Choosing a business abide by the following rules.

1. Never start a new venture if you haven’t got enough capital.

2. Don’t hurry to settle on the premises if you are not sure they are suitable for you.

3. Get your priorities right, and don’t spend much money on non-productive items.

4. Always research the market before you enter it; remember: it includes taking a long and a serious look at the competition.

5. Be sure that you have a distribution system ready before you start producing anything.

6. Be sure that you’ve got the right equipment, a suitable workforce, and a supply of raw materials.

7. Always control the product, and keep a close check on prices and customers’ credits.

 

While making a plan of your future business asks yourself the following questions.

1. What kind of customers am I going to serve (householders, or business people, young or old, rich or not so rich)?

2. How many potential customers are there in the area I am going to cover?

3. How will I attract customers?

4. What products or services will I offer?

WHEN CHOOSING A BUSINESS WEIGH ALL PROS AND CONS!

 

Words

abide by	- придерживаться, руководствоваться
venture	- предприятие
to settle premises	- занимать помещение
joint venture	- совместное предприятие
get your priorities right	- правильно определить приоритеты
non-productive items	- непроизводительные виды работ, объекты
research	- исследование
taking a long look at	- длительное изучение
competition	- конкуренция
be sure	- удостовериться
distribution	- распределение
right equipment	- нужное /соответствующее, необходимое/ оборудование
suitable workforce	- подходящая рабочая сила
supply of raw materials	- поставка сырья
keep a close check on	- строго контролировать
to cover	- охватить
to weigh all pros and cons	- взвесить все «за» и «против»
offer	- предложить
attract	- привлечь внимание

TASK 2

 

QUESTIONNAIRE

Fill it in (on a separate sheet of paper).

1. Have you ever done business? If so, what business did you run?

2. If you were to choose business, what type would you prefer?

3. If you were to choose business, would you take up production of goods or provision of services?

4. Which type of business do you consider more profitable?

5. Which type of business do you consider to be organizationally easy?

6. In what kind of business do you think women proved to be particularly effective?

7. Why do you think business has become very popular nowadays? (economic reasons, new tendencies in political and social development, etc.)

8. What questions must you ask yourself before starting a business?

 

Retell the text.

Something about my business

It’s common knowledge that doing business has become very popular everywhere. At present it is a comparatively new and perspective tendency in modern life. So, not long ago I made up my mind to go into business. Following my lawyer’s advice I chose small business in the field of services. It goes without saying that I weighed all pros and cons before making a decision. I understand that production of goods is very profitable, but provision of services profitable too. After all, people do business for a profit.

At first I wanted to be a sole trader, but then I changed my mind and organized a partnership. I went into business with my friend Jean. She has a solid background in accounting, she is good at keeping the books and ordering stock. As for me, I enjoy selling and like talking to customers.

So far our business is going pretty well, and the shop is beginning to attract more customers. I won’t be boating if I say that we begin to make a good profit. By the way, we have a certain arrangement for distribution of profits and losses. They are equally shared.

I hope to be in business for a long time. I’ve really become very knowledge about business.

MANY NEW BUSINESS FALL, WHY?

Tasks: 1. Translate the text with the help of a dictionary. Single out the main reasons and factors of the falling down of small business. Characterize the reasons.

Pick out terms and phrases that professionally seem most important for you to discuss the topic.

Think of questions using the above-mentioned words.

Open a discussion by asking and answering those (and other) questions.

v Well, there are several reasons. These are quite difficult times. There has been a pretty general recession – though they tell us the worst is over now – which means that unless you are part of a big, international concern – and not always even then! – it is quite difficult to make a living by making and selling things. Then there’s the question of labour relations. One is used to hearing all kinds of horror stories about the activities of wicked trade unions, about excessive wage demands, and about what is officially called industrial action, which usually means strikes. I’m sure there is no doubt that these factors do contribute to the rapid disappearance of many little businesses, but it is more than likely, in my opinion, that what really accounts for most of the failures is quite simply bad management. So I shall spend the next few minutes talking about management, and in particular about the management of money, which is the single most important aspect of managing a business.

v Let’s look at some of the ways in which a business may be badly managed, to see if we can learn some lessons from them about good management. First, many new business are under capitalized, that is, there isn’t enough money available to them to give them a real chance to succeed, if everything goes smoothly right from the start, they may survive. But if they encounter problems and delays, and they are under-capitalized, they will be in trouble. And we should remember, too, that enthusiasts lend always to be over-optimistic, so they underestimate the amount of capital they are going to need. So that is our first lesson: never attempt to start a new venture if you haven’t got enough capital to see it through.

v Second, many new businesses fail because they are in the wrong place or their premises are unsuitable – too big or too small, or something of the sort. This may mean that they can’t afford to pay the rent and other costs, or they operate inefficiently because they haven’t got enough room to plan properly or to expand if they need to. So our second lesson is: don’t be in too much of a hurry to settle on premises if you aren’t quite sure they are right.

v Third, some ambitious new businesses spend too much of their capital on presenting a glossy image, with expensive fittings and office furniture which cost a great deal of money but do not contribute anything to meeting the expenses. So that’s our third lesson: get your priorities right and don’t spend too much of your capital on non-productive items.

v Fourth, far too many business fail because their managers have not done their homework, in two ways in particular – in researching the market to make sure that the product they have in mind is really in demand and not already available from lots of other companies at competitive prices, and in investigating and setting up ways of distributing the finished product, that is of getting it to the customer on profitable terms. Remember, even if you product of its type in the world, but no one wants to buy it or you can’t get it to the people who do, you will fail. And that’s our fourth lesson: always research the market before you decide to enter it – and that includes taking a long, hard look at the competition. There is a fifth lesson here, too. Be very sure you have a system of distribution ready before you even start to produce anything.

v There are quite a lot of other factors to be taken into account: installing the right equipment, hiring a suitable workforce, ensuring a supply of raw materials on terms you can afford; controlling production, keeping a close check on prices and customer credit, but above all, remember today’s golden rule: plan every step of the way before you start your business.

(Business Studies by C.V. James Section I. Starting Business p. 2)

 

Dialogue 3