Entertaining

Organising a conference

Entertaining is very important in the business world:

It makes part of successful deals, of a positive attitude towards your partners

Different cultures have different ideas about entertaining (some consider it very important, some prefer to spend money on other things)

Entertaining your business partner is a good opportunity to know him/her better

It is a well known fact that when two American or European business people meet they are there to do a deal, but in Asia they are there to establish a relationship

Asians will want to know more about their business partner (their background and their contacts) before going ahead and doing business

Relationship building takes different forms in different places: invitations to karaoke evenings in Japan or the yacht on the French Riviera are not to be refused

Corporate hospitality in Britain is very expensive for ordinary people (grand prix racing...) but thanks to corporate sponsorship such socialising is possible

While entertaining a business partner one must think of the etiquette:

The etiquette is a behaviour which is socially acceptable

It is a certain code which must be respected and it differs from culture to culture

The problem is those are the unwritten rules of behaviour and cannot be learned from a book

The etiquette is made of norms:

Norms represent certain beliefs which are typical of a community

Norms are rules or guidelines which say what is acceptable in certain situations

They say what is morally correct behaviour

There is no formal status for norms. Again, as a part of etiquette, they are a part of local mentality.

Two good ways to start socialising are:

Greeting someone: it is a social ritual used to show attention or to confirm friendship; it also shows your good will

Small talk: it is a chatter about ordinary, everyday things (weather, politics, news...)

Greeting and small talk are good ice-breakers when you feel uncomfortable in presence of a stranger

Corporate entertaining is present in the modern business world:

It is a well organised plan which involves socialising with business partners as a part of successful business deals

Some companies spend lots of money on this in the Customer Realtionship Management programme

This programme helps a company to keep an old client which is cheaper than finding new clients

The most popular forms of corporate entertaining in England are:

The Wimbledon Tennis Championship, Royal Ascot, the Open Golf, Henley Royal Regatta, Chelsea Flower Show and the Grand Prix

Music events of all sorts are becoming more and more popular (the opera, jazz events, rock and pop events...)

The profile of companies which spend on corporate entertaining:

The size of the company is not important (both small and multinational companies spend money to keep their clients)

It is more important for small business to invest in this (if you lose a big client you can be ruined)

It is important to retain your customers both in periods of economic decline and economic boom

Corporate entertaining in Japanese companies:

The bars in Tokyo’s high-class entertainment area are empty

The customers now order few drinks and go home, they talk about restructuring all the time

Corporate entertaining there is in steep decline, Japanese companies now spend less than in the previous year

The latest figures show that spending on entertainment is at low levels and the high spending days of the 1980s are over

As the losses multiply the entertainment budgets are being cut

Today the entertainment still goes on but at modest establishments (cheaper restaurants and karaoke parlours)

Companies are much stricter today concerning money

Some of Japan’s huge conglomerates have cut down their ritual corporate gift giving (now the employees buy gifts themselves)

This can be seen as a positive thing, an example of cost control which might be adopted by other countries

Word partnerships

Questions

The four Ps are the basis of marketing. Match them with their definitions

Product Price Promotion Place

The cost to the buyer of goods or services

Informing customers about products and persuading them to buy them

Where goods or services are available

Goods or services that are sold

Complete the text with the best words:

A brand can be defined as a name given to a product by a company so that the product can easily be recognised by its name or its design. In our very _______ business world, a good brand is one of the keys to the success of any company. It is often a powerful ______ tool.

However, the name is not everything. For a brand to be successful, marketers have

to know what the consumer ______ and wants, so a lot of market ______ is necessary. This gives them a consumer ________, that is to say a kind of picture of the typical customer. It is a picture not only of the customer’s needs and wants, but also of their beliefs and values. If the brand then clearly reflects those values, it is more likely to be successful.

The customer has so much _______ nowdays that a good brand is a necessity, so that one product is clearly different from another in his or her mind.

A good brand of course has long-term benefits, as it will _______ to many different market _______ and to people form different cultures.

Questions:

Yes-No questions (auxiliary verb+subject): Are you coming? Can you drive a truck? Do you know his name? Open questions (question word+auxiliary verb): What is the brand name? Which door is it? Who is the Chief

Executive? Why are you putting up your prices?

We use What if there are many possible answers: What is their policy?

If Who or What is the subject, the word order is that of a statement: Who looks after the travel arrangements?

The question word How can be followed by an adjective or an adverb: How big is the warehouse? How well do you speak Spanish?

Complete with the following question words:

when, how long, how many, how mush, what, which, who, why

_______ did you launch this advertising campaign?

________ didn’t you contact an advertising agency?

______ money did you spend on the campaign?

________ new products did you launch? Was it two or three?

_______ did you target your new product at?

________ market segments has you product been most successful in?

________ do you expect to continue to buy this product?

_______ is your sales forecast?