Curso de Inglés de Negocios
Unit 09 – Advanced Business Course – Resources
"Exploring cultural differences in business relationships and communication"
Our course covers the use of conditionals to discuss options, as well as strategies to avoid misunderstandings. Enroll now and develop the language abilities you need to succeed in today’s business world.
- Juan Carlos Martinez
- Advanced Business Course
- More Lessons
Audios Unidad 9
Audio 9.1
Personally, I’m actually against this trend for CSR policies. I mean, why should I – a shareholder – allow the equity that I’ve built up to be spent on so-called social responsibility? I feel a lot of these projects are set up purely for short-term gain, and in the long run they can become a huge drain on resources. I mean, how do we know if the money to be invested in, say, a school project in a developing country, is actually going to the right people? We don’t. If I want to donate my money to something like this, then that’s my business. What I want is a good return on investment – for me it’s all about the bottom line.
In my experience, having a sound CSR policy actually increases the market value of a company. By that, I mean a company’s reputation is one of its key assets – it can have a significant impact on the success of the brand. Take Coca-Cola, for example: 96% of their value is made up of intangibles – the brand itself is worth a fortune, obviously. But if they made a major error, socially or environmentally, the reputation of the company would suffer and it could take a very long time to recover. To dismiss CSR policies on the basis of short-term profit doesn’t make much business sense to me.
We’re in the textile industry and we run a number of CSR projects with our suppliers, who are mostly from Asia. These range from helping to improve the working conditions in factories to helping the local community to look after native species. Before our suppliers become CSR partners we require a cost-benefit analysis from them to make sure that the costs can be covered or offset, and to ensure the long-term viability of the project. Once we’ve checked the project’s feasibility, we draw up guidelines outlining the scope of work for the partners, and we agree goals and objectives. We then require regular access to the site, er, plus monthly reports and reviews with quantifiable data.
Audio 9.2
Margit So, looking at the situation from a long-term perspective, if the IT system is updated, you’ll be more efficient in terms of your customer admin, and you’ll be able to continue your expansion plan. Is that right?
Judit Exactly. We need to develop a clear strategy to move the business forward. At the moment our systems are old, they’re outdated, and we don’t have a clear overview of our customers’ transactions.
Margit Zoltan … Zoltan Well, we have a number of options. We’ve already commissioned three proposals from reputable IT companies. Provided we check out the feasibility of these options thoroughly, I’m convinced we can find a system upgrade that will work for us.
Margit OK, that’s all very positive, but I think we need to look at the bigger picture. Do we actually have the resources for this? I mean, there’s no point in investing in a system upgrade if we don’t have the space, the personnel or the finances to carry it through.
Zoltan Yes, but … Margit Let’s take a look at our physical resources. Will the new system be linked to production? I mean, you have a lot of real estate here, but the facilities are pretty run-down. Is it practical to set up a hi-tech system in such an old place?
Judit Well, if we’d invested in our production facilities five years ago, like we wanted to, we would have knocked down the old building and had one purpose-built. It’s useless to speculate about that now, of course …
Audio 9.3
Margit … OK, so you already have the infrastructure you need to support the new system, even if it’s not directly connected to the production facility.
Zoltan, Judit Yes, sure. Margit Now, what’s the situation regarding personnel?
Judit Well, they’d need training. I think our options are quite clear here. It doesn’t really matter which system we choose – if training isn’t on the agenda, we should forget the whole idea. I mean, you can’t expect us to …
Zoltan Yes, but we do have some employees who’ve worked on SAP-type systems in previous jobs. If we made them our key users, we could gradually train up the rest.
Margit I’m not sure that would work. Do you really have a sufficient skills base to meet the needs of this strategy? You can’t just rely on one or two people and you can’t run two systems in parallel. How would it work if you took on some younger people? I mean, if you’d recruited more young employees at the start, they would have had some IT knowledge from school.
Zoltan Well, but we do have some wellqualified workers. And we’re in a great location, so I think we’re in a really strong position to find new staff. I don’t have any worries about the human resources aspect.
Judit No, Margit’s right. If we only had a couple of people initially who could use the system, how could they cope with the extra work? It would be terrible! Basically we don’t have much choice for a longterm plan like this – we can either provide training for everyone, which will be a substantial investment, or we accept that it’s totally unfeasible.
Margit OK, I accept that point. What about if we just look at a basic programme of …?
Audio 9.4
Margit … OK, so the HR options are looking quite positive. Now, what about financial resources? We have to bear in mind the long-term viability of a commitment like this. I can see that you have the capital to purchase the system, but how does the return on investment look? Realistically, would we be able to finance this strategy? Obviously, I’m not just talking about the initial outlay and set-up costs. Zoltan OK, well, let me show you a couple of projections we’ve made. Look at this, this is a graph showing us in five years’ time. This is a worst-case scenario – it shows that if we hadn’t invested in the system, we’d be way behind the competition. We just couldn’t compete with them using the system we have at the moment.
Judit Zoltan’s right. We can’t afford not to invest. Assuming we decided to commit to the full amount, we could also look at ways to save money in other areas.
Margit Such as? Judit Well, for example, we could think about reducing expenditure on …
Audio 9.5
Margit OK. So the general consensus is that long-term we have the human resources for the strategy. The question that needs addressing is how to implement the system in the short term. Is everyone OK with that?
Zoltan, Judit Yeah, fine.
Margit OK. And finances are in place for the immediate purchase. The long-term strategy is that with the system in place you can cope with more customers and in turn increase your turnover, and hopefully your profit. Are there any other points to consider?
Zoltan Well, only that I think we should also look at this investment in terms of our intangibles. If we work more efficiently with our customers, our reputation can only improve too.
Judit Yes, I agree.
Margit Right, so we’re decided. There are still some issues to be resolved and a more detailed cost-benefit analysis will need to be done, but basically we can go ahead.
Audio 9.6
A So you want Mr Khan to be picked up from the airport?
B Well, I thought it would be nice for someone to meet him.
A But he arrives in the middle of the night! I’ve got to work the next day.
B Oh, I was thinking more along the lines of sending Sami, and then giving him the following morning off.
A Oh, I see. That’s a good idea.
A According to those figures you gave me, that particular product hasn’t done as well as we predicted.
B The amount may seem low, but actually this is the net profit and our earlier calculations were based on gross. Sorry if I didn’t make that clear.
A Ah, that explains it.
A A team-building day sounds great – canoeing and rock climbing!
B I didn’t mean that! It would be indoors, much more business-like. More of a team meeting.
A But how would that motivate people?
B What do you mean?
A I thought we were doing something related to staff motivation?
B I don’t know what you’re talking about. We spoke about this two days ago – it’s a team meeting in a neutral location. Read your emails!
A So we’re changing from our normal working day to 24/7?
B That’s right. Should be up and running for us by March.
A So everyone will be expected to do all the shifts in March?
B That’s not really what I meant. What I actually wanted to say was, we’ll phase it in. First night shift, then weekends too.
A What – one week night shift, then weekend shifts?
B No, what I meant was we’ll have a few months of nights, to get people used to it, then move on to …
A Hello. I’m calling to chase up an order for a delivery of mineral water. The order number is 811992.
B OK, let me just check for you. Er, right, we received your order for four cases and it’s being delivered to your head office in Soho.
A No, that’s not right. We wanted 14 cases delivered to our studio in Chelsea.
B OK, I’m sorry about that. But it definitely says Soho on our system.
A Yes, that’s because … Look, you’ve got it wrong. We definitely asked for it to be sent to Chelsea. Are you suggesting that this is our fault?
B No, that’s not exactly what I’m saying, erm, but … er … I’m afraid the delivery address came through as Dean Street in Soho.
A Look, can I put this straight? We want 14 cases to be delivered to Lots Road in Chelsea as soon as possible, otherwise …
Ejercicio C - Escritura
Tus vacacaciones
Discute estas preguntas con tu profesor o escribe tus respuestas en el cuadro azul.
- ¿Cuáles han sido las mejores vacaciones de tu vida?
- ¿Cuál fue la parte que más te gustó?
- ¿Cuál fue la parte que menos te gustó?
- ¿Con quién fuiste, con la familia o solo/a?
• Take a free Spanish Lesson
Schedule a free private lesson with a professional Spanish teacher.
• Spanish Classes In Mexico City
We provide the best instructors and the perfect fusion of fun and learning.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Get free online Spanish tips and resources delivered directly to your inbox.
More posts
Follow Us
Follow us on Instagram, send a DM, and get a free session.
Check out more stories…
