Деловой английский / Темы / Companies

Companies

Key vocabulary

Companies are involved in many activities, for example buying, selling, marketing and production, in a range of different industries, such as information technology, telecommunications, film, and car manufacture. Many well-known companies are multinationals, these are companies which operate in a number of countries.

Multinationals often have a complicated structure. There is usually a parent or holding company. This company owns other companies or parts of other companies. These other companies are called subsidiaries.

Key vocabulary (history)

Companies often include details about their history in their marketing literature, their annual reports and company presentations, in order to show that they are established, and have experience in their field. This can include information about the founder or person who started the company, and key dates and events in the company history.

Examples of Co history

Ford

In the spring of 1896 engineer Henry Ford built his first horseless carriage. In 1903 Ford, backed by 12 local business men, formed the Ford motor company which later pioneered* modern production line techniques.

In 1911 Ford's first assembly plant outside North America opened at Trafford Park, Manchester, and in 1929 work started on building the Dagenham plant where the first Model AA truck rolled off the line* at 1.15 p.m. on October 1, 1931

DMs

1946 - German doctor Klaus Maertens, living in Seeshaupt, near Munich, goes skiing and injures his foot-He makes himself a pair of shoes from old tyres with air soles to cushion the foot. Dr Maertens and a friend, Dr Herbert Funck, an engineer, patent* and develop the Doctor Maertens shoe.

1959 - Maertens and Funck sell the manufacturing rights to R. Griggs and Co., a traditional British bootmaker

Mid 1960s - British youth adopt the DM as a symbol of their anti-establishment* attitudes.

1970 - Unemployed youth wear DMs and behave violently on football terraces. The Police wear DMs to catch them.

1971 Rebels* wear DMs in Stanley Kubrick's violent film A Clockwork Orange. Elton John wears ant DMs in the rock-opera Tommy.

1980s Thousands of Japanese, American and European youth come to London's Camden market to buy DMs.

1983 Young designer Wayne Hemmway and his wife-to-be Geraldine, set up a stall in Camden market selling clothes and DMs. It becomes the place to buy DMs. Griggs supplies Heminway with customised* DMs for his Red or Dead fashion shows. Some women wear them as a form of protest.

1985 Madonna wears DMs in the film Desperately Seeking Susan. Designers such as Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace offer designer DMs. The Pope wears them walking in the Alps and we hear the Dalai Lama likes them too.

Customers care

Companies need customers. Some companies provide goods such as clothes, cars and food. Other companies provide services, for example insurance, banking, information technology or training.

Companies want repeat business, in other words, they want customers to buy from them again and again. To win customer loyalty, many companies have a code of practice, or set of rules, for customer care. The code of practice explains what the customer can expect of the company. Customers can complain about the service, or help, they receive and the goods they buy.

Example of customer’s care

First Direct is the UK's leading 24 hour personal telephone bank. Our personal service lets you take care of all your banking needs by telephone, at a time and place to suit you, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can call to check your balance, pay a bill, discuss a personal loan or increase your Visa Card limit. All calls from within the UK are charged at local rates.

Companies history

Companies often include details about their history in their marketing literature, their annual reports and company presentations, in order to show that they are established, and have experience in their field. This can include information about the founder or person who started the company, and key dates and events in the company history.

Companies structure