让基础职场词汇成为你的“嫡系”（欢迎全程参与互动）

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回复: 让基础职场词汇成为你的“嫡系”（欢迎全程参与互动）

互动模拟练习： （欢迎各位指正）
Our company's head office is in Shanghai, China. The company has six sites all over the country. There are more than 10,000 employees working for our company by the end of 2011. Employees almost work in open-plan offices except senior managers who have their own seperate offices. As far as I am concerned, I prefer to work in open offices. It's easy for me to communicate with and oversee my colleagues all the time.

 

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7.The career ladder
[FONT=微软雅黑]A. A job for life[/FONT]
Many people used to work for the same organization until they reached retirement: the age at which people retire, or end their working life. Career paths were clear: you could work your way up the career ladder, getting promotion to jobs that were more senior, with greater responsibility. You would probably not be demoted: moved to a less senior job.
To leave the company, you could resign or hand in your notice.


B. A job for now
Modco has downsized and delayered. The number of management levels in the company hierarchy has been reduced from five to three, and many managers have lost their jobs. Modco has reorganized and restructured in order to become flatter (with fewer layers of management) and leaner (with fewer, more productive employees).
They did this to reduce costs, and increase efficiency and profits. Employees said the company used words like "restructure" to make the situation sound positive and acceptable.


C. In-house staff or freelancers?
Modco has outsourced many jobs previously done by in-house personnel: outside companies clean the offices, transport goods and collect money from customers. This allows Modco to concentrate on its main business activities. Modco uses more freelancers, independent people who may work for several different companies, and they employ people for short periods on temporary contracts. Modco expects flexibility, with people moving to different jobs when necessary, but for many employees, this means job insecurity, the feeling that they may not be in their job for long. The way that they are doing their job is discussed at performance reviews: Regular meetings with their manager.
Note: You say freelancers or freelances


D. losing your job
If you do something wrong, you are---(dismissed, fired, sacked, terminated)
If you've done nothing wrong, you are---(laid off, made redundant, offered early retirement)
Employees who are made redundant may get advice about finding another job, retraining, etc. This is called outplacement advice.


Over to you
If you work---
Do you have performance reviews? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Has your organization been restructured? What aspects of the business does your company outsource?
If you don't work---
Would you prefer a job for life or a more flexible career? Would you like regular performance reviews?

 

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回复: 让基础职场词汇成为你的“嫡系”（欢迎全程参与互动）

互动模拟练习： （欢迎各位指正）
Most companies have performance reviews on their employees. The results of reviews contribute directly to the decision of human resources. Some staff may get promotion and others may be laid off, made redundant or offered early retirement. People's views on performance reviews vary from person to person. Most of them are for it, but I don't seem to agree. I think performance reviews shows no respect to staff.we should construct and develop believe system. All the managers should do are just trust your subordinates and let them go for work.

 

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[FONT=微软雅黑]8.Problems at work[/FONT]
[FONT=微软雅黑]A. Health and safety[/FONT]
Here are some health and safety issues for people at work.
a. temperature
b. passive smoking
c. repetitive strain injury or RSI（重复性操作伤害）
d. dangerous machinery
e. hazardous substances
f. fire hazards

All these things contribute to a bad working environment. The government sends officals called health and safety inspectors to make sure that factories and offices are safe places to work. They check what companies are doing about things like:
g. heating and air-conditioning
h. first aid
i. fire precautions


B. Bullying and harassment
If someone such as a manager bullies an employee, they use their position of power to hurt or threaten them, for example verbally. Someone who does this is a bully.
Sexual harassment is when an employee behaves sexually towards another in a way that they find unwelcome and unacceptable. The related verb is harass.


C. Discrimination
If people are treated differently from others in an unfair way, they are discriminated against.
If a woman is unfairly treated just because she is a woman, she is a victim of sex discrimination. In many organizations, women complain about the glass ceiling that allows them to get to a particular level but no further.
If someone is treated unfairly because of their race, they are a victim of racial discrimination or racism. Offensive remarks about someone's race are racist and the person making them is a racist.
In the US, affirmative action is when help is given in education and employment to groups who were previously discriminated against. In Britain, affirmative action is known as equal opportunities.
Some companies have a dignity at work policy covering all the issues described in B and C.


Over to you
What are the main health and safety issues in your job, or a job that you would like to do?

 

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回复: 让基础职场词汇成为你的“嫡系”（欢迎全程参与互动）

互动模拟练习： （欢迎各位指正）

The main health and safety issues in my job are passive smoking and fire hazards. Lots of people hate smoking, but they tend to have to face passive smoking in daily work. When it comes to fire hazards, We always think fire precautions are not our business. Actually, That's totally wrong.

 

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9.Managers, executives and directors
[FONT=微软雅黑]A. Managers and executives:UK[/FONT]
the top position: chairman/chairwoman; chief executive/managing director; non-executive dircetors
senior executives/top executives/executive directors: chief financial officer/finance director; marketing director; human resources director; IT director; research director
middle managers: accounts department manager; sales manager; customer services manager
line managers(in branches)


All the directors together are the board. They meet in the boardroom.
Non-executive directors are not managers of the company; they are outsiders, often directors of other companies who have particular knowledge of the industy or of particular areas.
The marketing director is the head of marketing, the IT director is the head of IT, etc. These people head or head up their departments. Informally, the head of an activity, a department or an organization is its boss.
An executive or, informally, an exec, is usually a manager at quite a high level (for example, a senior executive).


Note: "executive" can be used in other contexts to suggest luxury, as in "executive coach" and "executive home", even for things that are not actually used by executive.


B. Managers and executives: US
the top position: president; chief executive officer(CEO); chief operating officer(COO); non-executive directors
senior executives/ top executives/executive directors: chief financial(CFO); vice president (VP) marketing; vice president(VP) human resources; vice president (VP) research
In the US, the top position may be that of chairman, chairwoman or president. This job is often combined with the position of chief executive officer or CEO. Some companies have a chief operating officer to take care of the day-to-day running of the company. The finance dircetor may be called the chief financial officer.
In the US, senior managers in charge of particular areas are often called vice presidents(VPs)


Over to you
If you work---
Draw an organigram of your organization.
If you don't work---
Who are the most famous bosses in your country? Which companies do they head?

 

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回复: 让基础职场词汇成为你的“嫡系”（欢迎全程参与互动）

[FONT=微软雅黑]10.Businesspeople and business leaders[/FONT]
[FONT=微软雅黑]A. Businesspeople and entrepreneurs[/FONT]
A businessman, businesswoman or businessperson is someone who works in their own business or as a manager in an organization.
Note: The plural of businessperson is businesspeople. Businessperson and businesspeople can also be spelled as two words: business person, business people.
An entrepreneur is someone who starts or founds or establishes their own company. Someone who starts a company is its founder. An entrepreneur may found a series of companies or start-ups. Entrepreneurial is used in a positive way to describe the risk-taking people who do this, and their activities. Some entrepreneurs leave the companies they found, perhaps going on to found more companies. Others may stay to develop and grow their businesses.

Note: Found is a regular verb. Past tense and past participle: founded.
Establishment can also describe an action (e.g. the establishment of a successful business was his main aim in life).
Some English speakers believe it is not correct to use grow as a transitive verb in this context.


B. Leaders and leadership
A large company mainly owned by one person or family is a business empire. Successful businesspeople, especially heads of large organizations, are business leaders or, in journalistic terms, captains of industry.
There is a lot of discussion about whether people like this are born with leadership skills, or whether such skills can be learned.


C. Magnates, moguls and tycoons
People in charge of big business empires may be referred to, especially by journalists, as magnates, moguls or tycoons. These words often occur in combinations such as these:
magnate: media, press, shipping, oil
mogul: movie, media, shipping
tycoon: property, software


Over to you
Who are your country's most famous entrepreneurs? What are they famous for? In your opinion, are business leaders born or made?

 

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11.Organizations 1
A. Business and businesses
Business is the activity of producing, buying and selling goods and services. A business, company, firm or more formally, a concern, sells goods or services. Large companies considered together are referred to as big business.
A company may be called an enterprise, especially to emphasize its risk-taking nature.
Businesses vary in size, from the self-employed person working alone, through the small or medium enterprise (SME) to the large multinational with activities in several countries.
A large company, especially in the US, is a corporation. The adjective, corporate, is often used in these combinations:
corporate culture; corporate headquarters; corporate image; corporate ladder; corporate logo; corporate profits


B. Commerce
Commerce is used to refer to business:
1. in relation to other fields: "literature, politics and commerce"
2. in relation to government departments that deal with business: the US Department of commerce.
3. in the names of organizations which help business: chambers of commerce.
4. on the Internet: electronic commerce or e-commerce.
The adjective commercial describes money-making business activities:
1. commercial airline
2. commercial artist
3. commercial television
4. commercial disaster
5. commercial land

Note: You can't say a commence.

11.Organizations 1
C. Enterprise
In 1970s Britain, there were state-owned or government-owned companies in many different industries such as car manufacturing and air travel. Some industries had been nationalized and were entirely state-owned, such as goal, electricity and telephone services. In the 1980s, the government believed that nationalized companies were bureaucratic and inefficient, and many of them were privatized and sold to investors.
Enterprise is used in a positive way to talk about business, emphasizing the use of money to take risks.


D. Word combinations with "enterprise"
1. free (private) enterprise: business activity owned by individuals, rather than the state
2. enterprise culture: an atmosphere which encourages people to make money through their own activities and not rely on the government
3. enterprise economy: an economy where there is an enterprise culture
4. enterprise zone: part of a country where business is encouraged because there are fewer laws, lower taxes, etc


Over to you
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 the public sector, and which are in the private sector? Which have been privated?
1. bus transport; 2. ecectricity supply; 3. postal services; 4. rail transport; 5. telephone services; 6. water supply

 

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12.Organization 2
[FONT=微软雅黑]A. Self-employed people and partnerships[/FONT]
I'm a freelance graphic designer, a freelancer. That means I work for myself-----I'm self-employed. To use the official term, I'm a sole trader.
Note: You usually describe people such as designers and journalists as freelancers, and people such as builders and plumbers as self-employed.
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.


B. limited liability
1. I'm the managing director and main sharehold 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.


2. 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.


3. I'm CEO of Bigbucks Inc. "Inc" stands for Incorporated. This shows that we are a corporation, a term used especially in the US for companies with limited liability.


C. 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.


D. 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 donate money to the organization in the form of donations.


Over to you
Is self-employment common in your country? Does the government encourage it? Name some mutual companies. What sort of reputation do they have? Are charities important? Which are the most active in your country?

 

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13.Manufacturing and services
[FONT=微软雅黑]A. Industry[/FONT]
Industry (uncountable) is the production of materials and goods. The related adjective is industrial. An industry (countable) is a particular type of business activity, not necessarily production.


B. Manufacturing---
Here are some of the manufacturing industries that make up the manufacturing sector:
aerospace: planes and space vehicles
cars(BrE), automobiles(AmE): cars
computer hardware: computers, printers, etc.
construction: buildings
defence(BrE), Defense(AmE): arms, weapons
food processing: canned, frozen foods, etc
household goods: washing machines, refrigerators, etc
pharmaceuticals: medicines
steel: a stronger, more useful, metal than iron
textiles: cloth and clothes


---and services
Here are some of the services or service industries that make up the service sector:
catering: restaurants, bars, etc.
computer software: programs for computers
financial services: banking, insurance, etc
healthcare: medical care
leisure: sport, theme parks, etc.
media: books, newspapers, film, television
property(BrE): buying, selling and managing buildings
retail: shops
telecommunications: phone, Internet services
tourism: travel and holidays


Note: You use all these words in front of "industry" to talk about particular industries, but you usually drop the 's' from 'cars', 'automobiles', 'pharmaceuticals' and 'textiles': 'the automobile industry'.


C. Countries and their industries
Here is how industry has developed in South Korea:
1. In 1950, South Korea was a poor country, with most people living and working on the land. The government decided to industrialize, and the new emerging industries were textiles, and heavy industries like steel and shipbuilding.
2. Then South Korea turned more and more to light industries like electronics, making ecectrical goods such as televisions cheaply. It also started producing cars.
3. South Korea moved into specialized electronics in the 80s. This was the one of the growth industries of the 1990s: making specialized parts for computers and telecommunications equipment.


Over to you
Is your organization, or one you would like to work for, in manufacturing or services or a combination of both?
Where are industries in your country based? Are companies in different industries grouped in different areas?

 

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[FONT=微软雅黑]14.The development process[/FONT]
[FONT=微软雅黑]A. Market research[/FONT]
The original concept is the basic idea for something. In designing products and services, market research--finding out what people want - is of course very important. This may involve questionnaires or surveys, with questions about what people buy and why, perhaps with interviews in the street or by telephone.
There may be consumer panels and focus groups, where ondinary people meet to discuss product ideas informally. Perhaps the researchers will make sales froecasts, estimates of how many products will be sold.


B. Development and launch
In software, developers often produce a final test version, the beta version, where users are asked to point out bugs (problems) before the software is finalized.
Car designers use CADCAM (computer-assisted design/computer-assisted manufacturing) to help develop and make products and test different prototypes.
Researchers in laboratories may take years to develop new drugs, testing or trialling them in trials to show not only that they are effective, but also that they are safe. Drugs need to be made on an industrial scale before they can be sold.
Rollout is the process of making a product available, perhaps in particular places, to test reaction.
Product launch is the moment when the product is officially made available for sale. This is the 'big moment'.
If a design defect or design fault is found in a product after it has been launched, the company may have to recall it, asking those who have bought it to return it, perhaps so that the defect can be corrected.


Over to you
What sort of market research does your company, or one you would like to work for, do?
Have you ever taken part in market research as a consumer?

 

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[FONT=微软雅黑]15.Innovation and invention[/FONT]
[FONT=微软雅黑]A. Innovation and invention[/FONT]
design: to make plans or drawings for how something is to be made
develop: to make a new idea successful, for example by making or improving a product
innovate: to think of new ideas, methods, products, etc
invent: to design and make something for the first time
technology: the practical or industial use of scicentific discoveries


B. Research and technology
Hi, I'm Ray and I'm head of product development at lightning Technologies. Lightning makes semiconductors, the components at the heart of every computer. I'm in charge of research and development (R&D) at our research certre just outside Boston. Our laboratories are some of the most innovative in the computer industry, and we have made many new discoveries and breakthroughs.
I love technology, using scientific knowledge for parctical purposes. The technology of semicnoductors is fascinating. We are at the cutting edge or leading edge of semiconductor technology: none of our competitors has better products than us. Everything we do is state-of-the-art, using the most advanced techniques available.
Of course, the hi-tech products of today become the low-tech products of tomorrow. Products that are no longer up-to-date because they use old technology are obsolete. It's my job to make sure that lightning's products never get into that situation.
(BrE: research centre; AmE: research center)


C. Patents and intellectual property
Information or knowledge that belongs to an individual or company in proprietary. A product developed using such information may be protected in law by patents so that others cannot copy its design.
Other companies may pay to use the design under licence in their own products. These payments are royalties.
In publishing, if a text, picture, etc. is copyright, it cannot be used by others without permission. Payments to the auther from the publisher are royalties.
The area of law relating to patents and copyright is intellectual property.


Over to you
For you, which is the most important invention of the last 100 years?
Which one do you wish had not been invented?

 

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16.Making things
A. Products
A product can be:
1. something natural；2.something made to be sold；3.a service.
Produce refers to agricultural procucts such as crops or fruit.
For example, you can buy fresh produce at a farmers' market.
Something that is made is produced or manufactured.
A country or company that produces something is a producer of it.
A company that manufactures something is a maker or manufacturer of manufactured goods.


B. Mass production
I'm Steve and I'm head of car production at a manufacturing plant. 'Plant' sounds more modern than factory or works. On the assembly line we mass-produce cars. The plant is highly automated: we use a lot of machinery. These machines are expensive to buy but very cost-effective -- we don't have to pay them wages! We use industrial robots. These robots are part of the CADCAM system of computer-assisted design and manufacturing.
My name's Luke. I have a little workshop where I produce funniture ordered by individual customers. We don't use machinery: the furniture is hand-made. Producing furniture like this is a craft industry. It's very labour-intensive: it takes a lot of work to produce each piece. Many people dislike the furniture that big companies churn out in large numbers on their production lines, so we have a lot of customers.


C. Capacity and output
Output is the number or type of things that a plant, company, industry or country produces.
Productivity is a measure of how much is produced in relation to the number of employees.
High output per employee = high productivity
The maximum amount that a particular plant, company or industry can produce is its capacity. If it is producing this amount, it is working at full capacity. If it is producing more than what is needed, there is overproduction or:
1. excess capacity; 2. overcapacity; 3.spare capacity; 4. surplus capacity
These expressions can also be used in service industries.
If far too many things are produced, there is a glut of these things. If not enough goods are being produced, there is a shortage.


Over to you
Are hand-made goods necessarily better than factory-made ones?
What about cars, clothes, computers and shoes?

 

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回复: 让基础职场词汇成为你的“嫡系”（欢迎全程参与互动）

收藏了！感谢楼主的热心！

 

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回复: 让基础职场词汇成为你的“嫡系”（欢迎全程参与互动）

收藏了！感谢楼主的热心！

客气！我坚持发帖也是让大家来监督我，给自己压力，否则很容易半途而废的！大家一起努力，加油！

 

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17.Materials and suppliers
[FONT=微软雅黑]A. Inputs[/FONT]
Dryden makes vacuum cleaners. It takes raw materials like steel and plastic and makes some of the components or parts used in its products.
Other components are made by other companies.
Materials and parts are just some of the inputs.
The others are labour (workers and managers) and capital (money). Knowledge is also important because Dryden is a leader in vacuum technology.
Vacuum cleaners that are being made are work-in-progress. At any one time, Dryden has goods worth millions of dollars in its factories and warehouses: the products that have been made - its finished goods - and materials and components.
Quantities of raw materials, components, work-in-progress and finished goods in a particular place are stocks.
Note: Goods is rarely used in the singular.
BrE: work-in-progress; AmE: work-in-process
BrE: stocks; AmE: inventories


B. Suppliers and outsourcing
Dryden receives materials and components from about 20 companies, its suppliers or partners.
The company is doing more subcontracting: using outside suppliers to provide components and services. In other words, it is outsourcing more, using outside suppliers for goods or services that were previously supplied in-house: within the company.


C. Just-in-time
Of course, it costs money to keep components and goods in stock: stocks have to be financed (paid for), stored (perhaps in special buildings: warehouses) and handled (moved from one place to another). So Dryden is asking its suppliers to provide components just-in-time, as and when they are needed.
This is part of lean production or lean manufacturing, making things efficiently: doing things as quickly and cheaply as possible, without waste.

Over to you
What are the advantages and disadvantages of: outsourcing? using outside suppliers? asking for components 'just in time'? lean production?

 

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18.Business philosophies

[FONT=微软雅黑]A. Total quality management[/FONT]
Tom Dryden, of Dryden Vacuum Cleaners, believes in quality: 'The specifications or specs of a product are exact instructions about its design, including its dimensions(size), how it is to be made, the materials to be used, etc. The objective of quality control is conformity to specifications, the idea that the product should be made exactly as it was intended, with zero defects: no faults at all. Things should be done right first time so we don't have to correct mistakes later in a process of reworking. We do spot checks every few minutes during production to ensure everything is going well.
We have a system of total quality management (TQM), including quality circles: groups of employees who meet regularly to suggest improvements.'


B. Continuous improvement
Ray, at Lightning Technologies:'We are always making small improvements or enhancements; this is continuous improvement. We refer to it by its Japanese name: Kaizen.'
Silvia Chavez, Aerolineas Latinas: ' We use continuous improvement in our service industry. We look carefully at the overall customer experience. In retailing, they use mystery shoppers, who pretend to be shoppers to check service in shops. We use "mystery travellers" to report on the standard of service in shops. We use "mystery travellers" to report on the standard of service before, during and after the flight.'


C. Benchmarking
Jim, production manager at an electricity power station in the UK: 'We use a system called benchmarking to compare our performance to other power stations. We're recently been to the US to see how the best power stations operate - best practice - and try to copy it. We've managed to halve the number of workers, and increase productivity.'


D. Business process re-engineering
Susanna, head of personal banking at an international bank: 'Business process re-engineering, or BPR, applies in sercice industries as well as in manufacturing. We didn't want to change existing things in small ways. We completely redesigned all our processes in management, administration and customer service. We eliminated three levels of management and installed a completely new computer system. The gains in productivity have been very good.'


Over to you
Do you try to continuously improve your own work? If so, in what ways?
In what ways does your company or the place where you study improve its efficiency?
What should it be doing?

 

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19. Buyers, sellers and the market
[FONT=微软雅黑][/FONT]
[FONT=微软雅黑]A. Customers and clients[/FONT]
People who buy 'everyday' services such as train travel or telephone services are called customers. You can also talk about the users or end-users of a product or service, who may not be the people who actually buy it. For example, when a company buys computers for its staff to use, the staff are the end-users.
People who buy products or services for their own use are consumers, especially when considered as members of large groups of people buying things in advanced economies.


B. Buyers and sellers
A person or organization that buys something is a buyer or purchaser. These words also describe someone in a company who is responsible for buying goods that the company uses or sells. These people are also buying managers or purchasing managers.
A person or organization that sells something is a seller. In some contexts, for example selling property, they are referred to as the vendor. People selling things in the street are street vendors.


C. The market
The market, the free market and market economy describe an economic system where prices, jobs, wages, etc. are not controlled by the governoment, but depend on what people want to buy and how much they are willing to pay.


D. Word combinations with 'market'
market forces (pressures): the way a market economy makes sellers produce what people want, at prices they are willing to pay
market place: producers and buyers in a particular market economy, and the way they behave
market prices: prices that people are willing to pay, rather than ones fixed by a government
market reforms: changes a government makes to an economy, so that it becomes more like a market economy
Note: Marketplace is written as a single word


Over to you
What goods or services does your company, or one you would like to work for, sell?
Does it sell to the public, or to other companies?

 

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20.Markets and competitors
[FONT=微软雅黑][/FONT]
[FONT=微软雅黑]A. Companies and markets[/FONT]
You can talk about people or organizations who buy particular goods or services as the market for them, as in the 'car market', 'the market for financial services', etc. Buyers and sellers of particular goods or services in a place, or those that might buy them, form a market.
If a company:
enters (penetrates) a market: it starts selling there for the first time.
abandons (gets out of, leaves) a market: it stops selling there.
dominates a market: it is the most important company selling there.
corners (monopolizes) a market: it is the only company selling there.
drives another company out of a market: it makes the other company leave the market, perhaps because it can no longer compete.


B. More word combinations with 'market'
'Market' is often used in these combinations:
market growth: In the late 1990s, Internet use was doubling every 100 days. Market growth was incredible.
market segment: Women are a particularly interesting target for the Volvo V70. They are an important market segment for Volvo.
market segmentation: The softco software company divides the software market into large companies, small companies, home office users, and leisure users. This is its market segmentation.
market share: Among UK supermarkets, Tesco sells more than any of the other chains. It has the highest market share.
market leader: Tesco is the market leader among UK supermarkets as it sells more than any of the other chains.


C. Competitors and competition
Companies or products in the same market are competitors or rivals. Competitors compete with each other to sell more, be more successful, etc.
The most important companies in a particular market are often referred to as key players.
Competition describes the activity of trying to sell more and be more successful. When competition is strong, you can say that it is intense, stiff, fierce or tough. If not, it may be described as low-key.
The competition refers to all the products,businesses, etc. competing in a particular situation, seen as a group.


Over to you
Talk about a market that you know, for example the market that your company, or a company you would like to work for, is in.

 

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21.Marketing and market orientation
[FONT=微软雅黑][/FONT]
[FONT=微软雅黑]A. Marketing[/FONT]
Marketing is the process of planning, designing, pricing, promoting and distributing ideas, goods and services, in order to satisfy customer needs, so as to make a profit.
Companies point out how the special characteristics or features of their products and services possess particular benefits that satisfy the needs of the people who buy them.
Non-profit organizations have other, social, goals, such as persuading people not to smoke, ot to give money to people in poor countries, but these organizations also use the techniques of marketing.
In some places, even organizations such as government departments are starting to take about, or at least think about their activities in terms of the marketing concept.


B. The four Ps
The four Ps are
product: deciding what to sell
price: deciding what prices to charge
place: deciding how it will be distributed and where people will buy it
promotion: deciding how the product will be supported with advertising, special activities, etc.
A fifth P which is sometimes added is packaging: all the materials used to protect and present a product before it is sold.
The four Ps are a useful summary of the marketing mix, the activities that you have to combine successfully in order to sell. The next four units look at these activities in detail.
To market a product is to make a plan based on this combination and put it into action. A marketer or marketeer is someone who works in this area.
(Marketer can also be used to describe an organization that sells particular goods or services.)


C. Market orientation
Marketers often talk about market orientation: the fact that everything they do is designed to meet the needs of the market. They may describe themselves as market-driven, market-led or market-oriented.


Over to you
Can a poor product be made successful by clever marketing techniques?
Can you think of any examples?