I. Read and translate the text. Write down your translation of the second paragraph.

Growing a Successful Business

1. To succeed in business today, you need to be flexible and have good planning and organizational skills. Many people start a business thinking that they'll turn on their computers or open their doors and start making money. You can avoid this in your business ventures by taking your time and planning out all the necessary steps you need to reach to achieve success.

2. All businesses need funds in order to succeed. It is obvious, therefore, that successful businesses have to be good at finding sources of finance. For example, a company could use its profits, or sell off some of its assets, or reduce its stock inventory, and all of these would help to raise finance. But these internal finance methods are rarely sufficient, and companies nearly always have to raise money externally as well. For small businesses typical strategies might include borrowing from friends or family, or getting a loan or an overdraft from a bank. For bigger companies, external methods might involve raising share capital or loan capital from a bank or other lender.

3. To be successful in business you need to be organized. Organization will help you complete tasks and stay on top of things to be done. A good way to do this is to create a to-do list each day - as you complete each item, check it off your list. This will ensure that you're not forgetting anything and you're completing all the tasks that are essential to the survival of your business. By the way, all successful businesses keep detailed records. By keeping detailed records, you'll know where the business stands financially and what potential challenges you could be facing. Just knowing this gives you time to create strategies to overcome the obstacles that can prevent you from being successful and growing your business.

4. It is also necessary for you to study and learn from your competitors. After all, they may be doing something right that you can implement in your business to make more money. You should also calculate risks to help your business grow. Starting and running a successful business can be rewarding and challenging. Success requires focus, discipline and perseverance.

II. Decide whether the following statements are a) true, b) false or c) information is not available in the text:

1) You should calculate risks to help your business grow.

2) Internal finance methods are always sufficient.

3) Short-term capital needs to be repaid over a short period of time.

III. Match the words (1-10) with their definitions (a-j):

1. achieve success 2. stock inventory 3. annual turnover 4. asset sale 5. business opportunity 6. self-employed 7. expenditure 8. expense 9. saturation 10. competitor

a) the percentage rate at which a mutual fund or exchange traded fund replaces its investment holdings on an annual basis b) successfully finish or do something you wanted to do, especially after a lot of effort c) controlthat is used to show how much stock you have at any one time, and how you keep track of it d) working for yourself instead of for an employer and paid directly by the people who you provide a product or service to e) sale of receivables and other loans to a third party f) a packaged business investment that allows the buyer to begin a business g) an amount of money that you spend in order to buy or do something h) a person, team, company etc that is competing with another i) the total amount of money that a government, organization, or person spends during a particular period of time j) a situation in which something is so full of a particular type of thing that nothing more can be added

IV. Complete the sentences (1- 10) with the words (a-l). There are two extra words:

a. subordinates

b. account

c. communications

d. hierarchical

e. interest

f.position

g. finance

h. investment

i. secondary

j. leadership

k. responsible

l. owners

1. Effective ……….. is crucial for the success of business.

2. There must be very good ………… between all members of the team.

3. Businesses have a …………… or pyramidal structure.

4. The ………… of small firms want to keep as much control over their business

as possible.

5. All the people in the organization know who their immediate ……………. .

6. Companies ……….. most of their activities by way of internally generated

cash flow.

7. Businesses generally use an ………….. bank to issue their bonds.

8. Bonds are saleable instruments that can be traded on the ………. bond market.

9. Any area of investment that promises growth is going to spark more than a little

…………… .

10. Emerging markets today ………… for one third of economic activity

worldwide.

V. Match (1-10) with (a-j) to make up sentences:

1. Finance analysis gives details 2. The company has franchised 3. We hire out computers 4. The company was forced to honour 5. Illiquid assets won’t help us 6. The company has introduced 7.The water companies were indemnified 8. The fault was due to staff 9. It is important to protect the company’s 10. To dispose of a joint investment the transfer deed must be signed

a) over 50% of its fast food outlets. b) to raise more cash in a hurry. c) of the business’s performance. d) all existing contracts. e) to local firms. f) by the government against legal action. g) an incentive wage to increase productivity. h) by all parties. i) intellectual property. j) inefficiency

VI. Complete the sentences (1-10) with a) a, b) an, c) the or d) no article:

1. A company needs to carry out … analysis of its product portfolio.

2. … annual sales plan sets targets for each product group.

3. Workers can be paid … productivity bonus.

4. All employees benefit from … profit-sharing.

5. At the public examination … London Bankruptcy court declared that the debtor would not receive a bankruptcy discharge until he had paid his debts in full.