The management discipline concerned with ensuring that business operations function productively and that they achieve the organization's goals as efficiently as possible. Chief among the concerns of operations managers are the efficient allocation and deployment of resources and the optimal organization of business processes.
Contributed by: Managerwise Staff
OPM
Other People's Money
Contributed by: Managerwise Staff
opportunity cost
The amount forfeited by choosing one course of action that excludes other actions. For example, imagine that you are considering two and only two opportunities, "A" and "B", but can only undertake one of them. If "B" would show a profit of $1,000, then the opportunity cost of choosing "A" is $1,000, the amount forgone by choosing "A" rather than "B".
If you are considering several options and can only choose one, the opportunity cost of any one option is the potential profit of the most profitable of the other options.
Contributed by: ManagerWise Staff
optimal order quantity
A synonym for economic order quantity. Abbreviated as Q*.
Typically abbreviated as OEM, this term is a misnomer. An original equipment manufacturer is not a manufacturer (at least not for the product(s) sold under an OEM agreement, but possibly for other products). Instead an OEM sells products made by others. The OEM may design the products, but not manufacture them. The products are sold under a brand owned by the OEM, not the original manufacturer--although some recognition may be given to the manufacturer.
Even "manufacturer" is misleading as the term OEM is also used in the software industry. In this case, software is sold under a brand name that is not owned by the company that developed the software. OEM software may be a complete product, but it may also be a component within a broader application that includes some software developed by the OEM and/or others.
Contributed by: Managerwise Staff
outplacement
Services offered by a company to assist a former or soon-to-be-former employee to find another job after the company has terminated the person's employment.
Using outside individuals or firms to perform functions that were previously performed within the company (or that are usually performed within the firm at other similar companies within the same industry). The term outsourcing applies equally well whether the work is sent to another country or it is done within the same country as where the company that is outsourcing the work is domiciled.
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