COMPANIES AND MARKETS

1. You can talk about the people or organizations who buy particular goods or services as the market for them, as in the ‘car market’, ‘the market for financial services’, etc. Buyers and sellers of particular goods or services in a place, or those that might buy them, form a market.

If a company:

2. Use the correct form of the words in brackets to complete the sentence:

1.European films do not export well: European movies barely …… (abandon /corner /penetrate) the US market.

2.In the 1970s, Kodak …… (corner /enter /leave) the instant photography market, until the …… (abandon /dominate /penetrate) by Polaroid.

3.The Hunt brothers tried to fix silver prices and to ………. (corner/enter/leave) the silver market, ……….. (enter /drive out /monopolize) all competitors.

4.In the 1940s, MGM …….. (abandon /get out of /monopolize) the market on film musicals. But by the late 1950s, Warner Bros had also started buying film rights to musicals.

3. When a company …

b) Match the underlined phrases with the expressions from the table above:

1.The company wanted to aggressively enter the coffee shop market.

2.The company decided to start by opening just one coffee shop in order to test the market.

3.It took the company five years to be the biggest in the market.

4.One of the competitors tried to protect its market share by cutting prices.

5.This strategy did not work, and the competitor sold its outlets and decided to leave the market.

4. Read this description of a language training market. Answer the questions:

In Paris, 500 organizations offer language training to companies. However, 90 per cent of sales are made by the top five language training organizations. The market is not growing in size overall. Organization A has 35 per cent of the market, and faces stiff competition from B, which has about 25 per cent of the market, and from C, D and E, who each have 10 per cent, but who are trying to grow by charging less for their courses.

1How many competitors are there in this market?

2Is competition in the market strong?

3Who is the market leader?

4Who are the two key players?

5Who mainly makes up the competition, from the market leader’s point of view?

6If one competitor increases its market share, can the others keep their market share at the same level?

5. Read and learn about the main groups of companies in the market:

Companies have been divided into three categories:

1. Companies that make things happen identify and understand forces and conditions that bring about change. They continually adapt, and stay ‘ahead of the game’. To a certain extent, they play some part in influencing the rate and direction of change.

2. Companies that watch things happen fail to adapt early enough to become part of that change. They have little opportunity to influence events, but usually make changes to survive. Such changes are ‘reactive’ rather than planned, and form a defensive ‘crisis management’ programme.

3. Companies that wonder what happened are impervious to change and fail to realize that circumstances have altered. Even when change is acknowledged, management refuses to adapt to an ever-changing environment. Such firms are unlikely to survive in the long term.

UNIT 11

1. Read the text, paying attention to the words in bold:

MARKET (I)

Marketers know that their product or service cannot appeal to everyone. To do their job, they look for people who might have an interest in or a need for their product. They also look at people who have the ability to pay for their product. These people often share other similar needs and wants. All people who share similar needs and wants and who have the ability to purchase a given product are called a market.

A market is a place where many things are sold, like a street market or a supermarket. The word ‘market’ is used to mean, on the one hand, customers over a great area and, on the other hand, goods and services for sale. In other words, market is all the people and organizations taking part in buying and selling particular goods or services.

What is a market exactly? Market can be defined in different ways: the number of all actual and potential buyers of a good or service; the place where people buy and sell; the people who trade in a particular good; an area where there is a demand for certain goods. People and organizations, who market a product, make decisions as to how, when and to whom it is to be sold, and decisions on its design, price, and distribution. They are called marketers or marketeers who work in marketing.

Markets bring together buyers and sellers of goods and services. In some cases, such as a local fruit stall, buyers and sellers meet physically. In other cases, such as stock market, business can be transacted over the telephone, almost by remote control. We use a general definition of markets. A market is a short expression for a complicated process. By this process households make decisions about consumption of alternative goods, firms make decisions about how much and for whom to work. Companies quick to respond to the needs of a market are market-driven, market-led or market-oriented. It means they are controlled by what and how much people want to buy; they track and respond to customer needs and preferences to satisfy customers in the best way.

A company selling locally sells its goods in the local market. If a company sells its goods at the same place where they are produced, it uses the home or domestic market. A firm selling abroad is an exporter. It sells on the international or overseas market. The goods it exports are exports. An importer buys goods abroad and imports them into its own country.

It must be remembered that there are two main kinds of markets. Markets in which people purchase goods and services for direct consumption or personal use are called consumer markets. Consumers’ needs and wants generally fall into a few categories that address their lifestyles. For the most part, consumers are interested in products that will save them money, make their life easier, improve their appearance, create status in the community, or provide satisfaction related to some other personal motivation.

There exists an enormous producer or industrial or business market. It consists of all the individuals and organizations that acquire goods and services that are used in the production of other goods, or in the supply of services to others. The goals and objectives of business firms are to improving profits. Companies want to improve productivity, increase sales, decrease expenses, or in some other way make their work more efficient.

Few consumers realize that the producer market is actually larger than the consumer market. It contains all the raw materials, manufactured parts and components that go into consumer goods, plus capital equipment such as buildings and machines, supplies such as energy and pens and paper, and services ranging from cleaning to management consulting, all of which have to be marketed. Thus, there is more industrial than consumer marketing.

Market share is the proportion of sales that a company or a product has in a particular market expressed as a percentage of total sales in a given market. In many markets there is a firm with a much larger market share than its competitors, called a market leader. A company that is number two in an industry but which would like to become number one is known as a market challenger. A smaller company in an industry more or less content with its existing market share is called a market follower. Small specialized companies which target segments within segments are called market nichers. A company’s position in a market, whether it is the leader, a close challenger, or one of many market followers, is called market standing. They all contribute to market growth - the rate at which the overall market is growing.

2. Define the main idea of each paragraph.

3. Match the underlined words in the article with their explanations:

1.happening or existing in a country across the sea from your country

2.the process of supplying goods from one central place to shops

3.used for describing the whole of something, without considering the details

4.very large in size or quantity

5.to follow the development or progress of something

6.a very large shop that sells food and other products for the home

7.the tools, machines, or other things that you need for a particular job or activity

8.to answer

9.the way that something is made so that it works in a certain way or has a certain appearance

10.to get something, for example by buying it or being given it

11.far away in distance or space

12.in or to a foreign country

13.a feeling of liking or wanting someone or something more than someone or something else

14.a business which specializes in giving advice and support to companies about marketing and markets

4. Match the words with their definitions:

1.All the people or organizations that buy goods and services used in the production or supply of other goods and services.

2.The people who live in a house or flat considered as a single unit.

3.A person, business, or country that sells goods to another country.

4.An organization or product that has the highest sales in its market or industry, or a company with the largest market share.

5.The individuals and households that buy products for their own personal consumption.

6.A person, company, or country that brings goods into their country in order to sell them.

7.The company or product with the second largest market share that may take the place of the company or product that has the highest sales in the market.

8.A small company in a market which presents no threat to the market leader.

9.The sales of a particular company or product expressed as a percentage of total sales in a given market.

a) industrial market b) market follower с) consumer market

d) market leader e) market share f) market challenger

g) importer h) exporter i) household

5. Finish the sentences according to the text:

1) Markets bring together … 2) The producer market is … 3) A market is a place where … 4) Marketers make decisions … 5) Households make decisions about … 6) Market-driven companies are companies that … 7) Consumer markets are markets where … 8) Consumers are interested in products that … 9) There are three main types of companies - … 10) Industrial market consists of …

MARKET DIMENTIONS (II)

So, there are different types of markets: national and local markets, export and domestic markets, stock, furniture, wholesale and retail markets, and many more too numerous to mention. Each of these markets has several dimensions affecting supply and demand. These dimensions, sometimes called utilities, include time, form, possession and place. The time dimension means that the product or service must be available at the correct time, not too early or too late, because the match with the demand may not occur and the goods will not be sold. The form utility of the product or service is also important. The correct quantity must be available for the final consumer as well as for the middlemen in the channels of consumptions. The possession or ownership dimension reflects who owns the product or service and is responsible for it. The place dimension reflects the importance of transactional efficiency in order for exchange to take place.

Generally, the market is when buyers and sellers assemble together, goods and services are offered for sale at prices and conditions that buyers accept, and a transfer of title occurs.

6. Understanding words and expressions. Choose the best explanation for each phrase from the text:

1. stock a) an amount of something that you keep to use it when you need it

b) the goods that are available to buy in a shop

c) one of the equal parts into which the value of a company is divided

2. dimensions a) length, height, or width

b) the size of something

c) characteristics

3. match a) a thing that forms an attractive combination with something else

b) a small stick that produces a flame when rubbed against a rough surface,

used for lighting a fire, cigarette

c) something that looks the same as something else

4. transfer of title a) to give a name to a product

b) giving the right to something, especially property by buying it

c) to move from one job to another job with a different title

8. Match the words with their definitions:

1.Able or fit to be sold.

2.To make goods available to buyers and to encourage buyers to buy them.

3.Market forces.

4.The part of business which is concerned with the way in which a product is sold.

5.A market characterized by excess with demand in which buyers consequently experience difficulty in buying.

6.The people who live in a house or flat considered as a single unit.

7.The process of buying or using goods, or the amount that people buy or use.

8.Length, height, or width.

a) seller’s market b) consumption c) marketing d) dimensions

e) supply and demand f) to market g) marketable h) household

9. Answer the questions:

1.What is market?

2.Who are marketers?

3.Whom does market bring together?

4.What companies are market-driven?

5.What kinds of markets are there in the world?

6.What do market dimensions or utilities affect?

7.What do market utilities include?

8.What do the time, form, possession and place dimensions mean?

9.When does market generally occur?

10.What kinds of companies are mentioned according to their market standing?

10. a) Guess the meanings of the word combinations with the word ‘market’:

The market, the free market and market economy describe an economic system where prices, jobs, wages, etc. are not controlled by the government, but depend on what people want to buy and how much they are willing to pay.

b) Complete the TV reporter's commentary with expressions from the table above:

In China, all economic activity used to be controlled by the state. Prices were fixed by the government, not by buyers and sellers in the market (1) … . But in the last 20 years there has been a series of market (2) … that have allowed people to go into business and start their own companies. Market (3) … are determined by what buyers are willing to pay, rather than by the state. There are still state-owned companies that lose a lot of money. Until recently, they have been protected from market (4) … , but market (5) … will eventually mean that they close down. Of course, the market (6) … has its losers: those without work, and victims of crime, which used to be very rare.

11. Translate into Russian the sentences with ‘market’:

1.Chesterham is a small market town with a population of 2000.

2.Access to new foreign markets is not an easy matter.

3.A market consists of people with their needs, the ability to buy, and the desire and ability to sell.

4.This device was first marketed by a Japanese firm.

5.They have never had to operate in a market economy.

6.It’s a seller’s market at the moment. It means that demand exceeds supply, which is profitable for sellers.

7.In order to market a product well you need to be aware of public demand.

8.The company brings over what in Holland is standard bottled lager and markets it as Heineken export.

9.One of the first things that Hanson did when it bought a battery maker was to sell the research centre and put the remaining scientists nearer the marketeers.

10.Like Nike, Reebok is basically a marketer, not a maker, of sports shoes. Its products come from shoe manufacturers in Asia.

11.Japanese consumers delight in buying the latest shiny new models from their country’s electronic giants. But thanks to cunning product development and marketing strategies, these purchases are destined never to be quite new enough and their owners quickly discard obsolete models and fork out the latest ones. In 1990 Tokyoites threw out 128,000 televisions, 88,000 washing machines, 100,000 fridges and 190,000 bicycles.

12.Body Shop was ‘market-driven’, that is, it identified real demand from real people, for something that those people were prepared to pay for.

13.If we can bring in the new Adidas and change it from being product-driven to market-led, I think we’ve got a good chance.

14.Japan has tried to block imports of various uncomfortably cheap foreign products, claiming unique conditions in the Japanese market. French skis, e.g., were not allowed in because it was said that Japanese snow was different from Alpine snow and therefore they could not function.

15.Boeing has produced figures showing that there will be striking growth in the market for aircraft with 350 or more seats.

16.In order to market a product well you need to be aware of public demand.

Translate into Russian paying attention to the prepositions with the word ‘market’:

1.A talking watch will shortly be on the market.

2.Many labour-saving devices have come onto the market.

3.You’ll never get a picture as good as this one on the open market.

4.Exxon might well be in the market to buy up a competitor company.

5.They took mineral water off the market while tests were being made.

12. Match the sentence beginnings (1-5) with the correct endings (a-e).

1. Farms are now more market-oriented a such as Microsoft and Sony, are

in several markets at once.

2. Since the 1980s, Britain has had a much b and the audience decides the direction

more market-led it takes.

3. Many market-led growth businesses, c led to falling sales and profits.

4. Lack of investment and market orientation d and less dependent on government

money.

5. American TV is a market-driven industry, e approach to economics.

13. Word partnerships.

Some words are frequently used with a key business word.

Look at these "marketing" word partnerships:

Which of the other word partnerships will fill the gaps in the following sentences?

UNIT 12

1. a) Many of the verbs and some nouns and adjectives commonly used to talk about markets and marketing are, in fact, metaphors. For example, a product can be launched – like a ship; or it can die – like a person. This exercise gives the literal meanings of the following words. Can you match them?

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 6794