Source and extent of funding. Angels typically invest their own funds, unlike venture capitalists who manage the pooled money of others in a professionally-managed fund.
Angel capital fills the gap in start-up financing between "friends and family", who provide seed funding, and formal venture capital. Although it is usually difficult to raise more than a few hundred thousand dollars from friends and family, most traditional venture capital funds are usually not able to make or evaluate small investments under US$1–2 million.
Investment profile. Angel investments bear extremely high risks and are usually subject to dilution from future investment rounds. As such, they require a very high return on investment. an acquisition. Current 'best practices' suggest that angels might do better setting their stage ventures.
Ex.1Match pairs of contrasting management styles
1. autocratic a) collaborative
2. centralized b) controlling
3.directive c) delegating
4. empowering d) democratic
5. hands on e) people-oriented
6. task-oriented f) laisser-faire
Ex. 2. Complete the sentences with an appropriate fixed pair of words.
1. I've been writing this report ... (occasionally) for the last two weeks, but it has to be submitted tomorrow.
2. There isn't any (strict, fixed) rule about how we are going to proceed in this negotiation.
3. You won't win this negotiation through bullying, there needs to be some (compromise).
4. It was ... (unsure that something will happen) whether we'd get to the meeting on time.
5. If this contract is important, we'll have to ... (entertain) their management team.
6. Full employment was ... ( in general) achieved.
7.The union discussed the ... (advantages and disadvantages) of strike action.
8.As the country's economy fortunes (hikes and collapses), graduates have more or less difficulty in finding jobs.
9. In the past, the UK housing market was subject to regular (rise and fall ) cycles, with periods of rapidly rising prices followed by sudden falls.
10. In the course, the trainer covers both advances theoretical issues and some ... (easy to understand) questions.
11. We discussed the ... ( practical details) of doing it in-house or using outside supplier.
12. The Bowmans have their ... (mixture of good and bad experiences) like all married couples.
(booms and busts, by and large, nuts and bolts, give and take, hard and fast, wax and wane, loud and clear, on and off, pros and cons, touch and go, ups and downs, wine and dine)
Ex.3. Complete the statements with suitable marketing expressions from the box.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buying habits economic situation government bureaucracy income distribution monetary regulations political stability
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Because of tight ... company profits could not be taken out of the country.
2. Red tape and other examples of ... hinder a company's entry into a market.
3. The country is attractive to exporters because it has enjoyed ... for the last 50 years.
4. The purchasing behaviour of consumers can be described as their ... .
5. The ... is improving leading to a rise in employment.
6. ... is a term used by economists to describe how wealth is shared in a country.
Ex. 4. Discuss the following questions.
- Imagine you have just won $3000, 000. You want to use it to secure your long-term financial future. How would you invest your money?
- Do you think it is good business practice for a company to pay its bills late?
- People with overdrafts are bad money managers. Do you agree?
UNIT 10.
Text 1.Read and translate.
MANAGEMENT STYLES
Active strategic management required active information gathering and active problem solving. In the early days of Hewlett-Packard (H-P), Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett devised an active management style that they called Management By Walking Around (MBWA). Senior H-P managers were seldom at their desks. They spent most of their days visiting employees, customers, and suppliers. This direct contact with key people provided them with a solid grounding from which viable strategies could be crafted. Japanese managers employ a similar system, which originated at Honda, and is sometimes called the 3 G's (Genba, Genbutsu, and Genjitsu, which translate into “actual place”, “actual thing”, and “actual situation”).
Probably the most influential strategist of the decade was Michael Porter. He introduced many new concepts including: 5 forces analysis, generic strategies, the value chain, strategic groups, and clusters. In 5 forces analysis he identifies the forces that shape a firm's strategic environment. It is like a SWOT analysis with structure and purpose. It shows how a firm can use these forces to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage. He also challenged managers to see their industry in terms of a value chain. A firm will be successful only to the extent that it contributes to the industry's value chain. This forced management to look at its operations from the customer's point of view. Every operation should be examined in terms of what value it adds in the eyes of the final customer.
In 1993, John Kay took the idea of the value chain to a financial level claiming “Adding value is the central purpose of business activity”, where adding value is defined as the difference between the market value of outputs and the cost of inputs including capital, all divided by the firm's net output. Kay claims that the role of strategic management is to identify your core competencies, and then assemble a collection of assets that will increase value added and provide a competitive advantage. He claims that there are 3 types of capabilities that can do this; innovation, reputation, and organizational structure.
Ex.1.Join the halves of sentences below. They are all from newspaper articles.
1. She had a sound business specializing
2. Self-employment may be the only alternative
3. Researchers say this results
4. Why do women still have limited access
5. Once you understand the mindset of your investors, you can profit
6. He can see opportunities which lie, through lack
7. The document contained an assessment
8. I want a return
9. We are very focused
10. They are strongly opposed to dot-coms.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
a) on my investment
b) of the risks facing European companies.
c) of finance, beyond his grasp.
d) in lower failure rates.
e) from their suggestions.
f) in renovating and refurbishing buildings.
h) to venture capital?
i) to any further investment in this industry.
j) on transferring ideas from the sphere of management science.
Ex.2. Choose the right word out of brackets.
1. They were at social event but they talk (store, shop, vendor) all evening.
2. It's on the (edge, end, tip) of my tongue. I'm sure I'll recall her name soon.
3. She's our best sales rep. She's really got the (gift, skill, talent) of the gab.
4. When they told me I was fired I was at a (lock, loss, shortage) for words.
5. She lost the notes for her talk, so she had to speak off (the collar, cuff, sleeve).
6. He wanted a 30% discount and 90 days' credit! We weren't even talking the same (language, meaning, words)!
7.I haven't got the right information , but, off the top of my (brain, head, mind) I'd say about 2.5 million.
8. I've studied their accounts carefully but I can't make head or (foot, hand, tail) of them.
Ex.3. Match the expressions with the correct definitions.
1. human capital a) money to carry on production and keep trading
2. risk capital b) money a company has raised from investors
who bought shares
3. share capital c) money invested in a project with a high chance
of failure
4. venture capital d) money a company borrows to start up a new
business
5. working capital e) the perceived value of people and their skills
Text 2.Summarize in 8-10 sentences.
Knowledge Economy
The knowledge economy is the use of knowledge to generate tangible and intangible values. This knowledge can be used by decision support systems in various fields and generate economic values. Knowledge economy is also possible without technology.
The term was popularized by Peter Drucker as the title of Chapter 12 in his book The Age of Discontinuity.
The global economy is in transition to a "knowledge economy", as an extension of an "information society" in the Information Age led by innovation. The transition requires that the rules and practices that determined success in the industrial economy need rewriting in an interconnected, globalized economy where knowledge resources such as trade secrets and expertise are as critical as other economic resources.
A key concept of the knowledge economy is that knowledge and education (often referred to as "human capital") can be treated as the following: A business product, as educational and innovative intellectual products and services can be exported for a high value return.
The key component of a knowledge economy is a greater reliance on intellectual capabilities than on physical inputs or natural resources.
The knowledge economy is also seen as the latest stage of development in global economic restructuring. The developed world has transitioned from an agricultural economy (pre-Industrial Age, largely the agrarian sector) to industrial economy (with the Industrial Age, largely the manufacturing sector) to post-industrial/mass production economy (mid-1900s, largely the service sector) to knowledge economy (late 1900s – 2000s, largely the technology/human capital sector). This latest stage has been marked by the upheavals in technological innovations and the globally competitive need for innovation with new products and processes that develop from the research community (i.e., R&D factors, universities, labs, educational institutes).
Knowledge provides the technical expertise, problem-solving, performance measurement and evaluation, and data management needed for the transboundary, interdisciplinary global scale of today’s competition.
Worldwide examples of the knowledge economy taking place among many others include: Silicon Valley in California; aerospace and automotive engineering in Munich, Germany; biotechnology in Hyderabad, India; electronics and digital media in Seoul, South Korea; petrochemical and energy industry in Brazil.
It has been suggested that the next evolutionary step after knowledge economy is the network economy, where the relatively localized knowledge is now being shared among and across various networks for the benefit of the network members as a whole, to gain economic of scale in a wider, more open scale.
It can be argued that the knowledge economy differs from the traditional economy in several key respects:
· The economics are not of scarcity, but rather of abundance. Unlike most resources that become depleted when used, information and knowledge can be shared, and actually grow through application.
· Knowledge when locked into systems or processes has higher inherent value than when it can "walk out of the door" in people's heads.
· Human capital — competencies — are a key component of value in a knowledge-based company, yet few companies report competency levels in annual reports. In contrast, downsizing is often seen as a positive "cost cutting" measure.
· Communication is increasingly being seen as fundamental to knowledge flows. Social structures, cultural context and other factors influencing social relations are therefore of fundamental importance to knowledge economies.
These characteristics require new ideas and approaches from policy makers, managers and knowledge workers.
Ex.4. Translate and discuss the sentences below.
Money spinner. If an activity is a money spinner, it is a very successful way of making money.
"Washing cars was quite a money spinner when I was a student."
Put money where your mouth is. If you put money where your mouth is, you give financial support to activities and causes that you believe are right.
Monkey business. An activity which is organized in a deceitful or dishonest way is called monkey business.
"The results announced seem suspicious - I think there's some monkey business going on!"
Movers and shakers. The term movers and shakers refers to people in power who take an active part in making things happen.
"Movers and shakers are assembling in Brussels for the summit."
Nuts and bolts. The nuts and bolts of something are the detailed facts and the practical aspects.
"We need to discuss the nuts and bolts of the proposal before going any further."
Ostrich strategy/politics. This term refers to the phenomenon of ignoring or evading an obvious problem in the hope that it will resolve itself or disappear.
"Adopting an ostrich strategy will only make matters worse - we've got to find a solution!"
Play the market. If you play the market, you buy stocks and shares in the hope of making a profit when you sell them.
"It's always tempting to play the market, but it's more risky at the present time."
Pull strings. If somebody pulls strings, they use influential friends in order to obtain an advantage.
"David found a job easily - his Dad just pulled a few strings!"
Separate the sheep from the goats. If you separate the sheep from the goats, you examine a group of people and decide which are good and which are not so good.
"Examining job applications is the first stage in separating the sheep from the goats.
In smooth waters. A business or operation which is in smooth waters is making regular and easy progress.
"The company seems to be in smooth waters these days."
Go belly up. If a business or project goes belly up, it is unsuccessful or goes bankrupt.
"The restaurant went belly up before the end of the first year."
Go for a song. If something goes for a song, it is sold at an unexpectedly low price.
"I was able to buy the car simply because it going for a song."