Unit 5 Business Environment

Ex. 3 b)

1. The average wage may be quite low in Caracas or a Big Mac might cost a lot there.

2. It takes a long time to earn enough to buy a Big Mac in Lagos. There may be a luxury tax on it in Nigeria.

3. In Chicago the competition from other hamburger companies could affect the price.

4. I could be wrong, but I think that the Big Mac and a portion of fries costs about 3 pounds in London.

5. Big Macs may cost more to produce in Lagos, but it can’t be because of the cost of labour. Labour costs are so low there.

6. Perhaps Big Macs are more expensive in Britain because demand is high.

7. Salaries are probably higher in Frankfurt than in London.

Ex. 6 b)

Tom Armstrong:

I'm going to talk about the world's most competitive countries, and to do this we are using an index, where we can see that the United States of America is at the top of the index, and the questions we must ask are 'why are some countries higher than others?' America is at the top of the index because of continuous economic growth. We note that the Netherlands is Europe's highest competitor, or best competitor, in fourth position, and this again is because of a successful economic restructuring.

Singapore comes in the second position, at number two - it is the most technologically advanced economy in the world. Perhaps surprisingly Germany is below countries such as Canada and Britain, and is in 14th place, as a result of a re-unification process which is very, very expensive. Brazil is equivalent to Greece and the Czech Republic in having problems with infrastructure, and finds itself in 37th position.

Unit 6 Company Performance

Ex. 3

Business analyst:

OK. Let’s start with some news about IKEA. The Swedish furniture giant (IKEA) has continued to do excellent business this year. IKEA has a global presence with stores in around 30 countries and it’s continuing to expand, opening new stores every year. Its biggest market is Europe with sales accounting to 84.4 % of total sales. Within Europe, Scandinavia, Germany, France and the UK are very significant markets. Of these Germany is the largest, with France, Scandinavia and the UK having almost equal shares. North America accounts for 14.4 % of sales and Asia for 1.2%

IKEA's products are designed and developed in Sweden by IKEA Sweden, but manufactured all over the world. IKEA has suppliers in 65 countries. 19.2% of the suppliers are in the Far East and 1 7.2% in East Central Europe. Just 3.3% are in North America. IKEA's success depends on these local suppliers, so before opening a store in a new market, IKEA establishes a link with a supplier in that market. It chooses carefully; criteria for selecting suppliers may include proximity to raw materials, reliable access to distribution channels and low-costs …

Ex. 4 f)

1. We increase sales every year.

2. We need an increase in sales.

3. We want to decrease the costs.

4. They won't accept a decrease in their salaries.

5. Exports cost too much.

6. We hope to increase exports.

7. We need to decrease imports.

8. We import and export.

Ex. 5 c)

1. Sales increased slightly from 1991 to 1992.

2. Sales decreased dramatically from 1992 to 1993.

3. In 1993 sales improved significantly.

4. Sales rose from 1993 to 1994.

5. Sales grew steadily from 1994 to 1997.

6. Sales fell sharply from 1999 to 2000.