新编剑桥商务英语高级第三版91
9.1 Innovation VOCABULARY
Describing products 1
Do you agree with this quotation? ‘When the product is right, you don’t have to be a great marker.’ Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler
2 Look at the pictures below. Describe them, using the words in the b ox. bulky
fast
state-of-the-art
poor
old-fashioned
basic
unwieldy
efficient dependable
inexpensive
small
time-consuming
practiced
innovative
up-market clever
unoriginal
erratic
over-priced
impractical Now complete t he table using the words in the box. Positive quality Similar quality Negative quality 1 a functional tool practical
2 a near solution
unwieldy 3 a modern design
4 a value-for-money product
5 a reliable machine_
erratic 6 a professional service efficient
7 a revolutionary idea
unoriginal 8 a quick process
9 a luxury product
10 a compact piece of equipment
3 Choose six items from the table and think of examples from your own experience for each one. Deleting ‘spam’ from your email inbox is a time- - consuming process.
Market research 4 9.1 Listen to this example of a telemarketing call. What is the marketer trying to find out? 5 Work with a partner and act out similar conversations. Use the list below and add two more brands of your own. Brand
First- - hand experience Positive
impression Negative impression Dell Computer
Mercedes Benz
The Post Office
GRAMMAR Collocations: verb + preposition 6 Look at these expressions used to describe a new product. Put the correct pre position in each gap. 0 It is designed to withstand high
5 It will appeal _______students. temperatures.
6 It complies _________industry
1 It retails ________$20.
standards.
2It consists _______two main parts.
7 It is sold mainly________ hardware
3 It comes ________two different sizes
stores. 4 It is aimed ________the youth market.
8 It runs______ mains electricity.
7 Think of a product and use four or five of the expressions in the exercise 6 to desc ribe it. See if your partner can guess what the product is from these statements. They retail at about $40. They come in a range of sizes and colours. They are aimed at the youth market mainly, although some older people wear them too. They are sold in sports. They are designed to be light and comfortable. (Answer :training shoes)
LISTENING
A product presentation
8
9.2 You work for Greenscope, a company that makes gardening products. You will hear one of your colleagues, a product manager, presenting a product he thinks will revolutionise your business. The first time you listen, complete the notes. 1
Name of product:______________________ 2
Function:__________________________ 3
Target market:_________________________ 4
Retail price:_______________________
9 9.2 Listen again and answer the questions below.
1 What kind of products would he prefer to sell?
A
Luxury products.
B
Basic products.
C
Products which fulfil a real need. 2 How did the inventor get the idea?
A
He kept over-watering his plants.
B
He had no-one to care for his plants when he was away.
C
His apartment wasn’t a good place for growing plants. 3 How have the R&D department improved the original idea?
A
It has a bigger capacity.
B
It can be programmer to water plants more precisely.
C
It comes with detailed plant care instructions. 4 Which market will Plant-carer be targeted at ?
A
The general public.
B
Amateur
gardeners.
C
Professional
gardeners. 5 What does he think is the significance of this product to the company?
A
It will be as successful as the iPod was.
B
It will help them through a period of change.
C
It will give the company a big boost. READING
1 Which of these statements about innovation do you agree with?
1 ‘Innovation comes from the producer –not from the customer’. W. Edwards Deming, business advisor and author 2 ‘Unless we’re in touch with our customers, our model of the word can diverge from reality. There’s no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no
substitute for being in touch, either’. Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft
2 Take five minutes to read the article on innovation, on page 89, taken from a business newspaper. Is the author saying companies should spend less on research and development(R&D)?
Exam Success Read the statements quickly first before reading the article. It will increase your curiosity about the content of the article.
3 Study the article again and answer these questions. ●Which paragraph (A, B, C, D or E )does each statement(1-8)refer to ? ●Next to each statement mark one letter(A,B,C,D or E). ●You will need to use some of these letters more than once. 1 You have to be sure your innovation will last and can go on differentiating your offer. 2 You can innovate with services and business processes as well as with products. 3 Managers are wrong to see innovation as the answer to business growth. 4 Innovations are only successful if consumers like them. 5 Companies who start to innovate must be brave enough to go all the way. 6 You can’t measure the success of a company’s innovations by its R&D expenditure. 7 Companies innovate because they want to do something different from their competitors.
8 There is no fixed amount you should spend on innovation in order to be competitive.
4 Fin d these phrasal verbs in the text. Then match each with a definition(A- - E). 1 to come up with
A to finish the job 2 to keep up with
B to think of
3 to see something through
C to adopt /to begin to use 4 to take something up
D to stay at the same level as 5 to stand up to
E to be able to resist
5 Work with a partner and answer these questions. 1 Have you ever come up with an idea for a new product or service? 2 Do you keep up with developments in computing and telecommunications technology? 3 Is there a project you have undertaken that you a )have and b) haven’t seen through to the end? 4 Do you sometimes find it difficult to stand up to people when they pressure on you? 5 Have you taken up any new hobbies or interests in the last three years?
Don’t waste your money on innovation ○A A
G General Motors has invested more money in research an development (R&D) projects in the last 25years than any other big corporation. But at the same time, its market share has declined. The fact is that there is no correlation between the amount of revenue spent on R&D and the innovative success of an organization. Managers who think that innovation is a passport to greater marker share and profitability are fooling themselves. A recent survey by the respected consulting firm, Booz Allen, found that
among the world’s top 1,000 corporate R&D spenders there was ‘no discernible statistical relationship between R&D spending levels and nearly all measures of business success including sales growth, gross profit, operating profit, enterprise profit, market capitalization or total shareholder
return.’
○B B
But this should not come as any surprise. The level of R&D spending- whether in euros, dollars or a percentage of sales- is not a measure of effectiveness or productivity. The ability to come up with new ideas ,to be creative or to innovate is not a question of budgetary investment. The real driver of innovation is growing marker competition, not growing R&D spending. The definition of a successful innovation policy is when companies are able to make a cost-effective investment to differentiate themselves from their competitors. If that comes about by a 1% investment of revenue in R&D, then good luck to the company. If it takes 10% to keep up with or stay ahead of the competition, that is fine, too.
○C C
This doesn’t necessarily mean product innovation. The Dell Computers model is a good example. Dell spend very little on product innovation- they leave that to others in the industry. In this respect they seem to e more a follower than a leader. Their principal innovation, and now their core competence, is in supply chain management. By producing locally and by selling direct to the consumer online and by telephone, they have been able to manage their costs in a way that means the model works anywhere in the world, from the UK to China.
○D D
But creating an innovative produce or model is not sufficient. It’s sustaining that
difference that is really the key to successful innovation. Few companies, in fact, are able to make that step. Once they have innovated to find a competitive advantage, all too often they lack the courage to see them through. To be a successful innovator you don’t need to be rich, but you do need to be incredibly bold. Any film producer knows this: a low-budget independent film, well marketed and well timed has every chance of being as successful as a $100m Hollywood blockbuster.
○E E
After all, there are no prizes for the number of patents granted. Counties and companied who measure their success on how much money they ‘invest in the future ’are missing the point. Your innovation is only a good one if customers respond to it and take it up. The real measure respond to it and take it up. The real measure of productivity is how many new customers you gain and how many profitable existing ones you are able to retain. Apple ’s iPod is ,on the face of it, a fantastic innovation, a product of a company that spends less than the industry average on R&D. but in the end its success will be measured by how well its stands up to its many competitors and whether Apple are able to purchase and download music and other media content. LISTENING
Idioms 1 9.3 You will hear an extract from an internal meeting between two managers at a software developer. They are discussing a job they have been offered. Are they going to accept the job?
2 9.3 The speakers uses a lot of idiomatic phrases. Listen again and complete the phrases below.
1 The only ______________ block is the price. 2 You’re assuming that we’ve got to start from______________. 3 There’s no need to reinvent the _______________. 4 You imagine it’s all going to be _____________sailing. 5 The costs have _______________out of control. 6 Of course there would be __________________problems. 7 I’m sure we can find some middle______________ with them. 8 If it all goes pear-____________,don’t say I didn’t warm you. 3 3
Work with a partner. How would you express each idea in your language? Is there similar idiom or one that is very different?
GRAMMAR
would 4 4
Look at these pairs of sentences. How are t he sentences with would differe nt? 1
I want a diet coke.
A
I would like a diet coke, please. 2
That’s out of the question.
B
That would be very difficult for us. 3
I can’t agree before speaking to my C I would need to speak to my manager
boss.
before agreeing anything. 4
Can you give us a discount?
D Would you be prepared to offer us a discount? 5
Please do what you can to help.
E I would appreciate any help you can offer.
5 Transform these sentences using would and the words given in brackets to make them sound more diplomatic.
0 A written contract means there will be no misunderstanding.(prevent)
A written contract would prevent any misunderstanding. 1 We can move a little on price if you increase the order. ( prepared) 2 Can you deliver 1,000 units to us as soon as possible? ( able) 3 We can’t accept the terms you propose. ( have difficulty) 4 Consider it from our point of view. ( ask you) 5 Manufacturing only 100 doesn’t make any sense. (viable) 6 I don’t want to give you an answer now. (like to think) 7 What is in the deal for our company? ( benefit)
WRITING
A letter in response to a request 6 You are the manager of an office cleaning company. You have received this request from a client. What does he want? 15 October
SPATCOL
Dear Sir/Madam
As Property Manager at Spatcol, I am responsible for the maintenance, cleaning and servicing of all our offices in the UK. We have recently moved our headquarters out of central London to a business park near Uxbridge.
We are looking for a firm to manage the following services for our new facility: ●cleaning and plant care; ●security and car parking attendants;
●basic maintenance of electrical installations (lighting, lifts, etc); ●upkeep of the surrounding gardens and green areas.
I am attaching full specifications of our offices. Please submit your proposal to me, David Ferguson, Head of Property Services Division, at the above address by 12 November.
Yours faithfully
David Ferguson
David Ferguson
7 You ask your assistant manager to wr iter a reply. When you check it, you find is too direct and not polite enough . Change it so that it sounds more diplomatic and encouraging to the customer. Learning Tip
When writing, don’t make claims you cannot justify. So if, for example, you claim to offer the highest quality services, then give examples and references to support this.
TOP OFFICE CLEANING Dear Mr Ferguson
Thanks for your letter asking us to quote for the contract for office cleaning, maintenance and security at Spatcol.
I don’t know how you got our name, but we are really only an office cleaning company.
We do a bit of garden maintenance, but the other jobs you mention are not our field. If you like we could just take on the office cleaning and garden maintenance work and leave the other jobs to another company. I don’t see any problem with that. If that’s not what you had in mind, then I suppose you’d be better off with a company that can do it all.
Sorry not to be of more help this time, but do think of us again for cleaning work if you have another building and are looking for cleaners. We do a good job and have a lot of satisfied customers.
Best wishes Paul Gunson
Paul Gunson
