Grey knight; greenmail; hedge; indemnify; insolvency

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1. maximum financial benefits offered to an executive who takes voluntary early retirement

2. repay for a financial loss that a person or organization has had

3. unfair action of a company buying back its own shares from certain troublesome shareholders at a price higher than the market price

4. protection against financial risk, for example futures or options

5. an unknown bidder for another company who is more welcome than the black knight

6. a right given formally to a business organization by a government allowing it to use or operate some property for a stated period of time

7. the inability of a business organization to pay its debts when they fall due

8. financial benefits as part of contract of employment that ties a broker to a brokerage firm

9. quantity of goods delivered at the same time

10. misappropriation by an employee of his employer’s money

11. offer company shares on a stock exchange for the first time

12. an examination of the costs, benefits and risks involved in starting a new commercial activity

Ex.2.Finish each phrase with the best collocation from the right-hand column.

1.make application a career bonus

2. reach your long-term choice

3. prefer money rather than job goal

4. learn new satisfaction

5. gain skills

6.get a performance-related application

7. send off placement

8. apply for a gap-year experience

Ex.3.Match the verbs with their correct definitions(1-8). Then complete the sentences that follow(9-16) using each verb once only.

1. keep up a) follow/inform yourself about

2. keep up with b) to avoid

3. to keep on c) to maintain good relations with

4. to keep to d) to maintain/continue

5. to keep in with e) to prevent from rising

6. to keep down f) to continue employing

7. to keep off g) to stick to

8. to keep from h) to prevent/stop

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9. We hope to ... the deadline and finish the project on time.

10. The chairperson ... the forthcoming redundancy program because she didn't want to upset anybody.

11. Product prices had to be ... for the firm to remain competitive.

12. If you work in the computer industry, you need to ... the latest technology in software and hardware.

13. Some of the company's longest-serving workers would have been ... if the economic conditions hadn't been so unfavourable.

14. I have been ... doing important jobs because of this report. It's been incredibly time-consuming.

15. Our firm is known for craftmanship and we intend to ... the high standards we have set.

16. It's usually worth ... your superiors, even if you don't like them.

Ex.4.Business idioms. Write 5-6 sentences using these idioms.

1.buy off: give money to someone to stop them from doing their duty

EXAMPLE:They tried to buy off the politician but he refused to go along with their plan.

2.cash-and-carry: selling something for cash only with no delivery

EXAMPLE:We were able to get a good price on a sofa in a cash-and-carry deal at the furniture store.

3.cash in: exchange coupons or bonds for their value in money

EXAMPLE: I cashed in a large number of my savings bonds in order to get some money to buy a house.

4.caught short: not have enough money when you need it

EXAMPLE:I was caught short and had to borrow some money from my father last week.

5.cheapskate: a person who will not spend much money, a stingy person

EXAMPLE:My friend is a cheapskate and won't even go to a movie with me.

6. chicken feed: a small amount of money

EXAMPLE:His son always wants to borrow money and says that it is only chicken feed but little by little it adds up to a lot of money.

Unit 6.

Text 1. BENCHMARKING

Read and translate the text consulting the dictionary if necessary. Then summarize in 8-10 sentences.

Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests or best practices from other companies. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time and cost. In the process of best practice benchmarking, management identifies the best firms in their industry, or in another industry where similar processes exist, and compares the results and processes of those studied (the "targets") to one's own results and processes.

The following is an example of a typical benchmarking methodology:

· Identify problem areas: Because benchmarking can be applied to any business process or function, a range of research techniques may be required. They include informal conversations with customers, employees, or suppliers; exploratory research techniques such as focus groups; or in-depth marketing research, quantitative research, surveys, questionnaires, etc.

· Identify organizations that are leaders in these areas: Look for the very best in any industry and in any country. Consult customers, suppliers, financial analysts, trade associations, and magazines to determine which companies are worthy of study.

· Visit the "best practice" companies to identify leading edge practices: Companies typically agree to mutually exchange information beneficial to all parties in a benchmarking group and share the results within the group.

· Implement new and improved business practices: Take the leading edge practices and develop implementation plans which include identification of specific opportunities, funding the project and selling the ideas to the organization for the purpose of gaining demonstrated value from the process.

Benchmarking can be internal (comparing performance between different groups or teams within an organization) or external (comparing performance with companies in a specific industry or across industries). Within these broader categories, there are specific types of benchmarking:

· Financial benchmarking - performing a financial analysis and comparing the results in an effort to assess your overall competitiveness and productivity.

· Benchmarking from an investor perspective- extending the benchmarking universe to also compare to peer companies that can be considered alternative investment opportunities from the perspective of an investor.

· Performance benchmarking - allows the initiator firm to assess their competitive position by comparing products and services with those of target firms.

· Product benchmarking - the process of designing new products or upgrades to current ones. This process can sometimes involve reverse engineering which is taking apart competitors products to find strengths and weaknesses.

Ex.1Match the terms and their definitions

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