9781408255995_unit_sb

7/16/2019 9781408255995_unit_SB

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/9781408255995unitsb 1/12

Coursebook

IntermediateBusiness English

| Tonya Trappe | Graham Tullis |

ww.pearsonlongman.comAUDIO CD

7/16/2019 9781408255995_unit_SB


Bookmap

7 Unit 1 CompaniesSurvival of the fittest

15 Unit 2 LeadershipTerrorising the talent

23 Unit 3 StrategyThe big picture

Review 1

33 Unit 4 PayBecause I’m worth it

41 Unit 5 DevelopmentProsperity or preservation?

49 Unit 6 MarketingSeducing the masses

Review 2

59 Unit 7 OutsourcingThe great job migration

67 Unit 8 FinanceThe bottom line

75 Unit 9 Recruitment

Hiring for the future

Review 3

85 Unit 10 CounterfeitingThe globalisation of deceit

93 Unit 11 MarketsThe people’s company

101 Unit 12 LobbiesFinding a voice

Review 4

111 Unit 13 CommunicationMessaging meltdown

119 Unit 14 LogisticsThe invisible industry

127 Unit 15 InnovationPushing the limits

Review 5

137 Pairwork

147 Glossary

155 Glossary test

157 Grammar reference

162 Audioscripts

Intelligent Business Intermediate

Fear and management

Terrorising the talentThe football dressing room may be the

last refuge of old-style management

techniques, but when Britain’s most

beautiful and skilful footballer was

photographed with a wound above his

eye inflicted by his manager, the

nation asked ‘Does fear really

motivate?’ Page 17.

Learning to write well in a foreign language is one of the

most difficult challenges facing the language learner. This

pocket-sized style guide will help you find the right words,

use an appropriate style and write effectively. See insidethe back cover.

Contents

Company structure

A matter of choiceThe world of lifetime employment in

large hierarchical and bureaucratic

organisations may be dead, but whereis the modern company taking us? A

new generation of online companies

and networked entrepreneurs is forcing

the survivors of the industrial age to

merge into giant companies as

powerful as nation states. But in an

uncertain world only the fittest will

survive. Page 9.

Marketing brands

Seducing the massesOnce a simple guarantee of quality,

brands now appeal to emotions and

represent aspirations of a better

lifestyle. In the new global economy

they represent a huge portion of the

value of a company, but are increasinglycynical and brand-weary customers

seduced by this approach? Page 51.

7/16/2019 9781408255995_unit_SB


Language Dilemma &Decision

Vocabulary Career skillsReading

A matter of choice

9

When to terrorisetalent

17

Nike’s Goddess

25

The rewards of failure

35

Gas for Peru vsgreen imperialism

43

Money can buyyou love

51

The new globalshift

61

Europe’s Enron

70

A full house

77

Companies andcareers

SynonymsCollocations

Suffixes

Multi-partverbs

Developmentand theenvironment

Word form

Brands

Offshoring

Collocations

Corporategovernance

Word-building

Present simpleand continuous

11

Articles

20

Future forms

27

Present perfectand past simple

38

Modal verbs of likelihood

45

Comparativesandsuperlatives53

Conditionals 1and 2

63

Adjectives andadverbs

72

The virtue of necessity

14

Mission:Impossible?

22

Harley’s Angels

30

Success at whatprice?

40

Striking abalance

48

A scent of risk

56

Going offshore

66

Counting thecosts

74

The Bellagiointerview

82

Talking about your jobHierarchy

13

Getting things doneBeing direct

21

Short presentationsAttitudes to timing

29

Evaluating performanceFixed objectives or flexibility?39

Showing cause and effectDealing with unclear situations

47

Considering alternativesFactual or vague?

55

Making and respondingto suggestionsDecision-making65

Referring to visualsFormal and informalpresentations73

SmalltalkAttitudes to personalspace81

Unit 3

Strategy23

Unit 2Leadership

15

Unit 1

Companies7

Bookmap

Review 1

31

Unit 6

Marketing49

Unit 5

Development

41

Unit 4Pay

33

Review 2

57

Unit 9

Recruitment75

Unit 7

Outsourcing59

Review 3

83

Unit 8

Finance67

Relativepronouns

79

Language check: Present perfect and past simple; Modal verbs of likelihood; Comparatives and superlatives;ConsolidationVocabulary check: Career skills: Evaluating performance; Predicting consequences; Considering alternatives

Language check: Conditionals 1 and 2; Adjectives and adverbs; Relative pronouns; ConsolidationVocabulary check: Career skills: Making suggestions; Referring to visuals; Smalltalk

Language check: Present simple and present continuous; Articles; Future forms; ConsolidationVocabulary check: Career skills: Talking about your job; Getting things done; Short presentations

7/16/2019 9781408255995_unit_SB


Language Dilemma &Decision

Vocabulary Career skillsReading

Imitatingproperty is theft

87

Going, going,gone?

95

Of celebrities,charity and trade

103

Coping withinfoglut

113

The best thingsince the barcode

121

Failure isglorious

129

Conditionals1–3

89

Gerunds andinfinitives

97

Reportedspeech

116

Passives

124

Modal verbs of obligation

105

Counterfeiting

Prefixes

Compoundnouns

Informationoverload

Supply chainmanagement

Compound nouns

Word-building

Trade andlobbies

Giving reasonsShowing feelings

91

Making and respondingto offersThe importance of relationships98 – 99

SummarisingAttitudes to interruptions

117

Dealing with questionsAttitudes to criticalquestions

125

Making a caseAttitudes to silenceduring discussions107

The GoldenCouple™

92

Closing thedeal

100

Spinning thetruth

118

Is grey the newblack?

126

Selling up or selling out?

108

Past modals

132

Productdevelopment

Synonyms

Reviewing achievementGiving praise

133

Prize pitch

134

Unit 12

Lobbies101

Unit 11Markets

93

Unit 10

Counterfeiting85

Review 4

109

Unit 15

Innovation127

Unit 14

Logistics

119

Unit 13

Communication111

Review 5

135

Pairwork

137

Glossary

147

Glossary test

155

Grammar

157

Audioscripts

162

Language check: Conditionals 1–3; Gerunds and infinitives; Modal verbs of obligation; ConsolidationVocabulary check: Career skills: Giving reasons; Making and responding to proposals; Making a case

Language check: Reported speech; Passives; Past modals; ConsolidationVocabulary check: Career skills: Summarising; Dealing with questions; Reviewing achievement

Fair trade

Of celebrities, charity and trade

It is not every day that US finance ministers spend time

in African slums discussing development economics with

rock stars. Politicians may not always do what voterswant but the trip to Uganda by US Treasury Secretary

Paul O’Neill shows they certainly listen to public

opinion. So if charities want politicians to be nice to

Africa, they must persuade voters to demand this. And

to attract voters’ attention, it helps to have a few

celebrities. Page 103.

7/16/2019 9781408255995_unit_SB


Unit 8Finance

The bottom line

Keynotes

Huge losses experienced by investors and employeesdue to mismanagement and irregularities infinancial reporting have led to a demand for strictercorporate governance. Independent auditors such asthe SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) in theUS have been checking balance sheets, which showthe overall performance of companies and incomestatements (AmE) or profit and loss accounts (BrE)which show the difference between total income andoutgoings for a given period.

Europe’s EnronPAGE 70

Adjectives and adverbsPAGE 72

Career skills: Referring to visualsPAGE 73

Dilemma: Counting the costsPAGE 74

www.economist.comwww.longman-elt.com

7/16/2019 9781408255995_unit_SB

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/9781408255995unitsb 6/1268 Unit 8

Now listen to a presentation of the actual results and completethe missing figures for gaps a–h.1Listening 1

Consolidated Profit and Lossfor the year ended Dec 31 in $m

Forecast Actual

1 (sales revenue) 700 704

Other earnings

Gains on fixed assets and operations 250 2442 on investments 175 162

Costs of making goods

3 and all manufacturing expenses (100) a

Salaries and personnel costs (200) b

4 825 c

Other costs and expenses

Indirect costs or overheads (25) (22)5 (50) d

Loss on fixed assets (25) (25)

Loss on foreign operations (100) (88)

Marketing and distribution costs (100) e

Trading/Operating Profit 525f

Profit for shareholders ( 6 ) 95 g

Retained profit 430 h

Money in

Money out

Other money out

Gross profit minusother money out

Money left whenshareholders havebeen paid

Money in minuscost of makinggoods

Preview The Profit and Loss Account (P&L)

Study the incomplete P&L below. Complete the document with thefollowing headings. Use a dictionary to help you.

Research and development costs Cost of materials Gross profitInterest receivable Turnover Dividend

7/16/2019 9781408255995_unit_SB

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/9781408255995unitsb 7/12Unit 8 69

Listen again and answer the following questions.

1 Why was gross profit higher than expected?

2 Where did the company decide to have parts made?

3 Which budgets went over the forecast limits?

4 What is expected to happen to the marketing budget in future?

5 How much will shareholders receive per share?

6 What prediction does the speaker make about retained profit?

If you were a potential shareholder would you feel confident ininvesting in this company? Why? / Why not?

Creative accounting

Companies sometimes make the figures in financial documentsmore attractive than they really are. They can do this by:

a inventing revenues from companies that don’t exist

b not including debts of subsidiaries and acquisitions

c hiding debts on the books of subsidiariesd overstating current profits by including possible future earnings

Listen to two investors talk about what happened to them whenthey invested in two media companies. Which of the above methods

were used to drive up share prices in each case?

Listen again and complete the graphs.2

1

2

Can you think of any other famous financial scandals?

Speaking

Listening 2

Speaking

7/16/2019 9781408255995_unit_SB


Corporate governance

Read the text about corporate governance. What accountingirregularities are mentioned? Who was responsible?1

Reading

It may seem an exaggeration todescribe the scandal overwhelming

Royal Ahold as “Europe’s Enron” – butin many ways it is true enough.Certainly, the world’s third-biggest foodretailer, after Wal-Mart and Carrefour,presents none of the financial risks of Enron, which was both deeply in debtand the world’s largest electricity giant. That apart, the similarities between theformer Texan powerhouse and theDutch retailer are striking, from the very

bad corporate governance, aggressiveearnings management and accounting“irregularities” to auditors whose rolemust be called into question.

Now, at least, Europeans should stopbelieving that corporate wrong-doing isa US problem that cannot occur in theold continent. Instead, they should fixtheir own corporate governance andaccounting problems.

On 24 February 2003 Aholdannounced the resignation of its chief

executive and finance director after find- ing that it had overstated its profits by more than 463m ($500m). Its market value plunged by 63 per cent that day, to 3.3bn. In late 2001, it exceeded 30bn.

Ahold is now under investigation by various authorities, including the Securities andExchange Commission (SEC) in the USA.

Rather like Kenneth Lay at Enron, andDennis Kozlowski at Tyco, another scandal-hit US firm, Ahold’s now-departingboss, Cees van der Hoeven, won a huge

reputation from turning a dull company into a growth machine. Investorsapplauded long after they should havestarted asking hard questions. Wheneventually they did ask them, his angerand pride became quickly apparent andhe refused to answer.

The 463m overstatement is due pri- marily to Ahold’s US Foodservice unit, which supplies food to schools, hospi- tals and restaurants, although there arealso issues over its Disco subsidiary in

Argentina and several other units. Thishas led some observers to say that this isless a European problem than yet another US accounting failure. Such a claimabsolves Ahold’s bosses of responsibility for their acquisitions and dishonesty and ignores the persistent, firm-widetendency to test the limits of acceptableaccounting.

Most firms that buy in bulk – including such admired retailers as Wal-Martand Tesco – get discounts from suppli-

ers if they meet sales targets. The issue ishow those rebates are accounted for. Theaccepted practice is to wait until the targets are met. Failing firms, such as now- bankrupt Kmart, food distributorFleming, and now Ahold appear to havebooked these rebate payments beforethey were earned.

What of Ahold’s auditor? Although theproblems were uncovered, it should havedone so much earlier, says Lynn Turner, aformer chief accountant at the SEC

Corporate governance

Europe’s Enron

The Economist

The Ahold financial scandal should shock Europe into accounting and corporate governance reform, just as the Enronscandal did in the USA.

Glossaryoverwhelming too large to deal with

absolves removes responsibility

7/16/2019 9781408255995_unit_SB


Read the text again and answer the following questions.

1 What are the similarities between Enron and Ahold?

2 What should European companies do?

3 Why did the shareholders admire Cees van der Hoeven?

4 Which of Ahold’s acquisitions is mentioned in the text?

5 What did Europeans believe about corporate wrong-doing in the past?

6 How did Foodservice overstate its sales?

Do you think CEOs who falsify accounts are criminals and shouldgo to jail or is it an acceptable risk to falsify accounts if it helps tosafeguard the company’s future and jobs?

Choose the best word to fill each gap in the sentences below.

1 Sales are a good way for to get rid of surplus stock.a retailers b sellers c dealers d wholesalers

2 The company was in fact seriously even though they

claimed to be making a profit.a at a loss b in debt c in the black d broken

3 Some companies their earnings to drive up share prices.a overdo b overflow c overstate d oversee

4 The Financial Services Authority was set up in the UK to deal withsuch as fraud and insider trading.

a issues b ideas c reasons d purposes

5 When the CEO should have been cost cutting, he was spending hugesums on that turned out to be unprofitable.a increases b investors c growth d acquisitions

6 When you buy in bulk you can obtain or rebates.a discounts b sales c decreases d interest

7 Shareholders lost money when the company declared itselfa redundant b sold out c broken down d bankrupt

8 When they heard about our financial difficulties ourasked to be paid in advance.a service b deliveries c suppliers d orders

9 They didn’t lie – they simply tried to the truth.a conceal b prevent c reduce d warn

2

Vocabulary

Speaking

7/16/2019 9781408255995_unit_SB


Adjectives and adverbs

Look at the following uses of adjectives.

– before nouns

There was a dramatic fall in profits last year.

– after stative verbs such as be, become, seem, appear, look, etc.

The similarities between Ahold and Enron are striking .

Look at the following uses of adverbs.

– after verbs

Shares fell sharply on the news.

– before an adjective or adverb

... his anger and pride became quickly apparent ...

For more information, see page 160.

Use the following expressions to describe the performance of theEnron share price 1991–2001.

fluctuated mildly a sharp increase reached a peakrose steadily dropped slightly a dramatic and sudden fall

1

direction speed large/small degree

plunge very fast very large

dip fast small

soar

plummet

slide

skyrocket

jump

nosedive

decline

Journalists use dramatic verbs that describe the direction, speedand degree of change. What information do these verbs give?2

Language check

Practice

The amazing disintegrating firmThe Enron share price (US$), 1991–2001

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

1 2 3

4

5

6

Image 8.4B

Illuminated ENRO sign

7/16/2019 9781408255995_unit_SB


Look at the graph showing the performance of the WorldComshare price 1992–2002 and match the changes with the time periods.

Then listen and check your answers.

1 reached a record high a 1992–95

2 nosedived to an all-time low b 1995–98

3 continued to skyrocket c 1998–99

4 started a spectacular ascension d 1999

5 there was a downturn e 1999–02

Work in pairs. Student A turn to page 139. Student B look at thebar chart showing the American sales of the Italian food giantParmalat, which went bankrupt in 2003 with debts of €14bn.Describe the chart to your partner. Then listen to your partner andcomplete the European sales 1996–2003.

Formal and informal presentationsSome cultures expect presentations to be formal and technical.Others findthis dull and ineffective and prefer a more entertaining style of presentation. What are they like in your country? How might these attitudesaffect the dress, style and use of visual aids in presentations in differentcountries?

2

1

Visual aids such as graphs, bar charts, pie charts and flow charts are an importantand effective way of structuring and communicating presentations that include alot of statistics. The following phrases are useful for drawing the listeners’attention to particular details.

As you can see, ... ... led to the ... you see here ...

You’ll notice that, ... ... i s obvious on this part of the graph here.

This part of the graph clearly shows ... This slide shows the ...

Referring to visualsCareer skills

Listening 3

Culture at work

WorldComShare price (US$), 1992–2002

1 9 9 2

1 9 9 3

1 9 9 4

1 9 9 5

1 9 9 6

1 9 9 7

1 9 9 8

1 9 9 9

2 0 0 0

2 0 0 1

2 0 0 2

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

7/16/2019 9781408255995_unit_SB

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/9781408255995unitsb 12/12i

DilemmaDecision&

Dilemma: Counting the costs

Brief MultiBrands is a globally successful consumer products company,

which has built up a reputation based on ‘Honesty, Quality andInnovation’. Since it started operating ten years ago, it has launched atleast two new, high-quality products in different markets every year.However, managers are currently reviewing company policy becauseof a recent dramatic fall in profits and share price performance.Shareholders believe that this is due to over-diversification, risingcosts and failing consumer confidence as a result of complaints thatproduct quality is declining. Shareholder recommendations are:

– freeze current policy of developing new products

– concentrate on consolidating current successful brands

– improve quality or reduce prices

– freeze recruitment but avoid layoffs

– reduce current budget by 15 per cent

Task 1

In groups, study the information onpage 140 and discuss where budgetcuts and reallocations could bemade in order to achieve a 15 percent reduction in total operatingcosts. Consider all the above

shareholder recommendationsbefore making a final decision.

Task 2

Draw new visual aids to illustrate the changes and cuts you havemade to the various departmental budgets.

Task 3

Present your budget proposal using thenew visual aids.

Write it upSummarise your proposal in ashort report. Include graphs andcharts to help illustrate andsupport your ideas. (See Styleguide, page 26.)

Decision:

Listen to William Grange,from InternationalConsultants, saying where he

would have made thenecessary budget adjustmentsand cuts.

As you can see, ...

You’ll notice that ...

... clearly shows ...

... led to the ... you see here

Useful phrases

9781408255995_unit_sb

Documents

line75 unit

talent23 unit

fittest15 unit

30bookmap7 unit

key business skills

executive business skills

paybecause im worth

style guide bookletworkbook