5. People in organizations. Entrepreneurs

1. Do you share the opinion that people are the most important asset of an organization?

2. What attributes make people different? (intelligence, aptitudes, physical strength, manual dexterity, knowledge, skills, interests, personality traits, motivation, etc.)

3. Do you agree with some psychologists that assume human freedom is only an illusion? Explain why.

4. Speak about Theory X and Theory Y assumptions conceptualized by McGregor. (X holds that an average person is indifferent to the needs of the organization as he is lazy and thus should be controlled and directed all the time; Y holds that people have high capacity for development and they are mainly interested in their work, so the task of a good manger is to motivate them)

5. According to Theory X most people prefer to be directed and controlled. Do you?

6. What2 points should be made with reference to these 2 theories? (Theory X – characteristics should be applied to everyone, which is absurd; Theory Y- assumptions are referred to an average person; all people have potential for responsible behaviour and attitudes)

7. Do you believe that blood group influences your abilities. Blood group A, e. g., are thinkers, while blood group B are highly creative?

8. What theory would you adhere to as a manager?

9. Differentiate between job description and job specification. (description is a broad statement of the purpose, scope, duties and responsibilities of a particular job; specification is a detailed statement of the physical and mental activities involved in the job)

10. What are the five categories of the job specification? Give your examples of a profession in each category. (unskilled=manual labour; mechanical and motor skills= a machine operator; intelligence and knowledge= teachers, designers; administrative or managerial skills= middle- line managers; initiative and decision making skills= top-managers)

11. Do you belong to the people who are comfortable with a nine –to five existence? Are there many people of this type among your friend, relatives, colleagues?

12. Define entrepreneur. What do most entrepreneurs have in common? (self-starter, a person who organizes and mangers a business)

13. What is meant by «calculated risk»? (well-planned activities, planning is based on the thorough analysis of all possible details involved)

14. Comment on: «Entrepreneurship is regarded to be the first track to success»?

15. Give your variant of an entrepreneur profile (age, traits of character, business, backgrounds, etc.)

6.International Business. International Trade

1. How would you define « international business »? (all business transactions that involve two or more countries)

2. What are the three main motivations for firms to go international? (to expand sales, to acquire resources, to diversify sources of sale and supply)

3. Why are international sales considered to be main motives for firm’s expansion into international business? (higher sales means higher profits, economies of scale, higher price of a product on the international market)

4. Why do manufactures and distributors look for products and services (as well as components and finished goods) produced in foreign countries? (cheaper, costs reduction, sometimes better quality)

5. What does diversification imply? (enlarge or vary its range of products or field of operation; different products (cosmetics, household goods etc); seasonal products sold in different countries (northern and southern hemispheres); suppliers of the same component from different countries (no losses in case of strike or disasters)

6. Explain the following: «The timing of business cycles differs among countries». (individual economies develop cyclically, growth follows recession and recession follows growth, but this process is not coordinated all over the world, thus if there is a recession in one country, there is for sure another one experiencing growth)

7. What is the difference between merchandise exports and merchandise imports? Why are they called visible export and import? (export – goods sent out of the country, import – goods brought in; these are tangible goods, thus visible)

8. Why do companies involved in international business almost always start with exporting and importing? (least commitment, risk and resources)

9. What do we mean by service export and service import? (international earnings other than those from goods; receipt of these earnings=export, payment=import)

10. What types of services does international business comprise? Give your examples. (financial (banking), travel, tourism, transportation, performance of activities abroad)

11. What assets from abroad are knows as licensing agreements? (trademarks, patents, copyrights)

12. What is franchising? Can you give any examples of franchising in Belarus? (agreement between a corporation and a smaller company in a host country that allows the smaller company to use the larger company’s trade name and sell its products or services in a specific territory, McDonald’s)

13. When does direct investment take place? What percentage does it amount to? (when control follows the investment, even 10 percent is enough to influence the policy of a company)

14. Why do you think nations trade? (as nations have to specialize in the production of certain goods due to the lack of some and surplus of other resources they have to trade to obtain the goods they cannot produce domestically)

15. What is meant by terms of trade?

16. Explain the main types of restrictions in international trade. Why do countries impose restrictions of one form or another? (tariffs, import quotas, nontariff barriers (laws and regulations, licensing))