- •What is corporate culture? What is meant by academic and non-academic approach?
- •How does company culture affect employees?
- •What problems can interns experience with work placement? How can companies help interns to adapt to their work culture and achieve work-life balance?
- •What is the organigram of the company? What types of company hierarchy are known?
- •5. 1) What departments are essential for the existence of the company?
- •2) What makes a good manager?
- •6. What kind of personal problems can interns or employees experience when working abroad?
- •7. What is counseling? What counseling techniques do you know?
- •8. What do customer service and customer support refer to? (s.B #2)
- •9. What are ‘performance standards’ in customer service? Speak about ‘golden rules of customer service’? (s. B. #2)
- •10. What is a call centre? (интернет)
- •11. What is outsourcing?
- •12. Does complaining help companies to improve its performance? If so, how? How to deal with complaints? (s. B. #2)
- •13. How can companies ensure job satisfaction for their staff? Speak about quality of working life, perks and promotion prospects? (listening страница 18 №6)
- •14. What are the terms when marketing can be approached? Speak about marketing mix.
- •15. What factors influence the developing of a new product?
- •16.What are the main stages in product development and designing?
- •17.What is a cross-functional task force? What makes it different from a traditional design team?
- •18.Do you agree that “packaging is the last chance to seduce the customer”? Is packaging really so important nowadays? What functions does it perform?
- •19. What is “wrap rage”? Have you ever experienced it? Does “wrap rage” really make manufactures change the packaging?
- •20. What should staff know when the product is on the market?
- •21.What is a usp? Is it possible to develop one for all types of products or services?
- •22. What is a typical job search plan or job sculpting
- •23. What are the ten tips to crate career that will light your fire
- •24. How can you note down the difference between vocation, career and job.
- •26. What are career decisions based on? How easy is it to combine your interests with your choice of career?
- •27. What ways of getting job you know? Which ones do you think you will use?
- •28. What is the main aim of job interview for the employer and the potential employee?
- •29. How can an applicant impress an interviewer? How to be well-prepared for the job interview?
- •30. How many ways of spending a gap year can you think of? Are gap years and career breaks common in Russia?
- •32 What misconceptions about negotiations often turn up?
- •33 What issues might be subject to negotiation?
- •34 What might preparation before negotiating consist of?
- •35 What types of negotiations do you know?
- •36 What key techniques during the negotiation are used? What should you keep in mind about trading concessions?
- •38. What can serve as an incentive to improve sales? What are advantages / disadvantages of sales incentive programs.
- •39 What features does csr tend to describe?
- •40 What issues does csr cover?
- •41 Why has csr become an important area in the business world?
- •42 What areas are on the borderline between social and business policy?
- •43 Do small businesses have the same responsibilities referring to csr as multinationals?
- •44 What does ‘ to be a good corporate citizen’ mean?
- •45 What kind of corporate image does a company try to project?
- •46 What do you know about ‘golden rules of meetings’?
- •47 What is the difference between a merger and an acquisition? Are the differences great in practice? Why?
- •48 What is involved on deciding a merger or an acquisition? What steps are undertaken by the board when deciding what company to merge with?
- •49 What factors are taken into account when merging and in what case is it successful?
- •50 .What problems may arise after acquisition has happened? How are m&a perceived by employees, shareholders, customers and the general public?
- •51 How is a merger like and unlike a marriage?
- •52 What are good and wrong reasons for m&a?
- •53 What are pros and cons of taking over a business? Think about the five Gs in particular.
- •54.What types of stock market investors are known? What “animals” can you find on the stock market ?
- •55.Why are companies interested in export trade? What are the most important reasons for exporting?
- •56. What should be done before getting started on the foreign market?
- •57.What options of the distribution channel should be considered?
- •58.What other more specialized export options do you know and what do they mean?
- •59. What issues are discussed with agents and distributors?
- •60. What methods of payment in international trade do you know?
- •61. What difficulties of selling products are there in overseas markets ?
47 What is the difference between a merger and an acquisition? Are the differences great in practice? Why?
A merger is when two companies join together as equals to form one, and the process is mutually consensual, whereas an acquisition (or takeover) is when a larger company buys a smaller one, and the smaller company may not be happy because its identity will be lost. In practice the differences are not so great, firstly because nearly always one partner will be more powerful, and secondly because the legal and practical arrangements are very similar. The term M&A is common in place of mergers and acquisitions, and it is used a lot in the context of investment banking, where advising on and organizing M&A activity is a very lucrative part of their business.
48 What is involved on deciding a merger or an acquisition? What steps are undertaken by the board when deciding what company to merge with?
What is involved in deciding on a merger or acquisition? The initial idea will come from the board of directors - it is a very long-term strategic decision and operational managers are unlikely to put forward the idea of joining together with a company who they see as a competitor in their day-to-day work.
So, the board has to make a decision that for reasons of growth, or increased competitive advantage, or extending their product line into other related areas, they will look for a target company to merge with or buy. The next step is to analyse the potential target. This means not only understanding its products and its customers, but also its cost structure
because the aim is to make substantial savings when the two companies join together and
any future investments that might be necessary if it were bought.
49 What factors are taken into account when merging and in what case is it successful?
Eventually you arrive at two figures - the first is what the company is worth to the current owners, and the second is what it is worth to the company making the acquisition. The difference between the two arises because of the benefits (added value) that the acquisition will bring. If those benefits are clear and substantial, the takeover will go smoothly - the acquiring company will start to accumulate shares in its target until it has a controlling stake. Existing shareholders of the target company are likely to be happy - the price of their own shares will be rising because of the increased demand as shares are being bought, and because of the future prospects for synergy between the two companies.
People inside the target company will be less happy - they will be worried about their jobs. The larger company who is buying them is unlikely to need two marketing directors, two finance directors, and all the extra middle managers. Indeed, one of the main arguments in favour of the acquisition will have been precisely this - to make cost savings by merging budgets and running the same business with fewer employees. In relation to the board of the target company - they may be prepared to fight for their independence if the takeover is hostile, or they may be pleased (perhaps they had decided to sell off this part of the business in order to focus on their core activities).