EAR CANDY. Flattery. Compliments designed for a specific audience.
EAGER-BEAVER. Very energetic.
“On Jan. 7, NBC launched a ‘reality show’ it called ‘groundbreaking,’ presumably because it is the first one to feature Donald Trump. ‘The Apprentice,’ (Wed., from < xml="true" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" prefix="st1" namespace="">
EARL SCHEIB. A quick and cheap job (reference to well-known carpainting firm).
EARLY BIRD. Person or object which arrives before the regular time.
“When rates rise, he says, he will look for a long ocean cruise instead of less-expensive gambling cruises he has recently gone on. He also will expand his restaurant selection beyond early-bird specials and ‘free lunch’ investment seminars.” (Wall Street Journal,
EARMARK FOR (TO). Set aside for a specific purpose.
“Precisely how much investors earmark for index funds and for active management depends on their investment horizon and risk tolerance.” (Money, Aug. 1995, p. 68)
EARNED INCOME. Internal Revenue Service definition of wage, salary, and tips compensation.
EARNEST MONEY. Deposit made when entering into a contract.
EARNINGS PER SHARE (EPS). Total profit for a period divided by the number of shares of stock outstanding.
EARN ONE’S STRIPES (TO). Put in time with an organization, thereby earning one’s position or promotion (military)..
EASY AS A, B, C. Very simple.
EASYGOING. Mild-mannered.
EASY MARK. Someone or something easily cheated.
“Attracted by comparatively weak laws governing their activities, mobsters in the past decade have made
EAT SOMEONE’S LUNCH (TO). Overwhelm the competition. to eat the lunch of a competitor implies that one is taking bread (sales) from it right under its nose.
ECONOMIC DARWINISM. Survival of the strongest in the marketplace.
“Competition yields efficiency and efficiency benefits society. However, competitive societies live in fear; deadlines, sales quotas, profit margins, making the cut, or getting the job are all part of competitive market pressures. Competitive markets have been called ‘economic Darwinism.’” (Understanding NAFTA and Its International Business Implications, 1996, p. 244)
ECONOMIC GIANT. Corporate or business leader.
ECONOMIC MELTDOWN. A severe downturn in the economy (nuclear reactors).
“Even as the Turkish stock market has tumbled on war uncertainty, investors and brokerage trading desks have been buying Turkish debt, gambling that the
ECONOMIC TIDES. Shifts in economic conditions.
E.G. (EXEMPLI GRATIA). For example (Latin).
EGGS IN ONE BASKET. All one’s money in one investment.
“I asked one of my assistants to find for me the Japanese equivalent of the proverb, 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket,' he says, acknowledging a tough road ahead. ‘Not only couldn't he find one, he found two Japanese proverbs that suggested, in fact, it was best to put them all in one basket.’” (Wall Street Journal,
EGO TRIP. Self-centeredness.
EIGHT-HUNDRED POUND GORILLA. Powerful, important person or group.
“Fidelity, the 800-pound gorilla of brokerage-house clients, wants electronic access to the models used by the firms’ analysts to estimate earnings of the companies they follow.” (Wall Street Journal, Aug. 30, 1996, p. C1)
EIGHTY-SIX IT (TO). Throw it away.
EIGHTY-TWENTY RULE. The concept that a few items or customers generate most of the company’s sales.
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK (ECN). An electronic trading system which eliminates stock brokers as intermediaries.
ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI). The exchange of digital information, particularly business sales transactions between buyers and sellers.
ELECTRONIC DATA GATHERING ANALYSIS AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM (EDGAR). The electronic database used by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the filings of public corporations.
ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER SYSTEM (EFTS). Bank processing system that allows payments to be made without having to write a check.
ELEPHANT HUNT. Trying to find a major corporation to move into one’s community, stimulating economic development. When
ELEPHANTS. Large institutional investors who tend to have a herd instinct, moving together as a group.
ELEVATOR PITCH. A quick, short sales presentation.
ELEVENTH HOUR (AT THE). Very last minute.
“Indeed, last month, in a move that took investors by surprise, Vodafone Group PLC, the world's biggest wireless carrier, made a serious run to acquire AT&T Wireless Services Inc., the third-largest
EL JEFE. The boss (Spanish), a term of respect.
ELVES. Stock market technical analysts. Elves chart the movement of statistical measures of the stock market including volume, short sales, ODD-LOT sales and others. Elves make financial recommendations based on these statistics, as opposed to changes in the FUNDAMENTALS of a company or industry. See also CHARTISTS.
EMINENT DOMAIN. The power of government to seize private property for a public purpose.
EMPLOYEE STOCK OWNERSHIP PLAN (ESOP). A company program fostering employee purchases of stock. ESOPs have sometimes been used by management to divest a company of unwanted divisions, selling them to the employees, using their retirement funds.
EMPLOYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (EIN). The Internal Revenue Service requires all employers to have an EIN.
EMPOWERMENT. To allow greater employee decision-making.
“Management’s definition [of empowerment]: Work harder with fewer people, don’t rock the boat and don’t complain.” (Supervision, Jan. 1994, p. 3)
EMPTY NEST. A family whose children have grown up and left home.
“Maybe a place for the in-laws or children to live, an increasingly common add-on for the nation's big home builders. A recent survey by Pulte Homes of
EMPTY SUITS. Robot-like middle management executives.
ENCRYPTION. The conversion of plain text into code so that unauthorized people cannot easily read it.
ENDANGERED SPECIES. Nearing extinction.
END-USER. Ultimate user of a product or service.
ENERGIZING VISION. New idea. See also PARADIGM SHIFT.
“Inspiring leadership, of the heart, engages with people, giving them an energizing vision. All managers must exercise strategic and supervisory leadership of the head and hands. However, good managers go further and inspire people with the heart—rendering their leadership transforming.” (Leadership Organizational Development Journal, June 1994, p. 8)
ENTERPRISE ZONE. An area, usually an economically depressed area, offering tax incentives for companies to relocate to.
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT. Eagerness to take business risks.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT (EIS). Government document evaluating the environmental impact of a proposed project or policy. Environmentalists have often insisted that government agencies produce a full EIS as a way to stall a program or project that they oppose.
ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT. Groups that encourage the preservation and protection of the earth.
“The fervor with which LBJ's speeches describe the Great Society's legislative crusade matched and even exceeded [Ronald Wilson Reagan]'s. His 1964 State of the Union Speech was astonishing in its list of "we must" goals: ‘All this and more can and must be done.’ He committed the government to ‘unconditional war on poverty.’ The next year he was giving speeches on the signing of historic bills for civil rights, Medicare, education, even highway beautification, which seeded the environmental movement.” (Wall Street Journal,
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA). Government environmental policy and enforcement agency created in 1970.
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
EQUITIZE/EQUITIZATION. To reduce corporate debt in favor of equity.
“Those low rates mean holding even a small portion of its portfolio as cash can produce a drag on the fund's investment performance. So managers unable to find specific securities to purchase may choose to ‘equitize’ their available cash by buying shares of an ETF that tracks the fund's benchmark, such as the iShares Russell 2000 ETF or the SPDR Trust, the ETF known as the "Spider" and which tracks the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.” (Wall Street Journal,
ERROR RATE. Number of faulty products expressed as a percentage of total output.
ESCALATOR CLAUSE. Part a contract providing for future increases in payments, taxes, wages, etc.
ESQUIRE (ESQ.). Professional title sometimes used by attorneys.
ET AL. And others (Latin, abbreviated).
EUROBOND. A bond sold outside the
EUROPEAN
EVEN BREAK. A fair and equal chance.
EVEN DEAD CATS BOUNCE. Even stocks or bonds that were once considered worthless can rise in price.
EVEN KEEL. Balanced, steady.
“If the [Bill Clinton] administration had even considered adopting one of these policies,
EX-DIVIDEND. Shares of stock being traded without the right to receive a dividend that has been announced but not yet distributed to shareholders.
EXECUTIVE SUITE. Top management position.
EXERCISE PRICE. The price at which an option holder has the right to buy or sell the underlying shares of stock represented by the option.
EXIT INTERVIEW. Personnel office interview of someone who is leaving the company.
“In an exit interview Tuesday with the New York Times, Mr. [Michel] Camdessus said, ‘We created the conditions that obliged President Suharto to leave his job,’ then said he flew to
EXIT STRATEGY. Business strategy designed to get out of an existing situation or market.
EXPLODING OFFER. Business offer that has a specific deadline, after which it is no longer available.
“The MGM tactic, known as an ‘exploding offer’ in merger parlance, is risky and usually used as a last resort when a buyer feels that the seller is being unreasonable. The maneuver could very well backfire as Vivendi could call MGM's bluff. Should MGM then walk away, it hurts its standing on future deals as it could reinforce the skepticism with which merger partners view Mr. [Kirk Kerkorian].” (Wall Street Journal,
EX POST FACTO. From a thing done afterwards (Latin), subsequently.
EXPONENTIAL SMOOTHING. Market forecasting method weighting past results.
EXPOSURE. In finance, exposure is financial risk; in marketing, exposure refers to visibility.
EXTERNALITIES. Costs or benefits not included in market prices.
EYE-TO-EYE. In agreement.
“At the same time, Mr. Parsons doesn't let disputes fester. He acted quickly in pushing Turner cable networks to work with Warner Bros. on programming for preschoolers when the two sides weren't seeing eye to eye (see accompanying article). ‘We are trying to run the company to maximize the value of the whole company,’ says Mr. Parsons.” (Wall Street Journal,
EYEBALL (TO). Check by casually viewing.
EYEBALL-TO-EYEBALL. Direct communication. See also FACE-TO-FACE.
“A Garcia victory would lengthen a growing list of hard-line populists coming to power in the region over the past few years.