Arranging a meeting

The rules of things to do before a meeting:

1. Send an agenda several days before.

2. Make sure everyone knows the time and date of the meeting.

3. Say where it will be, and how to get there.

4. Make it clear why you are having the meeting.

5. Make sure everyone knows who will be there.

6. Appoint a chairperson and note taker.

7. If necessary, ask people to prepare to talk about a particular point.

8. Make sure people know what will happen next.

9. Be ready to write a memo with the solutions to a problem.

A sample of a memo:

MEMO

To: All Staff

From: Melanie Jury

Date: 15 July

Subject: Purchase orders

Please note that a purchase order (copy attached) must be completed for all purchases over $50.

Complete purchase orders should be passed to Christine Hantke to agree terms of payment with the supplier, and then sent to the Working office for final approval.

Purchase orders under $50 can be paid for from the petty cash account.

Many thanks for your co-operation.

MJ

Some rules for writing a memo:

1. Memos are usually for internal communication.

2. They should include the following heading: To/ From/ Date/ Subject

3. They should be short and include only relevant information.

4. Points should be arranged in logical order. In longer memos, it is common to number points.

5. The tone of a memo may be formal or neutral.

6. It is usual to end with your initials rather than a signature.

Tasks and exercises:

1. Match the words and phrases from the (1-7) with the definitions (a-g). Then write words and phrases in your own language.

1. purpose

2. agenda

3. main points

4. participants

5. chairperson

6. minutes

7. action points

1. notes of what is said at a meeting

2. the people who take part in a meeting

3. a list of what will happen at a meeting

4. the things to do after a meeting

5. the person who keeps control of a meeting

6. the reason for or aim of having a meeting

7. the most important things to talk about

2. Work in different groups to have a meeting. A few of you are having a meeting to decide how to improve the communication in a company. Appoint a chairperson and someone to take minutes.

3. Write a memo of what you have decided.

Unit 2

International Marketing Business brief

“The world's youth prefer Coke to tea, trainers to sandals,” wrote one marketing specialist recently. This implies that tastes everywhere are becoming similar and homogeneous. But as the article in the main Course Book illustrates, the watchword should still be Think global, act local. Acting local means having local market knowledge: there are still wide variations in taste, customs, behavior and expectations between consumers indifferent markets, even markets that from the outside look very similar, such as those in Europe. It means, for example, recognizing attachments to local brands, how business is done in each place and soon.

Of course, these are issues that a company with a global presence has to address. But even companies that seem as if they have been global for ever had to start from a home base. For example, it took Marlboro 30 years and McDonald's 20 years to become truly global organizations.

How to enter overseas markets in the first place? Philip Kotler enumerates the various methods.

• Indirect export. Exporters use an intermediary, such as an export agent, to deal with buyers in the overseas market

• Direct export. Companies handle their own exports, for example by setting up overseas sales offices.

• Licensing. Companies sell the rights to use a manufacturing process, trademark or patent for a fee or royalty. In services such as hotels, the company may negotiate a management contract with a local business to run the hotels on its behalf.

• Joint ventures. Two companies, for example an overseas firm and a local one, may work together to develop a particular market.

• Direct investment. The company buys a local firm, or sets up its own manufacturing subsidiaries.

Of course, these different arrangements require different levels of commitment, investment and risk. Kotler talks about the internationalization process, where firms move (hopefully) through these stages:

• no regular export activities;

• export via independent representatives / agents;

• establishment of overseas sales subsidiaries;

• establishment of production facilities abroad.

This process will help them to progress towards global thinking and local action as they expand internationally. At different stages, companies will have different levels of understanding of the markets where they are trying to develop. Each step in the process requires different levels and types of support.