III. Tick the factors below which contributed to Miele’s success.

1. It has excellent quality control in its factories.

2. It changes its position in the market according to demand and fashions.

3. Its prices are very competitive.

4. It uses a lot of outside suppliers.

5. It spends more money than other manufacturers on creating new products.

6. It does a lot of testing.

7. It focuses on every detail of production.

8. Each component lasts a long time.

IV. Match the words or phrases from the article to the definitions.

1. the most important company of its type in the world (noun, paragraph 1)

2. measures of quality by which the processes of producing goods in factories are judged (noun, paragraph1)

3. to sell products more cheaply (verb, paragraph 1)

4. employing another company to do work for you (verb, paragraph 2)

5. people who are interested in how much money they pay for a product (adjective, paragraph 6)

V. Discuss.

1. Can companies outsource and still maintain quality?

2. Can companies do everything in their home country and still remain competitive?

3. How can companies build loyalty among consumers?

VI. Render the text.

LISTENING 1

A Successful Company

(Market Leader Pre-Intermediate Unit 3 Recording 3.1, 3.2, 3.3)

I. Work in pairs. Agree on the three most important factors from those in

the list below which can make a company successful.

• focusing on how to increase market share

• having a strong company culture

• having user-friendly packaging

• having good designers who also understand production

• responding to the needs of the workforce

• starting with a simple business idea that is easy to understand

II. Listen to the first part of the interview with Peter Jelkeby, IKEA’s UK

Deputy Country Manager. He talks about four factors that make IKEA a

successful company. Listen and number the four factors in task I in the

order he mentions them.

III. Listen to the second part of the interview and complete the notes.

IKEA manages to stay ahead of the competition by:

• ____(1) the market and the customer ____(2).

• understanding how the ____(3) are acting

• being not only about products, but also about ____(4) to people’s needs

IV. Listen to the final part of the interview and decide which of the following

was the interviewer’s question.

1. What new projects are you involved in at present?

2. How can you keep up your performance at such a difficult time for the economy?

3. What are the things a successful international business must do?

LISTENING 2

Presenting your company

(Market Leader Pre-Intermediate Unit 3 Recording 3.4)

I. Which of these suggestions do you agree with?

To make an effective presentation, you should:

1. find out as much as possible about your audience

2. introduce yourself (name, position, company)

3. start with a joke

4. outline the structure of your talk

5. vary the tone of your voice

6. refer to your notes as often as possible

7. use clear visual aids

8. summarise your main points.

2. Listen to the presentation about Tara Fashions. Complete the chart.

Tara Fashions
Where is the head office?	Cordoba, …
What does it sell?
Who are its customers?
What is its annual turnover?
What are its annual net profits?
How many stores does it have in Spain? in other European cities?
What are its strengths?
What are its future plans?

3. Listen again. Tick the phrases that you hear in the Useful Language box.

Useful language

Outlining the presentation First, I’ll give you some basic information. Secondly, I’ll talk about our stores in other countries. Next, I’ll talk about career opportunities. Last of all, I want to look at our future plans.

Introducing new information Here’s some basic information. Let me add a few figures. Let’s have a look at some statistics. What are our strengths?

Ending the presentation To conclude, I want to tell you about our future plans. Finally, a few words about our new project. Thanks very much for listening to my talk. Thanks for coming to my presentation. (this phrase may also be used at the very beginning)