Lesson 2

Task 1. Read the passage. Substitute the words in italics for their synonyms from the box.

get	funds	unions	visibles	fulfilment
vary	goods	enlarge	material	participate

Companies seek to do international business for several reasons: to (1) expand sales, to (2) acquire resources, and to (3) diversify sources of sales and supplies.

A company can (4) engage in international business through various means, including exporting and importing of (5) merchandise and services, direct and portfolio investments, and strategic (6) alliances with other companies.

Merchandise exports are (7) tangible goods sent out of a country; merchandise imports are tangible goods brought in. Since these goods visibly leave and enter they are sometimes referred to as (8) visible exports and imports.

International business comprises many different types of services: travel, tourism, and transportation; (9) performance of activities abroad; use of (10) assets from abroad.

Task 2. Distribute the following companies into five groups according to their core business.

1. energy companies;		2. fast food companies;
3. consumer electronics companies;
4. vehicle manufacturers;		5. consumer-goods giants.

BP;	Unilever;	Burger King;	General Motors (GM);
LG;	Citigroup;	McDonald’s;	Microsoft Corporation;
IBM;	Wal-Mart;	TNK-BP Ltd.;	Royal Dutch Shell plc.;
Lukoil;	Pizza Hut;	Arcelor Mittal;	Hewlett-Packard Company;
Google;	Apple Inc.;	OAO Gazprom;	Siemens Aktiengesellschaft;
Toyota;	Canon Inc.;	Sony Corporation;	Nissan Motor Company, Ltd.;
Gillette;	Daimler AG;	Procter & Gamble;	Royal Philips Electronics N.V.;
Wendy’s;	ExxonMobil;	Nintendo Co., Ltd.;	Mitsubishi Motors Corporation;
Samsung;	Yum Brands;	Volkswagen Group;	Hyundai Kia Automotive Group.

Task 3. Translate into Ukrainian paying attention to the words in italics.

1. British Petroleum plc is the third largest global energy company, the 5^th largest company in the world, Britain’s largest company, a multinational oil company (“oil major”) with headquarters in London. 2. The LG Group – South Korea’s third largest conglomerate that produces electronics, chemicals, and telecommunications products – was renamed “LG” (the abbreviation of “Lucky GoldStar”) in 1995, so as to better compete in the western market. More recently, the company associates its tagline “Life’s Good,” with the letters. 3. International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed “Big Blue” (for its official corporate colour), is a multinational computer technology and IT consulting corporation. 4. The company which became IBM was founded in 1896 and took this name in 1924. 5. Lukoil was formed in 1991, when three state-run, western Siberian companies, Langepasneftegaz, Uralneftegaz, and Kogalymneftegaz, merged. The initials of the three companies are preserved in the name Lukoil. 6. Google Inc. is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking, and video sharing services as well as selling advertising-free versions of the same technologies. 7. Google was founded by Larty Page and Sergey Brin (a Russian-American computer scientist born on August 21, 1973, in Moscow, Soviet Union) while they were students at Stanford University and the company was first incorporated as a privately held company on September 4, 1998. 8. Toyota Motor Corporation is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan, and is currently the world’s largest automaker. 9. Toyota vehicles were originally sold under the name “Toyoda” from the family name of the company’s founder, Kiichiro Toyoda. Since “Toyoda” literally means “fertile rice paddies” (“родючі рисові поля”), changing the name also helped to distance the company from associations with old fashioned farming. The newly formed word was trademarked and the company was registered in August 1937 as the “Toyota Motor Company.” 10. The Gillette Company is a leading global supplier of products under various brands, which was acquired by P&G in 2005. The original Gillette Company was founded by King C. Gillette in 1901 as a safety razor manufacturer. 11. Wendy’s is an international chain of fast food restaurants founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. 12. As of December 2006, Wendy’s was the world’s third largest hamburger fast food chain following McDonald’s and Burger King’s. 13. Samsung has been the world’s most popular consumer electronics brand since 2005 and is the best known South Korean brand in the world. 14. Unilever is a multinational, formed of British and Dutch parentage, that owns many of the world’s consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. 15. Unilever’s main competitors include Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, Kraft Foods, Mars, Henkel and Spotless Group. 16. Unilever was created in 1930 by the amalgamation (злиття; об’єднання) of the operations of British soap maker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie. 17. Citigroup Inc. (branded Citi), is a major American financial services company based in New York. 18. Citigroup Inc. has the world’s largest financial services network, spanning 140 countries with approximately 12,000 offices worldwide. 19. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (frequently branded as Walmart) is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. 20. Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise based in Addison, Texas (a northern suburb of Dallas). 21. Pizza Hut is a subsidiary of Yum Brands, Inc., the world’s largest restaurant company. 22. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and manufactures consumer electronics and computer software products. The company’s best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, the iPod and the iPhone. 23. Canon Inc. is a multinational corporation that specialises in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, photocopiers, steppers (проекційні установки) and computer printers. 24. The name Canon began in 1934 with a prototype for Japan’s first-ever 35 mm camera with a focal plane shutter (із затвором бокової дії). It was named “Kwanon” after the Buddhist bodhisattva Guan Yin. 25. Daimler AG is a German manufacturer of automobiles, motor vehicles, and engines, which dates back more than a century. An Agreement of Mutual Interest was signed on May 1, 1924 between Benz & Cie (founded 1883) of Karl Benz and Daimler Motoren (founded 1890) of Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. 26. The Exxon Mobil Corporation (or ExxonMobil) is an American oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockfeller’s Standard Oil Company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. 27. Yum! Brands, Inc. (or Yum!) is a corporation that operates or licenses Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Long John Silver’s restaurants worldwide.

Task 4. Think and answer.

1. Which of the above mentioned companies dominate the world economy?

2. Which of them do business in Ukraine? What is their respective market share in this country?

3. Which domestic enterprises do the above multinationals compete with?

4. Which multinationals have their service offices / branch offices in your native city?

5. How do the activities of the above multinationals affect your life? Have you ever consumed their products (goods or services)?

Task 5. Read and translate the passage.