Wholesale price, to view, to cater to, to operate, in bulk, to involve, wholesale, to handle, to cater for, to carry out, breakeven, sales volume.

1. After two difficult years, the company hopes to reach ___ this year, and to be in profit next year.

2. Wholesales buy and sell ___.

3. They ___ urgent measures and our company ___ in several countries now.

4. This holiday company ___ mainly ___ rich people trying to ___ all their sometimes ridiculous demands.

5. Our shop doesn't ___ that sort of books, you should go to a bigger one.

6. Several possible buyers have come to ___ the house.

7. He buys the materials ___. They cost $50 in the store, but the ___ is $35.

8. The ___ has been decreasing since December.

9. The job ___ travelling abroad for 3 months each year

 

Exercise 9. Choose the right preposition or adverbial participle:

1. Many companies buy ___ goods ___ bulk ___ lower prices and then resell them ___ retailers.

2. The only distributor who can do this job ___ a lower cost is a wholesaler. They set ___ lower prices ___ the goods they sell.

3. Hypermarkets sell ___ a wide variety ___ products ___ order ___ satisfy ___ consumer's needs and provide a lot ___ services ___ him.

4. Lots ___ people are involved ___ retailing, it is easy to get ___ but the competition is very fierce and you may be driven ___ ___ business ___ a new competitor.

5. Everyone can start ___ a new shopping mall, funds are available ___ people ___ proven ability.

6. Many retailers are small, have a steady source ___ products ___ sell. They operate ___ a small market and the sales volume necessary ___ break even is not very large. So they don't have ___ sell much ___ gain ___ some profit, but they try ___ cater ___ all needs of the people ___ their area.

7. "Procter & Gamble" is a well-known chain ___ stores run ___ a central management. It doesn't differ ___ other big retailers ___ the ways ___ managing.

Exercise 10. Translate into Russian:

Планирование стратегии сбыта – это ключевая часть маркетинговой стратегии, взаимосвязанная с решениями, принятыми по самому продукту, продвижению и ценообразованию, и определяется тремя факторами: ("Три Си" сбыта – Three Cs of distribution) охватом, контролем и издержками. Охват имеет отношение к доступу потребителей к продукту. Для товаров повседневного спроса (convenience goods) необходим широкий охват. Потребительские товары могут иметь менее широкий охват. Контроль связан с обеспечением качества и имеет большое значение для фирм, предлагающих услуги. Издержки являются фактором, зависящим от того, какое внимание фирма уделяет контролю. Некоторые фирмы не желают распространять свои товары через сеть дешёвых розничных магазинов, считая, что они не обеспечены достаточным набором услуг.

Планирование продуктовой стратегии – составная часть планирования маркетинговой стратегии, включая в себя принятие решений о том, какой продукт производить, когда выбрасывать на рынок новый продукт и когда отказаться от производства старого, как создать потребителю мотивацию к приобретению этого продукта, помочь осознать его достоинства, какую использовать упаковку, какие сорта, какие гарантии, методы обслуживания, виды распространения, рекламы, ценовую политику.

Стратегия "проникновения" (strategy of penetration) – стратегия, при которой новый продукт продаётся вначале по низкой цене для быстрого создания рынка. Иногда цена продукта может быть ниже издержек. Опасность состоит в том, что для получения прибыли нужно время, а жёсткая конкуренция может не дать поднять цену.

Стратегия "снятия сливок" (strategy of skimming) – стратегия, при которой новый продукт продаётся вначале по более высокой цене, которая потом снижается. Цена скользит по кривой спроса.

Анализ безубыточности (breakeven analysis) – метод ценообразования, основанный на сравнении переменных издержек (variable costs – VC) и фиксированных издержек (fixed costs - FC) с предполагаемым доходом при различных уровнях цен и объёмах производства. Наряду с другими методами ценообразования (pricing methods): целевое ценообразование и метод "издержки плюс прибыль (наценка)" – используется для определения стартовых позиций при принятии решений о цене.

Part 5. Financial institutes and financial intermediaries.

Read and translate the text

Financial market is a broad market where buyers and sellers exchange various types of financial securities or products that comprise financial securities. Financial Markets serve various purposes to a variety of individuals and corporations. Such markets facilitate investments and purchase of assets. They also facilitate handling of various risks.

The financial markets can be divided into different subtypes:

- capital markets consists of: stock markets, which facilitates equity investment and buying and selling of shares or common stock; bond markets, which provides financing through the issue of debt contracts and the buying and selling of bonds and debentures; money markets, which provides short term debt financing and investment; derivatives markets, which provides instruments for handling of financial risks; futures markets, which provide standardised contracts for trading assets at some forward date (forward market); insurance markets, which facilitates handling of various risks; foreign exchange markets.

These markets can be either primary markets or aftermarkets. Newly formed (issued) securities are bought or sold in primary markets. Secondary markets allow owners of the security or the product of securities to buy or sell the same.

All businesses need to obtain finance, to start and to grow. Firms will have to meet short-term debts, which come from trading activities such as buying goods on credit. This short-term finance is a firm working capital. Any business which has a lack of working capital will face difficulties in surviving. Short-term finance is necessary to buy short-lived assets such as raw materials and some types of vehicle, to cover temporary falls in demand, to meet unplanned expenses, to bridge short-term gaps between expenditure and income.

Short-term finance can be obtained through commercial banks (loans, mortgages, overdrafts), discount houses, finance houses (hire purchase), trade credit, leasing companies.

Firms also need long-term capital – personal savings of sole traders and limited companies, loans from banks, overdrafts. Shares are well-known examples of such sources. Long-term finance is obligatory to purchase long-lived assets, such as buildings and heavy machinery, for programmes of expansion and modernisation and so on.

Long-tern finance can exist in a form of shares and debentures, can be offered by commercial banks, merchant banks, insurance companies, pension funds, specialist investment institutions (e.g. mutual funds), government agencies.

There are many important financial institutions which provide finance for companies in different ways. They are considered to provide a financial intermediary function for the economy which is simply the process of brining together buyers and sellers. This is extremely important to a market-oriented economy. A market exists ONLY if buyers and sellers match up. Sometimes these two match up on their own. Sometimes they need assistance from an intermediary.

The economy is filled with assorted intermediaries. A financial intermediary is an entity that matches up buyers seeking to borrow funds and issue legal claims with sellers seeking to lend funds and acquire legal claims. Other financial intermediaries are stock brokers, insurance agents, mutual funds, and bond traders. Financial intermediaries do their duty through financial markets by assisting the exchange of such legal claims as stocks, bonds, insurance, and bank deposits.

Banking is among many industries that provide a financial intermediary function for the economy. Banks match up those seeking to exchange legal claims or financial assets. By maintaining financial deposits and making financial loans, banks navigate the financial or paper side of the economy. They do not deal directly with physical production, but rather with legal claims on physical production. What makes the financial intermediary function of banks different from other financial intermediaries (stock brokers or insurance agents) is that they work with transactions deposits (that is, checking accounts). Checking accounts are over half of the money supply. Banks are NOT just matching up buyers and sellers, but in so doing they maintain a significant portion of the nation's money supply.

Insurance companies. The regular premiums paid by policyholders are invested in government securities, company shares, land, and property of all kinds. The income from these investments makes it possible for insurance companies to pay out interests which are greater than the total payments made by policyholders.

Pension funds. Although in many countries there is a state pension scheme to which all workers contribute, a large number of employed and self-employed people also belong to private pension schemes. The money which accumulates in these pension funds is invested and works in a very similar manner to the funds of insurance companies.

Investment trusts. These are limited companies, which issue shares to the general public, and use the income to invest elsewhere by, for example, buying shares in other companies which they believe will be the most successful ones. People who then buy shares in investment trusts are paid dividends and investment trusts obtain profit too.

Unit trusts. These operate in a very similar manner to investment trusts. But they are not limited companies – they do not issue shares, they issue units. These units can not be resold on the open market, but they can be sold back to the unit trust at any time.

Finance houses. These institutions provide loans which finance hire purchase schemes and leasing arrangements. Firms which sell goods on hire purchase or who lease goods do not have to wait two or three years before their goods are fully paid for. They receive immediate payment from a finance house, and it is the finance house which collects the regular instalments paid by a purchaser.

International financial liberalization has made finance capital much more influential and dominant, exerting severe deflationary pressures on macroeconomic policy throughout the world, which has slowed growth. Financial liberalization has also undermined financial policies, institutions and instruments to pro-actively promote growth of desired firms and industries.

The Global Financial System refers to those financial institutions and regulations that act on the international level, as opposed to those that act on a national or regional level. The main players are the global institutions, such as IMF and World Bank, national agencies and government departments, e.g. central banks and finance ministries, and private institutions acting on the global scale e.g. banks and hedge funds.

History. The history of financial institutions must be differentiated from economic history and history of money. In Europe, it starts with the first financiers and banks in the 1400-1600s in Central and Western Europe. The first modern bank was Bank of Barcelona (1401); the first global financiers - the Fuggers (1487) in Germany; the first stock company - in England (Russia Company 1553); the first foreign exchange market - The Royal Exchange 1566, England; the first stock exchange - the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Milestones in the history of financial institutions are the Gold Standard (1871-1932), the founding of IMF, World Bank at Bretton Woods, and the abolishment of fixed exchange rates in 1973.