Visual Glossary Entries

Sample Solution

The definition of toxicity Toxicity is the degree to which a substance (a toxin or poison) can harm humans or animals. Acute toxicity involves harmful effects in an organism through a single or short-term exposure. The dose-response relationship is an essential concept in toxicology. It correlates exposures with changes in body functions or health. In general, the higher the dose, the more severe the response. The dose-response curve is a visual representation of the response rates of a population to a range of doses of a substance. A threshold for toxic effect occurs at the point where the body`s ability to detoxify a xenobiotic or repair toxic injury has been exceeded. Most organs have a reserve capacity such that loss of some organ function does not result in decreased performance. For example, development of cirrhosis in the liver may not result in a clinical effect until over 50% of the organ has been replaced by fibrous tissue.

PEST, PESTLE, STEEPLE etc [Morrison, 2009]. PEST stands for Political, Economic, Social and Technology. The Extended forms of PESTLE have further includes Legal and Environment. Another version of STEEPLE has further extended to include Ethical or Education and some even extended it to STEEPLED which includes demographic. It is important to understand the key drivers of change on these factors and the differential impact of these external influences and drivers have on particular industries of interest [Johnson, Kevan and Richard 2007].

1.2 SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis concept is originated from SOFT analysis introduced by Albert Humphrey with original goal to study corporate planning. SOFT is the acronyms for Satisfactory, Opportunity, Fault and Threat. Urick and Orr introduce SWOT analysis in 1964 during a seminar in Long Range Planning changing Satisfaction and Fault into Strength and Weakness [Morrison 2009]. Opportunity and Threat are factors external to the organisation, PEST analysis is often perform for this purposes. Strength and Weakness are factor internal to the organisation, it is often done by analysing the organisation’s financial position, product position, marketing capability, research and development capability, organisational structure, human resources, facilities/equipment and past objective and strategy [Thames Business School, P63].

1.3 Porter’s Five Forces

Porter’s five forces are developed by Michael E. Porter during 1979 as a framework to analyse industry and business strategy [Wikipedia, 2008]. The five forces includes threat of new entrants, rivalry among existing firms, threat of a substitute products or services, bargaining power of buyers and bargaining power of suppliers. Freeman recommends a sixth force: Relative power of other stakeholders, being added to Porter’s original five forces [Thames Business School, P61]. This analysis if often uses to evaluate an organisation’s competitive strength and its position in the industry.

2.0 Company Introduction