Dictionary of Procurement Terms

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  • World Class Manufacturing

    The capability of a manufacturer to compete with any other manufacturing organization in a chosen market, with the aspiration of achieving world class excellence in all organizational aspects. It encompasses the practices of total quality management, continuous improvement, international benchmarking, and flexible work schedules. (Business, 2002)

  • World Trade Organization (WTO)

    An organization established by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1995 to enforce the provisions of the Uruguay Round and to resolve any disputes arising there from. The WTO consists of 147 member countries and is headquartered in Geneva Switzerland. Its mission is to deal with the rules of trade between nations. (WTO)

  • World Trade Organization-Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP)

    Replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) on January 1, 1996. It is a multilateral agreement to reduce trade barriers between the United States and Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Israel, Norway, and Switzerland. (Business, 2002)

  • Write-down

    CANADIAN The reduction of the recorded value of materiel as a result of conversion or change of conditions while in inventory.

  • Write-off

    The deletion from records of material due to shortage or loss by any cause.

  • WTO


    See Also: World Trade Organization (WTO)

  • Yield

    The annual income from a security, expressed as a percentage of the current market price of the security. The yield on a share is its dividend divided by its price. (Bishop, 2004)

  • Zero Based Budgeting

    A budget process in which budgets are prepared with no predetermined allocation or prior year budget history. Each new budget must be created based on justifiable projected program needs.

  • Zero Defects Standard

    A quality management theory that defines quality from the customer’s perspective as conformance to requirements and then improving processes through prevention activities to meet requirements. This quality process was championed by quality guru, Philip Crosby. (Burt, Dobler, & Starling, 2003)