Skimming Using a Dictionary to Find Collocations

Collocations

19 Branding and Product Placement

20 Case Study: 3M’s Entrance into the Russian Market

Recognizing Text References

173

1. Who are the people in the

picture? What is their relationship?

173

To Page 233

They look like businesspeople. They are colleagues.

They are having a meeting.

2. What are they doing?

3. What kind of company or business is it?

173

It is hard to say, but it might be some kind of financial company, because of the bar graphs in the background.

1. What are some of the ways that companies market

their products or services?

2. In your opinion, what kinds of marketing are most

effective? Least effective?

3. What are the challenges for a company that decides

to market its products in a foreign country? For

example, imagine that an American automobile

company wants to enter the automobile market in

your home country. What might some of the

challenges be?173

174

174

1. I can use the word in a sentence.

2. I know one meaning of the word.

3. I know more than one meaning of the word.

4. I know how to pronounce the word.

____ awareness

____ brand

____ catch up

____ come to mind

____ disregard

174

____ likewise

____ method

____ setting

____ standard

____ strength

1. Where does the

picture come from? An

advertisement?

A television show? A

movie? Do you

recognize the actor in

the red jacket?174

The picture is from a movie. The actor is Tom Hanks.

To Page 233

2. What brand name do you see in the picture? What

kind of business is this brand name associated with?

Do you think that the association with this movie

helped their business?

174

3. What are your favorite brands? Have you ever

noticed one of your favorite brands in a television

show or movie? Explain.

FedEx. The company is associated with

transportation of packages and mail.

Answers will vary.

Reading Skill: Skimming

As you learned in Unit 1, skimming means to run your

eyes very quickly over a text, without reading every

word. Readers often skim to save themselves time or

to get a general idea about the topic of a short

reading before reading it. Here are some situations in

which it might be appropriate to skim a text.

•You already know a lot about the topic of a reading.

You skim it to see if there is anything new in it. Then

you read that part carefully. 175

Reading Skill:Skimming

•You don’t know much about a topic of a reading.

You

skim it first to get a general idea of what it is about.

Then you read it carefully.

•You are in a hurry and don’t have time to read

something carefully for a class. You skim the text to

get a general idea of what it is about.

175

175

1. Where does this reading probably come from?

___ a. a business magazine

___ b. a blog for people working in marketing

___ c. a business textbook✓

3. How much do you already know about the topic?

___ a. a lot ___ b. some ___c. a little

___ d. nothing or almost nothing

2. Who is it written for?

___ a. a graduate student getting an MBA in

marketing

___ b. an undergraduate student taking an

introductory business course

___ c. someone who is looking for a job in marketing

✓

Answers will vary.175

Answers will vary.

175

4. How difficult do you think the article will be for you

to understand?

___ a. very difficult

___ b. a little difficult

___ c. not difficult

176

Coca-Cola is the best-known brand in the world. It

has often been said that if Coke needed money

suddenly, it could borrow $100 billion on the strength

of its name alone. A brand name such as Coca-Cola

serves many purposes. It sets Coca-Cola apart from

the competition. It also establishes a standard

quality that people can trust. You can buy Coca-Cola

in any country of the world and feel confident that it

will always taste the same.

Branding and Product Placement

176

This creates repeat customers. If consumers try Coke

and like it, they will remember the brand name and

buy it again.

Building Brand Awareness

When companies build their brands, their goal is to

create brand awareness. They want to be the first

company that comes to mind when consumers think

of a type of product. For example, imagine you need

to ship a package.

176

What is the first company you think of? For many people,

the answer is FedEx. This means that FedEx’s brand

awareness is quite strong.

It is not easy to create brand awareness. It isn’t cheap

either. Internet brands are a good example. Google, eBay,

and Amazon spend billions a year on advertising. But only

one of them is among the fifty best-known brands in the

world: Google, at number thirty-six. Many Internet

companies have failed because they were unable to build

strong brand awareness.

176

Because brand awareness is so important,

marketers are always looking for new ways to create

it. One method that has grown dramatically in recent

years is product placement.

Product Placement

With product placement, companies pay to have their

products appear in films, TV shows, and other forms

of media. Media characters use real-life products in

ways that make it easy for viewers to spot them.176

In the films I, Robot and Transporter 2, for example, the

main characters drive Audi cars. Likewise, BMW paid

millions for its cars to appear in James Bond films. Another

example of product placement is in the movie Cellular. All

of the characters in the movie use Nokia phones.

Product placement is even more common in television.

In the popular show The Office, for example, the main

character, Michael Scott, once said, “I love my new Levis.”

176

The judges on the reality show American Idol all drink

from cups with the Coca-Cola logo1 on them.

According to marketing research company TNS

Media Intelligence, there were 11 minutes and 46

seconds of brand appearances for every hour of

prime time2 network television programming in 2009.

2 prime time: the time in the evening when the largest number of people are watching television

1 logo: a small design that is the official sign of a company or brand

176

This was 31 percent more than in the previous year.

With product placement already so widespread in

movies and television shows, companies are always

looking for new places to market their products.

Recently, product placement has begun to appear in

music and video games, too. Rapper Jay-Z mentions

phone maker Motorola in one song. All of the car repair

shops in the popular video game Need for Speed are

Castrol Syntec shops.

176

There is even product placement within more

traditional advertising media, such as catalogs. For

example, in the furniture maker IKEA’s catalogs,

Hewlett Packard computers are on every desk. But

IKEA does not sell computers. Hewlett Packard pays

IKEA to advertise its computers. This is an example

of advertising within advertising.

177

Costs and Benefits of Product Placement

Companies like product placement because it is

effective. Consumers often disregard commercials,

but they pay attention to movies and television

shows. Films, songs, and video games are also

attractive settings for products.The BMWs in James

Bond movies appear next to beautiful people and

places. Moreover, consumers associate products

with the characters that use them.

177

BMW owners may not be aware of it, but

BMW’s association with James Bond probably

played a role in their decision to buy a BMW.

As product placement has increased, so has

spending on it. Companies now spend over $5

billion a year on this form of advertising.

177

Most of this is in television, but other forms of media

are catching up. Some companies, such as Procter

& Gamble, now spend more on product placement

than on more traditional forms of advertising such as

television commercials.

177

177

Answers will vary.

178

1. When you disregard something, you don’t ____ it.

a. pay attention to b. enjoy c. understand

2. It doesn’t cost anything to set up an e-mail account

with Google. Likewise, ____ .

a. many people have b. Yahoo offers c. you can

pay extra for Gmail accounts free e-mail special

services

178

3. When you have a method, you do something

____ .

a. in a specific way b. in very little time

c. successfully

4. Fast food restaurants have a standard menu that is

____ in all locations.

a. special b. the same c. unique

5. Pepsi is catching up to Coca-Cola. Pepsi’s sales

are ____ .

a. going up b. slow c. standard

178

Back to “Branding and Product Placement”

___ 1. Coca-Cola wants to borrow $100 billion

dollars.

___ 2. Building brand awareness takes a lot of time

and money.

___ 3. Google has been successful at building brand

awareness.

___ 4. Product placement is an example of using

brand awareness to increase sales.

178

Fcould

T

T

T

___ 5. Product placement is a very successful

marketing tool.

___ 6. Up to now, product placement has been used

mostly in movies.

___ 7. You can buy a Hewlett Packard computer at

any IKEA store.

T

F

F

in many forms of media

see

178

___ 8. Most companies are now spending more on

product placement than on other types

of advertising.

___ 9. In the future, product placement will probably

become more common than TV commercials.

Fsome

T

179

179

179

179

180

180

1. I can use the word in a sentence.

2. I know one meaning of the word.

3. I know more than one meaning of the word.

4. I know how to pronounce the word.

180

___ bribe

___ essential

___ ethics

___ expertise

___ found(a company)

___ innovation

___ mission

___ operation

___ potential

___ refuse

___ turnover

___ unstable

___ willingness

1. Which products do you see in the picture?

To Page 233

180

Post-Its, mechanical pencil,

pen, binder clip, spiral

notebook2. Do you buy these products?

3. Do you know the name of a company that makes all of these products?

Answers will vary.

3M

Reading Skill: Recognizing Text References

Writers often refer to an idea from a previous

sentence or paragraph in a reading. It is important to

understand which idea the writer is referring to.

Sometimes you will be able to find the exact

reference in another sentence or paragraph.

Sometimes you will need to infer the exact reference.

Look at the example from 3M’s Entrance into the

Russian Market. 181

Reading Skill: Recognizing Text References

181

EXAMPLE:

3M was not the only multinational corporation to enter

the Russian market at that

time. Others had tried and failed.

multinational corporations other than 3M

181

1. What do the words this unstable period (line 10)

refer to?

a. 3M’s entrance into the Russian market

b. the growth of 3M’s business in Russia in the

1990s

c. the time of dramatic political, economic, and

social change in Russia

181

2. Which sentence expresses the main idea of the

case study?

a. The dramatic changes in the Russian business

environment in the early 1990s were due to

political, economic, and social change.

b. The business opportunities in Russia in the

1990s were enormous, but the risks were even

greater.

c. 3M’s success in the Russian market was due to

the company’s awareness of cultural

differences and its ability to adapt to local

3. What is the main purpose of an abstract in a case

study?

a. to introduce the general topic of the case

b. to give a brief summary of the issues and main

points of the case

c. to provide some background information about

the case conditions.

181

182

Abstract:

3M is an American-owned multinational corporation.

This case study will discuss 3M’s entrance into the

Russian market in the early 1990s.

The 1990s were a time of dramatic political,

economic, and social change in Russia. The

business opportunities were enormous, but the risks

were even greater. During this unstable period, 3M

successfully entered the Russian market.

CASE STUDY: 3M’s Entrance into the Russian Market

182

Since that time, 3M’s business in Russia has grown

at an impressive rate. Russian business expert

Mikhail Gratchev has identified two main factors that

contributed to 3M’s success in Russia:

1. the company’s awareness of the profound

differences between American and Russian

culture;

and

2. the company’s willingness to adapt its corporate

structure to the local culture.182

Company background

3M was founded in 1902. Innovation has always

been a part of 3M’s corporate mission. One of the

company’s first big successes was the creation of the

Scotch Tape brand in 1930. In the 1950s, 3M

developed some of the earliest photocopying

technology. In 1980, the company introduced another

innovative product, the Post-It Note.

182

Scotch Tape and Post-It Notes are still among the

company’s most successful products, but other 3M

products range from traffic lights to medical

equipment. The company employs more than 76,000

people worldwide. Global sales are over $20 billion a

year. $16.1 billion (64 percent) of sales come from

outside the United States. 3M has operations in

more than 60 countries and sells its products in

nearly 200.

182

Challenges

Entering the Russian market in the early 1990s was

an enormous challenge. Gratchev has identified three

main difficulties:

1. The political environment

The country was experiencing enormous political

change. The Soviet Union had broken up. Almost

overnight, Russia had become an independent

country. There were new leaders and new laws.

182

Along with excitement, there was a great deal of

uncertainty and anxiety.

2. The economic environment

Under the Soviet Union, Russians had lived in a

state-controlled economy. The shift to a market-

based economy1 was not easy for businesses,

workers, or consumers.

1 market-based economy: a system of producing wealth based on the free operation of business and trade without government controls

182

3. The Russian mindset2

Gratchev identified three important differences

between Russian and Western managers.

• Russian managers were more interested in short-

term survival than long-term growth.

• Russian managers believed in strong leadership

and fast decision-making. They were less likely than

Western managers to listen to employees’ opinions.

2 mindset: attitude182

• Russian managers were used to change. In fact,

one of their strengths was their ability to thrive in

unstable business conditions. However, this also

meant that they were not used to following rules. It

was difficult to get them to follow standard business

practices. 3M was not the only multinational

corporation to enter the Russian market at that time.

Others tried and failed. Some experienced very high

turnover rates among their Russian employees.

182

Others were not prepared for the unstable

environment. They found themselves paying

protection money to criminal gangs3 and bribes to

politicians. In the early 1990s, many companies

believed it was virtually impossible to do business in

Russia.

3 criminal gangs: groups of people who spend time together for criminal reasons

183

The importance of cultural awareness

3M avoided many problems other multinationals

experienced in Russia.

Gratchev believes it was because the company

understood Russian culture and adapted to local

conditions. This cultural awareness gave 3M an

important edge in an unstable environment.

First of all, 3M designed policies to fit the local

situation.

183

They understood the powerful appeal of freedom to

Russians at the time. In the workplace, they stressed

individual freedom and independent thinking.

Employees were free to spend part of every work day

on projects they had designed themselves.

3M directors knew that Russians were good at

surviving and even thriving in unstable

environments. Thus, they recognized that local

expertise would be essential to their success. 183

They decided not to bring in managers and

directors from outside the country. Instead, they

designed a rigorous interview process to find

Russians for top-level positions.

Potential employees had as many as eight

separate interviews. They had to convince the

interviewers that they shared 3M's core values of

innovation, creativity, and contribution from each

employee. 183

In the end, 3M was able to hire the best people

locally.

3M also decided to continue a Russian tradition of

businesses contributing to local communities. 3M

has given equipment to Russian schools and helped

to fix damaged churches. These acts have helped 3M

build strong, positive brand awareness in Russia.

183

Working in an unstable environment

At the time, it was easy to disregard Russian laws

and make easy money. That is what other

multinational companies were doing. But 3M did

exactly the opposite. They trained both employees

and customers in business ethics. They insisted on

openness and ethical behavior.

However, they also understood that their

employees were part of a larger society.

183

Refusing to participate in unethical or illegal activity

could be dangerous for individuals4 and their families.

When necessary, 3M provided employees with

personal security protection.

3M protected its workers in other ways as well. At a

time when many Russians were losing government

benefits,5 3M offered excellent health care. It also

helped workers pay for housing.

4 individuals: people

183

5 benefits: money, health insurance, or other advantages you get from your job

These are clear examples of the company’s

willingness to adapt to local conditions.

Conclusion

3M’s cultural awareness has been essential to its

success in Russia. Today, 3M is considered a model

for other multinationals who wish to enter the Russian

market.

183

184

1. What does business ethics mean?

a. how a business can become successful

b. how a business can avoid paying taxes

c. how to do business fairly and honestly

2. How do most people feel when they are in an

unstable situation?

a. absorbed

b. disturbed

c. enchanted

184

3. When you refuse to do something, what happens?

a. You are successful. b. You don’t do it.

c. You have problems.

4. Who probably has the most business expertise?

a. a twenty-five-year-old university student in an

MBA (masters of business administration)

program

b. a fifty-year-old director of a successful

multinational corporation

c. a thirty-year-old professor of economics at an

excellent university

184

5. Who is a potential employee?

a. someone who has applied to work for a

company but hasn’t been hired yet

b. someone who has just been hired by a company

c. someone who has had an unsuccessful

interview with a company

6. How can you show your willingness to do

something?

a. by refusing to do it b. by offering to do it

c. by avoiding doing it

185

1. ________ = necessary and important

2. ________ = money or gifts that you use to

persuade someone to do something,

usually something dishonest

3. ________ = the purpose or most important aim of

an organization

4. ________ = a new idea, method, or invention, or

the introduction and use of a new

idea,

method, etc.

essential

bribe

mission

innovation

185

5. ________ = to start an organization, town, or

business that is intended to continue

for a long time

6. ________ = a business or company, or the work of

a business or company

7. ________ = the rate at which people leave a

company or organization and are

replaced by others

turnover

found

operation

185

Back to “Case Study:3M’s Entrance into the Russian Market”

185

1. The business opportunities were enormous, but

the risks were even greater. (9)

a. the business risks b. the political, social,

and economic risks c. the risks to Russians

2. 3M has operations in more than 60 countries and

sells its products in nearly 200. (38–39)

a. 200 3M products b. 200 countries

c. 200 operations

3. However, this also meant that they were not used

to following rules. (69)

a. their strength

b. their refusal to follow standard business

practices

c. their ability to thrive in unstable business

conditions

186

4. It was difficult to get them to follow standard

business practices. (70)

a. illegal business activities

b. rules of business that most corporations follow

c. unethical ways of doing business

186

186

5. They found themselves paying protection money

to criminal gangs and bribes to politicians. (76)

a. all of the corporations that tried to enter the

Russian market

b. corporations that were not prepared for

Russia’s unstable conditions

c. the Russians who stopped working for

multinational corporations

186

6. Thus, they recognized that local expertise would

be essential to their success. (97)

a . 3M’s knowledge of Russian culture

b. Russian business people who understood

Russian business culture

c. top-level American directors who had studied

Russian business culture

7. But 3M did exactly the opposite. (118)

a. disregarded the laws b. followed the laws

c. made easy money

186

8. 3M protected its workers in other ways as well.

(128)

a. by offering government benefits

b. by offering health care and money for housing

c. by paying protection money to gangs

186

9. These are clear examples of the company’s

willingness to adapt to local conditions. (132)

a. protecting Russian workers

b. offering Russian workers health care and

housing

c. paying for Russian employees’ government

benefits

adapted to local conditions,

brought cultural awareness,

protected workers: helped

pay for housing, hired local

people, donated to local

schools

Answers may vary. Possible answers:

Uncertainty because of

breakup of Soviet Union

187

187

shift to a market-basedeconomy

followed rules, trainedworkers in ethics,encouraged innovationand creativity

trained workers in ethics,

encouraged innovation and

creativity, protected

workers: helped pay for

housing, hired local people

Russian mindset

188

188

188

188

1. It is essential that all employees follow standard business practices.

2. It is illegal to take a bribe from a business associate.

3. Innovation is a part of our corporate mission.

189

4. In order to build a brand, it is necessary to spend a lot of time and money.

5. You can find Google’s mission statement on its Web site.

6. We need to improve our brand awareness through better product placement.

189

189

1.____________= to accept money from someone to

do something illegal or unethical

2. _______________ = a person who you work

closely with in a business

setting

3. _______________ = a written description of a

company’s values, basic

beliefs, and goals

corporate mission

take a bribe

business associate

4. ______________ = the probability that consumers

recognize the existence and

availability of a company’s

product or service

5. ______________ = to increase the recognition by

consumers of a company’s

products or services

6. ____________________________= to obey the

rules and regulations and ways of doing business

that are generally accepted in a business setting.189

follow standard business practices

brand awareness

build a brand

7. _______________ = the most important goals of a

company

8. _______________ = a form of “hidden”

advertisement in which

companies pay to have their

products appear in movies,

TV shows, and other types of

media entertainment189

product placement

mission statement

190

190

190

191

1. Which eight adjectives and nouns are commonly

used with standard?

2. Which three verbs are commonly used with

standard?

3. Which preposition is commonly used with

standard?

Adjectives: high/low,

academic/health/environmental, moral

Nouns: practice/procedure

have, set, meet/reach

by

1. That company has very __________ standards.

Anyone can get a job there. Potential employees

do not need to have any special skills or talent.

2. The managers at that corporation ___________

very high standards for their employees. They only

hire the best, and they expect everyone to work

very hard.191

set / have

low

3. __________ Russian standards, the health

benefits that 3M offers are excellent.

4. My boss is the most ethical, honest person I know.

He has very high __________ standards.

5. Employees must __________ certain standards in

order to keep their jobs. 191

By

moral

meet

6. Strict ____________ standards are essential.

Without them, the future of our planet is in danger.

7. In our company, it is standard _______________

to interview potential employees at least three

times.

192

practice/procedure

environmental

192To Page 243

233

Back to Exercise A

Back to Exercise B

233

Back to Exercise B

243

___ 1. standard/unusual

___ 2. likewise/in contrast

___ 3. come to mind/think of

___ 4. strength/weakness

___ 5. disregard/ignore

___ 6. expertise/knowledge

___ 7. found a company/start a business

D

D

S

D

S

S

S

243

___ 8. willingness/refusal

___ 9. essential/necessary

___10. innovation/ancient practice

D

S

D

243

1. a. We are trying to raise awareness of the need

for more cancer research.

b. In recent years, public awareness of

environmental issues has risen significantly.

Collocation:

Meaning:

Your sentence:

raise (public) awareness

make people understand

243

2. a. What is the essential difference in their

positions on healthcare?

b. The essential difference between the two

products is price.

Collocation:

Meaning:

Your sentence:

essential difference

most important difference

243

3. a. This is the perfect setting for a horror movie!

b. We’ve found the perfect setting for the wedding.

Collocation:

Meaning:

Your sentence:

perfect setting

ideal location

243