ABC analysis
- An approach for classifying accounts based on their attractiveness. A accounts are the most attractive while C accounts are the least attractive.
ABC inventory classification
- A classification scheme used to implement inventory management strategies. Products are segmented into groups based upon unit sales or some other criterion. (For example, class A might be items with the highest frequency of sales, etc.) Inventory management is then guided by this segmentation.
AIDA
- An approach to understanding how advertising and selling supposedly work. The assumption is that the consumer passes through several steps in the influence process. First, Attention must be developed, to be followed by Interest, Desire, and finally Action as called for in the message. Another, but similar, scheme was developed by Lavidge and Steiner in 1961, later to be dubbed the AIDA: Hierarchy of Effects Model by Palda in 1966. This approach involves the hierarchy of effects: awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, and finally purchase in that order. Note the similarity to the adoption process.
adaptation
- The process of adjusting to environmental stimuli such that the stimuli become less noticed.
adaptive product
- Also called adapted product, this market entry acquires its uniqueness by variation on another, more pioneering product. The degree of adaptation is more than trivial (to avoid being an emulative product or "me-too" product) but it varies greatly in significance.
