revision important things to know !!!! units 6 - 11

Revision

Important things to know !!!! Units 6 - 11

Unit 6 : Entertaining It makes part of successful deals, positive

attitude towards your partners Different cultures have different ideas

about entertaining It is a good opportunity to know your

partner better America and Europe : business people meet

to do a deal Asia : to establish a relationship

while entertaining a business partner one must think of the etiquette : behaviour ( a certain code ), unwritten rules of behaviour

the etiquette is made of norms : norms are rules or guidelines which say what is acceptable in certain situations

two good ways to start socialising are: greetings :social ritual used to show

attention or to confirm friendship small talk : it is a chatter about

ordinary things, everyday things greetings and small talk are good ice-

breakers when you feel unconfortable in a presence of a stranger

Corporate entertaining is present in the modern business world :

it is a well organised plan which involves socialising with business partners as a part of successful business deals

some companies spend a lot of money on this in the Customer Relationship Management Programme

this program helps a company to keep an old client

Unit 7 : Marketing It is a business of advertising, promoting

and selling a product ; marketing attracts customers and persuades them to buy a product

You must find out what customers need / like = meet their needs

Marketing involves: all activities from production to selling, indetifying customers,developing/promoting products, minimizing the costs/maximizing the returns to make a profit ( it means selling )

The marketing mix or the four Ps are:

Product : deciding what product or service to sell

Price : setting the attractive price Place : find suitable distribution Promotion : acctivities used to

support the product

From the customers point of view there are four Cs :

Customer solution : offering the right product to satisfy particular customer needs

Customer cost : the price paid directly

Convenience : distributing the product

Communication : informed about the product

The key to successful marketing :

a good creative campaign clear marketing messages customers orientation

Unit 8 : Planning is a resource allocation and involves

organising limited resources such as time, money and expertise

It consists of a plan for using different resources to achieve goals for the future

Planning also means time management ( suggest you to make a list, persue tasks one by one, delegate, not to be a perfectionist in everything )

Planning introduces the use of Gantt chart :

an excellent tool for a complex project involving many people and tasks

it is a diagram that shows the different stages of a project

it is made of horizontal bars which show the relationship between task, activities and resources

Another type of planning is called contingency planning :

a management plan in case of emergency ( an event or situation that might happen in the future ); prepares for the worst

Conclusion :

planning is all about good strategy : companies make long term plans about the future, they predict competitors’ activities and company’s overall plan of development

Unit 9 : Managing people

Theory X : the idea that people dislike work and will do anything to avoid it

Theory Y : everybody has the potential to find satisfation in work

Theory W : ‘whiplash’, it is the idea that most work is done under conditions of slavery

Different cultures have different ways of managing people: Some prefer frequent consultations in

decision-making ( all members contribute to this process )= management by consensus

Some encourage workers to use their own initiative = empowerment ( it is used to establish better relationships with customenrs and is linked to the idea of delegation = handing a task over to a subordiante ( give someone the authority to untertake specific activities or decisions )

In managing people the managers need to be good at :

Observing : they must understand the behaviour, the strengths and weaknesses of their staff

Listening : in order to learn staff’s problems Asking questions : to find needed

information Speaking : in order to communicate their

objectives clearly to all their staff

Unit 10 : Conflict Can be productive as wellas unproductive Productive : there are often a number of

different ideas and conflict is inevitable but different ideas lead to the best choice

Unproductive : arguments between the colleagues or managers can become personal and can cost a company big money and time ( e.g. employees can even sue their company for unfair dismissal )

Labour-management conflict can take the form of :

Strikes and go-slows ( a go-slow is a form of protest where workers deliberately slow down in order to cause problems )

Many countires use arbitration between the two sides : it is a form of alternative conflict resolution in which the parties ( opposite sides ) present their cases to a neutral third party and agree to respect his or her decision

More and more companies in the US use ADR ro resolve conflicts : ADR is alternative dispute resolution which includes methods other than lawsuits ( these methods include mediation, arbitration and settlement ( negotiation ) and are less formal and cheaper than court process

German managers : very direct and they speak their mind, they concentrate on the objective

American : have a talent of communicating, use small talk and smile very often, the atmosphere is informal, attitude – ‘time is money’

Spanih negotiators usually interrupt you in the middle of the sentence, they use spontaneous ideas and quick thinking

Unit 11 : New business represent the modern way of doing

business face-to-face contact is of vital importance video-conferencing is effective but

expensive relationship building is important for mutual

benefits : clients and suppliers are called PARTNERS-they are in business together

TQM – Total Quality Management : makes an important part of modern business

it motivates, supports and enables quality management ( seek continuous improvements, focuses on the needs and expectations of internal and external customers )

one important objective of TQM is complete elimination of product defects

Another form of new business is start-ups ( a one person operation often started by someone who gained knowledge as a salaried employee in an organisation ) ; this person decides to start a new company on his/her own

Start up is also a term for any newly formed company

Factors which encourage new business :

flexible labour market where there are not only low taxes on companies but also low social costs

skilled staff ( a good national educational system and good company training of employees )

low interest rates cheap rents for office and factory

space

a stable economy ( business people are able to plan better )

good transport links training courses

High enemployment may mean two things : you can pay

lower wages to your workers ; you may not be able to find the people with the skills you want

Strong currency means that imported raw materials

are cheaper but your exports will be more expensive

Government grants may be used to try to persuade

companies to set up in areas with high unemployment but if the area is unsuitable for other reasons these grants will not be enough

Language the importance of language is setting

up abroad

Unit 12 : Products

when we think of products we usually think of tangible product ; the product we can see or touch ; we think of physical objects

we have just-in-time ( JIT ) ordering of components and TQM

JIT – just-in-time

is a management philosophy that reduces manufacturing waste by producing the right part in the right place at the right time

no products are manufactured until they are needed

coordinates demand and supply

Economies in different parts of the world are at different stages of development :

in newly industrialised countires ( in Asia ) more and more people are now able to afford consumer durables ( washing machines ) for the first time ( companies that sell these products can make large amounts of money )

in the West, the market for television or washing machines is basically one of replacement ( the products are not repaired but replaced )

In this situation, design, brand name, or image become more important ( e.g. some luxury cars become more affordable and manufacturers have to stay ahead of the game to avoid their brands being perceived as ordinary )

Consumerism – a modern force that manufacturers have to take into account It is an increased consumption of goods

seen as economically beneficial It is also a term used to describe the effects

of identifying personal happiness with purchasing material possessions

There is some difference in the way people preceived the products in the past and the way we see them today: the cars, televisions and washing machines of the 1950s had more style and they were made to last, but modern products are techically better now.

When a new product is developed it must be tested:

Animals are very often used to test products which causes protests in some parts of the world

Some people volunteer for medicine testing which is not without consequences for their health (in return, they receive money)

The present trend is to move production to some Asian countries which offer the cheapest labour force