Материал: 2507

64. Look at the pictures (pic. 131 – 136). Which of the products and services do you think would/wouldn’t be sold well online?

Pic. 136

256

65.Read the article in ex. 66. Were your predictions in ex. 64 right?

66.Are the following statements true or false? Read the article and check your answers.

1.Companies which have mail order catalogues should sell online.

2.Office supplies are good products for an online business.

3.Busy people are good online customers.

4.It is bad news if your competitors are online.

5.Niche products are never successful online.

If you are unsure whether your business can sell successfully online, consider the following questions:

What do you sell?

Products sold through catalogues and other direct channels usually do well on the web too. Some services, such as travel planning, are also suitable for

you plan to sell? For example, if your customers have busy lifestyles, the time-saving advantages of shopping online may appeal to them.

Are your competitors online?

It’s a good sign if your main competitors are already online. But you need to make your website different! For instance, if you want to sell children’s toys online, it may be difficult to complete against the e-commerce efforts of national toy store chains. Look for a niche market such as educational toys, or toys based on book characters – you may be able to compete more successfully.

from: ProFile1

257

67. Search the square and find words connected with business online (30 words). The letters which are left make a secret word which is repeated. What is the word?

Rearrange the letters and you will know a secret word.

SORADWSP

68. Match the words from the square in Ex. 67 to the definitions (1 – 14).

1. Another name for the web. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

2. A message sent electronically by computer. _ _ _ _ _

3. What you look at when you work at your computer. _ _ _ _ _ _

4. Computers use this kind of technology. _ _ _ _ _ _ _

5. Connected to the Internet. _ _ / _ _ _ _

6. Business over the Net. _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

7. Many companies have this where you can find out about them. _ _ _ _ _

_ _

8. The first page that we access when we go onto 7. _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _

9. To travel across the Internet: not sail, but … _ _ _ _

258

10.Google is probably the world’s most-used _ _ _ _ _ _ engine.

11.Not a computer rat, but a computer _ _ _ _ _.

12.When everything stops working on your computer; like an accident. _

_ _ _ _

13.To receive information and files onto your computer. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

14.The sound 11 makes. _ _ _ _ _

Make the correct word boundaries and you will know the answers.

INTERNETEMAILSCREENDIGITALONLINEECOMMERCEWEBSIT EHOMEPAGESURFSEARCHMOUSECRASHDOWNLOADCLICK

69. Study the word combinations and try to explain them. Then write

70. We are living in hard times. What do you think the greatest threats to the world economy are? Brainstorm ideas.

71. Which of the threats do you consider to be the key global issues? Are there others that you believe to be even more important? What do you think their economic implications might be?

72. Which countries or geographic areas do you think will have the most direct or indirect impact on the global economy over the next five to ten years? Can you justify your view?

259

73. Compare your views with your partner and those expressed in the article, The Death of Economics.

The Death of Economics

The world economy is falling apart. And no one has a clue what’s going wrong – least of all the economists.

Whereas in the past, supply and demand had a way of evening themselves out, we now swing from hyperinflation to soaring unemployment as slump follows boom. The once predictable business cycles which drive the market economy have gone out of control. The economic statistics issued by governments seem more unreliable than ever. And, for the first time, politicians have started talking about ‘the death of economics’.

Speculative Greed

A major cause of the crisis has been the business sector’s ruthless pursuit of capital. It was largely corrupt propertyИspeculators and poorly managed financial institutions that caused the collapse of the Japanese economy in the 90s and the subsequentД‘Asian meltdown’. The dotcom boom at the beginning of the 21st century was also motivated by short-term speculative greed. More money actually changes hands in four and a half days on the global currency marketsАthan is exchanged annually through trade in merchandise and services. Business, it seems, is a very slow way to make money. The fastestбway to make money is money.

Merger-mania

Two decades ofиbigger and bigger mergers and acquisitions have compounded the problem. In 1997 alone $ 1.6 trillion were spent on M&As. For theСboard members and shareholders of the companies concerned, there were huge windfall profits to be made, but for the companies themselves it was not always good news. Not was it good news for the thousands laid off as a result of bringing ex-competitors together. In the new globalised economy, the need to grow at all costs has also led companies like Enron and WorldCom to become increasingly creative in their accounting methods. In some companies has become common practice.

Different Worlds

But the real long-term crisis is the widening gap between rich and poor. Thirty per cent of the world’s population represents ninety per cent of the world’s GDP, whilst the other seventy per cent have to survive on the remaining ten per cent. The income ratio between the richest and poorest countries went from 30:1 in 1960 to 74:1 in 1997 – and it’s getting worse. So it isn’t trade deficits, post-communist chaos or the global arms build-up that pose the greatest threat to the world economy. Nor is it politi-

260