Spelling & Vocabulary Enrichment ( 34 )

34- ] Spelling & Vocabulary Enrichment .

Business In Use .

 

Organizations .

A-] Business and businesses :

- ‘Business’ is the activity of producing , buying and selling goods and services . A ‘business company’ , ‘firm’ or more formally a ‘concern’ , sells goods or services . Large companies considered together are referred to as ‘big business’ .

- A company may be called an ‘enterprise’ , especially to emphasize its risk-taking nature .

- Businesses vary in size from the ‘self-employed’ person working alone , through the [‘small’ or ‘medium’ ‘enterprise’ “SME” ] to the large ‘multinational’ with activities in several countries .

- A large company , especially in the US , is a ‘corporation’ .The adjective ‘corporate’ , is often used in these combinations : corporate culture , corporate headquarters , corporate image , corporate ladder , corporate logo , corporate profits .

B-] Commerce :

- Commerce is used to refer to business :

- in relation to other fields : ‘ literature , politics and commerce .

- in relation to government departments that deal with business : the US Department of Commerce .

- in the names of organizations which help business : chambers of commerce .

- on the Internet : electronic commerce or e-commerce .

- The adjective ‘commercial’ describes ‘money-making’ business activities : commercial airline , commercial artist , commercial television , commercial disaster , commercial land .

C-] Enterprise :  In 1970s Britain , there were ‘state-owned’ or ‘government-owned’ companies in many different industries such as car manufacturing and air travel . Some industries had been ‘nationalized’ and were entirely state-owned , such as coal, electricity and telephone services . In the 1980s , the government believed that ‘ nationalized companies’ were ‘bureaucratic’ and ineffiecient , and many of them were ‘privatized’ and sold to investors .

- ‘Enterprise’ is used in a positive way to talk about business , emphasizing the use of money to take risks .

D-] Word combinations with ‘enterprise’ :

- Free / private enterprise :  business activity owned by individuals , rather than the state .

- Enterprise culture: an atmosphere which encourages people to make money through their own activities and not rely on the government .

- Enterprise economy : an economy where there is an enterprise culture .

- Enterprise zone :  part of a country where business is encouraged because there are fewer laws , lower taxes , etc.

E- ] Self-employed  people and partnerships :

- I am a ‘freelance’ graphic designer , a ‘freelancer’ . That means I work for myself – I am self-employed . To use the official term , I am a ‘sole trader’ . ‘Sole owner’ and ‘sole proprietor’ are also used in Br E and Am E . ‘Sole trader’ is not used in the US .

- You usually describe people such as designers and journalists as ‘freelancers’ , and people such as builders and plumbers as ‘self-employed’ .

- We have set up our own architecture ‘partnership’ . There are no shareholders in the organization apart from us , the partners . A lot of professional people like lawyers , accountants and so on , work in partnerships .

F-] Limited liability :

- I am the managing director and main shareholder of a small electronics company called Advanced Components Ltd . ‘Ltd’ means ‘limited company’ . The other shareholders and I have ‘limited liability’: we do not have to use our personal property , such as a house or car to pay the company’s debts .

- I am the chief executive of a company called Megaco PLC. ‘PLC’ means ‘public limited company’ , so anybody can buy and sell shares in Megaco on the stock market .

- I am CEO of Bigbucks Inc . ‘Inc’ stands for ‘Incorporated’ . This shows that we are a ‘corporation’ , a term used especially in the US for companies with limited liability .

G-] Mutuals :

- Some companies , like certain ‘life insurance companies’ , are ‘mutuals’ . When you buy insurance with the company you become a ‘member’ . Profits are theoretically owned by the members , so there are no shareholders .

- In Britain , another kind of mutual is ‘building societies’ , which lend money to people who want to buy a house . But a lot of building societies have ‘demutualized’ : they have become public limited companies with shareholders . The process is ‘demutualization’ .

H-] Non-profit organizations :

Organizations with ‘social’ aims such as helping those who are sick or poor , or encouraging artistic activity , are ‘non-profit organizations’ [ Br E] or ‘not-for-profit organizations’ [Am E] . They are also called ‘charities’ , and form the ‘voluntary sector’ , as they rely heavily on ‘volunteers’ [ unpaid workers ] . They are usually managed by paid professionals , and they put a lot of effort into ‘fund-raising’ , getting people to ‘donate’ money to the organization in the form of ‘donations’ .

Manufacturing and services .

A-] Industry :

- Industry is the production of materials and goods . The related adjective is ‘industrial’ . An ‘industry’ is a particular type of business activity , not necessarily production .

B- ] Manufacturing :

Here are some of the ‘manufacturing industries’ that make up the ‘manufacturing sector’ :

aerospace	planes and space vehicles	cars [Br E] automobiles [Am E]	cars
compute hardware	computers , printers etc.	construction	buildings
defence [se]	arms , weapons	food processing	canned , frozen food
household goods	washing machines , refrigerators etc.	pharmaceuticals	medicines
steel	a stronger , more useful metal than iron	textiles	cloth and clothes

C- ] Services :

Here are some of the services or service industries that make up the service sector .

catering	restaurants , bars , hotels etc.	computer software	programs for computers .
financial services	banking , insurance etc.	healthcare	medical care
leisure	sport , theme parks etc.	media	books ‘ newspapers , film , television
property [Br E] real estaste [Am E]	buying , selling and managing buildings	retail	shops
telecommunications	phone , Internet services	tourism	travel and holidays

D-] Countries and their industries :

- In 1950 , South Korea was a poor country , with most people living and working on the land. The government decided to ‘industrialize’ , and the new ‘emerging industries’ were textiles , and ‘heavy industries’ like steel and shipbuilding . Then South Korea turned more and more to ‘light industries’ like electronics , making electrical goods such as televisions cheaply . It also started producing cars . South Korea moved into specialized electronics in the 1980s . This was the one of the ‘growth industries’ of the 1990s : making specialized parts for computers and telecommunications equipment .

The Development Process .

A-] Market research :

The ‘original concept’ is the basic idea for something . In designing products and services ‘market research’ – finding out what people want – is of course very important . This may involve ‘questionnaires’ or ‘surveys’ , with questions about what people buy and why , perhaps with interviews in the street or by telephone .

- There may be ‘consumer panels’ and ‘focus groups’ , where ordinary people meet to discuss product ideas informally . Perhaps the researches will make ‘sales forecasts’ , estimates of how many products will be sold .

B-] Development and launch :

- In software , developers often produce , a final test version , the ‘beta version’ , where users are asked to point out ‘bugs’ [ problems ] before the software is finalized .

- Car designers use [CADCAM]”computer assisted design / computer-assisted design / computer-assisted manufacturing” to help develop and make products and test different ‘prototypes’ .

- ‘Researchers’ in ‘laboratories’ may take years to develop new drugs , ‘testing’ or ‘trialing’ them in ‘trials’ to show not only that they are ‘effective ‘ , but also that they are ‘safe’ . Drugs need to be made on an ‘industrial  scale’ before they can be sold .

- ‘Rollout’ is the process of making a product available , perhaps in particula places , to test reaction .

- ‘Product launch’ is the moment when the product is officially made available for sale . This is the ‘big moment’ .

- If a ‘design defect’ or ‘design fault’ is found in a product after it has been launched , the company may have to ‘recall’ it , asking those who have bought it to return it , perhaps so that the defect can be corrected .