II. Dialogue.

1. Listen to the dialogue and reproduce it

David Tomson: Liz, who owns Transworld?

Liz Shepherd: I do.

DT: You? I don't believe you.

LS: Well, I own a bit of it. Transworld is a public limited company - that's what plc in the name stands for - and that means that anyone can buy shares in the company.

DT: And if you own shares, you own a bit of the company?

LS: That's right.

DT: Do all the shareholders work for the company?

LS: No. Most people invest in public companies to make a profit. It's like putting money in a bank deposit account where you earn interest.

DT: Do you earn interest on shares then?

LS: In a way Except that the money you earn from

shares is called a dividend

dt: If you own a bit of the company, why are you

an accounts clerk? Why aren't you the branch

manager? LS: Because it's a very big company and other

people own more shares than I do. DT: So if I bought more shares than you, I could

have your job?

LS: You'd have to buy an awful lot of shares if you wanted to say which job you wanted. If you

bought more than 50% of the shares, you'd control the company. Then you could do anything you wanted.

DT: Hmm. I could be the managing director.

LS: Before you get too excited . . . Have you got

fifty thousand pounds or so?'" DT: No. Why?

LS: Because that's what a controlling interest in

Transworld would cost you.

2. Explaining the company organization

A Look at the structure of the company in the diagram. Work in pairs. Guess what some of the missing job titles might be.

B 00Listen to the recording and fill in the names and titles or job descriptions that are missing

III. LANGUAGE FOCUS.

1. What sort of company is it?

There are many types of business organization and the different terms can be confusing. Match the various types of organization with their definitions.

1. corporation (US)

2. government agency

3. cooperative

4. limited company

5. charity

6. minority interest

7. enterprise

8. subsidiary (affiliate)

9. private company

10. multinational

11. company (UK)

12. parent company

13. nationalized company

14. holding company

15. society

16. offshore company

17. partnership

18. public company

    1. an organization to relieve poverty, advance religion or education, etc; benefits from some financial concessions.

    2. an organization operating to make a profit.

    3. a democratic firm owned by its workers.

    4. a new commercial activity Also in come company names; for example, Smiths’ Enterprises

    5. an organization which is part of the state administration.

    6. a firm, usually without commercial activity, created to be parent to other companies.

    7. a firm where shareholders’ liability is limited.

    8. company in which another firm has less than a 50% interest.

    9. an organization operating in several countries.

    10. company owned by the state.

    11. a firm based in a tax haven to avoid higher taxation.

    12. a company which owns another.

    13. two or more partners working together for profit, without limited liability.

    14. a company whose shares are not publicly available.

    15. a company whose shares are publicly available.

    16. a friendly association of people; for example, a sports society (society=firm).

    17. firm owned by a parent company.