1、Explain why you brought one of the products. strong sense of brand loyalty reasonable price good after-sales service reliability of the product good and consistent quality user-friendly design good value for money in style What determines the price of a product? The price of a product is influenced
2、by the costs. 1 This is because firms have to charge a price which is greater than costs to make a profit. 2 However in the short run a firm may sell a product at a loss. This may be to gain market share or because the product is still at the introduction phase and has high research and launch costs
3、. 3 Overall it depends on whether we are considering a short or long term pricing policy. Firms may be willing to make a loss in the short run. It will also depend on the objectives of the firm. Some public sector organisations, e.g. may simply try to cover costs.Should firms train their employees?B
4、y training their employees firms may be able to increase their profits BECAUSE trained staff are likely to be more productive and make les mistakes. Employees might also be more motivated BECAUSE they might be able to undertake more interesting work and BECAUSE managers are showing that they value t
5、heir staff (which can satisfy their esteem needs). HOWEVER training costs money and is not always successful. It can also lead to a loss of production while staff are being trained. OVERALL, management will have to weigh up the potential benefits against the costs. If, for example, the firm has the
6、necessary resources, the training is relatively cheap and is likely to lead to significant increases in productivity and profitability the firm likely to invest in it. If, ON THE OTHER HAND, the firm lacks the necessary finance and staff already have the skills required then training is LESS LIKELY.
7、WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN?Selecting applicants for a job Working experience Personal qualitiesSample 1I choose topic A-what is important when selecting applicants for a job. As to this topic, as far as I am concerned, there are 3 things to consider.First, I think working experience is very important wh
8、en selecting applicants. Applicants who have already had the work experience in the relevant fields will learn the new job easier and quicker. And it will also save the company a lot of training fees if the applicant has related experience.Second, we must consider the personal qualities of the appli
9、cants, such as personality and health. Companies tend to employ people whose character fits a special job. For example, consulting company tends to employ applicant who is analytical and knowledgeable, but advertising agents like their employees to be energetic and creative.Third, I believe language
10、 is of great importance when selecting applicants. Nowadays, we do business with people from all over the world. Always we buy goods from Africa, and sell our electronic product to Europe; a foreign language especially English is needed if the company wants to expand to the world. Applicants who can
11、 speak one or more foreign languages will have a better chance to get the job.Sample 2As we all know, the criteria used by HR professionals in screening and selecting applicants normally include such factors as working experience, personal qualities and communicative skills.Firstly, we pay a lot of
12、attention to working experience of the applicant. A person with a solid record of related experience is more likely to fit in with a new company. Therefore he or she can be trusted to fulfill the tasks and solve the problems in a more professional and competent way.In addition to this, we also look
13、at the personal qualities of the applicant. Does he or she has integrity, perseverance or can do spirit? Surely any organization can benefit from the reliability, devotion and enthusiam of its employees.Finally, good communicative skills such as interpersonal skills and team spirit are also becoming
14、 an important precondition in selecting qualified employees.WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN?Preparing for a job interview Studying the job advertisement Finding out about the companyBefore you go for an interview, you must make preparations so as to face the interviewer with more confidence. They include stu
15、dying the job advertisement, finding out about the company, preparing yourself psychologically, etc.Firstly, you should study the job advertisement carefully so that you can match your knowledge, skills and abilities with the specifications required for the post. You must assure the interviewer that
16、 you have all the qualifications required, so you are the right sort of person they are looking for.Secondly, you should know more about the company, such as its profile, structure, existing problems, requirements, campaigns and future plans. As a Chinese saying goes: “know the opponent and know you
17、rself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat.”Finally, you should also prepare yourself psychologically and this will help you combat stress. Rehearsing the interview with your friends, for example, is a good relaxation exercise that can install confidence in you.WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN?
18、MANAGING A PROJECT ENCOURAGING TEAMWORK KEEPING TO SCHEDULE WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN?CHOOSING PEOPLE TO WORK IN TEAMS VARIETY OF EXPERIENCE PERSONAL QUALITIESExplain the importance of team work:a. Teamwork reflects the combined experiences, knowledge, intelligence and views of a group of people, so it
19、 will definitely improve the quality and efficiency of the work.b. If the participants worked together, it would be easy for them to come up with creative ideas. This is particularly valuable for a relatively complex work, for the people working in a team, if one of them gets stuck on a matter, othe
20、rs/the rest could chip in their ideas and get the problem sorted. But if you work on your own, for instance, you are the sole manager in the department.c. If people did not work as a team, everyone would have to wait for the decisions made by the manager and it was not easy to get people to take on
21、responsibility for anything.d. A huge and complicated project is not possible to be completed/done by merely one person. For instance, 3 Gorges project-a huge amount of money, 30 million people have to emigrate to elsewhere, a lot of commercial contractse. You will get bored quickly if you work on y
22、ou own. But if you work in a teamf. Working in a team can increase personal awareness of abilities and complementary skills in colleague.How to improve teamwork:General ideas; friendly atmosphere; not bossy; patient; good manners; modest; leadership; good interpersonal skills; variety of experiencea
23、. Variety of experience and a broad horizon would help to tackle urgent matters and establish his or her personal prestige. Well-experienced staff are capable of overcoming storms and crises.b. On coming across problematic issues, new or inexperienced staff usually will feel depressed and even start
24、 to panic. One or a number of experienced staff will, in this kind of situation, automatically become the spiritual leaders of the team and can get the issues in question solved quickly. c. A wide range of experiences are important to a team member, because you never know what kind of problems might
25、 suddenly come up to you. Experiences in different fields will enhance the chance of successfully sorting out the problem with your knowledge which is based on your past experience.Personal qualities:a. The basis of the team work is mutual trust and friendly atmosphereb. Good manners, not too bossy,
26、 patient, modest, leadership, good interpersonal skills.WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN?MANAGING A PROJECT ENCOURAGING TEAMWORK KEEPING TO SCHEDULEKey points: Team work, time pressure (keeping to the schedule)Team work: as explained in the teamwork sectionTime pressure:a. A well-designed schedule can clarify
27、 yourself to the project. You should ensure that you would be running before the schedule rather than after it. b. Time is always of essence for a project.c. Failure to keep to the schedule will result in/cause late completion.d. Late completion will lead to: civil litigation, injured party will bec
28、ome entitled to claim compensation/entitled to sue the breaching company.e. When the project is being processed/in the course of carrying out the project, there will be a lot of commercial activities involved. Such as investment banks advance cash; raw material supply, planning permission, sub-contr
29、act/outsource. Failure to stick to the schedule will affect above matters.WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN?DEALING WITH COMPETITION PRICING POLICIES ADVERTISING STRATEGIESWHAT IS IMORTANT WHEN?SETTING PRICES FOR NEW PRODUCTS PRODUCTION COSTS COMPETIORS PRICESKey points: Pricing; Advertising; Production costs;
30、 Competitors price; Marketing; a wide range of services and productsPricing:a. (For a consumer): all consumers would like to go for higher quality and less expensive products. It is a common sense.b. (For a manager): correct pricing policies can capture a large number of consumers in a short period
31、of time.c. For a newly established company: correct pricing policies are particularly important for newly established businesses. The major task for them at the early stage is to draw the public attention and make their company and their brand known to the public. When a new product is put into mark
32、et, there may be very few people knowing/who know about it(e.g.Thai curry source)Competitors price:a. Once a new product is put into market, it will immediately face the competition from rivals. The price war sometimes can be incredibly fierce and crude.b. Competitors price will mirror the consumers
33、 attitude about certain products and the satisfaction about their prices.c. If you fixed the price higher than your rivals without higher quality of service, you might soon find yourself in an unfavorable situation.d. Correct pricing policies could also defeat some competitors in a short period of t
34、ime. For example: Safeway, Tesco price war against all small bread manufactures. In this case, Safeway and Tesco fixed their price for 7p per loaf, which is 23p cheaper than their competitors offer. As a result of this, in 35 days time, most of their competitors went into liquidation.Advertising str
35、ategies:a. The fundamental task for a company is to make its products and itself known to the public. There are many ways to achieve this, advertising is the most important one. b. Advertising through different media can cover nearly every corner in the world. The main channels are:-TV-Radio-Interne
36、t-Newspaper-Bill Board-Poster-Magazinec. The advantage/point of advertising is not only about propagandizing your company but also competing against/with your rivals. A company, through proper advertisements, can manage to introduce the advantages of their products comparing to their rivals, and the
37、refore convince the consumers that their products would be the right choice. For instance, Car manufactures can put in their new designs to the ads, e.g. ABS, double airbags to convince the prospective customers that their cars are safer than others.WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN?MOTIVATING STAFF FINANCIAL
38、BENEFITS CAREER DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIESWHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN? INTRODUCING A REWARD SYSTEM FOR STAFF PURPOSE OF THE REWARD SYSTEM TYPES OF REWARD OFFEREDWHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN?AIMING TO REDUCE STAFF TURNOVER FINANCIAL INCENTIVES CAREER STRUCTUREKey points: Financial benefits; Career development/st
39、ructure; reduce staff turnoverFinancial Benefits:a. Managers, company owners and supervisors have always been frustrated and bewildered by employees with little or no motivation.b. Staff always want reward for their contribution to the company and what they are worth. Such factors are just like mark
40、et forces. The fundamental reason of looking for a job is to get pay. Staff do the job what they are paid for. However, quite often, the staff work overtime under their managers demand. If the company fails to give proper financial benefits staff might subsequently feel not being fairly treated, and
41、 therefore frustrate their enthusiasm for their work. c. Staff want some sort of recognition for the job that they do. Correct financial benefits plan will arouse their enthusiasm; otherwise they would feel being ignored. d. The job that the staff are doing is not always interesting, or the working
42、environment may not be pleasant, or their colleagues might not be very helpful and cooperative. In this kind of situation/under the kind of circumstance, the staff would become stressful and uninterested in their job. Correct financial benefits can normally distract staff from their dissatisfaction
43、with.Career development/structure:a. Job-hunting is always a two-way process. On one hand, the employees look for their ideal jobs, on the other hand the employer, at the same time, look for competitive people. An employer has a number of methods to attract the best people into its business. Such as
44、 high pay, traveling opportunities, company cars and training/career development opportunities.b. Good educational background is not the only element that the future employers will take into account when they look for someone in the job market. Postgraduate qualifications and professional trainings
45、are equally or even more important than the higher education degrees. When the HR managers only have 30 seconds to go through each applicants CV, the sector that will catch their eyes are normally your qualification and professional training experiences, which show whether you suit their vacant posi
46、tions.c. Nowadays, very few people would like to go for that kind of job-for-life posts. They all wish to have their jobs better and better. If an employee is able to get the opportunities to obtain some sort of professional training during the course of employment, this experience will definitely e
47、nhance his value in the employment market and therefore benefits his future job-hunting.d. So in the two-way job-seeking process, while the employer is choosing its favorite people, the wise future employee will consider the training and career development opportunities with his/her future employer
48、and try to make himself/herself more competitive in the employment market.WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN?RELOCATION A BUSINESS LOCAL WORKFORCE AVAILABLE LOCATION OF SITEWHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN?CHOOSING RETAIL PREMISES TO RENT LOCATION LENGTH OF CONTRACTKey points: location of the premises; local workforce; r
49、ent a premisesLocal workforce:a. Might technology support and skilful workforce are the two crucial elements leading a modern enterprises to success. So when locating a business, the management people in the business got to consider local workforce.b. Skilful workers are just like the hands of a business, they are the direct creators of companys profits. c. The diversity of the workforces skills will diversify the quality of the products. (Swiss watch, Volkswagen cars)d. Skilful workforce is particularly important to hi-tech oriente
