# build a case



## PaniWladca

Witam ponownie 

Przechodząc do rzeczy: 


> It`s a way to establish a conversation that considers a company`s performance in holistic way, identifies the tough trade-offs and *builds a case* for innovation and the benefits it can generate.



Ma ktoś pomysł jak przetłumaczyć pogrubione wyrażenie? Argumentuje za (innowacją)? Prowadzi (przygotowuje) do dyskusji na temat (innowacji...)?


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## dreamlike

To chyba inna wersja wyrażenia 'make a case for' - klik. Po zapoznaniu się z linkiem, tłumaczenie nie powinno stanowić problemu.


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## Hikee

First: 


> considers a company`s performance in *a* holistic way



Also, not sure about the "a" before company. Unless it's first mention, I would go for the definite article. 


Second:

"Build a case" is absolutely *NOT* the same as "make a case for"! Build a case is mostly used in legal context, as in the following example:


> The detective had a difficult time building a case against the suspected killer who still roamed free.



It means that it was difficult for the detective to find evidence of the crime and thus *make grounds *for, say, an arrest warrant.

In more general terms, building a case is *gathering infromation, assets, or the like, for a specific purpose*. 

Therefore, "building a case for innovation" means to provide any resources necessary in order to make that innovation possible.


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## dreamlike

In the light of such a detailed and comprehensive answer, the only thing I can do is to bow and stand corrected. I'm glad I've used the word 'chyba' in my previous post, I feel somewhat justified. 

On a more serious note, it doesn't bring any closer to finding _an apt Polish translation,_ which is what the OP asked for. At least for now, I can't come up with one, but I'll add to the thread when I have. Perhaps 'zbierać argumenty za...'?


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## Hikee

@dreamlike - No harm done. 

As for the translation, which totally escaped me, I would go for either of the following:

"kładzie fundamenty pod innowacje" if you want to be precise; or

"stawia na innowacje" if you're cool with changing the original meaning a bit and going for something stylistically better.


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## dreamlike

*"Kładzie fundamenty pod..."* sounds like the best translation there possibly is, I wish I had thought of it.  'stawia na innowancje' would be wandering too far from the original, I reckon.


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## Thomas1

Other possibilities:
...stwarza okazje/warunki/sprzyjające okoliczności/korzystny klimat/itd. dla innowacji...


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## LilianaB

Where is the quotation from? Please provide the source.


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## Szkot

Sorry Hikee, I disagree on a couple of points.


Hikee said:


> First: Also, not sure about the "a" before company. Unless it's first mention, I would go for the definite article.



Which article depends on whether you are talking about a general principle applicable to any company, or about one particular company.  I read the original text in the former sense, in which case 'a' is correct.


> Second: "Build a case" is absolutely *NOT* the same as "make a case for"! Build a case is mostly used in legal contexts, as in the following example:
> 
> It means that it was difficult for the detective to find evidence of the crime and thus *make grounds *for, say, an arrest warrant.
> 
> In more general terms, building a case is *gathering information, assets, or the like, for a specific purpose*. Therefore, "building a case for innovation" means to provide any resources necessary in order to make that innovation possible.



There is no big difference between build and make a case.  Building the case is gathering the information and assembling the arguments which you will use to make the case for the proposed innovation.  'Building a case' is not about providing resources/assets, though it would include identifying what resources would be needed.


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## Hikee

Sorry Szkot, I disagree on a couple of points.

In the case of the articles you pointed out the exact same thing that I did - only paraphrased it. I also meant that if *this* company is *some* company, or even it's a first mention of a *certain* company, then "a" is fine. "The" would be of course preferable if "company" turned out to be a specific one that's been mentioned in the text prior to the extract we were given. 

Next:


> "Build a case" is absolutely NOT the same as "make a case *for*"




Not once did I say that "make a case" and "build a case" are different. The idiom that is "make a case for" however, is a different story altogether.

Finally, we may argue on the meaning of the actual phrase in question. You say "building a case" does not include concrete objects - be it assets or resources - but you're forgetting that both of those things may be as inconcrete as you make them - assets can be virtual, or simply pieces of information, and resources might as well be intellectual. But that's beside the point. As I gather from the legal context, building a case against a person, as in the example about the detective, entails not only information, but evidence (concrete objects) as well. Hence the analogy that assets/resources/etc. can and should in fact be incuded in a "built case".


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## LilianaB

Why don't you run the sentence through the English Only Forum to check if it makes any sense, but the context is obviously needed fist-- to find out exactly where this excerpt is from. Context is always required.


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## Ben Jamin

PaniWladca said:


> Witam ponownie
> 
> Przechodząc do rzeczy:
> 
> 
> Ma ktoś pomysł jak przetłumaczyć pogrubione wyrażenie? Argumentuje za (innowacją)? Prowadzi (przygotowuje) do dyskusji na temat (innowacji...)?


To jest właściwie pytanie na forum angielskie (znaczenie oryginału nie jest jasne).


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## PaniWladca

At first, thank you everybody for your opinions and sorry for a late reply. I didn`t expect the meaning of this phrase might be so ambiguous, if I had known, I would have certainly provided more context at the very beginning. The quote is from an article from Harvard Business Review, titled "The Performance Frontier: Innovating for a sustainable strategy", it`s written by native speakers, so it should be all gramatically correct and perfectly make sense.
In the original sentence 


> *It*`s a way to estabilish a conversation that (...)


*it *refers to integrated reporting (reporting that takes into account financial, social and environmental performance); it`s of no use quoting any more sentences because they provide less context than you could expect, they just say integrated reporting it`s more than just posting a PDF on a company website, that it`s as much about listening as talking, it serves as a key platform for stakeholders engagement and then goes the already quoted part. From what we have, I think all options proposed in this topic are correct, we may argue which one is the closest to what the authors wanted to say, but it`s another question - I have read the whole article and all of them seem to fit. All in all, thank you very much for your help, even though now it`s purely academic discussion, because I had to prepare it for my English classes and I have already passed the task


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## Ben Jamin

PaniWladca said:


> The quote is from an article from Harvard Business Review, ...  .... it`s written by native speakers, so it should be all gramatically correct and perfectly make sense.


 Hmm, an interesting belief.


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