Профессиональный английский язык для экономистов. Учебное пособие

Negative impacts of globalization are:

The benefits of globalization are not universal. The rich are getting richer and the poor are becoming poorer.

Outsourcing, while it provides jobs to a population in one country, takes away those jobs from another country, leaving many without opportunities.

Although different cultures are able to interact and share their ideas and innovations, everything is beginning to meld with a loss of tradition and culture.

There may be a greater chance of disease spreading worldwide, as well as aggressive invasive species that could prove devastating in non-native ecosystems.

There is little international regulation, an unfortunate fact that could have significant consequences for the safety of people and the environment.

Text II. Benefits of international trade

The analysis of the impact of international trade reveals 10 benefits for consumers.

1.Variety of goods. International trade gives access to goods that would not be available otherwise.

2.Outlet for surpluses. Without international trade, a company’s potential market is limited to the population of the country in which it operates. International trade expands the total market size to include every nation with which the country maintains trade relations.

3.Reduction of market fluctuations. In every sector, the market ebbs and flows. The sheer size of the international market helps to mitigate many of the wild fluctuations in sales.

21

4.Lower costs. The lower cost is the result of two factors. First, companies can produce items overseas, saving money on labor. Second, an increase in competition forces companies to make their products more attractive and cheap.

5.Production efficiency. The increase in competition and price pressure from imported goods forces companies to become more efficient in their production practices and overall operation. Companies achieve better efficiencies in a number of ways. They may include new methods of production or improve the processes they already have in place. They may experiment with new materials, or seek alternative sources for the essential components of their product.

6.Resource specialization. Large countries like the United States and China have access to almost every resource they need, from minerals to land, and even oil. Smaller nations are not as lucky, and must rely on imports to provide their citizens with basic necessities. International trade allows nations to specialize their economies in the areas where their resources are best allocated.

7.Innovation. Companies must innovate to distinguish their products from increased competition; to improve their cost to consumers; to be first to market with new ideas.

8.Investment. Companies invest in internal R&D to bring new products to market or improve on existing products.

9.Jobs. The chief complaint about international trade agreements is that they take away national jobs, and while the trade agreements did lower opportunities in the manufacturing sector, trade does promote job growth in other areas.

10.Peace. Countries with strong international trade agreements rarely go to war with each other, because the economic and political cost of such a decision would be devastating. International trade creates interdependency and an incentive to find peaceful, diplomatic solutions to international conflicts, rather than military solutions.

22

Vocabulary test

Translating

Use the following words in translation:

threat ‒ угроза

to reinforce ‒ усиливать

to promote – способствовать

efforts – усилия

enhancing ‒ повышение

1.Большинство определяет глобализацию как процесс интеграции экономических систем мира.

2.Менеджеры должны понимать смысл глобальных процессов, так как происходящие изменения создают огромное количество возможностей, сложных задач и угроз для бизнеса.

3.Преимущества используются для того, чтобы расширить бизнес за пределы национальных границ.

4.Даже если предприятие не вышло на международный рынок, то на него могут отрицательно повлиять те ключевые игроки, которые вошли и конкурируют на внутреннем рынке.

5.Барьеры, препятствующие международной торговле и инвестициям, будут уничтожаться, новые рынки возникнут в развивающихся странах.

6.Уровень взаимодействия развивающихся стран с экономически высокоразвитыми странами варьируется и зависит от многих факторов.

7.Даже если доход продолжает расти, а меры по поддержке населения улучшаются, люди чувствуют себя незащищёнными из-за постоянных изменений в жизни.

24

8.Волатильность и скорость – главные черты глобализации.

9.Негативное влияние глобализации в том, что она усиливает политическую нестабильность, так как способствует изменениям, а это ‒ дополнительный стресс для уязвимых экономических систем.

10.Усилия нацелены на улучшение благосостояния и повышение уровня жизни людей.

Defining the terms

1.On today’s business there are many global mega corporations, such as McDonald’s, Marriot, Disney, Hertz and others. Discuss how they influenced and affected the life of many people in the world.

2.International trade results in higher levels of consumption and investment, lower prices of commodities, and a wider range of product choices for consumers. What are the arguments of those who are against it?

25

Chapter II

Corporate strategy and HRM

Unit 1. Corporate strategy. Centralization and decentralization. Planning and scheduling. The SWOT analysis

Learning objectives

1.Define the concept of strategy.

2.Explain the strategy vocabulary including such terms as mission, vision, aims and objectives, and control.

3.Discuss the business cases when the authority is held by senior managers strictly and when it is delegated to people of lower level.

4.Enumerate the advantages and disadvantages of centralization and decentralization.

5.Prove the necessity of planning for the success of the company.

6.Name types of planning.

7.Describe the peculiarities of SWOT analysis.

Terms to learn

Strategy, mission, vision, aim, objective, target, goal, SMART, authority, decision making, hierarchy, centralization, discretion, branch, decentralization, chain of command, span of control, aggregate planning, scheduling, contingency, SWOT, subordinate

26

Pre-texts discussions

1.What analytical tools do you know?

2.Why is strategy crucial for every company?

3.What does SMART stand for?

Reading

Text I. Corporate strategy

Strategy is mastering a set of formulae or analytical tools, which can be applied in order to guarantee success.

Mission is a specific task with which a person or a company is charged. Effective mission statements often specify what the organization does, for whom and how, in order to distinguish it from its competitors.

Vision or strategic intention is a desired future state for the organization (e.g., to be the leading supplier in its product or service category). Some organizations use the terms ‘mission’ and ‘vision’ practically interchangeably, but it is useful to make a distinction between mission as concerning current purpose, and vision as focusing on the future.

Aims and objectives are interchangeable terms, but there is a useful distinction between a general intention and the subordinate objectives, which support its achievement. Effective objectives are specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and timed – the famous SMART acronym.

Text II. Authority of managers: centralization and decentralization

Centralization describes a situation where decision making authority is held predominantly by senior managers within an organization. Such a situation is common within smaller businesses where the owner/manager takes all the important decisions. Centralization is not only found in such organizations, as a number of very

27

large organizations, such as banks and some large retailers, are also highly centralized. Little, if any, discretion is given to branch managers, who must simply run their branches in accordance with the procedures established by Head Office.

Advantages of centralization are:

easier to implement common policies and practices for the business as a whole;

prevents other parts of the business from becoming too independent;

easier to co-ordinate and control from the center – e.g. with budgets;

economies of scale and overhead savings easier to achieve;

greater use of specialization;

quicker decision-making – easier to show strong leadership.

Disadvantages of centralization are:

more bureaucratic – often extra layers in the hierarchy;

local or junior managers are likely to much closer to customer needs;

lack of authority down the hierarchy may reduce manager motivation;

customer service does not benefit from flexibility and speed in local decisionmaking.

Decentralization describes the situation where the authority to make decisions is delegated to people at lower levels of the organization. This often occurs where growth in size and increased complexity make the delegation of significant decision making authority necessary. Decentralization is a matter of degree and is usually present to varying degrees in most organizations. Effective delegation has benefits for managers, staff and the organization as a whole.

28

The advantages of decentralization are as follows.

Specialization. Managers can develop more detailed and specialized knowledge by concentrating on a limited aspect of the operations.

Timeliness. Quicker decisions are possible if it is not necessary to pass decisions up through the hierarchical chain of command.

Motivation. Having authority to make decisions usually results in greater motivation and commitment and hence improved performance.

Human resource development. Less experienced managers can ‘learn their trade’ without their mistakes jeopardizing the entire organization.

Organizational segment performance comparison. By dividing the organization into separate segments, it is possible to evaluate which aspects of operations are performing well and which are not.

The disadvantages of decentralization are as follows:

Disfunctional decision making. It occurs where managers take actions which improve the measured performance of their organizational segment, but damage the organization as a whole.

Loss of control. There is a danger that senior management may lose control of the organization, as they become far removed from the detail of underlying operations and unaware of the decisions being made by lower level managers.

Increased cost of control. Costly management information systems may be necessary to monitor the performance of lower management levels to ensure that delegated decision making authority is being used in the best interests of the organization.

29

Text III. Planning and scheduling

Planning is a management process, concerned with defining goals for a future direction and determining on the missions and resources to achieve those targets. There are 4 types of planning in business.

Operational Planning is about how things need to happen, it is a guideline of how to accomplish the mission. It describes the day-to-day running of the company.

Strategic Planning is all about why things need to happen. It starts at the highest level with defining a mission and casting a vision. Strategic planning includes a high-level overview of the entire business.

Tactical Planning is about what is going to happen. Basically at the tactical level, there are many focused, specific, and short-term plans, where the actual work is being done, that support the high-level strategic plans. Tactical planning supports strategic planning.

Contingency Planning is made when something unexpected happens or when something needs to be changed. Business experts sometimes refer to these plans as a special type of planning. Contingency planning can be helpful in circumstances that call for a change.

Aggregate planning is important to:

accounting, which prepares cost accounting information needed to evaluate aggregate plans and which administers the billing process that is driven by schedules;

distribution, which coordinates the outbound flow of materials in the supply chain with the aggregate plan and schedules;

30