be around for a while
Hello!
Does 'be around for a while' mean popular in this context?

"This has been a problem for a while now. Frederick Taylor was one of the forefathers of scientific management. Writing in the first half of the 20th century, he designed a number of principles to improve the efficiency of the work process, which have since become widespread in modern companies. So the approach has been around for a while."

Question

be around for a while
Hello!
Does 'be around for a while' mean popular in this context?

"This has been a problem for a while now. Frederick Taylor was one of the forefathers of scientific management. Writing in the first half of the 20th century, he designed a number of principles to improve the efficiency of the work process, which have since become widespread in modern companies. So the approach has been around for a while."

Answer

The phrase "has been 'around' for a while" just means that something has existed, has been known or has been available for some time. It's more the previous sentence which suggests popularity - if the approach has been widespread in modern companies since the early 20th century, you could infer that it's been popular for this time.

Answer

It means his principles to improve efficiency are still being utilized today so yes, you could say his methods and principles are popular.

“Been around for a while” simply means that something has been popular, used, talked about etc.. for a long duration of time, maybe days, maybe weeks, or even years depending on the context.

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Thanks :-)

Answer

"Familiar" is probably a better word than popular.