XIII. Study these emphatic sentences. Comment on the expressive means and stylistic devices used.

1. The immutable laws of management physics include some simple yet important concepts: Do only those things that you can be the best in the world at; those things you can be passionate about; things that make simple economic sense.

2. I will put my jobs anywhere in the world where the right infrastructure is, with the right educated workforce, with the right supportive government.

3. Really good players want to be around other really good players.

4. The impact of farming out your data processing, your manufacturing, your this and that, implies that there are companies to which you can farm it out, companies that make a business out of making that capability available not just to you but to your competitors.

5. Things have changed, but things have not changed.

 

XIV. Write a short essay – not more than 500 words – on the following topic: The Enduring Corporation: prospects for the future.

 

XV. Formulate (in writing) 10 questions to the CEO of Gazprom (or any other CEO of a big Russian corporation) on the prospects of the corporation based on The Enduring Corporation & Visionary vs. Visionary.

 

ЧАСТЬ II

Practice the business idioms
from The 21^st Century Corporation

Variant 1

 

I. Choose the best substitute for the word or phrase in bold.

1. The latest model of a cell phone has a video camera and all sorts of other bells and whistles.

a) fancy features

b) things that make loud ringing noises and whistle tones

c) features typical in a low-priced product

2. Amazon.com uses cutting-edge technologies to determine which products each of its customers is most likely to buy.

a) sharp

b) inexpensive

c) the most modern

3. We don’t have any jobs openings right now, but please touch base with us in a couple of months.

a) do not disturb us

b) forget about us

c) get in contact with us

4. Your small company is trying to get the distribution at Wal-Mart? How are you going to pull that off?

a) succeed in doing that

b) fail to do that

c) compete with them

5. When Keith didn’t make the grade as a professional athlete, he decided to become a high school football coach instead.

a) succeed

b) fail

c) get good grades

6. I don’t need the exact numbers right now. Just give me some back-of-the-envelope calculation s.

a) quick calculations using approximate numbers

b) calculations done on the back of an envelope

c) calculations that show the company’s profits and losses figures

 

II. Choose the most appropriate response to each question.

1. Last year our company made a loss on our new line of video games, but this year we’ll break even.

a) I’m sorry to hear you’re broken.

b) That’s great. At least you’re making progress.

c) Too bad. Last year you did a lot better.

2. Did you have a chance to crunch those numbers yet?

a) Yes, I put them in a blender and crunched them up.

b) Yes, I just put the financial reports on your desk.

c) Yes, I’ll take a look at them next week.

 

 

Practice the business idioms
from The 21^st Century Corporation

Variant 2

 

I. Choose the best substitute for the word or phrase in bold.

1. When investors got wind of the fact that the pharmaceutical company’s major drug increased the risk of heart attacks, the company’s stock price fell.

a) hid

b) discovered

c) got fed up over

2. We need to redesign our entire store. For starters, we should move the cash register from the back of the store to the front of the store.

a) as a final step

b) as a first priority

c) for people who cannot find the cash register now

3. Unfortunately, the president of our company is not a great leader. He is wishy-washy.

a) inconsiderate

b) not good at making decisions

c) lazy

4. When you are the boss, demonstrating good leadership is the name of the game.

a) not important

b) somewhat important

c) very important

5. To cut through the red tape companies like monitor depend on a new type of executive – a Chief Knowledge Officer, or CKO.

a) a piece of red cloth

b) a piece of red tape

c) silly detailed unnecessary official rules that delay action

6. I don’t need the exact numbers right now. Just give me some back-of-the-envelope calculations.

a) quick calculations using approximate numbers

b) calculations done on the back of an envelope

c) calculations that show the company’s profits and losses figures