Text 4 Marketing

Marketing concept includes various elements such as planning, research, new product development, sales, communications, advertising, etc. Marketing starts with production and later studies all its stages before, during and after production. In the sales area, marketing provides information about forward demand for the company's products or services, helps to find and promote demand for products and services.

Marketing planning is an integral part of the marketing mix and it depends on a thorough situation analysis.

When the situation is analyzed it is necessary to consider con­trollable and uncontrollable factors. The controllable ones are four: product, price, place and promotion. Uncontrollable factors are mainly environmental factors.

Text 5 What is a Manager?

A number of different terms are used for "manager", including "director", "administrator" and "president". The term "manager" is used more frequently in profit-making organizations, while the others are used more widely in government and non-profit orga­nizations such as universities, hospitals and social work agencies.

What, then, is a manager?

When used collectively the term "management" refers to those people who are responsible for making and carrying out de­cisions within the system.

An individual manager is a person who directly supervises people in an organization.

Some basic characteristics seem to apply to managers in all types of organizations; they include hard work on a variety of acti­vities, preference for active tasks, direct personal relationships.

Almost everything a manager does involves decisions. The reason for making a decision is that a problem exists. In decision-making there is always some uncertainty and risk.

Managing is a hard job. There is a lot to be done and relatively little time to do it. The engineer can finish a design on a particular day, and the lawyer can win or lose a case at a certain time. But the manager's job is like "Old Man River" – it just keeps going.

Text 6 World Exhibitions

The first world industrial exhibition was held in London in 1851. It was a great success. It displayed exhibits of 40 participating nations and the number of visitors reached over six million.

Since then world industrial expositions have had a colourful history. Many such events have been held, some of them on a large scale. They have changed not only in size and scope, but also in character and overall purpose. Such events provided opportunities for exchanging scientific, technological and cultural achievements of the people of Europe, America, Australia, Asia and Africa.

Beginning with the early 60s, international expositions began to take new forms, trying to emphasize not only technological progress, but also other aspects of life. They became festivals of industry and culture.

Fairs and exhibitions provide an opportunity to establish profitable contacts and promote mutual understanding among different nations.

The former Soviet Union has been host to a growing number of international exhibitions. They were sponsored by the USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The first international exhibition in our country was held in Moscow in 1964. Since then exhibitions have been held in other cities as well and their number has increased to a great extent. However, traditionally, Moscow is still the centre of such events.

Even in ancient Russia this city, which is conveniently located on a river, always attracted thousands of traders. The Fair in those days was a highly festive occasion with colourful crowds filling the streets and much merry-making. On such days the streets were packed with traders, many of whom arrived from far-away places. Moscow has always been famous for its hospitality. Today Moscow is a regular meeting place of traders from different countries. The trade partners participating for many years in the international exhibitions which are held in Moscow and other cities of the Soviet Union appreciate the amicable atmosphere and business-like spirit of the commercial negotiations at these events.