Professional English for economists. Учебное пособие

6.7.2 Draw the structure of your future company (you may use ex. 3.2.). And speak about it. Your report should include

1)Company location;

2)No of employees, their positions;

3)The description of your own role in the company.

51

7 Unit 7 International business

7.1 Speaking drills

7.1.1Say if the following sentences are true or false

1)All international companies have offices in different countries all over the world.

2)Only foreign employees work for an international company.

3)All international companies pay salaries in dollars.

4)All international companies have more than 3000 employees.

5)All economists would prefer to work for an international company.

6)You should know at least one foreign language to work for an international company.

7.1.2Answer the following questions (consult the Internet resources if necessary)

1)Name at least 5 big international companies.

2)Are there any international companies in your region? What are they?

3)Would you like to work for an international company? Why?

4)What professions are required for an international company?

5)What are the difficulties of working for an international company?

7.2Useful words and phrases

7.2.1 Words and phrases

to announce – объявлять; rival – конкурент;

extraordinary meeting - экстренное совещание; to resign - подавать в отставку;

simultaneous – одновременный; unprofitable – неприбыльный; shutdown – закрытие;

to estimate – оценивать;

52

supervisory board - руководящий совет; digits – цифры;

supplies - предметы снабжения, запасы; accountant – бухгалтер;

trademarks - торговые марки; equities – акции;

insurance – страхование; revenue - доходы, поступления.

7.3 Vocabulary skills

7.3.1 Circle the word which does not belong in each horizontal group and write the words in the spaces provided in (6) to form another group

7.3.2 Match the following general headings to the groups of five words that you identified above

a)assets;

b)professionals;

c)performance;

d)costs;

e)numbers;

f)stock market.

53

7.4 Reading skills

7.4.1 Board Ousts BMW Chief and His Heir

By John Schmid Frankfurt - The maker of BMW autos announced the departures of its two top executives Friday in a rare German boardroom revolt that analysts said was triggered by

heavy losses at the company's British Rover auto-making subsidiary.

Persistent problems at Rover forced the exit of Bayerische Motoren Worke AG's Chief Executive Bernd Pischetsrieder, 50, and his heir apparent on the company board, Wolfgang Reitzle, 49. The two men were long-time rivals, and both had worked at BMW for more than two decades.

Although Mr. Pischetsrieder's job has been the subject of intense speculation, the development shocked the auto industry because of Mr. Reitzle's reputation as a talented and visionary manager whose skills have been crucial in recent years in polishing BMW's sporty and youthful image. The shake-up leaves a relatively unknown BMW board member, Joachim Milberg, 56, as the head of one of Europe's most prestigious automakers.

BMW's supervisory board made the decisions at an extraordinary meeting at its Munich headquarters. In a sign of possible dissent, the meeting lasted into the evening. BMW stock International Herald Tribune closed Friday at 682 Euros ($770), up 23, on hopes Pischetsrieder would be ousted. In a brief statement, BMW said that both Mr. Pischetsrieder and Mr. Reitzle had resigned without giving reasons. The board meeting had been called to discuss Rover, the company said. Simultaneous exits by two top executives are virtually unknown in German business. "It's a very rare situation when board members, especially the chairman, are kicked out when they still have a contract," said Jurgen Roethig, an analyst in Frankfurt at B. Metxler & Co. Bank.

From the moment Mr. Milberg begins his job, his most pressing task will be a turnaround at the unprofitable Rover operations. Rover's fate threatened Friday to become a heated political issue in Britain where auto-makers are concerned that Munich-based BMW might consider shutting down Rover's flagship production plant in Longbridge, near

54

Birmingham. British government officials joined trade union officials in demanding that BMW honor a commitment made in December that would keep the plant open.

Autoworkers said they feared that new management could bring an eventual shutdown of Longbridge, the largest of Rover's three factories and the oldest auto plant in Great Britain. Rover's 1998 losses are estimated to have been as high as 1.5 million Deutshe marks ($869.3 million), greater than last year's entire BMW group net profit. The German parent has not yet released profit figures for last year. Analysts said the supervisory board had lost patience with Mr. Pischetsrieder because Rover's poor performance had overshadowed a record year at BMW's German operations. BMW sold a record 699,378 cars last year but its profit dropped for the first time since 1993 because of Rover.

Longbridge assembles most of the line of Rover passenger cars, which plunged in sales last year by 17 percent to 303,800. By contrast, Rover's popular Land Rover sportutility vehicles - which are built at the Solihull plant near Oxford — had a 20 percent jump in 1998 demand to 153,500.

BMW evidently was surprised by the magnitude of Rover's problems. The company was slow to recognize Rover's 30 percent productivity gap with BMW's Bavarian plants. Mr. Pischetsrieder led the 1994 acquisition of Rover as one of his first actions as chief executive. His mistake, analysts say, was to manage Rover at arms-length. An Anglophile who speaks fluent English, Mr. Pischetsrieder was worried about anti-German feelings, and he maintained Rover as a separate company.

7.4.2 Read the text above and number the events in the correct order. Start with (1) for the first event

a)Mr. Pischetsrieder becomes chairman. __;

b)Joachim Milberg begins his new job. __;

c)BMW buys Rover. __;

d)BMW holds an extraordinary meeting. __;

e)Mr. Pischetsrieder's resignation is announced. __;

55

f) BMW agrees to keep the Longbridge factory open. __;

7.4.3 Read the text again and decide if the following statements are true (T) or false

(F)

1)BMW announced that Mr. Pischetsrieder and Mr. Reitzle were leaving because of losses at Rover.

2)The auto industry had expected that both Mr. Pischetsrieder and Mr. Reitzle would resign.

3)In German companies it is common for several board members to resign when a company has serious problems.

4)The British government is prepared to allow BMW to close the Rover factory at Longbridge.

5)BMW made more than $870 million in profit last year.

6)Last year BMW sold more vehicles than ever before.

7)All divisions of the Rover group have been performing badly.

8)The problems at Rover are more serious than expected.

9)Rover and BMW factories are equally efficient.

10)One of Mr. Pischetsrieder's main mistakes was that he intervened too directly in the management of Rover.

7.5 Grammar practice

7.5.1Ask 5 types questions to the following sentences

1)BMW evidently was surprised by the magnitude of Rover's problems.

2)Analysts said the supervisory board had lost patience with Mr. Pischetsrieder.

7.5.2Founded in 1976 by Steven Wosniak and Steven Jobs, Apple Computer has undergone many changes in leadership, product development, and strategy. Complete the following sentences about Apple Computer by putting the verbs in brackets into the third conditional (use appendix if necessary)

56

poverty, and economic growth. Approaches in development economics frequently incorporate social and political factors.

Economic system is the branch of economics that studies the methods and institutions by which societies determine the ownership, direction, and allocation of economic resources. An economic system of a society is the unit of analysis.

Among contemporary systems at different ends of the organizational spectrum are socialist systems and capitalist systems, in which most production occurs in respectively state-run and private enterprises. In between are mixed economies. A common element is the interaction of economic and political influences, broadly described as political economy. Comparative economic systems study the relative performance and behavior of different economies or systems.

World map showing GDP per capita (picture 4).

Picture 4 - World map showing GDP per capita

7.6.2 Retell the text in English using the underlined words and phrases in your speech

determinants of goods-and-services flows - детерминанты (показатели)потоков товаров и услуг;

58

trade quotas - торговые квоты; flow of capital - поток капиталов; exchange rate - обменный курс;

low-income countries - страны с низким уровнем дохода;

comparative economic systems - сравнительные экономические системы; GDP - ВВП (внутренний валовой продукт)/

7.7 Discussion

7.7.1 Discuss the contemporary situation at the international trade market. Say if you approve or disapprove Russia’s joining to the WTU (World Trade Union)? Give your reasons

7.7.2 Make up a presentation on one of the following topics. Consult the Internet resources

1)A world famous international corporation;

2)International trade (its history and development perspectives);

3)WTU (its history and the main objectives).

59

8 Unit 8 Marketing and brands

8.1 Speaking drills

8.1.1 Answer the following questions

a)What is marketing?

b)What is a brand?

c)What world famous brands do you know?

8.1.2 What are your favorite brands of the following products? Why do you prefer these to other similar brands?

soft, drinks, clothes, cars, shampoo

8.1.3 Now choose one of the products you use and consider the marketing mix for that brand. Think about the following

product - what are the product's features? price - in comparison with similar products promotion - where and how is it advertised? place - where can you buy the product?

Do you think you are a typical customer for the brand?

8.1.4 People's attitudes to brands and marketing can be very different. Which of these statements do you agree with?

'Marketing transforms brands, making them stand for things that they just don't stand for. They don't deliver.' Naomi Klein author of No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies.

'Brands provide us with beliefs. They define who we are.' Wally Olins, a corporate identity consultant.

60