VCE VET Business key terms

An organised activity that produces goods or delivers services to customers in order to earn a profit or meet a community need.

The money left over when all costs of running a business are subtracted from the revenue it earns over a period.

The total income a business receives from selling its goods or services, before any costs are deducted.

The costs a business incurs in order to operate, such as wages, rent, stock and utilities.

Tangible products a customer can own, such as furniture, compared with intangible activities or expertise provided for a customer, such as hairdressing or accounting.

A person or organisation that buys goods or services from a business, either for personal use or to resell or use in operations.

Any person or group affected by, or with an interest in, what a business does, including owners, employees, customers, suppliers and the local community.

A person who owns part of a company by holding shares in it and who therefore has a claim on its profits and a vote on major decisions.

A business or individual that provides the raw materials, stock or services another business needs in order to operate.

The sequence of businesses and activities involved in moving a product from its raw materials through production to the final customer.

The planning and management of storing, moving and delivering goods and materials so they reach the right place at the right time.

The stock of raw materials, work in progress and finished goods that a business holds at a given time.

The systems and records a business uses to track how much stock it holds, when to reorder and how to avoid running out or overstocking.

The group of actual and potential buyers of a particular good or service, together with the conditions under which they buy and sell.

The process of gathering and analysing information about customers, competitors and market conditions to support business decisions.

The specific group of customers a business aims its products, pricing and promotion at, based on shared characteristics or needs.

The combination of product, price, place and promotion decisions a business uses to attract its chosen customers.

The methods a business uses to communicate with customers and persuade them to buy, such as advertising, sales and social media.

A written document that sets out a business idea, its goals, target market, operations and financial forecasts for a set period.

An assessment carried out before starting a venture to judge whether an idea is practical, viable and likely to succeed financially.

A specific result a business aims to achieve within a set time, such as increasing sales or reducing waste.

A measure used to judge how well a business or employee is progressing towards a goal, such as sales growth or customer satisfaction scores.

A standard or reference point, often drawn from competitors or industry data, against which a business compares its own performance.

The process of identifying possible threats to a business, judging how serious they are and taking steps to reduce or transfer them.

A prepared set of actions a business will follow if an unexpected event or disruption occurs, so operations can continue.

The ability of a business to keep essential operations running, or restore them quickly, after a disruption such as a fire or outage.

The graded part of a VCE VET program, where tasks are marked against set criteria and contribute to the study score.

A piece of work set by the teacher or trainer that students complete to show their skills and knowledge, such as a project or test.

The statements in a training package unit that describe exactly what a student must demonstrate to be judged competent.

The demonstrated ability to apply the skills and knowledge required to complete a workplace task to the standard expected in industry.

The work, observations or records a student produces that an assessor uses to judge whether the required competency has been met.

The specific standards or descriptors teachers use to decide the quality of a student's response and allocate marks fairly.

A marking guide that lists the criteria for a task and describes the level of performance needed to earn each mark range.

The process of checking that different assessors apply the same standards consistently, so marks are fair and comparable across groups.

A number from zero to fifty that ranks a student's overall achievement in a VCE study against all other students in that study.

A nationally endorsed set of qualifications and units that describes the skills and knowledge required for particular industries and jobs.

A single nationally recognised component of a training package that describes one area of work and the standard required to perform it.

A process where a student's existing skills and experience from work or study are assessed and credited towards a qualification.

A formal request by a student asking for an assessment decision or result to be reviewed because they believe it was wrong or unfair.