Английский язык для студентов, изучающих экономику, 3 курс, сокращенная версия, часть 1 (1 семестр) (стр. 5 )

3. Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Даже во времена кризиса производственное предприятие «Витязь» не переходило на сокращенную рабочую неделю, а продолжало искать выходы из неблагоприятной ситуации. В результате предприятию удалось не только сохранить спрос на свою продукцию, но и найти новые рынки сбыта, увеличить экспорт в Россию.

2. Продукция республиканского производственного предприятия «Витязь» всегда пользовалась большим спросом. За июль-август 2009 года предприятие сократило складские запасы на 9 миллиардов белорусских рублей. Это обеспечило и зарплату работникам, и инвестиции в развитие завода, и максимум прибыли, и новый виток производственного процесса.

3. Минский завод виноградных вин намерен поставить на рынок не мене 1/3 доли виноградного вина в Беларуси (с учетом импорта). Сейчас, несмотря на общее падение рынка, предприятие по-прежнему является лидером в своей отрасли и увеличивает объем продаж. В текущем году планируется увеличить выпуск продукции на 2 % по сравнению с 2008 годом до 12 млн. бутылок. Помимо количественных показателей, предприятие постоянно держит на контроле качество выпускаемых вин и следит за соблюдением технологии производства.

IV. Reading

A. Reading for the Main Idea

Read the text to understand the main idea of it and try the following tasks.

1. Choose the statement that best summarises the main idea of the text.

1.  There is no law of supply in economics.

2.  A market is regulated according to the law of supply through the price mechanism.

3.  In real economic systems markets don't behave in an ideal way.

2. Answer the following questions.

1.  What is said in the text about the basic economic laws?

2.  According to the text, what is the difference between “price” and “cost”?

3.  What is an equilibrium price?

4.  Why does the quantity supplied rise as the price rises and fall as the price falls?

5.  Do markets behave in an ideal way in real economic systems? Why?/ Why not?

B. Reading for Details

Read the text again to understand details and try the following tasks.

1. Understanding Expressions: give the best explanation for each of these phrases used in the text.

Markets overstocked with products; monetary value; manufacturing expense; financial gain; “demand curves” and “supply curves”; to charge higher prices; to cut production; to act rationally; to offset its rising unit costs; to rely on trial and error.

2. According to the text, mark these statements T (true) or F (false).

1.  The law of supply states that the quantity of a good supplied falls as the market price rises, while the law of demand says that the quantity of a good demanded falls as the price rises.

2.  It is the main function of a market to increase the production that balances the supplies of goods and services and demands for them.

3.  An equilibrium price (also known as a “market-clearing” price) is set by the government.

4.  Producers would always like to charge higher prices.

5.  If ordinary people were aware of the principle of equilibrium in economy they would do without economists.

6.  In real economic systems markets do not behave in an ideal way.

3. Say what the following economic terms mean.

The laws of supply and demand, “equilibrium” price, assets, cost, price, balance, a price mechanism, a numerical monetary value to a good, goods available for sale, a perfect economy, inflation, demand.

4. Choose the variants that best explain the ideas of the sentences below.

1. Economists do not really have a “law” of supply, though they talk and write as though they do.

a)  Economists talk and write a lot about the law of supply because it is primary in economics.

b)  The law of supply and the law of demand are the same things looked at from different view points.

c)  Some economists are not very professional to explain the law of demand, so they talk and write about the law of supply.

2. In a perfect economy, any market should be able to move to the equilibrium position instantly without travelling along the curve.”

a)  Ideally, any market should immediately find a balance between supply and demand.

b)  In a perfect market economy a market should ignore the curve.

c)  If a market is not able to travel along the curve, it is not a market.

ment on the following sentence from the point of view of the laws of supply and demand.

If all Belarusian companies producing TV-sets, for example, raised the prices on their product all of a sudden, it certainly means that the Belarusian market would be overstocked with domestic TV-sets of “Vityas” and “Horizont”.

6. Practise reading §§ 1 and 2. Translate them into Russian. Give a short summary of the passage.

plete the following sentences.

1.  The law of supply states that…, while the law of demand says that …

2.  Price in economics and business is …, whereas cost concerns …

3.  An equilibrium price (also known as a “market-clearing” price) is …

4.  Markets in which prices can move freely are …

5.  In real economic systems markets …

C. How the text is organised

1. Match the following market changes with their consequences according to the text.

the market price rises	consumers will buy fewer units
producers insist on a higher price	suppliers will produce less and some demand will go unsatisfied
consumers successfully insist on paying less	consumers will buy fewer units than producers have available for sale
the market for a good is already in equilibrium and producers raise prices	quantity supplied falls
the market price falls	the quantity of a good supplied rises

2 Find the paragraphs of the text dealing with the following concepts.

1) the concept of a price; 2) “demand curves” and “supply curves;” 3) the principles of equilibrium.

V. Speaking

A. Giving your opinion

Give your opinion on the following issue.

The sales of the clothes produced by the company have suddenly decreased on the market. What can possible reasons for it be?

B. Discussion

Work in pairs or small groups. Discuss your answers to the following questions.

1.  All the companies producing TV sets for the domestic market have increased the prices on their product. What can all the consequences of this price rise be a) for customers? b) for producers? c) for competitors?

2.  A company which manufactures furniture started buying progressively more expensive materials. What changes on the market could make them act like this? Is it going to affect the cost of the product in the nearest future?

3.  The market for computers is already in equilibrium but the suppliers have decided to raise prices. Will it change the situation on the computer market? How?

C. Role play

Raising Sales

Prepare for a role play. Read the situation and the roles, and follow the procedure.

The situation

A company called “Super View” produces TV sets, mostly for a domestic market. Your main competitor is another domestic company called “Super Vision” producing TV sets of practically the same quality for the same customer. There are TV sets of some foreign producers on the market, too, but they are more expensive. Recently the demand for “Super View” company's product has decreased, and the sales have critically fallen. The Board of Directors are discussing all possible ways out of the situation.

The objective

Develop a complex plan aimed at overcoming difficulties and solving the problem.

The roles

General Director. You are the Chairman of the meeting. Explain the existing problem to the audience. Suggest all possible reasons for the situation that occurred. Give the floor to the staff and shareholders. Organize voting after discussing the proposals. Note down the most efficient ones. At the end of the meeting read out a complex plan, run the voting to approve it, thank the participants and close the meeting.

Managing Director. You keep to a customer oriented approach. Say what, in your opinion, should be done to increase the demand and raise sales. If possible, suggest several ways.

Financial Director. You are sure that if the company gets a bump order from the government the situation will be solved immediately. Give your proposals how to convince the government to make such orders for schools, universities, public agencies etc.

Production Manager. In your opinion, the company should look forward and enter the international market. Suggest what will happen if the company succeeds in it. Say what should be done to achieve this purpose.

Marketing Manager. You are a supporter of a product innovation approach. Express your own view on solving the problem. Give some examples of innovations (there may be even the most incredible ones, like a kind of a TV set with functions of a dishwasher, or special glasses for watching TV without a screen).

Sales Manager. You think that the best way is to unite with your competitors, “Super Vision”, creating a monopoly of domestic TV set suppliers. Give your arguments in favour of your plan.

Shareholders (the rest of the audience). Put questions to the speakers. Express your agreement or disagreement with the speakers' views. (You may suggest your own ways out of the situation as well). Try to predict the reaction of the market to this or that change in the company's strategy. Take part in the voting.

The procedure

1.  The moderator opens the meeting.

2.  The participants in turn take the floor and make their reports, expressing their views.

3.  The moderator organizes the exchange of views and opinions.

4.  The moderator organizes the voting to decide which decision to make.

5.  The moderator closes the meeting.

After the role play the moderator evaluates the participants’ reports. The moderator's performance is evaluated by the group.

VI. Writing

Write an essay on one of the following topics.

1.  Protectionism policies in stimulating the demand for domestic products and their impact on the market situation.

2.  The society of consumption: true and false values.

3.  Which is the lesser evil – lack of supply or lack of demand?

Unit 5. Marketing and Marketing Techniques. Business Ethics and Social Responsibility.

I. Anticipating the Issue

1. Discuss your answers to the following questions.

1.  Is a good quality or an acceptable price enough to guarantee good sales of a product? If not, what else should be done to stimulate customers’ demand?

2.  What marketing techniques do you know? Are they influential? Why? / Why not?

3.  What do you think should dominate in running a business – profit at all costs or ethics? Are the two factors interdependent? How?

II. Background Reading

Read the following text. Focus on the meaning of the boldfaced words. Determine whether what you anticipated coincides with the information of the text.

Marketing. Marketing Techniques and Ethics

1. Someone produces the things you want because you are buying those things and paying a profitable price. You produce what others want because that's the way you get the money to buy what you want. So, just like that, the society chooses “what to produce”. The market answers the question automatically. But in order not to fail in the attempt “to guess” the needs of the others, something should be done. What's the use of producing things or services which are not going to be bought? Special efforts being made to study the market situation are known as marketing.

2. Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society. Marketing practice tends to be seen as a creative industry, which includes advertising, distribution and selling. It is also concerned with anticipating the customers' future needs and wants, which are often discovered through market research. The objective of marketing is not only market studying but also influencing the market situation.

3. In the early 1960s, Professor Neil Borden identified a number of company performance actions that can influence the consumer decision to purchase goods or services. Borden suggested that all those actions of the company represented a “Marketing Mix”. Professor E. Jerome McCarthy, in the early 1960s suggested the Marketing Mix containing 4 elements and known as “4 P's”: product, price, place and promotion.

·  The product aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the actual goods or services, and how they relate to the end-user's needs and wants. The scope of a product generally includes supporting elements such as warranties, guarantees, and support.

·  Pricing refers to the process of setting a price for a product, including discounts.

·  Placement (or distribution) refers to how the product gets to the customer; for example, point-of-sale placement or retailing. This third P has also sometimes been called Place, referring to the channel by which a product or service is sold.

·  Promotion includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling, branding.

4. There are distinct stages in converting strangers to customers that govern the communication medium that should be used.

·  Advertising is a paid form of public presentation and expressive promotion of ideas aimed at masses. The main objectives of advertising are to maintain demand for well-known goods, to introduce new and unknown goods and to increase demand for well-known goods, products or services.

·  Branding means creating reference of certain products in mind. A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes products and services from competitive offerings. A brand represents the consumers' experience with an organization, product, or service.

·  Personal sales are oral presentations given by a salesman who approaches individuals or a group of potential customers. They pre-suppose live, interactive relationship, personal interest, attention and response.

·  Sales promotions are short-term incentives to encourage buying of products: an example is coupons or a sale. People are given an incentive to buy, but this does guarantee that the customer is going to buy the customer's product in the future.

·  Marketing Public Relations (MPR) stimulate demand through press release giving a favourable report to a product and secure a higher degree of credibility and, as a result, boost enterprise's image.

5. The point of special attraction even not only in the world of business but also among consumers has recently become ethics of sales and marketing. Marketing may seek to manipulate our values and behavior. To some extent society regards this as acceptable, but where is the ethical line to be drawn? It is considered unethical when a company makes use of price discrimination, anti-competitive practices, pyramid scheme, spam (electronic), marketing in schools, black or grey markets, false advertising. Ethics of production deals with the duties of a company to ensure that products and production processes do not cause harm. Its main issues are pollution, environmental ethics, genetically modified food, mobile phone radiation and health. Ethics of intellectual property states that knowledge and skills are valuable but not easily "ownable" as objects and focuses on the issues of patent, copyright and trademark infringement, biopiracy and industrial espionage. Ethics of accounting information regards misleading financial analysis, bribery, facilitation payments, accounting scandals and other criminal manipulation of the financial markets. Ethics of human resource management (HRM) covers ethical issues arising around the employer-employee relationship, such as the rights and duties owed between employer and employee: discrimination issues such as those on the basis of age (ageism), gender, race, religion, disabilities, occupational safety and health.

III. Vocabulary Reinforcement

A. Vocabulary

Match these words with their definitions.

accounting, n	kind, grade, or make, as indicated by a stamp, trademark
performance, n	influence one’s mind for a profitable purpose
warranty, n	the exclusive right granted by a government to an inventor to manufacture, use, or sell an invention
brand, n	record of a company’s financial operations
convert, v	a written guarantee given to the purchaser of a new appliance
publicity, n	putting ideas into practice
advertise, v	selling a product by separate sets or units
retail, n	making information known to the public
patent, n	the exclusive right to make copies exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, audio, video, etc.
copyright, n	transform, turn into
infringe, v	break, violate a law, a responsibility or a promise
trademark, n	the proportion of ingredients in a mixture; formula
manipulate, v	make a product or a service known to the customer
mix, n	any name, symbol, mark adopted and used to distinguish products from those made or sold by others.

B. Word Families

Complete the chart:

Verb	Adjective	Noun
		manipulation
convert
	accountable
perform
		advertisement
		patent
publicize
mix
	priceless
		infringement

*Remember: these two nouns have different meanings:

Patent is the exclusive right granted by a government to an inventor to manufacture, use, or sell an invention for a certain number of years or an invention or process protected by this right; an official document conferring such a right: You have no patent to produce this kind of mobile phones.

Copyright is the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: The composer sold his copyright to perform this piece of music to several singers.

C. Word Groups

1. Match the words having similar meanings.

ethics	promotion
distribution	predict
advertising	damage
harm	investigation
anticipate	sales
research	morals
incentive	violation
infringement	motive

2.  Match the words having opposite meanings.

publicity	violate
wholesale	criminal
obey	misleading
legal	scandal
true and correct	secret
peace	decline
boost	retail