Solving conflict through meditation
Level of difficulty ***
Before you read
In your country, do people always use the court system when they are in serious conflict? Or are there other ways of solving conflicts?
Reading
Read this article from the Financial Times and answer the questions
The future is mediation rather than litigation
What lessons can the English legal system learn from our litigation*-loving American cousins? Quite a lot, according to Lord Woolf, the architect of important changes in the law in the UK. The willingness of people in the US to suet is famous. Attempts by the US authorities to reduce the amount of litigation by using alternatives such as mediation** have been less publicised.
Speaking at a recent London conference, Lord Woolf said that changes in the law to encourage the use of mediation in Britain were beginning to work. However, he also said that the US had gone much further than Britain in encouraging alternatives to litigation.
One fast-food, chain has two cases against it of the type that in theory could be settled*** through mediation. In Britain lawyers have begun a “hot coffee” compensation action on behalf of 26 victims who allege the chain was negligent in selling drinks at 90 degrees C. They are claiming damages of between £3,000 and £30,000 each. In the US, two customers are claiming $100 million because they allege they were attacked and beaten up by a restaurant manager after complaining that a milk shake was too watery.
Jean Eaglesham and John Mason
From the Financial Times
* Litigation is when two sides use the legal system of courts, judges, etc. to solve a conflict.
**If you sue someone, you make a legal claim against them because you feel you have been harmed by them.
*** If you settle a dispute through mediation, you solve a conflict by using outside experts and not the legal system.
l. Match the words i-6 to their meanings a)-f), as they are used in the article.
1. willingness
2. alternative
3. compensation
4. action
5. allege
6. negligent
a) another way of doing something
b) when people want to do something
c) to say that something is true
d) a legal claim, for example when you ask for money from someone who has harmed you
e) money, etc. that you get from someone who has harmed you in some way
f) doing something that you should not have done, or not doing something that
you should have
2. What do these numbers in paragraph 3 refer to?
a) 26
b) 90 degrees C
c) £3,000
d) £30,000
e) $100 million
Over to you
If the allegations against the fast-food restaurant chain were true, what would a reasonable level of compensation be? Do you think that mediation would help in these cases? Why or why not?
Unit 18 New Business.
Launching new products
Level of difficulty **
Before you read
Making luxury goods available to consumers at affordable prices is a very powerful marketing idea. Can you think of examples when retailers or manufacturers have done this?
Reading
Read this article from the Financial Times and answer the questions
A price that’s hard to refuse
The relevant questions when launching a new product are: what products are alternatives to the product a company intends to launch? What is their price and how many customers do they win?
Consider, for example, air travel for corporate executives. There are two main alternatives: one is business- and first-class tickets, priced at several thousand pounds; the other is corporate jets, which cost tens of millions of pounds.
Executive Jet came up with a breakthrough pricing model: instead of selling jets, it sold shares of time in using a jet. This allowed it to price jets per year at roughly the amount a company would spend on business-and first-class tickets. It won orders both from business-class customers and from executives who preferred a relatively cheap time-share in Executive Jet to full ownership of a Gulfstream or Lear jet that would spend much of its time sitting on the ground.
Executive Jet created a pricing model in which companies got the convenience of private air travel at the price of the annual business-class travel budget.
By W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
From the Financial Times
1. Which of these ideas are mentioned in the article? When you launch a new product, think carefully about
a) its design.
b) pricing.
c) the convenience of the product in relation to competing products.
d) the technical qualities of competing products.
e) how many people buy competing products.
f) the person in the organisation who is actually responsible for buying it.
2. Use the correct form of verbs or phrasal verbs from the article to complete the expressions.
a) to---------- a new product
b) to---------- new customers
c) to---------- a completely new idea
d) to---------- orders
e) to---------- a cheaper scheme to an expensive one
f) to----------- a lot of time doing something
g) to---------- a new model
Over to you
Think of a company that had success with an original idea and that became less successful. Why did this happen?
Unit 18 New Business.
Getting new business
Level of difficulty ***
Before you read
Are good salespeople born that way or can anyone learn the skills needed for selling?
Reading
Read this article from the Financial Times and answer the questions.
Sarah to the rescue
The sales pitch seems to be going well and then, without meaning to, you say something to upset a new client. What do you do? According to Tom Lambert, author of High Income Consulting, using logic to deal with emotions does not work. Instead, when things start to go wrong, think SARAH.
Stop talking. Give your listener the opportunity to express their feelings. There is nothing you can usefully say. Within seconds your listener will break the silence.
Actively listen. Listen as if your life depended on understanding how the client feels and what they think. Always accept what is said as if it were true.
Reflect content or feeling. Paraphrase a key statement your client has made to demonstrate that you really have been listening. Say it in a way that shows that you are carefully considering what is being said and not just repeating it word for word.
Act with empathy. “You have an absolute right to feel as you do.” Empathy allows you to accept the reasonableness of others' feelings and still correct their understanding.
Handle objections. The three most common relate to price, habit and other possible competitors.
Diane Summers
From the Financial Times
1. True or false, according to the article?
When you say something you regret, you should
a) try to use reason to persuade the client.
b) keep talking to correct what you said.
c) repeat what the client says, but in another form.
d) accept that the client feels as they do.
e) deal with points that the client mentions
2. Match the words 1-7 to their meanings a)-g).
1. sales pitch
2. logic
3. silence
4. empathy
5. reasonableness
6. objections
7. habit
a) a period when no one is talking
b) sales presentation
c) the way things have always been done
d) using arguments based on reason
e) when someone is right to think or feel something
f) when you understand how someone else feels
g) reasons for not doing something, in this case buying something
Over to you
SARAH is a mnemonic, a word which helps you to remember a number of ideas. Do you have a favourite mnemonic, in English or your own language? In which situations do you use it?
Unit 19 Products.
New products 1
Level of difficulty ***
Before you read
Some companies make parts for products that are then put together by other companies. How much communication should there be between the parts manufacturer and the final manufacturer?
Reading
Read this article from the Financial Times and answer the questions