Tara Fashions Exercise for Business Communications Introductory Lesson

BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS

АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК ДЕЛОВОГО ОБЩЕНИЯ

Dear Students,

Welcome to our new Business Communications! We will be exploring the many areas of communication as they pertain to the business world. We will be finding ways to make our writing, speaking and listening more effective in an increasingly diverse and multicultural society.

I look forward to a good semester and hope that we all come away from this course with a greater appreciation of each other and the world of Business Communications.

ОПИСАНИЕ КУРСА

Курс Английского языка делового общения дает студентам возможность познакомиться с широким кругом коммуникативных навыков. Этот процесс позволит студентам хорошо ориентироваться в постоянно меняющемся, разнообразном и конкурентном мире бизнеса.

Курс включает в себя аудирование и межкультурное общение, групповые задания, совершенствование навыков письма и умений выступать перед аудиторией, а также содержит основы делового общения в устных и письменных формах в типичных ситуациях: устройство на работу, деловая встреча, командировка, ведение деловых переговоров, обсуждение и подписание контракта, деловая корреспонденция. Кроме того, студенты знакомятся с правилами написания резюме и прохождения интервью.

Курс предназначен для широкого круга лиц, стремящихся в максимально короткие сроки овладеть основами делового общения в типичных ситуациях, и содержит достаточное количество информации, необходимой для деловой корреспонденции.

By Alison Baduel

Russian text by Irina Nagai

ТЕМАТИЧЕСКИЙ ПЛАН

Урок 1. Введение в курс. Важность делового общения и его аспекты.

Урок 2. Человеческие ресурсы. Бизнес терминология.

Урок 3. Продажа товаров в онлайне. Деловые переговоры (Презентация в Пауер-поинте)

Урок 4. Продукты/товары. Рекламное письмо. Презентация продажи – основы убеждающего письма.

Урок 5. Составление электронных писем и факсов. Терминология маркетинга.

Урок 6. Новый бизнес и стратегическое планирование. (Презентация в Пауер-поинте).

Урок 7 Устройство на работу (анкета, сопроводительное письмо, резюме и CV, интервью, благодарственное письмо). Различия Британского и Американского английского.

Урок 8 Изучение страны с целью исследования возможности расширенния бизнеса. Культурные проблемы и разнообразия.

Урок 9 Вхождение в иностранный рынок. Влияние культуры на менеджмент и общение.

Урок 10. Изменение стиля менеджмента. Корпоративная культура. Новая лексика делового общения.

Урок 11. Организационный дизайн. Деловой жаргон.. Основные сокращения, используемые в деловой корреспонденции. Основы делового общения для менеджера.

Урок 12. Презентация Проекта

Урок 13. Заключительный Экзамен.

Lesson 1

Career Paths, the Importance of Business Communications, and New Vocabulary

Lesson Introduction

Introduction to Business Communications

Business Communications can be considered any form of correspondence or attemped correspondence between a company and any other person or entity. Business communications can exist on various levels. It can include communications amongst a certain company’s employees, or communications between a company and its clients, and it even includes communications between a business and other businesses that it interacts with. These businesses can include governmental agencies, suppliers, distributors, partners, etc. Business communications also entails all forms of communication from verbal, non-verbal, to interpersonal formats of communication.

The Importance of Business Communications

Learning how to communicate successfully in the business world can help to ensure a successful business. It is a stated fact that if a business is unable to communicate with its customers, employees, or other businesses then it is certain that the business will not survive for long in the marketplace. However, a business must not only be able to communicate. It must also be able to communicate clearly, accurately, and in a manner that conveys goodwill towards the audience whom is being addressed. Business communications is crucial and it is a subject that should not be taken lightly. Even a company with the finest product, the best employees, and the highest level of quality will ultimately fail if they are unable to communicate well with others.

Class Discussion Exercise

These are possible areas that students may want to go into after graduation. Can the students name at least one company for each business sector?

· Telecommunications/Media

· Engineering

· Retailing

· Construction

· Tourism

· Banking and Finance

· Transport

· Vehicle Manufacturing

· IT (Information Technology)/Electronics

· Food and drink

· Pharmaceutical

· Other

Homework

Exercise A-The phrases below all include the word, “career”. Match them to their correct meanings. Use a good dictionary to help you.

1)career ladder                                           a)something you do in order to progress your job

2)career move                                b)period of time away from your job to, for example,                                                           look after your children

3) career break                                c)series of levels that lead to better and better jobs

4)career plan                                  d)chances to start/improve your career

5)career opportunities                    e)ideas you have for your future career

Exercise B- Complete these sentence with the verbs from the box.

1) Employees in large multinationals ________ excellent career opportunities if they are willing to travel.

2) Some people _________ a career break to do something adventurous like sailing around the world.

3) One way to __________ a career move is to join a small but rapidly growing company.

4) In some companies it can take years to ___________ the career ladder and reach senior management level.

5) Certain companies ___________career opportunities to the long-term unemployed or to people without qualifications.

6) Ambitious people often ____________ on a career plan while they are still at school or university.

Exercise C- Look at the groups of words below. Cross out the noun or noun phrase which doesn’t go with the verb in each group.

1) make                 a fortune                                         4) do           research

                   progress                                                                  a mistake

                   a living                                                                    a job

                   a training course                                                     your best

2) get          progress                                          5) take        a pension

                   a promotion                                                            time off

                   the sack                                                                              early retirement

                   a nine-to-five job                                                    a break

3) earn        a bonus                                                       6) work                   flextime

                   a part-time job                                                        anti-social hours

                   money                                                                    overtime

                   40 thousand ($40,000)                                                       an office job

Exercise D- Make sentences using the phrases in Exercise C. For example, “You can make a fortune with a career in computers”.

Tara Fashions Exercise for Business Communications Introductory Lesson

(Pg. 27 Ex. B of Course Book)

       Tara Fashions is a relatively new fashion merchandiser who sells new and innovative clothing worldwide. Its main office is located in Cordoba, Spain though the company has many offices located all over the world. Tara Fashions has its largest number of stores located in Spain and other European cities although they also operate in large cities located in North America, South America, Asia, and North Africa. 

       In total, Tara Fashions operates in 57 countries and has 25 stores located in Spain and another 42 stores located in other European cities. The number of stores that operate outside of Europe is approximately 52. Most of Tara Fashions customers are people who belong to the middle class or upper middle class income levels of various countries. Tara Fashions does not target the middle class or lower class levels of the market though some of their consumers do in fact belong to these classes. Most people who choose to purchase clothing from Tara Fashions are those who are extremely fashion conscious and want to wear the latest fashion trends from Europe. 

       In addition, Tara Fashions does not have a distributor. Instead the company chooses to distribute its clothing only through its own stores. It does not sell its clothing to retail companies. Tara Fashions is the producer and final distributor of its own clothing. 

       Tara Fashions is a relatively new company that has only been in business for the past ten years now. The annual net profits of the company average around $12,000,000 a year but recently there has been a sharp increase in production costs so the annual profits of the company have suffered. Last year’s annual net profit for the company was only $9,000,000 as a result of these changes in the marketplace and a high turnover rate. Due to changes in the employment market and a surge of older employees retiring Tara Fashions also recently encountered a record high turnover rate for the company. The turnover rate for employees was approximately 10 percent. Due to these factors, company profits also suffered this past fiscal year.

       Tara Fashions is aware that it will face many more changes in the marketplace but it is a company with various strengths. The company has found itself to be sustainable and popular among consumers for the past ten years and has built a reputation as being one of the most fashionable clothing producers in the world and many of the companies’ consumers are extremely loyal to the clothing Tara Fashions produces. Tara Fashions has also managed to secure one of the cheapest material distributors in the world and has limited its production costs more so than other companies. In addition, Tara Fashions has been able to make multiple deals with transportation companies that have enabled them to ship more goods to their stores with less expense being incurred to them.

       In the future, Tara Fashions plans to extend its product line and start producing clothing accessories as well. The company is particularly interested in producing such items as belts, purses, and jewelry. The company plans to sell these new products in their stores along with their clothing products.

Questions for the Class to Answer about Tara Fashions: