What is the World Bank Group? The World Bank Group is a multilateral development bank that was conceived in 1946 as one of the two Bretton Woods institutions, along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It began as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to assist in the rebuilding of Europe and Japan…
What is the World Trade Organization (WTO)? The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a multilateral organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It came into existence on January 1, 1995, as a successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The organization functions as a central body that facilitates global trade. The WTO provides a…
What is a Spot Market? A spot market is a financial market where financial instruments and commodities are traded for instantaneous delivery. Delivery refers to the physical exchange of a financial instrument or commodity with a cash consideration. The spot market is also known as the cash market or physical market because cash payments are…
What is Horizontal Integration? Horizontal integration is a competitive strategy where business entities operating at the value chain level and within the same industry merge to increase the production of goods and services. The overall gain from a horizontal integration is an increase in the market power and minimal loss for being non-integrated. Horizontal integration…
What is a Short Run? A short run is a term widely used in economics – or microeconomics, more specifically – to describe a conceptualized period of time. A short run doesn’t so much describe literal time, as it describes a planning period in which one or more production inputs are considered fixed in quantity…
What is the Point of Diminishing Returns? The point of diminishing returns refers to a point after the optimal level of capacity is reached, where every added unit of production results in a smaller increase in output. It is a concept used in the field of microeconomics. According to the law of diminishing marginal returns,…
What is National Debt? National debt refers to the total of all debts owed by the government of a country. It mostly comes from bonds and other debt securities, but can also be from direct borrowing from international institutions such as the World Bank. Classifications of National Debt National debt can be classified in various…
What is “Keep and Pay”? “Keep and Pay” refers to a type of bankruptcy strategy that a person can still keep certain assets after filing for bankruptcy, as long as he/she continues to pay for the assets. The rules of keep and pay vary in different states. Understanding Keep and Pay An individual can file…
What is Kamikaze Defense? Kamikaze defense refers to a type of strategy that a target company can take to defend against a hostile takeover. “Kamikaze” means “divine wind” in Japanese. It was originally a special attack unit of the Japanese army, particularly responsible for performing suicide attacks. In the business world, it represents an anti-takeover…
