basic english for business management 09

☺ INSTITUTE OF POSTS & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

☺ DEPARTMENT OF BASIC SCIENCES ☺ ENGLISH SECTION

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY Sep – 2009

Generated by Foxit PDF Creator © Foxit Softwarehttp://www.foxitsoftware.com For evaluation only.

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Contents (course 1)

Preface 2

unit 1. Communicating electronically 3 unit 2. Describing a company 12 unit 3. Describing trends 24

unit 4. Work and motivation 33 unit 5. Human resources 41 unit 6. Marketing and sales 49 unit 7. Promotion 58

List of resources 67-68


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PREFACE

English is often used in specialist journals, books and magazines to reach an international public. This course is for

people in business or students of business who want to learn more English for use on their jobs or in their studies. Its

primary aim is to facilitate reading, but it also provides practice in the kind of grammatical constructions and

vocabulary.

The course contains texts and exercises. The texts are taken from a range of recent publications such as books,

magazines and newspapers mentioned in the list of resources.

I acknowledge our indebtedness to these authors whose books provided not only information, guidelines but actual

methods which I have followed.

Although I have drawn many ideas and in some cases procedures from the books mentioned, any errors of analysis,

classification, or interpretation found in this book are entirely my own.

Thanks to those meticulous readers who have written and will write in with suggestions, politely reminding me of my

human fallibility.

Course compiler


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unit 1. Communicating electronically (telephones, emails).

I. TELEPHONING.

I.1. STRUCTURING A CALL.

I.1.1. OUTGOING CALLS. ( i.e. when you make the call )

Read the following sentences and then put them into the correct list below.

1. Good morning / Hello.

2. Could (Can) I speak to (with) Georgia Miller, please ?

3. I’d like to speak to Susan Green, please.

4. Could you put me through to Mr. Dylan, please ?

5. Is Ms. Richardson there ?

6. I’m calling to ask about the union meeting.

7. I’m ringing to tell you about the order of November the fifteen.

8. It is about (concerning) the meeting tomorrow.

9. The reason I’m calling is to fix another appointment.

10. I’m returning your call.

11. This is Thomas Parker speaking.

12. I’m Susan Green from Morningside Post Office .

13. I see (understand).

14. Well, thank you very much for your help.

15. I’m grateful for your assistance.

16. When could we meet ?

17. What time would suit you ?

18. Would tomorrow at 7 p.m. suit you (be ok)?

19. I’d like to see you on Friday after work.

20. Could you ask him to call me back?

21. Could you tell him I called?

22. I’ll call back tomorrow morning .

23. Could I leave a message?

24. Speak to you soon.

25. Goodbye.

26. Well, I look forward to meeting you on Friday at 6 p.m.

27. Yes, that suits me fine.

(a) Greetings (b) Identifying

yourself

(c. Asking to

speak to someone

(d) Explaining the

purpose of the calls

(e) Showing

understanding

(f) Making an

appointment

(g) Leaving a

message

(h) Confirming

details

(i) Thanking (j) Ending the calls


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I.I.2. INCOMING CALLS. ( i.e. when you receive the call )

Read the following sentences and then put them into the correct list below.

1. May I ask who’s calling ?

2. Who’s calling (speaking), please ?

3. I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name.

4. Who shall I say is calling ?

5. XYZ Post Office speaking.

6. ABC Co., Ltd . Good morning.

7. Susan Green here.

8. Will you hold ?

9. Could you ring back later (in a few minutes)?

10. Would you like to leave a message ?

11. Can I take a message ?

12. Would you like to have her return your call ?

13. I’ll tell him you called.

14. I’ll get him to ring you back first thing in the afternoon.

15. What can I do for you ? (How can I help you?)

16. Could you tell me what it’s about ?

17. May I ask the nature of your business, please ?

18. I am afraid he is not available (not here) at the moment.

19. I am afraid he is with a client (in a meeting) at the moment.

20. I am sorry he is on the other line at the moment.

21. I am afraid her line is engaged (busy) at this time.

22. I am afraid he can’t take the call at this time.

23. Speak to you soon.

24. Bye.

25. Thanks for calling.

(a) Identifying yourself when

you pick up the phone

(b) Helping the

caller

(c) Asking for the caller’s

identification

(d) Asking about the purpose

(e) Explaining that

someone is not available

(f) Alternative

actions

(g) Thanking (h) Ending

I.2. PRACTICE.

I.2.1. MATCHING.

(1) Match the words (phrases) on the left with the words (phrases) on the right that mean the same.

1. ______ I'll get back to you. A. The phone connection has been broken

2. ______ Will do. B. What do you want to say?


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3. ______ Anything else? C. I'll call you again.

4. ______ Hang up. D. The line’s engaged.

5. ______ We’ve been cut off E. Could I have your name?

6. ______ The line’s busy. F. Can you wait?

7. ______ What's up ? G. .… speaking.

8. ______ Who’s calling? H. Can you wait?

9. ______ Will you hold? I. Okay, I'll do it .

10. ______ Hold on. J. Put the phone down.

11. ______ This is ….. K. Is that all?

12. ______ Hold on. L. One moment.

(2) Look at the sentences. Think about them carefully. Which ones are said by:

a person making a call? (write A) a person receiving a call? (write B)

(3) Who says these expressions ? Caller ( C ) / Receiver ( R ) ? Write C or R beside each expression.

1. ………. I’ve got the wrong number.

2. ………. I must have the wrong number. / I must have dialed the wrong number.

3. ………. I have been misrouted

4. ………. There’s no one here by that name. / There’s no one of that name here.

5. ………. You’ll have to check with the Directory Enquiry.

6. ………. You have the wrong number./ You dialed the wrong number.

7. ………. The number has been changed.

8. ………. I guess I have the wrong number.

I.2.2. SENTENCE COMPLETION.

Choose the correct answer or answers.

1. I’m sorry, I can’t hear you very well, this is ______.

(a) a terrible line (b) a bad connection (c) unobtainable (d) busy all the time


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2. I am trying to get 1234567. I am afraid ______.

(a) it’s put through (b) there’s no answer (c) I can get through (d) the number is reachable

3. Could you speak ______,please ?

(a) a little louder (b) a little slower (c) more slowly (d) more loudly

4. I can’t ______ to him, his line always seems to be ______.

(a) put through – unobtainable (c) get through – busy all the time

(b) connect – unavailable (d) put through – cut off

5. I’m sorry about that. I’m glad you’re still there. We must have been ______ for a moment.

(a) run off (b) cut off (c) out of order (d) crossed

6. If you’ve misdialed, you’ll hear a tone telling you that the number is ______.

(a) unobtainable (b) unreachable (c) ringing (d) dialing

7. “Hello, Operator? Can you tell me how to make a call to France?”

“Certainly, sir. Just pick up the phone and ______”9” to get a line. When you hear the dialing tone, dial 0033 and

then the number you want in France.”

(a) press (b) dial (c) push (d) all of these

8. Excuse me, I’d like you to ______ this line, we get ______.

(a) test – a crossed line (c) check – a lot of cross-talk on it

(b) check – a lot of interference on it (d) check – a crossed line

9. The code for Leeds has been changed. Please ______, inserting 05 before the subscriber number.

(a) redial (b) misdial (c) hang up (d) press

10. I have tried a number several times and I always get ______.

(a) a busy tone (b) a busy signal (c) an engaged tone (d) a number unobtainable tone

11. The number has been changed. Please ______ and dial the following number.

(a) hang up (b) replace the handset (c) pick the receiver up (d) put the receiver down

12. If you don’t want to be interrupted by any phone calls, you can leave the phone ______.

(a) on the hook (b) off the hook (c) on (d) on its rest

13. The phone’s ringing. Why don’t you ______ ?

(a) lift the handset (b) pick up the receiver (c) hang up (d) put the receiver down

14. Mrs. Scott isn’t available at the moment. Can you ______ later?

(a) ring back (b) call back (c) phone back (d) call for

15. Can you ______ Ms Dumas’s number in the directory, please?

(a) look at (b) look by (c) look up (d) look out

16. I’m afraid she’s with a client, shall I _______ to her secretary?

(a) book you (b) put you through (c) get through (d) connect you

17. Mr. Green never seems to be in his office. I’ve been trying to ______ to him all morning.

(a) get through (b) put through (c) reach (d) put on

18. Is Graham there? If so, could you _______, please?

(a) look up him (b) put through him (c) get through him (d) put him on

19. I’m sorry to trouble you, I think I must have got the ______.

(a) phone book (b) directory (c) wrong number (d) cell phone


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20. I can’t get through, their line always seems to be ______.

(a) engaged (b) occupied (c) busy (d) in use

21. I’m out tomorrow morning, so give me a ______ in the afternoon.

(a) call (b) ring (c) bell (d) all of these

22. Customers in the States can call us on our ______ number.

(a) toll-free (b) free-cost (c) priceless (d) free of phone

23. Can you tell me how to ______ France?

(a) make a call to (b) place a call to (c) book a call (d) telephone a call to

24. Businesses often have ______ for leaving messages for people not at their desks.

(a) multiline phones (b) voicemail (c) fixed phones (d) speakerphones

25. (A) X: “Hi. Is this Liz?” Y: “Yes, who’s that? I can ______ you.”

(a) hear not well (b) hardly hear (c) not hear well (d) not hardly hear

(B) X: “It’s Debbie. I’m ______.

(a) in my phone (b) on my mobile (c) at my cellphone (d) for my pager

I.2.3. LISTENING TASK.

(1) Listen to five conversations and note the following.

1. the phone number ____________

the person to speak to ____________

2. what the caller offers to do ____________

the name of the company ____________

3. what the caller wants to receive ____________

where the warehouse is _________

4. where the caller is going _________

the e-mail address _________

5. the name of the department _________

the total _________

(2) In this part you will hear some short conversations between two people. At the end of each conversation, a

third voice will ask you a question about what was said. You are to choose the best response to each

question.

1. a. $29 b. $50 c. $25 d. $30

2. a. Jason Daniels isn’t home right now. c. Jason Daniels can’t come to the phone right now.

b. The caller dialed the wrong number. d. Jason Daniels doesn’t want to speak to the caller.

3. a. The number is 6-9-1 c. 9-1-6 is the area code

b. The area code is 1-9-6 d. 6-1-9 is the correct number.

4. a. One dollar a minute. c. Two dollars and fifty cents a minute.

b. One dollar a page. d. Two dollars and fifty cents a page.

5. a. He will pay $65. c. He will pay $9.55

b. He will pay $10.00 d. He will not pay for the call.

6. a. Call London about the charges. c. Refuse the call from London.

b. Accept the charges for the call. d. Charge the call to someone in London.

7. a. Call her at home before nine o’clock. c. Leave a message on her answering machine after nine o’clock.

b. Call Jack back at nine o’clock. d. Call 674-9521 before nine o’clock.

8. a. The operator c. The person making the call

b. The person receiving the call d. No one. The call is free


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II. NOTE-TAKING.

It is often necessary to take notes in phone conversations, telegraphic messages, e-mails, etc. You can do this more

easily by economizing on words, sentences and information

In order to achieve financial economy, there are two types of economy

which you must practice : economy of words & information.

II.1 ECONOMY OF WORDS .

(1) Grammar words: pronoun / auxiliary verbs / articles /

prepositions.

(2) Information words: nouns / verbs / adjectives / adverbs.

Notes :

a. Grammar words may be omitted. We often leave out we, you,....etc( pronouns) and in , at , on ..etc..(prepositions).

, and the, a, an ..etc..( articles) .But the message must be clear.

b. Participles or nouns can be used to replace clauses.

c. Usually we leave out mid-vowels, end- vowels, and use the key part of a word or use a common abbreviation.

d. Create a word from the first letters of each word in a series of words.

e. Use a letter that is pronounced the same as the word.

II.2 ECONOMY OF INFORMATION .

(1) It is more important to be concise than to be polite.

(2) If a piece of information is not essential for the reader, it should be excluded from the message.

II.3 PRACTICE.

(1) Write the following sentences in note form.

1. Will you please inform us of the date when the flight BA 105 arrives in New York?

2. We would be grateful if you would reply as quickly as possible.

3. Your letter dated December 15 2004 was received.

4. I am looking forward to signing the contract with them as soon as possible.

5. With reference to your fax of 23 February 2005, the materials which you requested are not available.

6. You could use part number 352/TN and 651/FJ for a maximum of ten days. Please reply as soon as possible

7. I regret that I am unable to attend the meeting as planned

8. I expect to return to work on 28th April. You can phone me on New York 4437941 if necessary.

② Choose the abbreviation from the list below that matches each of the words and phrases.

1. note

2. for example

3. per year

4. and so on

5. estimated time of arrival

6. Greenwich Mean Time

7. stamped addressed envelope

8. about, on the subject of

9. cost, insurance, freight

10. as soon as possible

11. free on board

12. for a maximum of

13. thousand

14. for the attention of

15. especially


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⒜ etc. ⒝ re ⒞ ETA ⒟ e.g. ⒠ SAE

⒡ max ⒢ NB ⒣ k ⒤ p.a. ⒥ GMT

⒦ CIF ⒧ ATTN ⒨ asap ⒩ FOB ⒪ esp

☺ Now use abbreviations to help you shorten the following sentences into notes.

16. Could you ask Mr.Dittmar about the invoice as soon as you can ?

17. The cost will be $27,000 including insurance and freight.

18. And there will be interest payable at 18 per cent per year.

19. Their agent is expected to arrive in London at 22.30.

20. It is very important that we don’t pay more than $15.

III. E-MAILS.

Email is electronic mail. You can send an email to someone, or email them.

They will reply to your email or email you back.

III.1. EMAIL ADDRESS.

Study this typical email address. It belongs to Anna Lock, who works for the Pesto company in the UK.

[email protected]

userid domain type of organization country

Study these examples of types of organizations and countries.

Organizations Countries

com or co commercial organization at Austria

edu / ac education au Australia

gov government ca Canada

Int international organization ch Switzerland

mil military de Germany

net network provider es Spain

org not-for-profit fr France

and other organization it Italy

III.2. EMAIL LAYOUT.

Previous | Next | Back to Messages Printable View - Full Headers

Delete Reply Forward Spam Move

This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as Unread ]

Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2007 02:44:26 -0700 (PDT)

From: <[email protected] Add to Address Book


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Subject: Planning

To: [email protected]

Cc. [email protected], [email protected]

Bcc. [email protected]

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Robert,

Thanks for your email asking for ways of reducing the budget of the sales department. Please find attached a Word

document with specific plans for this. Please let me know if you can’t read this attachment. I’m copying the others in on

this. Do forward it to the rest of the board if you feel that’s appropriate. Looking forward to your reaction.

Best wishes,

Tina

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Attachments

Files:

Plan.doc (48k) [view]

Delete Reply Forward Spam Move...

Previous | Next | Back to Messages Save Message Text

III.3. PRACTICE.

(1) Whose email addresses are these? Match the addresses (1-8) to the list users (a-h)

1. [email protected] a. a UN organization based in Italy

2. [email protected] b. an ISP

3. [email protected] c. a Swedish charity

4. [email protected] d. a student at a French university

5. [email protected] e. a news programme on a public broadcasting service in the UK.

6. [email protected] f. an Italian wine co-operative

7. [email protected] g. a military organization based in the US.

(2) Answer the following questions, using the information in the emails given above.

(a) How many people did Tina send the e-mail to?

(b) When Robert gets this e-mail, will he see that Tina has sent a copy to Sanjay? How do you know?


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(3) Which of the features in the emails given above would you use in each of these situations?

a. You are sending an email to Antonio and you want to send a copy to Bella without Antonio knowing.

b. You receive a reply from Antonio, and you want Carlos to see it.

c. You get an email from Delia, who has also sent copies to Edgar and Fenella, and you want to send the same

answer to all three of them.

d. With the email to Giorgio, you want to send another document.

e. You receive two emails, but you don’t want to keep them.

f. Last week, Henri wrote an e-mail to his boss. Now he wants to get rid of.

g. Ivan got an important e-mail from a customer. He wants to send it on to his manager in Paris.

h. Carla has received an e-mail from Vincent and she wants to send him an answer.

i. Marie has a report saved on her computer. She wants to send it to John with the e-mail she has written.

j. Paula wrote an email to Mike, Tim and Lee. Lee wants to send an answer to Paula and the others.

(4) Study this email. Answer these questions.

a. Who is the sender? b. What is his email address?

c. Who is it sent to? d. What is it about?

e. What time was the message sent? f. In what form is the main part of the message?

From: [email protected]

Date: 9/10/07 15.35

To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Subject: Party

Dear all,

Too lazy to type. I’ve recorded this message as an attachment.

John


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unit 2. Describing company structure.

I. HOW ARE COMPANIES ORGANIZED?

Most organizations have a hierarchical or pyramidal structure, with one person or a group or people at the top, and an

increasing number of people below them at each successive level. There is a clear line or chain of command running

down the pyramid.

Some people in an organization have colleagues who help them: for example, there might be an Assistant to the

Marketing Manager. This is known as a staff position: its holder has no line authority, and is not integrated into the

chain of command, unlike, for example, the Assistant Marketing Manager, who is number two in the marketing

department.

Today, most large manufacturing organizations have a functional structure, including (among others) production,

finance, marketing, sales, and personnel or staff departments. This means, for example, that the production and

marketing departments cannot take financial decisions without consulting the finance department.

Yet for a large organization manufacturing a range of products, having a simple production department, is generally

inefficient. Consequently, most large companies are decentralized.

An inherent problem of hierarchies is that people at lower levels are unable to make important decisions, but have to

pass on responsibility to their boss. One solution to this is matrix management, in which people report to more than

one superior. For example, a product manager with an idea might be able to deal directly with managers responsible

for a certain market segment and for a geographical region, as well as the managers responsible for the traditional

functions of finance, sales and production. This is one way of keeping authority at lower levels, but it is not necessarily

a very efficient one.

II. DESCRIBING COMPANY STRUCTURE.

■ The most common verbs for describing structure are:

consists of contains includes is made up of is composed of is divided into

e.g. The company consists of five main departments.

The marketing department is made up of three units.

The sale department is divided into two sections.

■ Other verbs frequently used to describe company organization include:

To be in charge of to be responsible for to support or to be

support by

to assist or to be

assisted by

to be accountable to

e.g. The marketing department is in charge of the sales force.

The marketing department is responsible for advertising, sales promotions and market research.

The five department heads are accountable to the Managing Director.

This is an example of part of a company organization chart:


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■ Notes:

CLASSIFICATION.

•….is made up of …..

•….consists of …….

•….includes …….

•….can be /is broken down into ……. • above / below • headed by

•….can be/ is divided into ……. • over / under • at the top

•….can be/ is separated into ……. • on the same level • at the bottom

• besides ……., • not only …….but also …..

7 + + • in addition to ……. • ……also………

III. PRACTICE.

Managing Director (GB)

or Chief Executive Officer (US)

Production

Marketing

Finance Human Resources

Market Research Sales Advertising Financial Management

Northern Region Southern Region

Board of Directors

with a Chairman (GB)

or President (US)

Research & development

Accounting

Main and sub parts Hierarchical structure

Additional parts


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(1) The diagram below show the management structure Of Universal Software. Match the people (1-8) with their

positions. Write the LETTER (A-K) of your chosen answer in the box on the right.

1. I’m Marco Alatri and I’m the director responsible for the company budgets and accounts.

2. I’m Tom Scott. I’m not actually a manager at Universal, but I do sit on the board.

3. My name is Helen Good. I am the CEO and I also chair the board.

4. My name is Carla Jelinek. I am in charge of the company information’s systems.

5. I’m Dan Matthews. My team develops new products and test them.

6. I’m Karine and my team deals with calls from the public…and complaints.

7. I’m Alex Tait and I’m responsible for company recruitment and staff development.

8. My name is Patrick Aubaile and I report to the CFO.

(2) Read the text below, about different ways of organizing companies, and then label the diagrams, according to

which of these they illustrate:

(a) line structure (b) matrix structure (c) functional structure (d) staff structure

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(3) Look at the chart below which shows the structure of the DSA Corp. Then complete the paragraph which

follows, using the words given.(subsidiary, be based in, parent co, be headed by, report to, consist of)

Chairperson (A) Non-Executive Directors (B)

Director of Finance

(C)

IT Director (D)

Marketing Director

(E)

Human Resources Director (F)

Director of Research (G)

Accounts Manager

(H)

Production Manager (I)

Sales Manager (J)

Customer Services Manager (K)


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The DSA Corporation ①_______ three divisions. Financial Services, Telecom Services, and Postal Services. DSA

②_______ New York and comprises four ③ ______, OPQ Inc, XYZ, TEF, and PostCo. Each of these ④______ a

Senior Vice-President who ⑤______ the ⑥_______.

(4) The exercise is concerned with describing management hierarchy. The illustration below shows the

organization of KAF Inc. Study the organization chart, then complete the paragraph which follows, using the

correct form of an appropriate word or phrase from the box.

(a) be responsible for (b) be in charge of (c) be supported by (d) support

(e) be accountable to (f) consist of (g) be headed by

KAF Inc is a building materials manufacturing company in Detroit. KAF ①_____ the Chief Executive Officer, ②_____

the Board of Directors, which ③_____four people. The staff in each of the four departments are ④_____ a Vice-

President who is also on the Board. In each department, a managerial team of directors ⑤_____the Vice-President. In

the Sales Department, one director ⑥_____exports, the other ⑦_____ domestic sales.

(5) Use the organigram to help you complete the following sentences:

1. The Finance Department _____ by the Finance Director.

2. It _____ _____ three sections.

3. _____ the monthly accounts, the Accounts section shares responsibility for the annual report.

Chief Executive Officer

Board of Directors

Vice-President

Finance

Vice-president

Production

Vice-President

Sales & Marketing

Vice-President

Human Resources

3 Directors 3 Directors 2 Directors 1 Director

Exports Domestic Sales

DSA

Financial Services Telecom Services Postal Services

OPQ Inc XYZ TEF PostCo


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4. The _____ section _____ four members of staff.

5. They are _____ not only for forecasts but also for the _____ _____.

6. The Salaries section, which _____ 10 staff, _____ _____ salary and wage payments.

7. _____ these payments, it also has responsibility for tax and _____ and _____ _____.

(6) Read the job description. Write ONE word in each gap to complete the diagram.

_________(1)_________

_____Montebello_____

___Non-executive directors____

____________(2) _____________

____________(3)__________

____________(4)__________

________(5)________

________(6)________

________(7) ________

________(8) ________

_____VP Research_____

_________(9) _________

________ (10) _______

_______Dawes ______

My name is Montebello and I’m a president and CEO. We have some excellent people on our board, including two

who are not involved in the day-to-day running of the company: Gomi and Jones.

My name is Smith and it’s my job to look after the accounts and balance the books. I work closely with Chang and

Roberts, as they tell me what their departments need for marketing and research, and I allocate them an annual

budget. My name is Dawes and I head up personnel, on the same level in the company as Chang and Roberts.

(7) After reading the text, complete the following organigram.

REORGANIZATION OF PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT.

The Personnel Department was reorganized at the beginning of the year. Lines of communication and responsibilities

were clarified under the new structure.

Finance Department

Accounts (8) Budgeting (4 ) Salaries (10)

Monthly accounts

Annual report

New accounting

methods

Forecasts

Annual report

Salaries / wage payments

Tax

Pension / health schemes


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The Personnel Director kept overall responsibility for the department. However, instead of two large sections under

him, Administration and Planning, there were, in the new structure, four sections: Recruitment, Training, Payments and

Career Development. Each of these sections contains both administrative and planning functions.

The first section, Recruitment, has a staff of 10, headed by the Recruitment Manger. Besides internal and external

recruitment, their responsibilities include the writing of job descriptions and a share of the manpower planning. This

latter responsibility is also the concern of the Training section. It has a staff of five, including the Training Manager.

They are responsible for both in-house and external training at all levels within the company, from management

training for senior staff down to technical courses for the Works Department. The Payments section has a largely

administrative role but is also involved in planning and implementing new salary structure and bonus schemes.

The work of its staff of seven consists mainly, however, of administering the payment of wages, salaries and pensions

to present and former employees. Lastly, Career Department deals with employees’ career development from

recruitment to retirement. They have two staff who are responsible for updating computerized personnel records and

another two who work closely with the Training section on manpower planning. They are headed by the Manpower

Planning Manager.

IV. TYPES OF ORGANIZATION.

IV.1. INTRODUCTION.

In business, there are many legal forms of organization. The form of organization means the type of ownership. The

main differences between the types of ownership are in their ability to raise capital, the size and continuity of the

enterprise, the disposition of profits, and the legal obligations in the event of bankruptcy. Each form has certain

advantages and disadvantages.

IV.2. PRACTICE.

IV.2.1. MATCHING.

________?_________

Recruitment {10} _________{ ? } _________{ ? }

_________{ ? }

Internal & external

recruitment

External training

Administration

Updating

records


18

Match the different types of business with the definitions below.

a. subsidiary 1. a very large company with offices in many different countries.

b. limited company 2. a business that is owned by another larger company.

c. multinational company 3. a company which controls a smaller company.

d. parent company 4. a company which sells its shares to the public. The shareholders have limited

liability; they do not use their personal property to pay the company’s debt.

e. franchise 5. a business which has a license to use the name and sell the products or

services of a larger company which provides support.

f. partnership 6. a business owned and operated by a single person

g. sole proprietor 7. a business owned by two or more individuals.

h. freelancer 8. organization with social aims such as helping the poor / the sick.

i. non-profit organization 9. business activities owned by individual rather than by the state.

j. private (free) enterprise 10. business activities owned by the state.

k. joint-stock company 11. self-employed person

l. state-owned company 12. a business which is owned by the group of people who have shares in the

company.

IV.2.2. BLANK FILLING.

Now use these words to complete the sentences:

a. private enterprise b. family c. firm d. shareholders e. branches

f. sole proprietor g. partnership h. non-profit organizations i. self-employed j. multinational

k. directors l. charities m. privatized n. state o. volunteers

1. It’s a small _____business. My brother and I started it three years ago.

2. It’s a huge company. They have _____ in every major city.

3. The _____ are the people who oversee the running of a company.

4. She works for a _____ of solicitors.

5. The Government believes in _____, so they do a lot to help people starting new business.

6. As a limited company we have a responsibility to our _____.

7. A _____ consists of two or more people who share the ownership of a business.

8 Organizations for helping those in need or encouraging artistic activities are _____.

9. Businesses vary in size , from the _____ person working alone, through the small or medium enterprise (SME) to

the large _____ company with activities in several countries.

10. The form, which requires the least amount of capital and personnel is the _____. Sole means single, and the

proprietor is the owner.

11. Not-for-profit organizations are also called _____. They rely heavily on _____ or unpaid workers.

12. Some industries had been nationalized and were entirely _____-owned or government-owned such as air travel,

coal, electricity and telephone services.

13. The government believed that nationalized companies were bureaucratic and inefficient, and many of them were

_____ and sold to investors.

14. I work for myself. I have been _____ for ten years.


19

V. COMPANY PROFILE.

V.1. ORGANIZATIONAL CHART FOR A COMPANY.

V.2. PRACTICE.

V.2.1. MATCHING.

☺ Match the company departments on the left with the correct definition on the right.

1. sales A. is responsible for manufacturing goods

2. purchasing B. deals with recruiting new staff

3. planning C. deals with invoices and payments

4. research and development D. handles advertising and new product launches

5. quality control E. buys in products and services

6. production F. tries to develop new products

7. personnel G. make sure that standards are maintained

8. finance H. persuades people to buy the company’s products

9. distribution I. sets out a strategy for the company’s future

10. marketing J. transports goods to different places

11. packaging K. arranges courses for the staff

12. customer services L. puts the products in boxes and crates

13. training M. deals with customers’ problems and complaints

14. wages and salaries N. services the machines and equipment

15. maintenance O. creates the company’s image

16. public relations P. pay the staff

V.2.2. SENTENCE COMPLETION.

(1) COMPANY STRENGTH.

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Managing

Director

Production Manager

Marketing Manager Financial Manager Personnel manager

Fore-men

Maintenance and Security Officers

Advertising Manager

Sales Manager

Customer Accounts Dept. Head

Wages Section Head

Recruit-ment Officer

Training Officer

Shop floor workers

Maintenance, Security and Cleaning Staff

Advertising Assistant

Sales Team

Accounts Clerks

Wages Clerks

Personnel Dept. Staff


20

Choose the correct answer or answers to complete the following sentences.

1. We produce _____.

(a) high quality products (c) a high quality service

(b) a wide range of products (d) most of our parts from the U.S.

2. We provide _____.

(a) the market leader in communications (c) prices low compared with our competitors

(b) a high quality service. (d) some new branches in major cities.

3. We‘ve just opened _____.

(a) some new branches in major cities (c) sales representatives all over the world

(b) the most advanced technology (d) a lot of money in research and development

4. We do _____.

(a) local staff if we can (c) a lot of business abroad

(b) a lot of money in research (d) close contact (relationship) with the market / supplier.

5. We’ve just launched _____.

(a) sales representatives all over the world (c) a new program

(b) a rival product (d) some new branches in major cities.

6. We use _____.

(a) the most advanced technology (c) regular meetings with our colleagues and counterparts

(b) a lot of business abroad (d) prices low compared with our competitors

7. We are in ( We have) _____.

(a) some new branches in major cities. (c) lose contact (relationship) with the market / supplier.

(b) a lot of money in research and development. (d) sales representatives all over the world.

8. We hold _____.

(a) the most advanced technology (c) sales representatives all over the world

(b) most of our parts from the U.S. (d) regular meetings with our colleagues and counterparts.

9. We import _____.

(a) a high quality service (c) some new branches in major cities

(b) a lot of business abroad (d) most of our parts from the U.S.

10. We are negotiating _____.

(a) a lot of money in research and development (c) the final details of the contract tomorrow

(b) the market leader in communications (d) prices low compared with our competitors

11. The company headquarters have _____.

(a) a lot of money in research and development (c) an e-mail system, which helps the ideas fly around

(b) prices low compared with our competitors (d) more than one billion dollars annually on marketing

12. All managers attend _____.

(a) regular training courses (c) close contact with the market / supplier

(b) local staff if we can (d) the most advanced technology

13. Every employee receives _____.

(a) sales representatives all over the world (c) prices low compared with our competitors

(b) two or three weeks’ training (d) some new branches in major cities


21

14. We invest _____.

(a) regular training courses (c) a lot of money in research and development

(b) two or three weeks’ training (d) most of our parts from the U.K.

15. We employ _____.

(a) the final details of the contract (c) local staff if we can

(b) prices low compared with our competitors (d) regular training courses

16. We enter _____.

(a) a new country’s market after researching the culture thoroughly

(b) a lot of money in research and development

(c) more than one billion dollars annually on marketing

(d) an e-mail system, which helps the ideas fly around

17. We keep _____.

(a) prices low compared with our competitors (c) regular meetings with our counterparts

(b) the most advanced technology (d) the market leader in communications

18. We are _____.

(a) the market leader in communications (c) two or three weeks’ training

(b) close relationship with the supplier (d) a lot of business abroad

19. We spend _____.

(a) some new branches in major cities (c) more than one billion dollars annually on marketing

(b) sales representatives all over the world (d) the most advanced technology

20. We have got _____.

(a) sales representatives all over the world (c) the market leader in communications

(b) prices low compared with our competitors (d) more than one billion dollars annually on marketing

(2) CURRENT ACTIVITIES.

Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentences.

1. Is the research department _____ any new products or services ?

(a) developing (b) working (c) spending (d) going

2. We are _____ a new factory in Barcelona.

(a) working (b) building (c) going (d) spending

3. These products are _____ near the end of their life cycle.

(a) building (b) reorganizing (c) getting (d) taking on

4. The dollar is _____up.

(a) developing (b) introducing (c) expanding (d) going

5. The IT department is _____ a lot of money on new equipment at the moment.

(a) introducing (b) building (c) entering (d) spending

6. Philips are _____ their activities in China.

(a) building (b) expanding (c) calling (d) selling

7. Are they _____ any new markets ?

(a) taking on (b) going (c) entering (d) spending


22

8. Are they _____ any new facilities ?

(a) building (b) spending (c) recruiting (d) going

9. Are they _____ any joint ventures?

(a) storing (b) working in (c) taking on (d) importing

10. Are they _____ new staff ?

(a) spending (b) going (c) entering (d) taking on

11. Are they _____ new technology ?

(a) introducing (b) taking on (c) building (d) spending

12. Are they _____ any work systems?

(a) recruiting (b) going (c) spending (d) reorganizing

V.2.3. REWRITING.

Finish re-writing these questions using the word from the list below.

( turnover / value / employees / based / profits / manufacture)

1. Where is the head office of your company ?

Where is your ………..?

2. How many people work for your company ?

How many ………… there ? How many ………… got ?

What is ………….?

3. How much money did your company make last year ?

What was (were) your ………….?

4. How much is your company worth ?

What’s the ………… ?

5. What is the main activity of the company?

What does………….. ?

What kind of services …………?

V.2.4. LISTENING TASKS.

(1) You will hear six questions about two companies. Complete the following profiles.

Q and A SOFTWARE

Location Turnover

Main activity Pre-tax profits

Main country markets Value of the company

Employees

(2) The illustration below shows the organization of Comex Xpress. Listen to the training officer explaining the

company structure to some new employees. Then complete the chart below using the given words or phrase

from the box.


23

(a) Finance (b) Credit Controllers (c) Sales & Marketing (d) Export Clerks (e) Sales Manager (f) Personnel Manager (g) Sales Rep (h) Chief Accountant (I) Human Resources (j) Account Clerks (k) After-sales Clerks (l) Recruitment Officer (m) Pay Clerks (n) Julie Nicolson (o) Joshua Goldfinger (p) Sheila Barrett (q) Training Officer (r) Purchasing Officer

(3) Now listen to interviews with some people and complete the chart.

Speaker Department Current projects

Frank Sending reminders to slow payers

Suzanne

Peter

Uschi

Rolando

Elke

(4) Listen to the speaker. Make notes on the company.

1. Employees : …………. 2. Subsidiaries : ………….

3. Turnover : …………. 4. Location of parent company : ………….

5. Number of products : …………. 6. Joint venture partner : ………….

- Chief Executive Officer - Mr. Bateman

- Production

- Plant Manager - Tom Mc Ewan

- Technicians - Maintenance Officers - Quality Controllers - Packaging & Dispatch Clerks


24

unit 3. Describing trends.

I. FORMS

Trends are changes or movements. These changes are normally in numerical items, e.g. costs, production volumes or

employment. There are three basic trends:

For each trend there are a number of verbs and nouns to express the movement, We can divide the verbs into

transitive and intransitive. After a transitive verb we must put an object. After an intransitive verb we cannot put a direct

object.

①

VERBS NOUNS

TRANSITIVE INTRANSITIVE

Increase increase increase

raise Rise rise

put/push/step up go/be up

Grow growth

extend extension

expand Expand expansion

Boom boom

②

VERBS NOUNS


decrease decrease decrease

drop Drop drop

Fall fall

push/put down go/be down

Decline decline

cut cut

reduce reduction

collapse collapse

Slump slump

③

VERBS NOUNS


keep/hold…stable/constant remain stable stability

maintain…(at the same level) stay constant


25

④ Other expressions.

a. To stand at : we use this phrase to focus on a particular point, before we mention the trends of movements.

b. To reach a peak of

II. DESCRIBING THE RATE OF CHANGE & THE SIZE OF CHANGE.

Example 1. Turnover has increased rapidly

There has been a rapid increase in turnover.

Example 2. Turnover has increased noticeably.

There has been a noticeable increase in turnover.

An adjective describes a noun ( a thing )

An adverb describes a verb ( an action )

Write the appropriate adverbs for the adjectives below .

Speed or rate of change Size of change

Rapid Noticeable

Slow Substantial

Sudden Considerable

Sharp Slight

Steady Significant

Gradual Dramatic

Fast Negligible

Decide whether these words indicate a fast , medium or

slow change.

Decide whether these words indicate a small , medium or

large change.

III. DESCRIBING THE DIFFERENCE AND THE END POINT .

Notice the prepositions.

☺ Describing the difference.

We use "by" with the verb and "of" with the noun .

☺ Describing the end point.

We use "to" with the verb and "to" with the noun .

IV. PRACTICE .

IV.1. MATCHING.

Look at the graph. Match words in the first column with their opposites in the second column.

rose

to rise

a climb

an increase

to increase

slightly

go up

fell

go down

a decrease

to decrease

sharply

to fall

a fall


26

IV.2. SENTENCE TRANSFORMATION.

Rewrite each sentence so that its meaning remains unchanged .

1. The share of physical mail in the communications market will decrease by 26% by 2011,

There ………………….……………………….

2. The share of physical mail in the communications market will decrease to less than 15% of the total market.

There ………………………………………….

3. The share of telephone and fax will hardly change by 2011,

The share of telephone and fax will remain …………….. .

IV.3. EXPLAINING RELATIONSHIPS.

IV.3.1. Make similar sentences for the following relationships.

Ratio 2:1 X is double/ two times/twice Y Ratio 1:2 Y is a half of / half X

Ratio 3:1 X is treble/ three times Y Ratio 1:3 Y is one/a third of X

Ratio 4:1 X is four times Y Ratio 1:4 Y is one/a quarter of X

Ratio 5:1 X is five times Y Ratio 1:5 Y is one/ a fifth of X.

1. middle-income countries - an annual increase of 6% ( domestic mail traffic).

Low-income countries : 2%

2. return on investment $2,000 - original investment $500

3. cable costs 2003 $500 per kilometer - cable costs 1999 $125 per kilometer

4. new system 48 channels - old system 24 channels.

5. the share of electronic mail 2000: 5 % - the share of electronic mail 2010: 10 %

IV.3.2. Graph drawing.

Draw graphs showing the following relationships.

1. The greater the number of channels, the lower the cost of transmission.

2. The greater the degree of network digitalization, the fewer the exchanges.

3. The higher the degree of automation, the lower the number of manual operators.

IV.4. READING.


27

IV.4.1. Transfer the information in this text to the pie chart that follows.

Company training expenditure.

In 2010, spending on training will increase inmost sections of the company although, as the figures make clear, the

amounts for Products and Line management will not be as high as in 2009. The former will have $33,000 allocated, the

latter $22,000. Personnel in Marketing and Research and Development department were often unable to take part in

in-service training in 2009 because of unusual heavy workloads. To compensate for this, we plan to make large

increases in their training budgets for 2010. $20,000 and $25,000 will be spent on Marketing and R&D respectively.

Finally, supervisory staff will have the same amount allocated as this year. Total expenditure will be increased by

$8,000.

IV.4.2. Now look at this graph showing sales and complete the following sentences.

1. In February, sales increased ………………$80,000.

2. The following month, there was a further increase ………………$20,000.

3. In April, they remained constant………………$100,000.

4. In the next two month, they dropped……………….$40,000.

???

R & D

Marketing

15,000

18,000

35,000

???

24,000

Supervisory

staff

???

2009

Product management

R & D

???

20,000

???

???

???

22,000

???

40,000

2010


28

5. As a result of this fall, they were back ………………$60,000 in June.

6. The next three month saw a steady rise………………$120,000 in September.

7. This was followed by a dramatic fall …………………$40,000 in October.

8. Sales rose in December to finish the year ………………$100,000.

140000

120000

100000

80000

60000

40000

20000

J F M A M J J A S O N D

IV.4.3. Describing graphs.

(1) For questions 1-5, which chart does each sentence describe?

1. Interest rates decreased throughout the whole period.

2. Interest rates rose slightly and then remained stable.

3. Although slightly lower in February, interest rates remained high throughout the period.

4. At first, interest rates were stable but they fell sharply in April.

5. Interest rates continued to rise to a high point of 15%.

0

5

10

15

20

25

JAN FEB MAR APR

Ⓐ

0

5

10

15

20

25

JAN FEB MAR APR

Ⓑ

0

24

6810

1214

JAN FEB MAR APR

Ⓒ

0

5

10

15

20

25

JAN FEB MAR APR

Ⓓ


29

0

5

10

15

20

25

JAN FEB MAR APR

Ⓔ

0

5

10

15

20

JAN FEB MAR APR

Ⓕ

0

5

10

15

20

25

JAN FEB MAR APR

Ⓖ

0

5

10

15

20

25

JAN FEB MAR APR

Ⓗ

(2) For questions 6-10, which chart does each sentence describe?

Ⓐ

0%

5%

10%

15%

2002 2003 2004

Ⓑ

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

2002 2003 2004

Ⓒ

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

2002 2003 2004

Ⓓ

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

2002 2003 2004

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

2002 2003 2004 2005

Ⓔ

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

2002 2003 2004 2005

Ⓕ


30

6. After a small increase in unemployment rate in 2003, there was a sharp fall in 2004.

7. Unemployment rate increased steadily from 2002 to 2004.

8. Unemployment rate dropped during 2003 but rose again in 2004 to exceed the 2002 rate.

9. Unemployment rate hardly changed throughout the period, except for a slight increase in 2003.

10. A steady fall in unemployment rate during 2003 and 2004 followed the sharp increase in 2002.

(3) Choose the graph (A-E) which best fits each sentence. You can use each graph more than once.

Ⓐ

Ⓑ

Ⓒ

Ⓓ Ⓔ

1. The inflation rate has remained steady over the past year.

2. The Infotel share price has skyrocketed on news of the merger.

3. Aventi Corporation shares advanced to $2.80.

4. Exports to the US have stagnated over the past year.

5. Demand for cheap air travel has increased dramatically.

6. The CAC 40 has fallen recently but now seems to have bottomed out.

7. The trade surplus has been growing slowly but steadily over the past three years

(4) Questions 8-9 refer to the following tables.

8. First Quarter Sales Figures

This year ($ million) Last year ($ million) Two years ago ($ million)

Export Sales 46 48 38

Export sales (a) decreased sharply last year. (b) have fallen following a large increase.

(c) have risen for the last two years. (d) have increased sharply

9.

% GDP Growth

2003 2004 2005

93.1 92.4 102.3

(a) GDP growth has been decreasing in the past three years.

(b) GDP growth has been increasing in the past three years.

(c) GDP growth dropped slightly but increased again in 2005.

(d) GDP growth increased slightly but dropped again in 2005.

IV.5. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS.

Ask and answer questions about the figures given in the following tables.

Figure 1. PROFIT AND LOST ACCOUNT (GRAPHIC IMAGES PLC)

THIS YEAR (£m) LAST YEAR (£m)

HOME SALES 189 175

EXPORT SALES 181 191

TOTAL SALES 370 366

COST OF SALES (254) (255)


31

GROSS PROFIT 116 111

DISTRIBUTION COSTS (17) (17)

ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS (35) (30)

PROFIT BEFORE TAX 64 64

TAX (23) (22)

PROFIT AFTER TAX 41 42

DIVIDEND (36) (34)

RETAINED PROFIT 5 8

Figure 2.

ROYSTON ( reduction in staff ) HARROW ( increases in staff )

NATURAL WASTAGE

Resigned 12

Retired 4

Early retirement 8

OTHER REDUCTIONS

Redundancies 26

Transferred 30

Dismissed --

Employees transferring 30

New employees 20

Training scheme recruits 10

Total reduction 80 Total Increase 60

Figure 3.

Region Last year This year Target Difference (%)

North 4,200 5,250 6,000 -12.5

West 5,400 7,300 7,000 +4.3

East 4,110 5,500 5,500 0

South-west 2,950 4,600 4,600 0

South-east 4,100 5,650 5,800 -2.6

Midlands 2,950 4,250 4,000 +6.25

Example 1: A. What’s happened to sales this year ?

B. They’ve increased / gone up / risen .

Example 2. How many workers have resigned?

How many staff have they taken on?


32

Example 3. A. How many units did they sell in the North last year?

B. They sold 4,200.

A. And how many have they sold this year ?

B. They’ve sold 5,250. They haven’t achieved their target.

Study the sales results in figure 3. Which regions

☺ have achieved their target ? ☺ have exceeded their target ? ☺ haven’t achieved their target ?

IV.6. LISTENING.

Listen to the conversation. Are the following statements true or false ?

1. T F Sales remained at 8000 units in January and February.

2. T F The Spring sales campaign began in May.

3. T F Sales increased to 7000 in March and rose by 1000 units in April.

4. T F Their competitors launched a rival product. Therefore, sales fell to 5000 units in May.

5. T F Sales fell to 1000 units in June.

6. T F Sales rose to 5000 units in July and then 6000 units in August because we raised

our discounts to the wholesalers.

7. T F Sales increased to 13,000 units in September.

8. T F Sales fell to 13,000 units in October because of the Christmas orders.

9. T F Sales went down to 6000 units in November because the Christmas orders stopped.

10. T F Sales stayed at 7,000 units until the end of the year.


33

unit 4. Work and motivation.

I. WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY.

I.1. READING.

You may have noticed that the statements above can be separated into two groups reflecting two very different ways

in which employers can treat their employees. These two approaches were summarized by a well-known American

theorist of the psychology of work, Douglas McGregor, who named them Theory X and Theory Y.

THEORY X AND THEORY Y.

In The Human Side of Enterprise, Douglas McGregor outlined two opposing theories of work and motivation. What he

calls Theory X, is the traditional approach to workers and working which assumes that people are lazy and dislike

work, and that they have to be both threatened (for example, with losing their job) and rewarded. It assumes that most

people are incapable of taking responsibility for themselves and have to be looked after. Theory Y, on the contrary,

assumes that people have a psychological need to work and want achievement and responsibility.

Later theorists argued that Theory Y makes much greater demands on both workers and managers that McGregor

realized. Abraham Maslow, for example, spent a year studying a Californian company that used Theory X, and

concluded that its demands for responsibility and achievement are excessive for many people. He pointed out that

there are always weak and vulnerable people, with little self-discipline, who need protection against the burden of

responsibility. Even strong and healthy people need the security of order and direction. Managers cannot simply

substitute Theory Y for Theory X. They have to replace the security provided by Theory X with a different structure of

security and certainty.

I.2. PRACTICE.

I.2.1. Read the following text and then classify the statements above according to which theory they support.

Statements 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Theory

1. People dislike work and avoid it if they can.

2. Work is necessary to people’s psychological well-being.

3. People avoid responsibility and would rather be told what to do.

4. People are motivated mainly by money.

5. Most people are far more creative and ingenious than their employers realize.

6. People are motivated by anxiety about their security.

7. People want to be interested in their work and, given the right conditions, they will enjoy it.

8. Under the right conditions, most people will accept responsibility and want to realize their own potential.

I.2.2. Read the text again and select the best word (phrase) to complete the following sentences.


34

1. According to Theory X, employers have to threaten workers because _____.

(a) the threat of losing their jobs often makes people work better

(b) workers are scared of their employers

(c) workers want to be directed

(d) workers enjoy being treated like children

2. According to Theory Y, employers should give their workers responsibilities because _____.

(a) a responsible job is necessary to people’s psychological well-being

(b) employees need security at work

(c) employees hate work and they will try to avoid it whenever they can

(d) they will earn more money if they are given more responsibilities

3. Maslow criticized Theory Y because _____.

(a) this theory is impractical

(b) there are people who are unable to take on responsibility and self-discipline

(c) people are imaginative, creative and view work as being as natural as play and rest

(d) control and punishment are the only mechanisms to make people work

4. Maslow argued that even though they might want to be given responsibilities at work _____.

(a) they also require the security that comes from being given instructions

(b) they also ask for constant supervision

(c) they also need to be praised by their employers

(d) they also need opportunities for self-development

II. MOTIVATING PERSONNEL.

II.1. READING.

The word “motivation” determines so much about how we feel and perform in our professional life. How happy we are.

With what degree of enthusiasm or reluctance we begin each new day. How eager we are to get to work, or how much

we dread getting started. How often we look at the clock to see how many more hours we have ahead of us, or how

little time we have left to finish all the things we want to do. How happily or reluctantly we look forward to retirement.

How loyal we feel towards our boss and our employer.

Irrespective of what all the experts on motivation expound, there is no doubt that some aspects are more effective than

others, for most people most of the time. The following list does not attempt to prioritize. It is at best risky to prioritize

these elements because different people respond to different motivational impulses in different ways, and even the

same people will not always respond the same way if other circumstances change.

(1) trust (2) support

(3) responsiveness (4) respect

(5) financial considerations

(including non-cash related financial factors such as training

courses, travel, awards, entertaining)

(6) power

(7) loyalty (8) communication

(9) title


35

II.2. PRACTICE.

The following questionnaire was given to staff at different levels in a number of companies. Fill it in by placing a √ next

to the six items which motivate you most in your work.

1 Job security 14. Feeling my job is important

2. Respect for me 15 Opportunities to travel

3. Adequate rest periods 16. Having a written job description

4. Good pay 17. Being praised by my boss

5. Pleasant working conditions 18. Being assessed

6. Chance to turn out quality work 19. Being involved in decision-making

7. Good atmosphere 20. Agreement with organization’s objectives

8. Sanctions for poor performance 21. Opportunity for self-development

9. Chance for promotion 22. Trust

10. Having a changeling, interesting

and creative job

23. Good working conditions: enough space, light,

heat and time, not too much noise, and so on.

11. Good internal communication 24. Having a supportive supervisor

12. Not having to work too hard 25. Having a lot of freedom

13. An adequate wage or salary, and

benefits such as paid holidays, sick

pay, a pension, health care, etc.

26. Financial considerations

(including non-cash related financial factors such

as training courses, travel, awards, entertaining)

III. DESCRIBING YOUR JOB.

III.1. ASKING & TALKING ABOUT YOUR JOB.

☺ Two common questions to ask about someone’s job are:

What do you do?

Or What do you do for a living?

☺ You start your answer by explaining the general area in which you work.

Ex: I work in the tourist industry.

Talking about your responsibility / jobs.

a. I am responsible for the day-to-day organization of the company.

b. I am in charge of the Personnel Department.

c. My job is to keep an eye on the day-to-day work of other workers.

d. I deals with new customers.

Responsibility. ….. is responsible for the day to day running of …… is in charge of ………. …….runs the agency in Paris. Job. …….deals with new customers. …….looks after the machinery

…….sees to repairs.

Position. . Over him/her there are ……….. . There are………….under her/him. . He reports to ……… . She is responsible to ………….


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e. I looks after the machinery.

f. I takes care of customers’ accounts.

g. I represents the worker’s interests in disputes with the management in the company.

III.2. PRACTICE.

III.2.1. MATCHING.

(1) Match the beginnings of the sentence with the groups of endings below.

I’m a. an (oil) company

a firm of accountants

IBM

a(n) publishing / television company

I work for b. advertising

the (financial) sector.

the (fashion) industry.

the travel industry.

I work (am) in c. a consultant with a (software company)

in the (tourist) industry.

self-employed.

(2). Match the description with the area of work.

1. You work with computers and telecommunications.

2. You work for a big department store.

3. You deal with insurance, pensions, loans, etc.

4. You are responsible for a company’s sales strategy.

5. You deal with your company’s clients.

6. You work for an advertising agency.

a. I’m in marketing.

b. I’m in IT.

c. I’m in financial services.

d. I’m in customer services

e. I’m in advertising

f. I’m in retail

(3) Match the job description with the position.

1. The person who welcomes visitors and deals with their enquiries.

2. The person who deals with any problems with the staff.

3. The person who does general jobs in an office.

4. The person who assists the managing director.

5. The person who is responsible for selling the goods.

6. The person who is responsible for making the goods.

7. The person who is in charge of a team of workers.

8. The boss.

9. The person who runs the office day-to-day.

10. The person who is responsible for testing samples as the goods are produced.

11. The person who is responsible for looking after the staff’s interest.


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12. The person who does hard, physical work.

13. The person who makes sure that all the doors and windows have good locks on them.

14. The person who gives information to the press, TV, etc. about the company.

15. The person who sells goods to the public.

a. admin

assistant

d. PA

(personal assistant)

g. security officer j. supervisor

m. administrator

b. personnel

manager

e. quality

controller

h. production

manager

k. public relations

officer

n. union

representative

c. receptionist f. managing director i. sales manager l. laborer o. sales assistant

III.2.2. SENTENCE COMPLETION.

Choose the best word to fill each gap.

1. My job’s so boring. It’s _____ thing day after day.

(a) the similarity (b) the same (c) same as (d) the difference

2. It’s so _____. I just sit there all day filling in forms.

(a) repetitive (b) repeatedly (c) repetition (d) bored

3. This job’s so stressful. It’s _____ me ill.

(a) doing (b) having (c) getting (d) making

4. I _____ it very challenging. It requires a lot of concentration and determination.

(a) find (b) think (c) guess (d) have

5. I want to do something a bit different. I wouldn’t like a regular nine-to-five _____.

(a) work (b) job (c) career (d) all of these

6. I work in advertising. The pay’s pretty good but there’s not much _____.

(a) job security (b) safety job (c) certainty job (d) security job

7. I’d go mad if I had to do a dead-end _____ like working on a supermarket checkout.

( dead-end: situation offering no prospects of progress )

(a) career (b) job (c) work (d) professional

8. I think I must stop traveling and get myself _____.

(a) a steady job (b) a fixed work (c) a surely occupation (d) a suitable work

9. I don’t want to _____ doing the same thing day in day out.

(a) see me (b) find myself (c) find me (d) see mine

10. I don’t want to be stuck _____ all day.

(a) behind a desk (b) before a desk (c) beside a desk (d) in front of a desk

11. I’m looking for _____. My present full-time job is too much for me at the moment.

(a) another work (b) part-time job (c) part-time work (d) all of these

12. She is very _____. She can adapt to most situation.

(a) passive (b) reliable (c) flexible (d) ambitious


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13. He’s very _____. He’s never late for meetings.

(a) lazy (b) flexible (c) independent (d) punctual

14. He isn’t very _____. He takes a day off sick every two weeks.

(a) lazy (b) flexible (c) reliable (d) punctual

15. I haven’t got much _____. I always worry about what people think of me.

(a) self-confidence (b) self-respect (c) self-conceit (d) self-denial

16. I’m hoping to find some _____ while I’m at college – working in a bar or a shop.

(a) casual work (b) permanent job (c) full-time job (d) temporary career

17. He’s _____. He’s often here long after everyone has gone home.

(a) very boring (b) extremely ambitious (c) very flexible (d) extremely conscientious

III.2.3. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS.

1. How long do you spend : . talking to people?

. on the phone?

. working on your own?

. working with a computer?

. traveling?

(a lot of time / not much time / around (about) half my time / an hour a

day / two hours a week / less than half my time / more than two hours

a day …)

2. How often do you:

☺ work overtime? ☺ use English at work? ☺ travel abroad on business?

☺ entertain customers? ☺ have a holiday?

(every day/ once a week / twice a week / three times a month / every year..)

3. What time do you start work in the mornings?

4. And when do you finish?

5. How do you get to work?

6. How long does it take?

7. What do you do to relax in the evenings?

Note: Frequency.

Never hardly ever not often sometimes usually always.

8. What are the advantages and disadvantages of your job?

. interesting work . length of holidays . flexibility of working hours

. salary or wages . fringe benefits . job security

. level of stress . level of job satisfaction . relationship with colleagues

. level of control over the work organization . pleasant working environment

9. Which of the factors above are most important for you?

10. Which qualities do you need to do your job successfully?


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III.2.4. CLASSIFYING.

Read the following sentences about work conditions and then put them into the correct list below.

1. I do shift-work / I work (in) shifts

2. I may be on the day shift one week and the night shift the next week.

3. I can do overtime if I like.

4. They run a system of flexi-time.

5. I am on flexi-time.

6. I work from home and simply send my work over the internet.

7. I clock in at 8 every day and I’m at my desk till 5 p.m.

8. I work part-time (full-time).

9. I work very long hours.

10. We work a lot of extra hours or overtime.

11. I spend about half my time working with a computer. .

12. There are some good fringe benefits with this job for example, they make payments for my pension.

13. I’m taking a few days off next week.

14. I get six weeks’ paid holiday.

15. I get private health insurance.

16. We also get perks, for example free meals.

17. I get a company car / a company mobile phone…

18. They’ve got a good pension scheme.

19. I work nine-to-five (regular day work).

20. The company pays for medical treatment.

21. I’m hoping to get promoted next year.

22. I will get a higher position next week.

23. They give us a bonus at Christmas.

24. I’m on a pretty good salary.

25. I get paid a salary every month.

26. I don’t earn very much.

27. I get paid wages very week.

28. We also get tips.

29. It isn’t very well-paid.

30. I get a regular pay rise.

31. I get a basic salary, plus commission: a percentage on

everything I sell.

32. If I sell more than a particular amount in a year, I also

get a bonus.

33. The people in production get a bonus if they reach their

targets.

Money Hours

(Ways of working)

Benefits Promotion Holiday

III.2.5. LISTENING.

Look at the notes below. Some information is missing. You will hear a management consultant giving a business

studies lecture about MTF. For each question 1 – 20, fill in the missing information in the numbered space.

(1) Company name: __________________

(2) Location: __________________

(3) Main activity: __________________


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(4) Date company started: __________________

(5) Turnover: __________________

(6) Company’s market position due to: __________________

(7) Planing to invest in: __________________

(8) Factor that plays a large part in the success of the firm: __________________

(9) Relationship between management and staff: __________________

(10) Basic pay: __________________

(11) Holidays: __________________

(12) Rewarding employees with: __________________

(13) Training programme has received: (from local government) __________________

(14) Benefiting from training scheme: __________________

(15) Management structure: __________________

(16) Promoting most of its managers from: __________________

(17) Promoting staff with good: __________________

(18) Investing a lot of money in: __________________

(19) Being confident about: __________________

(20) Business section needing improvement: __________________


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unit 5. Human resources.

I. THE ROLE OF THE PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT.

I.1. READING.

(1)

Personnel refers to all the people who work for a firm. Most large companies have special personnel departments

which are responsible for employer-employee relations. The personnel department is a staff department, which

means that it is not directly involved with production, but that it provides a service to the managers. The most important

services which the personnel department provides are recruiting, that is, finding new workers or managers for the

company, deciding which applicants are most suitable for employment by the firm, and developing and implementing

personnel policies and procedures for the benefit of the company as well as the employees.

(2)

Most businesses continually need to recruit good personnel to replace workers who retire or quit and to fill new jobs

created when the company expands. After management has determined the goals of the company and the positions

needed, the personnel department must find qualified people to fill those positions. Depending upon management

policy and the nature of the position, recruiting may be done internally or externally. Internal recruitment means that

the person chosen for the position is selected from the current employees of the company. This is either by promotion

or transfer. Promotion means an employee receives a job with more authority and responsibility than his present job.

The employee usually expects to receive an increase in salary along with the new position. A transfer refers to a job or

department change for a worker. A transfer without promotion is a lateral transfer. It may involve different working

conditions or different hours. Companies that recruit internally often promote internally, which means that the

managers have worked their way up from lower positions. It may also mean that the company may hire new

employees only at lower positions.

(3)

External recruitment means that the company is looking for new employees from outside the firm. All companies do

some type of external recruitment. If they are looking for employees with special training or education, they will often

recruit at universities campuses. They make arrangements with placement office at the campus to interview graduating

students. Sometimes they are seeking top level managers who they will recruit from other firms, often from their

competitors. Other methods of recruiting involve the use of advertising in newspapers and professional publications,

and even paying a fee or commission to an executive placement service.

(4)

Most recruiting involves a job announcement containing a description of the job. The personnel department produces a

formal job description. If the firm is not well known, the job description may begin with some basic information about

the company and its products. This is usually followed by the title of the position the company wants to fill, for example,

Senior Design Engineer or Vice President in charge of Finance. Then the duties and responsibilities of the job are

given, as well as where that position fits in the organization chart (that is, who the person reports to and who the

person supervises). Next appear the qualifications for the job, such as the professional training or skills needed. The

salary and fringe benefits paid for by the company should also be mentioned. Finally, the job description will tell the

applicant exactly what to do if he is interested in the position.


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(5)

The personnel department should have a method for choosing the best candidate from among the applicants for the

positions. In some companies this may involve testing prospective employees. Civil service or government jobs often

require applicants to compete with each other on written tests. Those applicants with the highest score are selected for

an interview. Other companies may assign points for certain items on the application form, such as experience or

education. They may then total the points and select the applicants with the highest totals. After the applicants have

been evaluated, the best qualified applicants are invited to an interview. In the interview the applicant’s personality and

ability to work with others may be judged.

(6)

Some people feel the most important function of the personnel department is the development of personnel policies.

For efficiency and fairness, a company should have a specific formal written procedure for dealing with its employees.

Otherwise, decisions must be made on a case by case basis, and this could adversely affect employee morale. These

procedures should state working conditions, salary scale and fringe benefits such as paid vacation, paid sick leave,

group insurance, pension and retirement plan – all things received in addition to pay. Part of the policy may also

include a procedure for notifying employees of openings or promotional opportunities. In addition, there is often a

procedure for handling grievances, which an employee can use if he feels that he has been treated unfairly by the

employer. All of these items may be part of a union contract between the employer and the employees who are

members of a union.

I.2. PRACTICE.

I.2.1. SENTENCE COMPLETION.

Select the answer which best completes the meaning of the sentence.

1. The personnel department must decide which applicants are the most suitable for ______.

a. benefits b. employment c. employee d. promotion

2. To fill the vacancy in the accounting department, they are seeking for the person who is best ______.

a. promoted b. competitive c. qualified d. authorized

3. The person being promoted receives more ______.

a. authority b. responsibility c. salary d. all of these

4. If a company is recruiting new employees, they might ______.

a. advertise in newspapers c. qualify for the job

b. promote a new employee d. none of these

5. Companies which recruit internally hire new workers ______.

a. at all levels b. at the managerial level c. at beginning levels d. all of these

6. The job description tells about a job opening at a company. It would most likely state ______.

a. the supervisor’s name c. what the applicant looks like

b. the duties and responsibilities d. the applicant’s name

7. As personnel director, he is authorized to issue employee identification. Issuing employee identification is one of

his ______.

a. authorities b. requirements c. qualifications d. responsibilities


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8. The personnel policies should provide a method for settling employee grievances. An employee who has a

grievance ______.

a. may be promoted c. should fill out an application

b. will be fired d. thinks he was treated unfairly

9. The committee will base their decision on the applicant’s qualifications. This means they will decide whom to

______.

a. apply b. qualify c. authorize d. hire

10. The personnel department announces a promotional examination next week. This examination is intended for

______.

a. supervisors b. new recruits c. current employees d. competitors

I.2.2. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

Answer the following questions.

1. What two methods do employers use to select applicants for an interview?

2. What can interviews reveal about the applicants?

3. What is a prospective employee?

4. Besides recruiting and choosing new workers, what is another important function of the personnel department?

5. Why does a company need to have a policy which is written down ?

What could be the result of not having an established policy?

6. What are fringe benefits?

7. Under what conditions are there grievances?

8. According to the article, what is one function of a union?

I.2.3. LISTENING & NOTE-TAKING SKILLS.

Listen to Paragraph 1 and 2 and write an outline of them.

I.2.4. REPHRASING WORDS.

Rewrite the following sentences. Replace the words in italics with expressions from the text which have the same

meaning.

1. The personnel department is a service department.

2. Businesses continually need to find good personnel to take the place of workers who quit because of old age.

3. If they are looking for managers, they might recruit from another company in the same business.

4. Often there is a policy for handling complaints about treatment.

5. Because of his accomplishments, he received a job with more authority and responsibility.

6. He was selected for the job because he had the best skills and abilities.

7. The policies describe what employees receive in addition to salary.

8. The job seekers with the highest scores will be selected for an interview.

9. This company looks for workers from outside the company.

10. He changed jobs from the accounting department to the personnel department.


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II. JOB INTERVIEW.

II.1. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS.

When someone applies for a job they are usually required to send a CV and a cover letter. Some companies also

require applicants to fill an application form. The applicants are then screened and, in some cases, they are asked to

take an aptitude test such as typing test or a sales skills test. Occupational psychology testing is occasionally carried

out along with IQ tests and analyses of handwriting.

The next stage in the selection process usually involves an interview. The aim of the interview is to determine whether

the prospective employee:

Ø has the necessary qualifications for the job under consideration

Ø has the motivation to meet the company’s expectations

Ø fits the existing company culture

The interview is also the place where the prospective employee and employer look each other over. Just as the

individual is interviewed by the company so the company is also interviewed by the individual. Both parties are

therefore on their best behavior and may not be showing their true colors.

Various interview techniques may be used to find out what an applicant is really like:

(a) job knowledge questions are asked to find out whether the applicant possesses knowledge essential to the job

performance.

(b) job simulation questions ask the applicant to simulate some aspect of the job performance to see if he or she

understands the different facets of the actual task performance.

(c) situational questions evaluate the applicant’s reaction to a specific situation, either job-related or general.

(d) work willingness questions attempt to determine the applicant’s motivation and availability to work.

(e) open-ended questions encourage the applicant to open up and reveal attitudes and behavior which may

otherwise have remained hidden.

(f) stress interviewing puts the applicant under pressure by a variety of means. The rationale is twofold: firstly, her

or his façade may crack and the “real” person will appear; and secondly, it may be valuable to see how she or

he copes with stress.

II.2. PRACTICE.

II.2.1. INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES.

A. Classify the following interview questions under these headings:

(a) job knowledge questions

(b) job simulation questions or situational questions

(c) work willingness questions

(d) open-ended questions

(e) stress interviewing

(1) Tell me about the distribution network for luxury sportswear in South Eat Asia.

(2) You have two minutes to convince me I’m crazy

(3) Tell me something about yourself

(4) Sell me your tie

(5) What would you do if one of your salespeople wasn’t reaching the sales targets?


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(6) Make me laugh

(7) What is important to you in a job?

(8) What are your main qualities?

(9) How much experience have you had using spreadsheets?

(10) How would you motivate a team of salespeople?

(11) What are your long-range goals?

(12) Judging by the way, I’d say you were somebody who never takes risks.

(13) How do you feel about working away from home for three months in the year?

(14) What is it you don’t like about me?

(15) How do you handle pressure?

(16) How do you feel after a failure?

B. Read through these interview questions. What kind of questions are they? For each sentence, decide which

type of question it is from the list below.

(a) conversation opening (friendly) questions

(b) questions about skills and qualifications

(c) questions about your personality

(d) questions about salary and working conditions

(e) questions about your ambitions

(1) Can you operate an IBM computer with Microsoft Windows?

(2) Are you a loyal person?

(3) What sort of job would you like in five years’ time?

(4) Do you want a job with a company car?

(5) What do you do during your free time?

(6) What things are you best at?

(7) Did you have a good journey?

(8) What grade did you get in your (word processing) exam?

(9) How much are you hoping to earn?

(10) What was the traffic like on the way here?

(11) Would you like to have the same job in ten years’ time?

(12) Was it easy to find our offices?

(13) Do you enjoy working with other people?

(14) Would you like a cup of coffee?

II.2.2. LISTENING.

You will hear an interview between a young woman who has applied for a position with a company and an officer of

the company. Listen to the interview and complete the information below.

Name Length of service

College major Present salary


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School Position applied for

Year Expected salary

Present employer Previous experience

Duties

II.2.3. GAP-FILLING.

Insert the following words in the gaps in the text below:

(a) applicant (b) application (c) application form (d) apply

(e) candidate (f) curriculum vitae or CV

(GB) or résumé (US)

(g) employment

agencies

(h) interview

(i) job description (j) job vacancies (k) references (l) short-listed

Many people looking for work read the (1) ________ advertised in newspapers by companies and (2) ________. To

reply to an advertisement is to (3) ________ for a job. (You become a (4) ________ or an (5) ________.) You write an (6)

________, or fill in the company’s (7) ________, and send it, along with your (8) ________ and a covering letter. You

often have to give the names of two people who are prepared to write (9) ________ for you. If your qualifications and

abilities match the (10) ________, you might be (11) ________, i.e. selected to attend a(n) (12) ________.

III. MANAGING PEOPLE

III.1. READING.

Today’s fast-moving business environment demands that the effective manager be both a well-organized administrator

and highly adept in understanding people’s basic needs and behavior in the workplace. Gaining commitment,

nurturing talent, and ensuring that people are motivated and productive require open communication, and trust

between managers and staff. In order to manage people successfully you need to master the fundamentals of

management techniques that will enable you to get the best out of the people who work for you, to know how, by

identifying and avoiding common problems, managers can turn potential failure into success for their organization.

The work of a manager can be divided into planning (setting objectives), organizing, integrating (motivating and

communicating), measuring, and developing people.

■ First of all, managers (especially senior managers such as company chairmen – and women – and directors) set

objectives, and decide how their organization can achieve them. This involves developing strategies, plans and

precise tactics, and allocating resources of people and money.

■ Secondly, managers organize. They analyze and classify the activities of the organization and the relations among

them. They divide the work into manageable activities and then into individual jobs. They select people to mange

these units and perform the jobs.

■ Thirdly, managers practice the social skills of motivation and communication. They also have to communicate

objectives to the people responsible for attaining them. They make decisions about pay and promotion. As well as

organizing and supervising the work of their subordinates, they also have to manage a business’s relations with


47

customers, suppliers, distributors, bankers, investors, neighboring communities, public authorities, and so on, deal

with any major crises which arise as well as take responsibility for innovation.

■ Fourthly, managers have to measure the performance of their staff, to see whether the objectives set for the

organization as a whole and for each individual member of it are being achieved.

■ Lastly, managers develop people – both their subordinates and themselves.

Although the tasks of a manager can be analyzed and classified in this fashion, management is not entirely

scientific. It is a human skill. According to some researchers, Intuition and ‘instinct’ are not enough; there are

management skills that have to be learnt.

III.2. PRACTICE.

III.2.1. GAP –FILLING.

Complete the following sentences with these words.

(a) achieved (b) manageable (c) communicate (d) innovations (e) individual job

(f) performance (g) resources (h) setting (i) supervise (j) assessing

1. Managers have to decide how best to allocate the human, physical and capital ______ available to them.

2. Managers – logically – have to make sure that the jobs and tasks given to their subordinates are ______.

3. There is no point in ______ objectives if you don’t ______ them to your staff.

4. Managers have to _____ their subordinates, and to measure, and try to improve, their ______.

5. Managers have to check whether objectives and targets are being ______.

6. Top mangers are responsible for the ______ that will allow a company to adapt to a changing world.

7. The standard approach to establishing self-management among staff is to define ______ requirements so that

employees can carry out the processes effectively.

8. When choosing methods of _____ your staff’s performance, always make sure that the end result has a positive

effect on motivation and increases people’s sense of self-worth.

III.2.2. CLOZE TEST.

Fill each the blank spaces with ONE suitable words.

Congratulations _____(1) joining the ranks of management. Your hard work had paid off, and now you have

responsibility for supervising the work _____(2) others to help your organization achieve its goal. While your expertise

and success in your work had likely contributed _____(3) your promotion to manager; you are probably aware that this

new position requires a different set of skills –skills _____(4) require effective interaction with other people at work.

These people include those you supervise, your peers, and the managers you report _____(5).

At the heart of managing _____(6) planning and communication. You will need to learn how to give feedback _____(7)

your employees to help them improve their performance _____(8) keep up the motivation, how to give great

instructions to get the results you’re looking for, how to build alliances, and how to listen to others, how to run meetings

_____(9) employees know will help them successfully work together, how to think strategically as well as tactically, and

so on. And while you may understand the theory of these things, it’s actually doing them _____(10) is the issue.

III.2.3. ERROR CORRECTION.


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See how many of these errors you can find and correct.

1. “At the end, all management can be reduced on three words: people, product and profits. People come first.”

(Lee Iacocca)

2. “Strange as it sounds, great leaders gain authority by give them away.” (James B. Stockdale)

3. “The five steps in teaching an employee new skills is preparation, explanation, showing, observation, and

supervision.” (Harold Hook)

4. “It’s only as we develop others and we permanently succeed.” (Harvey S. Firestone)

5. Managing people can be an experience makes you feel really good about yourself as long as you understand that

it’s not a tidy, orderly, predictable business.

6. When somebody fails on a project, always consider the failure can be turned into a success or not.

7. Developing a personal rapport with your staff that may help you to recognize any changes in their behavior.

III.2.4. LISTENING.

Look at the notes below. Some information is missing. You will hear Peter Dudley, Chief Executive of the Thorpe

Group, giving a talk about his work to a group of business students.

For each questions 1-10, fill in the missing information in the numbered space using one or two words.

Peter Dudley

Chief Executive of the Thorpe Group

Length of service: (0) ……………………………………….

Peter Dudley”s first job: (1) ……………………………………….

At the office Peter Dudley reads: (2) ……………………………………….

The Thorpe Group has invested in: (3) ………………… and ……………….

The Thorpe Group will invest more in: (4) …………………………….. industry.

Some of their competitors concentrate on achieving (5) ……………………………………….

The Thorpe Group promise to customers: (6) ……………………………………….

The Thorpe Group encourages their staff to achieve: (7) ……………………… on investment.

The Thorpe Group staff follow rules to reduce: (8) ……………………for the customers.

The customers see the Thorpe Group as (9) ……………………………………….

Result of merger (with Chartwell Associates):

company will move to: (10) ……………………………………….

most things: (11) ……………………………………….

plans to invest in different areas of the market: (12) ……………………………………….

The Thorpe Group is a market leader because of: (13) ……………………………………….

The Thorpe Group recruits staff who work well in: (14) ……………………………………….

A financial background is not essential since they train staff in: (15) ………………………….. they need.


49

unit 6. Marketing and sales.

I. READING.

(1)

The terms “market” and “marketing” can have several meanings depending upon how they are used. The term “stock

market” refers to the buying and selling of shares in corporation as well as other activities related to stock trading and

pricing. The important world stock markets are in London, Geneva, New York, Tokyo, and Singapore. Another type of

market is a grocery market, which is a place where people purchase food. When economists use the word “market”

they mean a set of forces or conditions that determine the price of a product, such as the supply available for sale and

the demand for it by consumers. The term “marketing” in business includes all of these meaning and more.

(2)

In the past, the concept of marketing emphasized sales. The producer or manufacturer made a product he wanted to

sell. Marketing was the task of figuring out how to sell the product. Basically, selling the product would be

accomplished by sales promotion, which included advertising and personal selling. In addition to sales promotion,

marketing also involved the physical distribution of the product to the places where it was actually sold. Distribution

consisted of transportation , storage and related services such as financing, standardization and grading, and the

related risk.

(3)

The modern marketing concept encompasses all of the activities mentioned, but it is based on a different set of

principles. It subscribes to the notion that production can be economically justified only by consumption. In other

words, goods should be produced only if they can be sold. Therefore, the producer should consider who is going to

buy the product – or what the market for the product is – before production begins. This is very different from making a

product and then thinking about how to sell it.

(4)

Marketing now involves first deciding what the customer wants, and designing and producing a product that satisfies

these wants at a profit to the company. Instead of concentrating solely on production, the company must consider the

desires of the consumer, and this is much more difficult since it involves human behavior. Production, on the other

hand, is mostly an engineering problem. Thus, demand and market forces are still an important aspect of modern

marketing, but they are considered prior to the production process.

(5)

Because products are often marketed internationally, distribution has increased in importance. Goods must be at the

place where the customer needs them or brought there. This is known as place utility; it adds value to a product.

However, many markets are separated from the place of production, which means that often both raw materials and

finished goods must be transported to the points where they are needed.

(6)

Raw materials requiring little or no special treatment can be transported by rail, ship, or barge at low cost. Large

quantities of raw materials travel as bulk freight, but finished products that often require special treatment, such as

refrigeration or careful handling, are usually transported by truck. This merchandise freight is usually smaller in volume

and requires quicker delivery. “Merchandise freight” is a term for transportation of manufactured goods.


50

(7)

Along all points of distribution channel various amounts of storage are required. The time and manner of such storage

depends upon the type of product. Inventories of this stored merchandise often need to be financed.

(8)

Modern marketing is therefore a coordinated system of many business activities, but basically it involves four things:

(1) selling the correct product at the proper place, (2) selling it at a price determined by demand, (3) satisfying a

customer’s need and wants, and (4) producing a profit for the company.

II. PRACTICE.

II.1. REPHRASING IDEAS.

Find sentences from the text which have the same meaning or express the same general idea as the sentences below.

1. Shares of stock market are traded on the stock exchange where market forces determine the price.

2. The grocery market is the location where the buying and selling of food takes place.

3. Economists believe that if many people desire a product which is not available in great quantities, the price will

increase.

4. In the past the most important function of marketing was sales.

5. Marketing used to be the job of thinking about how to sell the product.

6. People will buy a product if it is promoted by salesmen and if the company advertises it.

7. Part of marketing is delivering the merchandise to the stores where people shop for it.

8. Food products are classified into groups according to their size and quality. Eggs and meat are graded according

to government standards.

9. Modern marketing includes many activities, but it is based on a different concept.

10. Modern marketing is based on the idea that goods cannot produced for profit unless someone will buy them.

II.2. REPHRASING WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS.

Rewrite the following sentences. Replace the words and expressions in italics with expressions from the text which

have the same meaning.

1. When economists use the word “market”, they mean conditions which “set” the price of a product, for example, the

“amount” of product available for sale and the “desire” for the product on the part of “customers”.

2. In the past the concept of marketing “considered selling most important”.

3. Marketing used to be the “activity of determining” how to sell the product.

4. Marketing also involves the “transportation” of the product to places where it was actually sold.

5. Distribution consists of transportation, “warehousing”, and related services such as “providing credit” and “ensuring

uniformity of size and quality”.

6. The modern marketing concept “includes” all of the activities mentioned above.

7. It “believes” that production can be economically justified only “through sales to willing buyers”.

8. Marketing now involves first “determining” what the customer wants, and then “planning” and producing a product

to “fulfill” those wants.

9. Many markets are “a great distance” from the place of production.

10. “A shipment of finished products” is usually “less bulky” and requires quicker delivery.


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II.3. MATCHING

Match the word below with the definition indicated in the exercise given above.

1. stock exchange a. consider most important

2. market forces b. distribution

3. desire c. methods to increase sales, like advertising

4. delivering d. amount available for sale

5. concept e. supply and demand

6. consumers f. place to buy and sell shares of corporations

7. promotion g. notion

8. consumption h. purchase

9. supply i. customers

10. emphasize j. demand

II.4. COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS.

Now listen to paragraph 1 through 4. The following questions can be answered as you listen to the text.

1. In paragraph 1 there are examples of three types of markets. What are they?

2. In general, what is said about the term “marketing”?

3. In paragraph 2 the author mentions two aspects of marketing. What are they?

4. What are two activities of sales promotion the author mentions in the second paragraph?

5. What are three aspects of distribution?

6. Give three examples of related services?

7. How does the beginning of paragraph 3 contrast with the first sentence in paragraph 2?

8. How does modern marketing differ from the past ideas and practices of marketing?

9. According to paragraph 4, what effect does the theory of modern marketing have on production decisions?

10. What makes solving marketing problems more difficult than solving production problems?

II.5. ANALYTIC QUESTIONS

Paragraphs 5, 6, and 7 discuss the practical side of traditional marketing activities of distribution and related services.

Answer the following questions about paragraph 5, 6, 7, and 8.

1. What activity of marketing deals with the need for goods to be at the place where customers can use them?

2. How does distribution add to the value of the product?

3. List three characteristics of bulk freight transport?

4. What type of freight is best suited for bulk transport? Give specific examples.

5. How does the cost of rail freight compare with truck freight?

6. Is financing more important for finished products than for raw materials?

II.6. SENTENCE COMPLETION 1.

Select the best answer to complete each of the following sentences.


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1. In the past the main objective of marketing was sales promotion. Marketers were people who ______.

(a) bought and sold stock (b) consumed

(c) tried to sell products (d) supplied and demanded

2. The word “market” can have several meanings. A person who wants to buy food uses the word to indicate ______.

(a) standardization and grading (b) a place where groceries are for sale

(c) sales prices (d) supply and demand

3. Modern marketing aims to satisfy the wants of the consumers. Marketing personnel should consider first of all

______.

(a) how to advertise the product (b) what products the customer desires

(c) how to distribute the product (d) engineering problems

4. Marketing is an important consideration for ______.

(a) the consumer (b) the distributor (c) all aspects of production (d) the salesman

5. Raw materials can be transported in bulk at low cost. Finished goods which sometimes require special treatment

usually are shipped by truck. Transportation by truck is probably ______.

(a) what the customer wants (b) the best marketing method

(c) slow (d) more expensive

6. Demand and market forces are considered prior to production. Before designing and producing the product,

companies consider ______.

(a) the supply of consumers (b) the desire by consumers to purchase a product

(c) distribution to the consumers (d) all the marketing activities

7. Between the producer and the consumer certain goods are stored along the way because there may be great

distances between the point of production and the point of sale. Storing along the distribution channel ______.

(a) is suitable for all products (b) makes quicker delivery to consumers

(c) does not add to the cost of the product (d) makes standardization and grading necessary

8. Economists use the word “market” to refer to a set of forces or conditions which determine the price of a product.

This particular meaning of the word “market” ______.

(a) has no effect on the stock market (b) is not important for people who are not economists

(c) describes in general how prices are determined (d) considers only demand, but not supply

9. Among other things, modern marketing considers selling the correct product at the proper place. This means that

______.

(a) place utility and consumer demand must be considered

(b) advertising will help increase sales

(c) distribution is more important than product design

(d) if a product is for sale, someone will buy it

10. Modern marketing is a coordinated system of business activities because ______.

(a) it involves solving design problems to meet consumer demands

(b) it involves having the product at the right place at the right time

(c) it considers the profitability of the company

(d) all of the above


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II.7. DEFINING KEY TERMS.

Match the following key terms with their definitions :

1. end user 5. wholesaler 9. commission 13. custom- made 17. retailer 21.spot

2. marketing 6. promotion 10.couponing 14. public

relations

18. slogan

3. trademark 7. advertising 11.wholesale 15. marketing research 19. premium

22.point-of

purchase

display

4. publicity 8. warehouse 12.sales force 16. market share 20. brand 23. trade show

DEFINITIONS

a. Those business activities that direct the movement of goods and services from producers to consumers or

users. This includes product planning and design, sales, promotion and advertising, distribution , and pricing.

b. Firms that sell directly to the public.

c. Firms that sell products to other firms for resale or for industrial use .

d. The sale of goods in large amounts to jobbers or retailer, rather than directly to consumers.

e. A fee, frequently based on a percentage of the sales price, paid to agents or sellers acting for others in

commercial transactions.

f. The promotion of a good reputation with the public.

g. Any name , sign, or symbol used to identify the products of a firm .

h. Brand that has been given legal protection so that its owner has exclusive rights to its use.

i. Facility for storing stocks or supplies or finished products.

j. Advertising or display materials set up at a retail location to encourage sales of an item.

k. Those persons engaged in selling the products of a particular organization.

l. The systematic gathering , recording, and analyzing of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods

and services.

m. Distribution of certificates that entitle buyers to a discount on a particular item.

n. Unpaid media coverage of news about an organization.

o. Proportion of the market controlled by a specific company or product.

p. The final customer .

q. Any communication for purposes of selling a product or service, including advertising, personal selling, and

publicity.

r. The practice of calling public attention to product or service by paid announcements, usually in newspapers and

magazines or on television or radio.

s. Designed to specification for an individual customer.

t. A prize or bonus given as an inducement to purchase products or to use services.

u. A brief catch-phrase or motto adopted for advertising a product, service, or company.

v. A brief announcement, usually a radio or television advertisement or commercial .

w. Industry gathering in which producers set up displays and demonstrate products to potential customers.


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II.8. GAP- FILLING.

(1) Fill the gaps in these sentences with ONE suitable word.

1. ______ is the creative process of satisfying customer needs profitably.

2. ______ consists of ‘the four P’s’: providing the customer with the right ______ at the right ______, presented in

the most attractive way (______) and available in the easiest way (______).

3. A ______ is not just an assembled set of components: it is something customers buy to satisfy a need they

feel they have. The image and the design of the ______ are as important as its specification.

4. The product must be ______ so that it competes effectively with rival products in the same market.

5. “What is meant by ‘S.W.O.T’?” “A firm should be aware of its “______” and “______” and the “______” and “______”

it faces in the market place.”

6. ______ is all the activities supporting the sale of a product. The product is presented to customers through ______

(TV commercials, posters, etc), ______ (design, labels, etc), publicity, P.R. and personal selling.

7. ______ includes such factors as distribution channels, locations of points of sale, transport , etc. Your product must

be available to customers through the most cost-effective channels of distribution. A consumer product must be

offered to end-users in suitable retail outlets, or available on hire ______ or by mail order.

8. “Why are firms becoming more ______-orientated and less production-orientated?” “Because new products

must be created to meet the changing patterns of customers’______ – a firm can’t rely on the success of its

existing range of products. The customer and his or her needs must come first!

(2) WAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR PRODUCT.

There are many ways of attracting customers to your product and keeping your brand name in the public eye. Fill the

gaps with suitable words from the list below.

a. sponsorship b. personal selling c. point of sale advertising d. publicity

e. sales literature f. showrooms g. trade fairs & exhibitions h. packaging

i. word of mouth j. public relations k. telephone sales

1. Brochures, leaflets and catalogues can describe your product in more detail and

give more information than an advertisement. Potential customers can be sent

direct mail.

2. Displays in retail outlets (supermarkets, chain stores, etc.) can attract the attention

of potential customers.

3. Labels and presentation increase the impact of your product.

4. You can contribute to the cost of a sporting or artistic event, where your brand name

or logo is displayed prominently.

5. Potential customers can come to your premises and see a display or a

demonstration of your products and get hands-on experience.

6. Your company takes a stand or mounts an exhibit to enable customers to see your

products and talk to your representatives.

7. The public are informed of a new development through newspaper articles. You can

inform the press by issuing press releases.

Sales literature

______________

______________

______________

______________

______________

______________


55

8. PR can ensure that your firm keeps a high profile, and that people are aware of your

good reputation and image.

9. Existing customers tell their friends or colleagues about your product and hopefully

recommend it to them.

10. Your staff can call customers, or customers can call a toll-free number to request

sales literature or ask for information.

11. Your rep can visit customers: this is the most effective method of promotion, but

also the most expensive.

______________

______________

______________

______________

(3) CLOZE TEST.


Anyone _____ (1) has contact with customers is a sales person – that includes the telephonist who answers the phone

and the service engineer who calls to repair a machine. So that probably includes you !

The relationship _____(2) a sales person and a client is important: both parties want to feel satisfied with their deal and

_____ (3) wants to feel cheated. A friendly, respectful relationship is more effective _____(4) an aggressive, competitive

one.

A sales person should believe that his product has certain advantages _____ (5) the competition. A customer wants to

be sure that he is buying a product _____ (6) is good value and of high quality

No one in business is going to spend his company’s money _____(7) something they don’t really need ( unlike

consumers, who can some-times be persuaded to buy ‘useless’ products ).

Some sales people prefer a direct ‘hard sell’ approach, _____(8) others prefer a more indirect ‘soft sell’ approach.

_____(9) approach is used, a good sales person is someone who knows _____(10) to deal with different kinds of

people and _____(11) can point out how his product will benefit each individual customer in special ways.

A successful sales meeting depends on _____(12) the sales person and the customer asking each other the right sort

of questions

II.9. SENTENCE COMPLETION 2.

(1) TERMINOLOGY.

Choose the best word to fill each gap.

1. Please take one of these _____ describing our new product.

(a) leaflets (b) trademarks (c) brands (d) slogan

2. There’s a full description of the product on the _____.

(a) design (b) label (c) trademark (d) slogan

3. We are about to _____ a new product.

(a) satisfy (b) launch (c) do (d) stop

4. You can buy this product in any supermarket or ____.

(a) chain store (b) newspaper (c) display (d) commercial

5. Retail outlets are being encouraged to use this window ____.

(a) shopping (b) trademark (c) slogan (d) display


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7. Which of the ____ should we place our advertisements in?

(a) media (b) logo (c) brand (d) budget

8. I think you’ll like our new ____ on the wall outside.

(a) outlet (b) poster (c) media (d) key accounts

9. Our product compares very well with nationally advertised ____.

(a) media (b) slogans (c) brands (d) consumers

10. According to a recent ____, 45.9% of consumers prefer not to buy imported goods.

(a) survey (b) consumer (c) trademark (d) market

11. I saw the product ____ in a magazine.

(a) manufactured (b) advertised (c) served (d) bought

12. Which ____ do our products sell best in?

(a) poster (b) newspaper (c) magazine (d) region

13. Compaq and Macintosh are both famous ____.

(a) trademarks (b) logos (c) commercials (d) designs

14. Consumers must be fully aware of the ____ of a product.

(a) markets and processes (b) retailers and wholesalers

(c) opportunities and threats (d) features and benefits

15. Demand for many products may ____ according to the season.

(a) fluctuate (b) forecast (c) order (d) market

(2) PREPOSITIONS.

Select the best word(s) to complete the following sentences.

1. Does anyone in the department _____ “The Economist”?

(a) superior to (b) subscribe to (c) specialize in (d) withdraw from

2. There’s no point in _____ money _____ radio commercials

(a) wasting – on (b) submitting - to (c) specializing – in (d) sharing – with

3. One of the factors that we should _____ is the size of the market.

(a) subscribe to (b) be valid for (c) take over from (d) take into consideration

4. You should _____ a copy of the report _____ head office.

(a) submit – to (b) share – with (c) specialize – in (d) waste – on

5. I think we should try to _____ our contract.

(a) superior to (b) withdraw from (c) submit to (d) waste on

6. We believe that our product is _____ theirs.

(a) interested in (b) superior to (c) similar from (d) aware of

7. Can I _____ some of this work _____ you?

(a) concentrate – on (b) remind – of (c) spend – on (d) share – with

8. Their agency _____ public relations.

(a) specializes in (b) borrows from (c) submits to (d) superior to

9. This guarantee seems to be _____ every country except ours!

(a) responsible for (b) valid for (c) inferior to (d) different from


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10. I’ll _____ you if you need a break.

(a) believe in (b) take over from (c) submit to (d) subscribe to

II.10. REWRITING.

Rewrite each sentences so that its meaning remains unchanged.

1. Our product is the cheapest on the market.

No other product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2. Our product is the least expensive on the market

All the other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3. There are fewer competing brands on the market nowadays than ten years ago.

There aren’t as many . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4. One third of consumers prefer their product to ours.

Three times as . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5. All other features of the product are more important than its colour.

The least . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6. Both the price and the design are equally important to our customers.

The price is just as . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7. Our product costs slightly less than theirs does.

Their product costs a little . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8. Their product is nothing like as attractive as ours, we feel.

Our product is far . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9. It’s a bit more difficult to service the new model than the old one

It isn’t quite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

10. Their product is not as reliable as ours.

Our product is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11. Our product is more widely available than most of the competing brands.

Most of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

12. Price is not as important as quality, as far as our customers are concerned.

Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..


58

unit 7. Promotion.

I. READING.

(1)

Promotion is the aspect of marketing concerned with increasing sales. Marketing must be considered in making

production decisions, and promotion must be considered in the overall marketing process. Promotion attempts to

persuade and influence the customer’s attitude in various ways. It is oriented toward producing a customer for the

product rather than a product for the customer. Economists believe price should be determined by supply and demand.

Promotion attempts to increase demand for a product, (which is represented graphically as a shift in the demand curve

– the demand curve expresses the relationship between price and the quantity demanded) and thereby increase sales.

It wants to make the demand for a product inelastic when prices increase and elastic when prices decrease. In other

words, through promotion, companies try to keep demand and sales constant when prices increase. They do not want

an increase in the price of their product to result in lower sales, instead they want it to result in an increase in profits.

However, if the price decreases, they want demand for the product to increase, hoping that an increase in sales

volume will offset the decrease in price.

(2)

Three main promotional activities are advertising, personal selling, and sales promotion. Advertising is non-personal

presentation of goods, services, or ideas aimed at a mass audience. It is particularly suited for products that are widely

distributed, such as convenience goods. There are several methods of advertising and several media. The method

selected depends upon the product, the distribution of the market, and the type of information which the company

wishes to convey about its product. For example, television advertising reaches a large audience. It has the advantage

of appealing to the emotions of the audience through the senses of sight and sound. Television advertisements are

expensive to produce and must be repeated thousands of times in order to justify the cost of production. Newspaper

advertisements on the other hand can appear on a particular day in a particular geographic area. A newspaper

advertisement can contain a lot of written details that appeals to the logic of the reader. It explains why he should

purchase a particular product or service.

(3)

In general, advertising works best when the demand for a product is increasing. It also works well when there are real

differences between two or more similar products such as the different types of cars. Using advertising, a company

can emphasize the differences between its product and that of the competition. The purpose of advertising is to

communicate information that convinces a customer to buy a specific product.

(4)

Personal selling involves a salesperson trying to convince customers directly to buy a product. Personal selling is very

effective when there is a concentrated market for a product – in other words, the product is not for general

consumption by the public. For example, airplanes are purchased only by airlines, not by the general public. There

would be little point in advertising them on television. The same is true for many industrial goods. A sales

representative usually goes a commission. If the product has a high unit value, in other words each individual item is

very expensive, the cost of the product justifies the commission paid to the sales representative for his or her work. If

the product must be individually tailored to the purchaser, the salesperson must be able to sell exactly what the


59

customer needs. Sales staff are also needed to demonstrate a product. This is particularly important for new products

which may be unfamiliar to the customer. Finally, personal selling is necessary when there is negotiation about the

price of the product, for example, when a trade-in is involved.

(5)

Sales promotion involves several activities. It is becoming increasingly important in the self-service environment where

there is often no sales staff. Sales promotion activities are of two types: information and stimulation. Examples of

information promotion are a pamphlet or booklet about the product, a demonstration, market research information

telling about the nature of the customers, and dealer training and managerial advice from producers. Stimulation

promotion can be accomplished by the distribution of free samples, reduced price promotion, premiums, and coupons.

A premium is something that the customer receives as a bonus when he purchases a product. For example, a

customer purchasing a razor might receive a free package of razor blades. A coupon is a certificate which entitles the

customer to purchase the product at a reduced price. Sales promotions also involve displays of the products. Displays

can increase sales as well. A customer might make a decision to buy a particular product like a convenience item

simply on the basis of a display that makes the item easy to see and reach.

(6)

Basically there are two ways to increase sales of products: find new markets and increase market share. A company

seeking new markets can expand its geographical sales area or try to sell its product to a different segment of the

population. In this case promotion may involve increased advertising to spread information about the product. Personal

selling at the wholesale level can encourage additional retailers to carry the product.

(7)

A different market situation requires a different method of promotion. When a market is saturated, it means that there

are no new customers to be found. A company then needs to lure customers from the competition and gain a greater

share of the total market. To increase market share, the marketing department of a company must design a total

program of promotion for a particular product. Such a program may involve increased advertising to remind the

customer of the name of the product. In advertising the company will also emphasize the superiority of its product by

comparing with the competition’s product. A program to increase market share may also include convincing a retailer

to allow more shelf space in the store for the product. Sales promotion may include contests, coupons, and price

discounting. Increasing market share involves more stimulation of the buyer’s emotion than does finding new markets

where simply furnishing information about the product may increase sales.

II. PRACTICE.

II.1. SENTENCE COMPLETION.

Select the best word (phrase) to complete the following sentences.

1. Promotion attempts to increase demand for the product. Effective promotion therefore ______.

(a) increases sales (b) decreases supply

(c) aims at a mass audience (d) decreases prices

2. Promotion should shift the demand curve so that ______.

(a) supplies increase (b) consumers want to buy the product more than before

(c) prices increase (d) demand stays constant


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3. If the demand for the product is inelastic, when prices increase ______.

(a) customers continue to buy the product even at higher prices

(b) increased prices result in fewer sales

(c) increased prices result in more sales

(d) the supply available for sale is increased

4. If customers increase purchases of the product when prices decrease, ______.

(a) sales volume increases

(b) the demand is elastic

(c) increased volume may offset lower prices


5. Advertising is aimed at a mass audience. Advertisers hope ______.

(a) that it will be convenient for the customer to purchase the product

(b) that a very great number of people will see or hear their message

(c) that reducing prices will increase sales

(d) to sell similar products

6. Television and radio are examples of advertising media. A newspaper ______.

(a) must be widely distributed in order to be useful for advertisers

(b) is a different type of medium

(c) cannot tell you what day the advertisement will appear

(d) usually cannot convey detailed information about the product

7. Television advertisements are usually very expensive to produce. Because of their cost ______.

(a) they should not be used to promote convenience goods

(b) they usually appear only on a certain day in a certain area

(c) they are especially good for expensive products like airplanes

(d) they must be shown thousands of times

8. Personal selling refers to a sales representative who persuades a customer to buy a product. It is very effective

when ______.

(a) the product must be custom designed for the customer

(b) the number of customers is small and the sales staff know who they are

(c) the product needs to be demonstrated to the customer


9. A commission refers to a fee which the salesperson receives for making a sale. A commission is usually based on

a certain percentage of the sales price. Sales staff probably ______.

(a) prefer to sell expensive or big ticket items since their commission will be greater

(b) prefer to sell convenience items since customers purchase them frequently

(c) can afford to advertise on television to demonstrate their product

(d) are unable to negotiate the price of the product

10. In a self-service store the customer usually selects merchandise personally and then brings it to a cashier to pay

for it. Self-service stores ______.

(a) could probably increase sales if they used personal selling


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(b) can stimulate sales by the proper use of displays and other sales promotion devices

(c) cannot use advertising effectively

(d) usually sell only convenience items

11. Sales promotion activities include those which provide information to customers and those which stimulate them to

purchase particular products. Customers receive information about products through ______.

(a) coupons (b) pamphlets (c) premiums (d) discounts

12. A customer can be stimulated to make a purchase through ______.

(a) a free sample (b) an attractive and convenient display

(c) a reduced price (d) all of the above

13. Increasing sales means getting more customers for your product. You can get more customers to buy your product

by finding new markets. A method of expanding the market might be ______.

(a) to sell your product in other cities and states

(b) to sell your product to people who do not now purchase your product or a similar product

(c) advertising to tell more people about your product


14. You can also get more customers for your product if they switch from a competing brand to your own. To do this

requires ______.

(a) only getting more products on the shelves at the store

(b) giving more information about your product

(c) saturating the market

(d) designing a total program according to the product and the market

15. The promotional activities of a company can best be carried out ______.

(a) if a complete advertising program is designed

(b) if dealers are properly trained

(c) if demand for the product is increasing

(d) if it is considered as part of the total marketing process

II.2. LISTENING COMPREHENSION

Listen to paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 and answer the following questions:

1. Which promotional activity is best suited for convenience goods?

2. Who should receive the advertiser’s message?

3. When selecting a medium, what are two things which should be considered?

4. Which medium appeals through sight and sound?

5. Why are television advertisements repeated so often?

6. What medium can provide detail?

7. Who does personal selling?

8. Provide an example of a product sold through personal selling.

9. What is paid to the sales staff?

10. Suggest two services besides personal selling that the sales staff can perform.


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II.3. OUTLINING.

Listen again to paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 5 and make an outline of them

II.4. READING COMPREHENSION

(1) In trying to remember what we read it is useful to notice the general organization of the material. This particular

lesson is organized in seven parts, which correspond to the seven paragraphs:

1. promotion and its goals

2. types of promotional activities

3. the best situations for advertising and the purpose of advertising

4. personal selling

5. sales promotion activities

6. ways of increasing sales

7. ways to increase market share

(2) Keeping in mind the overall organization of the lesson, read paragraphs 4, 5, 6, and 7 and answer the following

questions.

1. Why is personal selling effective in a concentrated market?

2. Why is advertising probably not effective for the sale of industrial goods?

3. Why would personal selling be effective for expensive shopping goods?

4. Why is a salesperson necessary when there is a trade-in?

5. What is one difference between sales promotion and personal selling?

6. Which sales promotional activity is similar to personal selling? How is it similar?

7. How would you classify free samples, premiums and coupons as types of sales promotions?

8. What’s the difference between a premium and a coupon?

9. How can displays increase the sales of convenience items?

10. What are two sources of new customers for a product?

11. How might increased advertising help to expand the market?

12. How might advertising help increase market share?

13. What are two personal selling activities of the wholesaler?

14. What kinds of sales promotional activities are aimed at increasing market share?

15. How should a company decide which promotional activities to use?

II.5. REWRITING.

Rewrite the following sentences. Replace the words and expressions in italics with expressions from the text which

have the same meaning.

(a) From economic theory we know that price should be determined by the “quantity available for sale” and the “desire

for the product” on the part of customers.

(b) Promotion attempts to shift the “relationship between supply and demand” to increase demand and sales.

(c) Ideally, demand and sales should “stay constant” when prices increase.

(d) They hope that an “increase in the number of units sold” will “compensate for” a decrease in prices.


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(e) Promotion attempts to “urge” the customer to buy the product.

(f) Advertising is “useful” for products which are “available in many places”.

(g) We have to “influence” the customer to purchase our product.

(h) “Commercial messages on television” are seen by “many viewers”.

(i) Television and radio are two “channels of communication” for advertising.

(j) Newspaper advertisements “have time value” and they can be delivered in specific communities.

(k) Using advertising, a company can “point out’ the differences between their product and that of “another company

which produces a similar product”.

(l) We want to encourage the “store owners” to “have our product available for sale”.

(m) Airplanes are not purchased by “most consumers”.

(n) The cost is high enough so that the producer “can afford to pay” the salesperson a fee.

(o) Sometimes the product must be “specifically designed” for the purchaser.

(p) The salesperson is necessary when there is “discussion” about the price.

(q) The purchase of a new car sometimes involves “the exchange” of an older model.

(r) The salesperson can “show the customer how the product works”.

(s) If we want “our competitor’s customers to purchase our product”, we have to get the retailer to grant us more “area

for display”.

(t) If you purchase this brand of toothpaste, you will receive a toothbrush as a “free gift”.

(u) The customer decided to purchase this product because of “the fact that it was easy to see and reach”.

(v) This “certificate”, which you can cut out of the magazine, allows you to purchase the product at a reduced price.

(1) shelf space (2) carry our product (3) retailer (4) coupon

(5) stimulate (convince) (6) supply (7) demand (8) demand curve

(9) be elastic (10) sales volume (11) offset (12) emphasize

(13) widely distributed (14) television advertising (15) a mass audience (16) media

(17) the general public (18) individually tailored (19) negotiation (20) a trade-in

(21) demonstrate the

product to the customer

(22) increase market

share

(23) can appear on a

particular date

(24) the display

(25) justifies paying (26) the competition (27) suitable (28) premium

II.6. CLOZE TEST.


How companies advertise.

Advertising informs consumers about the existence and benefits _____(1) products and services, and attempt to

persuade consumers to buy them. The best form of advertising _____(2) probably word-of- mouth advertising,

_____(3) occurs when people tell their friends about the benefits of products or services that they have purchased. Yet

virtually no providers of goods or services rely _____(4) this alone, but use paid advertising instead. Indeed,

many organizations also use institutional or prestige advertising, _____(5) is designed to build up their reputation

rather than to sell particular products.


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_____ (6) large companies could easily set up their own advertising departments, write their own advertisements, and

buy media space themselves, they tend to use the services _____(7) large advertising agencies. There are likely to

have more resources, and more knowledge about all aspects of advertising and advertising media _____ (8) a single

company. The most talented advertising people generally prefer to work for agencies rather than

individual companies _____(9) this gives them the chance to work on a variety of advertising accounts (contracts to

advertise products or services). It is also easier for a dissatisfied company to give its account to another agency

_____(10) it would be to fire its own advertising staff.

II.7. MATCHING.

Match the following key terms with the definitions which follow:

TERMS DEFINITIONS

1. brochure a. time when television or radio audiences are greatest

2. broadsheet b. a promotional gift

3. tabloid c. a large sheet of paper advertising something, for example, a play, a film or a concert.

4. color supplement d. size of audience reached by an advertisement

5. flier e. a small promotional leaflet

6. freesheet f. broadcasting time

7. freebie g. small adverts placed by private individuals in a newspaper.

8. periodical h. a magazine which accompanies a newspaper

9. pamphlet i. a newspaper financed entirely by adverts

10. prospectus j. a large-sized newspaper

11. billboard k. the number of people who read a publication

12. air time l. a thin booklet with a paper cover

13. prime time m. a company’s design put on its products and possessions

14. caption n. a very short text accompanying a picture

15. jingle o. visiting potential customers

16. canvassing p. the main text of an advertisement

17. copy q. a specialized journal published regularly

18. poster r. an illustrated booklet for advertising products

19. livery s. a simple tune to advertise a product

20. readership t. an information document produced by a school, university or company

21. exposure u. a small-sized newspaper

22. classified ads v. an outdoor site where large advertisements are posted

23. commercial w. a small piece of paper used for door-to-door advertising.

24. leaflet x. TV or radio advert.

II.8. GAP FILLING.

Use these words to complete the sentences:

1. Most companies spend a lot of money on advertising. It’s the only way they can stay ahead of their _____.


65

2. Advertisers like to think of a clever _____ to make people remember their product. For example, Coca Cola’s is “It’s

the real thing.”

3. Nike are going to _____ the next World Cup. All the players will have to wear the Nike _____ on their shirts.

4. What _____ of cigarette do you smoke?

5. Do people really buy thing just because they’ve seen them advertised on TV?

Of course they do! Advertising has a huge_____ on all the choices we make.

6. My sister’s just got a job working for an advertising _____ in London.

7. Did you see Jodie Foster on that chat show last night? She was really good.

She’s been on all the shows this week. It’s all just _____ for her new film.

8. You went to see Spielberg’s new film at the weekend, didn’t you? What was it like?

Well, considering all the _____ I thought it was a bit disappointing.

(note: we use hype /haip/ when we think the advertising is exaggerated /ig’zædƷəreitid/)

(a) influence (b) publicity (c) agency

(d) brand (e) sponsor (f) slogan

(g) hype (h) competitors (i) logo

II.9. CONNECTING IDEAS.

Choose the correct ending for each of the following advertising verbs.

(1) Oasis are doing a tour to promote (a) to spend their money.

(2) I think it’s a brilliant advert. It really grabs (b) a huge advertising campaign.

(3) Advertisers know that shoppers will always compare (c) the under – 18 market

(4) Advertisers are experts at persuading people (d) two flights for the price of one

(5) They really want to sell this product. They’ve just launched (e) their new album

(6) The tobacco industry has been trying very hard to improve (f) your attention

(7) At the moment British Airways are advertising (g) one product with another

(8) We are trying to reach (h) its image

II.10. MAKING PARTNERSHIPS.

Advertisers can promote products in different ways. Use these words to make compound nouns.

(1) special (a) tour

(2) sponsorship (b) offer

(3) free (c) gift(s)

(4) loyalty (d) deal

(5) promotional (e) promotion

(6) cross (f) card

(7) mail (g) points

(8) selling (h) prices

(9) competitive (i) territory

(10) sales (j) shot


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Now use the expressions in the following:

1. You don’t normally buy this coffee.

No, but they had a _____ _____ at the supermarket – two jars for the price of one.

2. “Did you see that Pulp are playing at the Odeon next month?’ “Yes, they are on a _____ _____.”

3. David Beckham has just signed a new _____ _____ with Adidas. It’s worth more than a million pounds a year.

4. The kids always want me to buy this cereal so they can get the _____ _____ inside.

5. When a customer shows her _____ _____ she gets a 2% discount.

6. We use _____ _____ so, for example, if you buy our toothpaste you get a special deal on our toothbrushes.

7. We like to think that we offer quality products at _____ _____.

8. The fact that this car is so economical is one of its major _____ _____.

9. If you get a reply rate of 10% for a _____ _____, that’s good. 15% is thought to be excellent. 20% is brilliant.

10. My _____ _____ covers the north of England and Scotland.


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List of resources.

1. Language Reference For Business English

Nick Brieger And Jeremy Comfort

Prentice-Hall International English Language Teaching.

2. English for Business Studies

Ian Mackenzie - Cambridge University Press.

3. Executive Skills .

Philip Minkoff - Prentice Hall International English Language Teaching.

4. Business Communications.

Drew Rodgers – St. Martin’s Press.

5. You’re In Business.

John Thomas French – Addison Wesley Publishing Company.

6. Further Ahead (A communication skills course for Business English)

Sarah Jones – Macziola with Greg White – Cambridge University Press.

7. Help! (A “hands-on” textbook approach on how to master the Art of Managing)

Helmut W. Horchler. – Authorhouse.

8. Business Language Practice.

John Morrison Milne - Language Teaching Publications.

9. International Business English

Leo Jones And Richard Alexander. - Cambridge University Press.

10. English for Business: Marketing.

Benedict Kruse, Bettijune Kruse – McGraw-Hill.

11. Encyclopedia of Banking and Finance.

Charles J. Woelfel / Probus Publishing Company –Toppan Company (S) Pte Ltd.

12. A rapid course in English for Students of Economics.

Tom McArthur – Oxford University Press

13. English Vocabulary Organizer

Chris Gough – Language Teaching Publications.

14. Business Reports In English

Jeremy Comfort – Rod Revell – Chris Stott / Cambridge University Press.

15. Cambridge BEC 1,2 & 3

Examination papers from the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate.

16. Cambridge BEG Preliminary & Vantage.

Practice tests from the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate

Cambridge Professional English.

17. Modern Business English ( Eighth Edition )

Price R. Voiles - Glencoe Macmillan / McGraw-Hill

18. Managing People


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Robert Heller – Dorling Kindersley.

19. Handshake ( A Course In Communication )

Peter Viney & Karen Viney - Oxford University Press

20. Business Vocabulary in Use & Test Your Business Vocabulary in Use

Bill Mascull, Tricia Aspinall & George Bethell – Cambridge University Press.

21. 21st Century Office Assistant’s Manual.

Edited By The Princeton Language Institute.

K.A. Zahler, Compiler. Ellen Lichtenstein, Editor. - Produced By The Philip Lief Group, Inc.

22. The New Manager’s Handbook.

Morey Stettner – McGraw-Hill

23. Grammar & Practice

Michael Duckworth - Oxford University Press

24. New Person to Person.

Jack C. Richards & David Bycina – Oxford University Press.

25. The Office Professional’s Quick Reference Handbook.

Sheryl Lindsell – Roberts. Macmillan USA.

26. Business Listening & Speaking

David Riley - Longman Business English

27. Language for Living.

Frank Mc Teague & Ryder Payne – Gage Publishing Limited.

28. Business Objectives

Anna Phillips & Terry Phillips - Oxford University Press

29. Head for Business.

Jon Naunton – Oxford University Press.

30. Telephoning In English

B. Jean Naterop / Rod Revell - Cambridge Professional English

31. Write For Business.

Michael Doherty; Lee Knapp; Susan Swift. - Longman.

32. Business English Essentials.

Price R.Voiles – Macmillan/ McGraw-Hill

33. In At The Deep End.

Vicky Hollett – Roger Carter – Liz Lyon – Emma Tanner

Oxford University Press.

34. Merriam Webster’s Guide To International Business Communications.

Toby D.Atkinson.

35. The Language of Marketing In English.

Andrew Jenkins – Murphy - Regents / Prentice Hall.

36. International Banking And Finance.

Michael R. Sneyd / Prentice Hall International English Language Teaching.


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