Business glossary

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Value added tax (VAT) - A tax added at each stage in the manufacture of a product. It acts as a replacement for a sales tax in almost every industrialized country outside North America.

Value Chain - A value-added process in a firm to transform raw materials and other inputs to finished goods, which creates value to customers.

Value Stocks - Stocks with low price/book ratios or price/earnings ratios. Historically, value stocks have enjoyed higher average returns than growth stocks (stocks with high price/book or PE ratios) in a variety of countries.

Variable - An element of data whose changes are the object of a statistical study.

Variable annuity - An annuity whose payments depend either on the success of investments that underlie it, or on the value of the index. Business glossary.

Variable Costs - costs that changes as production changes, for example, raw materials, production labor, storage and shipping, etc.

Variable interest rate - An interest rate that changes, usually in relation to a standard index, during the period of the loan.

Venture capital - Money used to finance new companies or projects, especially those with high earning potential and high risk.

Venture funding - The round of funding for a new company that follows seed funding provided by venture capitalists.

Venture management - The collaboration of various sections within an organization to encourage entrepreneurial spirit, increase innovation, and produce successful new products more quickly.

Verbal contract - An agreement that is oral and not written down. It remains legally enforceable by the parties who have agreed to it.

Vertical market - A market that is oriented to one particular specialty, for example, plastics manufacturing or transportation engineering.  Business glossary.

Viral marketing - The rapid spread of a message about a new product or service in a similar way to the spread of a virus.

Virtual Corporation - Partnerships so close those two partners become a single firm for all operational purposes.

Virtual organization - A temporary network of companies, suppliers, customers, or employees, linked by information and communications technologies, with the purpose of delivering a service or product.

Vision statement - A statement giving a broad, aspirational image of the future that an organization is aiming to achieve.

Vulture capitalist - A venture capitalist who structures deals on behalf of an entrepreneur in such a way that the investors benefit rather than the entrepreneur.