FINAL TEST 4th year

Listen and choose the best answer for each question:

Reading

Part I
For questions 1−5, choose the best sentence (A−G) to fill the gaps in the text. There is one sentence you
will not need.
THE FUTURE OF OUTSOURCING
i The process of outsourcing company operations to overseas providers has all too often
been seen as a simple measure to reduce staff costs. (0) B . It is also true that
outsourcing deals are increasingly accompanied by layoffs.
ii However, many experts would argue that companies who see outsourcing only as a way
of lowering costs are missing the more important advantages. (1) . After all, the
differences between pay in different countries will become smaller over time. The real
advantages are to do with productive use of employees’ hours. If the more routine tasks
in a company are outsourced, then this frees up employees to spend more time on other
activities. (2) . Likewise, engineers can spend more time on developing new ideas.
Outsourcing thus represents an opportunity to ensure a company remains at the cutting
edge.
iii Yet at the same time, outsourcing is no longer something which just happens to the
routine tasks in a company. (3) . In fact, perhaps the whole idea of choosing
particular tasks to outsource will soon seem out of date. With the growth of the Internet,
companies will soon be able to recruit teams of people from anywhere online. (4) .
Instead, they will work from any part of the world and communicate with their employer
online. It will be a world of virtual companies where the only things that remain in-house
will be decisions about strategy.
iv Could this ever happen? We must imagine a situation where businesses will need to
compete for the best providers from a worldwide pool of talent. (5) . It will
certainly create a need for a new set of skills for dealing with the virtual workforce, as
relationships between staff and management will be transformed.
A For example, sales staff will be able to focus more on detailed customer care.
B The gap between wages in industrialised and developing countries is considerable.
C Companies will be more likely to limit outsourcing to their own country.
D The savings are only likely to be short term.
E These employees will never come in contact with the company’s offices.
F Manufacturing, customer service and other core activities are often outsourced as well.
G Providers may respond to this global marketplace by becoming more specialised in what they offer.

Part II
For questions 1−7, decide in which section of the article you find the following pieces of information.
Write A, B, C, D or E. You may use any letter more than once.

MIND THE GAP: MANAGING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS

A The cause of most customer complaints can be seen as a mismatch between what they
were expecting and what they in fact received. Phrases such as ‘I am disappointed’
or ‘I did not expect’ abound in official letters of complaint. This means that much
of a company’s promotional activity needs to involve the management of customers’
expectations.
B Logically, it can therefore be a good idea to discourage customers from expecting too
much. Certain companies do manage to operate in this way; budget airlines are a
clear example. Their ‘no frills’ label means that customers’ expectations are reduced in
return for cheap fares. However, there are relatively few businesses which can use low
prices like this. Most businesses need to emphasise the merits of their product to attract
customers, which must lead to raised expectations.
C Mismatches can also exist within a company between the standards set by management
for dealing with customers and what customers actually receive from staff. In this case,
it is often due to poor training or inappropriate technology. The whole issue has been
investigated by Parasuraman et al, who identify a total of four possible gaps between
expectations and reality, and the causes of each one.
D Another issue is that customers’ expectations are not only created by the company in
question. People have a natural tendency to make comparisons and feel aggrieved if
others have obtained more for their money. This means that when new products enter
the market, they set a new benchmark for customer expectations. One example of this
occurred in the 1990s when an internet cafй began to receive complaints that their
smoothie drinks were smaller than they used to be. In fact, the size had not changed;
rather, a number of rival juice bars had sprung up whose drinks were bigger.
E Websites where customers can investigate rival products within a few moments have
undoubtedly assisted this process. Indeed, there are criteria for which customer
expectations are higher now than they have ever been before, such as speed of service.
This is largely caused by the instantaneous nature of today’s means of communication
such as email. Any company which tries to dampen down these increased expectations
will have to offer a very substantial payoff indeed.

Example: Why customers expect a faster service than in the past. E

1 An example of how increased competition led to a change in customer expectations.
2 How research has analysed the causes of customer disappointment.
3 Possible reasons why service delivery may not conform to management requirements.
4 How certain companies make a policy of keeping customer expectations low.
5 Why human psychology can encourage feelings of disappointment.
6 How the development of the Internet has driven up customer expectations.
7 How the language of formal business communications can reflect the underlying cause
of customer complaints.
Writing
You are the owner of a food manufacturing and distribution company. You see this
advertisement.
DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM KEEPING YOUR BOOKS UP TO DATE?
Cyberbooks is an accounting service delivered over the internet. We carry out all your
accounting and bookkeeping tasks so you can concentrate on growing your business.
For further information please contact: info@cyberbooks.co.uk

Write a letter to Cyberbooks. In your letter:

• describe your company
• ask about fees
• enquire about security measures and back-up systems.
Write about 100-120 words
For questions 13−19, complete the sentences by changing the word in capitals to a suitable form
to fill the gap.
Example: We have wasted a lot of valuable time trying to sort out this order. VALUE
1. Good relationships with your customers are your most important
__________________advantage. COMPETE
2. The most successful companies ______________________employees to make their own
decisions instead of having set procedures. POWER
3. Just one ___________________customer can do a lot of damage to your reputation. SATISFY
4. I would like to point out some examples of good practice and_____________________ that
we have found in our different centres. PROFESSION
5. I agree that their products seem very good but we don’t know anything about their
_________________ . RELY
6. The security and__________________ of your data is our number one priority.
CONFIDENCE
7. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me ___________________ .
PERSON