NAtional School of Commerce and 

Management El Jadida
Business English Semester I
Dr. Driss FADDOULI Unit 5

Companies
Reading Comprehension:
Why not buy into Business?
Most new businesses are failures.
An existing business is already profitable.

So, you want to be your own boss? Basically, you have three options: one, find a job and get

promoted; two, startown company; or three, buy an existing business. Perhaps you think

buying companies is only for millionaires? Well , let's look at some of the advantages of

buying an established business and the disadvantages of the other options.

Your safest option is to start as an employee in a big firm. The only investment is your own

time and hard work. But it can take many years to get to the top. If you really have

entrepreneurial spirit, working for someone else can be an extremely frustrating experience.

And what about starting your own business? Being the next Richard Branson or Cher Wang

is a nice idea but, in reality, most new businesses are failures. 50% don't survive the first

three years. That figure rises to 70% after five years. Even a well-known franchise offers no

guarantee of success.

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 NAtional School of Commerce and Management El Jadida
Business English Semester I
Dr. Driss FADDOULI Unit 5

On the other hand, an existing business has many advantages. First of all, it is already

profitable. It already has a customer base, regular cash flow, equipment, employees, a list of

suppliers, and established business processes. In a start-up, you have to build all of those

from nothing. If you choose carefully, an established business has every chance of

continuing to be profitable.

As far as price is concerned, it's a question of negotiation. The calculation is a little complex,

but the starting price often equals three to five years' profits, depending on the type and size

of business. The better your negotiating skills, the better the deal.

Finally, there are three main sources of funding. First, your own personal funds; secondly,

bank loans; thirdly, seller financing. Seller financing is more and more common as it

becomes more difficult to borrow money from banks. The seller agrees to wait for payment

of between 50 and 75% of the agreed price, plus interest, over a period of three to five years.

Both the buyer and the seller hope that, in that time, the business produces enough profit to

pay the seller back.

The choice is yours. You can spend thirty years working your way to the top, or you can take

a risk and start a business. But if you like the idea of managing a successful company right

now, why not start looking for a business to buy?

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 NAtional School of Commerce and Management El Jadida
Business English Semester I
Dr. Driss FADDOULI Unit 5

In every city in the world, there are hundreds of small businesses for sale, all waiting for

your talent to help them grow!

A- Read the article again and mark the statements T (true) or F (false).

1- A lot of people think starting a company is cheaper than buying an established business.

True

2- Finding a job in a big firm is the quickest way to become a top manage. False

3- Between 50% and 70% of new businesses are successful after five years. False

4- Normally, an existing business continues to make a profit after it is sold. True

5- The selling price of a business usually depends on how profitable it is. True

6- It is often easier and cheaper to borrow money from a bank than from the seller. False

7- In seller financing, the buyer promises to use future profits to pay for part of the

business. True

8- It is difficult to find a small business to buy. False

Vocabulary : Business organization and people

A- Match the organizations 1-6 in bold with the definitions a-f below.

1- My hairdresser has her own business. She's a sole trader. ____b_______

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 NAtional School of Commerce and Management El Jadida
Business English Semester I
Dr. Driss FADDOULI Unit 5

2- My doctor works in a partnership. There are two other doctors and a physiotherapist.

____a______

3- I often eat at a local Indian restaurant. It's a private limited company, owned and run by

one family. _____f______

4- My father invested some money in Marks & Spencer. It's a well-known public limited

company. _____e_______

5- There are Hertz car rental offices in over 140 countries. It's a global franchise. ___d____

6- The YMCA is an NPO- a non-profit organization- that focuses on youth development.

______c______

a) two or more people own and manage the business

b) one person owns and controls the business

c) a charity or cooperative usually managed by a board of directors

d) a joint venture between a local entrepreneur and a well-established business

e) a large company; anyone can buy or sell its shares on the stock market

f) several people (shareholders), often family or friends, own a part (a share) of the company

B- complete these sentences with the words in brackets.

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 NAtional School of Commerce and Management El Jadida
Business English Semester I
Dr. Driss FADDOULI Unit 5

1- In a __franchise_________ operation, the ____franchiser________ agrees to let the

___________franshisee___ use a company's name and sell its product or service on a local

market. (franchisee, franchise, franchiser)

2- The ________owner__________ who controls a majority interest in the company is

usually the ____partner_______ When two or more people control the company, they are

usually called _______shareholders________ . (partner, shareholder, owner)

3- Our _____founder_________ started the company in 1983. He is also the

_________managing director_______ (UK) or ___CEO_________(US). His son is a

____manager________ in the finance department. (manager, CEO, MD (managing

director), founder)

4- Bill is a ___chairman_________ . He doesn't work for the company, but he is on the

____board_________ , a group of people who decide company strategy. His father is the

____director________ (UK) or ___president_________(US). (board, president, director,

chairman).

5- Me? I'm an ordinary ______employee________ . Our US managers call me and my

colleagues ______co-workers_________ .

In total, the company has 200 full-time __staff______________ . (staff, co-worker,

employee)

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 NAtional School of Commerce and Management El Jadida
Business English Semester I
Dr. Driss FADDOULI Unit 5

B- Choose the best answer.

1- A start-up is when an entrepreneur b

a) buys a new car b) sets up a new business c) buys another company.

2- A merger is when two companies a

a) agree to become one b) share a new activity c) buy another company.

3- An acquisition is when an entrepreneur b

a) starts a company b) buys a company c) sells a company.

4- A takeover is when a company c

a) starts another company b) buys another company c) sells another

company.

5- A buyout is when a company is bought by a

a} its own bank b) its own customers c) its own staff.

6- A joint venture is when two companies b

a) agree to become one b) share a new activity c) buy another

company.

GRAMMAR :
Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense, past simple or past continuous.

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 NAtional School of Commerce and Management El Jadida
Business English Semester I
Dr. Driss FADDOULI Unit 5

I- Our company lost money at an alarming rate, but then in 2004 we launched our Hermes

MP3 player. Sales rocked and our financial situation improved rapidly.

2- She decided to take a few months off in 1999. when she was working for Clairval

Cosmetics. While she was touring New Zealand, she developed an interest in Maori culture.

She took samples of some of the plants used in their rituals because she believed they could

be used in some of her company's products.

3- We planned to patent our new drug, but we waited far too long. A month after our

discovery, our main competitor was selling basically the same product.

Writing:

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 NAtional School of Commerce and Management El Jadida
Business English Semester I
Dr. Driss FADDOULI Unit 5

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 NAtional School of Commerce and Management El Jadida
Business English Semester I
Dr. Driss FADDOULI Unit 5

Write a short paragraph on the importance of setting goals to realize our dreams in life.

In our life, every person has a dream to realize, and so, he puts goals as steps to achieve it.

When beginning to think about goals, I believe that it’s something important to put at the

first level. People feel better when they have something to pursue in their life and that will

lead them to attend their dream, it gets them far from chaos and helps them organize and

manage their time. In another hand, goals give once a long term vision and short term

motivation and focus. Focus, because simply they give you a target to shoot for and so, you

can hit your object and reach your dream. Motivation, because you give yourself a concrete

endpoint to aim for and get excited about. To sum up, goals are what takes us forward in

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 NAtional School of Commerce and Management El Jadida
Business English Semester I
Dr. Driss FADDOULI Unit 5

life. They are the first steps to every journey and it’s very important to realize their

significance and apply this knowledge in once life.

The human being lives in this life by making his dreams come true one by one.

Therefore, setting goals is an essential and important step in achieving his desired dream.

People need to make a strategy or a plan full of small goals in order to gradually achieve

them until they realizing their dreams, as an illustration, being an entrepreneur is not an

easy dream, you have to set a lot of small goals that after each goal accomplished, you

become more motivated to pick up the next one. To be an entrepreneur you have to work

hard on the baccalaureate exam to get a good grade which allows you to study in business

school, then you have to make more effort to get your diploma which engages you in

entrepreneurship by finding a job un companies or starting your own business. the dream

can only be realized by setting successive goals that must be achieved.

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