Unit 1 – Career

1. Do you have a career plan?

- Yes. Now, I am finding a part-time job like teaching assistant or tutor or some kinds of job related to major
- In this summer, I tend to apply for an internship at Vinfast to improve my professional skill and have a better CV

2. Where do you want to be in 10 years?

In the next 10 years, I want to have a stable job in technology field because I can see how demand of technology jobs is increasing in the
future not only in Asia but also in the rest of the world.

3. Which of the following would you prefer to do: working for one company during your whole career, working for several different
companies, or working for yourself?
I think it depends on occasions. You know having a stable job in one company is ok for me but I want to work for the company that offer
a lot of potential opportunities to develop my career so I think I would choose to work for several different companies. Moreover I think
it helps to gain more knowledges, experiences for my daily life.

4. Which department of a company would you like to work in?

I would like to work in the Logistics or Human Resources department because this 2 jobs are now becoming more and more popular and
it will offer more opportunities to develop my career. Moreover, both of these jobs will be stable and developed for more 5 or 10 years
next.

5. What should a person do to get ahead in his/her career?

- The first things that comes to my mind first is planting a career plan. I think people should know what things they can do really well or
bad and what skills or knowledges they need while they still study at a university

6. How can social-networking sites make or break your career?

First, these day with the advent/explosion of the technology, people can easily find a job in many social-networking platform. However,
a lot of company reject candidates or fired their staff because of their bad behaviours in Facebook or Instagram

7. What should you not do on your social networking pages?

Absolutely not have a bad words, share something have a bad things related to job or just simple that don’t message complaining about
your jobs.

8. What do you hope to do in the future in your career?

I hope to be a researcher of food products such as noodles because I want to formulate my new product and give nutrious food which
help people not only for their healthy life but also for their long life.

9. Do you think there is an ideal career for you? What is it? Why?
Yes, I think interpreter is suitable for me because now I am now majoring in Business English in Vimaru University. Moreover I can
have high salary for this job. If I have some kinds of special abilites or good at english, I can make a huge money from this job

10. What is the best advice you have been given during your career or your studies?
All of the mentors in my university advised me to focus on my study on the 1st years instead of doing part time job because if I spent to
much time in part time job I will no time for my study and that will cause a bad result.

Unit 2 – Companies

1. What is the difference between a family-owned company and a multinational company?

A family company is usually small. (it is not very big) and all the employees know each other very well. In contrast, a multinational
company is usually very big. It has offices in many countries all around the world, so many employees in a multinational company t can
hardly know all their co- workers.
2. What is the difference between a multinational and an international company?
Multinational company has offices and operation located in many countries while international company office is established in only 1
country

3. Which of these companies do you or would you like to work for: a family-owned company, a multinational company or your own
company (be self-employed)?
Well, to be honest, I want to work for a family company. I think it has a friendly working environment. If I worked for a multinational
company, there would be so many people that I could never know them well

4. Which business sector would you like to work in?

- I would like to work in the marketing sector because it is about understanding why people choose products or services of my
company, and If I work in this sector, I can learn how to work or study well under pressure, expand my circle of relationship and how to
deal with problems in my life
5. Would you like to run your own company?
- Absolutely because of the flexibility. Why I talk like that because if I run my own business, I can choose my own working hours, I
can work whenever I want. Taking days off or vacation become much easier to handle

6. One of the articles you read in this unit is Tata. Can you tell what is special about the company?
- It’s the biggest company in India
- Although most of the companies in India are controlled by families members, Tata look for new CEO who comes from outside

7. One of the articles you read in this unit is John Lewis. Can you tell what is special about the company?
- It’s the best company in Britain for workers
- This company is owned by its employees, they have a say in running and sharing profits

8. Which company in your country is doing (not) well at the moment? Explain.
- LocknLock corporation is developing very well in Vietnam as it provides a large number of consumer goods especially kitchen
utensil like cooker, pan, pot or some kinds like that and all of these are high quality products from Korea so Vietnamese customer are
likely believed to use these.

Unit 4 – Great ideas

1. Most of the best ideas are discovered by accident. Do you agree or disagree?
- I agree with this opinion
- Many great ideas were discovered by accident. For example, recently, researcher has discovered a compound that can prevent the
growth of HIV while research on cancer drug

2. Research and development is the key to great business ideas. Do you agree or disagree?
- There is no doubt ab it
- If a businessman wants to success, it has to have a research which sector has the potential to develop, attract more customers
comes and buy their product and services as long as they satisfy with them.
3. There is nothing wrong with copying and improving the ideas of others. Do you agree or disagree?
- I agree. It is never wrong to copy someone else idea. It is business. Once your idea is released in the market, it is copied many
times by many people. Just make sure that you don’t copy the same idea like the others and provide a better services or products to your
customers.
4. The best way to kill an idea is to take it to a meeting. Do you agree or disagree?
- I don’t think so. If the idea is useful and potential, the meeting will make it more perfect and how to apply it in practice. In
contrast, if it is not valuable or unuseful, people will reject it/ will not care about it

5. What do you think are some of the best ideas in the last 20 years?
I think some of the best ideas in the last 20 years are Smartphones, Google, eBay, digital cameras,… These inventions impacted
and changed our world a lot.

6. What should companies do to encourage new ideas?

There are many ways that companies can do to encourage new ideas. Firstly, they can hire people with different skills who
understand their vision, have different abilities, and have strong passions. Secondly, companies can give employees time and create a
suitable place to innovate new ideas. Moreover companies should pay extra salary for employees who think new idea to make them feel
motivated and inspired.

7. Can you give an example of products which were completely original and later copied?/ are green? won an award? were developed
from customer ideas?
Search engines, for example, existed well before Google. However, Google, knew how to do it better than Yahoo, AOL or any other
search engine at the time. They took an existing concept and just implemented it way better than anyone before them.

8. What will be the best business idea in the next 15 years?

I think the healthcare industry will grow a lot in the next 15 years. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, people have become more
aware of diseases and health care issues. The more people develop, the more they care about their health.

9. What would you like someone to invent?

In the future, I would like someone to invent teleporting machine. Human life can become more easy. They can go to the right
destination in a microsecond. Moreover they can have more time to sleep without worring being late for work or school.

10. What makes a business idea a really great idea?

I think there is only 1 thing that can make a business idea become a really great idea that the idea must be useful, showing potenial and
practical. The company host or employers, they just want to use the idea that can really gain more profits, attract more customers to
come and use their products or services. And the most important thing that it can help them become famous aroung the world

11. The best number for a meeting is six people or fewer. Do you agree or disagree?
I agree with this idea. Because if there are too many people in a meeting, it won't be enough time for everyone to express heir
opinions. The meeting will become a mess and not productive. In contrast, if there are few people in a meeting, there will be fewer good
idea to come up and people tend to lose respect for the meeting which lead to less preparation, participation and action.

12. Never have food or drink during a meeting. Do you agree or disagree?
I agree with this idea. We often meet in closed spaces and the food will often smell which will make the meeting uncomfortable.
Moreover, it is impolite to eat during a meeting and show no respect to others. But I think water is ok because we always talk during the
meeting and water is essential for everyone to avoid drythroat.

13. Always start and finish a meeting on time. Do you agree or disagree?
I agree with this. First, being on time for meetings shows respect for others. Besides, it will avoid distraction when someone enters
the meeting. Finishing the meeting on time is also necessary because it can avoid everyone's impatience. When overtime, most people
often do not pay attention or concentrate the content of the meeting as before. This will also reduce meeting performance.

14. You should sit around a table when you have a meeting. Do you agree or disagree?
I agree with this. Sitting around the table will give people more opportunities to communicate and listen to the opinions of others.
It is also easy for the meeting host to observe the members and remember who has expressed his opinion

15. A meeting must always have a leader. Do you agree or disagree?

I agree with this. The leader is very important to the meeting. They are the ones who regulate the pace of the meeting fast or slow. The
leader is also the one who asks for opinions from the members and can give useful advice for everyone.

16. At a formal meeting, each person should speak in turn. Do you agree or disagree?
I agree with this. Taking turns will make the ideas more clear and can maintain the stability of the meeting, people can have more
time for preparation. Moreover, I think that is showing respect for other people in the meeting

Unit 5 – Stress
1. Do you like working under pressure? Why? / Why not?
Honestly, I like working under pressure because when I have to face up to a lot of challenges, I can have motivation to finish all
the task more quickly.

2. Why do people become workaholics?

To be honest, there is only 1 reason. A person especially introvert person, they can not express their thought or they can not able reduce
their stress or anxiety in other way. They tend to be a man of few words, just speak generally, hurt inside and not share to anyone. That’s
is the main cause of workaholism
3. How important is the working environment in reducing stress?
Very important. A good working environment will ensure the health of workers, it will make employees are more productive, happier,
and more successful. Besides, it can increase self-confidence, creativity and employee can feel motivated to work.

4. What is a good work-life balance for you?

To be honest, a good work-life balance is about making sure that I have enough time to work and also I have time for my friends and
hobbies. I also have enough time to sleep properly and eat well as well as not worry about anything at work. I can balance my life by
trying to work smart, not long, or take proper breaks at work…

5. Is it easier for men than women to be a manager?

I think it is. There is several reasons why men is better than women to become a manager. Firstly, men is tend to be more confident than
women, men try to show their best ability or their skill at the company while women are a bit shy and they do not express themselves too
much in some important event like: meeting or team building. Secondly, men can work well under pressure while women are tend to be
feel stress or exhausted after facing up to a lot of challenges.

6. Is it important to have a certain level of stress in the workplace?

Absolutely. I agree that stress can help employees to work better, but we have to base on the level of stress to you know hand over the
suitable work the right employees. For example, You cannot assgin a lot hard work to people who cannot work under pressure because
they will feel it is compulsory instead of feeling motivated. And that is also reducing the performance/ productivity of company.

7. What are the major pressures that business owners might have?
I think 2 major pressures that bussiness owners mights. The first problem is managing staff. Unskilled or poor staff can lead to poor
company and easy to close down. The more skilled the staff are, the more developing the company are. The second problems are the
overhead and expenses. Poor cash flow and booking combine with the political problems for example like war between Ukrain and
Russia has always been one of the top reasons why some small companies close down.

8. Should companies do more to reduce stress at work? What could they do?
There are many things that companies can do to do it. Firstly, make sure workers are taking regular breaks. In that time, we can invite
them to attend some yoga or meditation classes because you know exercise and healthy living are two of your best weapons against
workplace stress. Secondly, company should advise them to take time for their family and their friends. Telling stories for your beloved
family and friends is the best way for them to relieve stress after working

9. What are the main sources of stress at work?

There are some common causes of employee stress at work. First is the boring work. They have to do the same job over and over
again, which reduces their interest in work and makes them lose motivation to work and show no respects for them. Besides, having to
deal with customers who make a lot of complaints makes workers feel pressured and they tend to become angry with their co-workers,
low salary is also the cause that make people feel stress.

10. How can people get away from work stress?

As I mentioned before, people should attend some yoga or meditation classes because in these class they can know how face up a
lot of challenges without feeling pressured. Morveover, people should spend time for their family and their friends because sharing story
is also the way to relieve stress from working.

Describe a small bussiness you want to open

I’d like to talk about a small business idea that I have been considering for a while and that is to open a craft cafe. I would like to rent a
property in a popular area where I live, with enough space for a coffee bar, tables inside, a workshop in the back and an outside seating
area. This would be a creative environment, for people to come and spend time with their friends or on their own to make something and
have a coffee. 

The creative space inside would have a workshop area where classes could be held regularly, with those attending paying a small fee.
Materials would be available for people to knit, crochet or draw. People could donate craft items too, for example, if you bring
something to share, you can take something in return.This can attract more customer to come, encourage people to meet each others and
make new friends in the community. I think this cafe would be a dedicated craft cafe space.
I would like to start this business in the next five years if possible, starting out with a small property and then possibly expanding into a
larger space if the profits allow. The next step would be to create a learning centre next to the workshop so that people could also learn
other skills and attend courses there. Now I don’t have enough time or money to do this, I’m still trying my best study as hard as possible
to gain enough money to do my own dream.

I would like to open a craft cafe because in my area, there are no classes like this or any chance for people to learn new skills in crafts.
Bringing people together in this way is a great idea and would certainly be welcomed by the large crafting community that already
exists.