CAFETERIA PLAN. Benefit package that allows employee choice.
“The U.S. Internal Revenue Service proposed new rules that will make it easier for employees to take advantage of tax-free benefits provided by their employers through arrangements known as cafeteria plans.” (Wall Street Journal, March 23, 2000, p. 1)
CAKEWALK. Something easy.
“Oops, NBC was supposed to be long gone from the General Electric portfolio. Broadcast TV is no longer a cakewalk: GE must now do a deal with Vivendi for Universal Studios to find a safe harbor for the Peacock network.” (Wall Street Journal, Sept. 2, 2003, p. B2)
CALIFORNIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM (CALPERS). Large, public retirement fund.
“In its report, the Center for Security Policy in Washington focuses on the investments of 100 public pension funds, including the giant California Public Employees' Retirement System, known as Calpers, which the group says has 20% of its $86 billion in stock assets invested in companies that work with terrorist-sponsoring countries.” (Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2004, p. C4)
CALL. To challenge someone to justify their actions; a stock market option to buy a stock at a specific price for a period of time.
CALL IN SICK (TO). Take a day off from work.
“Verizon now lets its rivals tap directly into Verizon's computer to place their orders, eliminating the need for humans in many cases. ‘It's cheaper to get a machine,’ says Mr. Maguire. Machines don't call in sick and are consistent in quality." (Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2004, p. A1)
CALL ON THE CARPET (TO). Reprimand.
“But some investors still won't buy. ‘As a portfolio manager at a big mutual fund, when one of the stocks you own is put on the front page of The Wall Street Journal once a week, and there's all these political attacks, you can be called on the carpet about why you own this thing. So a lot of people just don't want to hear about it,’ he says.” (Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2004, p. C1)
CALL THE SHOTS (TO). Make the decisions.
"The Fed is almost taunting them [the GSEs] a little bit, and letting them know the Fed is going to call the shots, and is not going to bow down or kowtow to the GSEs," said Bert Ely, a banking analyst who is critical of the mortgage giants.” (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 6, 2004, p. A2)
CAN (TO). Dismiss someone from employment; to terminate.
CANCELABLE WITH NO SHORT RATE. A clause in advertising contracts allowing the advertiser to cancel a campaign at any time, with a refund of the unused budget.
CANNIBALIZE (TO). Offer a new product that takes sales from another offering in the same product line.
CAN OF WORMS. A complex problem.
“Legal and trade experts said Mr. [John Kerry]'s pledge would open a can of worms. Trade rules enforceable in Central America also would apply in the U.S., laying the legal groundwork for possible international challenges to lax U.S. protections for migrant workers -- including lack of enforcement of minimum-wage laws and lack of standard benefits given to other U.S. workers, such as Social Security -- or the ‘right to work’ laws in more than a dozen states that protect the right of workers not to join a union.” (Wall Street Journal, June 1, 2004, p. A6)
CAPITAL FLIGHT. The removal of funds from a country by investors during periods of political and economic turmoil.
“By mid-2002, the real was tumbling, a signal that too many were being printed. Inflation was steady (it lags currency movements), so interest rates went unchanged. Capital flight took hold even though economic growth was adequate. President Cardoso's popularity declined with the currency. The equity market fell sharply, uncertain about the election and inflation.” (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 5, 2003, p. A13)
CARDS ARE STACKED. Situation where one has little chance of success.
CAREER-LIMITING MOVE (CLM). An action that will adversely affect one’s future.
“If at a party you commented that the CEO’s spouse had put on a few pounds it would likely be a CLM.” (Brian Chilla, Rock-Tenn Company, 1996)
CARNIVORE. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s e-mail surveillance tool, which can retrieve all communication flowing through an Internet service provider.
CARPE DIEM. Seize the day (Latin). The saying, carpe diem, was made famous to Americans by actor Robin Williams in the film Dead Poets Society.
CARROTS AND STICKS. Positive incentives and negative consequences.
CARRY (TO). Take someone (Southern).
CARRY FORWARDS. Tax losses businesses can apply to offset against future profits for income tax purposes.
CARRYING CHARGE. Fee for purchasing something on credit.
CARRY MUCH WEIGHT (TO). Have significant meaning or influence.
“The Council on Bioethics voted 10-7 to recommend the moratorium on human cloning for research and a permanent ban on reproductive cloning. The recommendation doesn't carry much weight because Congress probably won't revisit the issue in the current session and because critics have claimed the panel was biased against cloning.” (Wall Street Journal, July 12, 2002, p. B6)
CARRYOVER. Inventory.
CARRY THE BALL (TO). Take charge of a project or situation (football).
“Business investment has been one of the missing ingredients needed for a strong economic recovery. Since late last year, the U.S. economy has been buoyed largely by consumer spending -- not business spending. But many economists worry that unless businesses increase investments for plants, technology and other equipment, the U.S. recovery will lose momentum and possibly even dip back into recession. ‘The consumer can't carry the ball forever,’ Mr. Blinder said.” (Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2002, p. A2)
CARTE BLANCHE. Full authority to make decisions or commitments (French).
“One caveat: American politicians should ponder their actions before making Haiti another issue in the American presidential election this year. Certainly John Kerry, the standard bearer of the Democrats, cannot believe that being ‘democratically elected’ is a carte blanche to undertake mayhem against one's own country.” (Wall Street Journal, April 6, 2004, p. A16)
CASH COW. Business in a slow growth market that generates surplus revenue.
“Growing Profit Source for Banks: Fees From Riskiest Card Holders
Late Payers and Big Borrowers Are Becoming Cash Cows: How Interest Rates Balloon” (Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2004, p. A1)
CASHIER’S CHECK. A check issued by a bank with funds provided by the customer. Many businesses require payment in cash or by cashier’s check, especially when doing business the first time.
CASH IN ON (TO). Profit from an opportunity.
“An appeals court erased convictions for four men found guilty in a multimillion-dollar plan to cash in on stolen winning tickets in McDonald's Corp. games such as ‘Monopoly’ and ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire.’ A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S.” (Wall Street Journal, July 21, 2004, p. 1)
CASH ON DELIVERY (COD). A business transaction requiring payment when the goods are delivered.
CASH SURRENDER VALUE (CSV). The value of an insurance policy if canceled by the insured.
CAST IN CONCRETE. Cannot be changed.
CATCH-22 SITUATION. An unresolvable contradiction or logic trap. The phrase comes from Joseph Heller’s bestselling 1970s novel.
“The steady slackening in the number of people filing for unemployment benefits provides further evidence of the end of the so- called jobless recovery. However, proof that the nation's payrolls are growing again -- also seen in the past few months' employment reports -- is a Catch-22 for stock investors, who generally favor signs of economic recovery but fear the Federal Reserve rate increases that often accompany those signs.” (Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2004, p. C1)
CAVEAT EMPTOR. Let the buyer beware (Latin). The seller makes no guarantees.
“Rep. Oxley's advice for corporate executives: ‘I would say caveat emptor. You have to sort through what's good and what's not, sort the charlatans from the real folks,’ he says. ‘That's probably true in any kind of business in any kind of time.’" (Wall Street Journal, Oct. 23, 2003, p. R9)
CERTIFICATE OF ACCRUAL ON TREASURY SECURITIES (CATS). U.S. Department of Treasury securities that pay no interest and are sold at a deep discount to face value (ZERO COUPON). Holders of CATS are paid full value of the security upon maturity.
CHAINSAW CONSULTANT. An outside expert brought in to reduce the number of employees without management having to take responsibility. Named after “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap famous or infamous for cutting workforce numbers wherever he managed.
CHANGE AGENT. Consultant brought in to restructure a company.
“Behind the wheel is Terry Quan, an In-Q-Tel financial analyst and Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago. In the back seat is Eric Kaufmann, who just joined as business developer after stints at PepsiCo Inc. and Walt Disney Co. They're the type the government finds hard to lure: young and up on the latest trends. Mr. Louie calls them his change agents." (Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2000, p. A1)
CHANGE HANDS (TO). Sell; get a new owner.
“The NYSE said the other two seats that were sold went for $1.3 million and $1.35 million. Before these, the previous NYSE seat to change hands was sold on July 8 for $1.4 million.” (Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2004, p. A1)
CHANNEL MANAGEMENT. Managing distribution channels. Channel management involves placing greater emphasis on communicating with retailers and distributors in markets where end-users rely on the opinions and advice of these people.
“In addition, both Compaq and IBM now let major corporate customers buy directly from them, further adding to the unrest…. ‘We’re just giving customers the opportunity to be better satisfied,’ insists Ronald Schneider, Compaq’s director of channel management.” (Wall Street Journal, Aug. 26, 1994, p. B4)
CHANNEL BACK (TO). Return.
CHAPTER 11. Bankruptcy laws allowing the debtor to maintain control of the business and to have latitude in negotiating new payment terms.
“Mr. Grinstein's moves came as Delta accelerated its efforts to avoid filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy-court protection by asking holders of debt backed by its aircraft to give it more flexibility to restructure its debt.” (Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2004, p. B6)
CHAPTER 7. Bankruptcy proceeding where a court-appointed trustee oversees company activities, protects a company from creditors, and usually manages liquidation of the company’s assets.
“Since at least one senator, Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, has vowed to filibuster the legislation, 60 votes would be needed to gain passage in the Senate. He and allies in the labor and consumer movement believe the bill unfairly benefits credit-card companies and banks at the expense of debt-ridden consumers. The bill would clamp down on filings by individuals under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code, which wipes out all debts once filers liquidate their assets.” (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 18, 2002, p. A4)
CHAPTER 22. Humorous way of describing a company that has gone into CHAPTER 11 bankruptcy more than once.
CHARM SCHOOL. A mocking term for training courses for newly appointed managers and other employees who now are in the PUBLIC EYE.
“Career Journal: Chinese Charm School; Seminars Help Businessmen Conform to Western Manners; Tip: Always Answer E-Mail.” (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 13, 2004, p. B1)
CHARM THE PANTS OFF (TO). Flatter.
CHARTISTS. Stock market analysts who graph movements of market statistics. See ELVES.
“You can teach school on this chart, he asserts, pointing out a price formation known as a ‘reverse head and shoulders’—a very BULLISH omen to the chartists.” (Wall Street Journal, July 16, 1994, p. T2)
CHASING DOWN SMOKESTACKS. Making sales calls to industrial customers. See also COLD CALLS.
CHASING THE MARKET. Buying securities as prices rise or selling as prices decline. Investors who FOLLOW THE HERD often chase the market.
CHECK IS IN THE MAIL. A stalling tactic when confronted for payment.
CHECK THE PULSE (TO). Evaluate the current condition.
CHECKOFF. System where the employer withholds union dues from workers’ paychecks.
CHECKOUT. Sales desk; to pay for one’s purchases.
CHEW OUT (TO). Verbally reprimand; harshly criticize.
“Other factors may also be at work. The typical discretionary account owner is older and richer than nondiscretionary account holders, and is more likely to have weathered a downturn before. There also is the opaque nature of discretionary account performance: It is harder to track on a daily basis, and so investors aren't gaping at stock tables every morning, then reaching for the phone to chew out their adviser.” (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 22, 2001, p. B11)
CHICAGO BOYS. Monetary economists; University of Chicago economists.
CHICKENFEED. Small sums of money.
“Although owning 50 stocks may strike the average investor as too many to track successfully, it is chicken feed to two professors from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. Gerald Newbould and Percy Poon posited in a 1996 study that investors needed to hold more than 100 small-cap or large-cap stocks to remain within 5% of average risk, which they define as the average volatility of the 40,000 simulated portfolios created for the study.” (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 29, 2001, p. R16)
CHINESE WALL. Rules and safeguards to prevent improper disclosure of information within an organization.
“At Merrill Lynch & Co., to gain access to instant messaging, workers must register on an internal Web page, and certain employees are prohibited from registering. Other Merrill Lynch workers can only send messages internally, and certain groups of workers are barred by the system from communicating with certain other groups; Merrill won't say which. ‘We have very strict Chinese walls in place,’ says Wilson D'Souza, Merrill's vice president of e-mail and collaboration services.” (Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2003, p. R8)
CHIPS AND SALSA. Computer chips and software.
CHITCHAT. Casual conversation.
“Not only did the woman dressed as the Mattel doll make chitchat with John Snow last week, but she also escorted him through part of his tour of Toys "R" Us Inc. megastore in New York's Times Square, where he weighed in on how affordable toys have become.” (Wall Street Journal, Dec.17, 2003, p. B4b)
CHURN (TO)/CHURNER. Turn over; improper stockbroker action of generating commissions by unauthorized buying and selling; deceptive insurance practice.
“‘Allowing customers to keep their old wireless phone numbers when switching carriers hasn't increased “churn” in the wireless industry,’ a top Federal Communications Commission official said. ‘The overwhelming conclusion is that churn has stayed relatively flat,’ said John Muleta, head of the agency's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, in response to a question from FCC Chairman Michael Powell at a commission meeting. He added that there ‘have been shifts in market share’ between the different carriers.” (Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2004, p. 14)
CIRCUIT BREAKERS. Rules created by the major stock exchanges and the SEC to halt trading temporarily during periods of severe price fluctuations. These rules were created in response to BLACK MONDAY (1987), when the DJIA fell over five hundred points in one day.
“Circuit-Breaker Levels for Fourth-Quarter 2003 The New York Stock Exchange resets its trading curbs each quarter based on the Dow Jones Industrial Average's level. As announced yesterday by the NYSE, new trading halt triggers (which shut trading for specific lengths depending on time of day) are: In the event of a 950-point decline in the DJIA (10%), up from the previous 900-point level, this would happen: Before 2 p.m. 1-hour halt 2 p.m. 2:30 p.m. 30-minute halt After 2:30 p.m.” (Wall Street Journal, Oct. 1, 2003, p. C17)
CLASS ACTION. A legal action filed by a group of people all with the same complaint against an individual or group. Class action lawsuits have become frequent and expensive for businesses in the United States.
“Mr. Bondi's filings are being closely watched by class-action attorneys in the U.S. representing investors from around the world who either bought shares in Parmalat or debt securities issued by the company. In an initial filing earlier this year in federal court in the Southern District of New York, those class-action suits also target Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Parmalat's former auditors.” (Wall Street Journal, August 20, 2004, p. A6))
CLEAN SHEET/SLATE. Fresh start; putting aside past errors.
“‘Bark for [Wesley Clark]’ reads the sign on Jim Barrett's golden retriever, Miles. ‘He's not a political insider yet,’ Mr. Barrett says of the candidate, whom he describes as ‘a fresh start, a clean slate.’ After listening to Mr. Clark at a Concord stop, Reginald Comeau, a 69-year- old educator who has followed Mr. [Howard Dean] ‘pretty much’ for months, counts himself a convert too.” (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 14, 2004, p. A4)
CLEANING HIS/HER CLOCK. A total victory over an opponent (boxing).
CLEAR-CUT. Obvious, well-defined.
“They found that seven, or 1.7% of the patients with the disease had a mutation in the fibulin 5 gene, compared with none in the control group. Results from the other four fibulin genes turned up no clear-cut results, though there were enough mutations to lead Dr. Stone to conclude that the fibulin family may account for 7% or 8% of AMD cases.” (Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2004, p. D3)
CLEARING HOUSE. An organization that provides for settlement of bank or stock market transactions; centralized source of services.
“European bankers recently formed a pan-European automatic clearing house, known as Pe-ach, to speed cross-border clearing. ‘One day, and we can't say when, it will be exactly the same process for domestic as it is for international payments in the euro zone,’ said Patrick Poncelet, senior adviser to the European Banking Federation in Brussels.” (Wall Street Journal, August 22, 2003, p. B3C)
CLEAR SAILING. No obstacles.
“‘Business spending is about to turn up,’ predicts William Miller, the superstar mutual-fund manager at Legg Mason Inc. ‘The next 12 months seem to be clear sailing for equities.’" (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 2, 2004, p. R2)
CLEAR THE AIR (TO). Put aside past differences.
“So what the lower court incorrectly characterized as an issue of ‘candor’ in FBI affidavits and certifications was in reality the result of confusion brought on by the tortured interpretation of the statute by the original FISA court. Of course, any real issue of an FBI agent's candor in an affidavit should properly remain under investigation by the Department of Justice. But it was a constructive exercise for these judges to ‘clear the air’ on this issue for which the FBI has been unfairly criticized.” (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 26, 2002, p. A24)
CLICK-THROUGH RATE. How often viewers respond to an Internet ad by clicking on the ad and going to the advertisers web site. Click-throughs are measured by the click rate.
CLICKS AND MORTAR. A business that has both an Internet presence and a physical location.
CLIENT/SERVER. The computer architecture consisting such as personal computers sharing resources stored on more powerful server computers.
CLIMB TO THE TOP (TO). Become successful.
“It's a philosophy that has helped Ms. Estes, 40 years old, climb to the top of the male-dominated bond world. She has just been elevated from co-chief to sole chief of government-bond trading at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., where her group generates an estimated 5% of the firm's trading revenue and where she earns, by head-hunters' estimates, more than $1.5 million a year.” (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 26, 1999, p. A1)
CLINCH (TO). Come to an agreement, close a deal.
“OAO Yukos won more time to clinch a lifesaving deal with the state on a $3.4 billion back-tax claim after a court said Friday it needed two more weeks to make a ruling. Yukos has said a prompt demand by the court to pay taxes immediately would sink the company, whose assets are frozen.” (Wall Street Journal, June 28, 2004, p. B45)
CLINCHER. Deciding element.
“The clincher: Magy, her 55-pound Rotweiler/Husky mix, always gets a treat afterward. To keep the fur from matting, she brushes her dog thoroughly (not just the top coat) before and after the bath.” (Wall Street Journal, March 27, 2004, p. D1)
CLIP JOINT. A business that regularly overcharges customers.
CLONE (TO). Make copies of; a very close imitation.
“‘The Governing Council is not going to appoint itself, it's not going to clone itself,’ spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said yesterday.” (Wall Street Journal, June 1, 2004, p. A15)
CLOSE. The end of the business day.
CLOSE A POSITION (TO). Eliminate a security from one’s portfolio.
CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR. Not quite correct
“Close, But No Cigar: In the pressure cooker of pro-sports coaching, winning used to be the best defense. However, no fewer than six coaches or managers were recently fired despite having taken their teams to championship contention.” (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 27, 2004, p. W7)
CLOSED-END INVESTMENT COMPANY. A mutual fund which issues a limited and fixed number of shares and does not redeem the shares. Once issued, the closed-end shares trade like common stock with share values varying with the value of the price of the stocks held in the fund.
CLOSED SHOP. A firm in which union membership is a precondition for employment. The Taft-Hartley Act (1947) outlawed closed shops, but de facto closed shops exist in situations where union halls are used to match employer needs with worker qualifications.
“So outrageous were union actions during the war that citizens pressured Congress to amend federal law in order to rein in abuse. Passed in 1947 over President Truman's veto, the Taft-Hartley Act allowed prosecution of unfair labor practices committed by unions and banned the closed shop, where union membership was required before an employee could be hired. But Taft-Hartley did not eliminate compulsory unionism, the root of union arrogance and abuse. Instead, it sought to regulate its ill effects.” (Wall Street Journal, Oct. 9, 2002, p. A18)
CLOSELY HELD. A company with only a few stockholders.
“Fiji Water LLC, the closely held Basalt, Colo., company that bottles and markets the up-and-coming water, insists that its main selling point is an ultra-clean taste and pristine source gushingly described on its label as a ‘virgin ecosystem far from acid rain, herbicides, pesticides, and other pollutants.’” (Wall Street Journal, August 20, 2004, p. B1)
CLOSER. Salesperson whose job is to finish the deal (baseball).
CLOSE THE LOOP (TO). Come full circle with a deal or transaction.
CLOSE TO ONE’S VEST (TO KEEP). Guard against others finding something out. In the card game of poker, players keep their cards close to their vest to prevent anyone from seeing them.
CLOSING COSTS. The variety of ancillary expenses involved in purchasing real estate.
CLOSING TICK. The number of stocks whose last trading price of the day was higher than the previous trade, minus the number of stocks whose last selling price was lower. A closing tick which is positive is considered BULLISH, while a negative closing tick is BEARISH.
CLOUD ON A TITLE. Any legal issue that questions or makes unclear the ownership of property. Clouds on a title usually must be removed before a business transaction takes place.
“For New Yorkers, however, this is no time for self-congratulation. Manhattan's perennial district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, who will soon be celebrating his millennium in the job, has shanghaied two paintings by Egon Schiele (1890-1918) on loan from a state-financed Austrian foundation to the Museum of Modern Art. Mr. Morgenthau, having read in the New York Times that there might be clouds on the title to these works by the Austrian master of erotic anguish, moved to impound them.” (Wall Street Journal, July 9, 1998, p. 1)
CLOUT. Influence.
“A breakdown in the WTO talks would deliver the stiffest blow to poorer countries because few have the clout to cut separate deals with the big trade powers on terms that would aid poorer nations. The newest trade juggernauts -- China, India and Brazil -- also have a huge stake in the continued success of the WTO talks. Developing nations are trying to use newfound clout at the negotiating table to rebalance the world's agricultural trade.” (Wall Street Journal, August 2, 2004, p. A2)
COALS TO NEWCASTLE (TO BRING). Not needed; to do something unnecessary. Newcastle is a seaport in the coal-producing region of Great Britain.
“Eating Their Lunch: Coals to Newcastle, Ice to Eskimos; Now, Noodles to the Chinese --- How Brothers From Taiwan Suddenly Seized Share In a Very Basic Industry --- Dare to Try, and Move Fast” (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 17, 1997, p. A1)
COATTAIL INVESTING. Engaging in trading practices similar to those of successful investors. Many investors make their investment decisions based on what Warren Buffett, a leading value investor, does.
COFFEE BREAK. Rest time in a workday.
COIN A PHRASE (TO). Make up words to describe something.
COLD CALL. Sales call to new potential customers without prior communication.
“Edward Stern, the scion of a wealthy New York family, seemed to be the perfect client. While many wealthy clients come from hard-earned referrals, Theodore Sihpol III, who reported to Charles Bryceland, landed Mr. Stern with a cold call.” (Wall Street Journal Sept. 12, 2003, p. C1)
COLD CASH. Currency, not a check.
COLD FEET. Feeling scared about a decision or choice.
COLD WAR. Post–World War II political and diplomatic conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.
“Mr. Kerry tells us that he understood both the importance of winning the Cold War and the difference between freedom and oppression from his time as a child in Berlin. This makes his passionate opposition to resisting communist expansion in Southeast Asia harder to understand.” (Wall Street Journal, August 2, 2004, p. A10)
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING. Negotiations between management and representatives from employees’ unions.
COME IN LOW (TO). Make a low bid on a contract.
COME-ON. A deceptive act; seduction.
COME OUT OF LEFT FIELD (TO). Surprise; suddenly become visible or important (baseball).
COME BACK AND BITE US LATER. Become a problem in the future.
“We realized we needed to dig deeper and see whether there were things that were going to come back and bite us later.” (Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2004, p. R1)
COMER. Someone or something with recognized potential.
“Meanwhile, Wall Street firms continue to aggressively chase hedge- fund business. Newer entrants are particularly focused on serving start-up hedge funds -- as illustrated by UBS's acquisition last year of the prime-brokerage business of ABN Amro, which had relationships with small but growing hedge funds. And wealthy and institutional investors are fielding increasing invitations from prime brokers to meet the up and comers.” (Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2004, p. A1)
COMMERCIAL PAPER. Short-term borrowing instruments used by U.S. businesses.
“The average maturity of the investments in taxable funds, including commercial paper and Treasury bills, fell to 56 days from 57 days.” (Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2004, p.1)
COMMODIFICATION. A market situation where the products offered by competitors become very similar, like commodities. Some analysts describe the personal computer market as having become commodified.
COMMUNITY PROPERTY. Assets of a married couple belonging to both people. Divorce laws vary in the United States, with some states being community property states.
“Real-estate lawyers say that Texas real-estate law is unique and borrowers are likely to get improperly prepared documents if lawyers aren't involved. Diane Gleason, a Houston real-estate lawyer, says she has seen out-of-state lenders and out-of-state lawyers cloud a property title by not understanding Texas laws on homestead liens, community property and power of attorney.” (Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2000, p. T2)
COMP. Free or complimentary.
COMPARABLE WORTH. Antidiscrimination argument that people doing the same job or having the same level of responsibility should be paid the same regardless of race or gender.
“‘Comparable worth’ is a concept being pushed by a Gore ally, Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa. Essentially, the goal is to raise the compensation of entire professions dominated by women, such as nurses, teachers and secretaries, and require those workers to be paid comparably to those in similar, male-dominated job categories.” (Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2000, p. A20)
COMPARISON SHOPPER. Consumer who evaluates alternatives before making purchase decisions; researcher used to investigate marketing practices of competitors. See also SECRET SHOPPER.
“With online car-booking soaring (Budget says 23% of reservations are booked online, up from 12% in 2001), some travelers suspect the warnings are just an attempt to discourage comparison shoppers from making duplicate reservations.” (Wall Street Journal, Jan, 24, 2003, p. W4)
COMPETITIVE EDGE. Advantage.
COMP TIME. Compensatory time; time off for past extra work.
“Mr. Smith's boss, Chairman John Boehner (R., Ohio), is pushing a bill that would implement the ‘comp time’ change sought by Mr. Bush, but not the ‘flex time’ proposal, which is more controversial.” (Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2004, p. A2)
CONFIDENCE GAME. Conspiracy where criminals gain the trust of an individual (PIGEON) and then cheat the person out of money.
“In the aptly if flatly titled ‘Confidence,’ Ed Burns plays a cocksure con man named Jake Vig. A confidence game, Jake says, ‘is like putting on a play where everyone knows their part -- everyone, that is, except the mark.’” (Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2003, p. W1)
CONSTANT DOLLARS. Statistical adjustment used to eliminate the effect of inflation when comparing dollar amounts in two or more time periods.
CONSUMER CONFIDENCE. Consumers’ feelings about the future of the economy and their economic well-being. The University of Michigan Survey of Consumer Confidence is the most widely reported and respected measure of consumer confidence.
CONSUMER DURABLES. Consumer goods that have a use-life of more than one year, including automobiles, appliances, and furniture. “Consumer durables” is a category in GDP accounting. Changes in consumer durables expenditures are an indicator of consumer confidence.
“Tata Steel Chairman Ratan Tata said the reduction was aimed at checking India's rising inflation, as steel is the main input for most industries. ‘Steel-price increases have a cascading effect on the prices of most domestic manufactured products in the engineering, consumer durables, and automobile segments,’ Mr. Tata said.” (Wall Street Journal, August 24, 2004, p. B3)
CONSUMER PROFILING. The marketing practice of developing a database with information about consumers’ purchasing practices and demographics.
CONTAGION. The influence of actions in one market on other markets. Negative conditions in one market often spread to other markets like a flu.
CONTINGENCY ALLOWANCE. Allowance made for unforeseen delays or costs.
CONTRACT MOD. Contract modification; change order.
CONTRARIAN. Investor whose ideas are often opposite those of the majority of investors.
“Since being launched in July 2003, the ‘Benjamin Graham’ portfolio is up 48%, William O'Neil is up 26%, Kenneth Fisher is up 32% and contrarian investor David Dreman is up 44%.” (Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2004, p.4)
CONVENIENCE GOODS. Goods consumers routinely purchase without comparison. These goods are usually brand-name, low-priced items and can be divided into three subcategories: staples, impulse items, and emergency items. Widespread distribution is critical to success in marketing convenience goods.
CONVERGENCE. The combining of television, telephone, and computer into one interactive communication medium.
CONVERTIBLES. Corporate debt securities that can be exchanged for shares of stock.
COOKIE JAR ACCOUNTING. The practice of building up reserves and underreporting revenue during good periods and drawing from them in poor periods to boost results.
“Cookie jar reserves. It has nothing to do with stealing money from the company till. Rather, this is one of the accounting games some companies play to make themselves look more profitable than they really are.” (Charleston News & Courier, November 24, 2002, p. 13)
COOKIE. A small data file created by a Web server that is stored on the user’s computer either temporarily for that session only or permanently on the hard disk. Cookies provide a way for the Web site to identify users and keep track of the user’s preferences. Because personal data resides in the cookie files in your computer, this storehouse of private information is sometimes the object of attack.
“Most cookies are harmless, but some that record Web surfing habits and personal information are considered spyware.” (Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2004, p. R6)
COOK THE BOOKS (TO). Falsify records.
“The former chief accountant at Vivendi Universal SA agreed to settle fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. John Luczycki, who was Vivendi's chief accounting officer and controller, settled without admitting or denying the SEC's claims that he helped cook the books at the international media company.” (Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2004, p. A1)
COOLING-OFF PERIOD. Government-imposed period, usually sixty days, during which a union is restricted from striking and employers from locking-out employees; any, governmnet imposed restriction or delay.
“They differ in detail. The two stock markets, for instance, define "independent director" differently. Nasdaq proposes a three- year ‘cooling off’ period during which a person, such as a former executive, can be considered independent; the NYSE calls for five years.” (Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2003, p. C7)
COPY. Words in an advertisement.
COPYCAT. Anyone in the copy industry; a product made to resemble an existing popular product.
CORE BUSINESS. Basic activities.
“This term almost always includes an announcement by the straight-faced president, CEO* or chairman of the board, ‘We are pleased to announce that the company is returning to its core business.’… Actually, core business means that the company is bordering on insolvency as a result of ego-driven forays into a series of unrelated enterprises for which it had no knowledge or expertise then failed.” (Supervision, Jan. 1994, p. 3)
CORE COMPETENCIES. The things a company does best.
“Market pressures and consumer requirements eventually forced many auto manufacturers to begin outsourcing to remain profitable. By outsourcing I mean subcontracting. They realized that some parts of their products were not critical to their competitive advantage and did not need to be produced in-house. Subcontracting freed these companies to focus on their core competency.” (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 4, 2004, p. B2)
CORNER THE MARKET (TO). Gain controlling interest in a company, product or market.
CORNERSTONE. Foundation; indispensable part.
“Still, the march toward choice has end to 'separate but equal.' But you can't end 'separate but equal' without ending compulsory assignment to a public school. From the vantage point of Brown we can now see that vouchers have become the cornerstone for a fundamental civil right.” (Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2004, p. A20)
CORPORATE ELITE. Top executives.
“This week, however, he's taking the stage in Switzerland, where world leaders and the corporate elite are set to gather in Davos for the World Economic Forum.” (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 22, 2004, p. B4)
CORPORATE LADDER. Business hierarchy. Managers are encouraged to try to climb the corporate ladder.
“By his own admission, Mr. Parker was never the hard-charging type who set out to climb the corporate ladder. For years, he was known as Southwest's ‘Mr. Fix-It,’ tapped for big projects like leading Southwest's successful opposition to a high-speed rail project in Texas.” (Wall Street Journal, July 16, 2004, p. A1)
CORPORATE PILOT FISH. Former employees who start a new business based primarily on contacts and contracts with their old company.
“Now consider the corporate pilot fish, a departed employee of a giant corporation who still swims with his former employer for sustenance and protection.” (Wall Street Journal, April 9, 1996, p. B1)
CORPORATE RAIDER. Individual or group trying to take control of another company.
“Whether ‘corporate’ is the right word for his presidential agenda is debatable. His policies favored the entrepreneurial sector. Mr. Reagan's ‘decade of greed,’ after all, was dominated by corporate raiders and junk-bond financed start-ups that upset the status quo in industry after industry.” (Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2004, p. A15)
CORPORATE TAKEOVER. One company buying another.
CORPORATE WELFARE. Government efforts that subsidize corporations.
CORPORADO. A corporate executive with little concern for the environment. A play on the word desperado.
CORRECTION. Downward movement of stock market prices.
CO-SOURCING. Provision of a service that was previously performed solely within the company by an outsourcer.
COST AN ARM AND A LEG. Very expensive.
COST PER CLICK (CPC). Internet pricing where advertisers pay based on the number of people who click through an advertisement and go to their web site.
COST PER POINT (CPP). The cost per rating point of a radio or television station’s coverage area. CPP is used to compare same-medium broadcast vehicles in the same market.
COST-PLUS CONTRACT. Contract with payment based on costs plus a fee.
“Halliburton's KBR unit has done about $6 billion of work in Iraq under cost-plus contracts that range from supplying troops to repairing oil fields. Other U.S. contractors have received about half that amount combined.” (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 13, 2004, p. A2)
COST-PUSH INFLATION. Inflation caused by rising labor and material costs.
“If the money stock is accommodating, the result is the well-documented case of cost-push inflation. As a net consequence of innovation or technological change, the marginal revenue product of personal services rises, and thus the ability and willingness to pay higher wages.” (Business Perspectives, Spring 2004, p. 44)
COUCH POTATO. Lazy person; inveterate television watcher.
“The theory has always been that readers are more engaged than tube- staring couch potatoes. ‘Your brain on print -- when you are reading and interacting -- there are a lot more synapses firing,’ says Andrew Swinand, a senior vice president at Publicis Groupe SA's Starcom Worldwide.” (Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2004, p. B1)
COULD NOT HACK IT. Quit; could not take the pressure.
COUNTER (TO). Make a competing offer.
COUNTER-PARTY. The other person or firm in an exchange. For example, for every sale in the stock market, there has to be a counter-party buying those shares.
COUNTERTRADE. International barter. Countertrade is often used by developing countries lacking sufficient foreign currency to obtain goods and services from industrialized countries.
“A countertrade commitment included in an international sales contract can be beneficial to all parties involved. Countertrade can generate the needed hard currency to pay for products or repatriation of blocked funds. In addition, countertrade can give a competitive advantage, improve customer relationships and create goodwill with the importing country's government. This goodwill can result in the reduction of import tariffs and restrictions. With this in mind, always remember the countertrade golden rule: Do not quote prices until the countertrade situation is clear.” (Business Credit, April 2002, p. 48)
COUNTERVAILING DUTY. Import tax intended to protect a domestic industry.
“The study shows that the tariffs created supply shortages by deterring imports and gave U.S. steel producers massive pricing power. This subsidy for inefficiency is precisely why the U.S. steel-makers lobbied for the tariffs, as well as for a spate of anti-dumping and countervailing duty levies that also whacked consumers at the end of 2001.” (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 25, 2003, p. A14)
COUNTERVAILING POWER. Union power to counterbalance the power of major companies. The term is attributed to economist John Kenneth Gailbraith.
COVERED CALL. The sale of a call option against shares of stock owned by the seller. Covered calls provide income in exchange for forgoing capital gains if the stock price rises.
COVER FOR SOMEONE (TO). Temporarily take on another worker’s responsibilities.
COVER LETTER. Letter sent with a document or resume introducing it or adding further explanation to the reader.
COVER-UP. An act to conceal a wrongdoing.
“The complaint had alleged Swatch, of Biel, Switzerland, used its British Virgin Islands subsidiary, Swatch Group Asia Inc., to evade taxes and customs duties in several countries, including the U.S. It also alleged Swatch's senior management tried to cover up the purported tax-evasion activities in April after the two former employees complained about the practice.” (Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2004, p. B3)
COVER YOUR ASS (CYA). Protect yourself from criticism or blame should a project fail.
COWBOY. An unmanageable person.
“All of which shows that Mr. Kerry and his party aren't running on ideology. They have been running mainly on character and the Senator's biography as the anti-Bush. He won three purple hearts in Vietnam while Mr. Bush stayed home in the National Guard. He's smart and sees the nuances of issues that the uncurious and witless Mr. Bush doesn't. He'd get the Europeans to love us again, while Mr. Bush the cowboy cannot.” (Wall Street Journal, July 26, 2004, p. A14)
CRACKPOT. Someone with unorthodox ideas; crazy person.
“Unlike throwing more money at Brazil. That nation's problem isn't ‘contagion’ from Argentina's collapse; investors have been bailing out because they see two left-wing populists leading in the polls for Brazil's October presidential election. Front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spent much of his career as a crackpot Marxist, before recently moderating his rhetoric.” (Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2002, p. A14)
CRADLE TO GRAVE. From birth to death; socialism.
“Mr. Beito's ‘From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State’ shows how fraternal societies in 19th-century America provided a network of services and institutions for their members that, taken together, resemble virtually every aspect of today's welfare state, including health insurance, hospitals, orphanages and retirement homes. Fraternal societies, in short, sustained needy citizens from cradle to grave.” (Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2000, p. A30)
CRAMDOWN. A bankruptcy court decision for reorganization that may not be favored by some creditors.
CRASH. Dramatic drop or fall.
“Alan Greenspan nicely teed up the ‘ownership society,’ presumed theme of George Bush's convention speech Thursday night. Mr. Bush will rightly emphasize the positive, but he'll be offering a way to deal with the pending crash of the welfare state, topic of the Fed chairman's widely noted talk last Friday.” (Wall Street Journal, Sept. 1, 2004, p. A13)
CRASH AND BURN. To fail miserably.
CRAWLING PEG. An exchange rate system that automatically devalues the country’s currency a set percentage per time period.
CREATIVE ACCOUNTING. Falsification of business records.
“To be sure, broad interpretation of the capitalization rules isn't necessarily contrary to generally accepted accounting principles. In their 2002 book, ‘The Financial Numbers Game: Detecting Creative Accounting Practices,’ Georgia Institute of Technology accounting Profs. Charles Mulford and Eugene Comiskey devote a 30-page chapter to Aggressive Capitalization and Extended Amortization Policies.’" (Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2004, p. C3)
CREDIT CRUNCH. A situation in which financing is scarce. Interest rates tend to rise when funds for lending are in short supply.
CREDIT ENHANCEMENT. The use of financial guarantees purchased from insurance companies to increase the rating of debt securities, thereby lowering the cost of borrowing.
CREDIT SCORING. Computerized method of rating a consumer’s credit worthiness based on income, past credit experience, and debt.
“In its filing with the Supreme Court, the company denied the allegations. It said credit-scoring is commonly used by insurance companies to establish risk and, hence, rates. The company said it takes into account such things as where the insured person lives, what kind of house the person lives in, and what kind of auto the person drives, when setting rates.” (Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2004, p. A2)
CREDIT SQUEEZE. Government anti-inflation policy where raising interest rates reduces consumer and business borrowing.
CREDIT WATCH. Announcement by credit rating agencies that a company is under review, usually indicating a possible lowering of the company’s credit rating.
CRITICAL MASS. Sufficient size to survive and be self-sustaining. The term comes from nuclear physics, where critical mass is the amount of fissionable material it takes to sustain a chain reaction.
“In short, U.S. oil companies will be trading access to their network of gasoline stations in order to secure adequate oil supplies at a stable price. Under this scenario, joint-venture strategic alliances could benefit U.S. oil companies by allowing some to achieve ‘critical mass’ -- an industry commanding height whereby a firm attains global reach, scale and scope while retaining a measure of market-agility.” (Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2004, p. A10)
CRITICAL-PATH ANALYSIS. Management analysis of the most important sequence of an operation.
CRONYISM. Favoritism to people one knows. See also OLD-BOY NETWORK.
CROSS-FERTILIZATION. Mixing of ideas.
“This exhibition explores the ways in which the Mongol trading world of [Genghis Khan] led to a cross-fertilization of artistic ideas in Asia and parts of Europe.” (Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2003, p. W2)
CROSSOVER POINT. The point at which income from a tax shelter investment exceeds deductions, resulting in taxable income.
CROSS-SABERS (TO). Disagree or have a conflict with.
“Because pricing decisions are made by the sales service division, we often cross sabers with them.” (Brian Chilla, Rock-Tenn Company, 1995)
CROSS-SELL (TO). To sell other companies’ products in addition to your company’s line.
CROWDING OUT. Economic theory that government borrowing in financial markets increases interest rates and reduces private-sector borrowing and investment.
CROWN JEWELS. Most successful products or divisions of a company.
“He may need his ties to the boss as much as anything else to shake up Mercedes, where he is scheduled to take the helm on Oct. 1. With its high profile and thick margins, the luxury-car maker is the crown jewel in Mr. Schrempp's strategy of turning DaimlerChrysler into a globally integrated auto maker.” (Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2004, p. A8)
CRUNCH THE NUMBERS. Calculate the cost, price, value.
“Instead, you would file as ‘married filing jointly’ or, possibly, ‘married filing separately.’ But ‘married filing separately’ rarely will save you money. When in doubt, crunch the numbers both ways. Don't forget to factor in any state-income-tax considerations.” (Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2004, p. 4)
CUBE FARM. Sarcastic reference to an office organized into cubicles.
CULL (TO). Reject the lowest-quality items.
“Auto makers, wounded by brutal price wars and foreign competition, are making a more-concerted effort to cull capacity. In the last contract signed with the United Auto Workers union, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group generally agreed not to close any plants.” (Wall Street Journal, Sept. 8, 2003, p. A1)
CULTURAL DIVERSITY. Recognizing various ethnic groups and their contribution to the workplace.
“That's a model that workplaces might do well to emulate, says Prof. Nisbett: The more cultural diversity and, hence, thinking styles in a workforce, the likelier it is to see problems clearly and solve them.” (Wall Street Journal, March 28, 2003, p. B1)
CUME. Cumulative ratings (advertsing).
CURRENT ACCOUNT. A measure of a country’s international trade derived by the sum of the value of merchandise, services, investment income, and unilateral transfers from exports and imports. The current account is part of a country’s balance of payments.
CURVE BALL. A trick or deception (baseball).
“The [Jeb Bush] campaign attempted to throw another legal curve ball into the contest proceeding before Judge [N. Sanders Sauls]. If Mr. Gore's requests for recounts of Democratic-leaning South Florida counties are granted, the Republican lawyers said, Mr. Bush wants the court to order recounts of votes in several other counties, including some overseas military ballots that Republicans think will increase Mr. Bush's lead over Mr. Gore.” (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 1, 2000, p. A16)
CUSHION. Financial resources available to help a company survive a downturn.
CUSH-JOB. Easy job.
CUT AND RUN (TO). Stop and leave, often without finishing a job (nautical).
CUT ONE’S LOSSES (TO). Concede defeat. See also BAILOUT.
CUT THE CAKE (TO). Complete a business deal; divide up the profits or benefits.
“United States: Time to cut the cake a different way?; Latinos and blacks” (The Economist, Dec. 8, 2001, p. 46)
CUT THE MELON. To share profits among owners and employees.
CUT THE MUSTARD. Able to meet the standard, effective.
“With travel advertisers back on board, the successful broadcasters can prove they can still cut the mustard.” (Campaign, May 30, 2003, p. S5)
CUTTHROAT COMPETITION. Tough competition.
“Alitalia, which is 62% owned by the Italian government, is struggling to stay aloft amid cutthroat competition from discount carriers and consolidation among the big players. The carrier is trying to reach a restructuring plan and secure a 400 million euro ($481 million) government-backed loan by Sept. 15.” (Wall Street Journal, August 30, 2004, p. A10)
CUTTING EDGE. Newest, most advanced technology.
“Many pancreatic-cancer patients are diagnosed at very advanced stages of the disease, when it is harder to get into clinical trials. With such detailed information on researchers, the map offers the ability to track down cutting-edge research that may not be listed on Web sites yet." (Wall Street Journal, July 27, 2004, p. D1)
CYBER HUSTLER. Marketers who buy the rights to Internet domain names that are not renewed. Cyber hustlers then sell space to advertisers, much like a billboard, which is then viewed by Internet users searching for information from the previous owner of the domain name.
“Cyber hustlers are marketers who legally purchase rights to domain names that are not renewed.” (Encyclopedia of American Business, p. 257-258)
CYBERNATE (TO). Control by computer.