Livro 28

RECESSION Contents Unit 55 ■ A Corporate Business □ Introduction Co-operating to cut costs. □ Fresh Frozen Foods Plc: Recession A suggestion for closer co-operation in export marketing between subsidiaries in an attempt to combat recession. □ Dialogue: A Trip to Sydney Airport The programme for meeting six executives arriving at Sydney Airport on three different flights. ■ Business Executives □ An Executive Writes Expressing sympathy and condolence (3). □ An Executive Travels Travel Instructions (4). London Airport to Norwich (1). ■ Business Matters □ Some Questions and Answers about... Marketing (10) The marketing mix (8): Advertising. □ Executive Search (30) A business development manager required. ■ Business News □ Scandal in Japan (3) A 'Financial Times' report on the repercussions of the resignations of the presidents of two leading Japanese stock broking houses. ■ The Use of English in Business □ Conjunctions (5) Clauses of manner, comparison, proportion and preference. □ Glossary of the Key Business Words and Phrasal Verbs ■ Answers 1297 A CORPORATE BUSINESS Introduction Subject: Co-operating to cut costs. Two companies are established side by side1 on an industrial estate; each has its factory, warehouse, offices and transport depot. After a few prosperous years there is a recession and both companies begin to look for ways of cutting costs. It occurs to them that one of their transport depots, each of which is complete with mechanics, workshop, petrol and diesel pumps and parking space for twenty vehicles, could be shared and the other one sold off. By doing this they would not only have the money raised2 from the sale of the depot but they would also have halved the cost of maintaining and parking their vehicles. Other companies combine to share offices and installations, agencies and transport facilities, technical services and retail outlets and so on. The fact that cooperation saves money is something many of them do not realise until there is a recession. When they are forced to cut costs, they start looking round for ways of doing so. In the news recently was the much publicized cooperative agreement between IBM and Apple, two multinationals that are bitter3 rivals. Recession has forced them to reduce costs by cooperating in certain areas. The four subsidiaries of Fresh Frozen Foods (Australasia) Ltd are not bitter rivals, but recession has obliged them to look for ways of co-operating more closely in order to cut their costs. They reason, quite rightly, that if competing companies can co-operate, all the more reason why they, as subsidiaries of the same company, should cooperate. We shall now see the form this cooperation takes. 1298 1 side by side lado a lado 2 raised levantado, conseguido 3 bitter implacáveis Fresh Frozen Foods Plc. Recession Subject: A suggestion for closer4 co-operation in export marketing between subsidiaries in an attempt to combat recession. Cooperation The recession in Australia has lasted almost a year and shows no signs of coming to an end. Although, as always, the food industry is the least to suffer, those companies that have invested capital in convenience foods have experienced a considerable fall in5 sales. As their name suggests, these foods are very convenient '(...out of the freezer6 and into the microwave in a jiffy7)', but they are also more expensive. For out-of-work families they are prohibitive. As both the Triple F Australian subsidiaries have been hit by the recession, which they did not think would last as long as it has. Bruce Tindall the managing director of the Martindale Canning Corporation, decides to take the initiative. He suggests to the other three Triple F (Australasia) companies that they meet to discuss the possibility of closer cooperation in export marketing. Arrival Bruce Tindall faxed his plan for a meeting to each of the other three managing directors. The idea received a favourable response, as would any idea that could help during a recession, and a date was fixed for the meeting. Don Murray, Russell Walley and Keith Shepherd would be flying in8 from Perth, Auckland and Christchurch respectively, each accompanied by his marketing manager. Murray would fly direct to Wagga Wagga, but those coming from New Zealand would have to change at Sydney airport Unfortunately, two days before they were due to arrive, heavy rains flooded Wagga Wagga airport and it had to be temporarily closed. This meant that everyone would now arrive at Sydney airport and would have to be met there. As the flooding had not seriously affected the motorway, Bruce Tindall and his marketing manager Ned West were able to drive the company's huge Volvo estate car7 (which seated8 eight including the driver) to Sydney and there wait for each flight to arrive. No time would be wasted because they would be able to have preparatory discussions with those who arrived first and second. Preparatory discussions It may be thought that unless a business discussion takes place in an office or in a hotel executive centre meeting room, it can neither be serious nor have any worthwhile9 result. This is certainly not the case in Australia, where businessmen can discuss business anywhere. If it is in a bar, then so much the better. On the subject of discussing business in a bar or restaurant Bruce Tindall can be very eloquent. He will quote the origins of the London Stock Exchange and Lloyd's, both of which began in coffee houses, where merchants would do business without the need to sign agreements in front of lawyers; for them their word was their bond. 'We Australians', says Tindall, 'carry on this magnificent tradition'. 1299 4 closer mais estreita 5 fall in seguido 6 freezer chegando de avião 7 estate car perua, caminhonete 8 seated acomodava 9 worthwhile que vale a pena A CORPORATE BUSINESS Although Tindall did not anticipate any problems as regards cooperation between the four companies, he did concentrate rather a lot during the preliminary talks on the seriousness of the present recession. He quoted the case of the recently published results of the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), which had suffered a 50 per cent drop10 in pre-tax profit for the six months to March 31. The bank is based in the State of Victoria, where the recession is particularly severe. Murrey quoted the case of another of the big three Australian banks, saying that National Australian had reported a fall during the same period of 18 per cent. Ned West, whose brother-in-law was a branch manager in the third of the three said Westpac's profit had fallen 38 per cent. Tindall quoted numerous cases of firms going bankrupt. He mentioned one large retailer that ordered and re-ordered huge stocks from its suppliers, sold them at cut prices, then declared itself bankrupt. He gave instances of business deals falling through11 at the last minute due to the US and UK recessions. All this prepared the way for the formal discussions the next day and meant that they did not have to consider whether or not they would accept the idea of pooling12 their export marketing resources, but how best to do so. Dinner That evening they all met for dinner at the hotel in Wagga Wagga. Did they eat and drink, laugh and joke, talk about rugby football and golf? They ate and drank and occasionally laughed but the subject of conversation the whole evening was how to fight their way out of the recession. Each of the managing directors and marketing managers present knew they were responsible for the futures of their entire workforce, numbering anything between 200 and 400. In the case of MCC it was far more13, since they were responsible indirectly for the employees of their highly developed chain of sub-contractors. QUEENSLAND SOUTH AUSTRALIA Adelaide NEW SOUTH WALES Victoria Wagga Wagga MARTINDALE CANNING CORPORATION (MCC) AREA IN WHICH ARE LOCATED ALL THE MCC SUBCONTRACTORS FACTORY AND OFFICES OF MARTINDALE CANNING CORPORATION Melbourne Sydney Canberra 1300 Even when Bruce and Ned had left the hotel to go home to their families and the remaining six continued at a corner table in the bar, they did not talk about their sons graduating in economics or their daughters recent triumphs in show jumping; there was only one subject for them to talk about and that was the recession and how they were going to get out14 of it. The meeting After a short formal introduction, if such a thing as formality exists in Australia, Bruce Tindall handed over to Keith Shepherd to explain how their combined efforts to exploit overseas markets might be helped by the newly established 'mini-subsidiary of the Southern Frozen Meat Company. The newly-formed company was the New Zealand Export Markets Consultancy, which monitored markets throughout the world in order to discover if there were any opportunities for New Zealand companies. They discovered, for example, that in the United Arab Emirates and South Yemen they were experiencing difficulties in obtaining live sheep and lambs (for Muslims the animals had to be live). The result was that the representatives of New Zealand sheep farmers were immediately despatched to the Middle East, returning with full order books. Keith Shepherd showed the meeting details of this particular sales success and several others. He then spoke of the problems of finding enough experienced salesmen that could be sent at a moment's notice to any part of the world to seek out customers for products for which NZEMC had demonstrated there was a demand. It is not often that a problem and a solution present themselves at the same time, but this was the case at the meeting in Wagga Wagga. An hour later they had a list of the best and most experienced salesmen in each company. They then prepared a provisional 'standby15 list so that any one of the twelve salesmen on the list could take next plane to anywhere in the world to get orders for the four companies. What happens, though, when two companies or more are selling the same product? There was a problem that might prolong any meeting, lead to a long debate; but this was not the case at the 'historic' Wagga Wagga meeting. It was agreed that there would be quotas. If the salesman represented a company selling frozen fish, his company would have the first orders up to a certain amount. Beyond that amount orders would go to the second and third companies in accordance with the quotas established. These quotas would be available by the end of the following week. There was no bureaucracy to prolong discussions on quotas for months on end, the meeting had been a great success. They all celebrated with a drink. 10 drop 11 falling through 12 pooling 13 far more 14 get out 15 standby 1301 A CORPORATE BUSINESS Text Comprehension Answer the following questions: 1. Has the recession in Australia lasted almost one year or two? 2. Is the food industry the most or the least to suffer? 3. Are frozen convenience foods cheaper or more expensive than fresh foods? 4. Have both or only one of the two Australian companies been hit by the recession? 5. Is Bruce Tindall the managing director or the marketing manager? 6. What was the response of the other three managing directors to Bruce Tindall's faxed plan for a meeting? 7. Why was the airport at Wagga Wagga temporarily closed? 8. How many people, including the driver, could travel in the MCC Volvo Estate car? 9. Did the Australian and New Zealand Bank record a 30 per cent rise in pre-tax profit for the six months to March 31? 10. What connections has the brother-in-law of Ned West with the Westpac Bank? 11. Why was the Martindale Canning Corporation responsible indirectly for far more than 400 employees? 12. What was the subject of conversation of the six that remained in the hotel bar after dinner? 13. Did Bruce Tindall open the meeting the next day with a long formal introduction? 14. What is the name of the newly-established mini subsidiary of the Southern Frozen Meat Company? 15. How was it that the quotas for the overseas sales of the four subsidiaries would be available by the end of the week and not after several months? Notes on the Introduction Key business words petrol pump bomba de gasolina retail outlets lojas de varejo Comments on key structures Note the verb to halve (*dividir em duas metades*) in the phrase *they would also have halved the cost of maintaining and parking their vehicles.* • Note the use of *closely (estreitamente)* in the phrase *cooperating more closely.* 1302 Notes on the Text meeting room sala de reuniões merchants comerciantes re-ordered voltou a pedir cut prices preços reduzidos Key business words Note the phrase shows no signs - não mostra sinais. Note the phrase so much the better - tanto melhor. Note the use of suffered in the phrase suffered a 50 per cent drop. Compare with recorded a 50 per cent rise. Note the phrase fight their way out of recession - lutar para sair da recessão. Note: See Unit 35 for details of MCC sub-contracting. Note that beyond in the phrase beyond that amount is the same as above that amount - acima dessa quantidade. Comments on key structures The Leading Pharmaceutical Companies Home country Sales 1990 £m Growth 1990/89 % Merck US 3,610 9.4 B-Myers Squibb US 3,360 8.0 Glaxo UK 2,970 9.2 SmithKline Beecham UK 2,810 0.0 Hoechst Germany 2,600 18.2 Ciba-Geigy Switzerland 2,580 11.7 J&J US 2,360 12.4 AHP US 2,260 -3.0 Sandoz Switzerland 2,250 8.7 Eli Lilly US 2,090 16.6 Bayer Germany 2,090 8.3 Pfizer US 2,070 10.7 Rhône-Poulenc Rorer France 2,030 7.4 Roche Switzerland 1,950 19.6 Takeda Japan 1,500 -23.9 Schering-Plough US 1,490 6.4 ICI UK 1,390 8.6 Marion M-Dow US 1,370 3.0 Upjohn US 1,360 3.8 Wellcome UK 1,270 15.5 Source: Pharmaceutical Business News/Industry estimates.