Методические рекомендации для выполнения контрольной работы №2 и сборник текстов и упражнений по дисциплине «Английский язык» (для студентов всех специальностей заочной формы обучения) (стр. 4 )

Opportunity Costs

Incorporated in the supply curve of goods and services are opportunity costs. Economists differ from accoun­tants and from the Internal Revenue Service by including both explicit and implicit costs, and opportunity costs. Implicit costs are mainly business costs for wages, rents, and interest, whereas opportunity costs are the alternative costs of doing something else. A sole proprietor or the owners of businesses should calculate what they forgo in wages, rents, and interest by not working for someone else, or by renting the property they use to others, or by the possibility of converting plant and equipment to alternative investment projects.

The Shape and Position of Supply Curves

In competitive markets the shape, or elasticity of supply, reflects time in the production process, such as the immediate or market period, the short run, and the long run. Elasticity of supply is the relative change in price that induces a relative change in quantity supplied. The supply curve is a line on a diagram where the vertical axis measures price and the horizontal axis is quantity. Usually the coefficient of elasticity is positive, meaning that a rise in price induces an increase in the quantity supplied. In the immediate or market period, a given moment, time is defined as too short to allow for a change in output. The supply curve is vertical, and the coefficient of elasticity is zero.

The short run is defined as a period sufficiently long to permit the producer to increase variable inputs, usually labor and materials, but not long enough to permit changes in plant and equipment. The supply curve in the short run is less inelastic or more elastic than in the immediate period. The long run permits sufficient time for the-producer to increase plant and equipment. The longer the time, the greater elasticity of supply. Changes in supply are shifts in the position of supply curves. An increase in supply is a rightward movement of a supply curve, with more of the commodity being offered for sale at each possible price. Conversely, a decrease in supply shifts the supply to the left. An increase in supply can occur because sellers expect lower prices in the future, or, as in the agricultural sector, because of bountiful crops. The reverse is true of a decrease in supply. Over periods of time long enough for production processes to change, improvements in technology and changes in input prices and productivities are the main causes of changes in supply.

Learn new words:

Aggregate supply - совокуп­ное предложение

Complex - сложный

Forthcoming - предстоя­щий, ожидаемый

Opportunity costs — альтер­нативные издержки

Accountant — бухгалтер

Explicit — явный, откровен­ный

Implicit - подразумеваю­щийся

To calculate - подсчитывать, вычислять, рассчитывать

For go — предшествовать (по времени или в про­странстве)

To convert - обращать, пре­образовывать

Shape - форма

Sufficiently - достаточно

To permit - позволять, раз­решать

Variable - переменный, из­менчивый;

A variable - переменная

Rightward movement - дви­жение вправо

Bountiful crops - обильный урожай

EXERCISE 1

Answer the questions:

1. What are opportunity costs?

2. What are implicit costs?

3. What, according to the text, a sole proprietor or the owners should do?

4. What does the elasticity of supply show?

5. Why do changes in the supply affect the position of the supply curve?

EXERCISE 2

Define the following terms in English:

aggregate supply opportunity costs sole proprietor elasticity of supply coefficient of elasticity

Text 9

Kinds of Managers

Levels of Managers

Managers  can  be  differentiated  according  to  their  level  in  the organization. Although large organizations typically have a number of levels of management, the most common view considers three basic levels: top, middle and first-line managers.

Top Managers

Top managers make up the relatively small group of executives who control the organization. Titles found in this group include president, vice president and chief executive officer (CEO).        

Thus, Donald Petersen of Ford is a top manager.

Top managers establish the organization’s goals, overall strategy and operating policies. They also officially represent the organization to the external environment by meeting with government officials, executives of other organizations and so forth. The job of a top manager is likely to be complex and varied. Top managers make decisions about such activities as acquiring other companies, investing in research and development, entering or abandoning various markets, and building new plants and office facilities. They often work long hours and spend much of their time in meetings and the telephone.

Middle Managers

Middle managers are probably the largest group of managers in most organizations.  Common middle-management  titles include plant  managers,  operations manager and division head. Thus, the general manager of a Ford assembly plant in Detroit is a middle manager. Middle managers are primarily responsible for implementing the policies and plans developed by top management  and for supervising and coordinating the activities of lower level managers. Plant managers, for example, handle inventory management, quality control, equipment  failures, and minor union problems. They also coordinate the work of supervisors within the plant. In recent years many organizations have thinned the ranks of middle managers, in order to lower costs and rid themselves of excess bureaucracy. For  example, Mobile has eliminated 17 percent of its middle managers since 1982 and Du Pont has made cuts of 15 percent. Still middle managers are necessary to bridge the upper  and lower levels of the organization and to implement the strategies developed at the top. They can also be a significant source of innovation and productivity when given the autonomy to make decisions affecting their operating units.

First-line Managers

First-line managers supervise and coordinate the activities of operating mon titles for first-line managers are foreman, supervisor and office manager. A shift foreman within a Ford assembly plant is a first-line manager. These are often the first positions held by employees who enter management from the ranks of operating personnel. In contrast to top and middle managers, first-line managers typically spend a large  proportion of their time supervising the work of subordinates.

  Text 10

Areas of Management

Financial Managers

Financial  managers  deal primarily with an organization's financial resources. Their areas of concern include accounting, cash management and investments. In some businesses such as banking, financial managers are found in especially large numbers. General Motors' CEO, Roger Smith, started as a financial manager. 

Operation Managers

Operations  managers  are  primarily concerned  with establishing the  systems  that create  an  organization's products and services. Typical responsibilities include production control, inventor control, plant layout and site selection. James Olson, CEO of AT&T, spent much of his career as an operations manager.

Human Resource Managers

Human resource managers are concerned with hiring, maintaining and discharging employees. They are typically involved in human resource planning, employee recruitment and selection, training and development, designing compensation and benefit systems, formulating performance appraisal systems and discharging low-performing and problem employees. Until the last several years human resource managers were not considered to be particularly important in many organizations. Top managers now recognize their value, however, in part because of increased awareness of the contributions of human resources and in part because of the complex legal environment of human resource management. Consequently, although no large companies have CEOs from the ranks of human resource executives, these executives are now making great strides up the organizational ladder.        

Administrative Managers

Administrative, or general, managers are not associated with any particular management specialty. Probably the best example of an administrative management position is that of a hospital or clinic administrator. Administrative managers tend to be generalize; they have some basic familiarity with all functional areas of management rather than specialized training in any one area,

  Other Kinds of Managers

Many organizations have specialized management positions in addition to those already described. Public relations managers, for example, deal with the public and media for firms such as Philip Morris and Dow Chemical to protect and enhance the image of the organization. Research and development (R&D) managers coordinate the activities of scientists and engineers working on scientific projects in organizations such as Monsanto, NASA, and Merck. International consultants are used in organizations such as the  Prudential insurance Company to provide, specialized expert advice, to operating managers. Many areas of international management are coordinated by specialized managers in organizations like Eli Lilly and Rockwell International. The number, nature and importance of these specialized managers vary tremendously from one organization to another. As contemporary organizations continue to grow in complexity and size, the number and importance of such managers are also likely to increase.

Text 11 

Types of Banks

Commercial or retail banks are businesses that trade in money. They receive and hold deposits, pay money according to customers’ instructions, lend money, offer investment advice, exchange foreign currencies, and so on. They make a profit from the difference (known as a spread or a margin) between the interest rates, they pay to lenders or depositors and those, they charge to borrowers. Banks also create credit, because the money they lend, from their deposits, is generally spent (either on goods or services, or to settle debts), and in this way transferred to another bank Accountoften by way of a bank transfer or a check rather than the use of notes or coins - from where it can be lent to another borrower, and so on. When lending money, bankers have to find a balance between yield and risk, and between liquidity and different maturities.