FINANCIAL TIMES World business newspaper.
Vocabulary tasks
A Word search
1.Find a word or phrase from the text that has a similar meaning.
a) movement of money into and out of a company's bank accounts (sum-
mary)
cash......... f..low............
b) passing tasks to an external company (summary)
о..............
c) individuals who are self-employed and work independently (summary)
f...............
d) describes a large company that produces everything it needs internal-
ly(paral)
v.............. i................
e) external companies that provide products or services to an organisa-
tion(paral)
о.............. s................
f) parts of a company that operate independently as separate profit cen-
tres(para2)
i.............. u................
g) where price and quality are the main factors for doing business (para 3)
о.............. m...............
h) something large companies can achieve by doing things in big vol-
umes(para 4)
e............... of s...............
2There are many words that can be used instead of'company'. Four other words are used in the text. What are they? Is there any difference in meaning between them?
В Understanding expressions
Choose the best explanation for each phrase from the text
1. 'the days of the big corporation are numbered'.
a)big companies will become less important in the future;
b)companies will have to improve their financial controls.
2. 'control is being passed down the line'.
a)nobody in the company wants to take decisions -
b)some decisions will be taken at lower levels in the company.
3. 'what underlies this trend?'.
a)is this trend really true?
b)what are the reasons for this trend?
4. 'in essence'.
a)basically;
b)necessarily.
5. 'organisations shrink'.
a)they become smaller;
b)they disappear completely.
6. 'the economic equation changes'.
a)things become cheaper because of the Internet;
b)there is a move in favour of decentralization.
С Complete the sentence
Use an appropriate verb and preposition to complete each sentence.
1. Large multinationals still exercise ... considerable power o..ver
........ many people around the world.
2. It's a difficult problem. It will take time to w. о............ the
best way to solve it.
3.In a traditional, hierarchical company, employees are expected to с о the orders of their superiors.
4.To improve flexibility and speed of reaction we have decided to b the company u into separate business units.
5.Our policy is to t...................... business only w........... companies
that have a strong environmental policy.
6. The speed at which you can get information from the Internet is some-
times a b........... the time of day.
Speaking tasks
A Prepare a short summary of the article (7-10 sentences) В Retell the article pointing out as many details as possible
Learning by heart
Learn all unknown words and word combinations for you from the article
PART 2 CULTURAL ISSUES
Unit7 Corporate cultures
Reading tasks
A Read the text, write out all the unknown words with transcription from the article
В Understanding main points
Read the text on the opposite page about the merger of two companies and their corporate cultures and answer these questions.
1.Which company is bigger-Asda or Wal-Mart?
2.What are employees at Asda called?
3. Which two countries are Asda and Wal-Mart from?
4. Which of these statements best summarises the corporate cultures of
Asda and Wal-Mart?
• We must keep costs as low as possible.
• We value the contribution of every employee to the success of the company.
• Everyone in the company is considered equal.
5. What extra financial benefit do Wal-Mart employees have?
6. Allan Leighton mentions three things needed to get the deal 'to work
culturally'. What are they?
С Understanding details
Mark these statements T (true) or F (false) according to the information in the text. Find the part of the text that gives the correct information.
1.Asda and Wal-Mart have very similar corporate cultures. T
2.Asda is the biggest supermarket group in the UK.
3. Wal-Mart is the biggest retailing group in the US.
4.Asda had financial problems in the 1980s.
5.Many of Asda's employees are over 65.
6. Allan Leighton is sure the merger of Asda with Wal-Mart will succeed.
7. Wal-Mart plans to impose its corporate culture on Asda.
8.Creating a corporate culture cannot be planned in theory only.
D Understanding meanings
1. Choose the best explanation of the phrase 'there are few who really believe putting Asda into the Wal-Mart network will result in anything but success1
a) most people think the combination of Asda and Wal-Mart will succeed;
b) not many people think the merger will succeed.
2. What does Allan Leighton mean when he says 'it all boils down to people in the end' (line 81).
a) the number of people in the new organisation will need to be reduced;
b)people are the most important element in a merger or takeover.
TRANSPOSING A CULTUREby Peggy Hollinger