TAN132.DTKH.2- reading task 5.3.

2021
Task 1: Read the article below about creating a strong corporate image. Choose the correct word or phrase
to fill each gap. There is an example at the beginning, (0).

Creating a strong corporate image

A corporate image is the public's perception of what your company (0) _____B_____. It is essentially
the ‘personality’ of your organization and it is what differentiates you from the competition and
establishes you in the business world. Developing a good corporate image doesn't just happen, it takes
years and sometimes decades to promote. It is ‘a series of proactive choices that
(1) ________________. an end result.’ It should go without saying that you need, first and foremost,
to ensure they your company product or service is something to be proud of, since is the primary
generator of your image. However, beyond this, there are several key components to creating and
maintaining a good corporate image.

Ethics
Whatever the company does should have an ethical underpinning from top to bottom. This requires
more than simply creating a series of ethical policies and procedures. Your ethics need to be an
(2) ______________ part of the company culture: the company will do the right thing regardless of the
result. Key to (3) ______________ this ethical framework is establishing a system of checks and
balances and reporting mechanisms that clearly lay out the (4) ______________ of breaking these
rules.

Communication and consistency

The (5) ______________ to effectively establishing an ethical culture, and to every element of
developing a good corporate image, is good communication. This part of image development
(6) ______________ not only to a company's management and lower level employees, but also to
external stakeholders (such as customers, vendors, shareholders, etc.) and the public in general. Strong
consideration should be given to developing a separate strategic communication plan to
(7) ______________ this task. However, in order for communication to be successful, your corporate
image must be clear and consistent with the products and services you have to offer, the benefits you
provide to your target audience and how you (8) ______________ them. If your positioning statement
indicates that your products are aimed at retirees, for example then you must make sure you are
communicating with retirees: your corporate image must (9) ______________ on this audience.

Maintaining credibility
It is essential at all costs to (10) ______________ your credibility in the market and in minds of your
customers by demonstrating that you do what you say you will do. If you are a charitable organization,
for example, then spending thousands of dollars on elaborate conferences and high-end salaries will
end up discrediting your image. Similarly, if you are trying to create an image of environmental
concern, you will need to invest in ensuring that your products or services have (11) ______________
environmental credentials.

Advertising and the media

You need to align your advertising strategy with the image you want to create. If you are focused on
an image of caring and compassionate healthcare, for example, then focusing on the technology for
delivery of healthcare services will distract from the image of compassion. It sounds obvious, but it is
surprising how often companies (12) ______________ with such an anomalies. In addition to its own
advertising, an organization should set up a permanent structure for monitoring the various media and
gathering information about how it is portrayed. A company has to know where it stands in the eyes of
its beholders in order to respond to any given situation.

Alignment with similar values

Finally, it is important that you partner or align yourself with other organizations and people who
share your corporate values. The saying that ‘We are judged by the company we keep’ is especially
true in creating a corporate image. The people, partnerships, and other businesses you deal with will
either help to (13) ______________ your image or destroy it.

0. a) portrays b) stands for c) means d) indicates

1. a) make b) result in c) come to d) lead to
2. a) innate b) integral c) inherent d) inner
3. a) putting up b) setting up c) being d) doing
4. a) consequences b) actions c) possibilities d) procedures
5. a) answer b) solution c) key d) result
6. a) touches b) goes c) reaches d) extends
7. a) make b) put c) carry out d) start
8. a) benefit b) position c) sell d) place
9. a) focus b) target c) direct d) look
10. a) create b) keep c) maintain d) make
11. a) imaginable b) impossible c) incredible d) impeccable
12. a) give themselves b) let themselves
c) betray d) disappoint away down themselves
13. a) strength b) show c) reinforce d) emphasize

Task 2: Read the text below about the future of corporate philanthropy.
Choose the best sentence from the list to fill each of the gaps and mark a letter a) – h). Do not use any letter
more than once. There is an example at the beginning, (0).

The future of corporate philanthropy

Some of the biggest and most powerful companies in the world today are becoming almost as well known for
their high-profile corporate social responsibility initiatives as for their products and services. Some are cynical
about the motivations for this. (0)_____E_____. He maintains that corporate social philanthropic activities have
become ‘heavily promoted story tools that present a deliberately over-inflated image of corporate citizenship’.
What is more worrying still is that all this activity has effectively served as smoke screen to hide a significant
fall off in corporate charitable contributions worldwide. (14) ______________ Business charitable deductions
now only average about 0.7% of pre-tax earnings.
As ‘real’ contributions to charitable causes diminish, Hindery laments the fact that so many CEOs have failed to
understand the fact that an effectively managed contribution program can deliver strong returns to a corporation.
He maintains that if company donations are directed to nonprofit groups closely aligned with the interests of the
corporation's business objectives and the community context in which it operates, they can become a powerful
business tool. (15) ______________ Examples of this kind of ‘strategic’ corporate philanthropy would include,
for example, financial literacy programs supported by financial institutions, or health and wellness programs
funded by pharmaceutical companies (16) ______________ Moreover, the kind of multiple-stakeholder
participation such
initiatives require and generate can become a powerful social force and an agent for positive change.
(17) ______________ Contributions that are purely selfish in their intent, for example, that are designed only to
bolster the bottom line, or to support pet projects of senior managers or board members, do not, again according
to Hindery, ‘satisfy the requirements of good corporate citizenship.’ (18) ______________ In other words,
when a business gets too ‘strategic’; in its giving, this will often result in it cutting its overall contribution rather
than, for example, deciding to focus on one or two strategic causes.

Then there are those who would advocate the abolition of corporate philanthropy altogether. (19)
______________ They would argue that because corporations are constantly pushing against the limits imposed
by society in pursuit of profits they will never make good citizens and should not be treated as citizens. (20)
______________ Given the bottom-line driven world we live in, it seems unlikely that the current state of
corporate giving is unlikely to change any time soon.

A - Without any additional promotional effort by the company concerned, such programs often
end up elevating awareness of the brand to the same degree as for the cause.
B - There is also the danger that strategic philanthropy is actually at the root of the downward
trend in contributions to charity.
C - Of course, for acts of corporate philanthropy to become solely about advancing the interests
of the company, would be a contradiction in terms
D - They should not be regulated or boycotted into doing the right thing.
E - Leo Hindery Jr, Chairman of the Smart Globalization Initiative at the New America Foundation believes
that, increasingly, companies exploit their corporate social responsibility initiatives for promotional purposes.
F - Whereas 25 years ago, business allocated on average 2% of their pre-tax profits in gifts and grants, today
companies are only one third as generous.
G - In such cases a donation, of for example, 1% of pretax earnings, begin, as Hindery says to ‘take on the look
and feel of an investment, not a handout.’
H - They include, for example, the acolytes of Friedman who continue to believe that a company should only be
responsible to its shareholders.

ANSWER SHEET
1. 11.
2. 12.
3. 13.
4. 14.
5. 15
6. 16.
7. 17.
8. 18.
9. 19.
10. 20.