What is Gross Margin? Gross margin is the difference between a company's net revenue in sales and cost of goods sold (COGS). Mathematically, gross margin can be represented as, GrossMargin = NetSales Revenue COGS. In simple terms, the gross margin is an indication of the amount of sales revenue that the company is able to retain as profit after payi...

What is Macroeconomics? Macroeconomics is a field of economics that studies how market forces, such as unemployment rates, interest rates, inflation, government spending, and international trade, influence one or more nations' economy. What are the Goals of Macroeconomics? In thinking about the macroeconomy's overall health, it is useful to consider...

What is Keynesian Analysis? Keynesian economics focuses on explaining why recessions and depressions occur and offering a policy prescription for minimizing their effects. The Keynesian view of recession is based on two key building blocks.  First, aggregate demand is not always automatically high enough to provide firms with an incentive to hire en...

What are the 6 Thinking Hats? The Six Thinking Hats is a technique developed by Edward de Bono to explore different perspectives (emotional states and frames of mind) when facing a complex situation.  The objective is to simplify taking multiple approaches to a problem while also allowing individuals to assume a variety of perspectives.   How does t...

What is the EFQM Model?  The EFQM Model is a non-prescriptive TQM framework based on nine criteria broken into enablers (what the organization does) and results (what the organization achieves). Enablers drive results, while results provide feedback to enablers.  The EFQM adopts the Total Quality Management idea that the quality control function sho...

What is the Bridging Epistemologies framework?  The Bridging Epistemologies, proposed by Cook and Brown, identify 4 types of knowledge: explicit and tacit at the individual and collective levels, and consider how they are bridged by the active process of knowing (OUBS,2001).  The process by which different knowledge types are used in practice is des...

What is the Enneagram of 9 Personalities? The Enneagram of Personalities, first introduced by Gurdjief (1866 – 1949), identifies 9 distinct personality types and characteristic emotional states to which the personalities are connected. What is the Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI)? The Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI) is a que...

What is Ambiguity Theory? Ambiguity theory assumes that turbulence and unpredictability are dominant features of organizations.That is, the organization is marked by uncertainty and unpredictability.  The rational model is undermined by ambiguity, since it is so heavily dependent on the availability of information about relationships between inputs ...

What is Diminishing Marginal Utility? The law of Diminishing Marginal Utility is an economic concept. It applies to when a particular commodity is consumed. Consumption of a commodity produces a benefit; but, as consumption grows, the benefit from consuming an additional or higher volume of a commodity goes down. The word utility is used to represen...