UNIT 1: ALLIANCE

A.Vocabulary

UNIT 1: ALLIANCES

1. Alliance (c/n): an agreement between organization to work together to achieve something they all
want.

2. Merger (n): a form of alliance in which two or more companies join together to form a single and
larger one.

3. Takeover/ acquistion: a form of alliance in which one company has the right to manage by buying
more than 50% of one company’s shares./ one company buys another one or part of another one.

4. Parternership (n): a form of alliance in which two or more companies decide to co-operate on one
particular project or mission.

5. Joint-venture A joint venture (JV) is a business arrangement in which two or more

parties agree to pool their resources for the purpose of accomplishing a specific
task. This task can be a new project or any other business activity.
6. synergy (n/c): additional advantages, profits, etc. that are produced by two people or organizations
combining their ideas and resources.

7. strategic alliance (n/c): an alliance formed as part of a plan with important aims.

8. conglomerate (n/c): a large business organization consisting of different companies that have joined
together.

9. bid(n) an offer to buy sth at a stated price

10. corporate culture: the attitudes or beliefs that are shared by a particular organization.

11. Market share is the percent of total sales in an industry generated by a

particular company
B. Overview

Unit 1 is about companies forming allinces. An alliance is an agreement between organizations to work
together to achieve something they all want. The unit looks at different kinds of corporate alliance,
including mergers, acquisitions and corporate partnerships. It also looks at different aims for forming
alliances and why some companies fail but others succeed when they promote integration. The focus of
the unit is on what CEOs should do to improve the chances of success when venturing into an alliance.
Review of tenses and some useful phrases for building relationships are also taught in this unit.
C. The article

I. Headline

Company bosses should bear in mind some advice to increase their chances of success when venturing
into an alliance.

II. Summary

After a long period of slowdown because of the dot-com boom,

CEOs are once again looking for M&A opportunities with
excitement. They should bear in mind some advice to increase
the chances of success when venturing into alliances. Firstly,
instead of studying facts and figures concerning the failure rate
of acquisitions from the recent past, they should ignore them
and keep looking for good targets because the statistics are
heavily influenced by the time chosen and in any case, the
success rate is not bad. Secondly, the bosses should
concentrate on their companies’s core competence rather than
diversify their portfolio of businesses as the strategy of a
diverse portfolio has ruined many big companies. Next, it is
imperative for the top executives to have a clear plan of how to
achieve their aims of integration since they are judged less for
spotting a good merger than for making it work. Moreover,
CEOs should remember that they are subject to the eternal
tendency of business planners to be over-confident if they wish
to avoid some failures of the 1990s. Watching carefully to be
sure that the area of businesses into which other CEOs in front
of them are so joyfully leaping does not change suddenly in a
damaging way is another advice for the company bosses
because they should be aware that they will be powerfully
influenced by the herd instinct, the feeling that it is better to be
wrong in large numbers than to be right alone.
III. Paraphrase

1. One of the most common arguments for M&A is the belief that “synergies” exist.

Synergies creation is among the common reasons for forming alliances

2. Although they slowed down for a while because of the dot-com boom, they are once again on the
prowl.

After a long period of slowdown because of the rapid growth of internet-based businesses, they are
once again finding targets for mergers and acquisitions.

3. CEOs should not worry too much about widely-quoted statistics suggesting that as many as three out
of four deals have failed to create shareholder value for the acquiring company.

CEOs should ignore the statistics concerning the success rate acqusitions.

D. Speaking

1. How many types of alliances in unit 1?

Generally speaking, three types of alliance are mentioned in this unit.

-The first one is a corporate partnership, which is formed when two or more companies decide to co-
operate on one particular project or mission. An example for this type is the integration between
pepsico and starbucks in 2017 when they join together to launch a bottled drink called frappuccino.

- Then there is merger, which is formed when 2 or more companies join together to create a single,
bigger one. Example: Disney and Pixar Mickey and Nemo. Pinocchio and “Toy
Story.” Cinderella and “Cars.” The merger of legendary Walt
Disney and everything-we-create-kids-adore Pixar was a match
made in cartoon heaven. Disney had released all of Pixar’s
movies before, but with their contract about to run out after
the release of “Cars,” the merger made perfect sense. With the
merger, the two companies could collaborate freely and easily.
-Last but not least, I want to mention an acquisition or a takeover. It is a form of alliances in which one
company has the right to manage another company by buying more than 50% of its shares. An example
is in 2018, Grab announced that it had accquired Uber’s Southeast Asia operations

2. Why do companies take into alliances ?

Actually, there are many reasons for businesses to form alliances. But as far as I’m concerned, the
reasons behind this are to create synergies; share resources such as technologies, humans, materials;
increase market share and enhance greater competitiveness.

3. Why do companies find it difficult to make mergers work?

OK so for this question, I’d like to begin by telling you what a merger is. It is a form of alliance in which
two or more companies join together to create a single, bigger one. This kind is nothing new in business
but how to make it work is still a challenge to many company bosses. And as far as I’m concerned there
are certain reasons behind this.

4. What are the reasons for the failure of a merger?

+ The first reason is culture conflicts. Actually, people from different cultures will have different working
styles, different believes and ideas and these will increase the difficulty in communication between
them. So when working together, they might be confused and lack of teamwork. And of course when
people do not blend well together, their aliiances cannot work

+ And then next, there is the difference in product. The integration between Miramax and Disney is a
telling example for this. Interested in the serious image that Miramax brought, Disney was trying to link
their family movies into the controversial and serious movies of Miramax, but in the end their alliance
failed. This failure is seen as no suprise, since the two kinds of film actually share nothing similar.

+ And the final reason why alliances fail is that people do not manage to build relationships with others.
When there is something wrong with their alliances, they do not sit down together to find out their
problem and solutions. And even worse, they tend to blame each other for the mistakes.

5. Reasons for success?

OK so for this question, I’d like to begin by telling you what a merger is. It is a form of alliance in which
two or more companies join together to create a single, bigger one. And as you might know, the success
rate of a merger is 25%, a quite low number. So actually, companies that can form successful alliances
are admirable. And as far as I’m concerned, the reasons behind each profitable integration are as follow:
+ First, they have clear goals at the begining. Take the perfect match alliance between Starbucks and
Pepsico as an example. Starbucks wanted to get into the bottled drink market and Pepsico was
interested in creating an innovative product, so they got together to create the ready-to-drink coffee
and energy beverage named “frapuccino”, which then have become popular in many parts of the world.
So you can you see that each company met their strategic goals.

+ Then next, the companies have the similarity in their product. And a successful alliance I want to
mention here is the match between Disney and Pixar. Disney is famous for its cartoon with legendary
characters like prince, princess and Pixar is a computer animation firm, producing 3D cartoons. both of
them work in the cartoon industry, so they can collaborate freely and easily. Their perfect alliance had
created a lot of famous cartoons such as Pinnochio, Cinderella, Toy Story and so on.

6. Useful phrases for building relationships?

- How can I help you? Is there anything that I can do?

- How interesting/ I would love to hear more

-I don’t think we ‘ve met. I’m...

- I’m ....I work for Digital France. We offer products and services in.......

- When can we set up a meeting? Here is my card.

- Do you like/ enjoy.....? What do you think of.....?

E. Dịch

Doanh nghiệp tham gia vào các thương vụ mua bán và sáp nhập bởi vì đây là một trong những cách dễ
dàng nhất giúp họ đa dạng hóa các danh mục đầu tư và đồng thời giúp họ đạt được sự tăng trưởng
nhanh chóng. Khi lãnh thổ châu Âu mở rộng và số lượng các nhà đầu tư tăng lên thì việc sáp nhập trở
nên hấp dẫn với càng nhiều công ty hơn. Thêm vào đó, việc ....Tuy nhiên, cơ hội thành công của các hoạt
động mua bán và sáp nhập này vẫn chưa đạt được như mong đợi và các con số thống kê cho thấy rằng
có rất nhiều thương vụ mua bán và sáp nhập đã thất bại.

Tại thời điểm hai doanh nghiệp lớn nào đó công bố về cuộc sáp nhập của họ thì thị trường chứng khoán
lại tràn ngập sự phấn khởi, với những ..... và những cổ đông mong chờ kiếm được những vận may/ món
hời lớn. Tuy nhiên, rất nhiều các thương vụ hợp tác đã không thành công về mặt tài chính và cũng không
làm tăng thêm lợi ích cổ đông hay tạo ra của cải vật chất cho các bên tham gia.

UNIT 2: PROJECT
A. Vocabulary

1. project: a complex series of tasks that have to be completed within a

specific time period and with limited financial resources.

2. allocate: to decide officially that a particular amount of money, time,

etc. should be used for a particular purpose

3. budget (n/c): the amount of money that an organization has to spend

on a particular activity in a given period of time.

4. contractor (n/c): a person or company that makes an agreement to

do work or provide goods for another company.

5. control (v): to limit something or prevent it from increasing too much

6. delay(n): the situation in which something does not happen or start

when it should be

7. estimate (v): to calculate what you think the value, size, amount, etc.
of something will probably be.

8. schedule (n): a plan of what someone is going to do and by when

they are going to do it.

9. specifications (n, usually plural): a detailed description of how

something should be designed or made.

10. stakeholder (n): a person or group of people who are considered to

be an important part of an organization because they have
responsibility within it or receive advantages from it.

11. subcontractor (n): a person or company that who is paid to do part

of the work of another person or company.
B. Overview
Unit 2 is about project management. A project is a complex series of tasks that have to be completed
within a specific time period and with limited financial resources. The unit looks at what a project
management involves and what a project manager should do to make sure that a project is completed
on time and on budget. It also mentions four phases of a project life cycle, which are initiation, planning,
execution and closure and all the tasks that are included in each phase. The focus of the unit is on a
successful project called T5. This project is so successful that it makes people think about running a
project in a new way. How to use articles correctly and how to use some useful phrases to set clear goals
for everyone involved in a project are also taught in this unit.

C. The article

I. Headline: Tony Douglas is making people in the management field think about running massive
construction projects in a new/ different way.

II. Summary:

T5, a massive construction project of British Airports Authority, is called a logistical nightmare owing to
its special problems, including tricky building techniques, sophisticated electronics installation and
required interface with other transport links. This project is so challenging that BAA, under the
leadership of a man with years of experience in the car and the commercial jet industries named Tony
Douglas, has been forced to tackle it in novel ways. Firstly, instead of outsourcing to a big management
corporation, BAA opts to run the project itself to save costs. Secondly, owing to the physical constraints
of the T5’s site, as much as possible of the construction is taking place off-site and is carried out by
applying some car industry logistics, which involve a large investment in computing and training.
However, the biggest novelty is the T5 Agreement, a contract with the project’s main suppliers,
companies and subcontractors to minimise the conflicts and cost-cutting that usually cause trouble for
big building works .In stead of passing risk to suppliers, under the T5 Agreement, BAA carries the risk,
putting a precautionary sum into a fund that will be shared out among all its suppliers if the project
finishes on time and on budget and this acts as an incentive for the suppliers to work together and to
provide quality work. With all that, the T5 project is ultimately showing sign of success.

III. Paraphrase

a. The company will be in serious difficulties if they don’t complete the project within the time schedule
and cost estimate

The company will be in serious difficulties if they don’t complete the project on time and on budget.

b. BAA decided against giving the project to an outsider supplier

BAA decided against outsourcing the project.

c. Contractors generally award contracts to the companies that make the least expensive proposals.

Contractors generally award contracts to the companies that bid lowest

d. Suppliers who are partners have the motivation to provide quality work.

Suppliers who are partners have an incentive to do a good job.

e. Getting permission to build an additional runway is a much more important consideration.

Getting permission to build an additional runway is a bigger priority.

D. Speaking

1. Describe 4 phases of a project life cyle

Well, there are 4 phases in a project life cycle, including initiation, planning, execution and closure.

+So the first phase initiation is about\ validating the project and preparing a project overview

+ Then comes the next step: planning. At this time, we need to evaluate the risk factor, forecast costs,
allocating resoures and select the project team

+ When planning is finished, we come to the project execution, including launching a pilot project and
obtaining status reports.

+ And finally we have the closure phase. In this phase, we will review the results and deliver the project.

Of the 4 phases, the two most important ones are initiating and planning, because they lays the solid
foundation for the next step to happen.

2. What should be done to manage a project successfully?

- To manage a project sucessfully, project managers need to estimate and control the resources , budget
and time schedule. And to do that, they need to start with the specifications of a project to draw up a
project plan

E. Dịch

Năm 1992, tập đoàn Betchel của Mỹ đã được chỉ định làm nhà thầu chính cho dự án xây dựng một hệ
thống đường sắt ngầm mới cho thành phố Athenas. Hệ thống này được xây dựng để phục vụ cho Thế
vận hội Olympic diễn ra tại thành phố Athenas vào năm 2004 và nó cần phải được hoàn thành trước khi
Thế vận hội diễn ra. Bởi vì dự án này quá phức tạp nên nhiều người đã cho rằng nó không thể hoàn
thành đúng thời hạn được và họ cũng lo ngại rằng chi phí cần thiết cho dự án này sẽ vượt quá mức ngân
sách ban đầu. Thế nhưng , bất chấp việc khai quật tại các điểm khảo cổ học tốn thời gian và đôi khi là có
trục trặc đối với các thiết bị kỹ thuật, Betchel vẫn đảm bảo hoàn thành việc xây dựng đúng kế hoạch. Sau
khi dự án này hoàn thành, một công ty tư nhân mới được thành lập có tên là Attiko Metro SA đã tiếp
quản việc quản lý mạng lưới đường sắt ngầm đó và mạng lưới này được ước tính vận chuyển khoảng
400000 lượt khách mỗi ngày.

UNIT 3: TEAMWORKING

A. Vocabulary

1. Teamwork (n/u): the ability of a group of people to work well together to accomplish a common goal.

2. team (n): a group of people who work together to do a particular job.

3. accomplish (v): to succeed in doing something

4. assign (v): to give someone a particular job or task

5. collaborate (v): to work with someone on a project

6. commit (v): to agree to do something or say that someone else will do something

7. co-ordinate (v): to organise all the different parts of something to ensure an effective operation

8. deadline (n/c): a date or time by which you have to do or complete something

9. feedback (n/u): advice or criticism about how someone is doing their job

10. goal (n/c): something that you hope to achieve in the future

11. task (n/c): a piece of work that has to be done, especially one that has to be done regularly

12. Team leader: a person whose job is to provide an environment that helps teams to get their work
done

13. team facilitator (n): someone who helps a team to work effectively

14.team recorder (n): someone who is responsible for writing down key points, ideas, and decisions at
meetings

15. Timekeeper (n): someone whose job is to monitor how long the team is taking to accomplish its
tasks and provide regular updates to the team on how well or poorly they are using their time.

16. Professionalism (n): the

combination of all the qualities that
are connected with trained and skilled people:
17. team spirit (n): a feeling of belonging together that the members of a group of people have towards
others in the group.

B. Overview
Unit 3 is about teamworking. The unit defines temwork as the ability of a group of people to work well
together to accomplish their common goal and looks at the importance of it. What makes a successful
team, a good tem player and different types of meeting for different team tasks are also looked at in this
unit. The focus of the unit is on how to run effective meetings, given that too many meetings are a waste
of time. This unit describes different roles within a team, which are specific and interdependent. Useful
phrases for team building are also taught in unit 3.

C. The article

I. Healine:

Too many meetings are a waste of time, therefore it is necessary to develop techniques to run effective
meetings.

II. Summary

Too many meetings are a waste of time, but meetings are important in the workplace, therefore it is
necessary to develop some techniques to run effective meetings. The reason behind every uneffective
meeting has been its poor preparation, which means too little thought is put on the agenda, the
location, the people asked to attend and the outcome. Consequently, the team’s time is dominated by
unimportant ideas or boring individuals, which makes the team members not only feel tolerant of the
current meeting but also find it hard to be excited about the next one. However, meetings are where the
teamworking rules are established, and where teams are formed, which means that the importance of
them cannot be overlooked. Therefore, it is imperative to learn how to run effective meetings. One
technique that the team leader should apply is to prepare carefully before meetings, which involves
drawing up the agenda, choosing the right location, the right participants and thinking about the
outcome. Also, it is wise to ask people to say at the end of the a meeting what they have heard, what
they like about the things they heard and correct their accounts if they are wrong.

III. Paraphrase

1. In the world of work, professionalism and efficiency are often measured in terms of how good one is
as a good team player or how much one contributes to team spirit.

Teamwork is often used to measure professionalism and efficiency in the workplace/ in business.

Teamwork is one of the measurements of professionalism and efficiency in the workplace/ in business.

D. Speaking

1. What is teamwork?

Teamwork is the ability of a group of people to work well together to accomplish a common goal.

2. What are the factors of a good team player?

Professionalism and efficiency

3. Why do successful team accomplish their objectives?

Because they are committed, respect the various roles within the team and meet their deadlines.

6. What are the reasons for meetings?

Well, there is actually a host of reasons for holding meetings, just to name a few like explaining new
projects, making team decisions, sharing information and addressing problems, establish teamworking
rules

4. Why is meeting important to teamwork?

Because the rules of teamworking are set up in meetings and it is also in meetings that teams are
formed.

5. What are the tips for successful teamwork?

We all know that teamwork has been very popular in the workplace. But how to exhibit effective
teamwork is still a challenge to many people. So, I’m going to give you some tips for successful
teamwork.

- First comes the indispensable role of a team leader. A leader is the person who is reponsible
for leading meetings, assigning tasks, making team decisions, and providing
direction for the team. So, I’m sure that a team without a leader cannot work smoothly

-The second tip is that everyone within a team need to have a deep understanding of their team’s goals.
This is so important because it encourges the commitment to the work among the team members. Just
imagine how can they devote their time and effort to the work if they even do not know what they all
want. So for me, without a clear goal, the team’s time would obviouly be wasted.

- Respecting the various roles within a team is the last and most important tip I want to mention .
Actually, differnet people in a group have different working experiences, ideas, opinons and so on. So
looking up to others is a great way for people within a team to generate creative ideas, to help each
other minimise their weaknesses and improve their strengths and to avoid conflict in the workplace.

7. How many types of meeting? Which one do you prefer?

● From my perspective, there are four types of common meetings

- The first one is the cafe meeting: It is a meeting over coffee or a snack, providing a relaxed and creative
atmosphere for brainstorming.
- Then there is the stand-up meeting, a kind of meeting in which everyone in the team stands in a circle
and gives updates on work, conveys solutions to problems and asks for help if necessary. Because
people are standing up, they are more concise and to the point.

- The next meeting is the egg-timer meeting. The meeting is held when it is preferable to have people
sitting comfortably, as they may need to refer to notes so use an egg-timer to make sure nobody speaks
for too long. Participants conduct the meeting in a precise and time-efficient manner.

-And finally, we have the walking meeting. This is when two or three members of the team take a 10-15
minute walk outside the office complex to discuss confidential matters in an informal context.

●It is obvious that different types of meeting are suitable with differnet situations. But if I were to
choose the best one, I would go for an egg-timer meeting for some reasons. First, to be honest,
whenever I’m working, I want to be 100% focused on the work and my time is precisely used. My
attention can be drawn away from my work if I pick up the cafe meeting, where I might have to suffer
from the noise of the traffic outside or the music in the coffee shops

Second, I’m the kind of person who does not have good memory, so I have the habit of noting
everything in a meeting to my a notebook. And of course, the standingup and walking meeting make it
hard for me to write things down. So, that’s why an egg-timer meeting is my preference.
8. How many roles are there in a team?

Generally speaking, there are 5 roles in a team

-The first one is the team leader

+ His job is to provide an environment that helps teams to get their work done, which means organizing
locations and time for meetings and providing resources required by the team to carry out their tasks.

+ Another part of his duty is to remind the team what result the organization expects of them and how
their tasks fit in with the overall goals and mission of the company

+ And he also works closely with the facilitator in planning the agenda of a meeting, setting outcomes
and ensuring next steps are assigned, as well as communicating on the team’s progress with other
members of the organization.

-The second role is the team facilitator

+ helps develop and apply the procedure for teamwork, also establishes the ground rules and then
makes sure that they are respected

+ the role of the facilitator in decision-making is neutral, it is a good idea rotate from team member to
team member.

-Next we have the team recorder,

+ who is responsible for writing down key points, ideas and decisions at meetings. And before meeting,
their task is to review the agenda carefully

+ The text written by the recorders should be close to the actual words used in meetings as possible

-Then there is the timekeeper,

+ His duty is to monitor how long the team is taking to accomplish its tasks and provide regular updates
to the team on how well or poorly they are using their time

+ He also collaborates with the team leader and facilitator and other team members to determine new
time schedules if these are necessary

-And the final role is team members. All of them must be enthusiiastic and committed to the team’s
purpose. They should be willing to share responsibility and to accept diffrent roles such as facilitator or
leader. They must share knowledge and expertise and never keep information to themselves. They
should respect the opinions and positions of others in the team.
E. Dịch

Khi ba thành viên của bộ phận chúng tôi rời đi để gia nhập một công ty khác, tinh thần đồng đội của
chúng tôi đã ở mức rất thấp. Chúng tôi biết rằng chúng tôi phải tuyển dụng thành viên nhóm mới và quá
trình hòa nhập dài sau đó sẽ làm chậm lại công việc của chúng tôi đáng kể. Chúng tôi lo ngại rằng bầu
không khí tích cực và tinh thần đồng đội mà chúng tôi đã mất một thời gian dài để xây dựng sẽ bị ảnh
hưởng bởi trở ngại này. Chúng tôi đã quyết định mở một cuộc họp, và mục đầu tiên trên chương trình
nghị sự là phần thảo luận góp ý để đưa ra các ý tưởng về cách tốt nhất để tổ chức hoạt động xây dựng
đội nhóm. Hoạt động này sẽ giúp các thành viên mới tuyển dụng hòa nhập vào .....nhanh chóng nhất có
thể. Tất cả những người tham gia cuộc họp đưa ra ý kiến của mình và cuối cùng chúng tôi tán thành việc
tham gia một buổi đào tạo trong ngày tổ chức bởi một chuyên gia tư vấn. Chúng tôi sẽ dành cả ngày để
giao lưu với nhau và hoàn thành các nhiệm vụ nhóm đơn giản đưa ra bởi chuyên gia tư vấn. Trong vài
tuần tới, chúng tôi hi vọng rằng nhóm mới của chúng tôi sẽ hoạt làm việc hiệu quả hơn bao giờ hết.

UNIT 4 : INFORMATION

A.Vocab

B. Overview

C. The article

The author believes that information technology is speeding up business decision-making and creating a
real-time economy.A telling example is the application of a system called the digital nervous information
system at General Electric . Established to monitor everything involved in GE’s business in real time, the
system, which saved GE $1.6 billion in just one year, acts as a “digital dashboard” that signal the status
of programs that are critical to the company’s business, compares how certain measurements perform
against goals and alerts managers if they need to take action. After the successful story of General
Electric, experts predict that many companies will use information technology to become a real-time
enterprise owing to the advantages brought by this kind of enterprise. Turning to a real-time enterprise,
companies can speed up information flow, monitor a business continuously and react when conditions
change, and use newly available information to offer new products and services.

This change will have big impacts on the workings of companies and economies.

D. Speaking

1. Do you think intranets are a good idea or do they just contribute to excessive amout of information?

OK so for this question, I would like to begin by telling you what an intranet is. It is an area where people
in a company can share all sorts of information, and it can be accessed by everybody within a company,
no matter how big that company is.And usually an intranet has 4 most popular parts: what new section,
staff directory, special offers, and useful links giving access to all sorts of thing outsidethe company.
from my point of view, the intranet is a great system for some reasons:

First, it makes sure that every companies member is always kept up to date with the latest information
thanks to its “ what’s new section” part .So if there are any changes in the company , people can react to
changes as soon as possible

Next, I think the part called “ staff directory” of the intranet helps people in a company work well
together, work more smoothly. Let me give you an example. Given in a big comapy, when two
departments are going to work together on a project and they know nothing or jusst a little about each
other, they can get access to the intranet, click on the “ staff directory” and get more information about
their partners, like their names, their working experiences, their strengths and so on. Then have a better
undrstanding/....

Finally, I’m sure that the intranet does not contribute to the excessive amount of information. You
should remember that companies have an information management department , any infomation
appearing on the intranet has been carefully checked and edited by staff working in this department.
they also weed out unecessary information and this means that the companies members just receive
vital information.

2. How do you deal with excessive amount of information?

- use firewall/ password to

3. Do you think have a lot of information makes it easier for managers to do their jobs?

For me, the answer would be no, absolutely no for some reasons.

First, the huge amounts of information that managers receive could be a mess. Both the important and
unimportant information are mixed together. And then they have to spend hours dealing with the mess
by sorting everything out to avoid missing vital information, which not only wastes their precious time
but also add extra pressure to the work. They might have to suffer from information overload, a
problem which has been faced by many business people.

Next, as an implication for information overload, they will have to suffer from productivity decrease
because when they have to spend much time to deal with do not have enough energy

Second, I think you all know that in today modern business, information are managed on a system of
computers. So when there is a lot of information, the bosses have to spend more time working on
computers and this puts their health at risk. They might catch differerent diseases like eye strain ,
headache, skin damage due to the blue light from computer screens.

5, Why is information a key resource for modern businesses?

Because businesses are operating in a knowledge economy, which develops based on producing,
distributing and using information. So without information, corporations is for sure shooting in the dark.

6. How important is information management?

-Effective information management ensures that information flows between different parts in a
company.

-Effective management help managers to gather, process, exchange and store all kind of information.
They then can analyse development in real time, address problem and exploit opportunities

7. Which form does information come in?

Text, voice, data and images.

8. What is real-time technology?

9. What can be the main securitity issues for information management?

- information leakage. Well, it is quite hard for anybody outside the company to actually access an
intranet site. However, there is always possibility of people downloading information and emailing it to
people.

- or even worse outsiders can penertrate diectly into the company and steal sensitive or important
information

10. What exactly is the difference between “business intelligence” and “industrial espionage”?

Well, these terms are really very different because the first one is legal and the second is not. Business
intelligence is the collection of infomation through any legal or open source. That could be from trade
publications, business magazines, government organizations, specialist data sources or or even just via
straightforward observation. In constrast, industrial espionage is all about gathering itelligence by illegal
methods. And there are various ways people can do that, by electronic surveillance, by stealing
confidential information and maybe by recruiting human agents from inside a buisness operation.

10. How should businesses go about protecting their information?

Information is becomming more and more important in corporate life. So it is necessary for enterprises
to protect their information. And there are certain ways companies can do this

- use firewall and strong password for their information system and just let the employees in the
companies know the password. By doing so, they can make sure that their communication network is
protected and their crucial files are not interfered or gone missing.

- install software and systems to monitor the activities of their employees. Of course companies can
have staff that they can trust but people are not always honest, and they may be prepared to
communicate confidential information in exchange for something they want. Like being a spy for a
competitor comapny in exchange for a huge amount of money which is absolutely higher than their
salary. That’s why I recommend installing suveillance systems.

11. How to make staff more aware of the danger of espionage?

I would say that providing them with security training can be very helpful. You know, most employees
do not understand the techniques that outsiders can use to obtain infomation about a business. So
competitors can get a lot of useful information from them just by asking the right questions at the right
time. So if employees are given training, they can identify those techniques and therefore avoid
releasing their companies’s important information.

E. Dịch

General Electric là một trong những công ty đầu tiên ứng dụng thành công “Six Sigma” – một hệ
phương pháp hoàn toàn mới để quản lý chất lượng được đưa ra lần đầu tiên bởi Motorola. Six Sigma sử
dụng số liệu thống kê để đưa ra tính toán chính xác về các chỉ số kinh doanh quan trọng nhất nhằm đo
lường hiệu quả hoạt động của các hoạt động kinh doanh. Để có thể có được các tính toán đó thì trước
tiên các công ty phải thu thập thông tin về những mục tiêu cụ thể mà họ mong muốn đạt được và tiếp
đến đưa những thông tin đó vào trong chương trình máy tính. Sau đó, các thông tin này sẽ được so sánh
đối chiếu với kết quả thực tế thu được và dựa trên đó các nhà quản lý có thể biết được các hoạt động
kinh doanh đang diễn ra như thế nào so với các mục tiêu ban đầu của chúng. Nhờ vậy, Six Sigma không
những giúp đẩy nhanh toàn bộ quá trình quản lý chất lượng mà còn giúp các doanh nghiệp cải tiến
không ngừng, tiết kiệm được một khoản chi phí không hề nhỏ.

UNIT 5: TECHNOLOGY

I. Vocab

II. Overview

III. The article There is no limti ..... humand desire to communicate has no limit. The market for

The article is about the mobile industry, which never stops to making improvement. The market for
mobile phones has become almost saturated with more producers than buyers, causing the industry’s
shrinking market and falling revenues. As a result, companies are desperate to find new growth markets
and original strategies to boost falling revenues and increase profit margin. One appoarch that they has
developed is to diversify their products by providing mobiles for different members in a family, such as
cats, dogs, infants and even household appliances. Another approach is to encourage people to use their
existing phones more than they do at the moment, by lowering the prices of phone calls, developing
“fixed-moblie convergence” technology – a techonology that allows people to use their mobile handsets
to make cheap calls at home over fixed-line networks and extending mobile coverage to allow
subcribers to make calls wherever they are. Evidently, when everyone on earth is on the phone all day
long, there is no limit to the potential market for mobile communications.

DỊCH:

Padmasree Warrior, giám đốc công nghệ của Motorola, đang phát triển một chiến lược mới mà theo
như bà cho biết, chiến lược này sẽ làm gia tăng khả năng di động. Bà Warrior hi vọng rằng khi khả năng
di động tăng thì số lượng thuê bao của thị trường điện thoại di động gần như đã bão hòa này cũng sẽ
tăng lên. Nokia là công ty dẫn đầu trong thị trường điện thoại di dộng và Motorola là công ty đứng thứ
hai trong thị trường cạnh tranh khốc liệt này. Trong bối cảnh số lượng đối thủ cạnh tranh tăng lên, cố
gắng thu hút lượng khách hàng ngày càng ít đi, tất cả các công ty viễn thông gần đây đều chứng kiến sự
sụt giảm trong thị phần của họ. Nhiều công ty viễn thông lớn đang phải đối mặt với áp lực từ phía các cổ
đông trong việc tìm kiếm thị trường tăng trưởng mới và các chiến lược ban đầu để vực dậy doanh số và
tăng lợi nhuận ròng.

Bà Warrior dẫn đầu một nhóm gồm 4600 kỹ sư công nghệ và các nhà nghiên cứu, những người đã và
đang đưa ra các kế hoạch để vực dậy doanh thu và tăng lợi nhuận ròng. Họ dự định bắt đầu bằng cách
kết nối các mạng công nghệ của họ thành một, ví dụ như kết hợp công nghệ không dây và công nghệ đa
phương tiện vào trong chiếc điện thoại di động mới của họ. Mẫu điện thoại mới nhất của họ là Razv V3,
được miêu tả như một thành tựu của kỹ thuật, tiếp thị và thiết kế sáng tạo. Motorola also plans to
smooth the transition between home, work, automotive and mobile environments by.... Motorola thậm
chí có ý định mở rộng vùng phủ sóng để mà mọi người có thể sử dụng điện thoại trên máy bay. Điện
thoại cho phép bạn nói chuyện ở mọi nơi, Motorola sẽ cho phép bạn làm bất cứ điều gì ở bất cứ đâu.

SPEAKING

1. What are the examples of technological development?

Actually, there has been countless technological development in recent decades. But the first thing that
comes to my mind is the appearance of consumer electronics products like smart TV, dishwasher and so
on. Besides, there is nanotechnology, a science that combine computer technology and chemistry to
build things from atoms and it promises to bring smaller, lighter more portable devices. And the final
technological development that I want to mention is the mobile telecommunications, including smart
phones, the internet and so on.

2. How does technological development affect every aspect of our personal life?

Well, to be honest, technological development has made our personal life more comfortable and
entertaining. So for instance, let’s talk about household appliances like the heater. When you are driving
home from work, you can call the heater to automatically turn it on. So when you come home, you have
already had hot water to take a shower, to relax after a hard - working day. So you see you do not need
to directly turn it on by yourself anymore, but still get what you want. Or the mobile phone, , it makes
our communication easier than ever before. Thanks to it, we can keep in touch with our friends, our
family, no matter where they are. We can use it to entertain by listening to music, watching movies,
puchases things and make payment online and so on

3. How does technological development affect every aspect of our professional life?

Well, generally speaking, technological development has change forever the way we work.

3....The rapid pace of technological development is affecting every aspect of our professional and
personal lives. What do you think of this statement?

I think this statement is 100% true.

Well, to be honest, technological development has made our personal life more comfortable and
entertaining. So for instance, let’s talk about household appliances like the heater. When you are driving
home from work, you can call the heater to automatically turn it on. So when you come home, you have
already had hot water to take a shower, to relax after a hard - working day. So you see you do not need
to directly turn it on by yourself anymore, but still get what you want. Or the mobile phone, , it makes
our communication easier than ever before. Thanks to it, we can keep in touch with our friends, our
family, no matter where they are. We can use it to entertain by listening to music, watching movies,
puchases things and make payment online and so on.

And it also changes forever they way we work. For example, in the past, people need to keep
thounsands of paper to store information but now they can keep that huge amount of information just
in small USB. Or thanks to the internet, people now can work away from home through Skype, Zoom
Cloud meettings and so on. They do not need to go to office to work, they can avoid being stuck in heavy
traffic jam.

4. What is “saturated market”?

Saturated market can be defined as the market in which the number of products is higher than the
number of people who want to buy them or the number of producers is higher than the number of
buyers. Let me give you an example, the mobile phone market. Almost everyone now has a phone, but
new and more innovative models are continuosly coming onto this market.

5. What is the example of new growth market?

Nanatenology is a demonstration for new growth market, known as a market that combine computer
technology and chemistry to build things from atoms and it promises to bring smaller, lighter more
portable devices.
6. Is there no limit to the potential market for mobile communications?

Of course not, the mobile industry will never stop to improve. As you might know, the market for
mobile phones has become almost saturated with more producers than buyers, causing the industry’s
shrinking market and falling revenues. So, companies are desperate to find new growth markets and
original strategies to boost falling revenues and increase profit margin. And they have adopted 2
methods to do so and it is these mothods that expplain the continuous improvement of this market.

+ The first appoarch that they has developed is to diversify their products by providing mobile phones
for different members in a family, such as cats, dogs, infants and even household appliances.

+ Another approach is to encourage people to use their existing phones more by lowering the prices of
phone calls, developing “fixed-moblie convergence” technology – a techonology that allows people to
use their mobile handsets to make cheap calls at home over fixed-line networks and extending mobile
coverage to allow subcribers to make calls wherever they are. So when eveyone on earth is on there
phone all day long, actually, there is no limit to the potential market for mobile communications

So as you can see, the two mentioned methods have actually make the mobile communications a
potential market.

7. Mobiles are developing all the time – getting more and more complex, adding new features. Can you
explain the reason behind this?

As you might know, every year many mobile companies have launched a large number of new phones
with new featurres and more complexity. And from my point of view the reason for this continuous
improvement that the market for mobile phones has become almost saturated with more producers
than buyers, which leads to the industry’s shrinking market and falling revenues. As a result, companies
are desperate to find new growth markets and original strategies to boost falling revenues and increase
profit margin. And they have adopted 2 methods

+ One appoarch that they has developed is to diversify their products by providing mobiles for different
members in a family, such as cats, dogs, infants and even household appliances.

+ Another approach is to encourage people to use their existing phones more by lowering the prices of
phone calls, developing “fixed-moblie convergence” technology – a techonology that allows people to
use their mobile handsets to make cheap calls at home over fixed-line networks and extending mobile
coverage to allow subcribers to make calls wherever they are.

So as you can see, the two mentioned methods have actually helped to explain the appearance of many
new kinds of phones
8. What do you think are the different ways in which mobile phone companies can boost revenues?

There are two ways

+ The first appoarch that they has developed is to diversify their products by providing mobile phones
for different members in a family, such as cats, dogs, infants and even household appliances.

+ Another approach is to encourage people to use their existing phones more by lowering the prices of
phone calls, developing “fixed-moblie convergence” technology – a techonology that allows people to
use their mobile handsets to make cheap calls at home over fixed-line networks and extending mobile
coverage to allow subcribers to make calls wherever they are. So when eveyone on earth is on there
phone all day long, actually, there is no limit to the potential market for mobile communications, which
means that companies can create more new phones, earning more money

9. What reasons can you think of for installing phones on dogs, and in cars, laptop computers,
household appliances and industrial machinery? Can you think of other useful places where phones
could be installed.

I think the purpose of installing phones on those is to help them to communicate with each other and
communicate with humans also, making human life more comfortable, easier and more convenient. So
for instance, let’s talk about household appliances like the heater. When you are driving home from
work, you can call the heater to automatically turn it on. So when you come home, you have already had
hot water to take a shower, to relax after a hard - working day. So you see you do not need to directly
turn it on by yourself anymore. Or when it comes to industrial machines, the phones installed in them
can help them work together more smoothly and when their is sth wrong happen, the phone will
announce the staff immediately so that the staff can fix the mistake right away. And the work will not be
delayed.

other useful places where phones could be installed:

10. Are mobile phones a good thing for society in general? Are there any disadvantages to having 24-
hour phone communication?

From my point of view, mobile phones are one of the best human beings’s inventions because of the
many benefits that they have been bringing to society.

First, it makes our communication easier than ever before. Thanks to it, we can keep in touch with our
friends, our family, no matter where they are.

Second, mobile phones are actually a useful device for studying. We can use it to store studying
material, to get access to the internet to find necessary studying sources. And different from a computer
or laptop, mobile phones are smaller, lighter and more portable.
More than than, they are also an ideal device for entertaning. You see we can listen to music, watch
movie, take photo, purchase things and make payment online and so on. All is done on the phone.

Thats why I think mobilephones are an excellent development.

*It can cause some health problems: headache, sleep deprivation or when we make video phone calls,
we may catch eye strain

- Work distracting

- Cost more monry. Cuz you call you pay

UNIT 6: ADVERTISEMENT

A. Vocab

B.Overview

C. The article

Given more than half of the advertising budget is being wasted, the advertising industry is going through
one of the most challenging periods in its history. This is owing to a combination of long-term changes,
such as the growing diversify of media and the arrival of new technologies, notably the internet; all
these have resulted in better-informed consumers. With smarter buyers, the consequence is that
advertising companies are finding it hard to target the audience when they use traditional methods of
advertising and marketing because some of these methods simply no longer work. Therefore, it is
imperative for the industry to find solutions to solve its problem. One technique for advertising firms is
to choose right forms of promotion and the form chosen should be based on their budget and target
audience. Another solution is that the industry should keep inventive to find out more forms of
advertising, the media did pose huge creative challenge.
D. Dịch

Ký hợp đồng với người nổi tiếng và sử dụng thân phận ngôi sao của họ để quảng bá thương hiệu là một
trong những hình thức quảng cáo tiêu chuẩn. Tag Heuer, một thương hiệu đồng hồ tài trợ cho một số sự
kiện thể thao, hiện đã ký hợp đồng với Tiger Wood. Nicole Kidman đã đóng một quảng cáo thương mại
cho Chanel No. 5 và đoạn quảng cáo đó đã được công chiếu trên toàn thế giới. Thế nhưng, nhiều công ty
đã và đang nhận thấy rằng việc chọn được người nổi tiếng mà thể hiện chính xác hình ảnh như mong
muốn không phải lúc nào cũng dễ dàng. Điều gì sẽ xảy ra khi một công ty đang chuẩn bị thực hiện một
chiến dịch mới có sự góp mặt của một người nổi tiếng và đột nhiên phát hiện ra rằng người đó đang bị
buộc tội vi phạm hình sự? Mặc dù việc sử dụng hình ảnh của người nổi tiếng để quảng bá sản phẩm hầu
như chắc chắn sẽ làm tăng doanh số bán hàng, thế nhưng ngày càng nhiều nhà quảng cáo đang chuyển
sang các hình thức quảng cáo khác ít rủi ro hơn để tiếp cận với khách hàng mục tiêu của họ.

E. Speaking

1. What is advertising?

Generally speaking, advertising is a means of communication between an organization and its target
audience, using space or time purchased in the media.

2. What is advertising campaign?

An avertising campaign is a designed strategy which uses combinations of commercials, posters, print
adverts, or internet pop-ups in order to publicise a company’s products or services and persuade
consumers to buy.

3. What are the forms of promotions in unit 6?

Commercials, posters, print adverts, internet pop-ups, in-store displays, product placements, product
demonstrations

4. What is product placements?

- definition: is a form of promotion in which products or services are featured in TV shows, movies,
music video, ect and the product is used by the characters in those TV shows, movies... so that people
have more confidence to buy them.

- example: Tiki’s delivery service in Duc Phuc, Orange & Chau Dang Khoa Music Video

Bitis’s shoes in MV Lac Troi of Son Tung MTP. Samsung’s phones in many Korean films
5. What is in-store displays?

- a form of promotion in which products are arranged in an attractive way so that it encourages
customers to know more about the products and want to buy them

-we can catch sight of it in alomost every store on street out there in stores in shopping malls, or even
in online shops. They can categorize their products based on their funtions or colour.

6. What is product demonstrations?

7. What examples of product placement in films, video games or on TV can you think of? Do you think
this is an effective form of advertising?

Tiki’s delivery service in Duc Phuc, Orange & Chau Dang Khoa Music Video

Bitis’s shoes in MV Lac Troi of Son Tung MTP. Samsung’s phones in many Korean films

8. How do you understand “ The power of persuasion”?

9. Unusual places where are possible to place advertisement?

10. What are your least/ least favorite advert?

11. How is the advertising industry regulated in your country? What sorts of products or services cannot
be advertised?

12. To choose the right media, you have to consider the audience, the budget and the message (e.g.
does it maches the culture....)

UNIT 7: LAW

A. Vocab

B. Overview

C. The article

Litigants are looking for opportunities to take legal action against American companies, aiming to obtain
huge amount of compensation. Six common categories in which companies are sued consist of product-
liability, antitrust, intellectual property, employee conduct, contractual failure, and shareholder actions.
The factor that encourages more and more people to take US firms to court is the larger and larger
settlements, which can amout to million dollars. These huge awards, ruled unresonably by the judges,
have had negative impacts on the companies and the US economy. Therefore, it is imperative for the
country to push for reform. However, changing regulation is difficult, since there is no precise
information on the cost of litigation.
D. Dịch

Trong bộ phim Hollywood cùng tên, Julia Roberts vào vai một bà mẹ đơn thân tên là Erin Brockovich.
Erin đã thất bại trong vụ kiện đòi tiền bồi thường cho những tổn hại mà cô phải chịu đựng trong một vụ
tai nạn xe hơi. Vị luật sư bào chữa cho cô đã thua vụ kiện, nhưng thay vào đó ông đã đưa ra lời đề nghị
mời cô làm việc cho hãng luật của ông. Trong quá trình làm việc, Erin phát hiện ra rằng một tập đoàn lớn
đã và đang làm ô nhiễm nguồn nước của một trường học địa phương. Cô đã cố gắng thuyết phục người
dân địa phương khởi kiện và cuối cùng đã thuyết phục được 600 người trở thành nguyên đơn tham gia
vào một vụ kiện tập thể. Tại phiên điều trần, thẩm phán đã xử bên nguyên đơn thắng kiện và yêu cầu
một khoản bồi thường lên đến 333 triệu đô.

1. các hoạt động của tất cả các công ty tuân theo luật pháp quốc
gia và quốc tế, trong đó đặt ra các điều kiện để họ có thể hoạt
động tại thị trường trong nước và nước ngoài Các công ty và cá
nhân sử dụng dịch vụ của một công ty luật hoặc của bộ phận
pháp lý doanh nghiệp để thực hiện hành động pháp lý nhằm đòi
bồi thường thiệt hại mà họ phải gánh chịu Cả hai bên trong vụ
kiện đều có luật sư đại diện, nguyên đơn hoặc đương sự khởi
kiện bị đơn Hầu hết các vụ kiện được giải quyết ngoài tòa án
thông qua thương lượng giữa hai bên

E. Speaking

1. What is law?

A rule made by the government that states how people may and may not behave in society and in
business

2. Why do we need laws?

- to maintain social order, without laws there will be chaos

-important tool to govern society, like ordering particular punishments if people do not observe laws

-observing laws make it possible for people/ a country/a society to prosper and succeed because when
people respecc the rules, they can find ways to be invented

3. How to make sure laws are respected?

-teach people about the laws and make sure they understand them

-It’s important to make sure everyone is equal before laws

-punish strictly people who disobey the laws,

4. Why do companies have to follow the law?

Because the law lay down the conditions under which they can operate and if they do not obey the law,
they will be taken into court by litigants

5. When can companies be taken legal actions?

When they fail to respect their obligations under the law, like breaking a business contract, commit
copyright infringement and so on.

6. What are the purposes of litigation?

To obtain compensation for the harm people have suffered

7. How can companies take legal action?

By using the services of a law firm or of a corporate legal department

8. In some countries, more and more people are prepared to litigate either against businesses or
professional people. Is this a good thing or not. Do you think this will benefit the socieety in the long
term?

Well, to be honest, I think this is a really bad thing for some reasons

- Firstly, when the number of litigants increase, companies will have to spend a lot of time and
money dealing with them and this will have negative impact on their operations because their
costs increase but they make no profit in the court. Or even worse, they might be boycotted by
consumers and for public companies, investors might withdraw capital. All this might drive
companies to bankruptcy. At that time, many people will lose their jobs and the state budget alo
lose an amount of tax.
- Second, as many people see litigation as a golden opportunity to earn huge amounts of money,
they might give up their jobs and invest all their time and money in lawsuits. And when people
don’t go to work, the economies will stagnate and cannot develop because the labour factor has
gone.
- - And finally, there are cases when people trying to take companies to court, but finally these
people are the loser and are sentenced to prision. Let me give you an example. In 2016, Vo Van
Minh found a fly in the bottled drink he bought from Tan Hiep Phat and he required the
company to pay him 5000 triệu to keep that as a secret. But when he was receving that money
from the company in a coffee shop, he was arrested by the police. And finally he was sentenced
to prison for blackmailing for 7 years. That ‘s e really regretful story.
 - 9. What are the common categories of litigation?

There are six common areas of litigation. They are antitrust, intellectual property, employee conduct,
contractual failure, shareholder actions and product liability.

-Antitrust: Pepsico and Coca Cola. Pepsico released a very controversial advertising video. It begins with
the image of a fridge, then a boy come to the fridge and open it. He then take two cans of coca cola , put
them on the ground and stand on them, in an effort to take the Pepsico cans, which is at the higher
postion than the cans of pepsico in the fridge. So people think that Pepsi co was meant to lower the
value of their rival, Coca cola

10. Why are most lawsuits settled out of court?

Because filing a lawsuit takes a lot of time, money and effort. And i

-law firm: hãng luật

-a corporate legal department: phòng pháp chế của 1 công ty

-litigate = take legal action = sue: khởi kiện

-compensation: tiền bồi thường

-lawyer: luật sư

-plaintiff/ litigant: nguyên đơn

Pliantiff lawyer: luật sư luận tội

-defendent: bị đơn

Defendent lawyer: luật sư bào chữa

-class action lawsuit: vụ kiện tập thể

-individual lawsuit: vụ kiện cá nhân

-judical process: quá trình tố tụng

-jury: bồi thẩm đoàn

-common law: thông luật

-case law: án lệ

-settlement: phán quyết

-verdict: bản án

-damages = award = compensation: tiền bồi thường

-fee: án phí

-judge: thẩm phán