Meaning & use
bottleneck business
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Meanings
phrasecountablebusiness
A business, or a part of one, where a single step or resource slows everything down.
Grammar: Countable phrase: a bottleneck business, the bottleneck business, bottleneck businesses. Often used after 'is' or 'has'.
Patterns
- a bottleneck business
- the bottleneck in a business
- create a bottleneck in the business
The factory became a bottleneck business because every order had to pass through one aging packing machine.
Managers described the approval process as a bottleneck business: nothing moved until the finance director signed.
If one team is a bottleneck business, the rest of the company waits and costs rise.
phrasecountablebusiness
A company whose growth is held back by a shortage of one key input, skill, or capacity.
Grammar: Countable and usually followed by 'because of' or 'due to' to name the limiting factor.
Patterns
- a bottleneck business due to something
- remain a bottleneck business
The startup is a bottleneck business because only one engineer can maintain the payment system.
Without more delivery drivers, the grocery chain will stay a bottleneck business.
Word forms
| plural | bottleneck businesses |
|---|
Common combinations
- create a bottleneck
- Too many approval steps create a bottleneck in the sales process.
- ease the bottleneck
- Hiring two more technicians eased the bottleneck at the repair center.
- a major bottleneck
- Shipping is now the major bottleneck for the whole business.
- bottleneck in production
- We found a bottleneck in production after the new orders arrived.
Synonyms and how they differ
- constraint
- Constraint is more formal and often refers to a rule or limit, while bottleneck stresses the slow point in a flow.
- chokepoint
- Chokepoint is used more for physical routes or security, such as a narrow road or port, not usually for office processes.
Word family
- bottleneck noun
- The point or stage that limits progress.
- bottleneck verb
- To slow something down by becoming a limiting stage.
Commonly confused: bottleneck business or bottle bank?
bottleneck business vs bottle bank
A bottle bank is a container for recycling glass; it sounds similar but has nothing to do with business delays.
Practice
The report says the warehouse is a bottleneck business ___ only one loading dock works.
Choose one answer.
'Because' introduces the reason for the bottleneck. 'Although' and 'despite' would signal a contrast, and 'unless' would introduce a condition, neither of which fits the cause-and-effect meaning here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bottleneck business”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.