Vocabulary

to be based on common sense – основываться на здравом смысле

to be good at – разбираться, успевать

to require – требовать

to satisfy needs – удовлетворять потребности

to range from … to – варьироваться; начиная с … и кончая

to provide services – предлагать услуги

to produce goods – производить товары

to buy goods – покупать товар

to sell goods – продавать товар

trading – торговля; коммерция

to be in­volved in business activities – быть вовлеченным в деловую деятельность

banking – банковское дело

insurance – страхование

retail trade – розничная торговля

catering – общественное питание

public services – общественные службы

fire brigades – пожарные команды

armed forces – вооруженные силы

to do business – вести дела, заключать сделки, вести торговлю

profitable – прибыльный, выгодный, доходный, рентабельный

to run a firm – управлять фирмой

sole trader – единоличный предприниматель

income tax – подоходный налог

to trade – торговать, вести торговлю

to share responsibility for debts – разделять ответственность за долги

to make a decision – принять решение

limited company – компания с ограниченной ответственностью

to put money into the business – вкладывать деньги в бизнес

in return for – в обмен на

I. Give Russian equivalents to the following word combinations:

to be good at; to require; to buy and to sell goods; trading; to be in­volved in all these activities; banking; insurance; retail trade; catering; to do business; profitable; to put money into the business; in return for a share of the profits.

II. Give English equivalents to the following word combinations:

основываться на здравом смысле; удовлетворять потребности; предлагать услуги; производить товары; управлять фирмой; единоличный предприниматель; подоходный налог; торговать; разделять ответственность за долги; принять решение; компания с ограниченной ответственностью.

III. Answer the following questions.

1. What is a small business? Give examples. 2. What services do you know? 3. Is business an easy or a difficult kind of human activity? 4. What types of business do you know? 5. Why do people like small business? 6. For what purpose do people do business? 7. What business do you think is good? 8. Are production of goods and provision of services profitable? 9. Has doing business become very popular everywhere nowadays? 10. Is doing business a new and perspective tendency in modern life? 11. Do you prefer to work as a sole trader, a partnership or a limited company? Why?

IV. Read and translate the following text. Costs and profit

Once you have decided on a business scheme which your market research suggests will be successful, you can find out whether you will make a profit. To do this, you need to estimate your costs (how much it'll take you to run the business) and your pricing (how much you can sell your goods or servi­ces for). What are your costs? Your business costs can be broken down into four areas: material costs, labour costs, overheads and your own wages. De­cide on a time period (say, three months) and work out each of your costs.

Material costs. If you are making a product, you will need to buy the materials. Estimate how much money you will spend to buy the necessary things for making your product.

Labour costs. If there is more demand for your work than you can do yourself, you will have to take on an assistant. When estimating, you must take into consideration how long it will take to have coffee breaks, giving or receiving instructions, travelling time and dealing with customers; all this may come to 15 or 25 per cent, on top of the time required to perform the main job.

Overheads. They are charges incurred in the general running of the busi­ness. They include: rent, rates, telephone bills, postage, fuel, advertising, insurance, travel, interests on borrowed money and money spent on the up­keep of equipment.

Own wages. This is the minimum amount of money you feel you can live on.

What price? Base your prices on what people have said they would pay for your service or product as compared with the price (service) in other shops.