• Do you know that strategy is a term that comes from the Greek strategia, meaning "generalship." In the military, strategy often refers to maneuvering troops into position before the enemy is actually engaged. What does the word “strategy” mean in business, engineering process, defense in a court?

• In what spheres of life do people have strategies?

• What kind of strategy do you have making up a report or a project? Put the following steps into the right order and add the new ones if you need.

A. Define the purpose of your report

B: Format the report professionally

C: Decide on the best structure for the report

D. Gather and analyze your data

E. Define the readers of your report

F. Decide on the key points to include in the report

• Make a suggestion about strategies successful package development could have.

12 Now read the text and check if you were right. While reading, fill in the gaps with the most appropriate word (a, b, c or d). Think carefully about both meaning and grammar.

In today's 1 ________ environment the package often becomes the key to product differentiation. It can easily make or break a product launch.

Here are strategies from six seasoned packagers - professionals who have 2 _______ in hundreds of projects.

1 Get everyone to agree on objectives

"Before 3 ________ too involved in a packaging development project, get a Basis for Interest document from your Marketing Group. Get explicit directions of what marketing's objective is and how they think packaging will accomplish that. It needs to be signed off from the top down."- Stan Kopecky

"Art is subjective. What one person `sees' is different from another. Compose objectives that can be interpreted visually. Don't say, `We want something cool.' Use examples to define what you want. 4 _________ design results from successful direction."- Mary Ellen Reis

2 Use a team and respect the members

"Right from the start, 5 ______ a Project Team. Include members from Marketing, Finance, Engineering, Packaging Development, Sales, Graphic Arts, R&D and Purchasing to cover all aspects of a project. The team should meet biweekly to start and weekly as you get closer to product launch. The team should be led by an Operations Business Manager who acts as the Project Team Coordinator."- Stan Kopecky

3 Develop performance criteria and a 6 _________ program

"In some cases, you will need to develop your own simple and repeatable tests to insure that the package functions as it should. You may have to create your own tests but that's OK."- Mike Richmond

4 Recognize that specs will change

If the team agrees early and you develop specifications, recognize that they will change. That is more likely with projects that go beyond the usual and involve 7 _______ creativity.

5 Set a 8 _________ timeline

Even if you know you can't keep an ideal timeline, develop one. That concrete timeline lets management understand the risks involved in shortening the process. "Deadlines energize packaging engineers. Be certain that the approvals on deadlines are from persons having ultimate authority."- John Bitner

6 Leverage existing research

Don't waste time 9 _________ the wheel. Once the packaging staff has seen the product brief, find out what research is already available on package and material alternatives and on consumer 10_________.

7 Live in the retail environment

If you 11 ______ developing a retail package, talk to retailers. They know what their customers want and will share their insights if approached properly.

8 Develop a single point of vendor contact - but have access to the entire 12 ____.

Any project will have fine points of design, manufacturing, testing and specifications. Be able to get to the right expert when you need the 13 ____. "Passing messages through third parties such as project managers increases the chance of 14 _______ and error."- Andrea Mandel

1. A. competition	B. fighting	C. competitive	D. sport
2. A. participate	B. participated	C. took part	D. take part
3. A. got	B. get	C. to get	D. getting
4. A. successful	B. wanted	C. needed	D. success
5. A. form	B. compose	C. combine	D. pick up
6. A. testing	B. controlling	C. leading	D. checking
7. A. less	B. more	C. much	D. many
8. A. realistic	B. believable	C. desirable	D. limited
9. A. inventing	B. invent	C. invented	D. reinventing
10.A. taste	B. wish	C. want	D. preferences
11. A. is	B. are	C. be	D. am
12. A. team	B. group	C. class	D. department
13. A. support	B. help	C. talk	D. assist
14. A. good communication	B. chatting	C. mistakes	D. miscommunication