VI An ideal company

1 A. Imagine that you’re a CEO and complete these sentences with your own opinions.

a Change is always________________ because____________________________

b Shareholders should not be allowed to __________________________________

c Large companies tend to _____________________________________________

d Acquiring a company usually _________________________________________

e The best way to save company expenditure is to___________________________

f The most important business ethic is ___________________________________

B. Keeping in mind your own beliefs expressed in 1, discuss the following questions in pairs. Try to find a joint opinion. Then summarise this opinion in one sentence.

1 What are the aims of your business? What should the aims of a large multinational company be?

2 In what order of importance to your company would you put these three groups: shareholders, customers, employees?

3 What should be the attitude of a modern company to change?

4 When the company needs to save money, which areas of a company’s expenditure should you consider cutting first? What are dangerous areas to cut costs in?

5 What advantages do small companies have over large companies?

6 How can a company be sure it makes good acquisitions?

C. Read the quotes of these CEOs and see whether they agree in any way with your analysis in B.

‘A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.’ Henry Ford (Ford Motor Company)

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‘The traditional priorities of company boards are shareholders first, then customers, and last employees. But if you put the employees first, and look after them, then customer satisfaction will follow. And satisfied customers mean more profits for shareholders.’ Richard Branson (Virgin)

‘Change has become like a steamroller. If you’re not on the steamroller, you’re destined to become part of the road.’ R. Steve Letbetter (Reliant Energy)

‘When you cut costs you have to be sure you don’t damage your product. You can make a pizza so cheap nobody wants to eat it.’ Gordon Bethune (Continental Airlines)

‘People say smaller competitors have an advantage in being more nimble. That works so long as the guys who are big aren’t nimble. Because big and nimble can overwhelm small and nimble.’ Mr Lee Raymond (Exxon Mobil)

‘Acquisitions are very risky. Most do not deliver; most do not work. Any intelligent CEO approaches acquisitions with fear and trembling.’ Ralph Larsen (Johnson and Johnson)

2 A. Imagine that you’re an employee. Work with a partner. Look at the criteria for an ideal company and choose the five most important and the five least important.

My ideal company:

• has a female CEO

• gives six months’ paid maternity leave and one month paid paternity leave

• has a crèche facility

• has a good quality canteen

• gives equal pay to women and men

• gives employees a laptop computer and mobile phone for business and personal use

• has opportunities for promotion and personal development

• awards bonuses and gives fringe benefits to employees

• provides at least six weeks’ training a year

• has an annual staff party

• has a generous company pension scheme

• allows women with three children to retire at 55

• has a gym and sports facilities

• pays one month extra salary to employees who have a new baby or who get married

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B. Make sentences about your ideal boss from the prompts below using the adverbs of frequency in the box. Then compare your sentences with a partner.

My ideal boss:

• reads my e-mails

• lets me make personal calls at work

• takes me out to dinner

• has regular update meetings with me

• sends me on trips

• calls me by my first name

• phones me at home to discuss work

• leaves me to get on with my work

• chats about his/her family and other non work-related topics

• brings me coffee

• sets regular deadlines and targets

• lets me leave work early

• says thank you

• praises me

• gives me lots of responsibility

• lets me work from home

always usually often sometimes not often hardly ever never every day every week twice a year once a month

3 A. “A high salary is the most important reason to work” Put a cross on the line at the point which shows your opinion.

A gree strongly Disagree strongly

B. Read the article. List the schemes companies use to motivate staff.