13 TOPICS THAT THE ADMINISTRATION STUDENT MUST MASTER

Material adapted and edited by Professor Jaime Acuña Barraza

for Business Administration University Technic career students
UDA English Center – Sede Vallenar

The administration student needs to have a broad theoretical and practical knowledge in relevant and current
topics of general aspects, from administrative knowledge to international business.

Currently, teaching is based on a study plan based on theoretical bases and paradigms; It seeks to obtain some
knowledge based on a structure based on the generalities of the administration. However, a broader view of
knowledge and information must be created.

The main topics in which every administrator must be expert and skilled are the following:

1. Prospective study: To analyze the training needs to ensure their adaptation to the job; it is based on the
observation of the labor market, the identification of technological, organizational and occupational trends
and their impacts on professional training strategies and programs.

2. Body language: It includes all the conscious and unconscious signals of the body that give information
about the emotional state or the intentions of a person. All non-verbal expressions of gestures, facial
expression, body posture and movement are included here.

3. Financial Reporting Standards: These are a set of concepts and guidelines that regulate the preparation
and presentation of financial statement information. In addition, they are generally accepted in a certain place
and date.

4. Future markets: The futures markets can be understood as an act of commerce in which materials are
bought or sold at a future date. Prices, quantities, conditions and expiration date of the act are established in
the current time. Generally, in the futures exchanges agricultural, livestock, fishing, mining and forest products
are traded. In each contract the quantity, quality, date, place of delivery and price are specified.

5. Stock market, technical and fundamental analysis:

-A stock market analysis can be defined as the study of the characteristics and elements of a determined
investment. It allows you to analyze the existing financing options within the stock market. It is made up of
certain elements, such as financial information, and includes some reports, audits, consolidated statements,
balance sheets, accounts and also non-financial information, such as market analysis, investment policies,
financing models, among other elements.

-A technical analysis implies the study of a series of components, which will be very useful for carrying out
different kinds of operations. These elements can be charts and stock trends. This type of analysis gives the
analyst the possibility of knowing the evolution of the prices, obtained through the information provided in
the graphs.

-Finally, a fundamental analysis makes it possible to study the evolution of stocks within the context of the
stock market. In this way, if the analysis is correct, the errors are subject to the market's own factors. If this
analysis is not carried out, the investment in the stock market would not exist as such. The primary objective
of fundamental analysis is to try to reason, in a logical way, the behavior of a company and being able to deduce
it, through projections.
6. Strategic planning: It is a management tool, which allows to establish the process by which companies
make decisions, define deadlines and allocate their resources to achieve their objectives.

7. ERP and CRM: Both are systems that define different concepts but are related to business management.
ERP refers to enterprise resource planning and CRM refers to the management of relationships with the
customers (Customer Relationship Management). So, both systems improve efficiency in business processes.
But while ERP focuses on reducing costs by making business processes more efficient, CRM seeks to increase
sales.

8. Swap, forward and spot contracts: a Swap Contract is based on a monetary exchange by two parts, on a
certain date. The Forward Contract deals with a single payment called "settlement" on a later date set. And the
Spot Contract is a purchase or sale contract, whether of some raw material or money, this is fulfilled before
the stipulated date.

9. Country risk: Country risk is an economic index designed to measure the risk that a country could
represent for foreign investors, as explained in this note. The level of fiscal deficit, economic growth, the
political situation and the income-debt ratio are some factors that influence in country risk.

10. Top-down and bottom-up analysis: The top-down analysis is one in which investors are included in a
global context, until a conclusion is reached about the company being evaluated. On the other hand, bottom-
up analysis is one in which looking for good investment ideas, far from the general vision.

11. Stock Pick: It is a stock pick when an analyst or investor uses a systematic form of analysis to conclude
that a particular stock will make a good investment and therefore should be added to their portfolio. This is
also known as active management. The position can be long or short and will depend on the analyst or
investor's perspective for the particular share price.

12. Trade balance: The trade balance or merchandise balance is the economic record of a country where
merchandise imports and exports are collected, that is, they are income minus payments from a country's
merchandise trade. Through the trade balance, you can obtain more information about the exports and
imports that take place in a country and at a given time. Specifically, this balance indicates the difference
between the goods that a country sells abroad and the goods that it acquires from other countries.

13. Holistic knowledge: A holistic knowledge is aimed at simultaneously capturing all the aspects that make
up a thing and the way in which all those parts interact with each other to give as a result that object, living
being or idea so particular and original that it cannot be confused with no other.

After you are satisfied by reading carefully the previous text, please consider the following questions
and please answer them as best as you can.

1.- According to your opinion, what is the message that you got from the reading's title?
2.- Develop the main idea and at least 2 secondary ideas from the text.
3.- As a group, you have to create a glossary with some technical words related to your career or college
technical specialty.
4.- Finally, as a group, develop a brief opinion or reflection, in Spanish language, about the text you
have both read and analised.