Text II

■ Skimming

Ex. 1. Skim the texts (a, b) and formulate the main idea of them in one sentence. Choose one of these beginnings:

The following abstract gives the idea of … /or

The text below presents the information about … /or

The main message of the text is to show …

******

a) A Multinational Corporation (MNC) or Enterprise (MNE), is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation. The International Labor Organization (ILO) has defined an MNC as a corporation that has its management headquarters in one country, known as the home country, and operates in several other countries, known as host countries. Some multinational corporations are very big, with budgets that exceed some nations' GDPs. Multinational corporations can have a powerful influence on local economies, and even the world economy, and play an important role in international relations and globalization.

A Transnational Corporation (TNC) differs from a traditional MNC in that it does not identify itself with one national home. Whilst traditional MNCs are national companies with foreign subsidiaries, TNCs spread out their operations in many countries sustaining high levels of local responsiveness. An example of a TNC is Nestlé who employ senior executives from many countries and try to make decisions from a global perspective rather than from one centralized headquarters. However, the terms TNC and MNC are often used interchangeably.

Enabled by Internet based communication tools, a new breed of multinational companies is growing in numbers. These multinationals start operating in different countries at the very early stages. These companies are being called micro-multinationals. What differentiates micro-multinationals from the large MNCs is the fact that they are small businesses. Some of these micro-multinationals, particularly software development companies, have been hiring employees in multiple countries from the beginning of the Internet era. But more and more micro-multinationals are actively starting to market their products and services in various countries. Internet tools like Google, Yahoo, MSN, EBay and Amazon make it easier for the micro-multinationals to reach potential customers in other countries.

b) In today's business environment, top managers in the international company are faced a challenge that may be described as "the managing of mixed marriages." There are several of these so-called mixed marriages to contend with: the mixed economies involving government either through subsidy or nationalization; the interdependent economies of the industrial nations strongly affected by variances in trade patterns and exchange rates; the conflicting political interests that affect trade and monetary policies; and of course, widely varying social customs and contrasting cultures. All of these elements converge within the international corporation aspiring to conduct a global business.

Conducting business on a global scale requires the dedicated attention of management at all levels. Even the plant floor supervisor and his or her workers must focus on operations from a worldwide perspective, if for no other reason than to understand the forces that influence the markets for their products and the security of their jobs. However, global business particularly challenges the key executives who, in an increasingly complex environment, are required to satisfy demands that exceed the knowledge and experience of the traditional corporate manager.

■ Scanning

Ex. 2. Scan the texts and answer the following questions:

1) How big is the list of all planned expenses and revenues of some multinationals?

2) How many countries should a multinational operate in to be called such?

3) What is the difference between a multinational corporation and a transnational one?

4) What was the prerequisite to the appearance and growth of micro-multinationals?

5) What kind of “mixed marriage” is considered in text B?

6) What should every manager of a multinational concentrate on?

Ex. 3. Complete the sentences according to the texts:

1)	A multinational manages its business in		__________________.
2)	The home country of a multinational houses			________________.
3)	Host countries are used by multinationals for				_______________.
4)	The main sphere for micro-multinationals is			________________.
5)	Doing business globally requires	_________________________.
6)	Global business challenges in particular		__________________.

Ex. 4. Be ready to speak on the key ideas of these texts in class.

■Vocabulary Study

Ex. 5. Stem the nouns from the given verbs:

1)	converge	–
2)	aspire	–
3)	exceed	–
4)	sustain	–
5)	refer	–
6)	deliver	–
7)	produce	–
8)	execute	–
9)	contend	–
10)	define	–

Ex. 6. Form up the collocations on the basis of the texts:

1)	monetary	a)	business
2)	global	b)	interests
3)	business	c)	economies
4)	political	d)	customers
5)	foreign	e)	executives
6)	local	f)	policy
7)	key	g)	subsidiary
8)	potential	h)	environment

Ex. 7. Give the definitions to the following terms:

1)	globalization
2)	a multinational corporation
3)	a transnational corporation
4)	a micro-multinational
5)	GDP
6)	a subsidiary
7)	headquarters (HQ)

Ex. 8. Translate the sentences:

a)

1) The French bank SOCIETE GENERALE said it was shutting down its Ivorian subsidiary SGBCI because it is "no longer able to ensure the short term supply of currency/cash to our branches".

2) The government has succeeded in persuading the country's multinational corporations to remain and invest in South Africa.

3) From 1 January next year, the government will also give a £5,000 subsidy to each electric car that is purchased in the UK.

4) Protesters set fire to government buildings, a police station, the ruling party HQ and converged on state TV offices.

5) Many members of the Barclays bank will not be pleased to learn that only £113m in corporation tax was paid whilst the bonus pool amounted to £3.4bn.

b)

1) Планирование и обсуждение создания новой штаб-квартиры Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. в Акроне, длящееся уже более трех лет, наконец-то вышло на новый уровень.

2) ВТО признало незаконными субсидии европейских властей компании Airbus, так как они препятствуют конкурентным отношениям в отрасли авиастроения.

3) Президент ОАО "Российские железные дороги" обратился в правительство РФ с просьбой о выделении дочернему предприятию РЖД телекоммуникационной компании "Транстелеком" частот под строительство сети четвертого поколения стандарта LTE.

4) Транснациональная компания Haier, крупнейший мировой производитель бытовой техники, чья продукция поставляется в 160 стран мира, в декабре 2010 года провела тендер среди российских логистических операторов.

5) The Gates Rubber Company представляет собой транснациональную корпорацию, в которую входят три группы: Worldwide Power Transmission – приводные ремни, Worldwide Automotive Hoses – автомобильные РТИ и Worldwide Hydraulic and Industrial Hose & Connectors – индустриальные РТИ.

U NIT II

FREE TRADE

“Free trade is not based on utility but on justice”

Edmund Burke (British statesman and philosopher, 1729-1797)

Active Vocabulary

asset

активы, имущество, средство

bail-out

спасение (банка)

to beget

порождать, производить

bilateral

двусторонний

bolstering

укрепление

to boost

повышать, активизировать, способствовать росту

bound tariffs

связанные тарифы

breakthrough

прорыв, достижение

capital flow

движение капитала

cash-strapped

безденежный

cheer

настроение,

веселье, радость

consequence

следствие, последствие

to deteriorate

ухудшаться, портиться, разрушаться

to disrupt

разрушать, срывать, подрывать

to emerge

возникать, появляться

to eschew

избегать, сторониться

to falter

колебаться, спотыкаться

fealty

верность (вассала феодалу)

to flee

бежать, избегать, исчезать

to go bust

разоряться,

оставаться без копейки

hue

оттенок, цвет

multilateral

многосторонний

net private capital flow

чистый приток частного капитала

plausible

правдоподобный

to plunge

погружать(ся)

retaliation

возмездие, отплата

scope

сфера, рамки, масштаб, возможности

to shrink

сокращать(ся), сжимать(ся)

to shrivel

высыхать,

вянуть, делать(ся) бесполезным

to slump

резко падать

surplus

избыток,

излишек, профицит

to tempt

искушать,

соблазнять,

проверять

transparency

принцип прозрачности

to triple

утраивать(ся)

to tumble

опрокидывать,

падать, рушиться

unilateral

односторонний

to wrench

искажать, выворачивать

Text I

■ Skimming

Ex. 1. Skim the article below and choose the right topic for it:

a) Regulations of the World Trade Organization.

b) Free trade problems today.

c) Milestones of world economy.

******

(1) This Christmas the world economy offers few reasons for good cheer. As credit contracts and asset prices plunge, demand across the globe is shrivelling. Rich countries collectively face the severest recession since the Second World War... And conditions are deteriorating fast too in emerging economies, which have been whacked by tumbling exports and the drying-up of foreign finance.

(2) This news is bad enough in itself; but it also poses the biggest threat to open markets in the modern era of globalization. For the first time in more than a generation, two of the engines of global integration—trade and capital flows—are simultaneously shifting into reverse. The World Bank says that net private capital flows to emerging economies in 2009 are likely to be only half the record $1 trillion of 2007, while global trade volumes will shrink for the first time since 1982.

(3) This twin shift will force wrenching adjustments. Countries that have relied on exports to drive growth, from China to Germany, will slump unless they can boost domestic demand quickly. The flight of private capital means emerging economies with current-account deficits face a drought of financing as well as export earnings. There is a risk that in their discomfort governments turn to an old, but false, friend: protectionism. Integration has less appeal when pain rather than prosperity is ricocheting across borders. It will be tempting to prop up domestic jobs and incomes by diverting demand from abroad with export subsidies, tariffs and cheaper currencies.

(4) The lessons of history, though, are clear. The economic isolationism of the 1930s, epitomised by America’s Smoot-Hawley tariff*, cruelly intensified the Depression. To be sure, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its multilateral trading rules are a bulwark against protection on that scale. But today’s globalised economy, with far-flung supply chains and just-in-time delivery, could be disrupted by policies much less dramatic than the Smoot-Hawley act. A modest shift away from openness—well within the WTO’s rules—would be enough to turn the recession of 2009 much nastier. Incremental protection of that sort is, alas, all too plausible.

* The Tariff Act of 1930, otherwise known as the Smoot–Hawley Tariff was an act, sponsored by United States Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley, and signed into law on June 17, 1930, that raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels.

■ Scanning

Ex. 2. Guess the meaning of the following phrases taken from the text:

1) to prop up domestic jobs and incomes (3)

2) far-flung supply chains (4)

3) incremental protection (4)

4) whacked by smth. (1)

5) ricocheting across borders (3)

Ex. 3. Find the synonyms from the text above to the following words and phrases:

1) attraction (3)

2) decline (1)

3) at the same time (2)

4) represented by smth. (4)

5) change (4)

6) work places within the home country (3)

7) pillar (4)

8) countries with the developing economy (1)

Ex. 4. Look through the article again and find the answers to the following questions:

1) What two elements of global integration are mentioned in the text?

2) What countries have been suffering most of all since 40s of the 20^th century?

3) What can help the countries that relied too much on the export?

4) What is considered to be the bastion for the free trade?

5) What countries can turn to the policy of protectionism?

Ex. 5. Be ready to speak about the main ideas of the text in class.

■Vocabulary Study

Ex. 6. Make up possible collocations:

1) multilateral	a) resources
2) emerging	b) flows
3) plunge	c) the relations
4) boost	d) agreement
5) slump	e) in chaos
6) capital	f) in demand
7) shrinking	g) infrastructure
8) deteriorating	h) markets

Ex. 7. Fill in the gaps using the phrases from exercise №6:

1) International (…) have the potential to bring a wide range of benefits to both the host nation and the country of origin.

2) Since the resignation of the president the country (…).

3) Some state funded roads are in need of repair, so more money should be given by the state to maintain the (…).

4) Last month (…) signaled the low purchasing power parity of the consumers.

5) Recently they have signed a (…) on the collaboration in this field.

6) In his speech to the shareholders the president of the biggest oil extracting company marked the problem of (…).

7) Nowadays in the post-crisis period (…) are showing great potentials and dynamics.

8) Abolition of visa regime can (…) between the countries.