new insights into business ocr small (835551), страница 20
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A C T ’s profito f more than £10 .5 m in 1985 turned into aloss o f £ 1 5 m in 1986, as the companyabandoned its non-IBM -compatibleinventory*.13In the end, ACT was forced to sell theApricot business. Foster had plans to pursue.Financial software was the next wave tocatch. H e went on a buying spree*, addingthree financial software companies. A C T ’ssales soared to £ 2 0 0 m in the early 1990s making it one o f the biggest players in itsniche.T he company’s financial products division _was in trouble, mostly due to poor sales.
ACTembarked on* restructuring. The move led totwo sudden profit warnings in 1995; thecompany’s shares slumped. T he boardroomwas paralysed by infighting betw een Fosterand his managing director, Mike Hart.Seeing A CT’s weak financial position, MisysPLC, a U K software house, stepped in, andbought the company for £ 2 1 2 m in 1995.Foster’s latest brainchild is FinancialObjects, founded in October 1995.Thecompany is compiling a library o f softwarecomponents that companies can then slottogether as they wish, something like Legosoftware.Foster claims: ‘In 10 to 15 years, softwarewill be a commodity*, just like the PC now.We want to be the company w ith the largestset o f banking components in the Microsoftworld.
We can be dominant for ten years ifwe do it.’T he company is the second-largest in itsfield in the UK, behind Misys —but that’s apretty small field. Last year, it posted sales o f£ 1 5 .5 m and made a small profit. Fosterremains confident - but he stresses that hedoesn’t need the money: ‘It's my swansong*.
Idon’t want other directorships and to go to aboard m eeting every other m onth.’W ould he ever leave Financial Objects inthe same way he left Apricot and ACT?‘Financial Objects has the potential to growat 30% to 40% as far as the eye can see, and Iwant to take it all the way,’ he predicts. Buthe adds, ‘maybe there is a size at w hich it istime to move.’The Wall Street Journal Europe's Convergence108*prolific: p roducing a lot*a household name: a very famous person*back-office: adm inistrative*an inventory: the stock a com pany has at a particular tim e*a buying spree: a short, intensive period o f buying*to embark on: to start*a commodity: a p ro d u ct th a t can be sold*a swansong: a person's last piece of w orkSetting Up a Businessd! Below is a list of some of the things that Roger Foster did at different stagesin his career. Read the text and number these events in the order in which theyhappened.abcde□□□□□created ACTfsold Apricotproduced a PCghmoved into the US marketi□□□mbought financial software companiesreorganised ACTstarted Financial Objectsworked for GKNchanged to a newcomputer architectureRead the text again and find one example ofa an innovation that Roger Foster has been responsible for.b an opportunity that he has taken,c a mistake that he has made during his career.VocabularyFind words in the text which correspond to the following definitions.1 developing new ideas for products and software (para 4)deS LgrsLrsg23456writing (and entering) sets of instructions for computers (para 4)selling a product made by someone else (para 7)making a product in a factory (para 7)sell a product for the first time (para 10)reorganising (para 14)2.
Match the words from the text with their corresponding definitions.12345678a to have problemsphenomenal (para 7) —^b to stop changingto flop (para 10)\fatal (para 11)\c to be unsuccessfuld the maximum point reachedto stagnate (para 12)\4— e very unusual and impressivea high (para 12)f having a very serious effectto soar (para 13)to be in trouble (para 14)g to go down suddenlyh to go up quicklyto slump (para 14)109unit eleven1Use the following words from the text to complete the passage below.entrepreneurs (para 1)advantage (para 9)ventures {para 2)founded (para 16)industry (para 2)predicts (para 19)demand (para 8)Andrew Klein, the director of Spring Street Brewing Company, 1 founded hiscompany in 1993 with the idea of bringing a Belgian beer, W it Beer, to theAmerican market. However, his original approach to finding the necessary capital,by using the Internet, soon made him a pioneer in this new field.
He was one of thefirst to understand the 2__________of using the Internet as a means to attractinvestment capital for new business3_________ . For just $200 a month, Klein wasable to rent a site, present his products and contact investors all over the world.Following in his footsteps, many other4__________have been able to finance andpromote their own businesses in a similar way.Today, W it Beer can be found in several major cities in the US and Andrew Klein5__________that consumer 6__________for his company's products will continue torise. Indeed W it Beer already outsells some of the more exotic beers which competein the 7___________.Vocabularydevelopment:prefixesPrefixes can sometimes be added to words to change their meanings.
In the text onpage 108, the word co-founder (para 8) means 'a person who founded a companywith someone else'.1Match the following prefixes with their corresponding definitions.1 inter- e2 post-3 bi-4 pre-5 multi-6 ex-a more than one; manyblater than; aftercbefore; in preparationd former and still living2ebetween; among a groupftwo; twice; doubleMatch the prefixes from exercise 1 with the words below. Use your dictionary tohelp you.ae......directorf..
......graduate...... personal........ dategh.. ...... husbandC ........ arrangedi...... annual...bk...linguallingualbd........ date........ national........ national3110What other words do you know that can be used with these prefixes?Setting Up a Business ■Language FocusRelative clausesLook at the following sentences from the text on page 108. The relative clauseis in bold.A The company is compiling a library o f software components th a t com panies canthen s lo t together, (para 16)ВApricot, w hich ra n a version o f Microsoft's MS-DOS operatin g system , had ahardware architecture peculiar to itself, (para 11)Complete the sentences.1 The relative clause in sentence ( ______ ) is a d e fin in g clau se.
It is essential tothe meaning of the sentence.2 The relative clause in sentence ( ______ ) is a n o n -d e fin in g clau se. It gives usextra information. This information is not essential to understand the main pointof the sentence.The two types of clauses are different in terms of grammar and punctuation.►► For more information on relative clauses, turn to page 168.Practice1 Look at the following sentences and decide whether they are defining (D) ornon-defining (N) relative clauses.1 The design that we selected was in fact the most expensive.02 Wayne Calloway, who is from our Glasgow office, will bemaking a presentation of the new project.□□□□□3 The new investment plan, which was announced onWednesday, will take five years to complete.4 The manager who made the mistake lost his job.5 This is Jane Stewart, whose company manufacturescomputer software.6 The Marketing Department is the one whose contributionhas been the most significant this year.2Join each pair of sentences using a defining relative clause.Example: We signed an agreement.
It will give us exclusive rights to severalproducts.The agreement which we signed will give us exclusive rights to several products.1 We use videos for training purposes. This is one of them.This is one o f__________________________________________________________.2 I left a report on your desk last night. Have you read it?Have you ___________________________________________________________ ?3 We interviewed some candidates. They were highly qualified.The candidates_________________________________________________________ .4 A secretary's computer crashed last week. What's her name?What's the n a m e ______________________________________________________ ?5 A woman introduced me to Mr Ross.
She was Australian.The woman __________________________________________________________.From which sentences could the relative pronoun be omitted? Why?111unit eleven3 Choose the non-defining relative clause which best completes each of thesentences below.1 The firm's 300 employees, A, decided to go on strike2 The report, ..., contained many interesting ideas on how to promote our newproducts.3 The firm, ..., intends to expand its presence in Eastern Europe.4 The new machinery, ..., is not as efficient as we had hoped.5 Professor Harding, ..., will be the main speaker at this year's conference.6 KBJ Optics, ..., has over a hundred patented products.7 The Chairman, ..., maintains close relations with the company's major investors.abcdefgwhose engineers are among the most brilliant in the countrywhich cost the company over £2 mwhose salaries had not been increasedwho was elected to the Board last yearwhich was written by our Marketing Managerwhich has recently signed a contract with a Polish manufacturerwho is a specialist in American management techniquesSkills FocusSpeakingDo the questionnaire, then compare your answers with a partner.entrepreneuE□□□□□□a / only make an effort when I want to.b If someone explains what to do, then Ican continue from there.с I make my own decisions.
I don’t needanyone to tell me what to do.a / get on with almost everybody.b I have my own friends and I don’treally need anyone else.с I don’t really feel at home with otherpeople.□□ab□c□a□□Once something is moving I’ll join in.I’m good at giving orders when I knowwhat to do./ can persuade most people to followme when I start something./ like to take charge and to obtainresults.b I’ll take charge if I have to but I prefersomeone else to be responsible.c Someone always wants to be the leaderand I’m happy to let them do the job._Setting Up a Business□a□b□c□a I’m willing to work hard forsomething I really want.b I find my home environment morestimulating than work.c Regular work suits me but I don’t likeit to interfere with my private life.□□/ tend to get confused whenunexpected problems arise.I like to plan exactly what I’m goingto do./ just like to let things happen.□a I am quite happy to execute other□b□cpeople’s decisions.I often make very quick decisionswhich usually work but sometimesdon’t.Before making a decision, I needtime to think it over.□a□□bc□ae?□□□□□9/ always evaluate the exact dangersof any situation.b I like the excitement of taking bigrisks.c For me safety is the most importantthing.aI prefer to delegate what I considerto be the least important tasks.b When I have a job to do I like to doeverything myself.c Delegating is an important part ofany job.□□ab□с□aCan you stay the cotThe biggest challenge for me isgetting a project started.If I decide to do something, nothingwill stop me.If something doesn’t go right firsttime, I tend to lose interest.□For me, job satisfaction cannot bemeasured in money terms.Although money is important to me,I value other things just as much.Making money is my mainmotivation.u react toI dislike any form of criticism.If people criticise me I always listenand may or may not reject whatthey have to say.When people criticise me there isusually some truth in what they say.I try to be honest, but it issometimes difficult or toocomplicated to explain things toother people.I don’t say things I don’t mean.When I think I’m right, I don’t carewhat anyone else thinks.□□□□Stress is something I can live with.Stress can be a stimulating elementin a business.I try to avoid situations which leadto stress./ believe that my success willdepend to a large degree onfactors outside my control.b I know that everything depends onme and my abilities.c It is difficult to foresee what willhappen in the future.Е Д Д .abc■ !give up easily.give up reluctantly.carry on.113unit eleven44 or aboveYou definitely have the necessary qualities to becom e the director of a successfulbusiness.
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