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7/29/2019 MK Engleza Seminar
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COMUNICARE N AFACERILIMBA ENGLEZ
SEMINAR
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CUPRINS
SEMESTRUL I
1. Grammar in Context ....................................................................... 5
2. Cultural Approaches concerning ................................................... 13
3. The European Union Democracy/ Global Business Relations .. 18
4. Microeconomic Terms ................................................................... 27
5. Banking Terms and Notions .......................................................... 35
6. Adjective Intensifiers ..................................................................... 47
7. Marketing Campaigns.................................................................... 53
SEMESTRUL II
8. Styles in Written Communication ................................................. 59
9. The Memorandum, The Report ..................................................... 69
10. Guidelines for writing business documents ................................ 78
11. The Pronoun and qualifying expressions .................................... 85
12. The contract: - types .................................................................... 94
13. Whos Who in economics .......................................................... 103
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SEMESTRUL I
1. Grammar in Context
1.1. Communicative Situations
It is difficult to come to an understanding unless one has a grasp
of the full complexity of language, and hence of language learning.
Language is multifaceted to the extent that human activity is various.
There is an enormous variety of walks of life/occupations/lifestyles,
each of which has its own language and cultural setting. We may
divide the walks of life/occupations/lifestyles into two categories:
those that are common to everybody and those that are concerned with
specialized topics familiar only to a few.
Obviously, those walks of life/occupations/lifestyles that are
common to many people are concerned with everyday existence.
Examples of these universal topics are socializing, shopping,
travelling, eating out, telephoning friends, greetings and introductions,
and reading newspapers. So, when one learns a language, one must beexposed to linguistic items relating to these universal topics.
Yet in addition to such topics, there is an enormous range of
specialized topics that are of significant importance only to sections of
the population. Examples of these are as follows: sports, hobbies and
interests, business, banking and finance, medicine, academics, literary
criticism, travel and tourism, biology, chemistry, physics, agriculture
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and law or military matters. The list is endless. The extent to which an
individual will need language pertaining to any of these specific topics
depends upon how important the topic is to him in his everyday life. If
the topic is not at all important for him, there is no need for him to
know any of the linguistic items pertaining to it. At the other end of
the scale, when we reach the stage at which any topic constitutes an
individual's profession, it becomes crucial that he have a mastery of
the specialized language pertaining to it.
Each topic will contain certain tasks, specific to it, which an
individual will need to accomplish and which require him to use
language. Here are some examples taken from different fields:
- University Professor: - Giving lectures, participating inseminars, reading and writing papers for publication, reading and
writing books, discussing academic topics with students and
conducting examinations, oral and written.
- Businessman/businessperson/executive: -Giving presentations,negotiating, participating in meetings, writing reports, press releases,
letters, faxes and memos, telephoning, note taking, socializing and
entertaining.
- Research Scientist: - Writing the results of experiments,writing reports on the significance of the results, giving presentations,
participating in seminars, reading recent research.
- Army Professional: Training soldiers, discussing strategiesand tactics, giving instructions, writing reports, giving interviews to
the press
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These lists are quite general in scope. It is possible, and
desirable, to define the fields of expertise more specifically so that the
accompanying tasks can be defined precisely. In addition, each
defined task should be divided into its various subtasks, so that the
linguistic items to be learned may be identified more easily. In
general, we may state the situation as follows. Human life, and hence
human language, is concerned with many and various topics. Each
topic requires certain communicative tasks to be performed, and these
tasks require mastery of certain task-based skills. Such skills are:
reading and writing texts of various styles, register and lengths,
listening in various styles, accents and registers, speaking
appropriately in a variety of contexts including socializing,
negotiating, interviewing, presenting information and pronouncing
material in a clear and culturally acceptable way. People who are
engaged in different activities need to master different skills.
In order to acquire the desired skills, a range of linguistic items
specific to each skill must be mastered.
- Specialized vocabulary: Each field will have vocabulary,which is special to it. Some of the words may have meanings specific
to the field, different from their meanings in everyday life.
- Register: Basically, register is concerned with the levels ofpoliteness and formality to be found in language and the attitudes or
values conveyed by certain words and phrases. Within each field,
there will be specific registers to be learned. Speaking and writing in
different social and cultural contexts require language with differentlevels of formality and politeness. Register is very complex and highly
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developed in English and includes not only certain forms of
grammatical structure, but specific kinds of vocabulary. Using even a
single word inappropriately can have disastrous consequences.
- Functions: Each field will have different linguistic functions,which need to be performed, such as apologizing, complaining,
introducing, requesting, refusing requests and making suggestions.
Each function may be performed in different registers.
- Structures: Certain tasks require certain structures much morethan others. For example, a mastery of the various forms of
conditional sentence is essential for writing philosophy, but is hardly
needed at all for writing personal letters.
Different human activities require different communication
skills, which in turn require mastery of specific linguistic items.
Within this broad definition, we may identify two central areas:
content and methodology.
So, for instance, a course in English for Business Purposes will
be concerned with developing all of the linguistic skills, which are
required in order to function at a professional level in the world of
international business. For some people, even a course entitled
"English for Business Purposes" will prove to have too broad a scope
and for them, a course designed for their specialization within the field
of business will be appropriate, for instance in Advertising,
Accounting, Marketing or Human Resources.
In general, we may say that learning should take place in
contexts that are as authentic as possible and content-based. Therequirement of authenticity means that learning materials should use
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actual texts produced by people working in the field under
consideration. For instance, a class on how to write business reports
should use good examples of reports produced by actual
businessmen/businesspersons/executives. A class devoted to the oral
skills needed to function in the currency exchange market should use,
as listening materials, recordings of conversations carried out on the
telephone by actual dealers. The requirement that the learning
materials be content-based means that they should focus on specific
problems that people are likely to encounter in their everyday working
lives. For instance, to develop fluency in a course on negotiating, a
case study, which presents a real negotiating situation-, faced by
actual companies or in specific military, police or community
departments- could be used.
The extent of the authenticity of the learning materials will vary
depending upon two related factors: the language level of the trainees
and the degree of linguistic complexity of the skills presented and
practiced. If the language level is low, then perforce the degree of
authenticity will be compromised. As the language level increases, the
degree of authenticity becomes greater.
Romanian people have a very specific way of discussing things.
If you are brought up with it, you see no problem. However, in terms
of strategies for communication in Business English, the Romanian
way may be ineffective.
It is over direct and often could be received as an abusive one.
Therefore, I decided to investigate the case and find some solution.
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Unfortunately, there was absolutely no data and no descriptive
evaluation of Romanian strategies for communication.
Searching libraries, I came across Intercultural Communication
- a Discourse Approach by Scollon and Scollon. It focuses on
professional communication in a cross-cultural context and
emphasises the importance of proper meaning interpretation. Briefly,
Scollon and Scollon suggest that in most cases, a sudden breach of
any kind of professional communication could be owed to the
misinterpretation of signals, verbal messages and gestures particular to
a given culture. Therefore, they believe that to eliminate or lower the
risk of a breach, professional students should be informed about
potential problems and sensitised to peculiarities of an alien code of
practice. Nevertheless, it is virtually impossible to predict every
professional problem, one might say. To solve this problem, the
authors suggest a skeleton for situation-context analysis Grammar of
Context.
The main purpose of Grammar of Context is to analyze and
describe the environment in which a communicative situation occurs.
It takes into consideration the following factors:
1. Scene - participants expectations in terms of location andcommunication content ( what information should be used and how)
2. Key - participants expectations of the communication tone(formal / informal)
3. Participants - their status; relationship with each other4.
Message Form - whether it is speaking, writing, or other
media
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5. Manifestation - deals with the way members of a particulargroup find out about a code of practice; whether it is explicit a
companys statute // regulation, or tacit common knowledge,
traditional behaviour
LOL-speak, fractured grammar, and emoticons are all finding
their way into the college essays of Canadian students with increasing
and disturbing frequencies, if a report in that nation's popular press is
to be believed. Entitled "Students failing because of Twitter, texting,"
the report is based in part on the failure rate of an English language
exam administered by the prestigious University of Waterloo in
Ontario. The failure rate has now approached one third, up from 25
percent a few years ago, and a University administrator blames failure
of basic grammar.
Emoticons and textspeak have apparently made their way into
these exams, and the administrators are horrified. All of which flies in
the face of some research that's only a few years old, which suggests
that teens who are heavy texters actually have a reasonable grasp of
grammar. One of those studies, in fact, was performed with Canadian
teens, some of whom have probably made their way to college in the
intervening years.
Although it would be tempting to ascribe the apparent
differences to those between anecdote (in the form of college English
exam scores) and formalized studies, the differences may really be a
matter of what's being measured. The earlier studies focused on howthe students were expressing themselves, and focused on the
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complexity of the communications; these came through despite what
our report termed "informal diction and bizarre acronyms." It's
precisely that informal diction, like replacing "because" with "cuz"
and merging "a lot" into a single word, that's grating on college
administrators. At the same time, liberated from the tyranny of
character limits, students are apparently sprinkling commas liberally
throughout the text.
Thus, it looks like students are retaining the ability to express
themselves in rich terms, but are either incapable of recognizing when
to adopt formal usage, or incapable of doing so when necessary.
Either of those should be easier to fix than an inability to express ideas
through text. Of course, given the historical evolvability of the English
language, chances seem good that the teens won't so much fix the
problem as force those with higher expectations to meet them
halfway.
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2. Cultural Approaches concerning
2.1. Time, being late
2.2. Team Work, Difficult People/Situations
What is your cultural approach to the following aspects?
Answer the following questions:
1. Time Do you tolerate being late - If yes, how much?2. Eye contact Is it important for a communicative event? Do
you need to maintain it? If yes, for how long?
3. Small Talk Do you use it? Do you think it is important?What is your personal attitude to it?
4. Silence How do you understand silence? Is it meaningful?5. Teams Is it natural for you to work in teams?6. Difficult people & situations
- What is your way of dealing with interruptions and difficult
people?
Business English serves the role of a medium for a corporate
communication; it is used and influenced by different cultures.
Therefore, by raising cultural awareness we help improve both the
language and the working relationships.
Informal communication is vital for achieving certain types of
work-related tasks. Research on scientific collaboration has shown
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that physical distance is the strongest predictor of collaboration
between researchers. Physical proximity promotes frequent,
impromptu face-to-face communications, which are crucial for the
planning and negotiation phases of projects. Work on software
development also has demonstrated that the degree to which project
workers engage in interpersonal communication strongly predicts
project success. Furthermore, other work has shown negative impacts
on teamwork when opportunities for ad hoc communication are
reduced, as in remote collaboration. Work becomes more difficult to
coordinate and advance despite the use of longer and more task-
focused meetings in remote settings. Sociological studies of
organizational life stress the primary role of mundane office
conversations in helping workers learn, understand, adapt, and apply
formal procedures and processes.[]
Despite research from various disciplines showing the value of
informal interactions, evidence indicates that people in the workplace
do not recognize its value. Kraut & Streeter (1995) found impromptu
communication is under-utilized compared with its value, whereas
formal communication techniques are overused relative to their value.
Our own preliminary evidence supports this result. In a series of
interviews with a dozen employees in a Fortune 500 U.S. corporation,
we found that although people reported gaining most of their work-
related news and information from informal interactions, those same
people said they used almost exclusively formal approaches to convey
information to other parts of the company. Most commonly, theyreported their information to a high-level management group and
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asked that they pass the information down the hierarchy in their staff
meetings. In many cases, they wrote a document to convey
information and either gave it to managers to give to their employees,
or made it available to employees directly (in email, mailings to the
home, or by publishing it on the company's internal World Wide Web
pages). Some also gave formal presentations to supplement the
document. When we asked information disseminators if they had
considered spreading their information through word of mouth, they
either had not thought of it or did not trust it. They were concerned
that information passed informally would be distorted and
misinterpreted and might not become available to all the intended
recipients.
Say whether the statements below it are true (T) or false (F).
Read the part that has helped you choose your answer:
The farther they are from each other, the more effectivelyscientists can cooperate.
Sometimes interpersonal communication makes it difficult forthe team to concentrate on their specific tasks.
Corporate workers should be discouraged from engaging inroutine conversation during office hours.
Unfortunately, only sociologists recognize the value ofinterpersonal communication.
Researchers interviewed dozens of employees in 500 U.S.corporations.
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The employees used to find out about the latest projects anddevelopments within the firm most of the time by talking to their
colleagues.
To communicate effectively you need to be familiar with the
process and the variables involved. The basic communication
process includes a source, a message, a channel and a receiver.
The source isyou, including your communication skills, your attitudes
and your purpose, as well as your knowledge of the subject, your
audience, and the context in which you are communicating.
Themessage includes the code or language you are using as well
as the messages treatment, that is, what content is selected and how it
is organized. You can think of thechannelas both the senses and the
medium of communication used. For instance, seeing and hearing, are
the senses variously involved in reading the printed page, listening to
a tape, or speaker, watching TV, video. Generally, the more channels
we use, that is, the more senses we stimulate, the more effective the
communication. Keep Marshall McLuhans aphorism "the medium is
the message" in mind. McLuhan overstates his point but, by affecting
different senses and thus our perception of reality, the media or
technology used can itself influence the message we receive and how
we respond to it. Recall that radio and print reports of the Ethiopian
drought and famine a few years ago were largely ignored. We really
did not receive the message until it was conveyed through photos and
TV video footage.
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Receivers are the final link in the communication process. They
must accurately receive and decipher your message. How well your
audience understands the message you intend will depend on not only
the previous factors, but also their own knowledge, attitudes and
context.
The process of communication is on going and dynamic, is
irreversible, requires perception of meaning, and occurs in a
situational context. There are many barriers to effective, accurate
communication. These can be mechanical, involve differing
perceptions or values (not having the same understandings), or be a
matter of semantics, that is, the use of words, images, or examples that
are beyond the receivers intellectual or cultural ability to understand.
Non-communication is not possible. Every word, every gesture
communicates something to the receivers, to your audience. In
addition, once communicated, they cannot be retracted. You want to
communicate your intended message and enhance your professional
reputation. You do not want to be remembered for a lacklustre
presentation and a garbled message. First impressions are difficult to
overcome!
Communicating well benefits you, your audience, and society as
a whole. Thinking about communication as a process is useful
because it helps explain why we must establish the purpose and goals
of our message, why we need to know our audience, what media we
select, what meaning is perceived, and more.
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3. The European Union Democracy/ Global Business
Relations
3.1. Human Rights,Disctimination, Social Assistance
A worldwide economic recession in the early 1980s brought
with it a wave of 'euro-pessimism'. Nevertheless, hope sprang anew in
1985 when the European Commission, under its President Jacques
Delors, published a 'white paper' setting out a timetable for completing
the European single market by 1 January 1993. The Communities
adopted this ambitious goal and enshrined it in the Single European
Act, which was signed in February 1986 and came into force on 1 July
1987.
The political shape of Europe was dramatically changed by thefall of the Berlin wall in 1989. This led to the reunification of
Germany on 3 October 1990 and the coming of democracy to the
countries of central and Eastern Europe as they broke away from
Soviet control. The Soviet Union itself ceased to exist in December
1991.
Meanwhile, the European Communities were changing too. The
member states were negotiating a new treaty that was adopted by the
European Council (i.e. their presidents and/or prime ministers) at
Maastricht in December 1991. This 'Treaty on European Union' came
into force on 1 November 1993. The EEC was renamed simply 'the
European Community' (EC). Moreover, by adding areas of
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intergovernmental cooperation to the existing Community system, the
Treaty created the European Union (EU). It also set new ambitious
goals for the member states: monetary union by 1999, European
citizenship, new common policies - including a common foreign and
security policy (CFSP) - and arrangements for internal security.
The new European dynamism and the continent's changing
geopolitics led three more countries - Austria, Finland and Sweden -
to join the EU on 1 January 1995. The Union now had 15 member
states and prepared for its most spectacular achievement - replacing its
national currencies with a single European currency, the euro.
On 1 January 2002, euro notes and coins came into circulation in
12 EU countries (the 'euro area'). The euro is now a major world
currency, having a similar status to the US dollar.
As the world moves forward into the 21st century, Europeans
must together face the challenges of globalization. Revolutionary new
technologies and the Internet explosion are transforming the world
economy. However, these profound economic changes bring with
them social disruption and culture shock.
Meeting in Lisbon in March 2000, the European Council
adopted a comprehensive strategy for modernizing the EU economy
and enabling it to compete on the world market with other major
players such as the United States and the newly industrialized
countries. The 'Lisbon strategy' includes opening up all sectors of the
economy to competition, encouraging innovation and business
investment, and modernizing Europe's education systems to meet theneeds of the information society.
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At the same time, unemployment and the rising cost of pensions
are both putting pressure on the member states' economies, and this
makes reform all the more necessary. Voters are increasingly calling
on their governments to find practical solutions to these issues.
Scarcely had the European Union grown to encompass 15
member states when another 12 began knocking at its door. In the mid
1990s, it received membership applications from the former Soviet
bloc countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland,
Romania and Slovakia), the three Baltic states that had once been part
of the Soviet Union (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), one of the
republics of the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia) and two Mediterranean
countries (Cyprus and Malta).
The EU welcomed this opportunity to help stabilize the
European continent and to extend the benefits of European unification
to these young democracies. Accession negotiations with the
candidate countries were launched in Luxembourg in December 1997
and in Helsinki in December 1999. The Union was on the way to its
biggest enlargement ever. For ten of the candidate countries,
negotiations were completed on 13 December 2002 in Copenhagen.
The European Union had 25 member states in 2004, and continued
growing as more countries joined in the years ahead.
More than half a century of integration has had an enormous
impact on the history of Europe and on the mentality of Europeans.
The member state governments, whatever their political colour, know
that the age of absolute national sovereignty is over and that only byjoining forces and pursuing "a destiny henceforward shared" (to quote
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the ECSC Treaty) can their ancient nations continue to make
economic and social progress and maintain their influence in the
world.
Integration has succeeded in overcoming age-old enmity
between European countries. Attitudes of superiority and the use of
force to resolve international differences have been replaced by the
'Community method' of working together. This method, which
balances national interests with the common interest and respects
national diversity while creating a Union identity, is as valuable today
as ever. Throughout the Cold War period, it enabled Europe's
democratic and freedom-loving countries to stick together. The end of
east-west antagonism and the political and economic reunification of
the continent are a victory for the spirit of Europe - a spirit that
European peoples need more than ever today.
The European Union offers a response to the huge challenge of
globalization - a response that expresses the values Europeans believe
in. The EU offers, above all, the best possible 'insurance policy' for a
free and peaceful future.
What do we understand by Democracy today? What are the
fundamentals of Democracy?
Democracy comes from the Greek word, "demos," meaning
people. In democracies, the people hold sovereign power over
legislator and government.
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Although nuances apply to the world's various democracies,
certain principles and practices distinguish democratic government
from other forms of government.
Democracy is government in which power and civicresponsibility are exercised by all citizens, directly or through their
freely elected representatives.
Democracy is a set of principles and practices that protecthuman freedom; it is the institutionalization of freedom.
Democracy rests upon the principles of majority rule, coupledwith individual and minority rights. All democracies, while respecting
the will of the majority, zealously protect the fundamental rights of
individuals and minority groups.
Democracies guard against all-powerful central governmentsand decentralize government to regional and local levels,understanding that local government must be as accessible and
responsive to the people as possible.
Democracies understand that one of their prime functions is toprotect such basic human rights as freedom of speech and religion; the
right to equal protection under law; and the opportunity to organize
and participate fully in the political, economic, and cultural life of
society.
Democracies conduct regular free and fair elections open to allcitizens. Elections in a democracy cannot be facades that dictators or a
single party hide behind, but authentic competitions for the support of
the people.
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Democracy subjects governments to the rule of law andensures that all citizens receive equal protection under the law and that
their rights are protected by the legal system.
Democracies are diverse, reflecting each nation's uniquepolitical, social, and cultural life. Democracies rest upon fundamental
principles, not uniform practices.
Citizens in a democracy not only have rights, they have theresponsibility to participate in the political system that, in turn,
protects their rights and freedoms.
Democratic societies are committed to the values of tolerance,cooperation, and compromise. Democracies recognize that reaching
consensus requires compromise and that it may not always be
attainable. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "intolerance is itself a
form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democraticspirit."
On the surface, the principles of majority rule and the protection
of individual and minority rights would seem contradictory. In fact,
however, these principles are twin pillars holding up the very
foundation of what we mean by democratic government.
Majority rule is a means for organizing government and deciding
public issues; it is not another road to oppression. Just as no self-
appointed group has the right to oppress others, so no majority, even
in a democracy, should take away the basic rights and freedoms of a
minority group or individual.
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Minorities - whether because of ethnic background, religiousbelief, geographic location, and income level, or simply as the losers
in elections or political debate - enjoy guaranteed basic human rights
that no government, and no majority, elected or not, should remove.
Minorities need to trust that the government will protect theirrights and self-identity. Once this is accomplished, such groups can
participate in, and contribute to their country's democratic institutions.
Among the basic human rights that any democratic government
must protect are freedom of speech and expression; freedom of
religion and belief; due process and equal protection under the law;
and freedom to organize, speak out, dissent, and participate fully in
the public life of their society.
Democracies understand that protecting the rights of minorities
to uphold cultural identity, social practices, individual consciences,
and religious activities is one of their primary tasks.
Acceptance of ethnic and cultural groups that seem strange if not
alien to the majority can represent one of the greatest challenges that
any democratic government can face. Nevertheless, democracies
recognize that diversity can be an enormous asset. They treat these
differences in identity, culture, and values as a challenge that can
strengthen and enrich them, not as a threat.
There can be no single answer to how minority-group
differences in views and values are resolved - only the sure knowledge
that only through the democratic process of tolerance, debate, and
willingness to compromise can free societies reach agreements thatembrace the twin pillars of majority rule and minority rights.
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Social assistance and welfare services provide protection to
society's most vulnerable groups, i.e., those with no other means of
support such as single parent households, victims of natural disasters
or civil conflict, handicapped people, or the destitute poor. Social
assistance interventions may include welfare and social services to
highly vulnerable groups such as the physically or mentally disabled,
orphans, or substance abusers cash or in-kind transfers such as food
stamps and family allowances temporary subsidies such as life-line
tariffs, housing subsidies, or support of lower prices of staple food in
times of crisis
Social security is primarily a social insurance program
providing social protection, or protection against socially recognized
conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and
others. Social security may refer to:
social insurance, where people receive benefits or services inrecognition of contributions to an insurance scheme. These services
typically include provision for retirement pensions, disability
insurance, survivor benefits and unemployment insurance.
income maintenancemainly the distribution of cash in theevent of interruption of employment, including retirement, disability
and unemployment
services provided by administrations responsible for socialsecurity. In different countries this may include medical care, aspects
of social work and even industrial relations.
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More rarely, the term is also used to refer to basic security, aterm roughly equivalent to access to basic necessitiesthings such as
food, clothing, shelter, education, money, and medical care.
Social protection refers to a set of benefits available (or not
available) from the state, market, civil society and households, or
through a combination of these agencies, to the individual/households
to reduce multi-dimensional deprivation. This multi-dimensional
deprivation could be affecting less active poor persons (e.g. the
elderly, disabled) and active poor persons (e.g. unemployed). This
broad framework makes this concept more acceptable in developing
countries than the concept of social security. Social security is more
applicable in the conditions, where large numbers of citizens depend
on the formal economy for their livelihood. Through a defined
contribution, this social security may be managed. But, in the context
of wide spread informal economy, formal social security arrangements
are almost absent for the vast majority of the working population.
Besides, in developing countries, the state's capacity to reach the vast
majority of the poor people may be limited because of its limited
resources. In such a context, multiple agencies that could provide for,
social protection is important for policy consideration. The framework
of social protection is thus capable of holding the state responsible to
provide for the poorest sections by regulating non-state agencies.
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4. Microeconomic Terms
4.1. Definitions
Selected Glossary of Microeconomic Terms1
Adjustment process: Path by which a system moves from a
position of disequilibrium to one of equilibrium.
Aggregation: A method of simplifying theory by combining
many markets into a large, composite market.
Allocation: The determination of what goods and services will
be produced from available resources. Allocation can be done with
markets or with hierarchy.
Antitrust policy: Policy that makes companies act in a
competitive manner by breaking up companies that are monopolies,
prohibiting mergers that would increase market power, and finding
and fining companies that collude to establish higher prices.
Arbitrage: Simultaneously buying in a cheap market and selling
in an expensive one.
Budget Constraint: A line that separates outcomes that are
affordable from outcomes that is not affordable. Occasionally it is
called a consumption-possibilities frontier.
1 After: English International Lyon internet pages
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Change in demand: A shift in the demand curve.
Change in quantity demanded: A change in the amount people
buy because a change in price moves them along a stationary demand
curve.
Change in quantity supplied: A change in the amount sellers
sell because a change in price moves them along a stationary supply
curve.
Change in supply: A shift in the supply curve.
Circular flow: The flow of products from businesses to
households and the flow of resources from households to businesses.
Consumer Sovereignty: In a market economy, it is ultimately
the wants of the consumers, not the preferences of the producers that
determine what goods and services are produced.
Contingent behaviour: Behaviour that exists when each
person's actions depend on what he expects others to do.
Cross-price elasticity (cross-elasticity): A measure of whether
goods are substitutes or complements.
Demand curve: The relationship between price and the amount
of a product people want to buy.
Derived demand: The demand for a resource depends on, or is
derived from, the demand for the things that the resource helps
produce.
Disequilibrium: A condition that exists when a system is not at
rest and has a tendency to change.
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Dollar voting: An explanation of how a market economy
determines what goods are produced made with an analogy to the
political process of voting.
Duopoly: A market in which there are two sellers.
Economic efficiency: A situation in which value is maximized.
Given resources, technology, and preferences, no changes will
increase value. It is also called the Pareto optimality.
Economic inefficiency: A situation in which there is potential
value that no one captures. Given resources, technology, and
preferences, there is some change, which will improve the well-being
on one individual without harming anyone else.
Entrepreneur: An individual who creates new: a new
organization, market, or product, usually in the quest for profit.
Entrepreneurs are innovators.
Equilibrium: A condition that exists when a system is at rest
and has no further tendency to change.
Externality: A cost or benefit that a decision maker passes on to
a third party. Pollution is an example of a negative externality.
Excise tax: A sales tax on a specific item.
Fixed cost: Cost that does not change as output changes.
Free rider: Person who does not pay for good or service
because there is no way to exclude those who do not pay from using
the good or service.
Game theory: An analysis of interactions in which the outcome
a person faces depends not only on his strategy of action, but also onthe strategies of others.
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Human capital: Peoples assets in the form of investment in
themselves.
Inferior good: A good that people buy less frequently if their
incomes rise.
Invisible hand: A phrase that expresses the belief that the best
interests of a society can be served when individual consumers and
producers compete to achieve their own private interests.
Law of demand: The principle that there is an inverse
relationship between the price of a good and the quantity that buyers
are willing to purchase.
Law of diminishing returns: Adding more of one input while
holding other inputs constant eventually results in smaller and smaller
increases in added output.
Lorenz Curve: A graphical way to illustrate the equality or
inequality of the distribution of income.
Marginal cost: The change in total cost caused by a one-unit
change in an activity, or the slope of the total cost curve. In the case of
a business, the change in total cost is caused by a change in output.
Marginal rate of substitution: The ratio at which people will
trade good B for good A.
Marginal rate of transformation: Slope of the production-
possibilities frontier, which shows how much of good B must be given
up to produce more of good A.
Marginal resource cost: The change in total cost caused by a
one-unit change in an input.
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Marginal revenue: The change in total revenue resulting from
a change in sales; the slope of the total cost curve.
Marginal revenue product: The change in total revenue
resulting from a one-unit change in an input.
Market failure: A situation in which a market yields a result
that is economically inefficient, that is, there is value that is not
captured.
Maximization principle: The rule that net benefits are
maximized when marginal benefit equals marginal cost.
Monopoly: An industry with only one seller.
Monopolistic competition: An industry that has easy entry and
exit, but in which sellers are price searchers.
Moral hazard: Insurance problems; when the cost of a disaster
is reduced with insurance, people have less incentive to avoid the
disaster.
Negative-sum game: In terms of game theory, an interaction in
which losses exceed winnings.
Normative analysis: An analysis based on a judgment about
what is desirable and what is undesirable.
Paradox of Value: The puzzle of why essential items such as
water are cheap while frivolous items such as diamonds are expensive.
The paradox is easily resolved when one understands the difference
between total value and marginal value.
Pareto optimality: See Economic efficiency.
Present value: Money in the future is less valuable than anequivalent amount of money now because money in the future gives
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fewer options. The comparison of money in different time periods is
made with a present value computation.
Price ceiling: Legally established maximum price a seller can
charge.
Price-discrimination: Charging different prices for the same
good or service.
Price floor: Legally established minimum price a seller can be
paid.
Price searcher: A seller (buyer) who can influence price by the
amount he sells (buys).
Price taker: A seller (buyer) who has no control over price, but
sells (buys) at the given price.
Principal-agent problem: The potential conflict of interest
when a person (the principal) has someone (the agent) acting on his
behalf.
Producers' surplus: The difference between the lowest price a
producer will accept and the actual price; also called economic rent.
Production function: The mathematical way of stating that
output depends on inputs.
Progressive tax: A tax that charges a higher percentage of
income as income rises.
Proportional tax: A tax that charges the same percentage of
income, regardless of the size of income.
Public good: A good or service that, once produced, has two
properties: Benefits are available to all and there is no way to bar
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people who do not pay (free riders) from consuming the good or
service.
Quota: Limit on the quantity of a good that may be imported in
any time period.
Regressive tax: A tax that charges a lower percentage of income
as income rises.
Rent seeking: Efforts to obtain value through transfer without
providing anything in return.
Scarcity: The condition in which human wants exceed the
available supply of goods, time, and resources. In a world without
scarcity, there would be no economics.
Shortage: The market condition existing when quantity
demanded exceeds quantity supplied. Generally, an increase in price
will eliminate a shortage.
Speculation: Attempting to buy when the price is low and sell
when it is high.
Sunk cost: Is cost which cannot be recovered.
Surplus: The market condition existing where the quantity
supplied is greater than the quantity demanded. Generally, a decrease
in price will eliminate a surplus.
Tariff: Excise tax on imported goods.
Tax incidence: Taxes can be shifted from those who write the
check to the government to others. The study of tax incidence is the
study of who ultimately bears the burden of the tax.
Utility: An abstract variable, indicating goal-attainment orwant-satisfaction.
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Utility function: A mathematical way of saying that utility
depends on consumption of goods and services.
Zero-sum game: An interaction in which the sum of winnings
and losses equals zero.
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5. Banking Terms and Notions
5.1. Definitions
A well-functioning financial sector increases economic growth.
If an economy does not allocate savings to the most productive uses, it
will grow more slowly than it can grow.
From a microeconomic point of view, the primary purpose of
financial markets is to allocate available savings to the most
productive use.
Markets are interrelated, and a problem in one market can have
its source in a different market. This finding is a starting point for
macroeconomics.
Macroeconomists ask two central questions: "Is this market a
likely source of instability that shows up as inflation or recession,"
and "Will the adjustment process in this market cause problems for the
overall adjustment of the economy."
Changes in one part of the economy are rapidly transmitted to
other parts through financial markets. Such transmission is not limited
to questions of tariffs or to the market for foreign exchange; all
financial markets transmit.
When most people think of financial markets, they think of the
stock market. A stock is a share in the ownership of a corporation, and
through the stock market, one can buy and sell. The stock market has
high visibility because it is open to anyone who can collect several
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hundred dollars together. However, the stock market is only a very
small part of the total financial market and plays only a minor role in
macroeconomic theory.
Markets for debtare much larger than the stock market in terms
of their daily transactions. These markets have less visibility because
many require hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to
enter directly. Some of these markets for debt do play an important
role in macroeconomic theory. Whenever economists include an
interest rate in their discussion, a market for debt is playing a role in
their thinking.
There are many kinds of transactions that take place in the
market for debt. Some transactions are highly publicized: when a big
corporation issues marketable bonds with the aid of a brokerage
house, the brokerage house advertises the event to attract buyers.
Transactions on the New York Bond Exchange are also very visible--
they are reported in the financial section of major newspapers. Many
more transactions involve financial intermediaries and less publicity.
Eventually most people visit a bank (or a savings and loan association,
which has become almost identical) to arrange a loan. Large
corporations, small businesses, non-profit groups, and individuals all
use banks to obtain funds.
In addition to lending money to individuals and groups, banks
are part of financial markets in other ways. Banks borrow and lend
funds among themselves in the funds market. They buy and sell
foreign exchange. They buy and sell government and commercialdebt. Finally, one form of bank debt serves as money in modern
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economies, and banks create this debt because of their financial
transactions.
Prices in the debt market are interest rates, what one pays (or
receives) for the use of funds for some period of time. Because they
aggregate financial markets, economists often talk about "the interest
rate." In fact, there are many interest rates. Rates differ depending on
factors such as the risk of default, the liquidity and time to maturity of
the debt, and the tax status of the interest payments.
The press commonly reports several interest rates. The prime
rate was once the interest rate that large commercial banks charged
their most credit-worthy customers for short-term loans. In recent
years, banks have usually given their best customers discounts from
the prime, so this definition is no longer accurate. A good definition of
the prime is hard to give other than - it is the rate that banks publicize.
Thefunds rate is the rate that banks charge one another for funds
they borrow on an overnight basis. The discount rate is the rate at
which banks may be permitted to borrow from a Central/Federal
Reserve bank. Finally, the interest rate on 13 and 26 week Treasury
Bills is used by many banks to determine rates that they pay on some
of their accounts. This interest rate is probably the one most
economists have in mind when they talk about "the interest rate." In
practice, all these rates tend to fluctuate together.
Though many of us hold savings bonds, very little of the debt is
financed with them. More of the debt is in the form of long-term debt
(bonds), medium-term debt (notes), and short-term treasury bills, or T-bills for short.
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Financial intermediaries, large companies, and governmental
units buy T-bills. Organizations find them a safe and profitable way
to invest funds available for short periods of time. The attractiveness
of T-bills is enhanced by the secondary marketthat has developed. A
secondary market does not sell newly-issued securities, but previously
issued - or "used" - securities. (The stock and bond exchanges are
examples of secondary markets.) The existence of this secondary
market has made T-bills very liquid, that is, T-bills can be converted
into cash quickly and cheaply. However, because it does not deal in
small transactions of $50000 or $100000, it is not visible. It is an
over-the-counter market, which means transactions are done by
computer or telephone.
T-Bills are now sold as book-entry security, which means they
are in the form of a paper certificate, but are only entries in the books
of the Treasury.
Most people do not enter financial markets directly but use
intermediaries or middlemen. Commercial banks are the financial
intermediary we meet most often in macroeconomics, but mutual
funds, pension funds, credit unions, savings and loan associations,
and to some extent insurance companies are important financial
intermediaries. When people deposit money in a bank, the bank uses
the funds to make loans to homebuyers for mortgages, to students so
they can pay for their education, to business to finance inventories,
and to anyone else who needs to borrow. A person who has extra
money could, of course, seek out borrowers himself and bypass the
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intermediary. By eliminating the middleman (intermediary), the saver
could get a higher return.
Financial intermediaries provide two important advantages to
savers. First, lending through an intermediary is usually less risky than
lending directly. The major reason for reduced risk is that a financial
intermediary can diversify. It makes a great many loans, and even
though some of those loans will be mistakes, the losses will be largely
offset by loans that are sound. In contrast, an average saver could
directly make only a few loans, and any bad loans would substantially
affect his wealth. Because an intermediary can put its "eggs" in many
"baskets," it insures its depositors from substantial losses.
A second advantage financial intermediaries give savers is
liquidity. Liquidity is the ability to convert assets into an able form to
spend money - quickly. A house is an illiquid asset; selling one can
take a great deal of time. If an individual saver has lent money directly
to another person, the loan can also be an illiquid asset. If the lender
suddenly needs cash, he must either persuade the borrower to repay
quickly, which may not be possible, or he must find someone else who
will buy the loan from him, which may be very difficult. Though the
intermediary may use its funds to make illiquid loans, its size allows it
to hold some funds idle as cash to provide liquidity to individual
depositors. Only when a great many depositors want to withdraw
deposits at the same time, which happens when there is a "run" on the
institution, will the financial intermediary be unable to provide
liquidity. Unless it can obtain help from the government or otherinstitutions, it will be forced to suspend payments to depositors.
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Financial intermediaries help large numbers of people to use,
though indirectly, financial markets. Although these intermediaries are
important in the macroeconomic functioning of the economy, they are
usually stable and change only slowly. With the exception of those
intermediaries that issue deposits against which checks may be
written, economists do not expect disturbances to arise in financial
intermediaries. As a result, macroeconomic theory does not pay much
attention to them.
A financial market is an "efficient market" if its prices take into
accounts all knowledge that people have about that market. If there is
knowledge, which is not being used, unexploited profit opportunities
exist, and in financial markets, these opportunities should be quickly
taken. If one knows that a stock or bond is undervalued and that it will
rise in value, one will make a large amount of money by buying until
it does rise. Because profit opportunities are quickly exploited once
they become known, one cannot "beat" an efficient market unless one
has special information that is unavailable to others.
The idea of efficient markets suggests that one should not place
a great deal of faith in any forecasts about interest rates or stock
prices, because if the person making the forecast really does know
what will happen, he could keep quiet and get rich.
The speculators play a useful role in an efficient market where
prices adjust very quickly to new information. They are coolly rational
individuals looking at the fundamental values of items, buying when
prices are too low and helping lift these prices, and selling whenprices are too high and helping to lower these prices. As a result,
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prices correctly transmit information about values, which people can
then use to make decisions. An efficient market will not be the source
of economic disturbances. However, it can transmit disturbances, and
this alone would be enough to interest economists.
An important reason people buy items in financial markets is in
the hope of selling them at a profit. Thus trading in these markets
involves not only an analysis of the fundamental value of an asset, but
also an analysis of how other people will react. If people are confident
that others will buy the item for more than they paid for it, then they
will buy it even if it has little value to them.
The idea described above has been called the "greater-fool"
theory. It implies that although one may be a fool for buying an asset
that is overpriced, one can profit if there are still greater fools who
will pay even more for it.
Markets based on the "greater-fool" theory always collapse.
Eventually the greatest fool is found, and once he is found, the process
cannot continue. It can affect the production of an economy if the
speculations cause enough financial disruption. They will cause
bankruptcies, reduce people's trust in others, and cause unemployment
for the people who became speculators.
A speculative crash in financial markets is not enough, by itself,
to trigger a recession.
The federal government not only regulates financial markets and
intermediaries, it is also a major financial intermediary itself. Two
agencies with important regulatory functions are the SecuritiesExchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Deposit Insurance
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Corporation (FDIC). The SEC regulates behaviour in stock and bond
markets, and also specifies which information a publicly-traded
company must provide to shareholders. The FDIC insures deposits at
commercial banks and, with the demise of the Federal Savings and
Loan Insurance Corporation in the 1980s deposits at savings and loan
associations.
The U.S. government makes extensive loans for agriculture and
housing. Because the government can borrow at a lower interest rate
than most private borrowers can, and because it does not need to make
a profit, it can lend at lower interest rates than private intermediaries
can. The government also subsidizes borrowers by guaranteeing loans
that private lenders make. However, the issues that these actions of the
government raise are primarily microeconomic in nature.
From a macroeconomic perspective, by far the most important
government institution involved in financial markets is the Federal
Reserve System. The Federal Reserve System (often referred to as the
"Fed" by economists and bankers) is the central bank of the United
States. A central bank functions as a banker's bank. Just as individuals
and businesses have deposits at a regular bank and can write checks
on these deposits, banks have deposits at a central bank and can write
checks on these deposits.
The Federal Reserve System is a rather strange "central" bank
because it is composed of 12 separate banks. When you examine your
paper currency, you will see the district number and letter of one of
these 12 banks on the left side of the portrait. This strange structureexists because of the political realities that faced Congress when it
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established the system in 1913. In 1935, Congress reduced the
independent authority of these 12 banks and centralized policy-
making authority in a group called the Federal Open Market
Committee (FOMC) which decides monetary policy. Though today
the individual Reserve banks retain little independent power, the
president of each can serve as a voting member of the FOMC.
In the market for foreign exchange, people trade one country's
money for another's. If, for example, you decide to travel to Thailand,
you will need to buy some bahts, the currency of Thailand, either
before you go or once you get there. In your transaction, you will
supply dollars to the foreign exchange market and demand bahts.
The foreign exchange market provides an excellent illustration
of how financial markets can transmit disturbances. The market is
usually considered to be an efficient market, not subject to runaway
speculative binges. The heart of the market is the trading by a number
of very large banks. A trade worth a million dollars is very small in
this market, but it is the prices of these very large bank transactions
that newspapers report when they publish exchange rates. When you
deal in smaller amounts when you travel to Thailand, you will get less
favourable prices.
The market for foreign exchange can be analyzed in terms of
supply and demand. Americans demand foreign money (and supply
dollars) when they buy things abroad, such as vacations, goods,
services, factories, and financial assets. Foreigners supply foreign
currency (and demand dollars) when they buy things here, such asvacations, goods, services, factories, and financial assets. Though
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when you buy a Japanese camera, you do not deal in the foreign
exchange market, someone did in the process of bringing the camera
to you. It may have been the American importer, who would have sold
dollars to buy yen, and then used the yen to buy the camera. On the
other hand, it may have been the Japanese exporter, who sold cameras
for dollars and then sold the dollars for yen. In either case, dollars
were supplied to the foreign exchange market and yen were
demanded.
The exchange rate, or the price of foreign money, is an important
price when we buy things made in other countries.
Two things affect the price of the Japanese camera as seen from
America. The first is the yen price of the camera, and the second is the
dollar price of the yen. If either one increase: Japanese cameras will
become more expensive and Americans will want fewer of them. The
exchange rate also affects the price of American goods as seen in
Japan.
When foreign currency is cheap, foreign products are cheap in
dollars, and Americans will want a lot of them. To buy these foreign
products, Americans must buy a lot of foreign exchange. When the
price of foreign exchange is expensive, so also are foreign products
and Americans will not want many. Hence, they will not need as much
foreign exchange.
Let us consider what will happen if the United States increased
its tariffs. Because tariffs are taxes on imports, foreign products will
become more expensive for Americans. As a result, Americans willwant to buy fewer imports, which is usually the desired result of
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tariffs. However, if the exchange rate is: a floating rate, that is, one
that can take whatever value supply and demand dictate, the story has
not ended. Because of the tariff and the resulting decrease in imports,
foreign money becomes cheaper for Americans and American dollars
become more expensive for foreigners. If dollars become more
expensive, foreigners will find American goods more expensive. The
end effect of a tariff with floating exchange rates, then, is to cut not
just imports, but to cut exports as well.
If a country treats the foreign exchange market as any other
market, allowing the marketplace determine the price of foreign
money, it has a system offloating exchange rates. This is what most
of the Western world has had since the 1970s. However, governments
have often fixed prices in this market. In doing so they simultaneously
establish price floors and price ceilings--they will neither let the price
rise nor fall (except within a small range).
There are two ways a government can keep exchange rates fixed.
One method, which has been common in less-developed nations, is
called a fixed and unconvertible exchange rate because the exchange
rate is fixed, but domestic currency cannot be freely converted into
foreign money. Governments using it almost always set the price of
foreign exchange below the market-clearing price (which means that
they price their own currency too high), and thereby cause a shortage
of foreign money. The government prevents the market-increasing
price to eliminate this shortage by outlawing private transactions in
foreign exchange and requiring citizens who obtain foreign exchangeto sell it to the government. Because the government becomes the only
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legal source of foreign money, those who want to buy products from
abroad must obtain those funds from the government, which rations
these funds to those purposes it deems most worthy. Though this
system is hard to justify on economic grounds, and is often evaded
with extensive black-marketing, the system gives rulers a powerful
tool to reward friends and punish enemies.
The second method is a fixed and convertible exchange rate.
With this method a government does not abolish the private market
for foreign exchange, but fixes exchange rates by standing ready to
absorb any surpluses or to fill any shortages.
If the price of foreign exchange is set above the market-clearing
price, there will be a surplus of foreign exchange (and a shortage of
the domestic currency). At this price, people will want to sell more
foreign exchange than they want to buy. The government can prevent
this surplus from lowering price by stepping into the market and
buying the excess foreign exchange. On the other hand, if the price
that the government sets is below the market-clearing price, there will
be a shortage of foreign exchange called a balance of payments deficit.
The government can prevent the shortage from raising price by selling
foreign exchange into the market. The government can obtain this
foreign exchange from reserves it stored up when there was a surplus,
or by borrowing from other countries, or by selling assets such as
gold. It should be obvious that a government can only fill a balance of
payments shortage temporarily and that if it runs for too long; the
country will run out of foreign exchange to provide to the market.Now most of the industrial world has floating exchange rates.
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6. Adjective Intensifiers
6.1. Expressions and Phrases
There are some words which can be used to 'intensify' many
adjectives 'very' 'really' 'totally' 'absolutely' 'completely' 'utterly'
'entirely'.
It's very tall. We're really happy. She's totally exhausted. I'm absolutely horrified. He's completely hopeless. You look utterly miserable. I'm entirely satisfied.Certain adjectives have their own 'special' intensifiers which are
often used with them. Here are some common ones:
blind drunk
He was blind drunk and behaved really badly.bone dry
I must have a drink. I'm bone dry.brand new
I've just bought a brand new car.crystal clear
The sea near Rhodes is crystal clear.
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dead easy
That exam was dead easy. I've certainly passed.dead lucky
He's won three lottery prizes this year. He's dead lucky.dead right
I agree entirely. You are dead right.dirt cheap
I bought my car for a dirt cheap price from an old lady whohad hardly driven it.
fast asleep / sound asleep
I was in bed and fast asleep by nine. I was sound asleep and I didn't hear anything.paper thin
These office walls are paper thin. You can hear everythingsaid in the next office.
pitch black
There's no moon. It is pitch black out there.razor sharp
Be careful with that knife- it is razor sharp.rock hard
It's impossible to dig this soil it is rock hard.stark naked
The hotel door slammed behind me and I was left standingstark naked in the middle of the corridor.
stone deaf
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He can't hear a thing. He's stone deaf.wide awake
I was wide awake by six.wide open
Who left the door wide open?
Food Phrases2
If you 'bolt down' food, you eat it very quickly. This expression
is informal.
He bolted down the food. He really enjoyed it. I'm so busy that I'm going to bolt down some food and get
straight back to work.
If you 'wolf down' food, you also eat it quickly but specifically
because you are hungry. This is also informal.Did you see the way she wolfed down that food? She must
have been ravenous.
After the marathon, I wolfed down some fish and chips.If you consume a lot of drink (usually alcohol) quickly, you
'knock it back'. This is informal and is often used quite negatively.
He was knocking back the champagne at the reception.We must watch Bill carefully in the bar with the clients. He
can really knock it back.
If you eat an excessive amount of food, you 'pig out'. This is
informal.
2 From: http: // business english. com
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I'm not hungry because I pigged out on chocolate thisafternoon.
We really pigged out in the restaurant.If you 'plough through' some food, you eat it all but with some
difficulty because there is a lot of it. In American English, 'plough' can
be written as 'plow'.
He served a huge plate of spaghetti and it took me ages toplough my way through it.
They served us snake. I didn't like it but I plowed my waythrough it to be polite.
If you 'put away' food or drink, it can mean you eat or drink a
lot of it. (Obviously, it can also mean that you place the food or drink
in a fridge or cupboard the context of the sentence should make
clear the meaning.)Watch Peter. He's been putting away a lot of beer and he
sometimes turns aggressive when he's drunk.
He has put away some sandwiches but is still hungry.If you 'pick at' your food, you only eat a small amount of it,
usually because you are not hungry, you are on a diet or because you
are ill.
She only picked at her food, even though it was delicious.We were so busy talking that we only picked at our food.If you 'cut down' or 'cut back' on a particular food or drink,
you consume less of it.
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My doctor told me to cut back on the amount of salt in mydiet.
I need to cut down the amount of fried food I eat.If you 'eat up', you finish all your food.
I don't like tripe but I ate it all up when it was served to us byour hosts.
Eat up. It's time to go.If you 'drink up', you finish all your drink.
We seem to have drunk up all the orange juice.Drink up. It's time to go.If you 'polish off' some food, you finish it completely and
quickly.
The guests polished off all the food in the first thirty minutes.He has just polished off two whole pizzas and still says he is
hungry.
If you 'dish up' some food, you put it onto plates or dishes,
ready to be served.
I've heard she is going to dish up something really special.Can you collect up the starter plates, while I dish up the main
course?
'Serve up' is another way of saying the same thing as 'dish up'.
They served up a six-course meal for their guests. It's no better than the food we serve up in our canteen and
twenty times more expensive.
If you 'lay on' some food or drink, you provide it.
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We've laid on a buffet lunch for our visitors.They lay on a small drinks party for us.If you make a meal very quickly and easily, you 'whip it up'.
This is informal.
Have a seat and I'll whip us up something to eat. I could whip up a salad, if you are hungry.If you make food quickly and without much effort, you 'knock
it up'.
I knocked myself up a quick meal from what was left in myfridge.
Do you want me to knock up some lunch?If you make food hot so that it can be eaten, you 'heat it up'.
I've already prepared the food for the party. All we need to dois to heat up the pizzas.
I could heat up a can of soup if you are hungry.If you 'warm up ' cold food, you are making it hot again so that
it can be eaten.
I'll warm up that stew from last night.The canteen makes a large quantity once a week and then just
warms up the amount needed every day.
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7. Marketing Campaigns
7.1. Case study: - Verity, - Impact ads, - Transworld
Definition: A specific, defined series of activities used in
marketing a new or changed product or service, or in using new
marketing channels and methods
Effective marketing is often what separates rapidly growing
companies from slow-growing or stalled companies that started at the
same time, serve the same market and offer similar merchandise.
Companies such as Gillette, Frito-Lay and Coca-Cola have succeeded
in highly competitive mass markets for consumer goods because,
while they certainly produce competitive products, they out-market
their rivals. If you expect your business to grow to any size, you'll
have to become an effective marketer, advertiser and promoter of your
business. In fact, you're likely to grow to the extent that you master
marketing, and no more
A marketing campaign isn't something that comes to you while
you're taking a shower. Successful campaigns tend to be carefully
researched, well thought-out and focused on details and execution,
rather than resting on a single, grand idea. Planning a marketing
campaign starts with understanding your position in the marketplace
and ends with details such as the wording of an advertisement.
Keep in mind that your plan for a marketing campaign is not
supposed to be a prison. You have to leave room to make changes as
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you go along because no plan can perfectly capture reality. But you
should also be able to commit fully to implementing your plan--or
some future version of it--if you want to take a strong step toward
growth.
Here are some ways to launch your campaign:
Speak at community events. Offering your expertise at public
occasions is an easy way to get the word out about your business.
You'll maximize your impact and lend credibility to your product or
service.
Ask customers for referrals. Generating referrals from current
customers is one of the best ways to market your business. Don't
forget to query your vendors (they're likely to have many contacts)
and explain to your customers exactly what kinds of referrals you're
looking for and how they can help.
Spend two days in your customers' shoes. To find out what
your customers really want, visit a wide range of businesses they're
likely to frequent. Observe how customers are treated, as well as the
kinds of services that appear important to them; then adapt your
business accordingly.
Offer free samples. If you can get someone to try your product
or service, chances are they'll buy it later. Have employees pass out
product samples in front of your business; if you provide a service,
offer free services on a trial basis.
The chapter is dedicated to a description (case studies) of threemarketing companies: - Verity, Impact Ads and Transworld.
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CASE STUDY: I.
This is a conversation between the managing director Andrew
Hodge to Stephen Johnson, the assistant sales director who will
choose who will manage his company's marketing campaign:
Andrew Hodge: Well, have you decided which one it is going to
be?
Stephen Johnson: Well, its tough - but I think it is between
Impact Ads and Verity.
Andrew Hodge: What is wrong with Transworld?
Stephen Johnson: Well, they are a little low on substance. They
keep saying they are a 'top' company, but they do not say what they
are top of! They say they have original designs, and ideas, but they do
not give any examples. I would like to know more about their
campaigns and their clients. The only thing they do say is that they are
cheaper than the others - but do they give value for money? I could
find more about them, but if a marketing company can't sell itself, can
it sell for us?
I like Verity's idea; of working closely with us at every stage of
the process I think we need something like that. They seem to me
to be a good company, and all the people who have worked with them
tell me that they do exactly as they say - they work with you, and they
don't mess you around.
Andrew Hodge: And Impact?
Stephen Johnson: That's the problem. They are good, very good.They are very expensive, but they do a fantastic job. If you look at
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their list of satisfied customers, it is as long as your arm. They are a
young team, very professional, very innovative but they are a bit
light on their management consultancy side - they know it too, so they
have brought in an outside partner. They will do a very good
campaign, but we will have to organize it a lot more for them - their
service is less complete.
Andrew Hodge: So they do less, but do it well?
Stephen Johnson: Very well. And they are cheaper than they
look.
Andrew Hodge: So it's going to be Impact then?
Stephen Johnson: Well, if we end up with Impact, it will be no
bad thing. But I have been talking to George Halds at Verity - they
have a new young employee, Sandra Sean. She's got some original
ideas, and they want to give her a try on a big project. And she is
almost as good as Impact in one way - they tried to poach her from
Verity earlier this year!
CASE STUDY: II
Who we are: When John Weznik lost his job in 1935, he started
an advertising company from his own kitchen at home. Verity
advertising was born. Now Verity has 85 employees and offices in
London, Paris and New York. Still today, we keep to our founder's
principles of integrity, customer service, and dynamic advertising
campaigns tailored in close consultation with our clients.What we do: Verity advertising makes you, the client, an active
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partner in our advertising campaigns, combining our knowledge of the
advertising market with your knowledge of your product to make an
unbeatable partnership.
How we do it: Verity has an intimate knowledge of the markets,
and our skilled analysts will work with your managers and designers,
bringing marketing into every aspect of design, production and sales,
optimizing them to meet what you are seeking. Market share, and all
the rest are all very well, but what you really, really want, is customers
buying your product in large amounts, and at good margins. That is
what it is all about. And that's what Impact Ads will get you.
You have seen our award-winning marketing campaigns; you
know our clients are some of the top companies in the Fortune 500.
We have come from nowhere to the top in 10 years, because we are
good, we hire the best, we have one of the most creative and
innovative teams in the business.
We are not just a talented team. We work closely with Valerie
Maxim management consultants guaranteeing that our campaigns do
not just grab the attention of the public, but make good business sense
too. We are not the cheapest in the business, but the ROI we generate
speaks for itself!
CASE STUDY: III
Your campaign needs a company that is top for quality top for
price and top for performance. You need Transworld - the advertising
company with the ideas and results that are changing the industry.Contact us today, to find how we can turn your campaign into a
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dynamic, powerful monster that leaves your competition stopped dead
in their tracks!
For the past two decades, we have combined innovation, high-
quality concept designs and strategic vision, to make ourselves the
first choice to help you meet the challenge of successfully reaching
your target audience. From concept to completion, Transworld
supplies the experience and the support that gives your message
maximum impact.
No other advertising agency supplies the value for money that
Transworld can bring to your campaign. With our slim, flat
management structure, helped by the latest in IT, we put more of your
expenses back into your campaign than any other agency in the
business.
Questions concerning the three case studies:
1.Which company emphasizes that it costs less?2.Which company stresses its relationship with clients?3.Which company puts most weight on the quality of its
product?
4.Which is the oldest company?5.Which company has the least aggressive sales pitch?6.Which company tells you least about itself?7.Which company offers the least complete service?8.Which company stresses it will generate income?
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SEMESTRUL II
8. Styles in Written Communication
8.1. Technical Specifications
This chapter deals with company or newspaper reports,marketing, advertising and public relations and discusses some basic
guidelines for writing style for some of the types of business
documents including business letters.
To begin with, we will briefly define different types of report:
Organizational policies and proceduresThese are the operating documents for organizations; they
contain rules and regulations on how the organization and its members
are expected to perform. Policies and procedures are like instructions,
but they go much further.
Feasibility, evaluation, recommendation reportsThis group of similar reports does things like compare several
options against a set of requirements and recommend one. It considers
an idea (plan, project) in terms of its "feasibility," in terms of some
combination of its technical, economical, social practicality or
possibility. It passes judgment on the worth or value of a thing by
comparing it to a set of requirements, or criteria.
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Technical background reportsThis type is the hardest one to define but the one that most
people write. It focuses on a technical topic, provides a certain
background on that topic for a specific set of readers who have
specific needs for it. This report does not supply instructions, nor does
it supply recommendations in any systematic way, nor does it report
new and original data.
Primary research reportsThis type presents findings and interpretation from laboratory or
field research.
Business plansThis type is a proposal to start a new business.
Technical specificationsThis type presents descriptive and operational details on a new
product.
Business Plans and Technical Specifications3
A business plan is a document used to start a new business or
get funding for a business that is changing in some significant way.
Business plans are important documents for business partners who
need to agree upon and document their plans, government officials
who may need to approve aspects of the plan, and of course, potential
investors such as banks or private individuals who may decide to fund
the business or its expansion.
3 From: Online technical writing resources
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A business plan is very much like a proposal, except for at least
one big difference. The prospectus seeks to start a new business or
significantly expand an existing business. A proposal, on the other
hand, seeks approval to do a specific project. For example, a business
plan might seek funding and other support to start a software company
to create computer games. A proposal, on the other hand, might bid to
do the development work for some specific computer game.
Common sections in business plans:
Many of the elements of the plans are only typical and not
necessarily in any required order. For your plan, you will need to think
about the best sequencing of the sections and about other sections that
might also be necessary.
Product or service to be offered - One of the most importantsections of the business plan is the description of the actual
product or service to be offered by your company. If it is a
description of a product--a physical object - you need to use
the techniques for description. If you are going to offer a
service, explain it, and take readers on a step-by-step tour of
how the service will be handled.
Technical background on the product or service - If yourproduct or service involves technologies or technical
processes potentially unfamiliar to your readers, explain
these. Remember that business plans often go to non-
specialists who, despite their lack of technical expertise,
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