中级商务英语口

Appendix: Model Answers to Part Two Task Sheet 1 A: What is important when selecting applicants for a job or employees for promotion? I believe it is very important for employers to observe the applicants’ or employees’ interpersonal skills when they make their selection. We cannot just witness the academy award performance of the applicants or employees. We need to ask questions regarding the applicant’s interpersonal relationships with people in other social and civic situations. Most jobs are not performed in isolation and the need to interact is often essential. In fact, most failures in the workplace are not due to lack of technical ability, but rather to shortcomings in interpersonal competence. An individual may be a highly skilled worker. However, if he or she cannot work well with other employees, chances for success are slim. This is especially true in today’s world with increasing emphasis being placed on the use of team. B: What is important when choosing a new supplier? I think reputation is an important element we have to consider when we choose a new supplier. The supplier we are going to cooperate with should be an established partner who can provide the specialist expertise and applications our business needs. He can back-up his service and his partners' applications with a flexible range of products. If our supplier enjoys a high reputation, he will guarantee his services, preferably through a service level agreement that sets out availability, performance levels and response times. And will have the financial stability to guarantee the future of his service. Generally speaking if our business is growing, we need to look for scalability. A suppler with high reputation has the capability to offer services that can grow as our business expands - without costly reconfiguration or upgrades. C: What’s important when aiming to improve production quality? We should attach great importance to R&D when we aim to improve production quality. Any far-sighted entrepreneur will have to acknowledge that in today’s competitive market, a business can only survive by improving production quality. We therefore should recognize the importance of innovation and development and set up a research and development department in our company, staffed with experienced researchers and engineers trained to develop the latest technology in the industry. With all this modern technology, we will be able to increase productivity, maximize production output and enhance the quality of our products. Thus, we will able to undertake complex production process and ensure that the products’ quality meets our clients’ expectations. In our move to be more globally competitive, we should strive to achieve internationally recognized quality standards through R&D. Task Sheet 2 A: What's important when preparing for a job interview? The interview itself is an exercise in two-way communication between the recruiter and you. Therefore the first important step when preparing for a job interview is to study the job advertisement. You should read the job description carefully and understand the content. Your next step is to find out all you can about the company. Information may be available from the business pages in various newspapers, trade publications and company annual reports, as well as the University College library. As a bare minimum you should know what products the company produces or the services it provides and where it is located. As far as dress is concerned, be neatly and conservatively dressed. Your manner and attitude should reflect the type of person you are or would like to be. Recruiters are generally quite good at detecting the person who "puts on an act", so just be yourself! B: What's important when deciding whether to attend a conference? When you decide to attend a conference you must first check the quality of the speaker. That is to say the speakers invited to deliver speeches during the conference should be qualified. If the conference organizers select the right keynote speakers they will have an excellent way to begin their conferences and create excitement for their attendees. Qualified speakers can help a lot to set the tone of the conference on a high level. From the audience’s points of view, qualified speakers are good at defining what the message of the event will be and creating excitement for the remainder of the conference topics. Well-known speakers also can draw attendees and boost attendance. Even the portion of the audience who might not hold the same interests as the majority still will be interested in what the speaker has to say. A conference equipped with wisely selected speakers must be an excellent one. C: What's important when developing new products? In my opinion market research should be the first consideration when we develop new products. Our customers’ tastes and requirements have to be taken into account if our new products are not to be left unsold. That is to say our new products need to be available in the right quantity, at the right place, at the right price and at the right time. When developing new products, we should ask ourselves: “what do customers need which they do not already have?” and “in what form would they prefer the goods (or services) which they are persistently missing?”. We need to approach these problems sensitively by conducting market research. In fact a business can only survive if it is able to anticipate the needs of consumers and continue to do so. Task Sheet 3 A: What's important when selecting a job to apply for? B: What's important when choosing a magazine to buy regularly? C: What's important when choosing a business book to study from? Task Sheet 4 A: What's important when giving a presentation? We should first pay attention to the types of our audiences. Generally speaking our audiences can be divided into several types during the presentation. Some audiences are experts in the sub-area we are talking about, some are experts in the general area, and others know little or nothing. Therefore when we give the presentation, Most audiences should be addressed in layers. That is to say we must decide who is most important to us. For example, we can pitch the body to experts, but make the forecast and summary accessible to all. Thus we can ensure everyone during the presentation is satisfied to get what they want and they will all regard our presentation fruitful and effective. B: What's important when choosing a business course to attend? Considering the type of the course and deciding which type suits you is very important when you choose a business course to attend. You should first consider the type, namely the session format when choosing sessions to attend. Conferences typically offer a variety of session formats--such as presentations, workshops, demonstrations, and progressions that each require or invite different levels of attendee participation. Therefore, you should first examine the types of sessions at the conference, and choose ones that suit your preferences and needs. Deciding the appropriate type in advance can help you find out what prerequisite knowledge you need for each session, and you can do your homework ahead of time, if necessary. You will get more out of a session if you have the knowledge base expected, rather than trying to catch up during the session itself. C: What's important when choosing a language course? Length of course is one of the most important considerations in choosing a language course. When we attend a language course, assimilating new information, repetition and reinforcement are imperative for us. Therefore we need much more time and opportunities to think out questions or do tasks. A course at appropriate length also can give us opportunities to reinforce or correct our own errors and work out solutions. Another reason for a language course to have an appropriate length is that if the course is too short we cannot have enough time to digest all the knowledge we’ve learned. Just as an athlete must rest to let their muscles grow and their skill level increase, so must a language student rest, contemplate and digest new information so that a solid base will form on which to build further learning. Thus we can have a fresh and eager mind to acquire more information. Task Sheet 5 A: What's important when deciding which type of company you would like to work for? B: What's important when choosing a magazine to advertise a product or service in? When you choose a magazine to advertise your products or services in, you should first ensure that the readers of the magazine are your target audience. Always ask yourself such a question: who and where are the people you want your advertisement to reach? You should take time to carefully define your audience and select the right magazine which will have stronger appeal to your target audience than others. Narrowing down your audience will help you make wise and cost-efficient choices during the selection. For example, if you are a provider of a pet product you should choose magazines for pet owners to advertise in. In addition, you can also look for special ad placements, such as placing an ad in a special, one-time feature section on pet ownership published by the local newspaper. Only in this way can you make your advertisement effective and your investment a reword one. C: What's important when planning business trips? The most important thing you will have to do when planning business trips is to fully understand your purpose or target of your trips. You have to know what you are doing, what is your business doing, what is your company doing, what's its ambitions, what's its hopes, its aspirations and you have to have a very, very clear idea about that. If you don't know that you shouldn't be going anywhere. You should set targets for the trip. If you have staff or you yourself are going, you should have a clear set of targets that you wish to achieve. You should always ask yourself how many successful meetings you want to achieve during the trip; when you want to conclude a business deal and how to clarify certain positions about your markets. In this way you will make your trip the most rewarding one. Task Sheet 6 A: What's important when choosing a conference center? B: What's important when choosing a business journal? From my point of view choosing a business journal means choosing the right editors. Business journals often attract their readers by hiring famous editors to write comments or columns for them. With specialty topics in business, these editors can develop smart, sophisticated, timely business journalism on a daily and weekly basis. They will be able to help the journal’s reporters to define their beats, outline and execute coverage that meets or exceeds the best standards in the business. Furthermore famous editors are themselves professionals in business field who have extensive knowledge or experience in business and demonstrated ability to develop strong beat. Backed up by famous editors the business journal will definitely have a large circulation and cover a variety of business domains, which will suit the needs of every businessman. C: What's important when choosing a business training course? We should first gain the information about the speakers to see if he or she is qualified to instruct the course. As instructors during the course, speakers should be able to transfer knowledge on a wide variety of business domains. The strength of an instructor-led course comes primarily from the instructor in front of the students, since it is the instructor's ability to transfer knowledge that can really deliver the value of the class. Therefore we should make sure they are experts or professionals in business domains before we choose the course. Besides, we should look for certified speakers with profound teaching experience. Not all the specialists can make themselves clear in the training course. The speakers should be able to communicate with their students during the course and help them to progress. Task Sheet 7 A: What's important when choosing the location for a new factory? From my point of view, we should first find out whether there is a transport connection near the target area before we decide the location. It is obvious that nowadays transport plays a very important role in a business’s operation. The world of business needs a transport system if it is to function effectively. On the one hand, raw materials have to be bought to our new factory for processing. Very often those materials need to be imported from other areas. The resources of our factory can be made available to us so long as there are the necessary means of transport. On the other hand, during the production process transport is important. The work flow will be designed to ensure that the materials being processed travel the shortest possible distance along the factory floor. Therefore our new factory should locate at a transport connection. It might be a railway connection, a seaport or an airport. B: What's important when choosing a training video? C: What's important when planning a business trip? (See task sheet 5 c) Task Sheet 8 A: What's important when deciding whether to apply for a new post? B: What's important when organizing an in-house training course? The content of the course is very important when we organize an in-house training course. We must choose the appropriate content to suit the need of the participants. Even a perfectly conceived training program can fail if we cannot convince the participants that the content of the course is systemically selected. Participants must believe that the training course has value and will help them achieve their personal and professional goals. The credibility of the course may depend on the content that can let the participants know the objectives programs and medias of the course before the course begins. Therefore, we as organizers of the training course must first ensure that the content of the course is what our participants want. C: what’s important when recruiting senior staff? Hiring an established recruitment agency to work for you is very important when you recruit senior staff. Recruitment agency is a kind of organization that can seek the most qualified senior staff available for a specific position. In your recruitment efforts you can use a recruitment agency to locate experienced senior staff. Most recruitment agencies normally develop a close relationship with their clients. They will acquire an intimate knowledge of your organization, your corporate culture, your structure and the position to be filled in your company. The recruitment agency’s representatives often visit their client’s offices and interview the company’s management. This enables them to gain a clear understanding of your company’s goals and the job qualifications required. After obtaining some information they can contact and interview potential candidates, check references, and refer the best-qualified person to you for your selection decision, which will make your recruitment process far more effective and efficient. Task Sheet 9 A: What's important when attending an interview? Appearance is very important to an applicant when he or she attends an interview. If you are an applicant remember two important things: first dress smart. Don't underestimate the power of your professional appearance. This is the first time the interviewer will see you and, like it or not, what you wear could affect your chances of proceeding to the next round of interviews. Second, make the best first impression. The interview begins as soon as you arrive at the company. Keep in mind that you may be evaluated just as much in the waiting area as in the interview itself. Make sure you are friendly to the receptionist, office assistant, or anyone else who may greet you before and after the interview. Usually executives will consider their administrative assistant's opinion of job candidates an important part of the selection process for positions at all levels. If you are discourteous to a receptionist or anyone else at the company, it will negatively impact your chances of getting the job. B: what’s important when planning market research? I think we should first work out the appropriate types of questions when we plan market research. For example, one of the ways of carrying out market research is to send questionnaires through the post to a variety of people we think might be interested in our product or service. Distance is no problem because there is a standard postal charge, and the people receiving the questionnaire can take their time to answer it. Personal interviews are an alternative method of conducting market research. These can be carefully designed so that set procedures are carried out. The interviewer approaches a person in the street, or in their home or office, and asks a series of set questions. The answers to the questions are carefully recorded. C: what’s important when predicting profits? You should establish a monitor system in the first place to detect any possible cashflow gap which will occur during your production and operation. This system can calculate the balance between your income and expenditure on a daily base. And should there be any sign of cashflow problems the system will warn your staff to do something about it before hand. In order to achieve the accuracy you must set up a report system which demands every manager report the current financial status of his or her departments. The information will be collected everyday for you to take consideration. Task sheet 10 A: what’s important when deciding whether to obtain a further qualification? B: what’s important when placing a newspaper advertisement? C: what’s important when considering whether to invest in technology? Task sheet 11 A: What’s important when planning a presentation? When you are planning a presentation, you should first find out some information about your audience. To be effective, your talk must be delivered at a level that is appropriate for your audience. You must analyze the background and expectations of the audience to deliver the take-away message in the most effective manner. This may mean modifying the take-away message, if the concepts involved are beyond the level of your audience. B: What’s important when aiming to improve customer service? We should carry out customer satisfaction surveys. The purpose of the customer satisfaction surveys is to provide our company with the information necessary to evaluate performance and customer needs. The data also helps determine required updates/upgrades purchases of new equipment, which is critical to our efforts to track and improve customer satisfaction. Furthermore we can find out from customers how they rate the services and support provided by us. We can document where customers are satisfied along with where they are dissatisfied and to identify where applicable what causes this disappointment in the customer experience. Finally we can use this data to help prioritize the service areas in need of improvement in the future. C: What’s important when managing a project? To manage projects involves heavy workload and requires much of the company’s energy and human resource. However by using teamwork we can make this complicated work become simple and easy. First when we set up a project-oriented teamwork all members of the projects are united and work in a teamwork spirit. That means they work more systemically and coordinate more with each other. As leaders we won’t worry about the time we will have to waste on the coordinating procedures anymore. Second by using teamwork we can create a sound and effective communication with the project and monitor the communication between members as well as the communication betwee