EOU TEST 1 - business english PDF

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EOU TEST 1SECTION 1: Vocabulary and Structure (30 marks, 1 mark/answer) Throughout my career, I have ensured that my ________________ successfully executed the strategies developed by senior management, delivered results and maximized revenue. A. suppliers B. subordinates C. investors D. distributor...

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EOU TEST 1 SECTION 1: Vocabulary and Structure (30 marks, 1 mark/answer) 1. Throughout my career, I have ensured that my ________________ successfully executed the strategies developed by senior management, delivered results and maximized revenue. A. suppliers B. subordinates C. investors D. distributors 2. People in ________________ cultures often like to do many things at once. A. linear-active B. multi-active C. reactive D. mixed 3. Businesspeople in ________________ cultures such as Britain, the USA and Germany are generally organized and rational, try to act logically rather than emotionally, plan in advance, and like to do one thing at a time. A. multi-active B. linear-active C. reactive D. hyper-active 4. At the ________________ of the product life cycle, the product's features may have to be changed so that it differs from competing brands, which involves new costs. A. introduction stage B. maturity stage C. growth stage D. decline stage

C. Product elasticity D. Product life cycle 7. ________________ means setting a high price for a new product, to make maximum revenue before competing products appear on the market. A. Market research B. Market skimming C. Market opportunities D. Market penetration 8. The possibility of providing a new product or service to satisfy particular needs is called ________________. A. Market variation B. Market opportunity C. Market capitalization D. Market channels 9. ________________ companies focused their energies on changing customers' minds to fit the product – practicing the ‘any color as long as it's black' school of marketing. A. Sales-driven B. Market-driven C. Technology-driven D. Customer-driven 10. ________________ is a period of ending or relaxing of legal restrictions. A. regulation B. deregulation C. repossession D. depositor

5. At the ________________ of the product life cycle the price is either maintained, or greatly reduced to liquidate stock if the product is discontinued. A. introduction stage B. growth stage C. maturity stage D. decline stage

11. In order to be a good manager, you have to know how to lead people, how to motivate people, and how to make sure that you are ________________. A. seeing your targets B. going your targets C. meeting your targets D. looking your targets

6. ________________ are the attributes or characteristics of a product, such as size, shape, quality, price, reliability, etc. A. Product differentiation B. Product features

12. Banks make a profit by charging a higher rate of interest to borrowers than they pay to ________________. A. regulators B. collateral

C. depositors D. retailers 13. ________________ offer interest-free banking. They do not pay interest to depositors or charge interest to borrowers but invest in companies and share the profits (or losses) with their depositors. A. Islamic banks B. Investment banks C. Private banks D. Commercial banks 14. A ________________ is a group of companies, operating in different fields, which have joined together. A. hedge fund B. local marketplace C. Islamic bank D. conglomerate 15. ________________ are certificates of debt issued by governments or companies to raise money A. Shares B. Dividends C. Bonds D. Stocks 16. A ________________ is defined as one with a higher-than-normal credit risk. A. credit crunch B. credit crisis C. subprime borrower D. subprime crisis 17. A ________________ is a distribution of a portion of a company's earnings, decided by the board of directors, to a class of its shareholders. It can be issued as cash payments, as shares of stock, or other property. A. loan B. mortgage C. surplus D. dividend 18. A balance sheet is a financial statement that ________________. A. reflects what the company owns, owes and what the shareholders put in as equity. B. reflects how much profit the company made in the year from selling their product. C. reflects how many goods were sold by the company and how many customers they have.

D. reflects the cash and revenue of a company. 19. ________________ is defined as anything owned by a business – cash, buildings, machines, equipment, etc. A. Liability B. Asset C. Turnover D. Revenue 20. ________________ involves calculating how much an individual or a company will have to pay to the local and national governments. A. Finance accounting B. Tax accounting C. Management accounting D. Cost accounting 21. Patents and trademarks are typical examples of ________________. A. tangible assets B. total equity C. current assets D. intangible assets 22. Managers ________________ of their staff to see whether they are reaching their targets. A. make the decisions B. deal with the crisis C. measure the performance D. allocate the resources 23. ________________ is the loss of value of tangible assets. A. Inventory B. Depreciation C. Amortization D. Proceeds 24. Top managers have to be prepared to ________________ if they occur and then have to make quick decisions. A. set objectives B. allocate resources C. deal with crises D. perform tasks 25. After an organization has ________________, it has to make sure that it achieves them. A. considered the future B. introduced innovations C. set objectives

D. allocated resources 26. Managers have to find the best way to allocate all the human, physical and capital ________________ available to them. A. materials B. resources C. effects D. values 27. ________________ is an invented word combining worldwide and regional concerns. A. Grobalization B. Localization C. Globalization D. Glocalization

B. compromise C. confrontation D. connection 29. ________________ are people of influence or importance with whom you are associated. A. Collectivists B. Confrontation C. Intuition D. Connections 30. In terms of business across cultures, ________________ assume that rules should be applied to everybody. A. individualists B. universalists C. collectivists D. particularists

28. A ________________ is a person who believes that the group is more important than the individual. A. collectivist SECTION 2: Reading Cloze (20 marks, 2 marks/answer)

Fill in each blank with one suitable word/phrase. You don’t need to use all the words provided. statistical agency communication

features shareholders strategy

conditions motivation external

statements individual internal

balance corporation

One of the most important (31) ________________ in any business is communication. Good communications are required at all stages of the business process. Businesses employ, and are owned and run by, various groups of people. Workers, directors and (32) ________________ are three important groups closely involved with a business. Other influential groups include customers, suppliers and the government. Communication takes place between these groups and the individuals who make up the groups. Within individual companies, internal communications occur at, and between the various levels. Directors communicate with one another concerning the company’s overall (33) ________________. They inform managers of their plans, and the managers then communicate with the other employees. Negotiations are conducted concerning pay and working (34) ________________. Managers communicate decisions and orders and try to improve morale and (35) ________________ through good communication. Employees also communicate with each other, for example over production and wages. (36) ________________ communication occurs when a company’s directors or employees communicate with those individuals and groups who deal with the company. Shareholders receive copies of the company’s financial (37) ________________ together with the reports of the Chairman and Directors. Government departments require (38) ________________ and financial information from the company. An advertising (39) ________________ is consulted about the company’s advertising policies. Customers need to know if goods have not been despatched and suppliers contacted if their goods have not been delivered. Reliable and effective (40) ________________ is one of the key elements which leads to efficient management of a company. SECTION 3: Reading Comprehension (30 marks, 2 marks/answer)

Marketing is everything

1

Several decades ago, there were sales-driven companies. These organizations focused their energies on changing customers’ minds to fit the product - practicing the ‘any color as long as it’s black’ school of marketing. As technology developed and competition increased, some companies shifted their approach and became customer driven. These companies expressed a new willingness to change their product to fit customers’ requests - practicing the ‘tell us what color you want’ school of marketing. Successful companies are becoming market driven, adapting their products to fit their customers’ strategies. These companies will practice let’s figure out together how and whether color matters to your larger goal’ marketing. It is marketing that is oriented toward creating rather than controlling a market.

2

The old approach - getting an idea, conducting traditional market research, developing a product, testing the market, and finally going to market - is slow and unresponsive. As the demands on the company have shifted from controlling costs to competing on products to serving customers, the center of gravity in the company has shifted from finance to engineering - and now to marketing.

3

Marketing today is not a function; it is a way of doing business. Marketing is not a new ad campaign or this month’s promotion. Marketing has to be all-pervasive, part of everyone’s job description, from the receptionists to the board of directors. Its job is neither to fool the customer nor to falsify the company’s image. It is to integrate the customer into the design of the product.

4

US companies typically make two kinds of mistake. Some get caught up in the excitement and drive of making things, particularly new creations. Others become absorbed in the competition of selling things, particularly to increase their market share in a given product line. Both approaches could prove fatal to a business. The problem with the first is that it leads to an internal focus. Companies can become so fixated on pursuing their R&D agendas that they forget about the customer, the market, the competition. The problem with the second approach is that it leads to a market-share mentality. It turns marketing into an expensive fight over crumbs rather than a smart effort to own the whole pie.

5

The real goal of marketing is to own the market- not just to make or sell products. Smart marketing means defining the whole pie as yours. In marketing, what you lead you own. Leadership is ownership. That is why marketing is everyone’s job, why marketing is everything and everything is marketing.

Based on the information in the article, say whether the following statements are True (T), False (F). 41. Sales-driven companies tried to change customer's minds and make them like the products they produced. True

False

42. The main focus of companies shifted from engineering to finance to marketing. True

False

43. The author claims that marketing is to fool the customers and to falsify the company’s image. True

False

44. Marketing today is to integrate the customer into the design of the product. True

False

45. What is wrong with focusing on R&D and creating new products? A. You forget about the customer and the competition. B. You forget about the customer, the market and the competition.

C. You forget about the customer and the market. D. You forget about the market and the competition. 46. What is wrong with focusing on increasing market share? A. It turns the market into crumbs rather than a whole pie. B. It turns marketing into a smart effort to own the whole pie. C. It turns marketing into an expensive competition over small targets. D. It turns the market share into a whole pie. What does each of the underlined words refer to? 47 “… it is a way of doing business…” (Para. 3) 48 “… Others become absorbed in the competition …” (Para. 4) Find words from the text which mean: 49. not reacting or paying enough attention to something (Para. 2) 50. spreading through or into everything (Para. 3) 51. to trick someone (Para. 3) 52. to change something in order to deceive people (Para. 3) 53. a person’s particular way of thinking about things (Para 4) Fill in each gap of these sentences with one suitable word from the text: 54. Samsung can be considered as a ________________ driven business as it creates mobile phones in various colors to suit all tastes of their customers. 55. In terms of marketing, some R&D companies show a weakness as they are so ________________ on the creation of new products.

SECTION 4: Listening (20 marks) PART 1: Listen and fill in the gaps (1 mark/answer) So, a company's balance sheet, in principle, is intended to give you the value of the company’s

(56)

________________, but in practice, some assets are very easy to (57) ________________, and some are very difficult to value. So if you hold some (58) ________________ in another company or something, or you hold some money in a bank (59) ________________, this is very easy to value. On the other hand, if your (60) ________________ comprise research and development, or people for that matter, then it's in principle very difficult to put a value on those things. And when you measure the (61) ________________ of a company, what you're trying to do is measure a change in value, so the (62) ________________ between what a company is worth at the beginning of a year, and what it is (63) ________________ at the end of a year, is the profit that it makes, or the (64) ________________ that it makes. And if it's difficult to measure the value of assets in the first place, it's also difficult to (65) ________________ whether a company's making profit or not.

PART 2: Listen and complete the summary (2 marks/answer)

Managers should - pursue the company goal 66 - ________________ ________________ for shareholders 67 - accomplish the ________________ ________________and objective of subordinates 68 - help ________________ ________________ to develop - understand the expectation of team members 69 - try to ________________ ________________ of the company 70 - help ________________ to ________________ in their team

KEY – EOU TEST 1 Section 1 (30 marks, 1 mark/answer) 1. B. subordinates

17. D. dividend

2. B. multi-active

18. A. reflects what the company owns, owes and

3. B. linear-active

what the shareholders put in as equity.

4. B. maturity stage

19. B. Asset

5. D. decline stage

20. B. Tax accounting

6. B. Product features

21. D. intangible assets

7. B. Market skimming

22. C. measure the performance

8. B. Market opportunity

23. B. Depreciation

9. A. Sales-driven

24. C. deal with crises

10. B. deregulation

25. C. set objectives

11. C. meeting your targets

26. B. resources

12. C. depositors

27. D. Glocalization

13. A. Islamic banks

28. A. collectivist

14. D. conglomerate

29. D. Connections

15. C. Bonds

30. B. universalists

16. C. subprime borrower

Section 2 (20 marks, 2 marks/answer) 31. features

35. motivation

39. agency

32. shareholders

36. external

40. communication

33. strategy

37. statements

34. conditions

38. statistical

Section 3 (30 marks, 2marks/answer) Reading comprehension 41. T 42. F 43. F 44. T 45. B. You forget about the customer, the market and the competition. 46. A. It turns the market into crumbs rather than a whole pie. 47. marketing / marketing today 48. U.S. companies / US companies 49. unresponsive 50. all-pervasive / all pervasive 51. to fool / fool 52. to falsify / falsify 53. mentality

54. customer 55. fixated

Section 4 Part 1 (10 marks, 1 mark/answer) 56. business

61. profit

57. value

62. difference

58. shares

63. worth

59. account

64. loss

60. assets

65. measur

Part 2 (10 marks, 2 marks/answer) 66. maximize value 67. personal goals 68. young professionals 69. match goals 70. people … develop...