Willhite: Look, Colin, I can’t talk now. I’m in the middle of a meeting.

Nash: OK, Thomas, but I feel you should know that Touchline is going to take legal advice.

Willhite: I understand. We obviously have to meet.

Nash: We certainly do! I expect to hear from you soon!

What does Can-Am’s Board decide to do after 5 months of unsuccessful negotiations with Touchline?

The companies have the following options at this point
THE OPTIONS	Advantages (+) and Disadvantages (-) for Can-Am	Advantages (+) and disadvantages (-) for Touchline
1. Negotiate a new agreement: Touchline could become the UK distributor. Can-Am could find a new distributor for Europe.	A Would be free to find + a better distributor for continental Europe. C Difficult to find a good - distributor. The new distributor might also be ineffective.	B + Would keep Can -Am’s profitable UK business D Would lose a potentially profitable part of the European market.
2. Terminate the agreement: The companies could terminate the agreement and negotiate a financial settlement	E Would be free to find a + better distributor. G The market would be disturbed. Sales would fall/suffer. I Would be expensive. - Compensation to Touchline could be as much as one year’s profits.	F Would receive com- pensation. + Could be as much as $600 000. H Would lose the future profits on Can-Am’s products. J Market image would - suffer considerably
3. Continue with the present situation.	K Possible legal conflict with Touchline would be + avoided. M The present situation - would continue.	L Would keep Can- Am’s profitable + UK business and the possibility of the European market in the future. N The problems with Can-Am would continue.

Exercise 3. Read through the options. Study the advantages and disadvantages of each option.

• What options does Can-Am have to solve the problem with Touchline?

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of these options?

Which option would you recommend?

Θ Exercise 4. Listen to the recording to find out what happened.

Answer the questions:

1. How does Can-Am solve the problem?

2. What are the terms of new agreement?

Revision

Exercise 1. Match the words with their definitions.

1. breakdown a) income

2. to market b) able to be carried out or done

3. to compete c) to make twice as great or as many

4. to double d) someone who sells things by retail

5. feasible e) division into smaller group

6. retailer f) to offer for sale

7. to contact smb g) to reach smb by message, telephone, etc

8. headquaters h) to try to win smth in competition with someone else

9. to invest i) the central office

10. revenue j) to put (money) to a particular use in order to make a profit

Exercise 2. Give synonyms.

Income, affiliate, to sell, to control a company, possible, shopkeeper, to terminate, to settle, to produce.

Exercise 3. Insert prepositions where necessary.

1. Can-Am is concerned ... Touchline.

2. Can-Am sells more ... home than ... overseas.

3. Vice President gave us some background information ... the company.

4. He was ... the flight from Toronto that arrived ... 9.15. ... this morning.

5. Let’s get ... ... business.

6. Can-Am’s Board of Directors decided to put pressure ... Touchline.

7. As required ... the terms ... our agreement I sent you six months’ notice ... termination ... today’s date.

8. Now we are strongly ... favor ... expanding our sales ... this market.

9. We must compete ... other producers.

10. Europe is made ... ... a number of different markets.

11. The cancellation will take effect ... the first day ... January 1999.

12. Hold the line, please. I’m putting you ... .

13. We can’t discuss it ... the phone.

14. Companies as small as ours just can’t compete … multinationals.

15. If the pound continues at this level our exporters can’t compete … sales across the Atlantic.

16. I was well aware … this fact.

17. There was a very strong demand … jeans and T-shirts over the last month.

18. The company has been investing hundreds of millions of dollars … new production facilities.

Exercise 4. Use the words below to complete these sentences.

rate share table take effect revenue forecast expect range subsidiaries costs feasible to compete advantages demand resolve

1. What are the .......... of terminating the agreement?

2. We ......... sales to rise by 25%

3. My company has a 12% ........... of the market.

4. Revenue is growing at an annual ............ of 15%.

5. Our sales people ........ that sales will fall next year.

6. This .......... gives a breakdown of sales by product range.

7. We stock a wide ……… of office furniture.

8. The magazine has been losing advertising ……. for months.

9. We are too small ……. with a company like that.

10. The Jonson Electric group now controls 11 …….. locally and abroad.

11. Delays in construction could increase …….. significantly.

12. Lower interest rates did nothing to increase ……. for loans to buy houses.

13. The new time table will ……. from the beginning of May.

14. A meeting has been called to ……. the dispute.

15. It is financially ……. to use coal as an energy source.

Exercise 5. Translate the sentences.

1. Мы очень обеспокоены падением темпов роста на 22%.

2. Вы, вероятно, не в состоянии конкурировать по этому виду товаров.

3. Эта схема представляет общую картину деятельности вашей фирмы.

4. Мы ожидаем, что продажа достигнет почти полмиллиона к концу этого года.

5. Не оказывайте сильного давления на вашего агента, иначе он расторгнет договор.

6. Как требуют условия контракта, мы обязаны урегулировать разногласия, начиная с даты подписания.

7. Мы пытались проконсультироваться с вами, но не получили ответной реакции.

8. На чём Вы специализируетесь?

9. Если подсчитать, то на первом месте Канада, а потом мы.

10. Монополисту не с кем конкурировать.

11. Наша компания является самым крупным производителем американских спортивных товаров за пределами США.

12. Продажи наших товаров в Британии значительно возросли за последние четыре года.

13. Для нас будет очень сложно сохранить нашу долю рынка, если наши конкуренты будут проявлять большой интерес на этом рынке.

Exercise 6. Translate the dialogues.

I.

• What’s happened over here? Everybody is concerned about something.

• Вчера была встреча Совета Директоров в штаб-квартире.

• Did they discuss the problem of total sales?

• Да, общие продажи нашей компании уменьшились на 19%, хотя общая картина на мировом рынке улучшилась.

• The reason is that our distributor is not competing effectively throughout Europe. So the cost of lost sales is very high and we are losing our revenue.

• Как компания собирается решить эту проблему?

• The Board wants to put pressure on the distributors to make them change their policy. If we get little response from them, our Board will terminate the agreement.

II.

• Isn’t that you, Robert?

• О, Джон, сто лет тебя не видел!

• How is your business?

• Честно говоря, хвастаться нечем. Общая картина не радует.

• Is it really so bad?

• Да, я обеспокоен нашим положением на международном рынке. Управлять нашей компанией становится всё тяжелее.

• But why? What is happening in the market?

• Несмотря на то что у нас высокое качество товара, спрос на рынке на нашу продукцию падает. Конкуренты нас душат, и мы несём потери от нереализованной продукции.

• Do you want to say that your company doesn’t have any revenue?

• Конечно же, нет. Но доход во много раз упал.

• And what are you going to do? I mean what are your future plans about the company?

• На данный момент планы кажутся невыполнимыми, ног мы собираемся пригласить опытного специалиста и ввести его в курс дела.

III.

• Я бы хотел обсудить с вами, Колин, положение нашей компании на европейском рынке. Доля Can-Am на рынке Великобритании – 18%, и мы ожидаем, что она возрастёт. Но наша доля на рынке континентальной Европы почти равна нулю. Я считаю, мы не можем игнорировать этот огромный потенциальный рынок.

• But just a minute? Thomas? It isn’t as simple as it seems to be. European market is composed of a number of independent national markets. They are all different, with different regulations, different distribution systems.

• Я понимаю, что существуют проблемы, но это рынок, который мы не можем игнорировать. У меня есть информация, что он стоит 15 миллионов долларов в год. Мы полностью за расширение наших продаж на этом рынке.

• But we must consider costs. Think what it would cost to export to four European countries. I mean selling costs and transportation costs.

• Я хорошо осведомлён о затратах, но как насчёт издержек, если мы не будем конкурировать на этом рынке. Цена потерянного сбыта слишком высока. Мы не единственная компания на этом рынке. У нас довольно сильные конкуренты.

• Believe me, Thomas, I know the European market. And I’m against your suggestion. It isn’t feasible.

• Хорошо, позвольте мне сказать следующее. Мы подсчитали, что наши продажи удвоятся, если мы будем торговать по всей Европе. Мы не можем игнорировать такую возможность … как впрочем, и вы тоже. Я прошу вас изменить вашу политику в континентальной Европе. Если вы не сделаете этого, мы расторгнем наше дистрибьюторское соглашение с вами.

• But our agreement with you runs for another two years. And you know very well that cancellation is not the solution.

• Но, тем не менее, я думаю, мы должны урегулировать разногласия как можно скорее. Я предлагаю вам обдумать всё и встретиться на следующей неделе, чтобы принять определённое решение.