expansion

Phase of the business cycle as it climbs from a trough toward a peak. Bloomberg Financial Dictionary

* * *

expansion ex‧pan‧sion [ɪkˈspænʆn] noun [uncountable]

1. when something increases or is increased in size, amount, or number:

• An expansion of demand can give rise to inflationary pressures

• There was enormous expansion of credit to finance cumulative budget deficits of $1,400 billion.

2. ECONOMICS when an economy becomes more successful, and there is increased economic activity, more jobs etc:

• the continued expansion of the Japanese economy

• The study was carried out at a time of economic expansion and three out of four of the firms had experienced growth in the year prior to the study.

doˌmestic ˈcredit exˌpansion ECONOMICS

a way of measuring growth in the total amount of money in a country's economy at a particular time. It includes bank loans to private customers in the UK and abroad, and the public sector borrowing requirement (= the amount of money the government will need to borrow in the future for all its different departments). It does not include the amount of money owed by the government to private companies:

• Increased government borrowing tends to lead to increased domestic credit expansion.

3. COMMERCE when an industry or company becomes bigger or more successful:

• a strategy of modest but steady expansion

• Many small businesses are already benefiting from lower interest rates as they accelerate their expansion plans.

• More expansion into Europe is likely, but the company will not be hurried.

ˌvertical exˈpansion COMMERCE

when a company starts to take on the business activities that are carried out by its suppliers or customers:

• Vertical expansion enabled the directors to keep much tighter control of the marketing strategy.

* * *

expansion UK US /ɪkˈspænʃ^ən/ noun [C or U] ECONOMICS, COMMERCE

► an increase in the size, number, or importance of something: a rapid/major/massive expansion »

the rapid expansion of the software industry

the planned/possible expansion of sth »

The document outlines the planned expansion of the programme across the UK.

»

airport/business/market expansion

expansion into sth »

Expansion into new areas of research is possible.

»

an expansion plan/programme/project

»

support/allow/encourage expansion

»

fund/finance expansion

→ See also DOMESTIC CREDIT EXPANSION(Cf. ↑domestic credit expansion), VERTICAL EXPANSION(Cf. ↑vertical expansion)