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Customers are the judge of business survival.

English translation: customers are the arbiters of business survival

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:Customers are the judge of business survival.
Selected answer:customers are the arbiters of business survival
Entered by: Peter Linton (X)

15:28 Aug 6, 2006
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Management
English term or phrase: Customers are the judge of business survival.
Is this sentence correct?
anastasia t (X)
Local time: 20:26
customers are the arbiters of business survival
Explanation:
... is how I would put it. In this context, I think "judge" is the wrong word.
Selected response from:

Peter Linton (X)
Local time: 13:26
Grading comment
Thanks for your resounding no.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +9yes
Michael Powers (PhD)
4 +4See sentence below
Suzan Hamer
4the definer
ErichEko ⟹⭐
3customers are the arbiters of business survival
Peter Linton (X)


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
customers are the judge of business survival.
See sentence below


Explanation:
I would say something like "Customers determine whether a business survives." Or "Business survival depends on customers." Or "The survival of a business depends on its customers." Or . . . depends on customer satisfaction." Or "Satisfied customers keep a business in business." (A little too much of a pun, perhaps)

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Note added at 12 mins (2006-08-06 15:41:20 GMT)
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If your question is whether "judge" or "decide" is better, of those two choices, I would go with "decide." However, I do think there are better choices, as I've mentioned above.

Suzan Hamer
Netherlands
Local time: 14:26
Works in field
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Peter Shortall: "Judge of... survival" somehow seems slightly odd to me, but it's hard to explain why... I'd prefer one of your first three ideas
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Peter. "Judge of ...survival" seems more than slightly odd to me, too.
agree  NancyLynn: I vote for #3 and #5 :-)
5 hrs
  -> Thanks, Nancy. Funny how it's so easy to supply alternatives for other people, when I'm stuck on some odd sounding sentences in a text I'm currently working on (make that SHOULD be working on).
agree  conejo
1 day 3 hrs
  -> Thank you, conejo.
agree  Uma Hariharan
2 days 13 hrs
  -> Thanks to you, too, Uma.
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0 min   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +9
customers are the judge of business survival.
yes


Explanation:
Mike :)

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Note added at 1 min (2006-08-06 15:30:47 GMT)
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Even though "customers" is plural, it is understood collectively as a group, and thus the use of "the judge" in singular is all right.

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Note added at 3 mins (2006-08-06 15:32:15 GMT)
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Note in the following example with "firemen."

Firemen are the safety net for unexpected fires.

In this case we do not use "safety nets" for unexpected first. Collectively they make up the safety net.

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Note added at 14 mins (2006-08-06 15:43:12 GMT)
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Another option now that I understand what you means is:

Customers are the ultimate judges of whether or not a business survives.

Business survival is a decision made by customers.

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Note added at 26 mins (2006-08-06 15:55:24 GMT)
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You can use "judge" or "decide" or a derivation of the same. It is up to you.

Michael Powers (PhD)
United States
Local time: 08:26
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  jarry (X)
43 mins
  -> Thank you, Jarry - Mike :)
agree  Asghar Bhatti
49 mins
  -> Thank you, Asghar - Mike :)
agree  vanesa medina
49 mins
  -> Thank you, paomedina - Mike :)
agree  Will Matter
1 hr
  -> Thank you, willmatter - Mike :)
agree  Jonathan MacKerron: odd wording but surely acceptable
3 hrs
agree  stefania da prato
4 hrs
neutral  juvera: I would like to ask: how do you judge survival? May be the worthiness of survival? But this sentence of yours is just right: Business survival is a decision made by customers.
5 hrs
agree  conejo
1 day 3 hrs
agree  Alfa Trans (X)
2 days 3 hrs
agree  Ana L Fazio-Kroll
2 days 10 hrs
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11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
customers are the judge of business survival.
the definer


Explanation:
"Customers are the definer of business survival" sounds good to me. It serves two things: jargonism (which are pretty common in *business* texts) and correct meaning.

If you want a simple one, use "Customer defines the survival of a business." Survival here -- in my view -- is not strictly defined as dead or alive, but rather in a spectrum, e.g., 'take off well', 'stay at runway', 'fly awkwardly', or 'crashed for good' :-)

ErichEko ⟹⭐
Indonesia
Local time: 19:26
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in IndonesianIndonesian
PRO pts in category: 15
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3 days 2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
customers are the judge of business survival.
customers are the arbiters of business survival


Explanation:
... is how I would put it. In this context, I think "judge" is the wrong word.


Peter Linton (X)
Local time: 13:26
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks for your resounding no.
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