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Dictionary of Management

02:11

What is gamification?

Gamification involves applying the principles and mechanisms of gaming to serious contexts. Through gaming, it helps people engage in desired behaviors, but whose adoption is hampered by deeply ingrained habits. Liu, Santhanam, and Webster (2017) explain how a so-called "gamified" system can lead individuals to sustainably adopt a new behavior. This system is based on gamified objectives, objects, and interactions that maintain motivation to adopt new behaviors, despite the repeated efforts required to do so. Gamification combines social emulation, learning, and emotions to move from intention to action when it comes to adopting new behaviors.

CRISTOFINI Olivier - IAE Paris-Sorbonne Business School |

Management Dictionary
Marketing, Sales and Communication, Pedagogy of Management

02:46

What is profitability?

The profitability of the company is both a concept, the ability of the company to generate surpluses that come from material and financial resources that have been invested in the company and a measurement that takes the form of ratios that allow it to be qualified. It is essential to the sustainability of the company by ensuring the maintenance of production capital, the repayment of loans and sufficient remuneration of the capital invested by shareholders.

CABY Jérôme - IAE Paris-Sorbonne Business School |

Management Dictionary
Accounting and editing, Corporate and Market Finance

02:23

What is majority and minority abuse?

Can one be punished for exercising a right that is recognized to oneself? The answer, in law, has never been in doubt: while it is permissible to use one's right, it is not permissible to abuse it. Abuse of majority is the transposition into corporate law of the civil law theory of abuse of rights.

DOURNAUX Marianne - IAE Paris-Sorbonne Business School |

Management Dictionary
Management of Social and Solidarity Organizations, Organizational Theory

03:25

What is accrual-based cash management?

Accrual accounting, which applies to commercial businesses, requires that all commitments made or received during a given financial year be recorded in that year, regardless of the actual payment date. Thus, it is not the payment or cash collection that determines the recognition of expenses and revenues for the year, which explains the differences between cash flow and accounting profit.

BASSIN Claire - iaelyon School of Management |

Management Dictionary
Accounting and editing

02:48

What is affiliation?

Affiliate marketing is a model where an advertiser rewards partners for each sale or action generated through the traffic they produce. The key players include advertisers who offer deals, affiliates who promote these deals on their platforms, and affiliate platforms that coordinate the relationship and manage payments. Affiliates use tracking links to drive traffic to advertisers, and commissions are calculated based on specific sales or actions. This model offers several compensation methods, such as cost per sale, per lead, or per click. However, affiliate marketing faces challenges like click fraud, attribution conflicts, and market saturation, while offering the advantage of reducing financial risk for brands and providing monetization for affiliates.

MERCANTI-GUERIN Maria - IAE Paris-Sorbonne Business School |

Management Dictionary
Marketing, Sales and Communication

03:13

What is affordance?

Les affordances sont des possibilités d'action offertes par l'environnement : objets, artefacts, technologies. Ce concept a été créé pour compléter la vision fonctionnelle en mettant l'accent sur les actions des utilisateurs et en aidant à identifier les défaillances potentielles ou les effets négatifs que les autres approches ont du mal à identifier. Même si cette approche ne fournira jamais au créateur toutes les actions potentielles de l'utilisateur, elle permet de changer de point de vue pour en adopter un plus réfléchi et de concevoir des modèles organisationnels et des technologies plus sûrs et plus faciles à utiliser.

NAVAZHYLAVA Kseniya - EMLV |

Management Dictionary
Human Resources Management, Innovation Management, Organizational Theory

03:20

What is the annual performance review?

For these reasons, the risk is that the annual review becomes a somewhat outdated practice, performed ritualistically just to please HR. However, many companies are evolving this process by multiplying the exercises: giving feedback whenever necessary and involving various stakeholders, discussing compensation once a year, talking about training at the start of a project…

NOEL Florent - |

Management Dictionary
Human Resources Management

03:04

What is the anthropocene?

The Anthropocene refers to an era in which human activities are profoundly disrupting the planet's natural balance, threatening life on Earth. In response to this reality, companies must urgently rethink their strategies by integrating biophysical and climate data. Yet many continue to overlook these sciences, relying instead on economic projections that are disconnected from ecological constraints. This disconnect further exacerbates planetary imbalances, and failing to account for Earth's limits has now become a matter of strategic irresponsibility.

GAUTHIER Thomas - IPAG Business School |

Management Dictionary
Strategic Management, Sustainable Development and CSR

03:50

What is auditing?

Statutory audit involves having an entity’s financial statements certified by an independent external firm. The audit team conducts checks, tailored to the specific characteristics of the audited entity, to identify any material misstatements in the accounts. At the end of the audit engagement, the team will either certify that the financial statements are true and fair, or, on the contrary, refuse to certify them if significant irregularities have been found.

BASSIN Claire - iaelyon School of Management |

Management Dictionary
Accounting and editing

03:03

What is autonomy?

If we combine these different dimensions, we see that behind the notion of autonomy emerges a new way of thinking about work — one that differs from subordinated labor or work seen merely as a "factor of production." Between prescribed work and real work, between granted autonomy and earned autonomy, between freedom and social constraints, a new approach to management is emerging: moving away from constraint to allow employees to propose initiatives, as long as their proposals create value for the organization. Ultimately, the goal is to develop and harness their expertise in the interest of the organization, while also supporting their emancipation, which could be seen as the ultimate purpose of work.

NOEL Florent - |

Management Dictionary
Human Resources Management, Organizational Theory

02:43

What is the balance sheet?

The balance sheet is a key document that provides a snapshot of a company's financial position at a given point in time. It is structured into two main parts: assets, representing what the company owns, and liabilities, representing what it owes. Assets are divided into fixed assets (intended to remain in the company long-term) and current assets (easily convertible into cash, such as inventory, receivables, or cash on hand). Liabilities include equity, provisions for risks and charges, as well as debts. The balance sheet allows for an assessment of the company's financial health by providing an overview of its resources and obligations. It is often complemented by other financial statements, such as the income statement, and financial indicators to refine the analysis of the company's financial condition.

BOLLINGER Sophie - Faculté des Sciences Economiques et de Gestion Strasbourg |

Management Dictionary
Accounting and editing, Management Control

03:13

What is banking delegation?

A bank's ability to grant credit relies on the availability and sharing of objective and subjective information among decision-makers. Delegation, understood as the contract that authorizes a bank employee to make decisions on its behalf, therefore plays a key role in the bank's financial commitment and, more broadly, in the quality of its debt portfolio.

MAYMO Vincent - IAE Bordeaux |

Management Dictionary
Corporate and Market Finance