英语分站

Background Information

Career Planning: how to assess the career opportunities provided by different types of companies

Career Planning:

Even after a job is offered and accepted, career decisions must be made. On-the-job experience may affect the desired path. Aspiring to achieve a position above the present position is natural. The planned career path to that position may involve either a series of promotions within the firm or switching to a different firm. While planning a career path is a useful motivator, the plans should be achievable. If everyone planned to be president of a company, most plans would not be achieved. This can cause frustration. A preferable career path would include short-term goals, since some ultimate goals may take twenty years or longer. The use of short-term goals can reinforce confidence as goals are achieved.

Career Development: the importance of acquiring a range of skills throughout your career

It is important a person to have a range of skills in the course of his career development. When he has a range of skills, he is obviously more competitive than those who don't and therefore has more chances of promotion. And it will be easier for him to find a job outside his company if he is not satisfied with his present job. In addition, a person with a range of skills is more likely to work his way up to the top of the corporate ladder.

Human Resources: how to provide effective support for new members of staff

Training: The importance of a continuous programme of staff training within a company

Staff Management: how to achieve and maintain high motivation among a workforce

Motivating Employees: Employees tend to be more satisfied with their jobs if they are provided (1) compensation that is aligned with their performance, (2) job security, (3) a flexible work schedule, and (4) employee involvement programs. Firms should offer job security, compensation that is tied to employee performance, more flexible work schedules, and more employee involvement programs. To the extent that job satisfaction can motivate employees to improve their performance, firms may be able to a higher production level by providing greater job satisfaction.

Marketing Research

Managers cannot always wait for information to arrive in bits and pieces from the marketing intelligence system. They often require formal studies of specific situations. For example, Toshiba wants to know how many and what kinds of people or companies will buy its new superfast laptop computer. Or Barat College in Lake Forest, Illinois, needs to know what percentage of its target market has heard of Barat, how they heard, what they know, and how they feel about Barat. In such situations, the marketing intelligence system will not provide the detailed information needed. Managers will need marketing research.

We define marketing research as the systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data and findings relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization. Every marketer needs research. Marketing researchers engage in a wide variety of activities, ranging from market potential and market share studies, to assessments of customer satisfaction and purchase behavior, to studies of pricing, distribution, and promotion activities.

A company can conduct marketing research in its own research department or have some or all of it done outside. Although most large companies have their own marketing research departments, they often use outside firms to do special research tasks or studies. A company with no research department has to buy the services of research firms.

Marketing: the importance of packaging products appropriately

In recent times, numerous factors have made packaging an important marketing tool. Increased competition and clutter on retail store shelves means that packages now must perform many sales tasks-from attracting attention, to describing the product, to making the sale. Companies are realizing the power of good packaging to create instant consumer recognition of the company or brand. For example, in an average supermarket, which stocks 15,000 to 17,000 items, the typical shopper passes by some 300 items per minute, and 53 percent of all purchases are made on impulse. In this highly competitive environment, the package may be the seller's last chance to influence buyers. It becomes a "five-second commercial." The Campbell Soup Company estimates that the average shopper sees its familiar red and white can 76 times a year, creating the equivalent of $26 million worth of advertising.

Market Research: the importance of doing market research before launching a new product

Sales: How to sell a product effectively in international markets

Product Promotion: the importance of selecting appropriate members of staff to attend exhibitions

Communication: the importance in business of maintaining contact with clients

Public Relations: the importance of adequate supervision and training of staff who deal with the public

Management: How to run a meeting successfully

Transport Management: the importance to a business of an efficient public transport system

Any distribution of products from producers to wholesalers or from wholesalers to retailers requires transportation. The cost of transporting some products can exceed the cost of producing them. An efficient form of transportation can result in higher costs and lower profits for the firm. For each form of transportation, firms should estimate timing, cost, and availability. This assessment allows the firm to choose an optimal method of transportation. The most common forms of transportation used to distribute products are truck, rail, air, water, pipeline.

Transport Management: the importance of using environmentally friendly means of transport whenever possible

Health & Safety

Employee Safety: Firms ensure that the workplace is safe for employees by closely monitoring the production process. Some obvious safety precautions are to check machinery and equipment for proper working conditions, require safety glasses or any other equipment that one can prevent injury, and emphasize any special safety precautions in training seminars.

Firms that create a safe working environment prevent injuries and improve the morale of their employees. Many firms, such as Allied Signal, now identify workplace safety as one of their main goals. Levi Strauss and Company imposes safety guidelines not only its U.S. facilities but also on Asian factories where some of its clothes are made. Starbucks Coffee Company has developed a code of conduct in an attempt to improve the quality of life in coffee-producing countries.

Life Skills: the importance of being able to cope with stress in a job

Technology: the importance of training staff in how to use new technology when introducing it into the workplaceSpeaking Test Part III

Sample Dialogues

Time Management

[Definition: the manner by which managers allocate their time when managing tasks]Sample

Zhang: Hi, Ms Wang, you know, our company is sort of out of control these days. Don't you think so?

Wang: Yeah. Everything seems to be in disorder here in our company. And that obviously has a lot to do with poor time management.

Zhang: You mean poor time management has caused all these problems. Why?

Wang: When time is not well planned within a company, they usually do not allocate blocks of time to specified tasks. They do not have a definite idea of when they should complete a certain task. And …

Zhang: And I think they often neglect the ordering of priorities. I mean certain tasks need our prior attention. But in our company every task is treated on an equal basis, even if it is a very urgent task.

Wang: That's the point. So time should be planned according to the importance of the tasks we need to deal with.

Zhang: So what do you think we can do so that time is managed effectively here in our company?

Wang: You mean what procedures we can adopt?

Zhang: Sure. That's what our boss is asking us to do. Right?

Wang: Right. I think we've got a lot to do. First, we should make all the staff members realize how important effective time management is to our company.

Zhang: Yes, I think we can give them instruction in time management, especially those in supervisory positions.

Wang: Right, perhaps we can run a few training programs for them. If need, we may invite some experts from outside to help us.

Zhang: Another thing we can do is to make all the managers, or even every staff member, come up with a job description of their own. In this way, they can be pretty sure about what they are responsible for and what they are not.

Wang: Yes, that's a good idea. And I think, the top managers of our company should come up with a set of rules as to what kind of jobs should be given priority to. In this way, we can make sure that important tasks are dealt with first.

Zhang: Good idea. So to sum up, our company should run a few training programs, and every staff member should write a job description of their own.

Wang: And rules should be made as to what kind of job should be given priority to.

Responding to Competition

Zhang: You know our sales have fallen a lot during the past quarter.

Wang: Yes, one of our competitors is charging a lot less than us.

Zhang: I know. It is a new company in this line of business. We really need to do something about it.

Wang: What do you think we can do?

Zhang: I think we can launch an advertising campaign to promote our product.

Wang: Yes, it's a good idea. But that will surely add to our cost and therefore push up our price.

Zhang: I know what you mean. Price is a major consideration when a customer decides on a purchase. But there are certainly many other considerations on their part, for example, quality and after-sales service.

Wang: That makes sense. Ours is a high quality product and our after-sales service is good enough, I think. That's why we are charging a higher price than our competitors. So we should emphasize our quality and after-sales service in our ad so that...

Zhang: So that people will know the high quality of our product and after-sales service and more people will buy our products.

Wang: But I am still worried about the price. You know customers always like low prices.

Zhang: Yes, indeed. In fact, we can cut down a bit on our price. You know when sales increase after our advertising, we are likely to increase our profit even if we cut down our price a little bit.

Wang: Yes, a low price high volume strategy.

Zhang: That's it. We may even consider some other incentives, such as a coupon to go with our newspaper ad, and …

Wang: And I think we can offer free delivery for our customers.

Zhang: Yes, but we cannot afford to offer free delivery for all our customers.

Wang: Only those who are within the free delivery area, I think.

Zhang: Yes, I think so.

New Computer System

Wang: Well, you know our company is considering buying an up-to-date computer system.

Zhang: Yes, just to replace the system we're using now. I think it's a wise decision.

Wang: We need to find out what new computer systems are available first.

Zhang: Yes, so that we can choose one that is most suitable for our company. I think we can find some information from Internet.

Wang: Yes, but I'm afraid not all the information on the Internet is reliable.

Zhang: Right, but at least we can get some information about the system providers.

Wang: That's right, but we can also find some information from newspaper advertisements. I tend to think they are more reliable.

Zhang: Sure. I have the same feeling.

Wang: But I think the best way is to visit some of the providers and have face-to-face talks with them so that they can know our needs and we can see for ourselves how their systems work.

Zhang: And then make our own decision as to what best suits us.

Wang: Right. Let's do that. And in replacing the existing system, I think there are a few factors we need to take into account. First, do we have to buy up-to-date computers if we decide to use new systems?

Zhang: I think we'll have to.

Wang: In that case, what shall do with these replaced computers?

Zhang: I think we'll have to dispose of them at very low prices.

Wang: Yes, I don't think there's any other alternative.