Ex. IV. Open the brackets and put the verb into the necessary tense form (Active or Passive)

1. Often the form in which data (to store) is not the form that is most useful.

2. Information (to present) more and more frequently to management in the form of a display on a computer terminal.

3. Data capture (to be) always the bottleneck of data-processing operation.

4. The update operation (to involve) adding new data, deleting data no longer needed, or changing old data.

5. Over time, the system users and the environment (to change) information systems must be flexible and capable of change.

6. After the company (to install) a large new computer, the computing capacity (to increase) by more than 30%.

Ex. V. Find words and phrases in the text which mean the following:

1) the act of reading information on paper or in a computer (paragraph 1);

2) to put something in a form that a computer can use (paragraph 2);

3) the quality of being exactly correct (paragraph 2);

4) a machine used in stores to keep money in and to show how much customers have to pay (paragraph 3);

5) the ability, chance or right to use something (paragraph 4);

6) to pass a message from one person or place to another (paragraph 4).

Ex. VI. Find the examples of participles in the previous text. State their forms and functions. Translate the sentences into Ukrainian.

Ex. VII. Discuss in groups:

What are other bottlenecks of data processing operations?

Present your ideas to the rest of the class.

Part II

Ex. I. Think and answer the following question:

What makes a product useful?

Ex. II. Read the text:

Types of Utility

Utility is a measure of the satisfaction obtained through the receipt of something of value in an exchange. It is, in fact, the goal — if not always the result — of the exchanges that we make every day. As consumers, we gain satisfaction when we see a movie, drive a smoothly running car out of the repair shop, or bite into a Big Mac. Utility is whatever makes such things valuable to us — presumably more valuable than the money we exchange for them. But what makes a product useful? Marketing scholars have identified four types of utility associated with a product’s form, place, time, and possession.

Form Utility.A product first provides form utility, which is the usefulness attributable to the form or design of something received. Iron ore is processed and made into steel axles, steam irons, cookware, and building beams; silicon is worked into semiconductor chips, which are assembled into microcomputers; lambs’ wool and polyester are fabricated into cloth. Lawyers draft wills, plastic surgeons perform face lifts, and college professors deliver lectures. In all these cases, raw materials or skills which have no value to us as they exist are transformed into products (goods, services, and ideas) that have use and are therefore valuable. Providing form utility is shared among a firm‘s marketing, research and development and manufacturing arms. Marketing’s essential role in this process is to provide critical information about what people want, so that research and development and manufacturing can create the form that is wanted.

Place Utility.If the product is not where the consumer wants or needs it, it has no place utility, the usefulness gained when something of value is received where it is wanted. A car built in Japan, Sweden, or even Detroit has no value for a person who lives in Colorado until that car is transported there.

Time Utility.Products must be available not only where the consumer wants them but also when they are wanted. In other words, products must have time utility, the usefulness gained when something of value is received when it is wanted. Successful marketers plan carefully to ensure the availability of their products at the proper time. Swimsuits are typically manufactured in the winter and later stored in retail outlets in time for display in June. Textbooks must be in college bookstores by the day that school opens. A product without time utility cannot be used; if the product is perishable, it may become useless.

Possession Utility. None of the products or services has value unless it can be bought and owned, consumed, or used at the owner’s discretion. Consumers must be able to own or use the products that they need. Consequently, a marketing exchange must give a product possession utility, the usefulness gained with the transfer or ownership of a good, or the actual provision of a service. Although you may squeeze a melon in the grocery store, you may not eat it unless you buy it first!

Marketing provides possession utility by providing the system through which the title to products and services is transferred — primarily the retailing system for consumer products. The satisfaction that a consumer receives from an exchange is the sum of the four utilities of form, time, place and possession.

Active Words and Phrases

research and development (R&D) науково-дослідницька та дослідно конструкторська робота transfer передача
form utility корисність, що виникає в результаті переробки продукту (наприклад, сировини в готову продукцію) ownership володіння; право володіння
place utility корисність, що виникає в результаті постачання продукту до місця попиту a will заповіт
possession utility корисність, що виникає в результаті купівлі продукту чи послуги to be associated with бути зв‘язаним з
possession володіння; майно to have no value не мати цінності
availability наявність to be available бути у наявності
retailing system система торгівлі в роздріб at the owner’s discretion по розпорядженню власника
retail outlets центри роздрібної торгівлі consequently як наслідок
perishable goods продукція, що швидко псується primarily головним чином

Ex. III. Answer the following questions:

1. How many types of utility have marketing scholars identified?

2. What does form utility mean?

3. What do you understand by place utility?

4. What is the essential role of marketing in providing time utility?

5. How does marketing provide possession utility?

Ex. IV. Look through the text again and find words that correspond to the following definitions:

1 - to give or supply something to someone (paragraph 2);

2 - serious study of a subject that is intended to discover new facts about it (paragraph 3);

3 - able to be used or obtained (paragraph 5);

4 - books which teach you something (paragraph 5);

5 - the state of having or owning something (paragraph 6).

Ex. V. Are the following statements true or false:

1. The usefulness gained when something of value is received when it is wanted is called place utility.

2. Products and services have value only when they are bought, consumed or used at owner’s discretion.

3. The satisfaction received by a customer from an exchange is measured by possession utility.

4. Cars produced in Japan have no value for those who live in Colorado.