V. Questions and assignments.

1. Define (определите) the term marketing.

2. What does implementation of marketing concept begin and end with?

3. What does a market consist of?

4. Define the term a marketing mix.

5. Can a firm vary its marketing mix?

6. For what purpose may a firm vary its marketing mix?

7. Give an example when a firm changes its marketing mix.

8. List all the ingredients of the marketing mix.

9. What does a product ingredient include?

10. What means (средство) is used to boost low sales?

11. What do the major forms of a product promotion include?

12. What does developing a marketing strategy involve?

13. State the purpose for which market measurement and sales forecasting are used.

14. How are strategies monitored and evaluated?

VI. Speak on the following.

1. Marketing (Generalities).

2. A Marketing mix.

3. A Marketing strategy.

VII. Read and translate this newspaper article.

ADVERTISING AND MARKETING IN THE FUTURE

Fundamental changes take place in many industrial societies. The main factors are the following:

The raw materials cost increases. Shortages and the high cost of raw materials produce an economic and moral pressure to avoid wastes.

Advertising and marketing men can expect rapid changes in a variety of markets and industries. In energy, there will be a decrease in competitive advertising between the various types. We will probably see a switch to more educational advertising for coal, gas and electricity. Advertising campaigns will be directed towards eliminating waste rather than increasing consumption. In consumer durables there will be a move a way from planned obsolescence. Cars, for example, will be replaced every five to ten years rather than every three. Total consumer expenditure will fall and price will become an even more important factor. In man­ufacturing, smaller companies will be squeezed out of existing markets.

In. packaging, many products, like personal deodorants with their excessive use of raw materials, will change or disappear as paper and aluminum shortages push up the cost of packaging.

As advertising budgets are cut, advertising agencies them­selves will be involved even more into marketing and management consultancy. And in marketing, manufacturers will demand quick­er returns on less capital investment. Innovations will be marketed much faster (and copied much faster by competitors). Brand life cycles will be much shorter. Agencies will have to be much faster in their response to marketing problems and work longer hours for less money.

Unit 10

Risk Management

Risk management is an accepted practice in business activi­ties. Risk is the possibility of loss or injury. It is a part of everyday life for businesses and individuals. Individuals and businesses must evaluate the risks they face, and they should minimize the costs involved with those risks.

Risk management is not simply a matter of insuring against risk. It involves, first of all, surveying all the areas of risk to a com­pany and then preparing a series of recommendations to minimize potential losses from them. This is often done by risk management consultants. But some major companies have now appointed their own risk managers.

1. Fire is still the greatest potential risk. The risk manager can simply recommend bricking up a doorway or a hole in the wall of a warehouse to prevent fire from spreading. Or he can suggest a safer method of stacking. On the other hand, he can recommend installing a very expensive sprinkler system. This could save a company huge sums in insurance premiums.

2. Industrial espionage is another, constantly increasing risk. Computer security is particularly important, and it is absolute­ly vital that only authorized persons should have access to the in­formation stored in the computer. The risk manager will suggest methods of selecting computer staff and restricting access to it inside and outside working hours.

3. Working conditions are another area of risk manage­ment; even such ordinary things as ventilation, heating and lighting are important. These can expose a company to personal claims from staff for damage.

4. Accident prevention and a company's increased liability because of new consumer protection legislation are other, obvi­ously important areas.

5. A great many recommendations fall into the 'common sense' category. Suppose a company relies on only one supplier for a vital raw material. If that supplier suffers a total loss of pro­duction because of a fire, strike or some other reason, the compa­ny faces huge losses, and even more important, a permanent loss of market share. To prevent this, the risk manager or consultant might recommend coming to a two-way agreement with a com­petitor that in such a case the competitor would supply raw mate­rials to the assembly line. The agreement might even stipulate supplying the end product if that were necessary. Another exam­ple of this 'common sense category' is that all the top executives should never travel together in the same jet, or that valuable goods should not all be stored in one building but spread over a number of sites. Risk management is becoming more and more important as a concept.

Exercises