Talking points

1 .What are the main languages spoken in Great Britain today?

2. How large is the population of Great Britain?

3. How densely is the country populated?

4. Discuss the distribution of the population.

5. Give a detailed account of the class social structure of British society. 6.Speak about civil employment

My Motherland is Russia

Not long ago our country was called the USSR. Russia was the largest republic in the former Soviet Union. But now it has become an independent state. It has situated in the Eastern part of Europe and in the Northern part of Asia. Russia boarders on many countries: Norway, Finland, Poland, China, Mongolia and Korea. And naturally it boarders on former Soviet republics. They are all now independent states. The country is washed by 14 seas and three oceans : the Pacific. The Arctic and the Atlantic oceans. The climate in our country is widely varied. It is very cold in the North-Eastern part and it is very warm in the South. Russia is very famous for its rivers and lakes. The Volga is the longest river in Europe. Russia is very rich in mineral recourses, it has deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, iron ore, gold, dimonds and other minerals. The capital of Russia is Moscow. It is also one of the main industrial and cultural centers. Other big cities are St.Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok and others. At the present moment the political system is developing. The executive power belongs to the president. The Russian government is trying to perform a number of constructive reforms in order to improve the economic situation in the country. I hope that Russia will be a highly developed democratic country.

Ethical marketing

Ethical marketing refers to the application of marketing ethics into the marketing process. Briefly, marketing ethics refers to the philosophical examination, from a moral standpoint, of particular marketing issues that are matters of moral judgment. Ethical marketing results in a more socially responsible and culturally sensitive business community. The future success and perhaps even the long term survival of human society may very well depend on whether or not we, as members of that community, embrace these concepts or reject them. Ethical marketing should be part of business ethics in the sense that marketing forms a significant part of any business model. Study of Ethical marketing should be included in applied ethics and involves examination of whether or not an honest and factual representation of a product or service has been delivered in a framework of cultural and social values.

A business which creates its own code of marketing ethics and implements this code into every aspect of its business operations gains an ability to provide qualitative benefits to its customers. This competitive advantage is recognized by customers but is not immediately evident using only traditional business metrics. As a result, other similar companies, product manufacturers, or service providers may fail to recognize this advantage. The concern with ethical issues, such as child labor, working conditions, relationships with third world countries and environmental problems, has changed the attitude of the Western World towards a more socially responsible way of thinking. This has influenced companies and their response is to market their products in a more socially responsible way. The increasing trend of fair trade is an example of the impact of ethical marketing. The idea of fair trade is that consumers pay a guaranteed commodity price to a small group of producers. The producers agree to pay fair labor prices and conserve the environment. This agreement sets the stage for a commerce that is ethically sound.

The philosophy of marketing is not lost with this newfound ethical slant, but rather hopes to win customer loyalty by reinforcing the positive values of the brand, creating a strong citizen brand. However, this new way of thinking does create new challenges for the marketer of the 21st century, in terms of invention and development of products to add long-term benefits without reducing the product’s desirable qualities.

Ethical marketing should not be confused with government regulations brought into force to improve consumer welfare, such as reduce carbon dioxide emissions to improve the quality of the air. Enlightened ethical marketing is at work when the company and marketer recognize further improvements for humankind unrelated to those enforced by the government. By way of example, the Coop Group refuses to invest money in tobacco, fur and any countries with oppressive regimes.

What Are Corporate Ethics?

Corporate ethics are a set of beliefs to which a company adheres that govern its behavior in the ways it conducts business. Some corporations have well defined ethical parameters and others don’t, or they sacrifice ethical behavior to profit and determine that gaining profit and power are the most desired motives. When discovered in this type of activity, there is often a strong backlash that results in losing profits. This suggests that even if the decision to adopt defined corporate ethics is purely motivated by profit, it may be good business.

The ways companies conduct business are multiple and complex, and corporate ethics may operate on numerous levels. Ethical considerations can determine how a corporation competes at the business level with other corporations. Are they aggressive, and prone to change their minds or drop allegiances with other companies for their own benefits, or does the corporation cheerfully compete with and support the efforts of its competitors?

Another way corporate ethics get expressed is through the care a corporation takes in interacting with customers or people on other levels. Decisions about how customers are treated are important, but decisions on what type of responsibility the corporation plays in protecting the environments of people are valuable too. A company that routinely releases chemicals into the environment can have great customer service, but its actions suggest the bottom line is not protecting the people that it serves. Many corporations now take great pains to promote sustainability, and these efforts are well received by customers and neighbors.

Employee relations is a different aspect of corporate ethics. Are employees provided with decent living wages and health care access? If profits go down, does the company immediately lay off workers to satisfy shareholders, or does it work to retain people’s jobs in difficult economic times? How a corporation handles this is variable and is one of many ethical dilemmas all corporations face.

Ethics are not easy, and might be considered as a series of judgment calls. A corporation must engage ethically with multiple parts of itself, other competitors, and the public, deciding what to do when ethical responsibilities conflict. Following corporate ethics in one way might prevent satisfying some other part of the corporation: for example, laying off employees to satisfy shareholders or using more polluting chemicals to save on costs to save employee jobs. Such decisions are difficult to make. Nevertheless, corporations that take a strong stance on ethical operation must try to negotiate each judgment call, while remaining true to their ethical code.

When a company does not have a code of corporate ethics, its behavior tells others what the corporation considers ethical. Constantly negative and only profit-induced decisions can be greatly disparaged by the public. Additionally, employees come to work with moral codes of their own, and might find it challenging to adopt a conflicting code at work. It is true, that many people sacrifice personal ethics in order to work or fail to s