Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Progressing from small or subordinate units to larger or more important units, as in an organization or process.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Computers) planning or building the smallest parts first. Opposite of top-down.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of, or relating to a hierarchical system that progresses from multiple, small subunits to a single, large basic unit

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of an approach to a problem that begins with details and works up to the highest conceptual level

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The first which we call our bottom-up strategy is to hit every one of those 700 generations plants with a local WESCO sales person, local WESCO inventory, local WESCO service.

    unknown title 2011

  • Its decision-making approach was defined as a "bottom-up, consensus-driven, democratic manner," which seems to include so many advisory groups—including governments, registries, other nonprofits, companies and network security specialists—that no single interest group dominates.

    A New Challenge for Web Freedom L. Gordon Crovitz 2012

  • These are supposed to be assessed in terms of their costs and benefits combined in business to indicate return on investment so that the general managers can assess each, compare and rank them, and accept only as many as the capital funding available for a given period will allow.11 Because of the impetus of the flow from unit managers to general managers, capital budgeting is sometimes referred to as bottom-up strategic planning.

    The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning HENRY MINTZBERG 1994

  • These are supposed to be assessed in terms of their costs and benefits combined in business to indicate return on investment so that the general managers can assess each, compare and rank them, and accept only as many as the capital funding available for a given period will allow.11 Because of the impetus of the flow from unit managers to general managers, capital budgeting is sometimes referred to as bottom-up strategic planning.

    The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning HENRY MINTZBERG 1994

  • There are probably two basic reasons why none of our cases of major change can be characterized as bottom-up.

    CORPORATE CULTURE AND PERFORMANCE John P. Kotter 1992

  • There are probably two basic reasons why none of our cases of major change can be characterized as bottom-up.

    CORPORATE CULTURE AND PERFORMANCE John P. Kotter 1992

  • Friedrich Hayek was, of course, the Nobel economist who pioneered work in what Ridley, in his acceptance lecture, called "bottom-up" economic and social development.

    Forbes.com: News Tim Ferguson 2011

  • In the telling of the history of the West, “bottom-up” scholars replaced the silly romanticism of older historians with a far more intelligent and hardheaded narrative of American expansion.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

  • Smart companies use both approaches and are adept at helping bottom-up innovation projects get the sponsorship they need to survive.

    The Five Myths Of Innovation Julian Birkinshaw 2011

  • We wanted to find cases where dramatic changes had emerged through bottom-up initiatives.

    The Five Myths Of Innovation Julian Birkinshaw 2011

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