Business RC Terms for CAT VARC
Master essential business concepts that appear in CAT Reading Comprehension passages. From corporate governance to disruptive innovation, build the vocabulary that transforms complex business texts into scoring opportunities.
Why Business Terms Matter for CAT Reading Comprehension
Business and management passages are among the most frequently tested topics in CAT VARC. These passages examine corporate strategy, organizational behavior, economic theories, and entrepreneurial innovation—topics that require specialized vocabulary to navigate effectively.
When you encounter terms like corporate governance, disruptive innovation, or stakeholder theory, you’re accessing frameworks that explain how modern organizations operate. Each business term represents tested concepts about markets, leadership, strategy, and organizational dynamics.
CAT toppers consistently report that mastering business terminology improves comprehension speed by 30-40% on management passages. Why? Business terms provide instant context. Instead of puzzling over abstract arguments about “organizational effectiveness” or “strategic positioning,” you immediately recognize the framework and anticipate the author’s reasoning pattern.
What mastering these terms enables:
- Decode corporate strategy passages faster, identifying competitive advantages and market positioning within seconds
- Understand organizational behavior concepts that explain workplace dynamics and leadership philosophies
- Recognize economic frameworks like capitalism, innovation theory, and sustainability that structure business arguments
- Answer inference questions confidently by understanding implicit assumptions about markets and organizations
- Navigate management theory passages that discuss leadership, change, and organizational culture
This page contains 25 carefully curated business flashcards covering essential concepts from corporate governance to digital disruption. Each term includes definitions, memory hooks, and RC context showing how these concepts appear in actual CAT passages. Ready to test your understanding across all Social Sciences subjects?
Take Social Sciences Diagnostic Quiz →Your Learning Progress
Track your mastery of business terms. Your progress is saved automatically and persists across sessions.
💼 25 Business Flashcards for CAT VARC
Click any card to flip and reveal detailed context. Mark as mastered to track your progress. Each term includes a memory hook to aid retention.
💡 Study Strategy for Business Terms
Business is part of the broader Social Sciences cluster. Explore related subjects like Economics, Sociology, and Politics to build comprehensive RC vocabulary across interconnected disciplines.
Pro tip: Business passages often combine multiple frameworks. A single passage might discuss corporate governance (management), stakeholder theory (ethics), and disruptive innovation (strategy). Mastering these 25 interconnected terms prepares you for complex, multi-layered business arguments.
🎯 Quick Mastery Quiz
Test your understanding of business concepts. Get instant feedback with detailed explanations.
How to Master Business Terms for RC
🧠 The Spaced Repetition Method
Business concepts build upon each other—corporate governance connects to stakeholder theory, which links to CSR. Use spaced repetition to cement these relationships:
- Day 1: Study all flashcards, paying attention to how terms connect (governance → stakeholders → sustainability)
- Day 2: Review and mark familiar terms as “mastered,” focus on complex frameworks like Blue Ocean Strategy
- Day 4: Quick review emphasizing term relationships and RC context sections
- Day 7: Final comprehensive review before attempting the quiz
This spacing helps you move beyond memorization to understanding—essential for inference questions about business strategy and organizational behavior.
📖 Context Over Definition
CAT passages rarely define business terms explicitly. Instead, they use them to structure arguments about markets, organizations, and strategy. Train yourself to:
- Read the “RC Context” section carefully on each flashcard—this shows exactly how terms appear in actual passages
- Notice framework words: “traditional approach,” “emerging paradigm,” “challenges the notion,” “builds upon”
- Identify the business debate: Most passages present competing views (shareholder vs. stakeholder capitalism, traditional vs. disruptive innovation)
- Practice contextual inference: Even without exact definitions, surrounding text reveals whether a passage discusses strategy, ethics, or organizational structure
🎯 The “Business Framework” Strategy
Business passages follow predictable argumentative patterns. Master this structure:
- Traditional View: The author introduces an established business concept (e.g., shareholder primacy)
- Challenge/Alternative: A competing perspective is presented (stakeholder theory challenges profit-maximization)
- Synthesis/Evolution: Often a third view reconciles or transcends the debate (triple bottom line accounting)
- RC Questions focus on: Understanding these relationships and identifying which framework the author endorses
When you recognize terms like “corporate governance,” “innovation management,” and “sustainability,” you can instantly map the passage’s argument structure and anticipate questions about the author’s position.
⚡ Common RC Passage Patterns in Business
CAT business passages cluster around specific themes. Knowing these terms helps you identify the pattern instantly:
- “Corporate Purpose” passages → Expect terms like stakeholder theory, CSR, corporate governance, business ethics
- “Strategic Innovation” passages → Expect disruptive innovation, Blue Ocean Strategy, business model innovation, entrepreneurship
- “Organizational Dynamics” passages → Expect organizational behavior, leadership philosophy, organizational culture, change management
- “Economic Systems” passages → Expect capitalism, globalization, knowledge economy, gig economy, sustainability
- “Management Theory” passages → Expect leadership vs. management, organizational learning, business resilience, behavioral economics
Pro tip: When you spot 3-4 business terms in the opening paragraph, you’ve identified the framework. Read actively, anticipating how the author will use these concepts to build their argument. This transforms passive reading into strategic comprehension.
