MARKET METAPHORS

1)… aim at something – when shooting at something

2)… remove something from the surface of something – cream from milk

3)… go into something – a bullet into a body

4)… cover with water – when a river bursts its banks

5)… move something away from you

6)… drop a lot of bombs on one area

7)… when some soft substance is full of water so that it cannot absorb any more

8)… fall down suddenly – a building during an earthquake

9)… when something gets smaller – clothes when they are washed

10)… when all the liquid in something disappears – perhaps because of too much heat

11)… when you cut branches off a tree so that it will grow better in the future

b) Now use the correct form of the words above, in the same order, to complete the text below:

We (1) … the product two years ago, after doing a lot of research and testing. We were (2) … young people, the 18s to 25s, but a lot of older people bought it too. Since this was a new product, and we were the first company to produce it in Britain, the finance people, as always, wanted to charge a high price and (3) … the market. But we argued with them and finally got our way. We charged a low price hoping to (4) … the market. Unfortunately, it turned out that one of our competitors was also making the same product in Taiwan, and soon the market was (5) … with even cheaper imports.

So we decided we really had to (6) … our “British made” version. We spent about half a million on an advertising (7) … . Sales did go up for a while, but now they’re falling. Maybe the market is nearly (8) … . We don’t expect it to (9) … , but it does seem to be (10) … as young people switch to other sports. Yet the market for our expensive top-of-the-range models has almost (11) … , so it’s probably time we (12) … our product line.

2. Read the text and answer the questions:

1. What are market opportunities?

2. What should be done to analyze market opportunities?

3. What is market demand?

4. What is market share?

5. What is sales response function?

6. What is market potential?

7. What does market potential depend on?

8. What is sales resistance?

9. When a natural monopoly can be created?

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 1303