Английский язык. Перевод, межкультурная коммуникация и интерпретация языка СМИ. Учебное пособие

any pricing policy because price is determined by the market, i.e. by the demand and supply forces acting in it. In practice, the economic system does not work perfectly, and a lot of other factors have to be involved in pricing, the most important among them being unit costs, desired profits, competitors’ prices, governmental regulations, etc.

After the producer has decided what product to sell and what price to charge for it, potential customers must be told that it is available. Promotion is the process of informing, persuading, and influencing customers in their decision about purchasing products or services.

There are many ways of promoting goods or services. The ones most often used are advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and publicity. Managers must determine the promotional mix, or the best combination of these promotional methods.

Advertising involves any paid form of non-personal sales or promotion and is usually directed toward a large number of possible customers. There are many types of advertising, but in general they can be categorized into two types. Product advertising is the non-personal selling of specific products or services. Its aim is to stimulate interest in and desire for certain goods, especially new ones, or to influence consumers to buy a particular brand. Institutional advertising is used to develop goodwill for a company or industry in general.

Advertising media are the different means through which advertisers reach their audience. The most widely used among them are newspapers, magazines, television, radio, direct mail, and some others (neon and other lighted signs, posters and placards on buses, etc.)

One of the oldest forms of promotion is personal selling, when a sales presentation is made directly to a potential customer by a sales person. It has the greatest flexibility of all forms of promotion because salespeople can adapt their presentation to each potential customer. The two main kinds of personal selling are retail selling and business selling. Retail selling takes place primarily in stores and malls and involves trained sales personnel ready to help and advise any customer. Business selling is selling to firms and institutions. It involves sales agents or representatives

Sales promotion includes various specialized activities designed to make selling more efficient. There are many types of sales promotion, but the most popular are displays (also called merchandising), coupons, premiums, trade shows and the like. Interior and window displays are designed to stimulate sales by presenting colorful goods or providing visual information «in-house» in order to attract customers

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and prompt an impulse purchase. They tend to reflect the store’s image and the quality of the merchandise. Coupons are package enclosures or certificates that entitle customers to a reduced price (discount) on the couponed goods or services. Specialty advertising are inexpensive pens, calendars, key rings, and the like that are imprinted with an advertiser’s name or advertising message. All these and many other forms of sales promotion are extensively used to increase sales.

Publicity is a public relations technique which involves non-paid communication of information about a business or organization, such as press releases, interviews, press conferences. This method sometimes plays a decisive role in building the image of a company because public perceives such a message as noncommercial and thus more persuasive.

The final stage of marketing mix is distribution. Distribution shows various means by which the product is delivered to the customer at the right time and at the right place. It involves decisions about channels of distribution, methods of transportation, amounts of deliveries, etc.

There are three common distribution channels. In the simplest case the producer sells directly to the consumer from the factory or through mail order. Another variant involves retailer who sells the goods to individual customers. Finally there are cases when producers sell via wholesalers and retailers. Choice of the distribution channel determines how the charges for transportation and warehousing will be divided among the parties.

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The principal marketing functions are as follows: standardizing and grading, buying, selling, transporting, storing, and obtaining marketing information

1)When you go to a hardware store to buy 100-watt light bulbs, you don’t want to bother with testing each bulb until you find enough 100-watt bulbs. Companies meet these needs by standardizing, that is, establishing specifications by categories for goods. Each company labels the product with the required information. This information helps customers identify the specific characteristics they are looking for – such as size, weight, height, texture, ingredients, or color. Closely related to standardizing is grading, which involves sorting goods into classes on the basis of quality.

2)When applied to marketing, buying involves deciding the type and amount of goods to be purchased. Managers typically base such

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decisions on a forecast of consumer demand. In the case of giant retailers, such as Macy’s in New York, buying involves thousands of merchandise orders that vary in quality and quantity.

3)The selling function is probably most closely associated with marketing and really is its central activity. Selling includes identifying buyers, developing promotional campaign to attract customers, and concluding the sale. Selling can occur through the written media. Advertisements in magazines and newspapers are part of selling as are catalogs.

4)As a marketing function, financing is paying for merchandise to sell and arranging for credit to buyers. When purchasing, many marketers pay for their goods at the end of the month. When the time rolls around, they issue a check to the seller. When marketers buy goods, they sometimes offer financial terms to buyers. For example, the buyers can pay the bill in monthly installments.

5)For selling to take place, the company must also engage in transporting, the process of moving goods from where they were manufactured or purchased to where they are needed. In many cases, the manufacturer performs this function by sending the goods to wholesalers. The wholesaler breaks up the goods into smaller lots and transports them to retailers. Customers then can visit the retailer to purchase the merchandise.

6)Following transporting comes the process of storing, or warehousing, goods. Most firms store goods in warehouses until they are demanded. Even small retail stores have large back rooms where they keep goods.

7)Marketing information helps businesses identify and address consumer needs. Businesses need answers to many types of questions, from how consumers behave to what the most effective advertising is to where to sell the merchandise.

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The creative strategy guides the advertising campaign. Two considerations affect strategy selection: 1) whether the campaign is intended to maintain or to change market conditions, and 2) whether the campaign will communicate information or imagery and symbolism.

Creativity can substantially enhance effectiveness of advertising by selecting a unified concept that links together the various parts of a campaign. Advertising agencies, who typically receive 15 per cent of a corporate client’s gross billings, are experts of designing creative

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strategies. They may design unique themes promoting a product or firm in some particular way, or use comparisons with competitors enhancing the firm’s brands. Choosing the right creative theme for the marketing situation can make a major contribution to the success of a program.

Tests are used to evaluate creative approaches. Before an advertising strategy is implemented it is important to establish criteria for measuring its effectiveness. Measuring effectiveness provides useful feedback for future advertising decisions.

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One of the two basic problems with pricing is that it fulfils two sometimes contradictory roles. You should know that, along with costs and volumes in business, price is a direct determinant of profitability. The other role of pricing is as an implicit element of a promotional mix. In a way, a price acts like a magnet – it attracts some customers and repels others. People tend to base their perception of goods and services partly on the price. A price offer can also play a central role in an advertising campaign. For instance, if an advertisement is based on a «20% free» new package, it can be considered as corresponding discount offer.

8.6.Банковская система

ифинансовые учреждения

(Banking system

and other financial institutions)

Money performs three basic functions. First, it serves primarily as a medium of exchange – a means of facilitating exchange and eliminating the need for a barter system. For example, rather than follow the complicated process of trading wheat directly for gasoline or clothing (the barter system), a farmer can sell the wheat and use the money to make other purchases.

Money also functions as a unit of account – a common instrument for measuring the value of all products and services.

Finally, money acts as a temporary store of value – a way of keeping accumulated wealth until it is needed to make new purchases. Wealth can also be held in the form of stocks and bonds, real estate, antiques, works of art, precious stones or any other valuable items. The

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advantage of storing value in goods other than money is that they often produce additional income in the form of dividends, interest payments, rent, or increase in value.

THE US COMMERCIAL BANKING SYSTEM

At the heart of the US banking system are approximately 14,000 commercial banks. A commercial bank is a profit-making business that performs two basic functions. It holds the deposits of individuals and business firms in the form of checking and saving accounts and uses these funds to make loans to individuals and businesses.

TYPES OF COMMERCIAL BANKS

Most commercial banks are state banks – commercial banks founded by individual states. Approximately one third are national banks – commercial banks founded by the federal government. These tend to be larger. Regulations affecting state and national banks vary slightly, in practice there is little difference between the two from the viewpoint of individual borrower or depositor.

The US banking giants are dwarfed when compared with the world largest international banks. Of the top ten banks ranked by assets, only three are not Japanese: France’s Credit Agricola and Banque Nationale de Paris, and the largest US bank, Citicorp. The five largest banks in the world – Dai Ichi Kangyo, Sumimoto, Fuji, Mitsubishi, and Sanwa – are all Japanese.

«Full-service bank» is an accurate description of a typical commercial bank because of dozens of services it offers its depositors.

Customers who need to make withdrawals or deposits when the bank is closed can usually do it by using a plastic access card at the bank’s automatic teller machine (ATM). Thousands of these electronic machines are operating outside bank buildings, in freestanding kiosks, and in supermarkets and department stores.

The growing competition among all types of financial institutions has forced banks to become more service-oriented in seeking deposits and lending business.

ELECTRONIC MONEY

Before many years pass, people will be able to earn money and then spend it without handling coins, bills, or even checks. They will be carrying all-purpose identification cards.

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Bankers guess that cash and checks will become rare as bank computers take over more of bookkeeping and bill-paying. Eventually, a nationwide network of computers may handle almost every financial transaction. Homes and offices may be on this computer network just as they are now tied to telephone service.

The new system may work something like this for Bill Green, an individual of the future. At regular intervals, a computer at Bill’s bank will transfer a credit representing Bill’s salary from the employer’s account into Bill’s account. Then the computer will transfer smaller credits to other accounts for fixed bills like rent or car payments. These transactions will be arranged in advance and programmed into the bank’s computer.

When Bill decides he can afford a new suit, he will show his identification card to a store employee. The salesperson will then use a telephone to contact the bank computer, which in its turn will transfer credit from Bill’s bank account to the store’s account. So Bill’s new suit will be paid for immediately.

Each transfer of money will take place instantly. There will be no more waiting for monthly bank statements or payment checks sent by mail. There will be little chance for error, since all details of Bill’s financial transactions will be stored in the computer’s memory.

If the computer takes over, it may be possible to get along without money. But most banks think that Bill Green will still need to carry a little cash. Suppose Bill wants to buy a packet of peanuts or pay a bus fare. In this case small change may prove better than an all-purpose identification card.

8.7. О британской экономике

(Britain’s economy in brief)

Britain’s economy is based primarily on private enterprise. Private sector accounts for 79% of output and 95% of employment.

Manufacturing has an important role in the economy. Britain excels in high-technology industries, such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, aerospace and offshore equipment, where British companies are among the world’s largest and most successful. Britain’s chemical industry is the third largest in Europe. Over a half of its output is exported. Traditionally, Britain has been a major producer of basic industrial chemicals, plastics and fertilizers. ICI is the sixth largest chemical company in the world and the world’s largest paint manufacturers.

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Britain’s pharmaceutical industry is the world’s fourth biggest exporter of medicines, accounting for around 12% of the world market. Glaxo Wellcome became the largest pharmaceutical company in the world when Glaxo took over Wellcome in 1995. British firms have discovered and developed 13 of the world’s fifty best-selling drugs.

Machine-building is an area where British firms excel, especially in construction equipment, wheeled tractors, internal combustion engines, textile machinery, medical equipment, pumps and compressors.

Britain has the fourth largest electronic industry in the world. Products include computers, communication equipment and a large variety of components. As well as an extensive range of computer hardware and associated equipment, British firms design computer applications and software and are particularly strong in specialist markets such as computer-aided design (CAD), mathematical software, geographical information systems and data visualization. Major advances are being made by British firms and academic institutions in the field of «virtual reality», a three-dimension (3D) computer simulation technique.

Britain’s aerospace industry is the third largest in the Western world. British Aerospace (BA) produces both civil and military aircraft. The company has a 20 per cent share in the European multinational giant Airbus Industries, which manufactures a family of airbus airliners. It is also a partner in multinational projects, including the Tornado combat aircraft and the Eurofighter 2000, which made its first flight in 1994. Rolls Royce is one of the world’s three prime manufacturers of aeroengines.

Britain has the largest energy resources than any country in the European Union and is a major producer of oil and natural gas. The main energy sources are coal, nuclear power and water power. The two largest British oil companies are British Petroleum (BP) and Shell Transport and Trading. In 1994 Britain’s oil and gas production from wells in the North Sea and on land amounted to nearly 2 per cent of GDP.

Services account for two-thirds of Britain’s GDP. The number of people employed in services rose from about 13 million in 1983 to 16.5 million in 1995. Britain is a major financial centre, housing some of the world’s leading banking, insurance, and other financial services and markets. The heart of the financial industry is the collection of banks and markets in and around the City of London.

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8.8. Общий обзор экономики США

(Bird’s eye view of the USA)

The United States has the most technologically powerful, diverse, advanced, and largest economy in the world. To have a bird’s eye view of the country we will start from the Northeast, the place of the first European settlements. The skyscrapers of New York, the steel mills of Pittsburgh, the automobile plants of Detroit – these symbols of industrial America belong to this region.

Seeing this great area today, it is hard to realize that it was wilderness only three centuries ago. And even now, the visitor who expects to see just factories and crowded streets is surprised. In the Northeast, he sees more wooded hills than factory chimneys, more farmhouses than office buildings. There are places of true wilderness, like the forests of the State of Main.

The sea means a lot here. From Long Island northward, the coast borders one of the world’s great «fish bowls». Today, four of the eight heavily populated areas are centered around the seaports of Boston, New York, Philadelphia or Baltimore, which are also leading industrial centers.

The greatest part of America’s heavy industry depends on the resources found in the region of the Great Lakes: iron ore and coal. Steelmaking is basic in this region, but there are many other related industries – glass, nonferrous metals, chemicals, rubber and machinery. Chicago is sometimes called the Great Central Market of the nation. It is the railroad, meat packing, and grain center for the middle part of the country.

After leaving Chicago, you will cross Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. This is a vast farming region known as the Corn Belt. The land is fertile and well-watered, the climate is mildly continental. Nebraska specializes in wheat, Iowa and Illinois grow wheat and corn, and a lot of livestock is raised here. Corn is the most important of all American crops. Extensive use of machinery allows an average farmer to cultivate 100 – 140 hectares without any help. Most farm families do commercial farming, which is raising products for sale and not for their own use.

Turning south, we come to the land of old-time cotton plantations. While cotton remains the basic crop, the region has seen a significant trend towards diversification. Nowadays, southern states produce rice

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and fruit, tobacco and melons, The vast plains are good for breeding sheep and cattle. Rich oil fields of Texas have brought new wealth to the region.

The Rocky Mountains, stretching all the way from Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, are rich in mineral deposits. The gold found in 1868 attracted thousands of people, starting the famous «gold rush». Other valuable ores are copper, lead and silver.

The West Coast is washed by the Pacific Ocean. These lands are famous for their fertile soil, giant forests and fishing. At cities like Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, goods from Asia and South Pacific regions are unloaded, while fruit, grain, fish, timber or machines are put aboard ships going to ports all over the world.

The West Coast cities are important industrial centers. Seattle houses the headquarters of the Boeing Company leading the nation in producing multi-engine jet aircraft. Silicon Valley near San Francisco, where more than 4,000 high-tech firms are located, is the first and biggest electronic research and production area.

California is one of the highest producing farm regions in the United States. Pears, peaches, olives, oranges and grapes ripen in its sunny orchards; grain and cotton grow all year in its farms; sheep and cattle graze in its pastures.

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The United States is the world’s third largest oil producer after the former Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia. Domestic drilling and exploration, however, has fallen to the lowest level since WW II. Imports now account for almost 40% of US consumption. The US is the global leader in petroleum refining. Its oil refining industry is the world’s largest and most advanced. However, the increasing cost of making the cleaner fuel and higher spending needed to comply with environmental regulations are forcing the industry to close down more and more of the nation’s small refineries.

Dirty to mine, dirty to burn, coal is America’s most abundant energy resource. As the less expensive mineral fuel, coal is expected to take an increasing share of US energy market. At present, China is the world’s largest coal producer. The US ranks second among the world’s 50 coal producing countries. Although there are fewer miners employed in the industry now than twenty years ago, their productivity has doubled since 1980s.

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