8 terms to brush up your business lingo
MBA is considered a degree of choice for good reason. It is gilt-edged and carries a mine of opportunities with it. But to become a future leader and sail past through the intensive path of this professional degree you must leave no chance to feel like an outsider to the business world. Whether it is about mastering technical knowledge or the way you present yourself, everything will count in the journey of unleashing your potential. To help you in this journey we are zooming into a particular area of knowing the business lingo.
Yes, you heard it right. To make a successful foray into the scholarly arena there are certain terms that every MBA aspirant aka Business Leader should know thoroughly. Doing our bit we have compiled a list of 8 important terms which you should be using in your daily conversations.
Bonus: Read the examples to have a better and long-lasting understanding of the terms.
Ballpark
Routing its origin from the fields of baseball, this term means a rough numerical estimate that lies in a reasonable range of values. For instance, in scenarios where the actual figure cannot be defined to the decimal accuracy like projections ballpark figures are commonly used by accountants, salespersons, etc. However, enough data support the approximation.
Blue ocean strategy
In a nutshell, it can be summarised as, how every business can accomplish greater profits by creating new demand in a non-competitive market. The best example reflecting the blue ocean strategy is Amazon. It has numerous product lines ranging from drone delivery to Amazon Prime. A vast topic in itself can be better understood by means of case studies and examples. For in-depth knowledge on the term refer to the book Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgnemake.
Cash cow
It is a very popular term coined by Peter F. Drucker in the mid-1960s. It denotes products that have a greater return on assets than the market growth rate. For instance, the iPhone is the cash cow of Apple. With little maintenance, they are streaming a steady income. And as a smart strategy, they are investing the excess cash generated on other projects.
Managing the optics
Managing the optics denotes total awareness of your brand and how the public perceives it. Optics management is becoming the norm of the business world to promote better results and more exposure. To figure this out better, consider how celebrities, political leaders and business conglomerates manage the optics of their brand.
Open door policy
A communication policy that gives employees the liberty of approaching the senior leadership to promote transparency and a good work ethic in the organisation. All thanks to John Hay, who proposed it for the first time for China and all countries trading with it.
Paradigm shift
Any deviation from the fundamental process, norms, models, patterns, etc is a paradigm shift. Some people take it as an opportunity to break through their careers while others freak out and leave the field behind. For instance, the onset of the internet leads to a paradigm shift in how businesses sell. Cell phones have led to a paradigm shift in how brands distribute information.
Synergies
You must have encountered this term while reading the documents of mergers and acquisitions. In layman’s terms, this means 2+2=5. Putting it in business lingo, it demonstrates that the combined value of two companies is always greater than the sum of the individual parts. An example of synergy in media is the advertisement of the movie Skyfall alongside CocaCola.
To sound like a broken record
An important metaphor one can use to deal with business matters. It simply means to be repetitive or saying something over and over again. If you think that this term shows resemblance to the characteristics of a vinyl record, you are right. For instance, if the marketing campaign of a brand uses the same underlying emotion, the campaign tends to sound like a broken record.
These are some terms that you need to keep close at hand. Brush up on these terms to appear insightful and on top of it all. Remember, freshening up your business lingo can do wonders in your overall performance in B-school and your life. So, be smart and keep updating your vocabulary and fundas!