D. Using the notes you took at the meeting, write the minutes

C. In groups, conduct the meeting. Every member should take notes in order to write a full report on the meeting later. Feel free to add other opinions and recommendations.

B. In groups, you will be given a role to play. Read the agenda and your role carefully. Then prepare how you will express your opinions and suggestions at the meeting. Be prepared to agree and disagree with the other participants.

A. Read the text and make notes about the situation.

Exercise 10.

Exercise 9. Match the expressions 1-12 below to the following things a-f that participants should do.

a) express agreement

b) express disagreement

c) make suggestions

d) summarise arguments

e) ask for clarification

f) present arguments

1. I'm convinced that...

2. How about...

3. I'm all in favour of that.

4. Why don't we...

5. I'm afraid I don't accept that at all.

6. So what you are suggesting is...

7. Could you explain that in more detail?

8. I'm sorry but I don't agree at all.

9. I quite agree.

10. The way I see it is...

11. Am I right in thinking that...?

12. In other words you are saying...

What other expressions do you know?

Your company is negotiating an alliance with a company which insists that employees only work 35 hours per week. If your company goes ahead with the alliance, the employees will not have to take a salary cut but they will not be allowed to work overtime. Ordinary workers, who often work overtime to earn extra money, will therefore lose some of their earning potential. Executives in the company who are not paid overtime will be less concerned about that, but the 35-hour week will have other consequences for them. If they don't have enough time to complete their projects, they will have to share power and control with new employees who will need to be brought in to meet work demands.

AGENDA

a)The chairperson will bring everybody to date on the negotiations concerning the alliance. If it goes ahead we will be obliged to adopt their policy of working a 35 hour week. (5 mins.)

b)Each person will be invited to put forward his/ her views on this situation. (5 mins. per person)

c) A general discussion period will follow, where each member will put forward suggestions and recommendations to help reach a satisfactory compromise. Action points will be decided upon. (20 mins.)

d)The chairperson will appoint people to be responsible for the various action points. (5 mins.)

( Pay attention: minutes [plural] - an official written record of what is said and decided at a meeting.

Example: Will you take the minutes (=write them down)?

Has everyone seen the minutes of last month's meeting?)

Remember the minutes of a meeting should include:

1. a summary of the chairperson's introduction

2. a summary of the opinions and suggestions made by the participants

3. the action points that were decided upon

4. the people involved in carrying out the action points

5. the deadlines that were fixed

6. the date and time of the next meeting

TEXT 8. TYPES OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Merchandise exports are goods sent out of a country whereas mer­chandise imports are goods brought in. Since these are tangible goods that visibly leave and enter countries, they are sometimes referred to as visible exports and imports. The terms exports or imports are used fre­quently yet in reality the reference is only to the merchandise exports or imports.

Exporting and importing of goods are the major sources of interna­tional revenue and expenditure for most countries. Among companies engaged in some form of international business, more are involved in importing and exporting than in any other type of transaction.

Importing and/or exporting is usually but not always, the first type of foreign operations in which a firm gets involved. This is because at an early stage of international involvement these operations usually take the least commitment and least risk of a firm's resources. Exporting or importing are not typically abandoned when firms adopt other interna­tional business forms. Although this may sometimes occur, exporting and importing usually continue, either by business with other markets or to complement the new types of business activities.

Service exports and imports refer to international earnings other than those from goods sent to another country. Receipt of these earnings is considered a service export, whereas payment is considered a service import. Services are also referred to as invisibles. International business comprises many different types of services:

Travel, tourism, and transportation. Earnings from transportation and from foreign travel can be an important source of revenue for interna­tional airlines, shipping companies, reservations agencies, and hotels. On a national level, such countries as Greece and Norway depend heavily on revenue collected from carrying foreign cargo on their ships. The Bahamas earns much more from foreign tourists than it earns from export­ing merchandise.

Performance of activities abroad. Fees are payments for the per­formance of certain activities abroad, such services as banking, insur­ance, rentals (e.g., the Star Wars film), engineering, and management. Engineering services are often handled through turn-key operations, con­tracts for the construction of operating facilities that are transferred to the owner when the facilities are ready to begin operations. Fees for management services are often the result of management contracts, ar­rangements through which one firm provides management personnel to perform general or specialized management functions for another firm

Use of assets from abroad. Royalties are the payment for use of assets from abroad, such as for trademarks, patents, copyrights, or oth­er expertise under contracts known as licensing agreements. Royalties are also paid for franchising, a way of doing business in which one party (the franchisor) sells an independent party (the franchisee) the use of a trademark that is an essential asset for the franchisee's busi­ness. In addition, the franchisor assists on a continuing basis in the operation of the business, such as by providing components, manage­rial services, or technology.

Firms often move to foreign licensing or franchising after success­fully building exports to a market. This move usually involves a greater international commitment than in the early stages of exporting. The great­er involvement occurs because the firm commonly has to send techni­cians to the foreign country to assist the licensee or franchisee in estab­lishing and adapting its production facilities for the new product.

Direct investments. Direct investment takes place when control fol­lows the investment. This can amount to a small percentage of the equity of the company being acquired, perhaps even as little as 10 percent. The ownership of a controlling interest in a foreign operation is the highest type of commitment to foreign operations in the given country. Direct investment operations may be set up in order to gain access to certain resources or access to a market for the firm's product.

When two or more organizations share in the ownership of a direct investment, the operation is known as a joint venture. In a special type of joint venture, a mixed venture, a government is in partnership with a private company.

The multinational enterprise, or MNE, has a worldwide approach to foreign markets and production and an integrated global philosophy en­compassing both domestic and overseas operations. The term multina­tional corporation, or MNC, is also quite common in the literature of international business. Another term sometimes used interchangeably with MNE, especially by the United Nations, is transnational corpora­tion, or TNC.

EXERCISES

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