Читай и обсуждай. Бизнес-курс английского языка. Учебное пособие

1.Thetotalnumberofsalesincreased…fromJanuarytoFebruary.

2.There was a sharp … in the total number of sales from January to February.

3.The total number of sales … slightly in March.

4.There was a … decrease in the total number of sales in March.

5.The total number of sales rose … from March to May.

6.Therewasa…riseinthetotalnumberofsalesfromMarchtoMay.

7.The total number of sales …suddenly in June.

8.There was a sudden … in the total number of sales in June.

Task2.A.ThegraphbelowshowsU.S.ExportsofAgriculturaland Related Products to Russia. Study the graph1. Using information from the graph, write a short report. Write about 150 words.

B.The graph below shows Ratio ofValue of Imports to Exports by a Company Over the Years2. Study the graph. Using information from the graph, write a short report. Write about 150 words.

1http://www.fas.usda.gov/data/russia-bans-key-us-agricultural-exports

2http://www.indiabix.com/data-interpretation/line-charts/023001

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RatioofValueofImportstoExportsbyaCompanyOvertheYears.

Task 3. Study the following glossary.

the exchange of goods and services to send goods to another country

to bring in goods from another country to control international trade

tariffs duties quotas

to raise the price of imported goods to protect domestically produced goods to regulate tariffs

to reduce trade restrictions

to establish products in a foreign market local experts

sole agents multi-distributors

to have a specialist knowledge of the market

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to sell on behalf of the country to open a local branch

sales office

to give permission to sell patents

to set up a local subsidiary or a joint venture

to be one of the most exciting long-term market opportunities to be best-known for

a shift in strategic focus

to move out of consumer goods fastest-growing company high-value niche market

to set up sales and service office to exploit the potential

to remain more closed than other fastest-growing markets to be welcoming to foreigners

cultural hurdles to be deceptive

to understand the marketplace to have a worldwide market share

Task 4. Using active vocabulary speak on the following situation.

Your company produces digital projectors for computers and would like to establish its products in a foreign market.

Choose one of the methods to establish itself on the Indian (Chinese) market.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of exporting to India (China).

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Reading 2

Task 1. Read and translate the articles

Does ‘Made in’matter?1 By Emma Mason

Do you know (or care) where your products come from? According to this article on Business of Fashion, most consumers do. There are certain countries better known for high-quality versions of specific products. When you think “expensive watch” do you think Switzerland? You should — some of the best watchmakers in the world are based in Switzerland and their brand has become one of the biggest names in luxury timepieces in the world.

So what’s the issue? It’s that not every brand is completely honest about where their products are made and that many more brands are startingtoabandontheir“culturalheritage”altogether.Mostcountries, especiallythoseintheEuropeanUniondon’thavemanyrulesforhow, when, or how fully a brand has to disclose where those products were actually made. In most cases, as long as a product is finished, checked for quality, or packaged in Italy or France, a brand can stamp “Made in Italy,” or “Made in France” on that product.

Brands that have a historic tie to a certain region are usually more upfront about where their products are made — for good reason. Brands like Salvatore Ferragamo, Valentino, Fendi, and Balenciaga, which have deep roots in their country of origin, label all of their products with their heritage country. But there are also brands in this same category — those that should have a historic tie to a region or country — that rarely disclose where their products are produced. Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Prada are just three examples.

Where the Business of Fashion article fails is in telling us how (or if) any of this matters. Consumers still care about where the luxury products they buy are made, believing that some countries are better capable of producing quality, but if “Made in” regulations are fairly lax and fewer companies are actually actively disclosing where their products are made, does “Made in” still matter.

1 http://wardrobetrendsfashion.com/does-made-in-matter/

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I would argue that it does. Switzerland is known for producing great watches because they have a long history of actually doing it. When I hear that a watch is made in Switzerland, I automatically assume it’s a better watch. Does that always mean it’s going to be the best watch? No, but luxury brands have long marketed themselves using their country of origin as a selling point, which has conditioned consumers to believe that country of origin is critically important to the quality of the product. So, does “Made in” still matter? Yes.

Does ‘Made In’Matter?1

By Jo Bowman

Assumptions about where products are made may be lasting, but strongAsian brands are moving up the ladder.

National stereotypes, rightly or wrongly, influence people’s decisions on where they live and work, where they invest, the products and services they buy – and at what price. Buyers – and producers – of Swisswatches,Germancars,Frenchfragrances,Koreantelevisionsand Singaporean clean governance know this well, and their competitors do too. In Hong Kong, Chinese entrepreneur Jimmy Lai famously called his fashion chain Giordano to make it sound Italian, giving it some instant design credibility. Similarly, British electronics retailer Currys branded a range of goods sourced from across Asia “Matsui”, complete with a rising sun logo, to give it an air of Japanese-ness, even though none of the goods were actually made in Japan.

Public impressions of countries’ strengths do change, however. Successful brands help improve the strength of the national brand they represent, and a strong national brand reflects on the brands it exports. There will be a few readers old enough to remember when “Made in Japan” or “Made in Hong Kong” was shorthand for cheap and likely to break. Now, Hong Kong’s financial industry is the envy of the world, and most things Japanese command a premium.

And the winner is…

The comparative value of countries’ brands has been scrutinised by several research companies, each using different methodologies and each generating slightly different results. Brand Finance’s Nation

1 https://rwconnect.esomar.org/does-made-in-matter/

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UNIT 9. CONSULTING

Lead-in

Task 1.Answer the following questions.

1.What are consulting jobs?

2.Where do consultants work and why do people hire them?

3.Do you have experience giving presentations, solving difficult problems, and navigating office politics?

4.How is it possible to choose the right types of consulting jobs for you?

5.Do you have industry experience or expertise in the consulting area you’re considering?

Task 2. Paraphrase the following statements. Do you agree with them? Why? Why not?

1. The main reasons an organization would seek assistance from a consultant are expertise and time.

2. Consulting is becoming an increasingly broader industry incorporating roles such as management consultants, recruitment consultants and business advisors, to name just a few.

Reading 1

Task 1. Skim the article. For statements 1–5 choose the answers A–E.

1. They operate at the highest level of the consulting market. 2. They support clients with improving the performance of

business areas.

3. They work on topics that rely on a financial basis.

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4. They support clients with human capital issues within their organisation.

5. They focus on helping customers with developing and applying Information Technology.

A.Strategy Consultants.

B.Operations Consultants.

C.FinancialAdvisory Consultants.

D.Human Resource Consultants.

E.IT Consultants.

Task 2. Translate the article into Russian.

Types of consultants1

Theconsultancyindustryisoneofthemostdiversemarketswithin theprofessionalservicesindustry,and,assuch,awidespectrumoftypes of consultant are found in the industry. Moreover, being a ‘consultant’ is not a protected professional title like most other professions, and, as such, anyone can title themselves strategy, management, business, finance, HR or IT consultant. Given the widespread areas in which a consultant can operate, and added to this the variety of work places a consultant can access, there has been a sharp rise in the number of independent consultants over the past few years. Following the influx into the industry, a common definition of a ‘consultant’ has become more difficult to reach.

Over the past few decades, branch specific associations and analysts have developed different definitions in order to categorize the diverse types of consultants active in the field. Consultancy.uk adheres to the approach used by Kennedy Information, an American research agency that has been analyzing the consultancy market since the ‘60s

. The methodology behind their approach is based on there being six core types of consultants within the consulting industry:

Strategy Consultant. The term Strategy Consultant is used to describeconsultantswhooperateatthehighestleveloftheconsultancy market,withfocusonstrategictopicslikecorporateandorganisational

1 http://www.consultancy.uk/career/types-of-consultants

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strategy, economic policy, government policy and functional strategy. For this reason, strategy consultants generally carry out work assigned by top managers, like CxOs, directors and senior managers. Seeing that the nature of strategy consulting differs from the other more implementation and operational driven areas, strategy consultants generally have a different profile than their peers. Their focus lies moreonquantitative/analyticsskills,andtheirjobdescriptionrevolves more around giving advice than overseeing implementation.

Management Consultant. Management consultants, in practice also knownasbusinessconsultantsororganisationaladvisors,areconsultants who focus on all sorts of organizational concerns from strategy to a variety of elements within management. In the methodology upheld by Kennedy as well as Consultancy.uk, Management Consulting is a collective term used for all services that fall under Strategy Consulting, OperationsConsultingandHRConsulting.Forthatreason,management consultants form the vast majority in the advisory branch – more than half of all advisors can be defined as a management consultant.

Operations Consultant. Operations consultants are consultants who help clients improve the performance of their operations. Consultancy activities in this segment vary from advisory services to hands-on implementation support, for both primary functions (e.g. Sales, Marketing, Production, etc.) as secondary functions (e.g. Finance, HR, Supply Chain, ICT, Legal, etc.). Operations Consultants form the largest segment within the advisory branch, and the majority of consultants are active within one of the many underlying operating areas.Seeingastheoperationsisoftenassociatedwiththestrategyand technology side of a company, active operations consultants regularly work side by side with experts from these domains.

Financial Advisory Consultant. Consultants who operate in the Financial Advisory segment generally work on questions that address financial capabilities, and, in many cases, also the analytical capabilities within an organization. Subsequently, the profiles of consultants active in this segments can differ greatly, from M&A and corporate finance advisors to risk management, tax, restructuring or real estate consultant. Consultants specialized in forensic research and support disputes also fall under the Financial Advisory segment. The majority of financial consultants work for the large combined accounting and consulting firms, or else for niche advisory offices.

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Human Resource Consultant. HR consultants help clients with human capital questions within their organizations and / or with improving the performance of the HR department. Chief topics central to the job description of HR consultants are, among others, organizational changes, change management, terms of employment, learning & development, talent management and retirement. HR consultants are also brought in by organizations to help transform the business culture within their organization, or transform their HR department, which includes changes in the area of organizational design, processes and systems, among others. HR consulting forms, together with strategy consulting, the two smallest segments of the consultancy industry, and the number of consultants active in this domain is, therefore, lower than those in other parts of the industry.

IT Consultant. Technology consultants, also known as IT, ICT or digital consultants, focus on helping clients with the development and application of Information Technology (IT) within their organisation. IT consultants focus on transitions (projects) in the ICT-landscape, contrary to regular IT-employees, who work on day-to-day IT operations (so-called ‘business as usual’ activities). The majority of ICT-consultants work on implementation projects, for instance, extensive ERP systems applications, where their role may vary from project management to process management or system integration. Within IT consulting, the fastest growing markets are digital, data analytics(alsoknownasdatascience),cybersecurityandITforensics.

Task 3. Explain the meaning of the words and phrases in bold.

Task 4.Answer the questions.

1.Why is the consulting industry one of the most diverse markets?

2.What are the main types of consultants?

3.What do strategy consultants focus?

4.What do operations consultants deal with?

5.Whattopicsdofinancialadvisoryconsultantssegmentworkon?

6.What do HR consultants deal with?

7.What do IT consultants focus on?

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