UNIT 3 Organization Forms and Company Presentation

Look before you leap.

English proverb

STARTING UP

A. Can you stand the difference between a business and business?

B. Find five words in the list that are synonyms for a business and one word that is a synonym for business.

· company · firm

· enterprise · business concern

· commerce · business venture

C. There are many forms of business organization and the different terms can vary from one country to another. What organization forms are there in your country? Name as many as possible in Russian.

VOCABULARY

A. Business and businesses

Businessis the activity of producing, buying and selling goods and services.

A business, company, firmor more formally, a concern,sells goods or services. Large companies considered together are referred toas big business.

A company may be called an enterprise,especially to emphasize its risk-taking nature.

Businesses vary in size, from the self-employedperson working alone, through the small or medium enterprise (SME)to the large multinationalwith activities in several countries.

A large company, especially in theUS, is a corporation.

Size	Number of employees	Turnover
A small business	50 or fewer	₤2.8m or below
A medium firm	between 50 and 250	₤11.2m or below
A large firm/corporation	usually over 250	usually more than ₤11.2m

The adjective, corporate,is often used in these combinations:

Corporate culture corporate headquarters corporate image

Corporate ladder corporate logo corporate profits

B. Commerce

Commerceis used to refer to business:

· in relation to other fields: literature, politics and commerce.

· in relation to government departments that deal with business: the US Department of Commerce.

· in the names of organizations which help business: chambers of commerce.

· on the Internet: electronic commerceor e-commerce.

The adjective commercialdescribes money-making business activities:

Commercial airline commercial artist

Commercial television commercial disaster

Commercial land

NB! You can't say a commerce.

C. Enterprise

In 1970s Britain, there were state-ownedor government-ownedcompanies in many different industries such as car manufacturing and air travel. Some industries had been nationalizedand were entirely state-owned, such as coal, electricity and telephone services. In the 1980s, the government believed that nationalized companieswere bureaucraticand inefficient, and many of them were privatizedand sold to investors.

Enterpriseis used in a positive way to talk about business, emphasizing the use of money to take risks.

D. Word combinations with 'enterprise'

· Free/private enterprise – business activity owned by individuals, rather than the state.

· Enterprise culture – an atmosphere which encourages people to make money through their own activities and not rely on the government.

· Enterprise economy – an economy where there is an enterprise culture.

· Enterprise zone – part of a country where business is encouraged because there are fewer laws, lower taxes, etc.

1. Correct the mistakes using words and expressions from A.

1). Before we employ people, we like to put them in job situations to see how they do the work and fit into the corporate ladder.

2). The company has built a grand corporate logo as a permanent symbol of its power.

3). Our stylish new corporate culture shows our wish to be seen as a more international airline.

4). The economy is growing and corporate headquarters are rising.

5). The rules were introduced to protect women working in factories, but today they make it harder for women to climb the corporate image.

6). Companies hit by computer crime are not talking about it because they fear the publicity will harm their corporate profits.

2. Someone is talking about the word combinations in B. Which are they referring to each time?

1). It carries passengers and goods, it's not military.

2). It's going to be used for offices and factories, not houses.

3). It receives no money from the state to make its programmes.

4). He does advertisements: you can't find his work in art galleries.

5). It was an artistic success, but unfortunately it lost a lot of money.

3. Use expressions from D to complete this text.

Margaret Thatcher often talked about the benefits of (1) ................... .........................

or (2) ...................... ......................... . She said that her achievement was to establish an (3) ................... ........................ in Britain, an economy where people were encouraged to start their own companies and where it was acceptable to get rich through business: an (4) ..................... ........................ .

In some areas, the government reduced the number of laws and regulations to encourage businesses to move there. Businesses were encouraged to set up in the London Docklands, for example. The Docklands were an (5) ................ .................... .

4. Answer the questions about your own country.

· Is the public sector in your country very big?

· Do people who work in it have good working conditions compared to those in the private sector?

· In your country, which of these industries are in public sector and which are in the private sector? Which have been privatized?

§ Bus transport	§ Electricity supply	§ Postal services
§ Rail transport	§ Telephone services	§ Water supply

E. SELF-EMPLOYED PEOPLE AND PARTNERSHIPS

USEFUL TIPS Sole owner and sole proprietor are also used both in BrE and AmE. Sole trader is not used in the US.

Note: You usually describe people such as designers and journalists as freelancers, and people such as builders and plumbers as self-employed.

Sole trader or sole proprietor is the simplest way of starting a business. You are self-employed and entirely responsible for all aspects of the management of your business.

I'm a freelancegraphic designer, a freelancer. That means I work for myself - I'm self-employed. To use the official term, I'm a sole trader.

Two or more people starting a business can set up a partnership. All partners are responsible for the debts of the partnership, and profits and losses are shared between them.

We have set up our own architecture partnership. There are no shareholders in the organization apart from us, the partners. A lot of professional people like lawyers, accountants and so on, work in partnerships.

F. Limited liability

I'm the managing director and main shareholder of a small electronics company in Scotland called Advanced Components Ltd. 'Ltd' means limited company.The other shareholders and I have limited liability:we do not have to use our personal property, such as a house or car, to pay the company's debts. A company can be formed with a minimum of two people becoming its shareholders. They must appoint a director and a company secretary. If the company goes out of business, the responsibility of each shareholder is limited to the amount that they have contributed.

I'm the chief executive of a British company called Megaco PLC.'PLC means public limited company,so anybody can buy and sell shares in Megaco on the stock market. The minimum share capital for a public limited company is ₤50,000.

I'm CEO of Bigbucks Inc. (Corp.)'Inc' stands for Incorporated.This shows that we are a corporation, a term used especially in the US for companies with limited liability. American companies are registered or incorporated with the authorities in the state where they have their headquarters. To sell shares to the public they must apply to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).

G. Mutuals

Some companies, like certain life insurance companies, are mutuals. When you buy insurance with the company you become a member. Profits are theoretically owned by the members, so there are no shareholders.

In Britain, another kind of mutual is building societies, which lend money to people who want to buy a house. But a lot of building societies have demutualized: they have become public limited companies with shareholders. This process is demutualization.

H. Non-profit organizations

Organizations with 'social' aims such as helping those who are sick or poor, or encouraging artistic activity, are non-profit organizations (BrE) or not-for-profit organizations (AmE). They are also called charities, and form the voluntary sector, as they rely heavily on volunteers (unpaid workers). They are usually managed by paid professionals, and they put a lot of effort into fund-raising, getting people to donatemoney to the organization in the form of donations.

5. Look at the words in E and F. What type of organization is each of these?

1). A group of engineers who work together to provide consultancy and design services. There are no outside shareholders.

2). A large British engineering company with 30,000 employees. Its shares are bought and sold on the stock market.

3). An American engineering company with outside shareholders.

4). An engineer who works by herself providing consultancy. She works from home and visits clients in their offices.

5). An independent British engineering company with 20 employees. It was founded by three engineers, who are shareholders and directors of the company. There are five other shareholders who do not work for the company.

6. Complete this newspaper article with the correct form of the words from G. One expression is used twice.