II. Read the text again and complete this company history.

1950 The company was founded.

1950-53 Laslo Biro invented the first pen.

Marcel Bich ____ and _____ the design. Bich negotiated with Biro to ______.

1953 Production of the ______ began.

1956 Sales of the biro rose to ______.

1972 Bic invented ______.

1975 Bic invented _______.

Now Bic sells _______ ballpoint pens per day.

Bic sells _______ disposable lighters per day.

Bic and _______ are leaders in the market for disposable razors.

III. What are the advantages of disposable or "throwaway" products?

IV. Sequence words

First	first of all	firstly
Second	secondly
Then	after that	afterwards	next
Lastly	finally	now/today

Example:

Bic is well-known for its disposable products. First of all, Bic produced the throwaway pen, the biro. Then came the disposable lighter. Next they invented the throwaway razor and after that the windsurfing board. Today the company focuses on producing razors, biros and lighters. There were three key inventions in the company’s history: firstly, the ballpoint pen, secondly the disposable lighter and lastly the throwaway razor.

V. Write a short summary of the history of the company.

Speaking

Choose a company and present its history: type of product\service, the inventor(s), historical dates, current situation and future perspectives.

D. Company Culture

I. Learn types of company culture.

Power Cultures

In these cultures self-reliant and highly competitive self-development provide the basis of relations. Manager’s success is related to his or her charisma and influence, rather than to his/her knowledge and experience. The style of the chief executive is the model for other managers. In organizations of this type managers shall be tough-minded and aggressive.

Role Cultures

In these cultures manager’s role is completely related to his/her place within a centralized system. His/her success depends on how well this manager adheres to rules, procedures and precedents. Individualism and aggression are not valued in these cultures. Employees in these organizations should not get out of the limits of their roles.

Task Cultures

In organizations of this type they value everything that makes it possible to get the work done. The main concern in these organizations is with successful fulfillment of their projects. Manager’s success is related to his/her knowledge and experience required to achieve tasks rather than to meet the requirements of his/her role.

Individual Cultures

In organizations of this type the most possible freedom of expression is valued. Effectiveness of any activity in these organizations is rated by how much the activity satisfies the staff, rather than by how well it conforms to business plans. Independence, creativity and experiment are also valued in these organizations.

II. Discuss the following items:

1) What provides the basis of relations in power cultures?

2) What should the manager do to be successful?

3) What manager’s role is related to in role cultures?

4) How can manager become successful in a role cultures?

5) How should employees behave in such cultures?

6) What is the main concern in task cultures types of organizations?

7) Is there any difference between task cultures and role cultures?

8) In individual cultures the freedom of expression is not valued, is it?

9) Why is the fulfillment of business plan not important in individual cultures?

10) In organizations of what type would you like to work? Why?

Lesson 4. Competition of Companies

Warm up

· A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well. (Jeff Bezos)

· Do you agree with this saying?How can a firm earn its reputation?

· Look at this list of brand names and logos and find pairs of competitors.

· Which company is winning in each pair?

· What is competition of companies? How do consumers benefit from competition?

 

Reading

I. Read the text in detail and find out what is good and bad in market competition.

Express your point of view.

Competition law

Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, has three main elements:

• Prohibiting agreements or practices that restrict free trading and competition between businesses.
• Banning abusive behavior by a firm dominating a market, or anti-competitive practices that tend to lead to such a dominant position. Practices controlled in this way may include predatory pricing, tying, refusal to deal, and many others.
• Supervising the mergers and acquisitions of large corporations, including some joint ventures.

Protecting the interests of consumers and ensuring that entrepreneurs have an opportunity to compete in the market economy are often treated as important objectives. Competition law is closely connected with law on deregulation of access to markets, state aids and subsidies, the privatization of state owned assets and the establishment of independent sector regulators. In recent decades, competition law has been viewed as a way to provide better public services. The history of competition law reaches back to the Roman Empire. Since the twentieth century, competition law has become global. The two largest and most influential systems of competition regulation are United States antitrust law and European Community competition law. National and regional competition authorities across the world have formed international support and enforcement networks.

Competition Law in Russia

The Law on the Protection of Competition came into effect in the Russian Federation on 26 October 2006. The stated aim for establishing of the law was to bring the Russian Federation to be in line with the general trend of competition regulation in Europe. Beyond western European competition laws against dominance, the Competition Law in Russia expressly presumes existence of dominance by defining limits.

1. A company is in dominance if it dominates more than 50% of market share.
2. A company with less than 35% of market share, unless in exceptional case, is not considered dominant.
3. A collective dominance exists when up to three companies hold a combined market share exceeding 50%.
4. A collective dominance exists when up to five companies hold a combined market share exceeding 75%.
5. A safe harbor margin of up to 20% market share per company for agreements between companies of different segments of a supply chain.

The law also places restrictions on aids from, and public procurement policies of federal, provincial or municipal governments that otherwise would encourage anti-competition.

The law is enforced by the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS). The law also gives the FAS authority over approval of company mergers stipulating various combinations of limits of assets of merging companies, an excess of which would require prior approval from the FAS. The scope of regulation of the FAS is focused on the commodity market and financial services with mandates over operations and transactions not just within the Russian Federation but also those taking place outside the boundaries of Russia which would have anti-competitive effects on the Russian market place.

In addition to a separate competition law, the Code of Administrative Offences has also been amended to increase liability of anti-competitive practices. Punitive measures against anti-competitive practices are limited out in terms of percentages of revenues of a company.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antitrust

Active Vocabulary

I. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian words and word combinations:

предотвращение, запрет (запрещение), свободная торговля, оскорбительное поведение, непомерно высокие цены, контролировать, приобретения, заключать сделку, политика в области закупок, снятие ограничений, государственные активы, доля рынка, ограничения, слияние компаний, вносить изменения\поправки, обязательство\ответственность, доход, карательные меры, сделка (транзакция).