The British Company Management

The management of the company is called the Board of Directors (not Managers) headed by the Chairman, the President. There is usually a Managing Director and in the case of a big company there may be several Joint Managing Directors.

A Manager in British companies is the person who is the head of a department – Sales, Export, Works (Production), Staff etc. so there are Sales Manager, Export Managers, Works (Production) Managers, Staff Managers, etc.

A General Manager has managers, working under his control, and receives his instructions from the Managing Director.

By British Company Law a limited company (public or private) must have a Company Secretary whose duties are plenty. First he is the clerk to the Directors: he is to keep registers of Directors and Members, arrange for proceedings at directors’ and shareholders’ meetings, prepare notices for the calling of these meetings, attend them and advise directors at board meeting on the legal, accounting and tax implications of any proposed business move as well as write minutes and reports (the minutes of a meeting are usually concise records of resolutions or decisions reached; and the reports are more extensive and give details of decisions, arguments for and against the resolutions and so on). Second he represents his company and in this capacity he supervises the working of the staff manager, he is often finally responsible for the accounting and handling of contracts. Thus he is the link between the company and the public.

The company Secretary must be a properly qualified person, and to be able to fulfill his routine duties well he is supposed to have training in company law, accountancy and many other subjects. He is expected to be part-lawyer, part-economist, part-administrator and part-accountant.

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Shopping at Marks & Spencer

I would like to tell you about shopping in the United Kingdom. Marks & Spencer is Britain's favourite store. Tourists love it too. It attracts a great variety of customers from housewives to millionaires. Princess Diana, Dustin Hoffman and the British Prime-minister are just a few of its famous customers. Last year it made a profit of 529 million pounds. which is more than 10 million a week.

It all started 105 years ago when a young Polish immigrant Michael Marks had a stall in Leeds market. He didn't have many things to sell: some cotton, a little wool, lots of buttons and a few shoelaces. Above his stall he put the now famous notice: "Don't ask how much - it's a penny." Ten years later he met Tom Spencer and together they started Penny stalls in many towns in the North of England. Today there are 564 branches of Marks & Spencer all over the world: in America, Canada, Spain, France, Belgium and Hungary.

The store bases its business on 3 principals: good value, good quality and good service. Also, it changes with the times; once it was all jumpers and knickers. Now it is food, furniture and flowers as well. Top fashion designers advice on styles of clothes. Perhaps, the most important key to its success is its happy well-trained staff. Conditions of work are excellent. There are company doctors, dentists, hairdressers, etc. And all the staff can have lunch for under 40 pence.

Surprisingly tastes in food and clothes are international. What sells well in Paris, sells just as well in Newcastle and Moscow. Their best selling clothes are: for women - jumpers and knickers (M & S is famous for its knickers); for men - shirts, socks, dressing gowns and suits; for children - underwear and socks. Best sellers in food include: fresh chickens, vegetables and sandwiches, "Chicken Kiev" is internationally the most popular convenience food. Shopping in Britain is also famous for its Freshfood. Freshfood is a chain of food stores and very successful supermarkets which has grown tremendously in the twenty years since it was founded, and now it has branches in the High Streets of all the towns of any size in Britain. In the beginning the stores sold only foodstuffs, but in recent years they have diversified enormously and now sell clothes, books, records, electrical and domestic equipment. The success of the chain has been due to an enterprising management and to attractive layout and display in the stores. It has been discovered that impulse buying accounts for almost 35 per cent of the total turn over of the stores. The stores are organized completely for self-service and customers are encouraged to wander around the spaciously laid out stands. Special free gifts and reduced prices are used to tempt customers into the stores and they can't stand the temptation.

Проработав грамматический текстовый материал, Вы можете приступать к выполнению тренировочного теста. Предварительно проверьте себя, ответив на вопросы устно.

1. Какое действие описывают глаголы в Simple Past, Simple Future.

2. Проспрягайте глаголы to be, to have в Simple Past, Simple Future.

3. Назовите «слова-сигналы» (наречия времени), которые используются с глаголами в Simple Past, Simple Future.

4. Какие две группы смысловых глаголов существуют в английском языке?

5. Как образуется II форма правильных и неправильных глаголов?

6. Каковы особенности спряжения смысловых глаголов в Simple Past, Simple Future?

7. Какова структура предложения, в котором смысловой глагол стоит в Simple Past, Simple Future?

8. Как образуются вопросительные формы смысловых глаголов в Simple Past, Simple Future? Каковы особенности построения вопроса к подлежащему?

9. Как образуются отрицательные формы смысловых глаголов в Simple Past, Simple Future?

10. В каких ситуациях используется форма the Present Continuous Tense?

11. Какова формула образования the Present Continuous Tense?

12. Как образуются вопросительные и отрицательные формы глаголов в the Present Continuous Tense?

13. Назовите «слова-сигналы» (наречия времени), которые используются с глаголами в the Present Continuous Tense?

14. Приведите пример конструкции намерения осуществления действия (the Present Continuous Tense глагола to be с инфинитивом).

15. Как образуется причастие I (Participle I).

16. Какие функции может выполнять в предложении Participle I?

17. В каких ситуациях употребляется Present Perfect, Simple Past?

18. Каковы особенности спряжения глаголов в Present Perfect, Simple Past?

19. Как образуются вопросительные и отрицательные формы глаголов в Present Perfect, Simple Past?

20. Назовите основные модальные глаголы, используемые в английском языке.

21. Почему модальные глаголы иногда называют «дефектными»?

22. Как образуются вопросительные и отрицательные формы конструкций с модальными глаголами?

23. Составьте по памяти 2 мини-таблицы: a) употребление much, many, few (a few), little (a little); b) употребление местоимений some, any, no.