Oxford Business English Dictionary for Learners of English

(IT, only used in written English)blind carbon copy a copy of an email message sent to sb without showing their name, so that the main person that the email is addressed to does not know that the message has also been sent to the other person -» carbon copy

43 beat

BDI /,bi: di: 'ai/ abbr (AmE) (Marketing) .brand development ,index a

measure of how well a particular type (brand) of product sells in a particular area compared to the whole country: Where there is a low BDI, there may be an opportunity to build the brand.

B/E = bill of exchange, Bank of England

beachhead /'bi:tjhed/ noun [c, usually sing.] a strong position that a company has gained in a new field or place: The chain has opened 30 new stores in an ambitious plan to establish a beachhead in Europe.

'bean .counter noun [c] (informal) a humorous word for an accountant. It is used in a disapproving way to show that the speaker thinks the person is too interested in controlling costs and making a profit.

★ bear /bea(r); Amfber/ noun [C] (Finance; Stock Exchange)

a person who sells shares, a particular currency, etc., hoping to buy them back later at a lower price because they think prices are going to fall rather than rise

= bear market

-» bull

bearer /'beara(r); AmE 'berar/ noun [C] (Finance)

a person who presents a document, such as a cheque or a share, bond, etc., for payment

used to describe a document, such as a cheque or a share, bond, etc. which can be presented for payment by anyone, not only by a named person: Bearer bonds can be stolen, and should therefore be treated in the same way as cash.

payable to bearer

'bear hug noun [c] (Finance) a public offer to buy a company in order to try to force the company to accept it. A high price is offered so that, the company has to accept it in order to avoid protests from its shareholders.

bearish /'bearij; AmE 'ber-/ adjective (Finance; Stock Exchange) showing or expecting a fall in the prices of shares, etc: a bearish market о Japanese banks remain bearish, о Many analysts are bearish on the stock, [opp! bullish

'bear .market (also bear) noun [c] (Finance; Stock Exchange) a period during which people are selling shares, etc. rather than buying, because they expect the prices to fall IoppI bull market

bear po.sition noun [c] (Finance; Stock Exchange) a situation in which an investor sells shares, etc. that he/she has borrowed but does not own yet, hoping to be able to buy them at a cheaper price later and return them to the owner [synj short position -» bull position

to establish/take a bear position

'bear raid noun [c] (Finance; Stock Exchange) an attempt by a dealer to make the price of a share, etc. go down by selling it in large numbers

'bear run noun [c] (Finance; Stock Exchange) a situation where the value of shares, etc. is falling: Buyers think the end of the bear run might be here. -» bull run

beat /bi:t/ verb [+ obj] (beat, beaten /'bi:tn/)

to defeat sb/sth: The way to beat the big companies is to specialize, о a strategy to beat the competition

beauty parade 44 |

2 to do or be better than sth: Nobody beats our prices! о Last year's sales beat the previous record achieved in 2002.

n»m beat sb at their own 'game to do better than sb in an activity in which they think they are strong: They're trying to beat the low-cost airlines at their own game, beat a path to sb's 'door if a lot of people beat a path to sb's door, they are all interested in sth that person has to sell or to offer if you can't beat them, join them if you cannot defeat sb or be as successful as they are, then it is more sensible to join them in what they are doing and perhaps get some advantage for yourself by doing so