focus on business english

2.1Mike Ashton is Senior Vice President of Hilton Hotels International. The hotel employs 75,000 people in 65 countries. Listen to the first part of the interview and complete the definition of quality Mie Ashton gives.

Delivering ……. quality is absolutely fundamentally important to any business. I believe the best way to define quality is to look very closely at customers’

………and then to look at the ……. of a business to ……. or …….those expectations, consistently.

2.2Listen to the second part of the interview. Which of the following does the hotel use to measure quality improvements?

•Inspecting rooms daily

•Contacting team members

•Making unexpected visits regularly

•Contacting guests

•Studying operational standards

•Comparing check out times

2.3 Listen to the third part of the interview. Are the statements true or false? Correct the false ones.

1.High quality means high cost.

2.Investment in high quality helps to build profitability.

3.Delivering good quality consistently is something that can be done without any cost to an organisation.

4.Healthy revenues and healthier profits are the results of investment in

quality.

READING

Read the article from the Financial Times and answer the questions.

Fierce Competition Result in Better Quality

By Jeremy Grant

South Korean carmakers have long been the subject of jokes about poor quality in the US. But yesterday they won the endorsement of US car buyers

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cars six years ago

the position of Hyundai and Honda in the survey

the fall in the number of quality problems with Hyundai and Kia cars in the last six years

2. Are the statements about the expressions in italics true or false?

‘Korean cars won the endorsement of US car buyers’ means that US car buyers still don’t like Hyundai and Kia cars.

‘Hyundai jumped ahead of Detroit and some European carmakers in a quality survey’ means that previously Hyundai had worse quality than US and European cars, and now they have better quality.

The ‘initial quality survey’ relates to the quality of cars over their whole lifetime.

The number of problems reported by customers is the number of problems that they told the people doing the survey about.

The number of problems dropped means that there were fewer problems. The survey involved 51,000 vehicle owners means that this number of

people took part in the survey.

3. Find expressions in the article to replace the expressions in italics.

Toyota were top in the survey.

Some of the results were the same this year as last year. Some carmakers had become closer in quality to Lexus.

Carmakers everywhere are improving quality.

There has been an effort by US carmakers to improve quality.

US carmakers are trying to reduce quality differences in relation to Toyota and Honda.

The Hummer is based on the Humvee.

The Hummer had the worst quality of any vehicle in the survey.

FOLLOW UP

1.Does the survey confirm your opinions of different car makes? Why / why not?

2.Make a list of brands for another product category (e.g. washing machines). Then rank them for perceived quality

UNIT 3

MARKETING CHANGE

START UP

Do companies change their marketing strategies? Why? Give examples.

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VOCABULARY

1.Match the sentence beginnings (1-5) with the correct endings (a-e).

1.Farms are now more market-oriented

2.Since the 1980s, Britain has had a much markets at once.

3.Many market-led growth businesses, it takes.

4.Lack of investment and market orientation

5.American TV is a market-driven industry, a such as Microsoft and Sony, are in several

a) more market-led

b) and the audience decides the direction c) led to falling sales and profits.

d) and less dependent on government money. e) approach to economics.

2. Choose the best word or phrase to fill each gap.

Our company makes wooden garden furniture - mainly tables and chairs. Sales are much higher this year because we have spent a lot on (selling / distributing / marketing). First we did a survey about customer (wants / needs / uses). Then we redesign all our (a products / benefits / services)to include the special ( goods / profits / features) that people want. Our (presenting / promotion / persuasion) included a competition in all the major gardening magazines where the prize was a set of our furniture. Most importantly we’ve made sure all our (a price / costs / charges) are very competitive because our customers want value for money.

3. Complete each sentence by writing the correct word in each gap.

1.We advertised on TV , but that’s not enough. We need a whole new marketing con….

2.We need to tell customers about the special ben….. that our service pro-

vides.

3.Our company is market-ori ….. Everything we do is about giving buyers what they want.

4.The pac….. doesn’t only protect the goods – it advertises them too.

5.I’ve been a m..k…r for many years and I know how to promote any prod-

uct.

6.People in different parts of the country buy different things, so p…e is one of the four Ps of marketing.

LISTENING

1. Richard Brown is the managing partner of Cognosis, a management consultancy in London which advises companies on organization and change. Listen to the first part of the interview and answer these questions.

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1.What four approaches does Cognosis use to analyse a business?

2.How many different business ‘character types’ does Cognosis recognize?

3.What three things do companies deal with differently, according to Richard?

2.Listen to the second part of the interview. Tick the sentences below which are true, according to Richard, and correct those which are false.

1.The hardest way to change the character of a business is to merge it with another company.

2.When Guiness and Grand Metropolitan merged, they wanted to create a business culture which was different from the two companies.

3.The senior managers spent a lot of money training staff in the new business methods.

4.The new culture was only partly successful.

3.In the first part of the interview, Richard Brown describes three ways in which successful companies are similar. Complete the description below.

First, they are ……. ……….(1): they have a very clear sense of …….

……… …….. ………(2). Second, they’re …….-……..(3): they invest much time and energy in understanding and …….. …….. ……… ………(4). And third, they are ……-…….(5). By that I mean that people inside the organization are very clear about the values that should ……. ……. …….(6) and behaviours.

READING

1. Discuss these questions.

1.Does the way a soft drinks company advertise its products encourage you to buy them?

2.Do you think people prefer to buy “healthy” drinks these days? Why

(not)?

2. Read the article from the Financial Times and answer the questions.

Marketing: Investors Adapt to Consumer Trends

By Jenny Wiggins

When the world’s biggest soft drink company starts changing its marketing tactics, investors should ask why. Coca-Cola, which has traditionally promoted

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itself via the Coke brand, using slogans such as ‘Coke is it’, now wants to inform consumers that Coke is not the only drink it sells. Its most recent campaign, called ‘Make every drop count’, says: ‘You’ve always known us as Coca-Cola, the soft drink. Now it’s time you knew us as Coca-Cola the company.’

The television, print and Internet advertisements in the UK come at a time when consumers are ditching foods and drinks that are perceived as unhealthy (such 20 as sugary fizzy drinks and salty crisps) for products that appear to offer some kind of health benefit.

Coke is using the new campaign to impress upon consumers the fact that it sells all kinds of drinks, including bottled water, juices and teas. The campaign is important for the company, because it risks losing money if it does not sell the 30 kinds of drinks consumers now want to buy.

Analysts say that growing demand for healthier kinds of foods and drinks is not a fashion, but a long-term trend that increasingly affects corporate profits.

Companies which benefit are those that already produce the kinds of products consumers want, or companies that are taking steps to adapt existing products. These include Danone, the French company, as well as Swiss food company Nestle, which has made nutritional foods a core strategic focus.

Companies that do not meet consumer needs are suffering. In March, Asda took the juice drink Sunny D (previously known as Sunny Delight) off its shelves after ending its customers did not want to buy.

From the Financial Times

COMPREHENSION

1. Number the paragraphs in the correct order. Two summaries are not used.

a). Companies need to change, as healthy foods here to stay.

b). Coke needs to inform customers about its whole product range.

c). Unfortunately, if companies do not change, they will find it very difficult to survive.

d). If customers fail to recognise Coke’s whole range of products, the company will face financial problems.

e). Advertisements for healthy products are

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very popular.

f). The campaign is well timed, as people want more healthy products.?

g). Many companies are benefiting from a bigger market share.

2. Match the terms (1-8) to their definitions (a-e).

FOLLOW UP

1. Think of marketing changes for your company: what are they? Why do you need changes?

2.Rank marketing changes in order of importance.

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UNIT 4

CAREERS

START UP

1. Do you have training schemes in your country?

2.What benefits do you think there are for the employee of training schemes?

3. What are the advantages of working your way up through a company?

VOCABULARY

1. Write one word in each gap to fill in the text. You may choose to use

My name is Jean Wilson and I have just started working in a bank. I graduated……... Edinburg University last year with a degree …..Business and Management. Now I am going to train …. an accountant. I think I will do well because I am good …….figures and I am skilled ………computers. I think that training ……. specific job will be more interesting than the general education I got at university.

2. Choose the best word from the brackets to fill in the gap.

1.Everyone should stay in full-time education until they are at least 18 (school / education).

2.Of course the qualifications are important but they are not everything (printed / paper).

3.I look for people with lots of relevant ……..experience (job / work).

4.Last year we spent over $ 50, 000 on management ……..(experience / development).

LISTENING

4.1 Dr Simon Kingston works for the International executive search consultants Heidrick and Struggles. Listen to the interview with him and answer the questions.

1. What is common in the careers of successful people?

2.What distinguishes really successful people from those who are average in their professions?

3.What qualities does Lord Brown at BP demonstrate?

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Listen to the interview again and complete the summary below.

One common theme in the careers of a lot of successful people is an ……….

……….(1) of the individual’s own …….. …….. ……….(2). This allows them to ……… (3) the sort of organisations in which they will work. It also allows them to …….. ………(4) but appropriately to opportunities that are unplanned that present themselves.

READING

1. Discuss these questions.

1.Can you name some of the major retail banks in your country?

2.What special skills do you think you need to work in a bank?

3.Do you think that working in a bank is a highor low-status kind of job?

2.Read the two articles from the Financial Times and answer the ques-

tions.

3.Article 1: Retail Banking: Appeal of the Softer Side

of the Business

By Clare Gascoigne

Retail banking used to be an aspirational career. But as the banks have changed, so has the attraction. ‘Graduates have to be led into thinking about retail banking,’ says Terry Jones of the Association of Graduate Career Advisory Services. ‘They think first about the investment banks »o or accountancy - they think retail is not as interesting as working on mergers and acquisitions or trading.’

He may be right. High-street bank is managers are no longer as respected as they used to be. Staffare much more concerned with selling products and financial services, and much of the customer contact has moved to big call centres or the Internet. ‘The work feels relatively low status,’ says Mr Jones.

However, the banks don’t feel the same way. 'We are looking for people who are customer driven, who can form good working relationships and lead sales teams,’ says John Morewood, senior manager for graduate recruiting at HSBC. ‘We look for graduates who have had experience of working with customers HSBC is typical of the high-street banks in running two main graduate schemes. The executive management scheme is a two-year development programme that aims to put graduates into leadership role. It takes between 25 and 30 every year. ‘These people have the potential to go very high,’ says Mr Morewood. ‘We are looking for strategic thinkers.’

The second scheme, which is more concerned with retail commercial banking, takes between 120 and 150 people a year an gives graduates responsibility much earlier.

From the Financial Times

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COMPREHENSION

1. Choose the correct meaning for the word in italics.

a)'Banking used to be an aspirational career’ (line 2) means people

i)wanted to work in that sector because it was highly respected.

ii)knew they would get excellent training in that sector.

b)A call centre (line 21) is where customers can

i)meet employees.

ii)speak to staff on the phone.

c)‘The work feel relatively low status' (line 22) means

i)it is not considered to be very important.

ii)the job is easy to do.

d)‘We are looking for strategic thinkers’ (line 45) means people who

i)can make decisions quickly.

ii)are able to make top-level decisions.

iii)2.True or false?

a)Retail banking is not as attractive as it used to be.

b)Graduates prefer to work in other financial areas.

c)Retail banking staff have to sell products and financial services.

d)Banks are not interested in recruits with customer experience.

e)The executive management scheme lasts three years.

f)This scheme is training people for high-level positions.

g)More people are recruited on HSBC's second scheme.

Article 2: Cost-effective route to create future managers

Andrew Taylor

Mike Turner, chief executive of BAE Systems, Europe’s biggest defence company, and a member of the Apprenticeships Task Force, is a prime example of how starting at the bottom of the corporate ladder can lead to a top job. ‘I began my working life as an apprentice,’ said Mr Turner, who ' argues that apprenticeships remain one of the most costeffective ways of filling skill shortages, as well as developing managers of the future.

According to the task force’s report, published today, BAE expects to save up to £lm a year by training apprentices rather than hiring and retraining outside го workers, ‘as apprenticeships cost 25 per cent less than training nonapprentices’.

It is ‘much more attractive to recruit young people as apprentices, as recruitment costs are lower, staff turnover is lower and apprentices quickly identified with company values’, according to the task force. ВТ, the telecommunications group, for example, had ‘calculated a benefit of over £1,300 per apprentice per annum when compared to non-apprentice recruitment’.

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