve another trait. For instance, an increase in production may lead to a decrease in quality. |
| Trade surplus | A country’s positive trade balance (it exports more than it imports). See also: trade deficit, trade balance. |
| Trade union | An organization consisting predominantly of employees, the principal activities of which include the negotiation of rates of pay and conditions of employment for its members. |
| Trademark | A logo, a name, or a registered design typically associated with the right to exclude others from using it to identify their products. |
| Tragedy of the commons | A social dilemma in which self-interested individuals acting independently deplete a common resource, lowering the payoffs of all. See also: social dilemma. |
| Transaction cost | The sum of related expenses over and above the sticker price of a good. An example of a transaction cost might include the cost of training users to understand a software application. |
| Transaction costs | Costs that impede the bargaining process or the agreement of a contract. They include costs of acquiring information about the good to be traded, and costs of enforcing a contract. |
| Transferable good | An item for which ownership can be sold or given from one party to another. |
| Trilemma of the world economy | The likely impossibility that any country, in a globalized world, can simultaneously maintain deep market integration (across borders), national sovereignty, and democratic governance. First suggested by Dani Rodrik, an economist. |
| Triple bottom line | People, planet, profit. The bottom line was originally considered as just profit. In recent years, with the growth in popularity of corporate social responsibility, businesses are increasingly measuring project success not only in monetary terms, but also by examining their social and environmental performance. |
| Tripwire | A product sold primarily for the purpose of building a relationship with a new customer rather than increasing the bottom line. |
| Troy ounce | A measurement for gold, silver and other precious metals. It is slightly more than 31.1 grams. |
| Turnover | The total sales of a business or company during a specified period. |
| Two and twenty | A common fee structure for hedge funds. Firms will often charge 2% of their funds’ size each year plus 20% of any profits that are earned. |
