UNIT 1: NEW BUSINESS

A. Vocabulary

Word Definition

1. Interest rate Cost of borrowing money

2. Exchange rate Price at which one currency can buy another

3. Inflation rate General increase in prices

4. Labour force People working

5. Tax incentives Low taxes to encourage business activity

6. Government bureaucracy Offical rules/ regulations/ paperwork

7. GDP
Total value of goods and services produced in a country
(Gross domestic product)

8. Unemployment rate Percentage of people without jobs

9. Foreign investment Money from overseas

10. Balance of trade Difference in value between a country’s imports and exports

B. Language skill
Sentences are used to:
1. Welcome or greet the visitors?
- You must be …
- It’s great to finally meet you in person after all our phone calls and emails.
- It’s a pleasure to meet you.
- Hi, …, good to see you again.
2. Talk about the journey:
- How was your flight?
3. Offer (or ask for) helping with something?
- Can I help you with your …?
- Would you mind taking this?
4. Apologize for a delay?
- I hope you haven’t been waiting long.
- Sorry to keep you waiting.
5. Talking about weather:
- How was the weather when you left?
C. Keep a conversation going:
1. I just got married last year actually.
Oh, congratulations!
You must have felt very pleased.
2. My husband is a meteorologist.
Really? That’s an interesting job!
3. Last year I won a prize for one of the products I designed.
You must have felt very pleased.
Oh, congratulations!
That must have been very exciting.
4. The project deadline is next week and we’re not going to make it.
That must be very stressful.
5. My daughter has just got a place at one of the best universities in the country.
You must very proud of her.
Oh, congratulations!
6. Before I got this job I was unemployed for two years.
 Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I imagine that was a difficult time for you.
7. I went to Peru on holiday last year.
That must have been very exciting.
 UNIT 2: MARKETING
A. Vocabulary
1. Meaning:

1. Loyalty The tendency to always buy a particular brand

2. Image The ideas and beliefs people have about a brand

3. Stretching Using an existing name on another type of product

4. Awareness How familiar people are with brand

5. Name The name given to a product by the company that makes it

6. Launch The introduction of a product to the market

7. Lifecycle The length of time people continue to buy a product

8. Range The set of products made by a company

9. Placement When products are used in films or TV programmes

10. Endorsement The use of a well-known person to advertise products

2. Synonym:

1. Slice Segment

2. Identified to be interest Targeted

3. Reply Respond

4. Chance selection Random sample

5. Poll Survey

6. Results Findings

7. Typical Representative

8. Feelings and opinions Attitudes

9. See perceive

10. Who are similar in some way With shared characteristics

3. Some types of marketing research methods:

1. Street survey A researcher interviews passers-by and asks them a list of carefully
questionnaire chosen questions.

A researcher encourages a group of consumers to dicuss their feelings

2. Focus group and attitudes towards different products. The dicussion is secretly
observed and often filmed.

Selected volunteers are given different objects to examine or samples

3. Blind testing of food or drink to test and compare. The identity or brand of the
products is kept a secret.

4. Dustbin A researcher regularly visits someone’s home and looks at the labels
survey of all the products that a household has bought or used recently.

B. Language skill
1. Meaning:

Often the last item in a meeting, when participants dicuss

1. Any other business
issues not on the agenda.

Often the first item in a meeting, concerning people who

2. Apologies for absence
can not be present.

A way of reaching agreement in which each side concedes

3. Compromise
or gives up something it wants.

The situation in which most or all of the people at a meeting

4. Consensus
agree about something.

To move off the subject and start talking about something

5. To disgress
else.

6. Minutes A written report distributed to participants after a meeting.

2. Sentences to hold a meeting:

a) Chairperson:
- Beginning the meeting:
Can we start please?
Right, let’s begin.
Let’s get down to business.
- Stating the aim:
The main aim of the meeting is to …
The purpose of this meeting is to …
What we need to achive today is …
 - Asking for comments: - Changing the subject:
What do you think? Let’s move on now to …
How do you feel about this? The next item on the agenda is …
Say whatever Let’s turn to …
- Clarifying: - Summarising:
What do you mean by …? Ok, let’s summarise.
Sorry, I don’t quite understand. Right, let’s recap …
Is your point that …? Ok, let’s go over what we’ve agreed.
Do you mean that …?
- Keeping to the point:
Let’s get back to the point.
Let’s not get side-tracked.
Can we keep to the point?
b) Participants:
- Giving opinions: - Agreeing:
I think … I think you’re right.
As far as I know … I (totally) agree.
- Interrupting: - Making suggestions:
Hold on (a moment/ a minute). Perhaps we should …
Can/ Could I say something? We could …
Could I just comment on that?
Sorry to interrupt but …
- Disagreeing: - Dealing with interruptions:
I don’t know about that. If you’ll just let me finish …
I’m afraid I don’t agree. Just a moment, please.
I’d like to finish, if I may.
- Clarifying:
How do you mean exactly?
What exactly do you mean by …?
Are you saying …?
So what you’re saying is that …
 Unit 3: NEGOTIATION
A. Vocabulary
1. Meaning:
1. Compromise An agreement that settles an argument when people
reduce their demands in order to agree.

2. Concession Something which is accepted or given up by one side in

order to end a disagreement.

3. Counter-proposal An offer responding to somebody else’s offer.

4. Deal point Fixed limits within which something can or must happen
or be done.

5. To leave something hanging To delay making (or to forget to make) a decision about
something.

6. Parameters An individual item or element in a negotiation.

7. Scenario A description of a possible event in the future.

8. To set something aside To temporarily ignore or not think about a particular fact.

9. Tip A useful piece of information or advice.

10. Trade-off An exchange involving giving up one thing to get

something else.

1. Some types of negotiations:

 Customer-supplier negotiations
 Merger or takeover negotiations
 Wage negotiations
 Trade negotiations
 Contract disputes
 Labour disputes
 Trade disputes
3. Negotiating scenario:
(1) Meet and greet representatives of the other company and introduce your colleagues.
(2) Offer coffee and small talk. Try to create a relaxed atmosphere.
(3) Go to the meeting room and suggest that you get down to business.
(4) Have a clear agenda and a timetable.
 (5) First, give the background to the negotiations. Talking about the situation is a good way
of reminding people of key facts and issues.
(6) Then kick off the negotiations themselves, perhaps by finding out more about the
priorities of the other side (the things they think are most important) or talking about
your own requirements.
B. Language skill
1. Some probing questions:
 What is the situation on production at your plant at the moment?
 We’re operating at full capacity.
 What sort of quantities are you looking for?
 Perhaps 100 units per year over five years.
 What are we looking at in the way of discount?
 We can offer ten per cent if the quantities are right.
 What did you have in mind regarding specifications?
 We’d like to see a ten per cent improvement in performance.
 What were you thinking of in terms of delivery dates?
 We’ll need the first 30 units in six months.
 How important to you is the currency for payment?
 We’d prefer US dollars.
2. Some ways of making compromise:
If …,
will be able to + infinitive
As long as …,
can agree to + infinitive
On condition that …,
then we could consider + V-ing
Supposing that …,
may offer - noun
Provided that …,
might offer to + infinitive
Providing that …,
3. Reaching agreement:
 Let me just go/ run over the main points. (repeat and summarize)
 Let me just run over the main points. On engine quantities, ...
 On A, we agreed that …
 We agreed that you would supply us with 120 units over four years. As far as
performance is concerned, ...
 As far as B is concerned (in relation to B), we agreed…
 We agreed that you would improve the power of the engine by ten per cent.
 We still have the question of C to settle …
 We still have the question of the currency for
 And there’s still the outstanding issue of D.
  payment to settle, and there is also still the outstanding issue of documentation.
 We’ll send you a written proposal.
 We’ll send you a written proposal on these last two issues.
 We’ll draw up a contract based on these points.
 If you agree to the proposal, we’ll draw up a contract based on those points.
 I think that covers everything.
 I think that covers everything.
 Unit 4: MONEY
A. Vocabulary

Word Definition

Difference between the selling price of a product and the cost of

Gross margin
producing it.

A period of time when business activity decreases because the

Recession
economy is doing badly.

Equal parts into which the capital or ownership of a company is

Shares
divided.

Money owned by one person or organization to another person or

Debt
organization.

Stock market A place where the company shares are bought and sold.

Money which people or organization put into a business to make

Investment
a profit.

Earnings per share A company’s profits divided by the number of its shares.

A forecast A description of what is likely to happen in the future.

Bankruptcy When a person or organization is unable to pay their debts.

A dividend A part of the profits of a company paid to the owners of shares.

Pre-tax profit The money a business makes before payment to the government.

Money in which businesses receive from selling goods or

Revenues
services.

Consumer spending The money people spend on goods or services.

Tax refunds Money given back at the end of the financial year.

International division Part of a company which deals with or is located overseas.

Quarterly earnings Company profit for a three-month period.

Decreasing or freezing the price of goods or services in order to

Price pressure
gain an advantage over competitors.
B. Language skill:
1. Saying what the topic is:
- I’m here today to present ...
- As you can see on the screen, our topic today is …
2. Welcoming the audience:
- First of all, let me thank you all for being here today.
- I’m happy that so many of you could make it today at such short notice.
- I’m aware that you all have a very tight schedule so I appreciate you taking the time to
come here today.
3. Saying who you are:
- Let me introduce myself. My name is …
- As you probably know, my name is … I’m …
4. Saying why the topic is relevant for the audience:
- My talk is particularly relevant to those of you who …
- This is extremely important for all of us who …, right?
- Today’s topic will be very important for you as …
C. Structuring a presentation:
1. Hello, everyone.
2. First of all, let me thank you for coming here today. I’m aware that you’re all busy
preparing for the annual meeting this week, so I really appreciate you taking the time to be
here.
3. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Gordon Selfridge. Let me just write
that down for you. OK. I’m the project manager in charge of the Bak Tower building
project in Dubai.
4. This morning I’d like to update you on the current status of work at the construction site.
The information I give you today should help you with planning your next steps.
5. I’ve divided my presentation into three parts.
6. I’ll start off by showing you some photos of the building site and discussing the progress
we’ve made since January.
7. Then I’ll move on to the problems we’re facing with our local suppliers.
8. I’ll end with some ideas for reducing labor costs that we’ve been looking into.
9. My talk should take about 30 minutes. Please feel free to interrupt me at any time with
questions.
10. Oh, and don’t worry about taking notes. I’ll be handing out copies of the PowerPoint
slides.
D. Closing a presentation:
1. Signalling the end of the presentation:
- Well, this brings me to the end of my
presentation.
 Thank you all for listening.
 OK, I think that’s everything I
wanted to say.
 As a final point, I’d like to …
 I’m now nearing the end of my
talk …
3. Recommending and suggesting
something:
- We’s suggest …
- We’d therefore recommend that we …
 In my opinion, we should …
 What I’d like to suggest is …
2. Summarizing the main point:
- I’ll just run through the three different
options …
- Before I stop, let me go through my main
points again.
 To sum up, we …
 I’d like to run through my main points
again …
 I’m now nearing the end of my talk …
4. Inviting questions:
- Now I’ll be happy to answer any questions
you may have.
 OK, I think that’s everything I wanted
to say.
 Are there any questions?