Read the conversation and classify everyone in the company.
WHO IS WHO IN THE COMPANY
AE: I think I’d better take this opportunity to explain to you exactly who’s who in the company. You’ll need to know who to go to if you want to contact a particular manager. Let’s start right at the top: David Burton is the Managing Director and his Personal Assistant is Mary Wilkins. The Personnel, Marketing and Finance/
HB:Uh-huh.
AE:Right. Let’s deal with each one in turn. Michael Scott looks after Production, and his title is Production Manager, and Daniel Harkin works as Personal Assistant in the Production Department. Then there are two secretaries. Is that clear?
HB:Yes.
AE:Moving on to Personnel, we’ve got Sheila Polson, and her title is Personnel Director. Jane Hargreaves works for Sheila Polson as Personnel Assistant. And then there are two secretaries in the department. OK?
HB:Yes, fine.
AE:As you know, I’m the Marketing Manager and for the next two months you are going to work as my Personnel Assistant. Helen Wright and Karen Williams, the two secretaries in the department, will report to you. Is that clear?
HB:Uh-huh.
AE:And finally, Paul Cummins is responsible for the Finance Department. His PA is Judith Walker. And then there are three secretaries in the department. You’ve met one already, I think. So that’s a brief overview of the structure of the company. Do you have any questions?
Text 3
Read this text about Zodiac, a highly successful clothing company , and complete the chart. The information is from its company website.
About Zodiac Inc.
Zodiac Inc. is a global company with three distinct brands – Zodiac, Gemini and Capricorn – and revenues topping $8 billion. The company has its headquarters in Seattle. At the heart of our company are more than 100,000 people worldwide, supporting our catalog and website operations.
Long-term, quality growth has always been a priority at Zodiac Inc. – which is why we’re constantly improving the way we sell our products, serve our customers and run our business.
1.
| Brands | Zodiac, Gemini, Capricorn |
| Revenues | |
| Headquarters | |
| Number of employees | |
| Main aim |
Now look at another extract from the Zodiac website. Find the answers to these questions as quickly as you can.
1 In which year did Zodiac:
a) first sell on the Internet?
b) open its first shop abroad?
c) open its first store for children?
d) first offer shares?
e) introduce its own credit card?
2 Where did Zodiac open its first store:
a) in the US?
b) overseas?
c) for babies only?
d) in France?
e) in Canada?
Company milestones
1971 Walter Lewis opens the first Zodiac store in Seattle.
1978 Zodiac goes public, offering half a million shares of stock on the New
York Stock Exchange.
1984 Capricorn opens its first store, selling children’s clothes.
1989 Zodiac goes international, opening its first store outside the US in
Japan.
1991 Zodiac’s first Canadian store opens in Toronto, Ontario.
1992 Zodiac launches its Gemini discount brand in Manhattan.
1994 Zodiac enters the French market, opening a store in Paris.
1996 First Zodiac and Capricorn stores open in the UK and Germany.
1997 Zodiac opens its first baby-only store in Seattle.
1998 Zodiac goes online at zodiac.com and achieves sales of $280 million.
1999 Capricorn goes online and introduces its private label credit card and
catalog.
2000 Zodiac establishes more than 200 new stores.
2001 Gemini launches its Online Store at Gemini.com.
3. Match words on the left from ‘Company milestones’ with their definitions.
1 go public a) sell in overseas markets
2 go international b) trade on the Net
3 launch c) offer shares on the stick market
4 go online d) introduce
5 achieve sales e) set up
6 establish f) reach a sales target
Work in pairs. Tell your partner about a successful company you know. Talk about its products and achievements.
Text 4
Read the text about another famous company and do the tasks after it.
The Levi’s Story
The company makes the most famous and popular trousers in the world. They are made of very strong cotton. There are not many genuinely classic brands, but Levi’s have earned themselves a place among the Coca-Colas, Zippos, Bics, Levi Strauss’s achievement is formidable: from a small family firm to a massive international concern.
Levi Strauss was a German immigrant who arrived in San Francisco in 1853. First, he made tents for gold prospectors. Then, he started to make trousers from the same material. In the early 1960s, Levi Strauss was sky-rocketing. American firms and music had spread to Europe and jeans had come to symbolize a new, youth culture. Kids decided that denim would become their uniform, a visible statement of a new, exciting lifestyle. In 1873, Levi’s dyed the trousers blue. Levi’s headquarters today are still in San Francisco and, in 1993, they sold 50 million pairs of their “501” blue jeans.
The company was not always successful. In the 1980s, they had problems but they changed management and in 1985 Bob Haas became President of the company. With large investment in marketing and advertising, Levi’s relaunched the original “501” jeans. The campaign was a huge success. In Great Britain the advertising was so successful that sales of “501” jeans rose by 800%.
Today, about 16,000,000 pairs of “501” jeans are sold in Western Europe and they are all made in factories in Scotland and France. More than half of Levi’s profits come from export.
The factory in France employs about 540 people who, produce 18,000 pairs of jeans every day. With thirty-five factories in the US, the company is a major employer, particularly in the South. Unfortunately, because this is such a popular product there are many “private” copies made also. In 1993, for example, police throughout the world found 2,000,000 fake pairs of Levi’s jeans.
In the future, they hope that more companies will allow casual dress so that sales will rise as office employees start to wear jeans to work. Just what Levi Strauss designed more than one hundred years ago – working trousers!