average

1. General: Number or quantity that is in-between (intermediate to) several quantities and numbers. See also mean.

2. General insurance: The term 'subject to average' means that if the sum insured at the time of a loss is less than the insurable value of the insured property, the amount claimed under the policy will be reduced in proportion to the under-insurance. Also called average clause. See also coinsurance.

3. Marine insurance: 'Average' means partial (loss); particular-average loss is borne by one party, and general-average loss is shared by all concerned. Now largely replaced with institute cargo clauses A, B, or C.

4. Quality control: Most common expression of the centering of a distribution computed by dividing the total observed values by the number of observations.

5. Securities trading: Appropriately weighted mean of a 'basket' of selected securities representing general market behavior. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), which measures the performance of the stocks of 30 the largest US corporations, is one well-known example.

There are a lot of self-fulfilling prophesies in business. Customers tend to gravitate toward what they think will be dominant, especially for products and services with high switching costs, because they don't want to opt for a company that might not survive and because the dominant vendors on average have better products and services. So perception leads reality, and those who are expected to win become more likely to win. For this reason, marketing needs to be focused on perception management. If a company can get the media to pick them as the horse to bet on, they'll be more likely to succeed.

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