Mission statement; dress code; organizational hierarchy; cultural values; positioning; policies; basic values; status symbols; mindset; uniform; value systems; products.

Going into business

Exercise 4

a)Read the dialogue and take note of the collocations in bold. Translate them into your native language.

Interviewer: When did you first go into business?

 

Harris: I set up a small business selling office supplies in 1989, filing systems,

Interviewer:   Harris:

office equipment, that sort of thing. In 1991 I went into partnership with my old friend, James Britten. We made a loss for the first two years, but then things got better and we've made a profit most years ever since. But there have been bad times too.

In what way?

 

Well, during the economic recession of the early 1990s, a lot of small businesses were going under¹,and I thought our business would fold²,but we survived. All around us, small firms were going bankrupt³. But in 1994 we won a contract,despite stiff competition,to supply the local government offices, and that was an important moment for us. We took on staff and expanded. And we were proud that we had created jobs for local people at a time when unemployment was high. Our sales figures improved steadily, and soon we had an annual turnover⁴ of more than ten million pounds.

 

Interviewer: So what's the secret of your success?

Harris: Well we're quite cautious. For instance, we always carry out⁵ market

research before launching a new product. But also, we set a high value on customer service,especially after-sales service. But at the end of the day, running a successful business is a combination of hard work, luck and intuition.

 

Interviewer: Finally, there are rumours that you may float the company⁶ on the stock

market.

 

Harris: At the moment we have no intention of going public⁷,and people

shouldn’t believe everything they read in the newspapers!

¹ failing financially

² close because of failure

³ unable to pay debts, so the company's property is sold by order of a court of law

⁴ amount of business a company does in a year

⁵ the formal equivalent would be conduct market research

⁶ and ⁷ start selling shares in a business or company for the first time