UNIT ONE: NEW BUSINESS - START-UPS

I. Starting up:
A. What conditions are important for people starting new businesses? Choose the four most
important from this list. Can you think of any others?

- low taxes - good transport links

- skilled staff - training courses
- low interest rates - high unemployment
- cheap rents - a strong currency
- stable economy - government grants

B. Many economies contain a mix of public- and private-sector businesses. Think of

companies you know in the areas below. Which are public-sector companies and which are
private-sector companies?

- post office - rail

- TV / newspaper - water
- cars - telecoms
- airlines - energy

II. Vocabulary: Economic terms

A. Match the economic terms (1-10) ot their definitions (a –j)

1. interest rate a) total value of goods and services produced in a country

2. exchange rate
3. inflation rate
4. labour force
5. tax incentives
6. government bureaucracy
7. GDP (gross domestic product)
8. unemployment rate
9. foreign investment
10. balance of trade
b) general increase in prices
c) cost of borrowing money
d) price at which one currency can buy another
e) percentage of people without jobs
f) people working
g) low taxes to encourage business activity
h) money from overseas
i) official rules / regulations / paperwork
j) difference in value between a country’s imports and exports

B. Try to complete this economic profile without looking back at the terms in Exercise A.

The economy is stable following the problems of the past two years. By following a tight
monetary policy the government has reduced the ___________ _________ to 2%. For borrowers,
after going up dramatically, the ___________ ___________ is now down to 8%. The last six
month has seen a slight improvement in the ____________ ___________ against the dollar. For
the country as a whole, the ___________ has grown to 0.15%. Exports are increasing and the
___________ of ___________ is starting to look much healthier.
In terms of job, the _____________ __________ continues to be a problem as it is still
16%. In order to stimulate the economy and attracts ____________ ___________ the government
is offering new __________ __________ as well as making a renewed effort to reduce

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___________ __________. Finally, a large skilled ___________ __________ means there could
be attractive investment opportunities over the next five years.

C. Listen to the report and check your answers to Exercise B.

D. Write sentences about the economic profile of your country.

III. Listening: Starting new businesses

A. Work in group. Make a list of things that are important to do before you start a new
business.
B. Alan Martin, a young entrepreneur, describes five important steps for setting up a
business. Listen and complete the chart below. Did you have the same ideas as Alan.

Step 1: ……………………………………

Step 2: …………………………………….

Step 3: …………………………………….

Step 4: …………………………………….

Step 5: …………………………………….

C. Listen again and answer the questions.

1. What percentage of business ideas fails?

2. Why do they fail?
3. What two questions does your market research need to answer?
4. What two things does a business plan help you to do?
5. What does it usually include? Name three things.
6. Which step does Alan think is the most important? Why?

D. Alans says most businesses fail because people don’t understand the market. What
other reasons can you think of?

IV. Reading: The Human Touch

A. Go through the article quickly to find the four elements that a good team needs.
A good team needs:
1. ………………………………..
2. ………………………………..
3. ………………………………..
4. ………………………………..

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 HOW TO ADD THE HUMAN TOUCH
By Dough richard

When thinking about how you start your business, getting

the right team together will be the most important and the
most difficult decision you make .
The reason is simple. No one person has all the skills,
experience, contacts or reputation that are recriuted to get a
business up and running. So, in order to succeed, you will
have to form a core team of people.
Before that, however, you can only know who else you
need by knowing your strengths and your weaknesses. Having
a great business idea does not mean that you have the skills to
manage others, The hardest of all your decisions may be to let
someone else lead the company you founded.
What, then, does the team need?
First, it needs the ability to sell – and in particular the
ability to persuade others to buy into your vision.
Second, the team needs the ability to count. The business is managed by managing the flow
of cash. It may be the accountant’s job to do your books, but it is your responsibility to
understand them so well that you use them to drive the business.
Third, the team needs experience. There are three types: customer experience, product
experience and start-up experience. If you are going to sell an Internet service to restaurants,
you need experience in the development of Internet services and the experience of running
reastaurants. If your team has only one or the other, you will either know what product to build
or how to build it, but not both.
Fourth, the team needs to have contacts, relationships, a network. Having poeple who can
help you informally or formally will help your business succeed.
Finally, you and your team must be fully aware that starting a business means giving up two
things- time and money. It frequently means working evenings and weekends and being last in
line for payment. Succeeding with an innovation-based company takes everything: all of your
time, all your great ideaslots of personal sacrifices – and it may take all of your money.
There is no magic formula to building a business. It is like putting together the pieces of a
puzzle. But it is worth remembering that the team is the most important piece.
Financial Times

B. Read the article carefully, then decide whether these statements are True or False according to
the article.
1. If you want your new business to succeed, you yourself first need to gain all the necessary
skills and experience.
2. New entrepreneurs sometimes rightly decide to let another person lead the company they
started up.
3. Good cashflow management is a necessary condition for a business to be successful.
4. An effective team will have experience in three key areas.
5. You need to put in a lot of time and effort before you can enjoy the rewards of owning a
fast-growing start-up.
6. Building the right team is the magic formula to setting up a successful business.
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IV. Language Skill: Socialising
A. Making Contacts:
1. What activities are involved in socialising? Add some more to the following list.

- Introducing visitors
- Greeting visitors

2. You will hear three dialogues about people meeting visitors.Complete the chart.

Dialogue 1 Dialogue 2 Dialogue 3

1. Have the speakers
met before?

2. Is the dialogue
formal or informal?

3. Where are they

meeting?

4. What problems
did the visitors have
during the journey?

5. What are they

doing next?

3. Compete the sentences from the dialogues. Listen if necessary.

1. You __________ be Raj.
2. It’s great to _________ meet you in _________ after all our phone calls and emails.
3. I _________ you haven’t been __________ long.
4. It’s a _________ to meet you.
5. How was your __________?
6. Hi, Paul, good to ________ you _____________.
7. Sorry to keep you ____________.
8. Can I ___________ you with your ___________?
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 9. Would you ____________ taking this?

Which sentences above are used to:

a. (Welcome or greet the visitors?)
b. (Talk about the journey)
c. Offer (or ask for) helping with something?
d. Apologize for a delay?

B. Talking about weather.

1. Kasia Janiak is accompanying Mr Syms from the airport to his hotel. Look at the
dialogue below. Listen and complete the gaps. What is the topic of their conversation?

Mr Syms: I can’t belive it’s so ___________ here. It makes a nice ________ from England!
Kasia : How was the __________ when you _________?
Mr Syms: It was __________ as usual. This summer has been ___________.
Kasia : Well, we’ve been very ________ here. The last couple of weeks has been very ______
.Mr Syms: Do you normally _________ _________ summers here?
Kasia : It depends. Ususally we get at least a few _______ days, but sometimems it rains a lot.
Mr Syms: I imagine the winters here must be pretty __________.
Kasia : Oh yes. Sometimes it _________ _________ to minus 15.
Mr Syms: Well, at least it never gets that cold in England. The winter there is usually just grey
and _________. It can be quite depressing!
Kasia : Ugh! Well, I’m glad the weather is nice for your visit here.

2. The weather is one of the most popular small-talk topic. It is a topic everybody can
talk about. Put the words below into the right categories.

cloudy cold damp drizzling freezing grey

hazy humid mild overcast pouring rainy
roasting sunny warm

Words describing temperature Words describing the sky Words to do with water

3. Roleplay: Work in pairs/ groups. Use the profiles below to practise meeting visitors.

.
Student A: Christ: You are meeting Catherine Brown, a supplier from Britain, at the
airport in Franfurt. You have never met before but have spoken a lot over the phone.
Catherine is carrying heavy bags. Greet her and ask about the flight. Make some small
talk ( weather, job, company) and take her to your car.
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 Student B: Catherine: You have just arrived at the airport in Franfurt and have made
arrangements for your business partner, Christ, to pick you up. You have spoken a lot
over the phone but have never met before. You are carrying several heavy bags. Your
flight was fine and you had a DVD to watch.

C. Entertaining visitor.
1. Bruno and Carlo are entertaining Anna at a local restaurant. Listen to the conversation
and answer the questions below.

1. Have the hosts been ot the restaurant before?

2. Why is Anna hungry?
3. What do we discover about Bruno’s wife?
4. Who is driving?
5. What do they plan to do later?

2. Match the two halves to make sentences from the dialogues. Listen again if necessary.

1. This looks a. are we having, Carlo?

2. I hope b. to drink?
3. I’m absolutely c. followed by the pasta.
4. I’m afraid they don’t have d. recommend?
5. How many courses e. catch the waiter’s attention.
6. What do you f. menus in English here.
7. It comes with asparagus g. you like it.
8. I’ll have the soup h. starving
9. What would you like i. a really nice place.
10. Let’s see if we can j. and small potatoes roasted in the oven.

D. Keeping a conversation going.

1. Anna, Bruno, and Carlo are finishing their meal. Tick the topics they talk about.

restautant friends
holidays sport
family cultural differences
mutual accquaintances their jobs

2. The answers to the questions below are too short. Make them longer by adding extra
information and a question, as in the example.

1. A: So, do you live near here?

B; Yes, I do.
( only 2 km) Our house is only two kilometres from here.
( you / live?) What about you? Do you live near here?

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 2. A: And how old is your daughter?
B: She’s six.
( recent started school)
( you / children?)
3. A: What kind of dog do you have?
B: An Alastian.
( fun but needslots of exercise)
( you / pets?)
4. A: So, how long have you been with the company?
B: Six years.
( joined after university)
( you / be with your company long?)
5. A: Have you been to Moscow?
B: Yes, I have.
( three years ago / on business)
( you?)
6. A: And do you do any sports?
B: I play squash
( once a week with friends)
( you / sports?)
7. A: It’s so hot today. Is it normally like this in the summer here?
B: No, it’s not.
( very hot for us / usually 25 degrees)
( weather / where you live?)

3. Commenting on what people say is a good way to keep a conversation going. Match
B’s comments to what A says. Sometimes more than one answer is possible.

A.
1. I just got married last year actually.
2. My husband is a meteorologist.
3. Last year I won a prize for one of the
products I designed.
4. The project deadline is next week and
and we’re not going to make it.
5. My daughter has just got a place at one of
the best universities in the country.
6. Before I got this job I was unemployed for
two years.
7. I went to Peru on holiday last year.
B.
a. That must be very stressful.
b. Really? That’s an interesting job!
c. Oh, congratulations!
d. You must be very proud of her.
e. That must have been very exciting.
f. You must have felt very pleased.
g. Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I imagine that
was a difficult time for you.

4. Work with a partner to make small talk at a restaurant. Use the information in your
file to ask questions and keep the conversation going.
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File A: You are having dinner in a restaurant with an important business partner. (You are
the host). Ask your partner questions to keep the conversation going.
Here are some things your partner mentioned earlier:
● He/ She has recently bought a new house.
● His / Her partner has a new job.
● He / She wants to go to Italy on holiday this year.
Begin by saying something about the food.

File B: You are having dinner in a restaurant with an important business partner. ( You are the
guest). Ask your partner questions to keep the conversation going.
Here are some things your partner mentioned earlier:
● He/ She plays badminton in her free time..
● He/ She has an adopted son.
● His / Her mother is visiting at the moment.
Begin by asking your partner a question about the restaurant.