- •1. Four basic factors necessary for any business. Give the arguments for (or against) the statement that business is essential for all economies.
- •2. Advantages and risks of entrepreneurship. How would you initiate the business if you were an entrepreneur?
- •3. Similarities and differences between a sole proprietor and a partnership.
- •4. Favorable and unfavorable points of a corporation. Which of the three businesses would you prefer to work for?
- •5. The difference between intermittent and continuous production.
- •6. Which method of production would you choose for a) custom-made goods and b) standard goods? What are the most important factors in these methods?
- •7. What two methods do employers use to select applicants for an interview? Suppose you are to employ a manager for your firm. Which method would you use?
- •8. The functions of the personnel department. Your first steps as the Head of the pd if you happen to be appointed to this post.
- •9. The general concept of marketing, its constituent parts. Types of markets.
- •10. Modern marketing – new principles.
- •11. The function of distribution from the view of a business manager. The role of a middleman in distribution.
- •12. The distribution system from the view of a customer. Different types of retail outlets.
- •13. The concept of promotion, its main activities. What type of advertising would you use for promoting a new kind of product your firm has just launched?
- •14. Personal selling – what way does it differ from other forms of promotion? Try to persuade a foreign firm to buy a new passenger airliner constructed in Russia.
- •15. Two types of sales promotion activities. What would you do to promote a new type of tea or coffee?
- •16. Interdependence of promotion and market situation. What would you do if the market turns out to be saturated with your goods?
- •17. Four aspects of international business. What is the main difference between Smith’s theory and Ricardo’s theory?
- •18. Discuss the activities of an exporting company and the reactions of the country importing products. How should the country protect its domestic industries?
- •19. The importance of computers. Your opinion about the advantages and disadvantages of using computers. The prospective ways of computer development.
- •20. Types of layout. Compare product layout and process layout.
1. Four basic factors necessary for any business. Give the arguments for (or against) the statement that business is essential for all economies.
Business is the human activity related to material things. It is necessary for civilization. It is found in all societies, even the simplest ones. Business may include the production of goods: making airplanes, building houses, and constructing paper boxes are examples of production. It can also provide the financing for these activities. Lending money, trading stocks and bonds, and selling insurance policies relate to the securing of capital [getting money] for business activities. Other forms of business include merchandising, which is the selling of products, and providing various services, such as accounting, distributing, and repair. Business, then, is the activity of producing and distributing goods and services.
In our study of business, it is necessary to understand the four basic factors of production. These four factors are land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. I’ll tell you the meaning of these four terms.
In order to produce things, it is necessary to use land. Here, the term land is used in the most general way. It refers not only to a piece of real estate where we might build a factory, but it also means all the raw materials used for production. Some of these raw materials are found on the earth’s surface, such as trees, which yield [ji:ld][give] wood for lumber. Some raw materials are found under the earth’s surface in mines and oil wells, and other raw materials may be extracted from the air. All the raw materials for production come from the land, air, and the oceans.
Labor refers to the use of mental or physical work to produce goods. Most labor changes raw materials into finished products and then distributes these to buyers. In industrialized countries, labor is generally more mental than physical. For example, in both manufacturing and agriculture, machines accomplish the very tiring physical work that unskilled laborers used to do. Therefore, to a certain extent the next factor, capital, can be used to replace labor or reduce the amount of physical and mental labor that humans have to use in order to conduct business.
In everyday language, capital means several things. The most general meaning is wealth or money. But it also refers to the equipment that money purchases. As one of the basic factors of production, capital is all of the things that workers use in production and distribution. It includes their tools, machines, and buildings such as factories and warehouses where goods are produced and stored. Capital, therefore, refers to anything which helps to produce and distribute goods.
Putting together land, labor, and capital to make something of value, is called entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur is the person responsible for controlling and directing the other three factors. The entrepreneur does not make things with his own hands unless he is also a worker. In a business the workers take orders from the entrepreneur. He is the leader, and the employees follow his direction.