VI Glossary
To be sued
Board of directors
Building society
Business, a business, big business
Business debts
Bureaucratic
Charities
Chambers of Commerce
Commercial airline
Commercial disaster
Commercial artist
Commercial land
Commercial television
Corporation
Corporate culture
Corporate ladder
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Corporate logo
Corporate headquarters
Corporate image
Corporate profits
Commerce
Conventional firm
To demutualize
Demutualization
Department of Commerce
Donate, donations
Electronic commerce, e-commerce
Enterprise, small enterprise, medium enterprise, free enterprise, private enterprise, enterprise culture, enterprise economy, enterprise zone
Freelance
Freelancer
Fund-raising
Life insurance company
Limited company (Ltd), corporation (AmE)
Limited liability
Limited partnership
Limited liability partnership
Losses
Multinational
Mutuals
Nationalized, nationalized companies
Non-profit organization, not-for-profit organizations (AmE)
Partnership
Personal assets
Private limited company
Privatized
Profits
Public limited company (PLC)
Shareholder
Sleeping partner, silent partner
Self-employed
Sole owner, sole proprietor, sole trader (BrE),
Sole proprietorship
State-owned
Government-owned
Unlimited liability
Unlimited partnership
Voluntary sector, volunteers
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Company structures
I Key vocabulary.
Most companies are made up of three groups of people: the shareholders (who provide the capital), the management and the workforce. The management structure of a typical company is shown in this organization chart.
Board of Directors
Managing Director
Senior management
Middle management
At the top of the company hierarchy is the Board of Directors, headed by the Chairperson or the President. The Board is responsible for policy decisions and strategy. It will usually appoint a Managing Director or Chief Executive officer, who has overall responsibility for the running of the business. Senior managers or company officers head the various departments or functions within the company, which may include the following.a Marketing
b Public relations
c Information technology or IT
d Personnel or Human Resources
e Finance
f Production
g Research and development
or R and D
II Listeninig.
Listen to seven people talking about their work and decide which department each one works for.
Which department would you like to work for? Why?
III Reading. Philips is the major multinational company which has almost 30,000 trademarks registered worldwide.
Before reading the text below about Philips, decide whether you think these statements are true (T) or false (F).
It's the world's second biggest electronics company.
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It has produced over 100 million TV sets.
Its headquarters are in Amsterdam.
It was the first company to produce compact discs.
It is active in a small number of specialized businesses.
It provides the lights for famous landmarks such as London's Tower Bridge.
Read the text and check your answers.