corporate anorexia: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples
C1+Business/Management jargon, critical or analytical discourse.
Quick answer
What does “corporate anorexia” mean?
A business strategy involving excessive downsizing, restructuring, and cost-cutting to the point where the company's core capabilities and long-term health are damaged.
Audio
Pronunciation
Definition
Meaning and Definition
A business strategy involving excessive downsizing, restructuring, and cost-cutting to the point where the company's core capabilities and long-term health are damaged.
A metaphorical term describing an organization that has become dangerously lean, shedding essential personnel, assets, and functions, leading to reduced innovation, poor service, and vulnerability to market changes. It implies a pathological focus on short-term financial metrics over organizational vitality.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No significant spelling or grammatical differences. Concept is equally understood in both business cultures.
Connotations
Equally critical in both dialects. Slightly more likely to be used in US business press due to prevalence of shareholder-value-maximization models.
Frequency
Low frequency in general language, but stable within business/management criticism. Slightly higher visibility in American business literature.
Grammar
How to Use “corporate anorexia” in a Sentence
[Company] suffers from corporate anorexia.The relentless cost-cutting resulted in corporate anorexia.Their strategy was criticised as corporate anorexia.Vocabulary
Collocations
Examples
Examples of “corporate anorexia” in a Sentence
verb
British English
- The firm is anorexicing itself into irrelevance.
- They risk anorexicing their core competencies.
American English
- The company anorexiced its R&D department to hit quarterly targets.
adjective
British English
- The consultancy warned of an anorexic corporate culture.
- They pursued an anorexic strategy.
American English
- The board was accused of anorexic thinking.
Usage
Meaning in Context
Business
Used critically in strategy meetings, analyst reports, and business journalism to warn against the long-term dangers of aggressive, indiscriminate cost reduction.
Academic
Found in management studies, critical business theory, and organizational behaviour literature as a descriptive metaphor for a specific pathology.
Everyday
Virtually never used in everyday conversation outside of business professionals.
Technical
Not a precise technical term, but used as a vivid label within business strategy discourse.
Vocabulary
Synonyms of “corporate anorexia”
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms of “corporate anorexia”
Watch out
Common Mistakes When Using “corporate anorexia”
- Using it to describe any cost-cutting (it must be excessive and harmful).
- Misspelling 'anorexia'.
- Using it in a positive or neutral sense.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No, it is entirely a business metaphor. It has no connection to clinical medicine.
Almost never. It is a critical term used to describe a harmful management strategy.
It is widely attributed to management theorists and was popularized in the 1990s, often associated with critiques of downsizing trends.
'Lean management' aims for efficiency by eliminating waste. 'Corporate anorexia' is the pathological extreme where essential resources and capabilities are cut, harming the organization's core health and future.
A business strategy involving excessive downsizing, restructuring, and cost-cutting to the point where the company's core capabilities and long-term health are damaged.
Corporate anorexia is usually business/management jargon, critical or analytical discourse. in register.
Corporate anorexia: in British English it is pronounced /ˌkɔː.pər.ət ˌæn.əˈrek.si.ə/, and in American English it is pronounced /ˌkɔːr.pɚ.ət ˌæn.əˈrek.si.ə/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “[To] starve the goose that lays the golden eggs (conceptually related)”
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think of a company on a drastic 'diet', cutting so much 'fat' (costs, staff) that it becomes all 'bone' (structure) with no 'muscle' (ability to operate), just like a person with anorexia.
Conceptual Metaphor
A COMPANY IS A BODY / FINANCIAL HEALTH IS PHYSICAL HEALTH. Cost-cutting is dieting. Essential functions are muscles/organs. Excessive leanness is sickness.
Practice
Quiz
What is the primary criticism embedded in the term 'corporate anorexia'?