Embargoes and sanctions

Governments can prohibit the import or export of certain products for military, sanitary, moral or political reasons. A military embargo prevents weapons going to a certain country. The United States prohibit the import of certain birds and animals for sanitary reasons. Moral reasons are the grounds for embargoing cocaine, heroin and other drugs. Sometimes governments prevent the export for political reasons. For example, the United Nations set embargo on sales to, and purchases from, Rhodesia before it became Zimbabwe.

Sanctions are a form of reaction to illegal actions of another party. There are sanctions against dumping, for example. Dumping means shipping large amounts of a product to another country at prices below the selling price.

Vocabulary

embargo – эмбарго

embargoing – наложение эмбарго

sanctions – санкции

prohibit – запрещать

military – военный

sanitary – санитарный

moral – моральный

political – политический

reason – причина

prevent – препятствовать, ставить преграды

weapon – оружие, орудие

bird – птица

animal – животное

grounds – основание

drug – лекарство, наркотик

reaction – реакция

illegal – незаконный

actions – действия

party – партия; сторона

dumping – демпинг

price – цена

below – ниже

Regulations of international business

Some governments impose various regulations on businesses in their countries. Sometimes these regulations discourage foreign companies from entering home markets. In some countries all international businesses must have local partners. In other countries a foreign firm must have at least one native in the top management of a branch or a subsidiary. Some governments, for example in Mexico, insist that the local partners have the controlling interest. However, big firms like IBM refuse to do business on these grounds and usually manage to find the way out.

Government regulations limit what a company may do. For example, some countries demand that the company files a plan indicating what it is going to produce, how many local workers it is going to hire and how much it will pay the workers. This plan must also fit into the government economic master plan. If the country changes its master plan, the foreign firm must change its plans, too.

Vocabulary

from entering – от вхождения

at least – по меньшей (крайней) мере

insist - настаивать

interest – здесь: пакет акций

controlling interest – контрольный пакет акций

However – тем не менее, вместе с тем

refuse - отказываться

way out - выход

demand - требовать

files a plan – представить план

indicate - указывать

indicating - указывающий

hire - нанимать

fit - соответствовать

master – хозяин, мастер, глава

master plan – главный план

native – местный житель; здесь: местный бизнесмен

What is business?

Business is a word which is commonly used in many different languages. But exactly what does it mean? The concepts and activities of business have increased in modern times. Traditionally, business simply meant exchange or trade for things people wanted or needed. Today it has a more technical definition. One definition of business is production, distribution and sale of goods and services for a profit. To examine this definition we will look at its various parts.

First, production is the creation of services or the changing of materials into products. One example is the conversion of iron ore into metal car parts. Next these products need to be moved from the factory to the marketplace. This is known as distribution. A car might be moved from a factory in Detroit to a car dealership in Miami.

Third is the sale of goods and services. Sale is the exchange of a product or service for money. A car is sold to someone in exchange for money. Goods are products which people cither need or want; for example, cars can be classified as goods. Services, on the other hand, are activities which a person or group performs for another person or organization. For instance, an auto mechanic performs a service when he repairs a car.

However, there is one other important factor. This factor is the creation of profit or economic surplus. A major goal in the functioning of an American business company is making a profit. Profit is the money that remains after all the expenses are paid. Creating an economic surplus or profit is, therefore, a primary goal of business activity.