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English for
Business Studies
Ian MacKenzie
Student’s Book
A course for Business Studies
and Economics students
Third Edition
© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org
Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-74341-9 – English for Business Studies Student’s Book: A Course for Business Studies and Economics Students, Third Edition
Ian MacKenzie
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2
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
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© Cambridge University Press 2010
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1997
Second Edition 2002
Third Edition 2010
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-521-74341-9 Student’s Book
ISBN 978-0-521-74342-6 Teacher’s Book
ISBN 978-0-521-74343-3 Audio CD Set
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
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timetables and other factual information given in this work is correct at
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the accuracy of such information thereafter.
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Ian MacKenzie
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3
Although only one name appears on the cover of this book, I need to thank a great
many people for their help and hard work, beginning with Cambridge University Press
commissioning editor Chris Capper.
Stephanie Ashford, Helen Bicknell, Anna Glinska, Joy Godwin, Graham Jones and Dominique
Macabies gave helpful feedback on the previous edition. The outline of this edition was
worked out with Chris Capper, Will Capel and Chris Willis.
Will Capel was the development editor, while Chris Willis also made suggestions for the fi rst
half of the book and Joy Godwin for the second. Alison Silver also provided ideas throughout,
and expertly and good-humouredly prepared the manuscripts for production. Martin
Crowdy’s expertise was tapped for the units on accounting and fi nance. All of the editors
will fi nd some of their ideas in the book – though I probably scoffed at them at fi rst before
managing to convince myself they’d been my ideas all along!
Will Capel set up most of the UK interviews, and Pete Kyle expertly recorded them, with an
extraordinarily large microphone on the end of a pole. One other recording was produced
by James Richardson. Pete Kyle also produced and edited the CDs. My thanks go to all the
interviewees, who graciously gave us their time and shared their expertise with us: John
Antonakis, Olga Babakina, Richard Barker, Martin Beniston, Charles Cotton, Carlo de Stefanis,
Denis Frucot, Janine George, Melissa Glass, Alan Goodfellow, Anna-Kim Hyun-Seung, Lakshmi
Jaya, Michael Kitson, Teresa La Thangue, Alison Maitland, Tony Ramos, Chris Smart, Krishna
Srinivasan, Saktiandi Supaat and Rory Taylor. Thanks also go to the writers whose texts I have
used, and the cartoonists whose work (mostly from The New Yorker) brightens up the pages.
Thanks are also due to Chris Doggett for dealing with permissions, Hilary Luckcock for
fi nding the photographs, Linda Matthews at Cambridge University Press for arranging the
production schedule, Wild Apple Design who can and do turn sows’ ears into silk purses (as
the saying doesn’t go), and Kevin Doherty for porof-raeding. Prospective thanks go out to all
of Cambridge University Press’s sales and marketing people.
I’ve dedicated previous books to my children, but this time I have to revert to the equally
traditional apology-to-partner paragraph: sorry, Kirsten, for the surliness that went with
many months of writing a book while also working full-time and taking on too many other
commitments. (Oddly, she doesn’t believe my assurances that this will never happen again!)
Ian MacKenzie
September 2009
Thanks
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978-0-521-74341-9 – English for Business Studies Student’s Book: A Course for Business Studies and Economics Students, Third Edition
Ian MacKenzie
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Contents
Contents 5
Thanks 3
Introduction to the learner 6
Map of the book 7
Management
1 Management 10
2 Work and motivation 15
3 Company structure 21
4 Managing across cultures 26
5 Recruitment 30
6 Women in business 38
Production
7 The different sectors of the economy 42
8 Production 47
9 Logistics 51
10 Quality 56
Marketing
11 Products 60
12 Marketing 64
13 Advertising 69
Finance
14 Banking 73
15 Venture capital 77
16 Bonds 81
17 Stocks and shares 86
18 Derivatives 91
19 Accounting and fi nancial statements 95
20 Market structure and competition 100
21 Takeovers 105
Economics
22 Government and taxation 109
23 The business cycle 114
24 Corporate social responsibility 119
25 Effi ciency and employment 124
26 Exchange rates 128
27 International trade 132
28 Economics and ecology 136
Role cards 142
Audio scripts 156
Appendix 1: How to give a good 181
presentation
Appendix 2: Writing emails, letters 185
and reports
Acknowledgements 190
Contents
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978-0-521-74341-9 – English for Business Studies Student’s Book: A Course for Business Studies and Economics Students, Third Edition
Ian MacKenzie
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6 Introduction to the learner
Introduction to the learner
English for Business Studies is a reading, listening, speaking and writing course for learners
with at least an upper-intermediate level of English (Common European Framework for
Languages level B2) who need to understand and express the key concepts of business and
economics. It covers the most important areas of management, production, marketing,
fi nance and macroeconomics.
This course aims to:
• present you with the language and concepts of business and economics found in books,
journals, newspapers and magazines, and on websites
• develop your comprehension of business and economics texts
• develop your listening skills in the fi elds of business and economics
• provide you with opportunities to express business concepts both verbally and in writing,
by reformulating them in your own words while summarizing, analysing, criticizing and
discussing ideas.
Most of the units contain four components:
1 An informative reading text giving an overview of a particular topic, introducing
key concepts, and including a lot of relevant technical vocabulary, plus a variety of
comprehension and vocabulary exercises and discussion activities. Some of the texts
come from newspapers and books about business or economics.
2 Listening activities, mostly based on interviews with business people, economists and
other experts. The listening material includes British, American, Australian and South
African voices, but also speakers from several European and Asian countries. Listening to
non-native speakers of English is important as much of the English you will hear in your
professional life will be spoken by people who don’t have English as their fi rst language.
3 Speaking activities including discussions, case studies, role plays and presentations.
4 Writing activities including summaries, emails, memos and reports.
If you are using this book in a class with a teacher, it will give you lots of opportunities to
discuss ideas and issues with other learners (in pairs or small groups), and to develop and
defend your own point of view.
If you are using this course on your own, you will still be able to do the reading and listening
exercises. You will fi nd the answers to the exercises in the English for Business Studies
Teacher’s Book.
I hope you enjoy using this book.
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Ian MacKenzie
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Map of the book 7
Map of the book
Unit Reading Listening Speaking Writing
1 Management What is management? MBA students:
What makes a good
manager?
Case study:
Selecting a Chief
Operating Offi cer
Summary; email
2 Work and
motivation
Theory X and Theory
Y; ‘Satisfi ers’ and
‘motivators’
MBA students:
Managers and
motivation
Case study: A car
manufacturer
Summary; email
3 Company
structure
Wikinomics and the
future of companies;
Company structure
MBA students: Big
and small companies
Presentation:
Presenting a
company
Notes for a
presentation
4 Managing
across cultures
Managing across
cultures
MBA students:
Managers, authority,
and cultural diversity
Role play:
Welcoming
American
colleagues
Autobiographical
text
5 Recruitment Filling a vacancy; Job
applications
John Antonakis
(management
professor): Job
interviews
Role play: A job
interview
Curriculum vitae
or resume
6 Women in
business
You’re fi red!
(The Guardian)
Alison Maitland
(writer and
journalist): Women in
business – a strategic
issue
Role play: Do we
need more women
managers?
Memo or email
7 The different
sectors of the
economy
Another cup of tea
(David Lodge: Nice
Work); Manufacturing
and services
The business news
(radio)
Discussion: Your
place in the
economy
Business news
item
8 Production Capacity and
inventory; ‘The Dell
Theory of Confl ict
Prevention’ (Thomas
Friedman: The World
Is Flat)
Alan Goodfellow (IT
director): Purchasing
and low-cost
manufacturing
Role play: Choosing
suppliers
Email
9 Logistics Pull and push
strategies; Supplychaining (Thomas
Friedman: The World
Is Flat); Supply chain
work fl ow
Alan Goodfellow:
Inventory, Kanban
and MRP; Leica’s
supply chain
Case study: Risk
analysis
Summary; report
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Ian MacKenzie
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8 Map of the book
Unit Reading Listening Speaking Writing
10 Quality Total Quality
Management
Denis Frucot (hotel
manager): Customer
care and quality in a
hotel
Role play: A hotel
chain in trouble
Email
11 Products Products and brands Melissa Glass
(juice bar director):
Smoothies and a
juice bar
Case study:
Researching a
product concept
Report
12 Marketing The product life
cycle; Marketing is
everything
(Regis McKenna:
Harvard Business
Review)
Melissa Glass:
Promoting a juice bar
Case study:
Promoting a new
product
Description of
distribution
channels
13 Advertising Advertising and viral
marketing
Radio commercials Scripting a radio
commercial
Summaries; radio
commercial
14 Banking Banks and fi nancial
institutions; The
subprime crisis and
the credit crunch
Tony Ramos (HSBC):
Commercial banking;
Anna-Kim HyunSeung (expert on
business ethics):
Microfi nance
Role play:
Microfi nance
Minutes of a
meeting
15 Venture capital A business plan Chris Smart (venture
capitalist): Investing
in start-ups
Role play: Investing
in start-ups
Summary
16 Bonds Bonds; How to profi t
from bonds (The
Guardian and The
Independent)
Teresa La Thangue
(Financial Services
Authority): Bonds
and subprime
mortgages
Case study:
Investing in funds
Report
17 Stocks and
shares
Stocks and shares;
Hedge funds (Geraint
Anderson: Cityboy)
A fi nancial news
report (radio)
Role play: Investing
a client’s money
18 Derivatives Spread-betting (Times
Online)
Teresa La Thangue:
Hedge funds and
structured products
Role play: Financial
instruments
Training memo
19 Accounting
and fi nancial
statements
Google Inc.’s fi nancial
statements
Richard Barker
(senior lecturer in
accounting): Valuing
assets
Role play:
Presenting a
company’s results
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Ian MacKenzie
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Map of the book 9
Unit Reading Listening Speaking Writing
20 Market
structure and
competition
Market structure Charles Cotton
(IT consultant):
Companies and
clusters
Case study:
Encouraging
clusters
Briefi ng
document
21 Takeovers Takeovers, mergers
and buyouts
Rory Taylor
(Competition
Commission): Market
investigations
Role play: Is this
company restricting
competition?
Summary
22 Government
and taxation
The role of
government (Milton
and Rose Friedman:
Free to Choose)
Michael Kitson
(senior lecturer
in international
macroeconomics):
Government
intervention
Presentation:
Taxation and
government
spending
Presentation or
report
23 The business
cycle
What causes the
business cycle?;
Keynesianism and
monetarism
Michael Kitson:
Consumption and
the business cycle;
Keynesianism
Discussion:
Government
intervention
24 Corporate social
responsibility
Profi ts and social
responsibility
Anna-Kim HyunSeung: Socially
responsible
investment;
Stakeholder groups
Role play: Problems
at a clothes
manufacturer
Report
25 Effi ciency and
employment
Reorganizing the
postal service
Anna-Kim HyunSeung: Effi ciency,
the number of
employees, training
and productivity
Role play:
Reorganizing the
postal service
Report
26 Exchange rates Exchange rates Michael Kitson:
Currency fl ows
and the Tobin Tax;
Developing Africa
Case study:
A currency
transaction tax
Summary
27 International
trade
Education and
protection (Ha-Joon
Chang, economist)
Michael Kitson: Free
trade and exceptions
Presentation: For
and against free
trade
Presentation or
report
28 Economics and
ecology
The economics
of climate change
(Christian Gollier,
economist)
Martin Beniston
(professor of climate
science): Climate
policy
Role play:
Recommending an
energy policy
Summary
Role cards 142
Audio scripts 156
Appendix 1: How to give a good presentation 181
Appendix 2: Writing emails, letters and reports 185
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978-0-521-74341-9 – English for Business Studies Student’s Book: A Course for Business Studies and Economics Students, Third Edition
Ian MacKenzie
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10 Unit 1 Management
1 Management
Consider what the functions of management are
Discuss what makes a good manager
Aims
Lead-in
• To what extent is effective management something you are
born with, as opposed to a set of skills that can be taught?
• Which business leaders do you admire for their managerial
skills? What are these skills?
• Do managers have a good reputation in your country? Or are
they made fun of in jokes, cartoons and television series? If
so, why do you think this is?
• Which of the fi ve famous managers below do you fi nd the
most interesting and impressive?
Akio Morita co-founded a company in Tokyo in 1946, and
later changed its name to Sony. He moved to the US, where he
had the original ideas for the Walkman and the video cassette
recorder. Sony acquired music and fi lm companies, and
developed video games.
While Jack Welch was Chief Executive Offi cer (CEO) of General
Electric in the 1980s and 1990s, its market value increased
from $14 billion to more than $410 billion. He fi red 10% of the
company’s managers each year.
Steve Jobs was fi rst the co-founder
and later the CEO of Apple. He was fi red
from his own company (!) in 1985, and
co-founded Pixar Animation Studios,
but rejoined Apple in 1997, and helped
develop the iPod and the iPhone.
© The New Yorker
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Management Unit 1 11
Management
Carlos Ghosn, born in Brazil, but a French
and Lebanese citizen, became the CEO of
the Nissan car company in 2001. In 2005, he
also became CEO of Renault. At Nissan, he
converted huge debts into huge profi ts.
In 1998, Meg Whitman joined a start-up company called eBay in
Silicon Valley as President and CEO. She resigned ten years later,
when it was a hugely successful business, planning to run for
Governor of California.
Listening: What makes a good manager? 1.2 1.3
Listen to two MBA (Master of Business Administration) students at the Judge
Business School at Cambridge University talking about management.
Who says the things about managers in the table below – Carlo (the fi rst
speaker) or Olga (the second)?
Carlo Olga
A good manager should:
1 follow the company’s goals
2 help subordinates to accomplish their own goals and
objectives
3 help young colleagues to develop
4 know how to lead people
5 know how to motivate people
6 make a maximum profi t for the owners (the shareholders)
7 meet the targets they have been set
8 successfully execute plans and strategies
Discussion: What makes a good manager?
What do you think are the three most important characteristics of a good
manager? Are there any qualities or characteristics you would add to the ones
mentioned by the MBA students?
Olga Babakina
(from Russia)
Carlo de Stefanis
(from Italy)
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12 Unit 1 Management
Management is
important. The
success or failure
of companies,
public sector institutions and services, not-forprofi t organizations, sports teams, and so on,
often depends on the quality of their managers.
But what do managers do? One well-known
classifi cation of the tasks of a manager comes
from Peter Drucker. Drucker was an American
business professor and consultant who is
often called things like ‘The Father of Modern
Management’.
Drucker suggested that the work of a manager
can be divided into fi ve tasks: planning (setting
objectives), organizing, integrating (motivating
and communicating), measuring performance,
and developing people.
• First of all, senior managers and directors set
objectives, and decide how their organization
can achieve or accomplish them. This involves
developing strategies, plans and precise tactics,
and allocating resources of people and money.
• Secondly, managers organize. They analyse and
classify the activities of the organization and the
relations among them. They divide the work into
manageable activities and then into individual
tasks. They select people to perform these tasks.
• Thirdly, managers practise the social skills of
motivation and communication. They also have to
communicate objectives to the people responsible
for attaining them. They have to make the people
who are responsible for performing individual
tasks form teams. They make decisions about
pay and promotion. As well as organizing and
supervising the work of their subordinates, they
have to work with people in other areas and
functions.
• Fourthly, managers have to measure the
performance of their staff, to see whether the
objectives or targets set for the organization as a
whole and for each individual member of it are
being achieved.
• Lastly, managers develop people – both their
subordinates and themselves.
A company’s top managers also have to
consider the future, and modify or change the
organization’s objectives when necessary, and
introduce the innovations that will allow the
business to continue. Top managers also have to
manage a business’s relations with customers,
suppliers, distributors, bankers, investors,
neighbouring communities, public authorities, and
so on, as well as deal with any crisis that arises.
Although the tasks of a manager can be
analysed and classifi ed in this fashion,
management is not entirely scientifi c. There are
management skills that have to be learnt, but
management is also a human skill. Some people
are good at it, and others are not. Some people
will be unable to put management techniques
into practice. Others will have lots of technique,
but few good ideas. Excellent managers are quite
rare.
Writing
Write a brief summary of each of the fi ve tasks listed by Drucker.
Reading: What is management?
Read the text summarizing the different functions of management.
Which of the qualities mentioned in the Listening exercise do you
think are particularly necessary for the fi ve tasks described by
Peter Drucker?
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Ian MacKenzie
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Management
Management Unit 1 13
Vocabulary
1 Match up the following words and defi nitions.
1 consultant
2 crisis
3 innovation
4 objective (noun)
5 promotion
6 public sector
7 strategy
8 subordinate
A a plan for achieving success
B a new idea or method
C a person with a less important position in an organization
D a person who provides expert advice to a company
E a situation of danger or diffi culty
F something you plan to do or achieve
G the section of the economy under government control
H when someone is raised to a higher or more important position
2 The text contains a number of common verb–noun combinations. Use the word
combinations in the box to complete the sentences below.
allocate resources deal with crises make decisions perform tasks
measure performance set objectives supervise subordinates
1 After an organization has , it has to make
sure that it achieves them.
2 Managers have to fi nd the best way to all the human,
physical and capital available to them.
3 Some people better on their own while
others work better in teams.
4 Managers __________ the work of their and try to
develop their abilities.
5 Managers the of their staff to see whether
they are reaching their targets.
6 Top managers have to be prepared to
if they occur and then have to quick .
Case study: Selecting a Chief Operating Offi cer
Three companies are looking for a senior manager – a Chief Operating Offi cer who
will be responsible for managing the company’s day-to-day operations, and making sure
that all operations are effi cient and effective.
Company B is a
software developer
that employs a lot
of young, creative,
talented and rather
undisciplined people.
Co
Company C is a private
television channel
whose objective is to
broadcast programmes
that get as big an
audience as possible,
in order to maximize
advertising revenue.
Company A is a cigarette
Com
manufacturer that has to
modernize its production
systems in order to
become profi table, in
an industry that has
an increasingly bad
reputation.
ette
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Ian MacKenzie
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14 Unit 1 Management
Writing
Imagine you work for a recruitment agency or a headhunting fi rm. Write an
email of 50–100 words to your boss recommending your choice of candidates
for the positions above and outlining the reasons.
Which of the following candidates might be the most suitable for the positions
on page 13? Here are some extracts from their letters.
Candidate 1
Candidate 2
Candidate 3
Candidate 4
My skills involve helping businesses achieve their objectives.
Throughout my career I have ensured that my subordinates
successfully executed the strategies developed by senior
management, delivered results and maximized revenue.
I see my main skills as being able to communicate with and
motivate people, to help them develop and accomplish their
objectives, while also working effectively in teams.
At this stage in my career, I see myself in a challenging new position
that involves setting objectives and deciding how the organization can
achieve them. I would then concentrate on measuring the performance
of the staff.
My career demonstrates an ability to analyse
problems, find solutions and implement them.
I also have strong communication skills and
experience in explaining difficult decisions
to employees, investors, journalists, and so on.
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