ТЕКСТЫ ДЛЯ ЭКЗАМЕНА 3-й семестр

 

TEXT 1

It is impossible to give all the names of the jobs in the world. The list of them often changes. Some typical job titles are: a manager, a secretary, an executive, a research worker. People who do these jobs work in different businesses and for different companies. Some jobs don’t require any special training, e.g. the job of a cleaner; other jobs require a lot of training and a few qualifications, e.g. the job of a lawyer, an accountant or a designer.

People look for jobs which give them much money, career opportunities, job satisfaction. A lot of people change their jobs if the pay is low, or they commute a long way to work, and for some other reasons.

When a company decides to employ new people it often advertises jobs in a newspaper. A few people apply for this job. They send a letter of application and a CV with details of their education and experience. The company then invites candidates for an interview. A good company usually recruits responsible and experienced staff.

There are different ways to work. A lot of people work nine-to-five, some have flexible working hours, a few work in shifts. Many employers and employees find flexible employment very progressive. This is especially good for women with children. Part-time work appeals to students because they are very busy at universities.

Some people make the decision to leave their jobs and start their own businesses.

A few of them start their business at home and then move it out, for example Disney, Amazon.com, Microsoft, Apple. You have the ability to run your business if you are decisive, organized, ready to take risk. But if you have little self-discipline, you do not plan ahead and you are not creative, you are not ready to start your own business.

In any case, you are successful in a job of an employee or in your own business if you enjoy your work.

 

TEXT 2

 

Boris Baker is an engineer in electronics. He works for the Browns’ company. They design and manufacture electronic equipment. Boris is responsible for its technical supervision. He is always very busy. He’s got a lot of work to do every day. He comes to work in the morning and stays there practically all day long. He is satisfied with his job but he dislikes the fact that he works long hours. Very often he stays at work till nine o’clock in the evening. Another bad thing is that his holiday is only 25 days a year. But he enjoys the work he does and the salary he gets.

Alex O’Hara is his friend and colleague. He is in sales. He is Export Sales Manager. At the office Alex writes business letters, looks through the mail, reads cables, talks business on the telephone. He also receives visitors, mostly clients. Sometimes Alex meets foreign businessmen and discusses with them prices for different goods, terms of payment, shipment and delivery. He also takes part in organizing trade fairs and exhibitions. Alex O’Hara finishes his work at 6 o’clock p.m. and goes home. He is always tired after work but he likes it and does it with pleasure.

TEXT 3

Timberland is a world-famous company in the market for boots and shoes. It is a real market leader. At the moment it is rapidly increasing its exports to Japan, Taiwan and Hong-Kong. The goods of this company are of high quality. They meet up-to-date international standards.

Timberland is a large corporation. It has a lot of foreign and domestic subsidiaries. The company consists of nine departments.

Mr. Stevens is the company Sales Manager. His working day starts at 9 a.m. and finishes at 5 p.m. He works hard every day. Mr. Stevens always gets up early, takes a shower and has breakfast. During breakfast, he watches the latest news on TV or listens to the radio. Then Mr. Stevens drives to work. It takes him twenty five minutes to get to the office. When he starts his working day he usually switches on his computer and looks through the mail. After that he sends some e-mails or asks his secretary to do it. Then he and his assistant make the plan for the day. Mr. Stevens discusses a lot of business matters on the phone. Sometimes he makes appointments with his suppliers. At 12 o’clock he always has lunch in the company cafeteria. After lunch he meets his customers or regional sales managers.

It is 4 p.m. now and Mr. Stevens is having talks with Mr. Brown from the Public Relations Department (PR) and Advertising Department. They are discussing the new advertising campaign of their new product. Now they are speaking about the mass media and budget problems. They are hoping to find a reasonable solution to the issue.

Mr. Stevens is efficient and hard-working. He tries to solve all the problems, so his clients like to do business with him. They discuss terms of delivery and payment, prices and discounts. Mr. Stevens travels much and visits the subsidiaries of Timberland. He enjoys his job because he meets a lot of new people and goes to different countries.

 

TEXT 4

Mr. Brown is a sales manager in a manufacturing business. The company «Farmco» produces high quality farming equipment. It meets up-to-date international standards and now the company is increasing the export of its goods to African countries.

«Farmco» consists of three departments: production department - its manager is in charge of production and service, finance department – its manager is responsible for finance and accounting and marketing and sales department. As a Sales manager Mr. Brown is in charge of selling and advertising.

Mr. Brown works hard and has a lot of things to do during his working day. He looks through the mail; plans and watches every step in the supply of his customers with the goods; employs salesmen, wholesalers and retailers to sell the goods. He sees that the system of distribution works efficiently and economically. Also during the day there are business matters which need his immediate attention. It takes Mr. Brown from two to three hours daily to discuss the questions of prices and discounts with his travelling salesmen. The company covers several countries. Mr. Brown chooses the method of distribution, the frequency of visits to customers, the method of travel by salesmen and solves many other issues.

Mr. Brown and two other managers regularly hold meetings to discuss the questions of general importance. Now they are having a meeting with the chief executive. The chief executive is explaining to the two other managers that the sales manager has authority to decide any question about the selling campaign, even some issues of manufacturing and financial sections. Clearly, the task of selling is very important for any organization and the responsibilities of a sales manager are heavy.

 

 

TEXT 5

Mr. Spencer works for Maggate - a multinational companywhich manufacturesmore than 50.000 different products. Mr. Spencer is in the computer business. In fact he is responsible forEuropean business. Maggate has had subsidiariesfor almost 30 years and Mr. Spencer has helped to set up research and development centers in Europe. He has already been to many countries all over the world.

Last week Mr. Spencer flew to Germany to discuss businesswith German partners. Maggate has always spent a large part of its annualbudgeton the improvement of its products, and Mr. Spencer's missionin Germany was to exchangeideas and information concerning computer software.Mr. Spencer has succeededin his mission. He and his German colleague Mr. Brown have known each other for a long time and during the talks they got down to businessimmediately. They didn’t waste time on formalities and ceremonies and managed to settlea lot of important items. The partners looked through the latest catalogues and closely studied the models on the market, they agreed on several changes in the planning of the new models. They acceptedseveral new methods to increasetheir sales. They also made an appointmentfor October. Both parties were very pleased with the results of the meeting and are looking forward to seeing each other again.

Such meetings are important to the organization. Mr. Spencer has organized and attended a number of international meetings. He knows their organizers usually take into account a lot of factors. As a business traveller Mr. Spencer also knows that if you do business abroad, it’s useful to find out local customs before you start. Mistakes are often expensive. Mr. Spencer is a successful businessman. He has never made serious mistakes and has gained a lot of business experience.

 

TEXT 6

 

Williams and Sons is a medium-sized British company which manufactures door hinges for the motor industry. The home market share of Williams and Sons is static but overseas trade has always been an attractive option. The company has a showroom and also has always promoted its products at trade fairs, exhibitions and seminars in the UK. They have had some contacts with overseas buyers and other foreign visitors.

Step by step they have decided through reading, talking and listening to other people that there are export possibilities for the company’s product. Several years ago the company decided to study the possibility of selling their product to the US market. First they closely examined several things: their product, human resources, and the prospects of gaining profit.

Then they did more detailed research. The owner of the company attended an international trade exhibition in the US. There he found out the offers of the competitors and met some potential customers. Finally, market research showed that sales opportunities were excellent. The Board of the directors was pleased with the results and decided to get down to business immediately. They made contacts by letter and telephone with possible agents when a crucial problem stopped the work. Their safety and quality tests, quite good for UK and European regulations, were not acceptable in the USA.

Their task was to rewrite test specifications, upgrade their test equipment and retrain personnel.

The results over the last five years have proven that the Board’s decision was correct. Orders from the USA have increased and the company is now considering the possibility of setting up its own manufacturing plant there. The company is also looking forward to other overseas markets.

 

 

TEXT 7