new insights into business teachers book (835558), страница 30
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Gesparel is itself jointly owned by Nestle which has 49% of the capital, andMrs Bettencourt and her family who have a majority stake of 51 %.During the last few years L’Oreal shares have performed well in general terms and comparativelybetter than the shares on the French national index the CAC 40, Between the end of 1995 and mid1997 L’Oreal shares rose substantially and then fell back to finish 1997 at 2400 francs.Earnings per share rose consistently during the five-year period from 1993 to 1997 at a rate ofapproximately 10% per year. The price earnings ratio reached its highest point in 1992 and 1993before falling to 1.4 in 1994.
Since then it recovered to 1.8 in 1998.The total sales of the company increased every year from 1993 to 1997 with the biggest riserecorded in 1994 at 18.6%. 1997 was also a good year for the company with sales amounting to69,120m francs, an increase of almost 15% compared to the previous year.In 1997 cosmetics was by far the largest sector for sales, accounting for 81.3% of total revenue.This was followed by Synthelabo in second position with 17%. The most spectacular growth camefrom dermatology where sales grew by more than 50%.
However, this sector only represented 1.1 %of total sales.The two divisions that contributed the most to the performance in the cosmetics sector were theConsumer Division which accounted for 55.2% of sales, an 18.1% increase compared to theprevious year, and the Perfumes and Beauty Division which produced 26.9% of total sales,representing a 12% improvement in performance.The principal markets for L’Oreal were Western Europe which was in first position with 56%followed by North America with 25% and then the Rest of the World in third place with 13%.
Asiaremained a comparatively small market for the company contributing only 6% of the total. In termsof growth the most significant increases were recorded in the Rest of the World markets and inNorth America where respective increases of 37.5% and 21.7% were attained.In 1997 L’Oreal employed 47,242 people, an increase of 4,084 compared to the previous year.The international scope of patents registered by the company rose spectacularly between 1995 and1997 to reach 9000 while investment in cosmetics production and logistics also continued to riseas it had in the two previous years. In cosmetology, more resources were allocated to researchwhich had a total budget of 2,089m francs in 1997,Concerning L’Oreal's contribution to protecting the environment, 80% of all transportable wastewas recovered in 1997 through either recycling (31 %), waste-to-energy conversion (27%) or re-use(22%).
The remaining 20% was either destroyed (3%) or disposed of in landfill (17%).© Pearson Education Limited 2000PHOTOCOPIABLEUnit 12- Role-play exerciseA Business MeetingYou are going to participate in a business meeting todecide on the introduction of performance-related payand you will have one of the roles described in the rolecards in the Communication Activities section at the endof the Student's Book. After the meeting write a set ofMinutes for which you will need to take notes.NotesParticipating effectively in meetings is an essential skillthat even experienced professionals have difficultieswith. Much has been written on how to avoid totallyunproductive meetings: have a clear agenda, stick to itand make sure everyone comes prepared, etc.
However,the success of any meeting depends almost entirely onthe personalities of the participants. Listen carefully toothers, have respect for everyone's points of view andwait for your turn to speak. If you chair the meeting, befirm about focusing on the agenda or topic, keeping tothe time allotted for each speaker, encouraging lessoutgoing people to contribute and stopping people whoare dominating and/or being irrelevant.The items on the agenda for the meeting in Unit 12 andthe following role-play cover topics of general interestand no special knowledge of business is required in orderto participate fully.
Express your own opinions as muchas possible and use the role cards as guidelines only. Youwill need to prepare the content of your contributionsusing the language items provided in Unit 12 as well assuitable expressions from the lists below.Useful words and expressionsThe chairpersonOpening the meeting and presenting the agenda:Welcome everyone ...The purpose of this meeting is to ...Do you all have a copy of the agenda?Perhaps we could start with the first point, which is ...Keeping things moving:Mr/Ms X, would you like to speak now?We'd like to hear your idea Mr/Ms X.Let's move onto the next point.OK, I think you've made your point so let's now consider ...Ensuring everyone stays focused and contributes:That's not relevant, could you stick to the point please.Mrs X, I don't think we've heard from you yet.What do you think are the marketing/financial implications?Does everyone follow?Keeping an eye on time:I'll have to ask you to be as brief as possible as we arerunning out of time.I'm afraid our time is almost up.© Pearson Education Limited 2000PHOTOCOPIABLESummarising:To sum up ...To summarise what has been said so far ...Seeking clarification:What exactly do you mean when you say ...Could you tell us a bit more about...Do you mean ...
?If I understand correctly, you think ...Making sure everyone agrees on action points:The next step is to ...Are we all agreed?So, it seems we all agree that...Putting people in charge of action points andestablishing deadlines:Mr X could you look after ...How soon can you get back to us on ... ?Will next Friday be OK?Closing the meeting:I think we've covered/that covers everything.Thank you for participating.The next meeting will be ...The participantsExpressing opinions:I think/consider/feel that...I have no doubt that...I definitely think that...Agreeing and disagreeing:I agree. / Agreed.I'm in favour of that.I can't accept that. / 1 disagree.I'm afraid I don't agree with you.You may be right, b u t...Making recommendations:I suggest we ...I would recommend...We should maybe ...May I suggest...Agreeing to get involved in action points:No problem, I'll do that right away.I could have it done by early next week.I don't mind doing...TimingThe Chairperson will open the meeting and introducethe topic.
(3 mins)Each member will be invited to put forward his/heropinions and views. (5 mins per person)A general discussion period will follow during whicheach member will present suggestions andrecommendations to help reach a satisfactorycompromise. Action points will be decided upon. (20mins)The Chairperson will appoint people to be responsiblefor various action points and then close the meeting.(5 mins)85U n it 12 - W riting modelMinutesHere is a model set of Minutes for a business meeting.Minutes of the meeting on Tuesday the 23rd of March:Present: M s Lyons (chairperson), M r Louden (TU representative), M s Peasley (H um an ResourceM anager), M r Power (Production M anager) and M rs Banks (Finance M anager).M s Lyons opened the meeting w ith the following points:The proposed alliance will alm ost certainly go ahead.This will be very good for the company.The alliance will m ean a 35-hour week for everyone in the company.M r Louden w as the first to speak and p u t forw ard the following opinions:The 35-hour week is totally unacceptable to the members of the trade union.Loss of overtime pay on already low salaries will have a serious affect on w orkers’m otivation level.The consequences could be dram atic if com pensation packages are not considered.Ms Peaselv agreed w ith M r Louden but added that:The future of the com pany seems to depend on the alliance so compromises m ust be found.Executives may need training for team w ork.M r Power expressed strong disapproval of the 35-hour week saying:Production deadlines will be impossible to meet.Large numbers of new staff will have to be recruited.The w orkers will suffer from low morale.They should be allowed to earn overtime while they train new staff.M rs Banks w as the last to speak and argued that:The 35 hour week is a very good idea for all concerned.The com pany m ust form the alliance at any cost as it could solve present financialdifficulties and bring new customers.Looking at the long-term outcome it could m ean improved profits and eventually highersalaries for everyone in the company.After a long discussion the following action points were decided upon:M r Power will calculate the num ber of overtime hours required in order to train new staff andsubm it them to M rs Banks by the end of this week.M rs Banks will study the possibility of perform ance-related pay for m otivated w orkers andconsider the proposal of perks such as increased health benefits to com pensate for loss ofearnings.
She will also examine the cost of continuing to pay overtime to w orkers while theytrain the new people after consultation w ith M r Power. She will get back to M r Louden bythe end of next week w ith a concrete proposal.M r Louden will speak to the w orkers about the proposed com pensation packages and see if thesew ould be acceptable. However, he still thinks th at the best w ay to reach consensus is toensure salary increases in the short term.
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