zero-sum

(adjective)

Of any system in which all gains are offset by exactly equal losses.

Related Terms

Examples of zero-sum in the following topics:

  • McClelland's Need Theory

    • However, they may take a zero-sum approach to group work—for one person to win, or succeed, another must lose, or fail.

  • Overview of Strategic Planning Tools

    • One popular scenario application is called the zero-sum game, where the costs and revenues are equated to see at what level of cost or what level of revenue a zero-sum bottom line can be achieved.

  • The Technology Life Cycle

    • This decline eventually reaches the point of a zero-sum game, where margins are no longer procured.

  • Introduction to Red Ocean and Blue Ocean Strategy

    • In this case, winning market share is a zero sum game, where the gains of one company are a direct loss of another.

  • The Importance of Performance Targets

    • Success can be defined as progress towards strategic or operational goals such as zero defects, percentage of customer satisfaction (or retention), profitability margins, etc.

  • The Importance of Motivation

    • ., the opportunity cost of motivating employees is essentially zero, assuming it does not require additional capital to coach managers to act as effective motivators.

  • Accountability in Teams

    • Because teamwork is organized at the collective level rather than on a per-person basis, its results are the sum of each member's efforts.

  • Visual Scorecards

    • A balanced scorecard is the sum of all relevant inputs; the visual scorecard is the graphic representation of findings or results.

  • Financial and Budgetary Controls

    • Financial forecasting calculations, such as payback periods, calculate the period of time required for the return on an investment to repay the sum of the original investment.
    • It determines the "current value" of a sum of money on an annual (or monthly) basis, the value that cash paid out years from now would have if it was paid out today.

  • The Resource-Based View

    • If competitors are able to counter the firm's value-creating strategy with a substitute, prices are driven down to the point that the price equals the discounted future rents, resulting in zero economic profits.