Professional English for economists. Учебное пособие
.pdf4.4.1Speak about trade in general. What do you know about trade relations? What do you know about the history of trade? Why do people trade? What do people usually trade?
4.4.2Read the text “Trade” and answer the questions above once again. Then speak about the contemporary trade situation in your country (what it trades mainly, who it trades with, what are the largest trade companies)
Trade involves the transfer of the ownership of goods or services from one person or entity to another in exchange for other goods or services or for money. Possible synonyms of "trade" include "commerce" and "financial transaction". A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade, barter, saw the direct exchange of goods and services for other goods and services. Barter is trading things without the use of money. Later one side of the barter started to involve precious metals, which gained symbolic as well as practical importance. Modern traders generally negotiate through a medium of exchange, such as money. As a result, buying can be separated from selling, or earning. The invention of money (and later credit, paper money and non-physical money) greatly simplified and promoted trade. Trade between two traders is called bilateral trade, while trade between more than two traders is called multilateral trade.
Trade exists due to the specialization and division of labor, in which most people concentrate on a small aspect of production, trading for other products. Trade exists between regions because different regions may have a comparative advantage in the production of some trade-able commodity, or because different regions' size may encourage mass production. As such, trade at market prices between locations can benefit both locations.
Retail trade consists of the sale of goods or merchandise from a very fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, online or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption or use by the purchaser. Wholesale trade is defined as the sale of goods that are sold as merchandise to retailers, and/or industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services.
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Trade originated with human communication in prehistoric times. Trading was the main facility of prehistoric people, who bartered goods and services from each other before the innovation of modern-day currency. Trade is believed to have taken place throughout much of recorded human history.
4.5 Translating
4.5.1 Read and memorize words and word combinations: international trade – международная торговля
national borders – национальные границы to represent – представлять
significant – значимый, важный
evidence – свидетельство, доказательство, улика success – успех
to impose – налагать, облагать to punish – наказывать
World Trade Organization – Всемирная Торговая Организация to restrict – ограничивать
a requirement – требование environment – окружающая среда voluntarily – добровольно prohibition – запрет
4.5.2 Read and translate the text “International trade”
International trade is the exchange of goods and services across national borders. In most countries, it represents a significant part of GDP. While international trade has been present throughout much of history (Silk Road, Amber Road), its economic, social, and political importance have increased in recent centuries, mainly because of Industrialization, advanced transportation, globalization, multinational corporations, and outsourcing. Empirical evidence for the success of trade can be seen in the contrast between countries such as South Korea, which adopted a policy of export-oriented
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industrialization, and India, which historically had a more closed policy. South Korea has done much better by economic criteria than India over the past fifty years, though its success also has to do with effective state institutions.
Trade sanctions against a specific country are sometimes imposed, in order to punish that country for some action. An embargo, a severe form of externally imposed isolation, is a blockade of all trade by one country on another. For example, the United States has had an embargo against Cuba for over 40 years.
International trade, which is governed by the World Trade Organization, can be restricted by both tariff and non-tariff barriers. International trade is usually regulated by governmental quotas and restrictions, and often taxed by tariffs. Tariffs are usually on imports, but sometimes countries may impose export tariffs or subsidies. Non-tariff barriers include Sanitary and Phytosanitary rules, labeling requirements and food safety regulations. All of these are called trade barriers. If a government removes all trade barriers, a condition of free trade exists. A government that implements a protectionist policy establishes trade barriers. There are usually few trade restrictions within countries although a common feature of many developing countries is police and other road blocks along main highways, that primarily exist to extract bribes.
The fair trade movement, also known as the trade justice movement, promotes the use of labour, environmental and social standards for the production of commodities, particularly those exported from the Third and Second Worlds to the First World. Such ideas have also sparked a debate on whether trade itself should be codified as a human right.
4.5.3Speak about international trade according to the scheme:
-International trade. Definition, history
-WTO, its history and functions
-Trade sanctions
-Recent trade sanctions applied to Russia
-Fair trade
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5 Unit 5. Companies
5.1Speaking drills
5.1.1 Which of the following types of companies would you prefer to work for? What are the advantages and disadvantages of working for each one?
a large multinational corporation;
a small family business;
a trendy new high – tech corporation.
5.1.2 Read the list of developments that threaten the survival of the traditional company. What are the positive and negative impacts on companies of each one?
developments in technology;
growth in the power of consumer groups;
expansion of e-business;
financial scandals;
weakening trade unions.
5.2 Useful words and phrases
5.2.1 Words and phrases:
to plan the economy - планировать экономику;
a bureaucratic organization - бюрократическая организация; an employment – трудоустройство;
a predictable regularity - предсказуемая регулярность; competition – конкуренция;
to move up the ladder - продвигаться по (служебной) лестнице; to be engaged in - быть вовлеченным в;
a merger - слияние (компаний);
a freelance worker - удаленный (внештатный) сотрудник (работник); demand – спрос;
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a network – сеть;
an entrepreneur – предприниматель; to supply – поставлять
environment - окружающая среда, окружение; to determine – определять;
to conduct economic activity - осуществлять экономическую деятельность; a consumer – потребитель;
a producer – производитель; a shareholder – акционер.
5.3 Vocabulary skills
5.3.1 Find the words in the text to describe people who:
1)work independently or on short-term contracts;
2)are willing to take risks;
3)are willing to invest in new business projects;
4)express a wish to buy something;
5)make goods;
6)own part of a company.
5.3.2 Match the words with the definitions:
bureaucracy - goods of the same quality and design; flattened hierarchy - flexible system of administration; standardized products - rent a building on a temporary basis; lifetime employment - more middle than senior managers; merger - buildings and machinery a company owns; customized - permanent jobs;
tangible assets - made for a particular user; lease - when two companies become one.
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5.4 Reading skills
5.4.1 A matter of choice
In 1967 John Galbraith’s The New Industrial State argued that the USA was run by a handful of big companies who planned the economy in the name of stability.
These were hierarchical and bureaucratic organizations making long runs of standardized products. They introduced “new and improved” varieties with predictable regularity, they provided their workers with lifetime employment and enjoyed fairly good industrial relations with the giant trade unions.
That world is now dead. The US’s giant corporations have either disappeared or been transformed by global competition. Most of them have flattened their management hierarchies. Few people these days expect to spend their lives moving up the ladder of a single organization. Dramatic changes are taking place. But where exactly are they taking us? Where is the modern company heading?
There are three standard answers to this question. The first is that a handful of giant companies are engaged in a “silent takeover” of the world. The past couple of decades have seen a record number of mergers. The second school of thought argues almost opposite: it says that big companies are a thing of the past. For a glimpse of the future, look at the Monorail Corporation, which sells computers. Monorail owns no factories, warehouses or any other tangible assets. It operates from a single floor that it leases in an office building in Atlanta. Freelance workers are designing the computer while demand is still low.
The third school of thought says that companies are being replaced by “networks”.
Groups of entrepreneurs form such a network to market an idea. They then sell it to the highest bidder and move on to produce another idea and to create another firm, with the money being supplied all the time by venture capitalists.
Another way to look at the future of the company is to focus on the environment that will determine it. That environment is dominated by one thing: choice. Technology and globalization open up ever more opportunities for individuals and firms to conduct
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economic activity outside traditional structures. While the age of mass production lowered the costs of products at the expense of limiting choices, modern “flexible” production systems both lower costs and increase choice. Consumers have more choice over where they spend their money. Producers have more choice over which suppliers to use. Shareholders have more choice over where to put their money. With all that choice around, future companies will have to be flexible in order to quickly adapt to the changing environments if they are to survive.
5.4.2Read the text again and answer the following questions:
1)What were the characteristics of the US corporations in the past?
2)What changes have occurred to those corporations?
3)What different types of future companies does the author mention?
4)What choice is given to consumers?
5)What choice is given to shareholders?
5.4.3Retell the text, say what you personally think about the events described in the
text
5.5 Grammar practice
5.5.1. Fill in the following sentences with there is/ there are/ there was/ there were/ there will be. Translate them into Russian:
1)_______________ a lot of mergers in the USA nowadays.
2)_______________ any reason to be afraid of competition for big multinational corporations?
3)_______________ a few giant trade unions in the USA in 1967.
4)_______________ more choice for shareholders over where to put their money.
5)In some years ______________ more opportunities for the firms and individuals.
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5.5.2.Complete sentences using the proper degree of comparison of a given
adjective:
1)Working in a multinational corporation is _____________ than in a small family business. (prestigious);
2)___________ way to survive for a modern company is to be _____________. (good, flexible);
3)What is ________________ type of a company for you to work for? (preferable);
4)A partnership is one of _________________ forms of business. (convenient);
5)Profit making strategy is ______________ than any other question almost for every modern company (important).
5.5.3Complete the following company profile with either present perfect or past simple tense of the verb in brackets (consult the appendix if necessary)
Procter and Gamble __________ (be) in the soap business since William Procter and James Gamble ___________ (form) their partnership in 1837. In order to raise capital for expansion, the partners ______________ (set up) a corporate structure in 1890, with an appointed president at the helm of the company. It _______________ (undergo) further restructuring in 1955, with the creation of individual operating divisions to better manage their growing lines of products. John E. Pepper __________ (lead) the company since
1995, when he was elected Procter&Gamble’s ninth Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer.
The same year, the company _______________ (move) from managing the business under two geographic areas, US and International, to four regions – North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe.
Ivory soap, which ____________ (become) a common household name,
________________ (come) onto the market in 1879. With the introduction and instant success of Tide laundry detergent in 1946, Procter&Gamble ____________ (embark) on a strategy of rapid growth into new product lines as well as new markets around the world.
The firm’s commitment to innovation in technology ___________ (help) Tide to remain
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their single largest brand over the years. Perhaps the product that ________________
(have) the greatest impact, however, is Pampers, the disposable nappy which they
____________ (launch) in 1961.
As a result of their aggressive expansion policy, Procter&Gamble sales
___________ (reach) $ 10 billion in 1980. Since then the company ______________
(quadruple) the number of consumers it can serve with its brands – to about five billion people around the world. In 1998 sales ________________ (rise) to $ 37.2 billion.
5.6 Rendering
5.6.1 Render the text from English into Russian using the dictionary. Pay attention to the meaning of the underlined words and phrases
Company. History and types
A company is a form of business organization. In the United States, a company is a corporation or, less commonly, an association, partnership, or union that carries on an industrial enterprise. Generally, a company may be a corporation, partnership, association, joint-stock company, trust, fund, or organized group of persons, whether incorporated or not.
In English law, and therefore in the Commonwealth realms, a company is a form of body corporate or corporation, generally registered under the Companies Acts or similar legislation. It does not include a partnership or any other unincorporated group of persons.
In the United Kingdom, the main regulating laws are the Companies Act 1985 and the Companies Act 2006. Reportedly, "a company registered under this Act has limited liability: its owners (the shareholders) have no financial liability in the event of winding up the affairs of the company, but they might lose the money already invested in it. In the USA, companies are registered in a particular state — Delaware being especially favored
— and become Incorporated (Inc).
In North America, two of the earliest companies were The London Company (also called the Charter of the Virginia Company of London) — an English joint stock company established by royal charter by James I of England on April 10, 1606 with the purpose of
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establishing colonial settlements in North America — and Plymouth Company that was granted an identical charter as part of the Virginia Company. The London Company was responsible for establishing the Jamestown Settlement, the first permanent English settlement in the present United States in 1607. There are various types of companies that can be formed in different jurisdictions, but the most common forms of companies (generally formed by registration under applicable companies legislation) are:
a company limited by guarantee. Commonly used where companies are formed for non-commercial purposes, such as clubs or charities. The members guarantee the payment of certain (usually nominal) amounts if the company goes into insolvent liquidation, but otherwise they have no economic rights in relation to the company. This type of company is common in England.
a company limited by shares. The most common form of company used for business ventures. Specifically, a limited company is a company in which the liability of each shareholder is limited to the amount individually invested with corporations being the most common example of a limited company. This type of companies is common in England.
a company limited by guarantee with a share capital. A hybrid entity, usually used where the company is formed for non-commercial purposes, but the activities of the company are partly funded by investors who expect a return. This type of company may no longer be formed in the UK, although provisions still exist in law for them to exist.
a limited-liability company. A company — statutorily authorized in certain states—that is characterized by limited liability, management by members or managers, and limitations on ownership transfer.
an unlimited company with or without a share capital. A hybrid entity, a company where the liability of members or shareholders for the debts (if any) of the company are not limited.
5.6.2 Retell the text in English using the underlined words and phrases in your
speech:
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