Your Free Online Legal Dictionary • Featuring Black’s Law Dictionary, 2nd Ed.

Category: O

OVERCAPACITY

When production capacity exceeds the demand for a product.

OVERHEATING

Situation in which an economy’s production capacity fails to meet the demands of the market, which can cause or exacerbate inflation.

OVERSELL

Occurs when a salesman continues trying to sell a product even after a consumer has agreed to buy it.

OBJECTIVE STANDARD

A standard that is based on factual measurements, in the absence of a biased judgement or analysis. TLD Example: The use of a reasonable person standard to determine whether someone acted negligently

OCKHAM’S RAZOR

The requisite that the number of assumptions be kept to a minimum. The simpler of two assumptions is usually assumed in the event that both of them are equally valid.

OFF SPEC

Failure to meet the prescribed specifications or standards.

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

An executive department under the U.S government that handles matter related to the international trade policy. The USTR recommends trade policies and takes part in trade negotiations by working closely with the

OFFLINE DEBIT CARD

Cards that have a slight delay in the processing of the seller’s transactions and as such the seller’s account is only credited with the amount after two days. In comparison, funds are

OFF-SOURCE

Accomplishment of tasks by a third party service provider or manufacturer that saves the company on monetary and labor costs.

ON THE RECORD

An interview, meeting or courtroom session of which a written, audio or video record is kept as permanent evidence.

ONLINE BANKING

A service that enables users to access their bank accounts, conduct transactions and view their transaction history via the Internet (rather than over the telephone or in person).

OPEN

This is the price for the first trade of a security in a trading session.

OPEN DOOR POLICY

A style of management that enables employees to speak with senior managers directly, rather than through intermediaries.

OPEN OPERATING SYSTEM

An operating system designed to work with a range of processors, making it flexible and inexpensive for users.

OPEN SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

A system or device that is designed around common standards and is independent of individual vendors. Thus, any vendor is able to create programs or interfaces for the system or device, and

OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS (OC) CURVE

A quality control graph that shows the likelihood that a production lot will contain an acceptable number of defective items using various sampling schemes.

OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS

All those agents or forces that are out of an organization’s control, but can accelerate or restrict the organization?s success.

OPTIMAL CURRENCY AREA

An area in which common currency will improve economic efficiency, based on a theory credited to Robert Mundell.

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