Business & Finance Glossary: G
20 terms starting with G, from a glossary of 559 definitions covering intangible assets, valuations, and key financial concepts.
GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (EU 2016/679), a comprehensive data protection law that governs the collection, processing, and storage of personal data of individuals within the European Economic Area. GDPR imposes strict requirements on data controllers and processors, including lawful basis for processing, data minimisation, breach notification within 72 hours, and fines of up to 4% of global annual turnover for non-compliance.
Read more →General Partner (GP)
The managing entity of a private equity or venture capital fund, responsible for making investment decisions, managing portfolio companies, and generating returns for investors. GPs typically earn management fees and carried interest. GPs are responsible for identifying, acquiring, and developing portfolio companies, with increasing emphasis on building intangible asset value through operational improvements, technology investment, and brand development.
Read more →Generative AI
A category of artificial intelligence systems capable of creating new content — including text, images, code, music, and video — based on patterns learned from training data. Generative AI is transforming content production, product design, and software development, raising novel questions about intellectual property ownership and the valuation of AI-generated outputs.
Read more →Generic Drug
A pharmaceutical product that contains the same active ingredient, dosage form, strength, and route of administration as an originator (branded) drug and is demonstrated to be bioequivalent. Generic drugs can be manufactured and marketed after the expiry of the originator's patent protection and regulatory exclusivity periods. They typically enter the market at 70-90% discounts to the branded price, and their introduction materially impacts the valuation of pharmaceutical patent intangible assets in purchase price allocations.
Read more →Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy
The plan a company uses to launch a product or enter a new market, encompassing target customer definition, value proposition, pricing, distribution channels, and sales approach. An effective GTM strategy converts product-market fit into scalable revenue. A well-designed GTM strategy leverages the organisation's intangible assets — including brand positioning, customer insights, and intellectual property — to achieve efficient market penetration and sustainable revenue growth.
Read more →Goodwill
An intangible asset that arises when a company is acquired for more than the fair value of its net identifiable assets. Goodwill reflects factors such as brand value, customer loyalty, workforce expertise, and synergies that are expected to generate future economic benefits.
Read more →Goodwill Impairment
A non-cash charge recorded when the carrying value of goodwill on the balance sheet exceeds its estimated recoverable amount. Goodwill impairment testing, required annually under IFRS and US GAAP, often signals that the intangible value anticipated at the time of acquisition — including synergies, customer relationships, and growth potential — has not been realised.
Read more →Goodwill Impairment Testing
The mandatory annual assessment (and more frequent assessment when indicators exist) of whether the carrying amount of goodwill exceeds its recoverable amount. Under IAS 36, goodwill is tested at the cash generating unit level by comparing the unit's carrying amount (including allocated goodwill) with its recoverable amount. Under ASC 350, a single-step quantitative test compares the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount, and any excess of carrying amount over fair value is recognised as an impairment loss, limited to the total goodwill allocated to that reporting unit.
Read more →Gordon Growth Model
A dividend discount model that values a perpetual stream of cash flows growing at a constant rate, calculated as the next period's cash flow divided by the difference between the discount rate and the growth rate. The Gordon growth model is widely used to estimate terminal value in discounted cash flow analyses and requires that the assumed growth rate remains below the discount rate.
Read more →Greenfield Method
A valuation technique that estimates the value of an intangible asset by modelling the cash flows of a hypothetical business that starts from scratch ('greenfield') with only the subject asset in place, building up all other assets over time. The greenfield method captures the head-start value of having the intangible asset from inception. It is commonly used to value regulatory licences, broadcasting rights, and other enabling intangible assets where the asset provides a right to operate rather than direct earnings.
Read more →Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
The total monetary value of all finished goods and services produced within a country during a specific time period. GDP is the broadest measure of national economic output and is widely used as a proxy for overall economic health. In the context of intangible assets, GDP figures increasingly understate true economic output because national accounting frameworks struggle to capitalise intangible investment — software, R&D, brand-building, and organisational capital — leading to a persistent measurement gap between recorded GDP and actual value creation.
Read more →Gross Margin
Revenue minus the cost of goods sold (COGS), expressed as a percentage of revenue. Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company produces its goods or delivers its services and determines how much revenue is available to cover operating expenses and generate profit.
Read more →Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)
The percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers over a period, excluding any expansion revenue. GRR isolates the impact of churn and contraction and can never exceed 100%. A GRR above 90% is generally considered strong for SaaS businesses. GRR is a critical metric in SaaS and subscription business valuations, as it isolates the rate at which existing revenue is retained before accounting for expansion, providing a clear measure of customer satisfaction and product-market fit.
Read more →Gross Value Added (GVA)
The measure of the value of goods and services produced, calculated as revenue minus the cost of purchased inputs (services, energy, and materials). GVA captures the value a company creates through its own activities and is a core productivity metric in the Opagio framework.
Read more →Growth Accounting
An analytical framework that decomposes economic or firm-level output growth into contributions from labour, capital, and a residual factor often interpreted as technological progress or total factor productivity. Growth accounting is fundamental to understanding how intangible investments — in R&D, software, organisational design, and human capital — drive productivity improvements.
Read more →Growth Capital
Investment funding provided to established companies to accelerate expansion, enter new markets, develop products, or make acquisitions. Growth capital sits between venture capital (higher risk, earlier stage) and traditional private equity (mature businesses, often leveraged).
Read more →Growth Equity
A style of private equity investment focused on mature, profitable, or near-profitable companies seeking capital to accelerate expansion without ceding majority control. Growth equity investors typically target businesses with proven product-market fit and strong intangible asset bases, providing capital for scaling operations, entering new markets, or funding acquisitions.
Read more →Growth Forecasting
The process of projecting a company's future growth trajectory based on historical data, market conditions, and investment patterns. Incorporating intangible asset data and productivity trends significantly improves forecast accuracy and reduces investor uncertainty.
Read more →Guideline Public Company Method
A market approach valuation technique that estimates the value of a subject company by reference to the trading multiples of publicly listed companies with similar business characteristics. The method involves identifying comparable public companies, selecting appropriate valuation multiples (such as EV/EBITDA or P/E), making adjustments for differences in size, growth, risk, and marketability, and applying the adjusted multiples to the subject company's financial metrics. It is one of the two primary market approach methods alongside the guideline transaction method.
Read more →Guideline Transaction Method
A market approach valuation technique that estimates the value of a subject company by reference to the prices paid in actual acquisitions of comparable businesses. The method involves identifying relevant transactions, extracting implied valuation multiples, adjusting for differences in timing, deal structure, and synergy expectations, and applying the adjusted multiples to the subject company. Transaction multiples typically reflect a control premium and may be higher than public trading multiples.
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