push

1. Internet: (1) Broadcasting information (via emails or automatic uploading) at predetermined intervals without every time seeking recipient's prior permission. (2) Computer program that automatically retrieves updated information from specified websites and presents it to the user at predetermined times.

2. Manufacturing: Buying inventory of materials, parts, subassemblies, etc., based on the firm's production plan, and distributing it to the production center(s) at a predetermined rate. See also push system.

3. Marketing: Creation of demand through filling the retailers' shelves by giving them incentives (called push money) to stock large volumes. See also push promotional strategy.

Take a lesson from Delphi, the giant auto parts supplier stuck in Chapter 11 despite its $26 billion in annual sales: It's no fun to be in a business where a few big customers can demand price cuts with each passing year. Meanwhile, movie theaters--even while besieged by video-on-demand and other services--still manage to push higher prices on the disaggregated masses. The cost of a seat at a Regal Entertainment Group theater in lower Manhattan is now $12--up 20% in less than three years.