W o W - Week of Words

This section covers words based on a monthly theme, hope you enjoy them and keep your feedback coming.

Updated on Oct 10th 2008

September month’s WoW theme: Business.

The “W o W” word Conglomerate (kun’glomurut) (noun): A group of diverse companies under common ownership and run as a single organization. Sir Richard Branson has more than 200 branded companies worldwide Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Conglomerate brand of over 360 companies. Branson's first successful business venture was at age 16, when he published a magazine called Student. He then set up a record mail-order business in 1970. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores and rebranded as zavvi in late 2007. With his flamboyant and competitive style, Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s - as he set up Virgin Atlantic Airways and expanded the Virgin Records music label. Richard Branson is the 245th richest person according to Forbes' 2008 list of billionaires as he has an estimated net worth of approximately $2.8 billion USD. * The Dutch East India Company can be considered to be one of the earliest conglomerate groups. * The era of Licence Raj (1947-1990) in India created some of Asia's largest conglomerates such as the Tata Group, Kirloskar Group, Reliance Industries and the Aditya Birla Group. [More Info] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conglomerate_(company) , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Branson , http://www.virgin.com/AboutVirgin/WhatWeAreAbout/WhatWeAreAbout.aspx

The “W o W” word Acquisition (‘akwi’zishun ) (noun): The act of contracting or assuming or acquiring possession of something. A store a day, every workday... Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 15,012 stores in 44 countries. From Starbucks' founding in Seattle as a local coffee bean roaster and retailer, the company has expanded rapidly. In the 1990s, Starbucks was opening a new store every workday, a pace that continued into the 2000s. Starbucks entered the U.K. market in 1998 with the acquisition of the then 60-outlet, UK-based Seattle Coffee Company, re-branding all its stores as Starbucks. Starbucks entered the music industry in 1999 with the acquisition of Hear Music, and the film industry in 2006 with the creation of Starbucks Entertainment. Starbucks Entertainment was one of the producers of the 2006 film Akeelah and the Bee. [More Info] : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks / http://www.starbucks.co.uk/en-GB/_About+Starbucks/

The “W o W” word Viral marketing: Explosive growth in sales , or spread of product information through customer contact (referrals). A viral factor for Dark Knight... The marketing campaign for the 2008 film The Dark Knight combined both online and real-life elements to make it resemble an alternate reality game. Techniques included mass gatherings of Joker fans, scavenger hunts around the US and World, detailed and intricate websites that let fans actually participate in "voting" for political offices in Gotham City, and even a Gotham News Network that has links to other Gotham pages such as Gotham Rail, a Gotham travel agency, and political candidate's pages. The movie also markets heavily off of word of mouth from the thousands of Batman fans. [More Info] : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing

The “W o W” word Six Sigma: A business management strategy, originally developed by Motorola, that today enjoys wide-spread application in many sectors of industry. Six Sigma was originally developed as a set of practices designed to improve manufacturing processes and eliminate defects, but its application was subsequently extended to other types of business processes as well. In Six Sigma, a defect is defined as anything that could lead to customer dissatisfaction. The particulars of the methodology were first formulated by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986.Six Sigma was heavily inspired by six preceding decades of quality improvement methodologies such as quality control, TQM, and Zero Defects.

The “W o W” word Spinoff: A company can create an independent company from an existing part of the company by selling or distributing new shares in the so-called spinoff. Telecom solutions provider OnMobile, which was spun off from Infosys to build and deploy software solutions for the wireless and Internet industry. According to Standard & Poor, a Research, Risk and Policy Advisory company, spin-offs generally tend to outperform. Their shares tend be inexpensive initially because investors often sell when they receive stock in a new company they did not intend to own. However, insiders often receive generous incentives to make the spin-off work and the management of the newly spun-off company is frequently looking for ways to increase shareholder value. [More Info] : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin-off

August months WoW theme: SPORTS.

The “W o W” word Transcendent (tran-SEN-duhnt) (adj): Better than the best; Surpassing others; preeminent or supreme. Michael Phelps wins 8 Gold Medals in a Single Olympic Michael Phelps' gold medal hunt in Beijing ends as the swimming superstar leaves the Water Cube eight golds heavier, breaking Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in one Olympics. Superman. Magical. The King. The Dolphin. The Fish. The Phenomenon. These are just some of the words being used to describe the face of the XXIX Summer Olympics in Beijing, Michael Phelps. (ABCNews.com)

The “W o W” word Consummate (KON-suh-mit) (adj): complete or perfect; supremely skilled; superb The First to do a Perfect Routine in Olympics Romania's Nadia Comaneci was the star of the Montreal Olympics in 1976 when she achieved in her sport what no Olympian ever had before: perfection. Comaneci first achieved her perfect 10 on the uneven parallel bars. But it was only the beginning. By the time Comaneci had finished soaring through the various events with the apparent ease of a bird in flight, she would score six more 10s and win gold medals in the uneven bars, the balance beam and the all-around competition. The most spectacular display of women's gymnastics ever. (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)

The “W o W” word Facile (FAS-ahyl) (adj): moving, acting, working, proceeding, etc., with ease, sometimes with superficiality He made it look Easy In the most outrageous display of speed to ever burn across the Olympic Games, Usain Bolt of Jamaica rocketed to gold in winning the men's 100m dash in 9.69 seconds -- not only a new world record but the first time in the history of human beings a man has run the distance under 9.7 seconds without a significant tailwind. Incredibly, Bolt, 21, could have gone faster. With a full seven strides to go, he dropped his arms and let them fall outstretched to his sides, appearing almost to run sideways as he played to the sold-out crowd of 91,000 at the Bird's Nest. Just before the finish line, he started high-stepping and, for good measure, executed a chest-thump. All that, and still -- 9.69 seconds. Bolt simply ran away from the rest of the best of the world. (nbcolympics.com)

The “W o W” word Nonpareil(non-puh-rel) (adj): having no equal; peerless. The Real “DON” Sir Donald George Bradman, often referred to as The Don, was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has been claimed to be statistically the greatest achievement in any major sport. During a 20-year playing career, Bradman consistently scored at a level that made him, in the words of former Australia captain Bill Woodfull, "worth three batsmen to Australia". Interestingly, Bradman’s dismal score in his first Test (18 and 1) and his last Test (0) is well known but very few know that he holds the record for the scoring the highest runs by any Australian in his second Test (79 and 112) and second last Test (33 and 173 n.o.).

The “W o W” word Fortitude (FAWR-ti-tyood) (noun): Strength of mind that allows one to endure pain or adversity with courage. Strength to Endure: Through Race and Through Life The best cyclist ever, Lance Armstrong won the sport's premier event, the Tour de France, an almost incomprehensible seven times from 1999 to 2005. But before he could do that, in 1996 he had to beat back a cancer that was supposed to take his life. Testicular cancer had spread to his abdomen, lungs and brain. Grim-faced doctors told him he had no chance. But no chance were not words that had meaning for Lance. He inspired all of us who face a cancer diagnosis to search out the doctors who believe that we can live, to hold on to those friends and family who stand beside our bed—and then to fight to prove the faith of those friends and the beliefs of those doctors well founded. (Elizabeth Edwards, time.com)