Siska (201960072)

Unit 1
Companies
In the initial discussion, we discussed about companies which is there
are many different types of companies. Most large corporations are
public limited or joint-stock companies. A joint-stock company is a
business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought
and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in
proportion, evidenced by their shares. Shareholders are able to transfer
their shares to others without any effects to the continued existence of
the company. Many are multinationals with subsidiaries and assets in
various different countries and they generally engage in mergers with
other companies and acquisitions in order to expand. However, the large
corporation is increasingly under threat from the growing number of
dotcoms set up by entrepreneurs. In the first discussion in chapter one,
we discussed about a matter of choice. In this discussion, we learn
about understanding the capital market. The term capital market broadly
defines the place where various entities trade different financial
instruments. These venues may include the stock market, the bond
market, and the currency and foreign exchange markets.
In the other discussions in chapter one, we discussed about present
simple and continuous. The present simple is a form of tense that is
used to express habits, general truths, repeated actions or unchanging
situations, emotions and wishes, to give instructions or directions, to
express fixed arrangements, present or future, to express future time,
after some conjunctions (after, when, before, as soon as, until). The
present continuous is a form of tense that is used to describe an action
that is going on at this moment, describe an action that is going on
during this period of time or a trend, describe an action or event in the
future, which has already been planned or prepared, describe a
temporary event or situation, and to describe and emphasise a
continuing series of repeated actions.

For career skills, we discussed about job, like listen to several people
from the companies, then writing a profile for some people in business
activity, and the last one is speaking which is used for introducing
yourself and talking about your job. Beside in career skills there’s some
cultures prefer step hierarchies with many levels of management, clear
roles and very powerful senior managers.
And the last one for chapter one is dilemma: the virtue of necessity. It is
a serious safety problem that threatens the future of pipeline company.
There’s some accidents that led to high absenteeism, like causing lost
time, low morale, unsatisfactory efficiency levels, falling profits and
falling share price. In the last discussion of chapter one there’s tasks that
we have to discuss about the potential benefits and disadvantages of
each one and choose the best option and present our arguments about
it.
 Unit 2
Leadership
The rule of a leader is to inspire and motivate staff to develop talent
within an organisation. Which mean the action of leading people in an
organization towards achieving goals. Leaders do this by influencing
employee behaviors in several ways. A leader sets a clear vision for the
organization, motivates employees, guides employees through the work
process and builds morale. The management style of leaders varies,
some prefer to delegate responsibility to subordinates whereas others
prefer to use their authority to control operations directly. In this chapter
we previewed about management styles, read about fear and
management, and matched the words from the text with similar
meanings.

For example of the synonyms:

Inspire - Motivate
Fire - Sack
Fear - Terror
Defeat - Failure
Subordinate - employee
Tactic - technique

Fear and management

In sports, more than in most business management tactics are out in the
open for all to see. Not managers try to strangle their subordinates, like
Bobby Knight, a former basketball coach at Indiana University once did.
But the ability to inspire fear has always been an essential tool for
management. Beside does fear really motivate? In sport says Scott
Snook, who teaches organizational behaviour at Harvard Business
School, “fear can become a barrier to taking risks, yet can provide
essential emotional kick needed to meet challenges.” As a coach, they
need to strike the right balance and the right player in order to develop
talent. Yet used in boardroom, fear can be disastrous. Like Tony
Couchman, recalls the board of a large firm with a chief executive who
so dominated his directors that they rarely questioned or challenged him.

Articles
In this part we have to:
The indefinite article a/an refers to:
- Non-specific singular countable nouns (He’s a good manager.)
- Jobs and nouns of nationality (I’m a sales executive.)
The definite article the refers to:
- Nouns already mentioned or specified (I gave the report to her.)
- Nouns that are one of a kind (You can read about it on the
internet.)
- The superlative form of objectives (It’s the best job I’ve had.)
There is usually no article with:
- General plural and uncountable nouns (Criticism doesn’t help.)
- Abstract nouns such as talent, success (We should develop our
talent.)

Getting things done

Management is often about getting people to do things effectively and on
time. Direct orders can demotivate subordinates as they give them no
choice but to do as they are told. A softer approach is to focus on the
positive outcome of an employee completing a task:
- It would be a great help if you could get the report done by friday.
By phrasing instructions as questions, an employee feels respected and
involved in the decision-making process.
- Would you mind working late next week?
In direct cultures instructions are very short. This can be seen as
impolite and aggressive by people from indirect cultures, where
instructions are usually polite requests.

Dilemma: Misssion: Impossible?

Louis Schweitzer, 59 years old CEO of the Renault group. He faces the
hardest time in his business, he needs something to be done to return
the profit and quickly. By the time, there’s only one name that comes to
his mind: Carlos Ghosn. He would be just the person for the job. He has
a reputation as a man of action who takes quick decisions and who likes
to do things his own way. But how he convinced him?
- Making a smart pitch
- Give some background information
- Ask politely
- Be specific
- Have patience
- Building a good relationship
- Appear trustworthy.
 Unit 3
Strategy
Developing a successful strategy is a vital part of the planning process
for all business organisations. Analysing where a business stands in
relation to its markets and competition enables it to identify potential
threats. It is then possible to set strategic objectives and to predict the
human and financial resources needed to achieve them.

Nike’s Goddess
Could a famously masculine company finally click with female
customers? That was the challenge behind Nike Goddess, whose goal
was to change how the company designed for, sold to and
communicated with women. In its 30-year history, Nike had become the
undisputed leader in sports marketing. But the beneath success was
Achilles’ heel. Nike named after a woman, the Greek goddess of victory.
But for most of its history, the company had been perceived as being
mostly about man. But Nike sees a market opportunity where they can
sell their products to women. Nike has a chance to reach a crucial
objective: double its sales to women by the end of the decade.
Nike’s Goddess learn how to conceptualize the sale of these products to
women, so the stores have the comforting feel of a woman’s own home.
NIke’s Goddess also learn how to design a new approach to retail was
only one element in Nike’s campaign. Which is better at keeping up with
fashion trends. And in Nike’s Goddess company they learn how to talk to
women, which is an opportunity to redefine and re-energise the entire
brand around a market that was taking off.
Future forms

Career skills: Short presentations

The ability to make a short presentation of your ideas is a key business
skill that enables you to communicate statistical information, present
ideas and persuade people of the strengths of argument. To do this
effectively you need to prepare.
1. Make a plan of your talk. This should include at least three
sections:
- Introduction
- Development
- Conclusion
2. Write detailed notes of what you will say, showing:
- Key points and keywords
- Transitions between the different sections
- Visual aids you will refer to
- The action points you will stress
 3. Practise your presentation to make sure that:
- You use simple and clear language
- Your talk does not go over the time available
- You will not need to read from your notes
Some cultures place a lot of importance on events starting and finishing
on time. Others believe things should take as long as they need and are
flexible with itineraries and schedules.

Harley’s Angels
Harley Davidson, proposals for strategic leadership council meeting.
Product development approach, invest in new lighter and faster Harley
Davidson models. This might attract a younger purchaser and would
change the image of HD products, which are associated with heavier
cruising bikes.
Acquisition approach, Harley Davidson has acquired Buell, a small
manufacturer of sports motorcycles. This could be an opportunity to
introduce a new range of sports bikes that would be marketed by
existing HD dealers but sold under the Buell brand. And aggressive
foreign expansion. HD has poor market penetration in Europe and the
Far East. Huge potential markets exist, especially in China which has
annual sales of 14 million motorcycles.
Marketing approach, concentrate on developing the merchandising
sources of income by signing deals to develop the HD brand on clothing
and fashion accessories.
Distribution approach, review the HD dealer network. At the moment the
dealers are independent operations which place orders with the parent
company. It might be possible to develop sales through other outlets
(buyers clubs, specialist stores). And develop a strong internet presence,
possibly with direct internet sales.
 Unit 4
Pay
CEOs and top senior executives are sometimes referred to as ‘fat cats’
because of the enormous pay packages and rewards they are offered
when joining a company. These may include details of salary, pension
and, frequently, even the possibility of a ‘golden parachute’ or very
generous severance deal, which is the sum of money they are
guaranteed when they leave the company. Pay deals are negotiated by
remuneration committees (compensation committees in the US) and are
voted on by shareholders.

The rewards of failure

When the public mood changes, the realisation can take time to sink in.
Behaviour that was once acceptable can overnight come to be seen as
outrageous. Companies may set up deals with bosses they no longer
want in order to encourage them to go quickly and without a legal fight.
But a generous advance promise to reward failure is no way to
encourage success. Like the “guaranteed bonus” and the lifetime free
dental treatment, it offers chief executives a one-way bet.
Present perfect and past simple

Career skills
Evaluating performance, performance is usually evaluated by looking at
past objectives and deciding whether they have been met. If they have
not been met, the person being evaluated can give reasons why and
new objectives can be fixed. Below are some expressions you might
hear during an evaluation session. Objectives-focused cultures clearly
define objectives and detail roles and tasks in writing. Flexible cultures
build relationships first and let goals develop with the relationship.

Dilemma: Success at what price?

Throughout our lives we are told that life is about competition – it’s about
being better than everyone else, and that in order to get ahead, others
must fail. Competition is all around us, it’s at the core of our personal
philosophy, professional lives, government strategy, etc. What many
around the world are finally realizing is that we do not have to fight for
resources. We have to stop thinking that one person’s success is
another person’s failure. There’s enough room in this world for all of our
brilliance to shine. We simply have to appreciate each other and work
together, sharing resources. By doing so, we all benefit. We do not have
to succeed at the expense of others. This is a very primal, old-aged and
worn way of thought that unfortunately seems to continue to pervade
people’s competitive nature. Me to We is at work, but there’s still a long
way to go.
 Unit 5
Development
Economic development has brought benefits to the populations of both
the more and less economically developed countries (MEDC - More
Environmental Development Consideration and LEDC - Less
Environmental Development Consideration).Loans from international
organisations enable governments to exploit their natural resources and
to invest in construction projects and industrial facilities. This raises GDP
(Gross Domestic Product) and improves standards of living.
Environmentalists oppose development which produces pollution and
endangers the health of local people and depletes resources.

Gas for Peru v green imperialism

Even if natural gas from the Amazon jungle reaches Peru's capital, Lima,
next August as planned, it will have taken almost two decades to get
there. Royal Dutch/Shell started exploring the huge Camisea gas field in
the mid-1980s, but finally walked away from it in 1998 after years of
wrangling with Peru's governments over the contract for the country's
biggest energy project. Other firms have stepped in. But now American
environmentalists are making a final attempt to halt the $1.5 billion
project, which if it goes ahead should turn Peru from an importer of fuel
into an exporter. The outcome of this battle will be a test of the political
viability of big development projects in South America. The IDB can help.
But many Peruvians think it should be for Peru to decide whether and
how to make best use of its natural resources.
Modal verbs of likelihood
● Certainty
Something that definitely happened.
● Probability
Chance of an event occurring (80% will happen).
● Possibility
A chance that something may or may not happen or exist.
Modal verbs also have the following uses:
Career skills: Showing cause and effect
When talking about the consequences of events and situations it is
useful to explain the reasons why we think something happened or will
happen in the future. For examples:
- Building the terminal will lead to massive environmental damage.
- The IDB put off $75m loan due to lobbying by environmentalists.
- A demonstration would result in lots of publicity.
- Jobs will be created as a result of the inward investment.
- The pollution was caused by a factory further up the river.
Dealing with unclear situations, some cultures try to avoid unclear
situations by the use of fixed rules and procedures. Other cultures
tolerate uncertainty and believe you need to be flexible to deal with
problems as they raise.

Dilemma: Striking a balance

Group A: Consortium representatives
is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or
governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of
participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving
a common goal. That will benefit the region and its people, such as:
- Creation of jobs
- Subcontracting opportunities for local Peruvian companies
- Transfer of technology and know-how to Peru
- Improved standard of living for the local people
- Prospects of further economic development
Group B: Peruvian government representatives
As the representatives of Peruvian government. Camisea is a critical
element for the economic development of the country because:
- Cheaper electricity supply for the country
- Improved standard of living (+ one per cent for GDP)
- Increase in foreign investment in Peru
- Creation in foreign investment in Peru
- Creation up to 6,000 jobs during the construction phase.
- Tax income (over $100m per year Cuzco region and $100m for the
government)
Group C: Amazon Watch
To represent the native people of the Camisea region and the marine
reserve at Paracas. The tribes have no desire to see their territory
exploited within a market economy because:
- Diseases brought in by outsiders are a health risk
- Local fishing industry would be endangered by possible pollution
- Social change with communities being replaced by outside
workers
- Long term disruption of the region by other new industries (logging
and agriculture)
- Erosion of the soil around the pipeline route and pollution of water
source.
 Unit 6
Marketing
The various activities of the marketing process are referred to as the
marketing mix and traditionally include the four Ps: product
(characteristics and features), price (appropriate market price),
promotion (communicating the product’s benefits), and place (distribution
of the product in the market). In order to gain a competitive advantage
over rivals, companies create brands that represent aspirations and a
desirable image of life that the customer would like to identify with.

Money can buy love

Brands are accused of all sorts of evils from threatening our health and
destroying our environment to corrupting our children. Brands are so
powerful, it is said, that they force us to look alike, eat alike and be alike.
In the new global economy brands represent a huge portion of the value
of company and, increasingly, its biggest source of profits. So
companies are switching from showcasing product features to marketing
aspirations and the dream of a more exciting lifestyle. Historically,
building a brand was rather simple. A logo was a straightforward
guarantee of quality and consistency, or it was a signal that a product
was something new. For that, consumers were prepared to pay a
premium. And marketers have to take some of the blame. While
consumers have changed beyond recognition, marketing has not. Even
some of the world’s valuable brands, it can be a shockingly old-
fashioned business.
Comparative and superlatives
Comparative adjectives are used to compare differences between the
two objects they modify (larger, smaller, faster, higher). They are used in
sentences where two nouns are compared, in this pattern:

Noun (subject)+verb+ comparative adjective + than + noun (object).

Superlative adjectives are used to describe an object which is at the

upper or lower limit of a quality (the tallest, the smallest, the fastest, the
highest). They are used in sentences where a subject is compared to a
group of objects.

Noun (subject) + verb + the + superlative adjective + noun (object).

Career skills: Considering alternatives
When considering alternatives it is important to show the degree of
difference between them. By using quantifiers we can show our
preferences and argue for them more persuasively.
For example: The new design will cost slightly more but look a lot better.
Factual or vague, some cultures believe that all statements should be
honest, accurate, unemotional and not open to interpretation. Other
cultures prefer to modify statements with understatement (somewhat,
slightly) and exaggeration or even leave the true meaning unsaid.

Dilemma: A scent of risk

Although we believe that the two brands give us a good opportunity to
expand the market, from our point of view, we believe that the best
option would be launching a new brand of fragrance targeted at a
younger segment of the market, in this case would be for the Profile B
who are women between 18 to 25 years.

This decision is based on the fact that launching an entirely new brand
and with a current image can attract an audience that so far has not
been able to achieve with the products with which they already own.
Although it is a risky decision expected good results.

This would also mean a reduction in the costs of packaging although

these costs should engage in promotional campaigns. It was also a risk
that the brand image could change and we must try to retain customers
with which account.

This decision is definitely a challenge for Bellissima.

 Unit 7
Outsourcing
Globalisation is forcing business to make cost savings by reducing
operating costs. One way to do this is by outsourcing - transferring
business processes such as order processing or call centre
management to outside suppliers and service providers. Offshoring is a
new form of outsourcing where businesses relocate back-office
operation in overseas facilities where labour costs are lower.

The new global shift

Now, all kinds of knowledge work can be done almost anywhere. The
driving forces are digitization, the internet, and high speed data networks
that circle the globe. By mining databases over the internet, offshore
staff can check an individual's credit record, analyse corporate financial
information, and search through oceans of economic statistics. The
impact of offshore hiring is hard to measure, since so far a tiny portion of
US white-collar work has jumped overseas. Indeed, a case can be made
that the US will see a net gain from this shift.
Outsourcing experts say the big job migration has only just begun. But if
big layoffs result at home, corporations and the US government will face
a backlash. Some states already pushing for legislation to stop public
jobs from being transferred overseas and now the unions are moving
into the fight to keep jobs at home. The truth is, the rise of the global
knowledge industry is so recent that most economists haven’t begun to
understand the implications. In the west, it’s far less clear who will be
the big winners and losers. But we’ll soon find out.
Conditional 1 and 2
Conditional tenses are used to speculate about what could happen, what
might have happened, and what we wish would happen. In English,
most sentences using the conditional contain the word if. Many
conditional forms in English are used in sentences that include verbs in
one of the past tenses. This usage is referred to as "the unreal past"
because we use a past tense but we are not actually referring to
something that happened in the past. There are five main ways of
constructing conditional sentences in English. In all cases, these
sentences are made up of an if clause and a main clause. In many
negative conditional sentences, there is an equivalent sentence
construction using "unless" instead of "if".
Career skills: Making and responding to suggestions.
Choosing the right way to phrase suggestions depends on the context of
the conversation. Being able to give and opinion about the best course
of action or to advise someone about what you think they should do
means using the appropriate language. For example:
- How / What about...?
- Couldn’t you / we …?
- Why don’t you …?
- If I were you …
- I suggest / think you should …
- It might be better to …
- Ok, let’s do / try that.
- Sounds good to me.
- But what if …?
- The only thing / problem is …
- It’s a good idea, but …
- You’re right.
Decision-making, in some culture senior managers make decisions and
others carry out their instructions. In other cultures decisions are made
by consensus after everyone contributes suggestions and opinions.

Dilemma : Going Offshore

Well, in this case there are a Lumber of issues that have to be looked at.
First, there is the question of Business performance itself. Is it really
going to be worthwhile for this company to take part of its Business
offshore? There is not much doubt-it will be cheaper at least in the short-
term. But there is a downside and that could produce some surprises for
any company. The image of the company may well suffer as a result of a
decision to offshore, and the potential impact of that is difficult to
measure. We have already seen that sort of thing happening and some
companies have even had to bring back work that they had outsourced.
This, of course, could be made worse by union industrial action. Other
problems down the line? Well, when you offshore a critical part of our
your business, your really have to have a fall back strategy if something
goes disastrously wrong. This could be what we call "multi-shoring",
where you have and alternative service provider in another country you
can switch to if things go wrong.

That way, if there is a major appreciation in wages or foreign currency, a

dispute with your local provider or any sort of instability, you are not in
danger.
So you know, I think that if I were being asked to choose a destination
for an outsourcing operation, I would advise the company to think very
carefully about "multi-shoring" that way they can minimize the risks and
transfers operation to another destination i something goes wrong.