HANDOUT UNIT 9 1. Answer the questions. 1. Why is it increasingly difficult for companies to find sources of growth? 2. How do many senior managers and professionals perceive the situation? 3. How many companies achieve their (or any) growth targets? 4. What impact does it have on future plans? 5. What do you know about Logitech, Giorgio Armani and Accor? 6. Do all consultants share Zook´s view on moving to “adjacencies” as a successful growth strategy? 7. What did Swissair establish its reputation for? 8. How did the strategy of the mid-1990s Swissair management affect the company and how is it doing now? 9. What used to be Marconi´s core business? 10. What contributed to the fact that Marconi is now a shadow of what it used to be? 11. How many of all possible adjacency moves may add value to a company? 2. Translate the following expressions posílení (zlepšení) výrobku významné zdroje růstu příjmů nově vzniklá internetová společnost soustředit se na jádro podnikání přidávat, ne ubírat na péči o zákazníka být znám svou přesností a výkonností být nucen vyhlásit bankrot získat silnou pozici na trhu být vystaven tlaku akcionářů oznámit únik plynu médiím stáhnout se z trhu kvůli špatné cenové politice 3. Answer questions about strategy and innovation 1. Why is strategy and planning of resource allocation so important for all companies? 2. What are strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions? 3. Which verbs, usually used to describe wars and battles do we use to describe movement on the market? 4. What are barriers to entry? Give examples of industries with low and high entry barriers. 5. What is intrapreneurship and why do companies set up skunk works? 6. What does the process of shakeout and consolidation involve? 4. Complete each set of sentences with the same word 1. As their strategy was going nowhere, they decided to ................................... tack. Contemporary society is characterised by rapid social and economic ................... Without a radical .......................... in strategy, it was clear the company would not survive. 2. Their salaries............................ from € 65,000 to € 90,000. The majority of their customers are in the 17-25 age ................. They finally have a full .................... of products with which to challenge the market leader. 3. Next year, our company will .................................... for a 15% improvement in EBIT. They started the organization with the ................................... of serving the most vulnerable people. Your target is a result, such as a total or amount, which you ...............................to achieve. 4. It seems that quite often the oil price has only a temporary effect on consumer ................................. In the booming 1990s Marconi went on a ....................................... spree to buy various telco equipment companies. The survey shows that many highly qualified women have non-linear careers, .............................. part of them in jobs with reduced hours or responsibility. 5. Mayer is fighting to weaken Renco’s .......................................... on 45% of the speciality chemicals market. Owing to insufficient funding, the project had to be put on ............................................ Our company needs a new strategy to ...................................... down costs and improve efficiency. 6. They offer an excellent training course for managers who have to ................................ with ethical dilemmas. To get a fair ............................. you need to be fully aware of your legal rights. They have just opened three shops that ....................................... in high-quality jewellery. 7. TCB Engineering’s annual .................................... showed a loss last year of € 2 million. Computer software now ....................................... for over 60% of our revenue. We haven’t researched it ourselves, but Central Asia is a promising market by all..................... 8. Sales of our cosmetics will grow in line with ........................................ demand for feel-good products generally. The manager blamed the company’s poor exports on the...................................... pound. Experts fear that a......................................... economy will once again lead to higher inflation. 9. Consultants predict that most companies’ growth levels are unlikely to .................................... 10%. India has managed to ............................................ a $ 40bn agreement to import LNG from Iran. With that new order we think this year’s sales budget is within our ........................................ 10. This year’s ............................................ of growth is expected to be twice that of last year. According to thousands of surveys, the job satisfaction ................................... is as high as 76%. Observers say Indian companies are ready to accept a lower ...................................... of return that western companies in order to secure a strategic asset. 6. Read the interview and decide which answer (A, B or C) best fits each space. Interviewer: The recent scandal involving your finance minister has done little to restore public confidence in the government. Minister: (1) ………… , I think the 'scandal', as you call it, has shown us to be a very moral party. The minister concerned resigned his post and showed great contrition for what he'd done. Int: (2) ................... a scandal is a scandal. (3) .........................., a senior minister accepts a large donation on behalf of his party from the entrepreneur Robert Tivwell, then five weeks later, Tivwell's company, which (4) ...................... just happens to be nearly bankrupt, wins a contract with the government worth millions of pounds. Min: Well, as I say, the minister has resigned, (5) ....................... I should point out that there is technically nothing illegal about what he did. Int: Yes, there is, minister. It's called bribery. Min: Well you can call it that if you want. I prefer to call it 'sharp practice' (6) ............................ But it happens, it's always happened, and I'm sure it'll continue to happen. (7) ........................ , we will not condone this kind of financial dealing and will continue to stamp down on it. Int: This is pure double talk! Min: No that's not true. (8) ....................... we take such matters extremely seriously. But we are realistic enough to know that we can't eliminate them altogether. You see, there is nothing to stop people or companies making donations to parties - (9) .......................... if we didn't have such money, we wouldn't be able to survive. It's just that the timing of such payments can be unfortunate. So each case has to be investigated on its merits. But (10) ............................, this practice is causing less controversy than it has done under previous governments. 1 A Incidentally B First of all C On the contrary 2 A Even so B As a matter of fact C Hence 3 A By and large B Consequently C First of all 4 A in contrast B incidentally C at any rate 5 A despite B although C whereas 6 A anyway B furthermore C to be honest 7 A Having said that B Moreover C To make matters worse 8 A As a result B As a matter of fact C To some extent 9 A although B thus C indeed 10 A in contrast B in addition C broadly speaking