Текст книги "Английский для экономистов (учебник английского языка)"

Автор книги: Денис Шевчук

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 19 страниц) [доступный отрывок для чтения: 7 страниц]

Believers are conservative, conventional people with concrete beliefs based on traditional, established codes: family, church, community, and nation. Many Believers express moral codes that are deeply rooted and literally interpreted. They follow established routines, organized in large part around their homes, families, and social or religious organizations to which they belong. As consumers, they are conservative and predictable, favoring native products and established brands.

Achievers are successful career – and work-oriented people who like to, and generally do, feel in control of their lives. They value consensus, predictability, and stability over risk, intimacy, and self-discovery. They are deeply committed to work and family. Work provides them with a sense of duty, material rewards, and prestige. Their social lives reflect this focus and are structured around family, church, and career. Achievers live conventional lives, are politically conservative, and respect authority and the status quo. Image is important to them; they favor established, prestige products and services that demonstrate success to their peers.

Strivers seek motivation, self-definition, and approval from the world around them. They are striving to find a secure place in life. Unsure of themselves and low on economic, social, and psychological resources, Strivers are concerned about the opinion and approval of others. Money defines success for Strivers, who don’t have enough of it and often feel that life has given them a raw deal. Strivers are easily bored and impulsive. Many of them seek to be stylish. They emulate those who own more impressive possessions, but what they wish to obtain is generally beyond their reach.

Experiencers are young, vital, enthusiastic, impulsive, and rebellious. They seek variety and excitement, savoring the new, the offbeat, and the risky. Still in the process of formulating life values and patterns of behavior, they quickly become enthusiastic about new possibilities but are equally quick to cool. At this stage of their lives, they are politically uncommitted, uninformed, and highly ambivalent about what they believe. Experiencers combine an abstract disdain for conformity with an outsider’s awe of others’ wealth, prestige, and power. Their energy finds an outlet in exercise, sports, outdoor recreation, and social activities. Experiencers are avid consumers and spend much of their income on clothing, fast food, music, movies, and video.

Makers are practical people who have constructive skills and value self-sufficiency. They live within a traditional context of family, practical work, and physical recreation and have little interest in what lies outside that context. Makers experience the world by working on it – building a house, raising children, fixing a car, or canning vegetables – and have sufficient skill, income, and energy to carry out their projects successfully. Makers are politically conservative, suspicious of new ideas, respectful of government intrusion on individual rights. They are unimpressed by material possessions other than those with a practical or functional purpose (e.g., tools, pick-up trucks, or fishing equipment).

Strugglers’ lives are constricted. Chronically poor, ill-educated, low-skilled, without strong social bonds, elderly and concerned about their health, they are often resigned and passive. Because they are limited by the need to meet the urgent needs of the present moment, they do not show a strong self-orientation. Their chief concerns are for security and safety. Strugglers are cautious consumers. They represent a very modest market for most products and services, but are loyal to favorite brands.

1. If to take the population of the country, how many people belong to each group?

2. To what group do you (your parents, friends, relatives) belong?

TEXT 7

SATISFYING CONSUMER NEEDS

Marketing doesn't stop with the ideas obtained from discovering consumer needs. Since the organization obviously can't satisfy all consumer needs, it must concentrate its efforts on certain needs of a specific group of potential consumers. This is the target market, one or more specific groups of potential consumers toward which an organization directs its marketing program.

There are many possible ways to satisfy the needs of target customers. A product can have many different features and quality levels. Service levels can be adjusted. The package can be of various sizes, colours, or materials. The brand name and warranty can be changed. Various advertising media – newspapers, magazines, radio, television, billboards – may be used. A company’s own sales force or other sales specialists can be used. Different prices can be charged. Price discounts may be given, and so on. With so many possible variables, is there any way to organize all these decisions and simplify the selection of marketing mixes? The answer is yes.

 Having selected the target market, the firm must take steps to satisfy the consumer’s needs. Someone in the organization's marketing department, often the marketing manager, must take action and develop a complete marketing program to reach consumers by pulling a combination of four levels, often called the four Ps.

• Product: a good, service, or idea to satisfy the consumer's needs.

• Price: what is exchanged for the product.

• Promotion: a means of communication between the seller and buyer.

• Place: a means of getting the product into the consumer's hands.

The four Ps are the elements of the marketing mix. These are the marketing manager's controllable factors, the marketing actions of product, price, promotion, and place that he or she can take to solve a marketing problem. The marketing mix elements are called controllable factors because they are under the control of the marketing department in an organization.

Two more questions are to be answered in this text. The first one is: What is marketed? Goods, services, and ideas are marketed. Goods are physical objects, such as toothpaste, cameras, or computers that satisfy consumer needs. Services are intangible items such as airline trips, financial advice, or telephone calls. The second is: Who buys and uses what is marketed? Both individuals and organizations buy and use goods and services that are marketed. Ultimate consumers are the people – whether 80 years or 8 months old – who use the goods and services purchased for a household. A household may consist of one person or ten. Organizational buyers are units such as manufacturers, retailers, or government agencies that buy goods and services for their own use or for resale.

1. Write a short summary of the text in Russian (10-12 sentences). Exchange the summaries with your partner and translate them into English.

TEXT 8

THE UNIQUENESS OF SERVICE

Services are intangible items such as airline trips, financial advice, or telephone calls that an organization provides to consumers. To obtain these services, consumers exchange for money or something else of value, such as their own time.

There are four unique elements to services: intangibility, inconsistency, insepa–rability, and inventory. These four elements are referred to as the four I's of services.

Intangibility. Services are intangible; that is, they can't be held, touched, or seen before the purchase decision. In contrast, before purchasing a traditional product, a consumer can touch a box of laundry detergent, kick the tire of an automobile, or sample a new breakfast cereal. A major marketing need for cervices is to make them tangible or show the benefits of using the service.

Inconsistency. Marketing services are challenging because the quality of a service is often inconsistent. Since services depend on the people who provide them, their quality varies with each person's capabilities and day-to-day job performance. Inconsistency is much more of a problem in services than it is with tangible goods. Tangible products can be good or bad in terms of quality, but with modern production lines the quality will at least be consistent.

Inseparability. A third difference between services and goods, related to problems of consistency, is inseparability. In most cases the consumer cannot (and does not) separate the service from the deliverer of the service or the setting in which the service occurs. For example, to receive an education, a person may attend a university. The quality of the education may be high, but if the student finds counseling services poor, or sees little opportunity for extracurricular activity, he or she may not be satisfied with the educational experience.

Inventory. This element requires the provision of service along with any needed equipment. If a physician is paid to see patients but no one schedules an appointment, the fixed cost of the idle physician's salary is a high inventory carrying cost. In some service businesses, however, the provider of the service is on commission or is a part-time employee. Inventory carrying costs can be significantly lower or nonexistent because the idle production capacity can be cut back by reducing hours or having no salary to pay because of the commission compensation system.

1.Speak on each of the unique elements of services. Try to find some examples from your consumer experience.

TEXT 9

BRANDING

A brand is a name given by a business to one or more of its products. Branding gives products an identity that distinguishes them from similar products produced by rival firms. It helps to generate brand loyalty, encouraging customers to regularly purchase particular products. The demand for a product with strong brand loyalty tends to become less price sensitive, meaning that price can be increased without losing much demand. Selecting a brand name is therefore a very important part of a firm’s marketing strategy.

Organizations can use a number of different approaches to branding:

Individual or multiple branding, where business use a range of brand names for a variety of products. For example? Procter & Gamble relies on this branding policy for its range of fragrances, including Hugo Boss? Old Spice and Giorgio Beverley Hills. Such branding allows the firm to develop brands for particular market segments. Corporate or overall family branding, where all the firm’s products are branded with the same name. Virgin, Kraft, Heinz, Microsoft and Ford employ this approach. This type of branding means that the promotion of one item will promote other products within the family. It can increase consumer confidence in the entire range? So increasing sales and profits. A mixture of corporate and individual branding, where products are given individual brand names but the corporate brand name is also prominent, e.g. Nestle and Walls.

A brand name should be snappy, easy to remember, unique and convey appropriate images or values. In addition, popular brands are often supported by advertising catch phrases, such as “A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play”.

Most organizations employ specialist identity and naming consultants to handle this creative process. The name is the first and greatest expression of the brand. It is vital you get it right and we carry out extensive consumer research. For a food launch we might ask for a description of the product, and get people to be wishful and tell us what they would like it to do for them. Once we have a shortlist we then go through the linguistic, cultural and legal trademark checking stages.

The process of coming up with names for new products is complex, but it is complicated further by the need for Internet-workable names. Companies using the Internet, either to sell their products or simply to provide information on themselves, must decide whether their site is aimed at existing customers, they will know the brand and will search the Web primarily to attract consumers who may be unaware that their service exists, then a generic name is better – for example, www.deniskredit.ru and www.kreditbrokeripoteka.ru.

A major problem for organizations that trade globally is finding names that translate appropriately. One way to avoid language and translation difficulties is to invent a completely new word, such as Toyota’s Avensis. But there are problems even here. For example, firms must be careful which letters they use. The sounds for R and L, for instance, can be confusing and difficult for Asian customers to pronounce, which might deter them from asking a particular product. Studies by Interbrand Group, which has offices in 22 countries, also warns against using the number 8 when launching a food product in China, because it has connotations with death.

The fact that many cultures read from right to left can also cause difficulties with names and packaging. Interbrand’s director of naming recalls the story of washing powder that used three cartoon images on its packaging – the first illustrating a dirty shirt, the second the shirt going to the washing machine, and the third a clean shirt. When the packaging was launched in China it was read the other way around.

What is brand?What are the approaches to branding?How is brand created?What requirements should a brand name meet?

TEXT 10

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

Stated simply, international marketing is marketing across national boundaries. Since the end of World War II, improved travel, communications, and technology have fostered a tenfold increase in trade among nations.

A company choosing to enter international markets can achieve many benefits, but can also encounter many difficulties.

The main reason for companies to do international marketing is to exploit a better business opportunity in terms of increased sales and profits. Either firms are limited in their home country or their opportunities are great in the foreign countries.

Many companies find themselves with little room for growth in their domestic market. Competition may increase and leave a smaller portion of the pie tо enjoy, or demand may shift to a newer, better product. The economic environment in the home country may be undesirable because of higher taxes or a recession. It would seem logical to turn to other markets in any of these cases. So foreign markets may offer an opportunity for growth. A product that is mature and facing dwindling sales at home may be new and exciting in other countries.

Among the conditions that influence the success of international marketing are economic, political, legal and cultural ones.

Economic conditions. There are several important rules to international marketing in light of а соuntry's economic conditions: the product must fit the needs of the country's consumers and the product must be sold where there is the income to buy it and effective means of distributing, using, and servicing it. Five aspects of these considerations are (1) the country's stage of economic development, (2) multination trade groups, (3) the country's economic infrastructure, (4) consumer income, and (5) currency exchange rates.

There are over 200 countries in the world today, each of which is at a slightly different point in terms of its stage of economic development. However, they can be classified into two major groupings that will help the international marketer better understand their needs:

• Developed countries have somewhat mixed economies. Private enterprise dominates, although they have substantial public sectors as well.

• Developing countries are in the process of moving from an agricultural to an industrial economy. There are two subgroups within the developing category: (1) those that have already made the move and (2) those that remain locked in the preindustrial economy.

Political and legal conditions. The difficulties in assessing the political and legal condition of a country lie not only in identifying the current condition but also in estimating exactly how long that condition will last. Some transnational companies use analyses ranging from computer projections to intuition and forecasts to assess a country's condition. The dimensions being evaluated include the government attitude toward foreign marketers, the stability and financial poli–cies of the country, and government bureaucracy.

Some countries invite foreign investment through of–fering investment incentives, helping in site location, and providing other ser–vices. Hungary is currently offering a five-year «tax holiday» – a period during which no corporate taxes will be assessed – to encourage foreign firms to de–velop manufacturing capabilities there. In addition, a country or group of coun–tries can establish equitable standards to enable foreign products to compete fairly in their domestic markets. The European Union has a huge staff in Brussels, Belgium, developing directives to establish such standards for prod–ucts marketed in the EU after 1992.

Millions of dollars have been lost in the Middle East as a result of war and changes in governments. When instability is suspected, companies do everything they can to protect themselves against losses. Companies will limit their trade to exporting products into the country, minimizing investments in new plants in the foreign economy. Currency will be converted as soon as possible.

Even friendly countries can change their policies toward international marketing. Quotas can be revised or set, currency can be blocked, duties can be imposed, and in extreme cases companies can be expropriated.

1. What are the benefits of international marketing?

2. What difficulties can a company encounter when entering international marketing?

3. What are some of important rules to international marketing?

4. What is the main difficulty in assessing the political and legal condition of a country?

5.What dimensions are taken into account when evaluating political and legal condition?

TEXT 11

CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

Culture is the total of a society's beliefs, art forms, morals, laws, and customs. It dictates the manner in which we consume, the priority of our wants and needs, and how those wants and needs should be satisfied. Because cultures can vary greatly from nation to nation, international marketers must adjust their marketing controllable variables to each particular culture. Specifically, they must consider differences in language, color connotations, and mores. Let’s consider each of them.

Language. There are thousands of languages and dialects in the world. Marketers, especially in promotional messages, must understand and properly use the language of the host country. To do otherwise invites true marketing blunders. For example, in Spanish the Chevrolet brand name «Nova» means «It does not go». In Cantonese the name «Philip Morris» sounds like the phrase meaning «No luck». In Japan, General Motors' phrase «Body by Fisher» translates to «Corpse by Fisher».

Language becomes a particular concern in countries that speak numerous languages. In India, for example, there are 203 dialects. Even in countries that use the same language as the international marketer, communication problems can exist. Even though Great Britain and the United States both speak the same language, cultural differences exist. English homemakers hope furniture wax «will not trade off» and shoppers buy «tins» (rather than «cans») of grocery products. Such minor differences can make promotional messages sound foolish rather than persuasive.

Colors. Color is a large, though often subliminal part of a marketing effort. Colors in advertisements, on packages, and the product itself may communicate different impressions to different cultures. For example, blue is considered a warm color in Holland and a cold color in Sweden. White is for funerals and red is popular in China and Korea. Red, however, is not popular in Africa. Purple is associated with death in Brazil and in many Spanish-speaking countries. Yellow flowers are a sign of infidelity in France, but one of death in Mexico.

Mores. Mores are the customs and values of a culture.A nation’s values reflect the religious or moral beliefs of its people. Understanding and working with these aspects of a society are also factors in successful international marketing. For example:

– A door-to-door salesman would find selling in Italy impossible, because it is improper for a man to call on a woman if she home alone.

– McDonald’s and other hamburger restaurants would not have a chance in India, where the cow is considered sacred.

– The British don’t believe marketing is quite respectable, a factor contributing to their loss of markets in which they had the technological lead.

German exporters such as BMW probably are the most sophisticated in understanding the values of the customers of the nation’s to which they sell products. Germany (not Japan) has passed the United States as the world’s largest exporter through a strategy that stresses high-quality products sold to specific market segments by a strong network of dealers.

 Every nation has some unique behavior patterns. These may largely influence marketing strategies. The English and Japanese drive on the left side of the road. Thus, cars marketed in England and Japan must have the steering wheel on the right side. Other examples of cultural mores include the fact that the average Frenchman uses almost twice as many beauty aids as his female counterpart. Pepsodent toothpaste was unsuccessful in Southeast Asia because it promised white teeth in a culture in which black or yellow teeth are symbols of prestige. Maxwell House advertised itself as the «Great American Coffee» in West Germany, where the general populace has little respect for American coffee.

1.What other examples of cultural differences can you provide?

2.What are the mores in your country?

TEXT 12

ALTERNATIVES FOR INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS

Once a company has decided to enter the international marketplace, it must select a means of entry. The option chosen depends on its willingness and ability to commit financial, physical, and managerial resources. Host countries not only seek the benefits of additional products available for sale but are often even more interested in the number of good jobs available for local workers. Let’s consider the alternatives for international operations.

Exporting is producing goods in one country and selling them in another country. This entry option allows a company to make the least number of changes in terms of its product, its organization, and even its corporate goals. Host countries usually do not like this practice, because it provides less local employment than under alternative means of entry.

Indirect exporting is when a firm sells its domestically produced goods in a foreign country through an intermediary. It involves the least amount of commitment and risk, but will probably return the least profit. The kind of exporting is ideal for the company that has no overseas contacts but wants to market abroad. The intermediary is often a broker or agent that has the international marketing know-how and the resources necessary for the effort to succeed.

Direct exporting is when a firm sells its domestically produced goods in a foreign country without intermediaries. Most companies become involved in direct exporting when they believe their volume of sales will be sufficiently large and easy to obtain that they do not require intermediaries. For example, the exporter may be approached by foreign buyers that are willing to contract for a large volume of purchases. Direct exporting involves more risk than indirect exporting for the company, but also opens the door to increased profits.

Under licensing a company offers the right to a trademark, patent, trade secret, or other similarly valued items of intellectual property, in return for a loyalty or a fee. In international marketing the advantages to the company granting the license are low risk and a capital-free entry into a foreign country. The licensee gains information that allows it to start with a competitive advantage, and the foreign country gains employment by having the product manufactured locally.

When a foreign company and local firm invest together to create a local business, it is called a joint venture. These two companies share ownership, control, and profits of the new company. The advantages of this option are twofold. First, one company may not have the necessary financial, physical, or managerial resources to enter a foreign market alone. The disadvantages arise when two companies disagree about policies or courses of action for their joint venture.

The biggest commitment a company can make when entering the international market is direct ownership, which entails a domestic firm actually investing in and owning a foreign subsidiary or division. The advantages to direct ownership include cost savings, better understanding of local market conditions, and fewer local restrictions. Firms entering foreign markets using direct ownership believe that those advantages outweigh the financial commitments and risks involved.

1. What does the option of a means of entry to the international market depend on?

2. What is exporting?

3. What is licensing?

4. What is joint venture?

TEXT 13

DESIGNING AN INTERNATIONAL MARKETING PROGRAM

An international marketer goes through the same steps in designing a marketing program as domestic marketer. However, the international marketer must decide whether to use a global or customized approach. Careful marketing research must be done to help the international marketer decide whether to modify or maintain domestic product, price, place, and promotion strategies.

We start with the product. The following options can be considered here.

– Extension: Selling the same product in other countries is an extension strategy. It works well for products like Coca-Cola, Wrigley's gum, General Motors cars, and Levi's jeans.

 – Adaptation: Changing a product in some way to make it more appropriate for a country's climate or preferences is an adaptation strategy. For example Exxon sells different gasoline blends based on each country’s climate.

– Invention: Designing a product to serve the unmet needs of a foreign nation is an invention strategy. This is probably the strategy with the most potential, since there are so many unmet needs, yet it is actually the least used.

Price. Most foreign countries use a cost-plus pricing strategy. For international firms this can mean their products are priced higher than the local goods. Why? International products must include not only the cost of production and selling, but also tariffs, transportation and storage costs, and higher payments to intermediaries.

Dumping is when a firm sells a product in a foreign country below its domestic price. This is most often done to build a share of the market by pricing at a competitive level. Another reason is that the products being sold may be surplus or cannot be sold domestically, and are therefore already a burden to the company. The firm may be glad to sell them at almost any price.

Some U.S. pharmaceutical firms have sold penicillin, for example, at a lower price in foreign countries than at home. They justify this by saying that R&D costs are not included in foreign prices. Japan has been accused of following a dumping strategy for some of its products in the United States. Its response is that the volume sold here allows economies of scale, the savings of which are passed on to U.S. consumers.

 An unusual pricing dimension of international marketing is countertrade, using barter rather than money in making international sales. Although countertrade accounts for only about 10 percent of the world trade, it is growing in importance. An unpleasant aspect of pricing is bribery, the practice of giving or promising something of value in return for a corrupt act. This is a common practice in many countries to reduce red tape and make sales. Although in many countries bribery is an accepted business practice in some international sales, it is officially illegal in all countries.

Place. An international marketer must establish a channel of distribution to meet the goals it has set. The first step involves the seller; its headquarters is the starting point and is responsible for the successful distribution to the ultimate consumer.

The next step is the channel between the two nations, moving the product from the domestic market to the foreign market. Intermediaries that can handle this responsibility include resident buyers in the foreign country, independent merchant wholesalers who buy and sell the product or agents who bring buyers and sellers together. Once the product is in the foreign nation, that country's distribution channels take over. Foreign channels can be very long or surprisingly short, depending on the product line.

1. Give your own examples of product extension, adaptation, and invention.

2. Describe some international marketing price policies.

3. What steps does product placement involve?

4. Three Ps have been mentioned in the text. Using your knowledge from previous texts describe the way the fourth P works in International Marketing.

Ex. 8. Explain, in your own words, the following terms.

needs, wants, prospective customer, wholesaler, retailer, things of value, resale, buying decision, basic necessities, ultimate consumer, target market, controllable factors, tangible items, intangible items, inventory, idle production capacity.

Ex. 9. Think of the verbs that are mostly used with following nouns.

exchange, needs, wants, services, goods, decision, product, benefit, commission, increase, price.

Ex. 10. Think of the nouns that are commonly used with the following verbs.

satisfy, exchange, achieve, occur, create, shape, discover, concentrate, market, obtain, charge.

Ex. 11. Logically organize the following sentences to make up the text. The first sentence is given to you.

1. Abasic decision in marketing products is branding.

2. Some brand names can be spoken, such as a Big Mac hamburger.