Методические указания студентам

Самостоятельная работа студента может носить как индивидуальный, так и групповой характер. Она предполагает как выполнение предложенных преподавателем заданий, так и самостоятельный поиск необходимого учебного материала с использованием современных технических средств.

 

Оценочные средства для текущего контроля и аттестации студента

Тематика заданий текущего контроля

Тематика заданий текущего контроля представлена в тематических блоках раздела 7.

 

Вопросы для оценки качества освоения дисциплины

9.2.1 Примерный перечень вопросов к зачету на 1 курсе:

What is your best friend’s personality? What’s Carl Jung contribution to the psychiatric medicine?

What types of personality did Carl Jung identify? What are they characterized by? What qualities do extraverts possess? What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a strong personality? What is a personality clash? Why has Hideo Nakata become famous? What mistake do people make about charisma? What characteristics are proper to charismatic people? What does the stereotype of ‘women being worse drivers than men’ derive from? What are the most popular destinations for people from your country? What’s the difference between ‘travel’ and ‘tourism’? Who is Thomas Cook? What is an ‘armchair traveller’? How could travel develop in the future? What is Marko Polo famous for? How did it happen so that Valentina Tereshkova became a cosmonaut? Which explorer was accused of not telling the truth about their achievements? What is Wilfred Thesiger famous for? What is Amelia Earhart destiny? What are the best paid jobs in your country? What qualifications are likely to be required of a candidate for the post of the Finance Director? What are the advantages and drawbacks of homeworking? What are killer questions? What is killer questions’ purpose? What’s the experts’ opinion on killer questions effect? How should one behave if asked a killer question? What should an applicant do to find a good job? What jobs are likely to be most suitable for energetic and ambitious people? What qualifications are desirable for: an engineer, a pilot, a psychologist, a manager, a financier? Have your language skills let you down when abroad? Why has English become an international language? Should governments have a duty to protect their countries’ languages? Why (not)? Is SMS threatening the ability to write good English? Why (not)? What is teachers’ attitude to texting? Why are languages disappearing? Why do some people think there’s no reason to worry about the death of languages? What are the most spoken languages in the world? Which country has the highest percentage that uses English as a second language? What are the best ways of improving the language skills? Have you ever bought something just because of an advert? When? What were your reasons? What does AIDA mean? How has advertising changed over the years? What makes a good advert? What sorts of things were advertised in ancient times? What effect did printing have on advertising? What is USP? Why is it important for a product to have a USP? What are the characteristics of adverts aimed at children? Why is advertising considered to have a harmful effect on children? Have any measures to protect children from advertising been introduced? Why (not)? etc.

9.2.2 Примерный перечень вопросов к зачету на 2 курсе:

What types of companies do you know? What does each type mean? What do companies do in order to expand? What types of companies present a threat to a large corporation? Why? Which type of company would you prefer to work for? What are the advantages? What are the positive and negative impacts on companies of the following: developments in technology; growth in the power of consumer groups; expansion of e-business; increase in shareholder power; financial scandals; transfer of money and jobs to cheaper countries; weakening trade unions. What were the characteristics of corporations in the past? What is the key to survival for companies in future? Would you prefer to be a freelance worker or be employed with a fixed salary? Why will “choice” play a major in determining the structure of tomorrow’s company? Tell us about the difference in steep/flat hierarchies, please! Which one contributes more to higher efficiency? What is the role of a leader? How can management styles vary? Which of the management styles is more efficient: delegating responsibility to subordinates or using your authority to control operations directly? What is the best way to manage and motivate employees? What style of management is particularly important during an economic upswing? What do toy think of fear as a motivating factor? What do you think of an “open-leave” policy employed by some companies? What kind of language is characteristic of direct/indirect cultures? Howe can this difference cause misunderstanding in multicultural teams? What qualities, skills and experience do effective managers need? What kind of leader is needed to head a successful firm? What kind of person can turn around a failing company? Is a good leader necessarily a successful manager? What ways of motivating and inspiring employees do you know? What does the choice depend on? What are the most common mistakes made by managers? How does an organization usually define its mission? What is company strategy? What factors should a company consider when undergoing the strategic planning process? Why is it important to analyse where a business stands in relation to its markets and competition? What is SWOT analysis? Who is a “fat cat”? Do top managers always deserve the lavish pay packages they are awarded? Can we consider stock options to be a performance-related bonus? How can market changes affect stock options? How do some managers exploit the situation? Should top manages’ reward be performance-related? What should a remuneration package be like? What ways of motivating top staff/factory floor workers do you know? What do you think about attempts to lessen remuneration differences between levels employees? Should all jobs receive the same benefits? How are employees generally evaluated? Would this work for managers? Which of the remuneration packages’ elements are the most/least important to you? How can we measure a CEO performance? Is the gap between executives’ pay and that of factory floor workers’ wide? Do they sometimes receive huge rewards despite poor efforts and poor results? What is shareholders’ reaction to this situation? How cab management motivate staff to stay with their company? Who has economic development brought more benefits to? Why do environmentalists oppose development? How has the quality of our lives changed due to development and technical progress? What are the origins of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development? What sort of work does it do? How is the OECD changing? What are the 4 P-s of the traditional marketing mix? Why do companies create brands? What do brands represent? What are your favourite brands of clothes/cars/shampoo/cosmetics? Why do you prefer these to other similar brands?

Let’s consider the marketing mix for the brand! What are the product’s features? How expensive is it in comparison with other similar products? Where and how is it usually advertised? Where can you buy the product? What usually influences your buying decision? Do you believe advertisements? What are your favourite commercials? Do you agree that “brands force us to look alike, eat alike, be alike?” What is more important for a brand: product features or a certain life style? What makes you think so? Why is it getting increasingly more difficult for admen to reach consumers? What do you think about this method of marketing when young couples get married in the USA they are given a gift bag from companies that want to promote their products? Can you think of other “points in life” when people would be particularly vulnerable to marketing tactics such as these? What forms of point of sale promotion do you know?

Why is it said that brands are companies’ most valuable assets? What lies behind a symbol? What are the most important characteristics of a brand? Can you think of any celebrity endorsements? What products did they promote? What are the characteristics of factual/vague cultures? How might these differences cause misunderstanding in multicultural teams? What are upmarket/upscale (USA) products? On what products can the up-mark be considerable? Is the profit margin on high-volume products big or small?

How can the product’s benefits be communicated to the customer? How does the product reach the customer? Who is involved in the distribution channels? What is the difference between consumer marketing and business-to business/industrial marketing? How can outsourcing reduce operating costs for businesses? What do we call the process when business is contracted out to a third party?

What is off-shoring? Which of the cervices: payroll services, recruitment, PR, IT support can be outsourced successfully? Why? What are the disadvantages and risks of going off-shore? What are the benefits? Can a SWOT analysis be useful in defining the prospects of an off-shoring project?

What are the advantages for the countries where businesses outsource some of their business processes? Can you think of any Russian company going off-shore? Would you be interested in working for example in India, if your company decided to of-shore some of its operations there? What terms and conditions would you make? Should important decisions be made by senior managers or by consensus after everyone has contributed suggestions and opinions? If you were a CEO of a company, how would decision-making be made? What is more characteristic of Russian business culture? How might this difference cause misunderstanding in multicultural teams? What can mismanagement and irregularities in financial management lead to? What was the demand for stricter corporate governance caused by? What company documents are usually checked by auditors?

What sort of information does a balance sheet contain? What figures would you check if you wanted to invest into a company? How can companies make the figures in financial documents more attractive? Do you think CEOs who falsify accounts are criminals and should go to jail or is it an acceptable risk if it helps to safeguard the company’s future and jobs? What financial scandals have you heard about? What is your idea of a good presentation? Should it be formal and technical or do you prefer a more entertaining style? Which style of presentation is more typical of our country? How might these attitudes affect the dress, style and use of visual aids in presentations different countries?

Which company department is responsible for recruiting new personnel? What does the procedure look like? What does it mean; to be on the payroll? What steps are involved if you apply for a job?

What questions are usually asked at a job interview? What are the 3 types of job interviews? If you were given responsibility for hiring several thousand employees in a short period of time, how would you organize the process? Would you reject candidates who have made spelling mistakes in their CVs and covering letters? Why? What is your attitude to on-line interviews? What would you recommend to a person who is going to a job interview? What information does a CV contain? What are the typical headings? What is small talk? What topics are suitable for a small talk? Which ones are considered to be unsafe? What is meant by closing a conversation at the right moment and in the right way? What do we mean by “personal space”? How much personal space do people in Russia need? How might this difference cause misunderstanding in cross-cultural communication? what innovative recruitment techniques do you know? What does counterfeiting mean? What industries and businesses are mostly by counterfeiting? Why have digitization and the internet made it easier to mass reproduce and distribute counterfeit products? Can you give examples of copyright infringements? Which ones do you consider to be the most dishonest? How does counterfeiting benefit consumers? What are the most serious consequences of counterfeiting for consumers? How are high prices of branded goods justified? Who are copycats? How can customers distinguish fakes from genuine goods? What are the most effective ways of fighting the copycats? Are counterfeiters perpetrators in your opinion? What role has technology played in the expansion of counterfeiting? How do counterfeiters often obtain their production masters? What are the distribution networks for counterfeit products? What effects does counterfeiting have on legal business? What would you have done if you had been offered pirate copies of your favourite music? In what case would you refuse to buy a fake? Should the “paparazzi” photograph celebrities without permission? Should celebrities be able to trademark their own faces?

Should celebrities be protected from intrusion at private events? How do electronic marketplaces function? What types of markets can be found in modern economies? What kinds of goods are sold on the commodities market? What kinds of goods are sold on the consumer market? What are the advantages and disadvantages of buying and selling online? How is buying on-line organized? What is necessary for starting up an online business? What is crucial to the success of an auction site? What are the main threats to the success of e-business? What companies specialising in e-business have you heard of? What are their activities? How should the selling process be organized? What makes an advertisement successful? What does the abbreviation AIDA stand for? What can make a consumer want to bid for an item on an auction website? What products are sold on-line best of all? What benefits can a customer of an e-business enjoy? What services do web agencies offer? How can an online sales channel influence the company's sales? What is special about e-Bay? What prospects does e-business have in Russia? What organizations can exercise pressure on governments in order to make them change policies? What methods are used by various pressure groups in their activities? Which types of demonstrations are used by protesters? What is meant by litigation? What are the main spheres of activities of pressure groups? How can celebrities help this or that pressure group to achieve their goals? Give examples. What does protectionism consist in? Why is it criticised by charities? What did the “Jubilee 2000” campaign consist in? How are charities involved in the process of globalization? What does DATA group insist on and why? Why was the American farm bill argued about? What do you know of Oxfam’s activities? Which way of protesting is more effective, the peaceful or the violent one? What goals should one bear in mind when planning a media campaign? What are the characteristics of the key message of a media campaign? How is a successful news release prepared? What ways of helping the developing countries do you consider as most reasonable and efficient? What is the role of the international organisations (the IMF, World Bank) in helping the poor countries? What Russian pressure groups or charities do you know? What are their purposes? Would you take a chance to participate in a protest campaign? If no, why? If yes, under what circumstances? Which means of communication are applied in modern companies? What is meant by “information overload”? Which types of business correspondence does a manager deal with at work? What disorder do psychologists call “Information Fatigue Syndrome”? What is the origin of information overload? 6) How has new technology increased the amount of office information lately? How does the view on productivity change in a knowledge economy? Who is especially affected by infoglut? What are the negative consequences of infoglut? How can infoglut be coped with? How has e-mail influenced the process of running a business in terms of communication? What is called “messaging meltdown”? What are the consequences of messaging meltdown? How might a person turn into an information junkie? What is necessary to write e-mails effectively? How can a badly written e-mail hinder communication? What do communication agencies specialize in? In what cases do companies turn to PR agencies? What makes a good news story? What does a press release consist in? How has the sphere of communication and PR developed in Russia over the last decades? What does logistics mean? What benefits for companies do smart logistics offer? What is the freight industry? What does a supply chain consist of? What is the role of so-called “consolidators” and “integrators”? What main problems do customers face when shopping? What problems do retailers confront most often? How are RFID systems made? What is the reason of the sudden excitement about “smart tags”? How will retailers gain from “smart tags”? Which supermarkets were the first to introduce the new technology? What are the primary uses for “smart tags”? How is the “smart tag” different from the barcode? How will manufactures benefit from the new technology? What will the benefits for the consumers be? What difficulties may arise from using “smart tags”? What is the function of the “kill command”? How can the application of the new technology change the unemployment rates in the country? What measures should be taken by retailers to protect consumers as regards security and privacy? How should “grey consignments” be dealt with? Which is the critical factor for commercial success? How can businesses innovate? What are the risks and benefits of launching a new product? Which products that appeared in the XXth century were revolutionary? Who invented them and how did they improve throughout the century? What is characteristic of a creative person? Which innovators in business do you know? Which companies do they work for? What turns a designer’s new project into a “flop”? What turns a project into a success? Which phases is the process of developing new products divided in? What does imagining a product mean? What is the purpose of a prototype? What should the phase of business analysis investigate? What difficulties may appear at the stage of manufacturing? What is important in launching the new product? Give an example of a successful and failed innovation. How are new and innovative businesses supported? What does the StartUp Programme of Techstart consist in? Which spheres of business offer most opportunities as regards innovation? What are these opportunities? Which factors should be analyzed before starting an innovative project? What genuinely innovative products have you recently used or heard of?