THE preponderance of jargon in the business world is, at times, demoralising. Fairly recent arrivals include “scale-ups”, and “unicorns”.

People could perhaps be forgiven for thinking they had wandered inadvertently into a video game aimed at the teenage market. However, these terms are in fact being applied, lamentably with ever-increasing frequency, to companies.

For anyone resilient enough to cut through the latest fads in terminology in the corporate world, “scale-up” is used to describe a company with potential for rapid expansion. “Unicorn”, meanwhile, is used to bestow some kind of almost exalted status on a company, in terms of its valuation.

It seems many are keen to pigeon-hole businesses, in a similar way to some companies’ disturbing efforts to categorise their employees by personality type.

However, while efforts to stereotype businesses might be viewed as useful for the purposes of economic policy-making, we should definitely be wary of becoming too reliant on often meaningless categorisation.

Individual businesses should be judged on their own merits. At the end of the day, they are built by and for people and, whatever the human resources departments of big corporations might have you believe, everyone is in fact different.

The latest wave of corporate jargon is also being applied to the behaviour of companies and the people who run them. Perhaps the most irritating of all is the recent embracing of the word “disruption” by the corporate world.

For long enough, we have been content to use the word “disruption” to describe something that happens to traffic in the event of roadworks, or what would be best avoided after closing time on a Saturday night. And rightly so.

There is no need to use “disruption” to describe the behaviour of companies and the people who run them. Please can we return to the old-fashioned way of describing such behaviour? What is wrong with saying someone has come up with a new idea, or wants to break into a particular market by offering a different product or service to those available at the moment?

It is not as if the corporate or entrepreneurial behaviour that “disruption” is being used to describe is new. It has been going on for centuries.

Staying on the jargon front, it does not matter whether we call Edinburgh-based flight search engine developer Skyscanner a “unicorn” or not. It is a great technological and commercial success story either way.

And what is the point of likening fantasy sports company FanDuel, which was founded in Edinburgh, to a legendary creature? It is plain to see, without any buzzwords, that FanDuel has grown into a major operation.

What is important for the prosperity of Scotland is that we have successful businesses of all sizes.

It has clearly always been good for Scotland’s economy and global reputation that we have major companies headquartered here. And it is increasingly important that a good number of these big businesses are operating at the cutting edge of technology in the sector they are in, whether it be software, engineering, biotechnology or whatever.

However, we should not overlook the huge amount of employment provided by Scotland’s small and medium-sized businesses.

And the efforts of entrepreneurs, in companies of all sizes, are all the more important in miserable economic times such as those we are in now.

In this regard, much heart could be taken from the array of talent on show at the Entrepreneurial Scotland conference at Gleneagles in Perthshire yesterday.

Speakers included Amy Livingstone and Julie Wilson of Cheeky Chompers, who have built an international business after coming up with the bright idea of the Neckerchew, a chewable dribble bib for teething children.

Engineering tycoon Jim McColl, who has done an amazing job in rescuing Ferguson Shipbuilders at Port Glasgow, also took the stage.

Conference delegates were also able to draw on the wealth of experience of car tyres entrepreneur Mike Welch, of Blackcircles.com, and Lesley Eccles of FanDuel, as well as video games industry veteran Chris van der Kuyl, and oil industry entrepreneurs Bob Keiller and Mike Loggie.

This week’s raft of Scottish winners of Queen’s Awards also provides much comfort that the entrepreneurial spirit in Scotland is burning bright, against a very gloomy economic backdrop exacerbated by uncertainty ahead of the June 23 referendum on UK membership of the European Union.

The roll call of Scottish winners of the latest Queen’s Awards for Enterprise made inspiring reading, not just because of the great successes enjoyed by the companies honoured but also in terms of their variety.

Vascutek received the Queen’s Award for Innovation for its development of the Thoraflex Hybrid surgical graft, which is used to treat thoracic aortic disease. This disease affects the aorta, the largest artery in the body, and Vascutek noted that its device removed the need for a second major operation to treat the condition.

The innovative Vegware, which makes compostable packaging for the catering industry, also picked up one of the latest Queen’s Awards. Another Scottish winner was M Squared Lasers. Its laser products have applications ranging from treating cancer and developing regenerative medicines to detecting chemical warfare agents and teleporting information.

The achievements and stories of the winners of the Queen’s Awards and the big-hitters at the Entrepreneurial Scotland conference speak for themselves. Without any need for pigeon-holing or corporate geek speak.