Avant-propos

L’internationalisation des marchés a fait, selon certains économistes,

tomber toutes les barrières. Il en reste néanmoins une qui résiste
parfois à la lame de fond : la barrière de la langue.
Or, l’anglais s’est progressivement imposé comme la langue des
échanges et, de ce fait, sa maîtrise permet bien souvent d’éviter des
écueils embarrassants et d’être plus performant, voire percutant (on se
souvient du buzz provoqué par un slogan anglais prononcé par un
dirigeant français “Make our planet great again!”) sur la scène
internationale.
La tentation du globish peut parfois faire oublier que la rigueur
linguistique doit accompagner une rigueur intellectuelle nécessaire
pour communiquer e cacement avec ses homologues sur les marchés
nanciers quand il s’agit de comprendre les mécanismes boursiers ou
les questions bancaires. La langue de choix des institutions
internationales (qu’elles soient nancières, commerciales ou à but non
lucratif) est également l’anglais  ; les accords sont signés dans cette
langue maniée et comprise de tous, et les publications se font de plus
en plus en anglais.
Cet ouvrage s’adresse à tous les étudiants, futurs acteurs économiques,
ambitionnant de jouer un rôle dans cet ordre mondial qui raisonne en
termes de blocs commerciaux interculturels et internationaux. Il
permettra non seulement aux étudiants de MASTER, à l’université ou
en école de management, et aux étudiants en DSCG d’approfondir la
pratique de l’anglais pour la nance, l’économie, la gestion, le
marketing et tous les aspects liés au monde des a aires, mais aussi à
ceux qui sont déjà engagés dans la vie professionnelle de parfaire
leur maîtrise du vocable propre aux entreprises, aux banques et
administrations, ainsi qu’aux marchés nanciers.
L’anglais des a aires est en e et au cœur de cet ouvrage, qui propose
au niveau B2/C1 du CECRL :
– des exercices lexicaux et grammaticaux à partir des thèmes
incontournables du monde de l’entreprise et des a aires (création et
gestion d’entreprise, gouvernance, mondialisation, etc.) intégralement
corrigés ;
– des textes récents issus de l’actualité économique portant sur ces
mêmes thèmes qui permettront de mieux saisir les enjeux et les
évolutions du monde économique ;
– des exercices de compréhension, eux aussi intégralement corrigés,
pour permettre de s’auto-évaluer et de s’autoformer à la lecture en
autonomie.
Il peut également servir d’entraînement à di érentes certi cations
internationales reconnues dans le milieu professionnel qui
sanctionnent un niveau donné en anglais (TOEIC, etc.) grâce aux
ches de vocabulaire, aux exercices lexicaux systématiques, aux
entraînements à l’écriture et à la prise de parole.
De manière à éviter que la langue maternelle des apprenants français
ne vienne parasiter l’apprentissage, il a été fait le choix de proposer un
ouvrage tout en anglais où consignes, explications et corrections ne
sont proposées qu’en anglais. Ce choix peut paraître ambitieux, mais
est cohérent avec le niveau visé à l’issue de l’apprentissage, à savoir un
niveau B2/C1. Cependant, a n qu’il y ait un minimum d’obstacle à
l’appréhension des sujets, les ches de vocabulaire proposent
systématiquement la traduction des termes essentiels à l’appropriation
des connaissances propres à chacun des thèmes explorés.
We certainly hope that this book will come in handy in your exploration
of the business world.
E. MULLER
Sommaire

Part I : FINANCE
BANKING
1. Banking:Generalities
2. Banking Industry
3. Corporate Banking
4. Personal Banking
5. Managing in Di cult Times
6. Micro nance

VENTURE CAPITAL
7. BusinessPlan
8. Venture Capital

BONDS, STOCKS AND SHARES

9. The Stock Exchange
10. Stocks and Shares
11. Bonds
12. Hedge Funds
13. Analyzing Trends

DERIVATIVES
14. Derivatives

ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

15. Accounting and Accountancy
16. Auditing
17. Financial Accounting and Management Accounting
18. Financial Statements

Part II : MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT
19. Management
20. Work and Motivation
COMPANY STRUCTURE
21. Company Organization
22. Companies and their Stakeholders
23. Governance
24. New Business Models

CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT

25. TeamBuilding
26. Managing across Cultures

RECRUITMENT
27. Recruitment
and Selection
28. Human Resources Management

MARKETING
29. Marketing Principles
30. Place
31. Price

PRODUCT
32. New Product Development
33. Product Life Cycle
34. Branding

COMMUNICATION
35. Promotion
36. Viral Marketing

Part III : PRODUCTION

PRODUCTION
37. Capacity and Inventory
LOGISTICS
38. Supply Chain Management
QUALITY
39. Managing Quality

Part IV : INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND

NEW TECHNOLOGIES
40. Information Systems
41. Data Access
42. Security and Quality of Information Systems
43. Information Systems and Management

Part V : INTERNATIONAL TRADE

44. The Globalization of Markets
45. International Trade
46. Regional Trade Agreements (RTA)
47. Competition and the Law
FINANCE / BANKING
 1
Banking: Generalities
A savings account is a deposit account held at a retail bank that pays
interest but cannot be used directly as money in the narrow sense of a
medium of exchange (for example, by writing a cheque). ese
accounts let customers set aside a portion of their liquid assets while
earning a monetary return.
an account • compte bancaire
a current account/ checking account • compte courant
a deposit account • compte de dépôt
a statement of account • relevé de compte
an overdrawn account • compte à découvert
a savings account • compte épargne
to open an account with • ouvrir un compte auprès de
to run a deposit with a bank • avoir un compte en banque

to save money (UK)/ to put money

aside
to spend money on sthg
to waste/ squander money on sthg
to invest money in sthg
• économiser
• dépenser de l’argent pour
qqch
• gaspiller de l’argent pour
qqch
• investir de l’argent dans qqch

An instalment is the money paid in regular amounts at regular

intervals, for instance when paying back a loan.
a loan • prêt/ emprunt/ avance
 to apply for a loan
to raise a loan
to take out a loan
to oat a loan
to grant a loan
loan repayable by
a mortgage loan
the terms of a loan
loan on collateral
• demander un prêt
• obtenir un prêt
• souscrire un emprunt
• lancer un emprunt
• accorder un prêt
• prêt exigible pour
• prêt hypothécaire
• les conditions d’un prêt
• avance sur garanties

With 189 member countries, sta from more 170 countries and o ces
in over 130 locations, the World Bank Group is a unique global
partnership: ve institutions working for sustainable solutions that
reduce poverty and build shared prosperity in developing countries.
Established in 1944, the World Bank Group is headquartered in
Washington, D.C.
e World Bank Group has set two goals for the world to achieve by
2030:
– end extreme poverty by decreasing the percentage of people living
on less than $1.90 a day to no more than 3%,
– promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the
bottom 40% for every country.
e World Bank is a vital source of nancial and technical assistance to
developing countries around the world.
a banking establishment • établissement bancaire
a banker • banquier
a bank clerk (UK)/ a bank teller (US) • employé de banque
a bank manager • directeur de banque
bank charges • commissions, frais de
 banque
bank holiday • jour férié
a banking fee • commission bancaire
the issuing bank • la banque émettrice
an investment bank (US)/ merchant bank
• banque d’a aires
(UK)
• déposer de l’argent en
to lodge money with a bank
banque
a savings bank • caisse d’épargne

A revolving credit is an agreement between a bank and its client

whereby the speci ed maximum of a loan is automatically maintained
over a speci ed period: when the borrower repays part of the loan, he
retains his full borrowing capacity as the bank provides for an amount
equal to the repayment to be available.
cash credit • crédit de caisse
consumer credit • crédit à la consommation
export credit • crédit à l’exportation
frozen credit • crédit bloqué
revolving credit • crédit renouvelable
unsecured credit • crédit en blanc
credit balance • solde créditeur
a debtor • débiteur
a creditor • créancier
to default • ne pas payer/ ne pas honorer un crédit
discount credit • crédit d’escompte

a deposit • dépôt/ acompte/ caution

 time deposits • dépôts à terme
a vault (US)/ a strong room (UK) • chambre forte
due date • échéance
to endorse • endosser
to withdraw • retirer
a withdrawal • retrait

An overdraft is a loan made by a bank to a customer on the basis that

he or she may take out more money than is actually in the bank
account.
A credit line is the American equivalent of an overdraft agreement
(UK) whereby a bank allows a client to spend more money than is
deposited, usually without nancial penalties or at a reduced rate.
to grant an overdraft • accorder un découvert
to lend on overdraft • prêter sur découvert
to overdraw an account • tirer à découvert
an overdrawn account • compte à découvert

solvency/ creditworthiness • solvabilité

to be solvent • être solvable
to yield interest • rapporter des intérêts
arrears of interest • arriérés d’intérêt
to bear interest • rapporter des intérêts
outstanding interest • intérêts échus
accrued interest • intérêts accumulés

means of payment • moyen de paiement

a credit card • carte de crédit
 a transfer • virement
• ordre de virement
a standing order
permanent
a check (US)/ cheque (UK) • chèque
a cheque book • chéquier
traveller’s cheques (UK)/ traveler’s checks
• chèques de voyage
(US)
a bill of exchange • traite

e International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created in 1945 as a

result of the Bretton Woods Conference. Its role is to:
– promote a global monetary cooperation,
– secure nancial stability,
– facilitate international trade,
– promote high employment and sustainable economic growth,
– reduce poverty around the world.
is institution is governed by and accountable to (doit rendre des
comptes à) the 188 countries that make up its near-global
membership.
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON BANKING
GENERALITIES
EXERCISE 01.01
Fill in the blanks with the words given in the list.
˜ cooperative, oversee, borrowing, on-site, responsible for,
chairs, appoint, shareholders, loans, Annual Meetings
The World Bank is like a , made up of 189 member
countries. These member countries, or , are
represented by a Board of Governors, who are the ultimate
policymakers at the World Bank. Generally, the governors are
member countries’ ministers of nance or ministers of
development. They meet once a year at the of the
Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and the
International Monetary Fund.
The governors delegate speci c duties to 25 Executive
Directors, who work at the Bank. The ve largest
shareholders an executive director, while other
member countries are represented by elected executive
directors.
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim
meetings of the Boards of Directors and is overall
management of the Bank. The President is selected by the
Board of Executive Directors for a ve-year, renewable term.
The Executive Directors make up the Boards of Directors of
the World Bank. They normally meet at least twice a week to
the Bank’s business, including approval of
and guarantees, new policies, the administrative budget,
country assistance strategies and and nancial
decisions.
www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership

EXERCISE 01.02 British English vs American English

Give the American equivalents for the following British
terms.
1. traveller’s cheque
2. overdraft
3. a merchant bank
4. to save money
5. a bank clerk
6. a strong room

Réponse

EXERCISE 01.03 Acronyms

Find out what they mean.
˜ ATM, EFTPOS, IOU, LIBOR, NSF, SWIFT
Réponse
EXERCISE 01.04 MCQ
Choose the right option for each sentence.
1. I have been requested to a deposit.
a. leave
b. let
c. put
d. do
2. Your payment is and your account is now in the
red.
a. overtime
b. overdue
c. overtaxed
d. overcome
3. A bad check may be referred to as a check.
a. red
b. black
c. dud
d. void
4. Deeds of property may be as security for loans.
a. hedged
b. dredged
c. pledged
d. edged
5. You are supposed to give a few days’ before
withdrawing a large sum from your deposit account.
a. period
b. delay
c. warning
d. notice
6. When making a deposit you have to ll in the .
a. folder
c. application form
b. paying-in slip
d. statement account
 The
7. system is the British equivalent to the French
Chèques Postaux.
a. Biro
b. Giro
c. Tiro
d. Barrow

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISE ON BANKING

GENERALITIES
EXERCISE 01.05 Questions

There is plenty for banks to worry about in 2017

Interest rates are going up and a new president will
revive the economy, cut bank regulations and lower
taxes. All good news, right?
The market certainly thinks so. Analysts lately have even
seen banks as growth stocks, which is markedly di erent
from their assessment not that long ago. Investors have
heard the recent optimism loud and clear. Since June,
more than half the nation’s 144 publicly-traded banks
with assets greater than $4 billion saw their stock prices
jump at least 40%.
But excuse me for being skeptical. Any economic
environment, including one as encouraging as current
conditions, has risks. It is unclear whether bankers are
su ciently worried about what lies ahead. There is still
plenty about which to be concerned.
— What could go wrong? Well, let’s start with interest
rates.
Pundits seem to repeat the canard every week that
banks make more money when rates rise. But I can nd
no evidence that this is actually true.
Sure, a few individual banks will capitalize on there being
higher rates – those institutions with big demand
deposits, lots of oating loans, low loan-to-deposit ratios
and limited long-term xed-rate investments.
But that’s a small number of banks. Based on an analysis
of third-quarter balance sheets of 700 publicly-traded
banks, the median loan-to-deposit ratio was 89%. That
does not bode well for banks funding asset growth. In
fact, 157 of the banks had more loans than deposits.
To attract deposits and keep current funds from going
out the door, many banks will likely raise their deposit
rates – which will lift the market generally for deposit
yields – thus raising their cost of funds. If the nancial
crisis taught bankers anything, it is that deposits are
gold. Bankers will protect their gold.
Also, don’t forget that the Federal Reserve raised rates
by 25 basis points at the end of 2015. What happened to
the industry’s net interest margin in the rst quarter? It
shrank three basis points.
If you still think rates will drive bigger bank pro ts, check
out the FDIC’s quarterly history of net interest margins
dating back to 1984. (…)
Other historical data casts doubt on the pro t power of
higher interest rates. In June 2004, the Fed took the rst
of nine actions over two years to raise rates from 1% to
5.25%. While loan interest rates rose meaningfully, the
industry’s net interest margin actually fell during this
period, from 3.68% to 3.46%.
Investors and maybe some bankers seem to have
forgotten that rising rates are actually not good for
borrowers. Perhaps that explains why the Mortgage
Bankers Association recently forecasted that 2017
re nancings will fall to a 17-year low.
— Let’s turn to the economy.
Bad things happen when the industry tries to grow faster
than the economy over any extended period of time. A
few banks can pull o this feat, but not the entire
industry.
 This is a lesson that bankers learn, forget, learn again and
forget again … ad in nitum … ad nauseam. Lenders need
to be sure this cycle is not about to play out again. As of
Sept. 30, annual bank loan growth was four times greater
than GDP growth during the same quarter. If you go all
the way back to 1984, that ratio was higher only once: in
2007. On average, loan growth is only 1.75 times higher.
— Let’s hope we can avoid a violent reversion to the
mean.
The good news is that credit quality looks terri c. Just
check out another of my favorite ratios: the industry’s
quarterly loan-loss provision expense to assets.
FDIC data shows that that ratio was 0.29% on Sept 30,
which is historically low. By the way, the ratio was even
lower before the crisis, falling to 0.28% at the end of the
rst quarter 2007, before ramping up to 1.95% in 2009.
Historically, the ratio has averaged 0.60%, albeit with
wild volatility.
Banks are a weather vane for the U.S. economy. Loan
growth of nearly 7% like we saw through the third
quarter of 2016 is unsustainable without an economy
capable of growing 3% consistently, and better yet, 4%.
Bankers better hope President-elect Trump delivers the
goods on the economy. Or else a day of reckoning for
high-growth banks will come sooner than later.
During the next few weeks bank CEOs will hold fourth-
quarter earnings calls. I’ll be listening for tone. If not
enough CEOs are worried about industry trends, I will be
worried.
Richard J. Parsons, www.americanbanker.com (on
January 12, 2017)Richard J. Parsons is the author of
Investing in Banks and Broke: America’s Banking System.

1.What economic measures did Mr Trump say he would take

as soon as he was in power?
2. Do higher interest rates have positive or negative e ects
on the economy?
3. What lesson do bankers “learn, forget, learn again and
forget again … ad in nitum … ad nauseam”?
4. What’s the FDIC?

Réponse

– SPEAKING EXERCISE ON BANKING

GENERALITIES
EXERCISE 01.06 The role of banks in corporate
nancing in Europe
Discuss what role banks play in corporate nancing in
Europe.
Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISE ON BANKING

GENERALITIES
EXERCISE 01.07 Analysing the annual results of a bank
If possible, nd the annual results of a bank in France and
report on its pro tability.
Réponse
 2
Banking Industry
the banking industry • l’industrie bancaire
a central bank • banque centrale
a national bank • banque nationale
to adopt a currency • adopter une monnaie/ une devise
foreign currencies • devises étrangères
to issue a banknote • émettre un billet de banque
legal personality • personnalité juridique
to implement/ to enforce • mettre en œuvre

e European System of Central Bank (ESCB) comprises the European

Central Bank and the national central banks (NCBs) of all EU Member
States whether they have adopted the euro or not.
e Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the
European Central Bank established both the ECB and the ESCB as from
1 June 1998. e ECB was established as the core of the Eurosystem
and the ESCB. e ECB and the national central banks together
perform the tasks they have been entrusted with. e ECB has legal
personality under public international law.
e Eurosystem’s primary objective is the maintenance of price
stability for the common good. It is responsible for:
– de ning and implementing monetary policy,
– conducting foreign exchange operations,
– holding and managing the euro area’s foreign currency reserves,
– promoting the smooth operation of payment systems.
e ECB carries out speci c tasks in the areas of banking supervision,
banknotes, statistics, macroprudential policy and nancial stability as
well as international and European cooperation.
to set an interest rate • xer un taux d’intérêt
a decision-making process • processus de prise de décision
to collect information • collecter des renseignements
to make pro t • faire du béné ce
pro tability • rentabilité

a bank clerk (UK)/ a bank teller

• employé de banque
(US)
• commercer sur les marchés
to trade in bond markets
obligataires
a branch • succursale/ agence
overseas customers • clients étrangers
operating costs • coûts opérationnels
to get a deposit credited • se faire créditer un dépôt
return on equity • rendement des fonds propres

a bank merger • fusion bancaire

a takeover • rachat
consolidation • renforcement/ fusion
parent company • société mère
economies of scale • économies d’échelle

investment bank/ merchant bank • banque d’investissement

commercial bank (US)/ clearing bank
• banque commerciale
(UK)
retail bank • banque de détail
bank of issue • banque d’émission
 acceptance house • banque de réescompte
• chambre de
clearing house
compensation

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON BANKING

INDUSTRY
EXERCISE 02.01 Word derivation
Fill in the table.
˜ verb adjective noun

to supervise supervisory supervision

to advise advice

to participate (in)

to (de)stabilize (de)stabilization

to in uence in uential

Réponse

EXERCISE 02.02
Put the following verbs in the right column.
˜ to expand, to reduce, to scale back, to shrink, to stretch,
to spiral, to decline, to fall
To get larger To get smaller

Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISES ON BANKING INDUSTRY

EXERCISE 02.03 The di erent functions of a nation’s
central bank
˜ What are the di erent functions of a nation’s central
bank?
Réponse

EXERCISE 02.04 ECB vs FED

Compare the European Central Bank and the US Federal
Reserve.
Réponse

EXERCISE 02.05 Argue your case – The European

Monetary Union
Prepare arguments to discuss the following questions.
1. Has the European Monetary Union been a success or a
failure?
2. What do you think of the UK’s position regarding the euro?

Réponse

EXERCISE 02.06
˜ How do banks make their pro ts?
Réponse
 3
Corporate Banking
credit facilities • ligne de crédit/ facilités de paiement
banking terms and conditions • termes et conditions bancaires
a withdrawal • retrait
to withdraw money from • retirer de l’argent de
an overdraft • découvert
to overdraw • mettre à découvert

to owe money • devoir de l’argent

monies/ a sum of money • somme d’argent
monies received • recettes
monies paid out • versements
public monies • deniers publics

an interest rate • taux d’intérêt

banking fees • frais bancaires
a security • garantie/ caution
costs and expenses • coûts et dépenses
business premises • locaux de l’entreprise

an interest-bearing account • compte rémunéré

the account balance • solde du compte
a debtor balance • solde débiteur
charges • charges/ frais
pro t and loss account • compte de résultats
balance sheet • bilan (comptable)
trade balance • balance commerciale

a currency • monnaie/ devise

to earn interest • gagner des intérêts
revenue • recettes
sales revenue • recettes des ventes
revenue growth • croissance des recettes
an income • revenu
turnover • chi re d’a aires

a subsidiary • liale
a dividend • dividende
TSR: Total Shareholder Return • rendement pour les actionnaires
xed assets • immobilisations
borrowings • emprunts
operating costs • coûts d’exploitation

to pay back • rembourser

arrears • arriéré
in arrears • à terme échu

provided that • à condition que

subject to • soumis à
a creditor • créancier
a debtor • débiteur
to compete with another • être en concurrence avec une autre
company entreprise
 to list one’s shares on • coter une action en bourse

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON CORPORATE

BANKING
EXERCISE 03.01
Match the words with their de nitions.
˜ share capital, securities, bank base rate, creditors,
turnover, depreciation.
1. a basic rate of interest, on which the actual rate a bank
charges on loans to its customers is calculated.
2. total sales during a trading period.
3. amount deducted every year from pro ts to allow for the
fact that assets (e.g. equipment) lose their value as they get
older.
4. people the company owes money to, e.g. suppliers.
5. money which shareholders have put into the business.
6. investments, especially stocks, shares and bonds.

Réponse

EXERCISE 03.02 Antonyms

Find the antonyms of the following words.
˜ a deposit, monies received, a creditor balance, expenses.
Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON CORPORATE

BANKING

5 Things Business Owners Expect From Their Bank

Businesses have many choices when it comes to their
banking relationships. While some may stick with their
bank simply from inertia, those relationships will ounder
and die. What they really need is a bank that meets their
expectations — both products and services. Here are the
top ve things that business owners want from their
bank.
— 1. A Bank That Understands (Their) Business
Business owners want a bank that can anticipate and
meet their needs. This means a banker that takes the
time to get to know their business: learning the ins and
outs of their industry, visiting their premises for a tour,
understanding seasonality (and other causes of revenue
uctuations), and exhibiting a genuine interest in their
success.
It also means o ering business-friendly products and
services, such as discounted employee checking,
equipment leasing, merchant services, payroll, insurance
and retirement accounts. Small businesses also often
look for banks that are comfortable working with the
SBA guaranteed loan program — a key point for many
businesses who may be concerned about their credit-
worthiness.
— 2. A Little Thing Called Customer Service
Business owners want to know their business is
important to their banker, and great customer service is
the key to that. When they call with a question or
concern, they want a prompt response, and when they
visit the branch, they want to be able to sit down with
their banker. Seeing a di erent face every time makes it
di cult to build trust, which is essential to the business-
banker relationship.
— 3. They Don’t Like Getting Nickel-and-Dimed
Certain banking fees are expected, such as a monthly fee
for a checking account or a fee for a loan application. But
when a business gets hit with a laundry list of
unexpected service fees, it can be enough to spur
business owners to take their banking relationships
 elsewhere. Fees for speaking with a live person on the
phone, fees for “processing” or “document review,”
research fees, photocopying fees, excessive withdrawal
fees, and others can result in an exasperated customer
that is ready to move on.
— 4. A Bank That’s There in Good Times… and Bad
When things are going well, a business owner wants to
work with a bank that’s excited about their success and
is ready to grow with them. They expect to be provided
with the resources and services necessary to support
their growth. On the ip side, when times are tough,
businesses want a banker who is willing to work with
them through the dark period and get them back on
track. They need a banker who can guide the business
along the best path for meeting loan payments, avoiding
foreclosure, and maintaining good credit, as well as
o ering options such as forbearance and changes in loan
terms should they become necessary.
— 5. Business Banks Have to Be Tech Savvy
In-person banking is still critical for many business
owners, but banks that o er comprehensive online
services will have an edge. In addition to the now-
standard online banking services such as account
management, services that o er tax and accounting
assistance are a big draw for business owners. Making
services such as business loan applications, payroll,
making deposits and collecting payments available
online helps business owners save time and money, and
will encourage them to stick with the bank that o ers
them.
Je ry Pilcher and Tracy Kellaher, The Financial Brand (on
June 12, 2013)

EXERCISE 03.03 Understanding the main ideas

1. Write one paragraph where you rephrase the 5 main
services companies expect from their banks.
2.Do’s and Dont’s: what should banks avoid if they want to
keep their customers happy?
Réponse

EXERCISE 03.04 Understanding details

1. Find a de nition for each of the following services
mentioned in the paragraph entitled ‘A Bank That
Understands (Their) Business’: “equipment leasing, merchant
services, payroll, retirement accounts.”
2. Rephrase and develop the following sentence (in 60
words): “But when a business gets hit with a laundry list of
unexpected service fees, it can be enough to spur business
owners to take their banking relationships elsewhere.”
Réponse

EXERCISE 03.05 Vocabulary work on the text –

Collocations
Find the right words to make a collocation and translate
them into French.
a. to expectations:
b. to one’s needs:
c. to loan payments:
d. to interest in one’s activities:
e. to trust:
f. to a company’s growth:

EXERCISE 03.06 Vocabulary work on the text –

Prepositions and particles
Fill in the sentences with the right preposition or particle.
a. Some rms stick their banks out of habit.
b. Companies want a reliable service their banks.
c. Bankers have to understand the and (les
tenants et aboutissants) of their clients’ industry.
d. Small companies often look banks that o er
business-friendly products.
e. Businesses expect to be provided resources and
services that will support their growth.
f. They certainly hope their bankers will get them
track if they go di cult times.

EXERCISE 03.07 Vocabulary work on the text –

Compounds Nouns
Find at least 6 compound nouns based on the root word
“fee” in the text and translate them into French.

The Role of Banking in a Sustainable Global Economy

Green nance, “a new frontier for the 21st Century”
We are currently witnessing a growing awareness from
central banks, supervisors and nancial institutions about
climate-related risks. Clearly, green nance and climate
risks management have gone from the “nice to have” to
the “must have”, from emotion to reason. In nancial
institutions, climate change is no longer con ned to
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy.
Concerning central banks and supervisors, the creation
of the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for
Greening the Financial System (NGFS) in Paris in
December 2017 has been a decisive step forward. In 18
months, this coalition of the willing has increased from 8
founding members to almost 50 members and observers
from all 5 continents, with the Banque de France acting
as its permanent Secretariat and the active involvement
of the Bank of England. This momentum has an
important meaning: supervisors and central bankers have
collectively acknowledged that climate change-related
risks are a source of long-term nancial risk.
Looking down the road, I see priorities for the near
future. We have to better anticipate long-term climate-
related risks, through what I call “the video of the risks”.
We must push for the development of comprehensive
climate stress tests in order to build a forward-looking
approach of the impacts of climate risks. Second, green
nance needs to mature and upgrade its professional
standards. The nancing needs for the energy transition
are huge; in Europe alone, it is estimated that an
additional EUR 177 billion per year will be necessary over
the period 2021-2030 to reach the EU’s energy and
climate objectives for 2030. The European Green Bond
Standard proposed by the TEG should ultimately help to
further develop the green bond market and channel
more investments towards green projects.
Furthermore, many proposals have been made to allow
monetary policy to play a direct and sector-focused role
in nancing the transition to a low-carbon economy. I
prefer a more “integrated” and holistic approach – and
hence more ambitious, consistent with our nancial
stability and monetary policy mandates. This is what I
pointed out in the latest issue of the Financial Stability
Review of the Banque de France. Climate change is a
source of nancial risk, but it can also provoke both
upward price pressures and a slowdown in activity – and
can thus generate a long-term stag ationary shock. In
the light of this, central banks have two main tools at
their disposal that should be activated. First, it is
essential that they contribute to the collective research
e ort in order to better understand and anticipate the
economic e ects of climate change, and still more that
they integrate these into their macroeconomic models.
Second, in operational terms, this involves integrating the
results of climate-related risks into the assessment of
collateral. This requires the development of a robust
methodology to accurately assess the impact of climate
change on the credit risk of eligible assets.
Let me conclude with a strong conviction: these shared
challenges for tomorrow require immediate action from
 us today. Political philosopher Thomas Paine said: “If
there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child
may have peace.” Let us hope that beyond Brexit, we will
nd common grounds to build a desirable future for the
next generations.
Speech by François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the
Banque de France at the World Conference of Banking
Institutes, September 17th, 2019

Réponse

EXERCISE 03.08 Understanding the main ideas

After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. What is the NGFS and what has it concretely changed in
the banking industry?
2. What are the priorities to consider according to Mr Villeroy
de Galhau?
3. What kind of risk does climate change pose to the nancial
world?
4. How can central banks help assess and avert that risk?

Réponse

EXERCISE 03.09 Going further

1. Find out who François Villeroy de Galhau is. Sum up the
main information about him to be able to put the text into
perspective.
2. Find (and learn by heart) a working de nition of “CSR”.
3. De ne “the European Green Bond Standard”.

Réponse
 4
Personal Banking
to open an account with a branch
to apply for a bank loan
a loan application
to lend money to sb
a lender
to borrow money from sb
a borrower
to spend money on sthg
to waste money on sthg
to save money
to pay back/ reimburse/ repay
to hoard money
an asset
liabilities
a depositor
a deposit
an interest rate
a return on investment
Annual Percentage Rate (APR)
creditworthiness/ solvency
to be in the red
• ouvrir un compte dans une agence
• demander un prêt bancaire
• demande de prêt bancaire
• prêter de l’argent à qqn
• prêteur
• emprunter de l’argent à qqn
• emprunteur
• dépenser de l’argent (pour qqch)
• gaspiller de l’argent (pour qqch)
• économiser de l’argent
• rembourser
• thésauriser
• actif
• passif
• déposant
• dépôt
• taux d’intérêt
• retour sur investissement
• taux d’intérêt annuel
• solvabilité
• être à découvert
to be in the black
to buy on credit
a debt covenant
to reschedule a debt
to pay by instalments
repayment schedule
maturity date
means of payment
cash
a banknote (UK)/ a bill (US)
a check book (US)/ a cheque book (UK)
to issue/ make out a check
a credit card
working capital
dividend
to default on payment
to breach a covenant
collateral/ security
an electronic transfer
a positive/ negative balance
liquidity
short-term investment
surplus funds
money laundering
• avoir un compte créditeur
• acheter à crédit
• clause restrictive
• ré-échelonner une dette
• payer par versements échelonnés
• échéancier
• échéance
• moyens de paiement
• liquide
• billet de banque
• chéquier
• rédiger/ émettre un chèque
• carte de crédit
• fonds de roulement
• dividende
• ne pas s’acquitter d’une dette
• rompre une clause restrictive
• garantie/ caution
• virement électronique
• solde positif/ négatif
• liquidité
• investissement à court terme
• fonds excédentaires
• blanchiment d’argent
 to launder money • blanchir de l’argent
tax dodging • évasion scale

In 1973, 239 banks from 15 countries got together to solve a common

problem: how to communicate about cross-border payments. e
banks formed a cooperative utility, the Society for Worldwide
Interbank Financial Telecommunication, headquartered in Belgium.
SWIFT went live with its messaging services in 1977, replacing the
Telex technology that was then in widespread use, and rapidly became
the reliable, trusted global partner for institutions all around the
world. e main components of the original services included a
messaging platform, a computer system to validate and route
messages, and a set of message standards. e standards were
developed to allow for a common understanding of the data across
linguistic and systems boundaries and to permit the seamless,
automated transmission, receipt and processing of communications
exchanged between users.
Having disrupted the manual processes that were the norm of the
past, SWIFT is now a global nancial infrastructure that spans every
continent, 200+ countries and territories, and services more than
11,000 institutions around the world.
Today SWIFT still enables their users across the world to safely and
securely communicate, but they also invest in the platform that
supports their messaging services and work persistently to improve
the adoption of industry standards.
www.swift.com/about-us/history
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON PERSONAL
BANKING
EXERCISE 04.01 Compound nouns
Find the compound nouns using the base word ‘credit’
which are translated here.
1. credit / credit : cote de crédit/ cote de
solvabilité
2. credit : enquête sur la solvabilité
3. credit : solvabilité
4. credit : antécédents de crédit
5. credit : virement bancaire
6. credit : agence(s) de crédit

EXERCISE 04.02 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the following sentences with the right preposition or
particle. Learn your idioms!
1. Most people buy their house credit because they
can’t a ord to pay cash for it.
2. Most bank users opened their account a local
branch.
3. If you want to apply a bank loan you should be
solvent and not be the red.
4. All loans that are taken out must be paid .
5. Don’t borrow money banks: it’s cheaper if you ask
your friends to lend some you.

EXERCISE 04.03 Synonyms

Find a synonym for the following words.
1. to put money into your account
2. to ll in a form
3. immediately
4. money in your account
5. free

Réponse

EXERCISE 04.04 Collocations

Match the verbs and nouns to make a collocation.
1. to o er, 2. to deduct, 3. to ll in, 4. to protect, 5. to open, 6. to
submit, 7. to transfer, 8. to accept
a.funds, b. interest, c. an account, d. a form, e. assets, f. checks/
cheques, g. tax, h. an application
Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON PERSONAL

BANKING

Bitcoin for Individuals

Bitcoin is the simplest way to exchange money at very
low cost.
a.
Bitcoin on mobiles allows you to pay with a simple two
step scan-and-pay. No need to sign up, swipe your card,
type a PIN, or sign anything. All you need to receive
Bitcoin payments is to display the QR code in your
Bitcoin wallet app and let your friend scan your mobile,
or touch the two phones together (using NFC radio
technology).
b.
Bitcoin transactions are secured by military grade
cryptography. Nobody can charge you money or make a
payment on your behalf. So long as you take the required
steps to protect your wallet, Bitcoin can give you control
over your money and a strong level of protection against
many types of fraud.
c.
Just like with email, you don’t need to ask your family to
use the same software or the same service providers.
Just let them stick to their own favorites. No problem
there; they are all compatible as they use the same open
technology. The Bitcoin network never sleeps, even on
holidays!
d.
 Sending bitcoins across borders is as easy as sending
them across the street. There are no banks to make you
wait three business days, no extra fees for making an
international transfer, and no special limitations on the
minimum or maximum amount you can send.
e.
There is no fee to receive bitcoins, and many wallets let
you control how large a fee to pay when spending. Most
wallets have reasonable default fees, and higher fees can
encourage faster con rmation of your transactions. Fees
are unrelated to the amount transferred, so it’s possible
to send 100,000 bitcoins for the same fee it costs to
send 1 bitcoin.
f.
With Bitcoin, there is no credit card number that some
malicious actor can collect in order to impersonate you.
In fact, it is even possible to send a payment without
revealing your identity, almost like with physical money.
You should however take note that some e ort can be
required to protect your privacy.
https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-for-individuals (on
November 1st, 2017)

EXERCISE 04.05 Reading Tasks

1. Match the sub-headings (1-6) with paragraphs (a-f) in the
text.
1. Mobile payments made easy
2. Protect your identity
3. Fast international payments
4. Choose your own fees
5. Works everywhere
6. Security and control over your money
2. Mark the following statements true or false according to
the information in the text.
a. Three steps are necessary to pay with bitcoins.
b. Bitcoin is a foolproof system against fraud.
c. Your access is not limited since bitcoins are compatible
with every service provider.
d. You are not charged when you spend your bitcoins.
e. You can protect your money from thieves by using a ‘lock
code’.
3. What do the following acronyms refer to: PIN, QR code,
NFC?
4. What are the advantages of bitcoin payments over any
other traditional payment?
Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISES ON PERSONAL BANKING

EXERCISE 04.06 Which payment option is the most
secure?
˜ Which of all the payment options available is the most
secure from the point of view of avoiding loss or theft of your
money?
Réponse

EXERCISE 04.07
Make a list of the advantages and disadvantages of internet
banking.
Réponse

EXERCISE 04.08
˜ What types of bank accounts are o ered by banks
nowadays? What are the pros and cons of each?
Réponse
 5
Managing in Di cult Times
to repay a debt • rembourser une dette
a repayment • remboursement
to default on a loan • ne pas rembourser un emprunt
to default on a debt • ne pas s’acquitter d’une dette
to be in default • être en cessation de paiement
to take out a loan • souscrire un emprunt
an emergency loan • crédit/ prêt d’urgence

the banking system • le système bancaire

nancial leverage • levier nancier
growth leverage • levier de croissance
to topple over under the weight • crouler sous le poids
unsustainable debt • endettement excessif
to collapse • s’e ondrer
to go bankrupt/ to go under/ to go bust • faire faillite
to le for bankruptcy • déposer le bilan

a mortgage • prêt immobilier

a sub-prime debt • dette hypothécaire à risque
a subprime mortgage • prêt immobilier à risque
a security • garantie/ titre
to securitize a risk • titriser un risque
risky lending • prêt à risque
 a derivative • dérivé/ sous-jacent
bond issue • émission d’obligations

e London Interbank O ered Rate (LIBOR) or London Interbank

Lending Rate is the rate at which banks across the world lend money
to each other. It is a global benchmark interest rate used to set a range
of nancial deals worth an estimated $450,000,000,000,000. e value
of deals determined by Libor was revised down from $800 trillion to
$450 trillion following new gures in the Wheatley report on 28
September 2012.
As well as helping to decide the price of other transactions, it is also
used as a measure of trust in the nancial system and re ects the
con dence banks have in each other’s nancial health.
www.bbc.com/news/business-19199683
a lender • prêteur
a borrower • emprunteur
to lend money to sb • prêter de l’argent à qqn
to borrow money from sb • emprunter de l’argent à qqn
to gamble • parier

regulation • réglementation
deregulation • déréglementation
checks and balances • poids et contre-poids

an insurance company • compagnie d’assurance

an investment bank • banque d’investissement
to invest money in sthg • investir de l’argent dans
a bank run • panique bancaire
interbank lending rates • taux d’intérêt interbancaires
 a central bank • banque centrale
a private equity rm • société nancière privée

Wall Street is a street in lower Manhattan that is the original home of

the New York Stock Exchange and the historic headquarters of the
largest U.S. brokerages (sociétés de courtage) and investment banks.
e term Wall Street is also used as a collective name for the nancial
and investment community, which includes stock exchanges and large
banks, brokerages, securities and underwriting rms, and big
businesses. Today, brokerages are geographically diverse, allowing
investors free access to the same information available to Wall Street’s
tycoons.
www.investopedia.com
the stock exchange • la Bourse
stock market value • valeur en Bourse
a dividend • dividende
an index • indice
a bear market • marché baissier
a bull market • marché haussier

housing market • le marché immobilier

real estate
the housing bubble
to be bailed out
a public bail out
to keep a company a oat
a stimulus package
the recovery
• l’immobilier
• la bulle immobilière
• être ren oué
• sauvetage public
• maintenir une entreprise à ot
• plan de relance
• la reprise
 e Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States.
It performs ve general functions to promote the e ective operation
of the U.S. economy and, more generally, the public interest:
– it conducts the nation’s monetary policy to promote maximum
employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates in
the U.S. economy;
– it promotes the stability of the nancial system and seeks to
minimize and contain systemic risks through active monitoring
(surveillance) and engagement in the U.S. and abroad;
– it promotes the safety and soundness (santé) of individual nancial
institutions and monitors their impact on the nancial system as a
whole;
– it fosters payment and settlement system safety and e ciency
through services to the banking industry and the U.S. government that
facilitate U.S.-dollar transactions and payments;
– it promotes consumer protection and community development
through consumer-focused supervision and examination.
www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed.htm
credit crunch • la crise du crédit
a slowdown • ralentissement
a meltdown • dépression
a downturn/ a slump • récession
a foreclosure • saisie
liabilities • passif/ dettes

to tap into a market • exploiter un marché

accessible cash • liquide disponible
toxic assets • actifs toxiques
quantitative easing • assouplissement quantitatif
 bank capitalization • capitalisation des banques
an equity bu er • matelas d’actions/ de fonds propres
to underwrite • souscrire

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON MANAGING IN

DIFFICULT TIMES
EXERCISE 05.01
Mind your spelling. Find the English equivalents for the
following words.
˜ une banque d’investissement, actifs toxiques, le système
bancaire, le remboursement d’une dette, un dividende, un
indice boursier
Réponse

EXERCISE 05.02 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the following blanks with the right preposition or
particle and translate the sentences into French.
1. If individuals must take a loan, they should be
responsible for it.
2. Due to large losses and high indebtedness over the past
years, the undertaking went .
3. On the other hand, the implementation of the restructuring
plan was a failure which forced the rm to le
bankruptcy.
4. Professionals will base their decisions on whom to
lend money on sound nancial principles.
5. Do you borrow money friends, colleagues and
family members?
6. I do not believe that every failing nancial institution
should automatically be bailed by taxpayers.
7. It’s not just multinationals that hope to tap this
emerging market — small and medium-sized companies want
a slice of the action too.

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON MANAGING IN

DIFFICULT TIMES

The Mortgage Crisis Explained

What Caused the Mortgage Crisis?
In 2007, the U.S. economy entered a mortgage crisis that
caused panic and nancial turmoil around the world. The
nancial markets became especially volatile, and the
e ects lasted for several years (or longer). The subprime
mortgage crisis was a result of too much borrowing and
awed nancial modeling, largely based on the
assumption that home prices only go up. Greed and
fraud also played important parts.
— The American Dream
Owning a home is part of the “American Dream.” It allows
people to take pride in a property and engage with a
community for the long term. However, homes are
expensive (at hundreds of thousands of dollars — or
more), and most people need to borrow money to buy a
home.
In the early 2000s, that dream came into reach for a
record number of people. Mortgage interest rates were
low, allowing consumers to get relatively large loans with
a lower monthly payment. In addition, home prices
increased dramatically, so buying a home seemed like a
sure bet. Lenders believed that homes make good
collateral, so they were willing to lend against real estate
and earn revenue while things were good.
— Cashing Out
Things were good for rst-time home buyers, but
existing homeowners also bene ted from easy money
and low rates.
With home prices skyrocketing, homeowners found
enormous wealth in their homes. They had plenty of
equity, so why let it sit in the house? Homeowners
re nanced and took second mortgages to get cash out
of their homes’ equity. Some of this money was spent
wisely (on improvements to the property securing the
loan).
However, some homeowners used the money for living
expenses and other needs, keeping a comfortable
standard of living while wages stayed stagnant.
— Easy Money Before the Mortgage Crisis
Banks o ered easy access to money before the
mortgage crisis emerged. Borrowers got into high-risk
mortgages such as option-ARMs, and they quali ed for
mortgages with little or no documentation. Even people
with bad credit could qualify as subprime borrowers.
Risky borrowers: Borrowers were able to borrow more
than ever before, and individuals with low credit scores
increasingly quali ed as “subprime” borrowers. Lenders
approved “no documentation” and “low documentation”
loans, which did not require veri cation of a borrower’s
income and assets (or veri cation standards were
relaxed).
Risky products: In addition to easier approval, borrowers
had access to loans that promised short-term bene ts
(with long-term risks). Option-ARM loans allowed
borrowers to make small payments on their debt, but the
loan amount might actually increase if the payments
were not su cient to cover interest costs. Interest rates
were relatively low (although not at historic lows), so
traditional xed-rate mortgages might have been a
reasonable option.
Fraud: Lenders were eager to fund purchases, but some
home buyers and mortgage brokers added fuel to the
re by providing inaccurate information on loan
applications. As long as the party never ended,
everything was ne. Once home prices fell and borrowers
were unable to a ord loans, the truth came out.
— Sloshing Liquidity
Where did all of the money for loans come from? There
was a glut of liquidity sloshing around the world — which
quickly dried up at the height of the mortgage crisis.
People, businesses, and governments had money to
invest, and they developed an appetite for mortgage-
linked investments as a way to earn more in a low
interest rate environment.
Secondary markets: Banks used to keep mortgages on
their books. If you borrowed money from Bank A, you’d
make repayments to Bank A, and they’d lose money if
you defaulted.
However, banks now sell your loan, and it may be further
divided and sold to numerous investors. These
investments are extremely complex, so many investors
just rely on rating agencies to tell them how safe the
investments are (without really understanding them).
Because the banks and mortgage brokers did not have
any skin in the game (they could just sell the loans before
they went bad), loan quality deteriorated. There was no
accountability or incentive to ensure borrowers could
a ord to repay loans.
— Early Stages of Crisis
Unfortunately, the chickens came home to roost and the
mortgage crisis began to intensify in 2007. Home prices
stopped going up at a breakneck speed, and prices
started falling in 2006. Borrowers who bought more
home than they could a ord eventually stopped making
mortgage payments. To make matters worse, monthly
payments increased on adjustable rate mortgages as
interest rates rose.
Homeowners with una ordable homes were left with few
choices. They could wait for the bank to foreclose, they
could renegotiate their loan in a workout program, or
they could just walk away from the home and default. Of
course, many also tried to increase their income and cut
expenses. Some were able to bridge the gap, but others
were already too far behind and facing mortgage
payments that simply weren’t sustainable.
Traditionally, banks could recover the amount they
loaned at foreclosure. However, home values fell to such
an extent that banks increasingly took hefty losses on
defaulted loans. State laws and the type of loan
determined whether or not lenders could try to collect
any de ciency from borrowers.
— The Plot Thickens
Once people started defaulting on loans in record
numbers the mortgage crisis really heated up. Banks and
investors began losing money. Financial institutions
decided to reduce their exposure to risk very quickly, and
banks hesitated to lend to each other because they
didn’t know if they’d ever get paid back. Of course, banks
and businesses need money to ow to operate smoothly,
so the economy came to a grinding halt.
Bank weakness (and fear) caused bank failures. The FDIC
ramped up sta in preparation for hundreds of bank
failures caused by the mortgage crisis, and some
mainstays of the banking world went under. The general
public saw these high-pro le institutions failing and
panic increased. In a historic event, we were reminded
that money market funds can “break the buck.”
Other factors contributed to the severity of the
mortgage crisis. The US economy softened, and higher
commodity prices hurt consumers and businesses. Other
complex nancial products started to unravel as well.
— Lingering E ects
Lawmakers, consumers, bankers, and businesspeople
scurried to reduce the e ects of the mortgage crisis. It
set o a dramatic chain of events and will continue to
 unfold for years to come. The public got to see “how the
sausage is made” and was shocked to learn how
leveraged the world is.
The lasting e ect for most consumers is that it’s more
di cult to qualify for a mortgage than it was in the early-
to-mid-2000s. Lenders are required to verify that
borrowers have the ability to repay a loan — you
generally need to show proof of your income and assets.
The home loan process is now more cumbersome, but
hopefully, the nancial system is healthier than before.
Justin Pritchard, www.thebalance.com (updated July 31,
2017)

EXERCISE 05.03 Understanding the text – Vocabulary

1. Find a translation for the underlined words and phrases.
2. Find antonyms in the text for the following words and
phrases: borrowers, to nosedive, dismissal, accurate, to buy,
light (adj).
Réponse

EXERCISE 05.04 Understanding the text – the

journalist’s ideas and arguments
1. What de nition does he give of the American Dream? Is
that a traditional de nition?
2. Who does he think are the ones responsible for the crisis?
3. What changes did the crisis bring about in the banking
world?
Réponse

EXERCISE 05.05 Understanding the text – Making

adverbs
1.Observe the following adverbs taken from the text and try
to nd out what the rule is.
largely; relatively
2. Find more of these words in the text and translate them.
3. What’s their role?

Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISES ON MANAGING IN

DIFFICULT TIMES
EXERCISE 05.06 Writing an essay
˜ You’re an MBA student and are preparing an essay on the
credit crunch of 2008. Use the information at your disposal
to organize your thoughts and answer the following
questions.
“The Credit Crunch of 2008: how did it happen, who was
involved and what measures can be used to tackle these
problems?”
Make sure you use as much of the new vocabulary as
possible (at least 25 phrases that you’ll underline) to be as
accurate as possible linguistically and intellectually.
Réponse
 6
Micro nance
“If we are looking for one single action which will enable the poor to
overcome their poverty, I would focus on credit”. (Dr Muhammad
Yunus)
Micro nance can be de ned as the provision of micro loan to the
poor entrepreneurs and small businesses lacking access to banking and
related services.
e two main mechanisms for the delivery of nancial services to such
clients were:
(1) relationship-based banking for individual entrepreneurs and small
businesses,
(2) group-based models, where several entrepreneurs come together
to apply for loans and other services as a group.
Over time, micro nance has emerged as a larger movement whose
object is “a world in which as everyone, especially the poor and socially
marginalized people and households have access to wide range of
a ordable, high quality nancial products and services, including not
just credit but also savings, insurance, [(payment services)], and fund
transfers.” (Robert Peck Christen, Richard Rosenberg & Veena Jayadeva.
Financial institutions with a double-bottom line: implications for the
future of micro nance. CGAP Occasional Paper, July 2004, pp. 2-3.)
Many of those who promote micro nance generally believe that such
access will help poor people out of poverty. For many, micro nance is
a way to promote economic development, employment and growth
through the support of micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses; for
others it is a way for poor to manage their nances more e ectively
and take advantage of economic opportunities while managing the
risks. e terms have evolved – from micro-credit to micro- nance,
and now ‘ nancial inclusion’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro nance
a microloan • micro prêt
to o er a loan • proposer un prêt
a microlending organisation • organisation de microcrédit
a non-pro t organisation • organisation à but non lucrative
a non-governmental organisation • organisation non
(NGO) gouvernementale (ONG)

to apply for a loan • demander un prêt

to be bankable
a loan collateral
a collateral security
to pay a debt by instalments
to reschedule a debt
a payment schedule
• être solvable
• garantie de prêt
• nantissement
• échelonner une dette
• ré-échelonner une dette
• échéancier

to lack sthg • manquer de qqch

a lack of sthg • manque de qqch
a shortage • pénurie
to be short of sthg • être à court de qqch
to run out of sthg • se trouver à court de

a household • foyer/ ménage

household debt • endettement des ménages
household income • revenu des ménages
household budget • budget familial
 standard of living/ living standard • niveau de vie
cost of living • coût de la vie
well-being • bien-être

to have access to sthg • avoir accès à qqch

to accede to sthg • accéder à qqch
to give access to sthg • donner accès à qqch
instant access • accès immédiat (à son argent)
access charges • frais d’accès

e Human Development Index (HDI) is a measure of a country’s

well-being which is based not only on economic growth and living
standards but on other criteria such as life expectancy and education.
is indicator is used by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) to assess the evolution of the development of all
countries in the world. is program contributes to the achievement
of the Millenium Development Goals (de ned in 2000): reduction of
poverty and infant mortality, the improvement of health care, the
promotion of democratic governance, human rights, and the
empowerment of women.
to lift sb out of poverty • sortir qqn de la pauvreté
to help sb out of poverty • aider qqn à sortir de la pauvreté
to be poor/ to be left • être pauvre/ être plongé dans la
destitute misère
to be penniless • être sans le sou
to be poverty-stricken • être frappé par la pauvreté
poverty threshold • seuil de pauvreté
to live below the poverty line • vivre sous le seuil de pauvreté
poverty trap • piège de la pauvreté
 to overcome poverty • sortir de la pauvreté
to sink into poverty • sombrer dans la pauvreté

Bangladesh’s Muhammad Yunus is the pioneer of the modern version

of micro nance, according to Kiva, a crowdfunding-based
microlending organization inspired by Yunus’ work. While working at
Chittagong University in the 1970s, Yunus began o ering small loans
to destitute basket weavers. Yunus carried on this mission for nearly a
decade before forming the Grameen Bank in 1983 to reach a much
wider audience.
Joseph Blatchford, former head of the Peace Corps, is also credited
with building up the modern-day micro nancing e orts. Blatchford
founded nonpro t Accion as a volunteer project in 1961, and in 1973,
the organization began o ering small loans to entrepreneurs in Brazil
to see if a one-time in ux of money could help lift them out of
poverty. e operation was a success: 885 loans helped create or
stabilize 1,386 new jobs. Accion expanded the model to 14 other Latin
American countries over the next decade.
a balance sheet • bilan
annual turnover • chi re d’a aires annuel
the unemployed • les chômeurs
self-employment • travail indépendant
a jobseeker • demandeur d’emploi

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON MICROFINANCE

EXERCISE 06.01
Complete the sentences with the right words from the list
below.
˜ a ord, allows, approach, borrow, borrowers, collateral,
encourages, lend, lent, loan, paid, peer pressure, poor,
poverty, repay, repayments
1. It’s di cult for the to break free of the cycle of
.
2. The woman that Yunus met couldn’t to buy
bamboo to make her stools.
3. Yunus twenty-seven dollars to the people in the
village and they all of it back.
4. Conventional banks don’t want to money to poor
people because they don’t have any .
5. The Grameen bank started a new to lending
money.
6. The Grameen bank people to make small
over a year.
7. People can’t more money if they don’t pay back
the rst .
8. The majority of Grameen are women.
9. There is from the rest of the group to the
money.
10. The Grameen system people to make their lives
better.

EXERCISE 06.02 Making nouns from adjectives

Replace the words in colour by nouns made from adjectives.
1. In fact, poor people nd it hard to get a loan.
2. Microcredit is particularly popular with young people.
3. For the rst time, disabled people have not been forgotten.
4. Unemployed people are given a chance to start their own
business.
Réponse

EXERCISE 06.03 Deceptive cognates

Find the right translations for the following deceptive
cognates.
1. Some people can claim housing bene t.
2. We all can support a charitable cause by making a small
donation.
3. As a volunteer working for an NGO, Tom is making a great
job.
4. Many people in this area live in destitution and are unable
to feed their children.
5. Oxfam is one of the most e ective British charities.

Réponse

EXERCISE 06.04 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the blanks with the right preposition or particle.
1. As an unemployed single mother, you are probably entitled
some bene ts.
2. The role of NGOs is to prevent some people from sinking
poverty, or even better, to lift them
poverty.
3. That rescue plan was enforced because all the charities
working out on the eld were running
supplies.

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON
MICROFINANCE

Micro nance and the EU

The European Micro nance Network (EMN) focuses
exclusively on the micro nance sector in Europe and
aims at increasing communication between the various
European institutions that promote this sector.
The European Commission (EC) has launched several
initiatives in the eld of micro nance and is part of a
dynamics to promote micro nance as an economic
development tool.
According to the European Commission (EC), small and
medium enterprises (SMEs) represent enterprises with
less than 250 employees and a turnover that doesn’t
exceed 50 million Euro per year, or a balance sheet that
doesn’t exceed 43 million Euro per year. Micro-
enterprises, more speci cally, are companies with less
than 10 employees and a maximum annual turnover of 2
million Euro.
The EC de nes microcredit as “the extension of very
small loans (micro-loans) to entrepreneurs, to social
economy enterprises, to employees who wish to become
self-employed, to people working in the informal
economy and to the unemployed and others living in
poverty who are not considered bankable. It stands at
the crossroads between economic and social
preoccupations. It contributes to economic initiative and
entrepreneurship, job creation and self-employment, the
development of skills and active inclusion for people
su ering disadvantages” (EU, The European initiative to
develop microcredit in support of growth and
employment, 2007). Microloans do not exceed 25,000
Euro.
— European Strategic framework and EU Funds 2014-
2020
The Europe 2020 strategy, adopted in 2010, sets three
mutually reinforcing European priorities: smart,
sustainable and inclusive growth. The strategic
framework should support the EU and the Member
States in delivering higher levels of employment,
productivity and social cohesion, in order to reach out
targets for 2020 on poverty (lifting at least 20 million
people out of poverty and social exclusion) and
employment (75% of the population aged 20-64 should
be employed). The latter is backed, since 2010, by the
Platform Against Poverty and Social Exclusion (EPAP),
one of the seven agship initiatives created within the
strategic framework. The European Structural Funds
(ESF) are a key instrument to advance the Europe 2020
objectives.
The Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI)
programme is a European-level nancing instrument
managed directly by the European Commission to
support employment, social policy and labour mobility
across the EU. The concept of social innovation, which
has a special focus on youth, is at the heart of EaSI. The
programme will provide 10-14 million Euro a year for
social innovation activities.
Starting in January 2014, EaSI does not stand in isolation.
Together with the European Social Fund (ESF) and the
European Globalisation Fund (EGF), it forms a coherent
set of EU programmes to promote employment, social
protection and social inclusion, as well as working
conditions for the period 2014-20.
The instrument feeds into the EU’s ten-year growth
strategy by supporting the implementation of the
employment and social objectives of Europe 2020. It also
supports the roll-out of the seven agship initiatives
launched in 2010, notably the European Platform against
Poverty and Social Exclusion, An Agenda for New Skills
and Jobs, and Youth on the Move.
The three components of EaSI will receive the following
allocations:
• PROGRESS (Programme for Employment and Social
Solidarity): Around 550 million Euro (61% of the total
budget) will support activities with a strong Europe-wide
dimension such as comparable analysis, mutual learning
and exchanges of practices in the eld of employment
and social policies.
• EURES: Around 160 million Euro (18% of the budget)
will be dedicated to the EURES network that provides
information and advice to job seekers wishing to work in
another EU country. EaSI will nance core activities at EU
level, while the national activities can receive funding
from the ESF.
 • Progress Micro nance: Around 200 million Euro (21% or
the budget) will extend the support given to microcredit
providers and institutions in order to make more loans
available, and will help to develop the social investment
market and access to nancing for social enterprises.
— EaSI objectives
With an amount of 920 million Euro as budget, the EaSI
programme pursues:
– Strengthen ownership of EU objectives and
coordination of action at EU and national levels in the
areas of employment, social a airs and inclusion.
– Support the development of adequate social protection
systems and labour market policies by promoting good
governance, mutual learning and social innovation.
– Modernise EU legislation and ensure e ective
application of EU legislation.
– Promote geographical mobility and boost employment
opportunities by developing an open labour market.
– Increase the availability and accessibility of
micro nance for vulnerable groups and micro-
enterprises, and increase access to nance for social
enterprises.
– Increase policy coherence and impact of Commission’s
instruments with a common objective, contribution to
the Europe 2020 Strategy for Growth and Jobs.
www.european-micro nance.org

EXERCISE 06.05 Questions

1. What is the role of the European Commission regarding
micro nance?
2. How does the EC de ne microcredit? Find the quote and
rephrase.
3. What do the following gures stand for?
250, 2 million, 50 million, 20 million, 43 million, 75%, 10
4. What do the following acronyms mean?
SME, EMN, EPAP, ESF, EaSI, EC, EU, PROGRESS
Réponse

EXERCISE 06.06 Going further

1. What are the main missions of the European Commission?
2. Is credit a problem where you live? Do you think that banks
are fair on their customers or do you think they should be
more interested in helping people and less interested in
making pro t?
Réponse

– SPEAKING EXERCISES ON MICROFINANCE

EXERCISE 06.07 Dialogue – Work in pairs: Applying for
a business loan
˜ Student A: You work for a micro nance company, helping
with inquiries from potential applicants for small business
loans. Student B is applying for a loan and will phone you to
ask for information.
Ask Student B what they want the loan for and how much
they want.
Answer Student B’s questions on what they need to provide
and what they need to do to apply for a loan.
Student B: You are applying to a micro nance company for a
small business loan. Phone the company and ask about what
you need to provide and do.
Tell Student A why you want the loan and how much you
want.
Réponse
FINANCE / VENTURE
CAPITAL
 7
Business Plan
A business plan is a document that summarizes the operational and
nancial objectives of a business and contains the detailed plans and
budgets showing how the objectives are to be realized. It may be seen
as the roadmap to the success of a company.
ey generally start with the Executive Summary which brie y
outlines the type of company you set up, the speci city of the product
or service you want to launch, the professional background of the
managers and the amount of money you need to achieve your plan.
A comprehensive business plan for a large company may include:
– internal analysis: a process of identifying and assessing an
organization’s speci c characteristics, including its resources,
capabilities, and core competencies. It is the only way to identify an
organization’s strengths and weaknesses.
– external analysis: a process of identifying and assessing the trends
and events in the business’s industry that may a ect your company,
but are out of your control. It covers elds such as markets, customers,
competition, tax, legislation, etc.
– gap analysis: an analysis which compares the gap between an
organization’s actual performance against its potential performance.
– action plan: it consists in analysing the progress your company has
to make to bridge the gap between where your business stands and
where you want it to be and the steps you have to take to reach that
goal.
– resource assessment: identifying the material, nancial or human
resources needed to reach the goals set by the action plan.
to make forecasts • faire des prévisions/ projections
to meet forecasts • répondre aux prévisions
cash ow forecasts • prévisions de trésorerie
sales forecasts • prévisions des ventes
planned sales • ventes prévisionnelles
a sales pitch • argumentaire de vente
projected trends • tendances prévisionnelles
expected expenses • dépenses attendues
pro tability • rentabilité
a breakeven analysis • analyse de seuil de rentabilité

to implement/ enforce a • mettre en œuvre/ en application une

strategy stratégie
a marketing strategy • stratégie marketing
innovative advertising • publicité innovante
an incentive to do sthg • incitation à faire qqch

a lender • prêteur/ bailleur de fond/ créancier

a lead investor • investisseur principal
an angel investor/ a
• business angel/ investisseur privé
business angel
to raise money/funds for a • lever des fonds pour une entreprise/
business a aire
a fund raising • levée de fonds
to fund • nancer/ provisionner
• nancer/ consolider une entreprise/
to fund a business
a aire
to start/ set up/ launch a
• lancer/ monter une entreprise/ a aire
business
to get a business o the • faire décoller une a aire
 ground
to run/ manage/ head a • diriger/ gérer/ être à la tête (de) une
business a aire/ entreprise

˜ TAM, SAM, and SOM

A good business plan will identify the target market segments and
then provide some data to indicate how fast each segment is growing.
When identifying target markets, a classic method is to use the TAM,
SAM, and SOM breakdown to look at market sizes from a top-down
approach as well as a bottom-up approach.
TAM: Your Total Available or Addressable Market (everyone you wish
to reach with your product).
SAM: Your Segmented Addressable Market or Served Available
Market (the portion of TAM you will target).
SOM: Your Share Of the Market (the subset of your SAM that you will
realistically reach – particularly in the rst few years of your business).
to be critical to the success of a • être décisif pour le succès d’une
company entreprise
to be comprehensive • être complet/ détaillé/ exhaustif
to set out a goal • xer un objectif
to achieve/ reach a goal • atteindre un objectif
• suivre les progrès (accomplis/
to track/ monitor progress
réalisés)
to take an opportunity • saisir une chance/ occasion
to have the opportunity to do
• avoir l’occasion de faire qqch
sthg
to spark/ arouse interest • susciter l’intérêt
to have a competitive advantage • avoir un avantage concurrentiel
(over) sb sur qqn
 to di erentiate oneself from • se di érencier de qqn/ qqch
sb/sthg

a target market • marché cible

to identify a target market
a market segment
to target a speci c market
to reach a wider market
to t into a market
a market share
to gain market shares
mature market
• identi er un marché cible
• segment de marché
• cibler un marché spéci que
• toucher un marché plus large
• s’intégrer dans un marché
• part de marché
• gagner des parts de marché
• marché établi/ parvenu à maturité

a top-down approach • approche descendante

a bottom-up approach • approche ascendante

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON BUSINESS PLAN

EXERCISE 07.01
Match the words with the de nitions.
˜ market segment, buyer persona, positioning,
stakeholders, niche
1. All the people who have an interest in the success of a plan,
system or organization.
2. The ideal customer who will help you make decisions about
marketing and sales processes. It should be de ned with a
name, gender, income level, likes, dislikes, and so on.
3. The way you will try and present your company to your
customers.
4. A group of people (or other businesses) that you could
potentially sell to.
5.A small but pro table segment of a market suitable for
focused attention by a marketer.
Réponse

EXERCISE 07.02 Collocations

1. One verb in each group does not go with the noun at the
end. Cross the odd one out.
cut, estimate, implement, recover costs
access, achieve, get hold of, withhold information
consider, keep open, meet, suggest options
set out, reach, minimize, identify goals
boost, forecast, generate, set up sales
2. Then use the right word combinations to complete the
sentences.
a. Would it be a way to for producers if there were
to be a licence fee for every individual user of a computer?
b. The public will forgive companies which make mistakes,
but not the fact that they or even lie about it.
c. In general, developing countries wish at least to
their and have more time to examine the issues and
possibilities.
d. This plan also in the areas of safety, the
environment, cost e ectiveness, and human resources.
e. Retailers can volume by targeting new consumer
segments with lower prices.

EXERCISE 07.03 Options and choices – Phrasal verbs

Complete the phrasal verbs with the appropriate
preposition. Which two verbs mean ‘to choose’? Which two
verbs mean ‘not to choose’?
˜ away, for (2x), out, into, with, for, up
1. When we had to choose new premises to accommodate
our company, we looked location, cost and
transport.
2. First we decided to rule resorting to a consultant.
3. We were really looking forward to a modern o ce, but we
had to settle an older property.
4. In order to avoid any technical issues, we decided to stay
from second-hand equipment.
5. We were tempted to plump designer furniture,
but they were way too costly.
6. After weighing the potential advantages and the
unavoidable downsides, we nally rejected taking on a big
bank loan.
7. As for sta , we decided to go experienced people.

– WRITING EXERCISE ON BUSINESS PLAN

EXERCISE 07.04 How to draft a business plan
˜ If you were starting up a new company, what product or
service would it o er? What would you include in your
business plan to try to convince venture capitalists to invest?
Réponse

– SPEAKING EXERCISE ON BUSINESS PLAN

EXERCISE 07.05 Pair work – Decision-making in a
business meeting
˜ You and your partner are starting a new business named
iHelp. Your new company will guarantee to send a computer
scientist to solve your customers’ PC problems within the
hour. Decide on one solution only for each item on the
following agenda and present them at a sta meeting.
iHelp agenda for partners’ meeting:

1. Capital

• a bank loan of €20,000 at 15% interest

• an overdraft facility for €30,000 at 23%
• venture capital of €50,000 in return for 49% of the company
2. Positioning

• quality and fast service at high prices

• low prices but slower service
• reasonably fast service at medium prices

3. Sta

• a student from your local business school – will work for nothing for 3
months
• a relative – will do 5 hours/week administrative work for nothing
• an unemployed friend – will work 8 hours/day for food and lodging

4. Premises

• a tiny o ce in a new building in the city centre – €750/month

• two rooms above a café near the railway station – €400/month
• a relative’s garage in the suburbs – free, but no heating

5. Transport

• a 15-year-old motorcycle
• a new mountain bike
• a one-year bus pass

6. Consultant

• a friend who is a lawyer

• a relative who is an accountant
• a friend of your parents’ who was president of the Chamber of Commerce
20 years ago

7. Sales literature

• a website
• 500 brochures
• 10,000 iers

8. Advertising

• a full-page ad in the local football club magazine

• ve 15-second spots per day for one week on a local radio
• a 5cm advert on page 15 of a specialist computer magazine for six months

Réponse
 8
Venture Capital
venture capital • capital risque

to spot a gap in the market • repérer un créneau sur le marché

to ll a gap in the market
a competitive edge
to be self-funding
a nancial backer
a bank loan
a venture capital rm
a venture capitalist
a critical mass of customers
• combler une lacune du marché
• avantage concurrentiel
• s’auto nancer
• commanditaire
• prêt bancaire
• société de capital-risque
• investisseur en capital-risque
• masse critique de clients

Venture capital, also called risk capital or start-up capital, is

nancing that investors provide to start-up companies and small
businesses that evidence long-term growth potential. Venture capital
generally comes from well-o investors, investment banks and any
other nancial institutions. However, it does not always take just a
monetary form; it can be provided in the form of technical or
managerial expertise.
ough it can be risky for the investors who put up the funds, the
potential for above-average returns is an attractive payo . For new
companies that have a limited operating history, capital funding is
increasingly becoming a popular source for raising capital, especially if
they lack access to capital markets, bank loans or other debt
instruments.
to raise capital • lever des capitaux
 to invest money in a
• investir de l’argent dans une société
company
to be risk adverse • être réfractaire au risque/ fuir le risque
to provide seed money • fournir le capital de départ
risk capital • capital-risque
business angel/ angel
• business angel/ mécène
investor
• conseil d’administration/ comité de
board of directors
direction
to make a pro t • faire du béné ce/ pro t
overheads • frais généraux/ charges

an exit strategy • stratégie de sortie

a leveraged buyout • rachat par endettement
a majority buyout • cession majoritaire
an Initial Public O ering (IPO) • introduction en bourse
• o re publique d’achat
a takeover bid
(OPA)
to go public • introduire en Bourse
to oat/ list a company on the stock
• introduire en Bourse
exchange

An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor,

angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an a uent (=rich/
wealthy) individual who provides capital for a business start-up,
usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. A small
but increasing number of angel investors invest online through equity
crowdfunding or organize themselves into angel groups or angel
networks to share research and pool their investment capital, as well
as to provide advice to their portfolio companies.
 stock exchange • la Bourse
a high-yield bond • obligation à haut rendement
convertible bonds • obligations convertibles
preference shares (UK)/ preferred • actions/ parts/ options
stock (US) privilégiées
xed dividend • dividende xe
to pay a dividend • verser un dividende
return on investment (ROI) • retour sur investissement
return on capital • retour sur capital
crowdfunding • nancement participatif

Private equity rms typically invest in private companies, not

publicly listed companies. ere are two di erent types of activity:
either venture capital to support start-ups or buy outs by which a
company is taken over, streamlined and then sold.
equity capital • fonds propres
private equity • capital privé
equity market • marché des actions
equity interest • pourcentage de participation
equity loan • prêt participatif
• détenir une participation dans une
to have a stake in a company
entreprise
capital stake • participation au capital
• participation majoritaire/
majority/ minority stake
minoritaire
to have controlling interest in a • détenir une participation
company majoritaire
a portfolio company • société de portefeuille
 a portfolio manager • gestionnaire de portefeuille

A benchmark is the process by which a startup company measures

their current success. An investor measures a company’s growth by
determining whether or not they have met certain benchmarks. For
example, company A has met the benchmark of having X amount of
recurring revenue after 2 years in the market.
• point de référence pour
a benchmark for sthg
qqch
a benchmark test • test de performance
a benchmark program (US)/
• programme d’évaluation
programme (UK)
• satisfaire une norme de
to meet a benchmark
référence

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON VENTURE

CAPITAL
EXERCISE 08.01
Match the noun with its de nition.
˜ convertible debt, ROI, incubator, due diligence, bridge
loan, debt nancing, angel investor, seed, ground oor,
leveraged buyout, exit, liquidation
1. An individual who provides a small amount of capital to a
startup for a stake in the company. Typically precedes a seed
round and usually happens when the startup is in its infancy.
2. Also known as a swing loan. Short-term loan to bridge the
gap between major nancing.
3. This is when a company borrows money with the intent
that the debt accrued will later be converted to equity in the
company at a later valuation. This allows companies to delay
valuation while raising funding in its early stages. This is
typically done in the early stages of a company’s life, when a
valuation is more di cult to complete and investing carries
higher risk.
4. This is when a company raises money by selling bond, bills,
or notes to an investor with the promise that the debt will be
repaid with interest. It is typically performed by late-stage
companies.
5. An analysis an investor makes of all the facts and gures of
a potential investment. Can include an investigation of
nancial records and a measure of potential ROI.
6. This is how startup founders get rich. It’s the method by
which an investor and/or entrepreneur intends to “exit” their
investment in a company. Common options are an IPO or
buyout from another company. Entrepreneurs and VCs often
develop an “exit strategy” while the company is still growing.
7. A reference to the beginning of a venture, or the earliest
point of a startup. Generally considered an advantage to
invest at this level.
8. An organization that helps develop early stage companies,
usually in exchange for equity in the company. Companies in
incubators get help for things like building their management
teams, strategizing their growth, etc.
9. When a company is purchased with a strategic
combination of equity and borrowed money. The target
company’s assets or revenue is used as “leverage” to pay
back the borrowed capital.
10. The process of dissolving a company by selling o all of its
assets (making them liquid).
11. This is the much-talked-about “return on investment.” It’s
the money an investor gets back as a percentage of the
money he or she has invested in a venture. For example, if a
VC invests $2 million for a 20 percent share in a company
and that company is bought out for $40 million, the VC’s
return is $8 million.
12. The seed round is the rst o cial round of nancing for a
startup. At this point a company is usually raising funds for
proof of concept and/or to build out a prototype and is
referred to as a “seed stage” company.
Réponse

EXERCISE 08.02 Over or Under? Word derivations:

pre xes
We can pre x over- or under- to some words to change their
meaning. “Over-” expresses the meaning of “too much” and
“under-” the meaning of “too few/ too little”.
Look at the following sentences and ll in the blanks with a
word from the list below. Add the pre x over or under to
express the correct meaning. Don’t forget to put the verb in
the right tense.
˜ charge, cut, estimate, perform, ride, spend, take, rate
Some contractors , and other their
expenditure because they have di culties is assessing them.
Minimum wage standards are also designed to stop these
workers from trying to each other by agreeing to
work for less than someone else.
When budgeting, enterprises shouldn’t the
operating costs.
You could lose money on your investment in the fund, or the
fund could other investments.
Multinationals and chief executives basically have the
opportunity to or to get compensation in the event
that anything impugns upon the pro t of those companies.
Budget centre managers should ensure that the budget
allocated to each activity is not .
We have a comprehensive review of the program in
order to gain a full and complete picture of it.
It is easy to the personal qualities that appeal to us
or to those that do not.

–
– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON VENTURE
CAPITAL

TEXT 1 – Girl power

How having a daughter boosts investors’ returns.
RICHARD NESBITT, a former chief operating o cer at
the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, has long been
an evangelist for women in business. In “Results at the
Top”, a book he wrote with Barbara Annis, he describes
his e orts to convince men to promote women. When
speaking to bosses, he stresses data showing that
companies with more senior women are more successful.
But he has noticed that men with daughters tend to be
more receptive to his message. At least for venture-
capital (VC) rms, recent research con rms this
observation, as well as the assertion that gender diversity
boosts performance.

Paul Gompers and Sophie Wang at Harvard University

wanted to determine whether VC rms with more
women managers do better. Answering this question is
tricky— rms that hire more women may have other
characteristics that lead to success. VC investing remains
a predominantly male activity. In the authors’ sample of
988 VC funds in 301 rms, around 8% of new hires were
women. Very few rms hired more than one-woman
manager (see chart). Managing partners who hire more
women may be less hidebound by convention—a good
trait for someone investing in innovative technologies.
The authors needed a way to measure the impact of
women on success independent of other factors. Ideally,
a random factor would in uence the number of women
hired by a rm. The authors looked at the number of
daughters among partners’ children.
Parenthood changes perspectives. VC partners with one
extra daughter rather than an extra son employed on
average almost two percentage points more women
managers. This led to a 24% higher probability that a rm
would have a senior female manager. The researchers
reasoned that a link between daughters and success
could be attributed to a greater number of women
managers.
A rm where a partner has an extra daughter rather than
an extra son had a 2.9% higher chance that its deals
would be a success (de ned as an initial public o ering
or other pro table sale of a company the rm had
backed). Such rms also have higher internal rates of
return. Hiring women is indeed a sound business strategy.
Mr Nesbitt notes that this nding matches one of the
main arguments of his book. Gender diversity in business
increases diversity of thought, which leads to better
decisions. He adds that, on its own, the paper is unlikely
to lead to more women in executive o ces. To achieve
that men need not only to accept the case for women
intellectually, but to acknowledge that they personally
need to act to promote them. Ideally, that should not
take the birth of a daughter.
From The Economist (on September 30, 2017)

TEXT 2 – Independent Ownership vs. Restaurant

Franchising
Whether you’re considering investing in a franchise or
thinking about starting an independent restaurant, the
types of risks and the potential rewards will vary.
Consider your start-up responsibilities, creative abilities,
monetary resources, and level of experience before
making the big decision.
You can also ask yourself the following questions to
determine the best path toward success:
– What type of business experience do you have?
– Do you work better under a set of guidelines or do you
have a clear vision of what you want your restaurant to
be?
– How much money do you have available to start your
business?
– Is support and training a necessity for your success? Or
is determining your own path more appealing?
– As a future business owner, your strengths and
limitations are unique. Consider your goals and the pros
and cons of the following four factors to determine if
independent ownership or becoming a franchisee is best
for you.
The most intimidating part of opening a restaurant is the
possibility of failure. In order to succeed in this industry,
business owners need to have a distinguishable
operating concept that impacts things like the menu, the
operations philosophy, and even the customer service.
The level of creative control you will have in your
restaurant is almost directly tied to whether you choose
to buy into a franchise or open a restaurant on your own.
Independent restaurants and franchises each have initial
start-up costs, but the methods of nancing and division
of funds di er.
— Independent Owner
Deciding to open your own restaurant means that you
determine your own budget for the start-up costs, but
there are still many initial costs to consider. You must
purchase a space, design it, develop a menu, and shell
out the money for aggressive marketing campaigns to
get your name on the map. There are also insurance,
permit, and licensing fees that will vary depending on
where your restaurant is located. Lenders are more
hesitant to provide small business owners with money
when there is no guarantee that the business will be
pro table. Despite obvious nancial demands,
entrepreneurs looking to open their own restaurant
should not be completely deterred. Brand recognition is
often the biggest obstacle for new, independent
restaurants to overcome, but the social media craze has
helped combat this issue. A strong social media presence
on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, FourSquare, or Yelp can
help decrease advertising costs for establishments and
even provide the business with a fast, convenient way to
communicate with their customers on a day-to-day basis.
— Franchisee
In order to open up a chain restaurant, potential
candidates must meet the franchise’s initial nancial
requirements. This typically includes liquidity, which
means that you, as the franchisee, have the funds
available to help keep your company a oat during the
rst few months, and meeting the company’s minimum
net worth requirements to prove that you have the
money to invest in the business. On top of these
requirements, you must secure a location for the
franchise and pay an initial franchising fee which can
range from a thousand to several hundred thousand
dollars. Once you have opened the franchise, royalties
and national advertising campaign fees are often
involved. While these high costs may seem daunting,
franchisers will often work with the investor to secure
nancing. Lenders are more open to supporting franchise
businesses because they have a proven success rate.
Similarly, being part of a franchise can give you access to
hefty discounts when ordering in bulk.
An individual’s background and experience in both the
business and culinary aspect of the food service industry
plays a large role in whether opening a new restaurant or
buying into an established chain is the better option.
 Previous experience almost directly ties into the risk,
creative control, and nancial factors.
Abridged and adapted from
www.webstaurantstore.com/article/3/independent-
ownership-franchise-pros-cons.html (on December 18th,
2017)

EXERCISE 08.03
Mark the following statements as true or false and justify
with a quote from text 1.
1. Statistics tends to prove that businesses headed by men
are more successful.
2. The more uniform the work environment, the more
competitive the rm.
3. Out of 10 applicants VC rms hire less than one female
applicant to be part of their sta .
4. According to the article it is a positive sign for a rm to hire
more than the average proportion of women to take up
managing positions.
Réponse

EXERCISE 08.04
Read text 2 about franchising. Answer the following
questions.
1. Give a de nition of “franchisee”, “franchisor” and
“franchise”. Can you think of other words that are built the
same way?
2. What example of franchise is developed in this text? What
industry is concerned?
3. What are the main di erences in terms of costs between an
independent owner and a franchisee?
4. What role do social media play when starting up a new
business?
Réponse
EXERCISE 08.05 Vocabulary
Match the words from text 2 with their synonyms.
a path to be linked to
appealing to spend
pros and cons upsides and downsides
intimidating attractive
to be tied to to be reluctant to do sthg
to purchase to buy
to shell out daunting
to be hesitant to do sthg a way
hefty discounts large
Réponse

EXERCISE 08.06 Writing – Compare and contrast

1. What option would you choose: opening your own
restaurant or opening up a franchise? Why?
2. Think of an example of a small business that failed (you
may have examples in your own family or in your town) and
analyze the possible reasons for its failure.
Réponse
FINANCE / BONDS, STOCKS
AND SHARES
 9
The Stock Exchange
Stock markets are the best-known nancial markets and their main
purpose is to raise capital when a company goes public. e bond
market shares the same purpose but in this case the capital is raised as
a loan.
By far the largest market in the world is the foreign exchange (forex)
market because companies need currencies to pay their foreign bills,
central banks buy and sell currencies to manipulate the exchange rate
and governments resort to currencies to buy the bonds of other
countries.
Other markets include the money market, the commodity market and
the derivative market.
to list a company on the Stock Exchange • coter une société en Bourse
listed securities • titres cotés
over-the-counter (OTC) • hors cote
bearer securities • titres au porteur
convertible securities • titres convertibles
securitization • titrisation

a brokerage rm • société de courtage

a stockbroker • agent de change/ courtier en Bourse
a dealer (US) • opérateur en Bourse
a trader • opérateur/ courtier
a market maker • teneur de marché
to match supply and demand • accorder l’o re à la demande
to invest in securities • investir dans des titres
 to trade stocks • échanger des actions
block trades • transactions par bloc

e largest, oldest and best-known of the organized US stock markets

is the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), located at the corner of Wall
Street and Broad Street. e stocks traded on the Big Board include
the bluest of the blue chips of American industry.
a blue chip • valeur mobilière de premier ordre
to issue shares • émettre des actions
to quote shares • coter des actions
to apply for shares • souscrire des actions
a bonus share • action gratuite
equities/ ordinary shares • actions ordinaires
futures • contrats à terme/ échéances
warrant • droit de souscription préférentiel

call (option to buy) • option d’achat

put • option de vente
underwriting • garantie d’émission
market capitalization • capitalisation boursière
portfolio management • gestion de portefeuille

e London Stock Exchange is the primary stock exchange in the U.K.

and the largest in Europe. Originated in 1773, the regional exchanges
were merged in 1973 to form the Stock Exchange of Great Britain and
Ireland, later renamed the LSE. e Financial Times Stock Exchange
(FTSE) 100 Share Index, or “Footsie”, is the dominant index, containing
100 of the top blue chips on the LSE.
oor trading • opérations boursières à la corbeille
 leverage
Price/Earnings (P/E) ratio
settlement day/ account day
insider trading/ dealing
price-rigging
• e et de levier
• rapport coût-béné ce
• jour du terme/ de la liquidation
• délit d’initié
• agiotage

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON THE STOCK

EXCHANGE
EXERCISE 09.01
Fill in this crossword puzzle by nding the words matching
the de nitions.

Across
2. a strategy aimed at minimizing or even eliminating
investment risk.
4. share of a company’s pro t paid to the investor or
shareholder.
5. contracts made for deferred delivery in stock exchange
transactions.
7. the general term used for all types of stocks and shares.
Down
1.a shareholder’s pro t on capital invested.
3. a document acknowledging a loan to a company and
guaranteeing the payment of interests to the holder.
6. the British counterpart of the American dealer.

Réponse

EXERCISE 09.02

INDICES
Name Value +/– %+/– High Low Prev
Close

NASDAQ 6,760.29 –141.21 –2.05 6,889.07 6,756.54 6,901.50

100

Dow Jones- 25,520.96 – –2.54 26,061.79 25,490.66 26,186.71

IA 665.75

S&P 500 2,762.13 –59.85 –2.12 2,808.92 2,759.97 2,821.98

FTSE MIB 23,202.66 – –1.44 23,561.90 23,184.33 23,541.46

338.80

DAX30 12,785.16 – –1.68 12,954.59 12,782.07 13,003.90

218.74

CAC40 5,364.98 –89.56 –1.64 5,437.26 5,364.98 5,454.54

AEX 550.08 –6.78 –1.22 555.70 549.95 556.86

BEL20 4,053.59 –50.03 –1.22 4,096.67 4,052.30 4,103.62

PSI20 5,516.87 –90.01 –1.61 5,609.08 5,515.04 5,606.88

Nikkei 225 23,274.53 –211.58 –0.90 23,367.96 23,122.45 23,486.11

HANG SENG 32,601.78 –40.31 –0.12 32,778.51 32,321.42 32,642.09

INDEX

Athex 875.38 –11.06 –1.25 885.70 870.55 886.44

Composite

OSEBX 809.86 –8.29 –1.01 821.52 808.14 818.15

OBX 739.38 –7.01 –0.94 750.36 737.84 746.39

TecDAX 2,599.72 –39.78 –1.51 2,638.69 2,599.55 2,639.50

 STI 3,529.82 –17.41 –0.49 3,545.71 3,522.65 3,547.23

S&P/TSX 60 924.84 –14.36 –1.53 935.00 924.72 939.20

S&P/TSX 15,606.03 – –1.61 15,782.97 15,600.92 15,860.92

Composite 254.89
Index

OMX 1,584.79 –17.05 –1.06 1,602.02 1,581.04 1,601.84

Stockholm
30

OMX 969.28 –17.12 –1.74 993.64 969.28 986.40

Copenhagen
20

IBEX35 10,211.20 – –1.81 10,369.20 10,205.30 10,399.00

187.80

SMI 9,220.69 –70.23 –0.76 9,272.50 9,220.69 9,290.92

SLI 1,514.81 –13.52 –0.88 1,525.53 1,514.80 1,528.33

ASX All 6,229.80 +31.00 +0.50 6,229.80 6,186.90 6,198.80

Ords

www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/prices-and-
markets/international-markets/indices/home.html (on
February 3rd, 2018)

Here is an example of a chart extracted from the LSE in

February 2018. Before analyzing it more thoroughly, answer
the rst 2 questions.
1. Give a de nition of ‘an index’.
2. Find out more about indices and more particularly about
the rst 6 indices mentioned in the table (nationality,
meaning of the number following its name, etc.).
3. Now that you gathered more information about indices,
let’s focus on some of the data. What was the closing value
for each of the following indices?
a. S&P500
b. Nikkei 225
c. OMX Stockholm 30
d. CAC 40
4. Which index experienced the greatest change in value
compared with the previous day’s value?
5. Which of the following indices is furthest from its highest
value of the day?
a. NASDAQ 100
b. DAX30
c. BEL20
d. HANG SENG INDEX

Réponse

Tesla Stock is Soaring. It’s Controversial. And Soon, It

Could Be In Your Portfolio.
The most controversial stock on Wall Street could be
about to go mainstream.
Superfans and super-haters have long been waging a
nancial war over the future of Tesla, placing big bets on
whether CEO Elon Musk would transform the world or
crash and burn. (So far, the Tesla haters have lost a lot of
money in this battle.) The stock had a particularly wild
ride in the rst half of this year.
Now, if Tesla reports another quarterly pro t this week,
as is widely expected, the company will have cleared the
last big hurdle for entry into the S&P 500, the
enormously in uential index of 500 huge corporations.
And if the company gets added to the index, millions of
people with retirement savings — whether they love
Musk, hate him or have never heard of him — would have
a tiny stake in the future of Tesla.
— Soaring stock values
Musk runs SpaceX, which aims to colonize Mars, and
Tesla, which set out to save the Earth by making electric
vehicles cool and ubiquitous.
And while Musk has fallen short of some of his bold
promises, he’s realized many others. SpaceX has put
humans into orbit. Tesla became America’s bestselling
luxury car and jolted the entire auto industry into
electri cation.
Ever since it went public, Tesla has repeatedly
confounded many analysts who try to do a sober-
minded, Bu ett-esque assessment of the company’s
value. They crunch the numbers and nd that Tesla is
overvalued. And they watch as the stock keeps soaring
up and up.
Aswath Damodaran, a professor of nance at the Stern
School of Business at NYU, says Tesla is a story stock,
with its value driven by intangibles. “When the mood and
the momentum catches it, it doesn’t matter what the
news is, it doesn’t matter what the numbers are,” he says.
“The stock is either going to soar if the mood is right or
collapse if the mood is not there.”
And lots of people have been in the mood to invest in
Tesla. From mid-March to mid-July, the stock quadrupled.
The company is now worth more than Toyota, even
though Toyota sold 30 times more cars than Tesla did
last year.
To be clear, Tesla has been doing well. Production
numbers beat expectations, even despite the pandemic,
and Tesla vehicles are a hit. Damodaran has owned Tesla
stock before; he’s not a short-selling Tesla hater. But this
kind of stock surge, Damodaran says, is very di cult to
justify based on traditional nancial metrics. At some
point, though it’s impossible to say when, he says the
price will have to return to earth.
The Tesla bulls disagree. Cathie Woods, the CEO of ARK
Invest, predicts Tesla stock could go as high as $7,000.
She says other analysts are evaluating Tesla as an auto
company, while her team views it as an autonomous
driving, battery and arti cial intelligence company.
 — Expected inclusion in an exclusive club
Faith in Tesla’s future (and Elon Musk’s vision) has long
powered Tesla stock, but there’s a new wrinkle that could
be adding a bit of extra fuel. After it announces results
on Wednesday, Tesla is expected to meet every
requirement for entering the S&P 500 index. After that, it
could be added to the index at any time. Anticipation of
that event could be helping boost prices now.
Of course, most current Tesla investors aren’t banking on
the S&P to decide the future of Tesla’s value. It’s Elon
Musk they believe in.
Camilla Domonoske, news.wfsu.org (on July 20th, 2020)

EXERCISE 09.03 Understanding the main ideas

After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. What was to happen to Tesla in 2020?
2. What does it change for the company? Rephrase the
following sentence: “And if the company gets added to the
index, millions of people with retirement savings — whether
they love Musk, hate him or have never heard of him — would
have a tiny stake in the future of Tesla.”?
3. Elon Musk: what link is there between Space X and Tesla?
4. How has the value of Tesla been evolving? What is this
variation based on?
5. What does professor Aswath Damodaran think of that
evolution?
Réponse

EXERCISE 09.04 Going further

1. De ne S&P 500. Mention other similar indexes.
2. How is Tesla doing today: are doomsayers right or wrong?

Réponse
 10
Stocks and Shares
Stocks and shares (actions) can be described as certi cates
representing part ownership of a company with stockholders or
shareholders being the owners of the business they bought a share or
stock from.
e word “stock” in GB is also used to refer to securities, among which
government bonds.

NB
“Stocks” is the American word for “stocks and shares” in the UK. e
word “equities” is used to describe the same reality but inside the
industry itself.

a stockholder/ shareholder • actionnaire

a stakeholder • partie prenante
a trader • opérateur boursier
• agent de change/ courtier en
a (stock)broker/ dealer
Bourse
a brokerage rm/ stockbroking
• société de courtage en Bourse
rm

stock exchange • Bourse

a stock market • marché boursier
an index/ indices (pl.) • index/ indice
a stock (market) index • indice boursier
equity/ equities • capitaux propres
an equity market
bond and equity market
to list/ quote a company
a listed/ quoted company
listed/ quoted securities
to obtain full listing
to go public/ to become quoted
to make a otation/ oatation
to make an Initial Public O ering
(IPO)
a takeover bid
a hostile takeover bid
a combined friendly takeover
bid
a leveraged takeover
to launch a takeover bid on
a management buyout
a management-employee
buyout
a management buyback
a management buy-in
to underwrite a stock issue
scrip issue/capitalization
• marché d’actions
• marché des actions et des obligations
• inscrire/ coter une société en
Bourse
• société inscrite/ cotée en Bourse
• valeurs cotées
• être inscrit à la cote o cielle
• être coté en Bourse
• introduire en Bourse
• faire une introduction en Bourse
• o re publique d’achat (OPA)
• OPA hostile
• OPA amicale mixte
• rachat d’entreprise nancé par
endettement
• lancer une OPA sur
• rachat de l’entreprise par ses cadres
• rachat de l’entreprise par ses salaries
• rachat de ses propres actions par
l’entreprise
• rachat de l’entreprise par les cadres
extérieurs
• garantir une émission d’actions
• émissions d’actions gratuites
 issue/bonus issue
to issue shares • émettre des actions
ordinary/ common shares • actions ordinaires
• actions privilégiées/ à dividende
preference shares
prioritaire
a xed dividend • dividende xe
to have prior claim over • avoir un droit de priorité sur
pro tability • rentabilité
dividend yield • rendement d’une action
face value/ par value/ nominal
• valeur nominale
value

e spread is the di erence between the bid (buying) price and the
o er (selling) price of the stocks. is di erence makes up the pro t (or
mark-up) of traders in stocks.
a bid price/ buying price • prix o ert ou prix/ cours acheteur
an o er(ed) price/ selling price • prix de vente/ demandé
management charges/ fees • frais de gestion
to buy/ sell stocks at a pro t/ at • acheter/ vendre des actions à pro t/
a loss à perte
to charge a commission • faire payer une commission

˜ Categories of stocks and shares

– Blue chips (valeurs mobilières de premier ordre) are shares or stocks
of major industrial quoted companies with rst-class reputations for
quality, reliability, and the ability to operate pro tably in all
circumstances. e most popular index that follows United States blue
chips is the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
– Growth stocks are company stocks that tend to increase in capital
value rather than yield high income. A growth stock usually does not
pay a dividend, as the company would prefer to reinvest retained
earnings in capital projects.
– Income stocks are equity securities that pay regular, often steadily
increasing dividends, and o ers a high yield that may generate the
majority of overall returns. Most income stocks have lower levels of
volatility than the overall stock market, and o er higher-than-market
dividend yields.
– Defensive stocks are stocks that provide a constant dividend and
stable earnings regardless of the state of the overall stock market.
Because of the constant demand for their products, defensive stocks
tend to remain stable during the various phases of the business cycle.
During recessions, defensive stocks tend to perform better than the
market. However, during an expansion phase, they tend to perform
below the market.
– Value stocks trade at a price below where it appears it should be
based on its nancial status and technical trading indicators. It may
have high dividend payout ratios or low nancial ratios such as price-
to-book or price-to-earnings ratios. e stock price may also have
dropped due to public perception regarding factors that have little to
do with the company’s current operations. For example, the stock price
of a well-run, nancially sound company may drop substantially for a
short time period if the company CEO becomes embroiled in a serious
personal scandal. Smart investors know that this is a good time to buy
the stock, as the public will soon forget about the incident and the
price will most likely revert to its previous level.

The animal farm: did you know?

Financial experts use animal names to describe investors and markets.
 •  Bulls are investors/ speculators who optimistically buy securities
expecting share prices to rise, when he will immediately sell them.
• Bears are investors/ speculators who expect them to fall.
• Stags are investors who buy new share issues hoping that demand will
exceed the number of stocks available, so the successful buyers can
immediately sell their stocks at a pro t.

bear • baissier
a bear market • marché à la/ en baisse
a bearish market • marché baissier
to bear the market • faire baisser les cours en Bourse
a bear sale • vente à découvert
to sell short • vendre à découvert
future delivery • livraison à terme
bull • haussier
a bull market • marché en hausse
a bullish market • marché orienté à la hausse
settlement day • jour de règlement

Share prices depend on a number of factors such as:

– the nancial situation of the company,
– the situation of the industry in which the company operates,
– the state of the economy in general,
– the predictions/ forecasts and beliefs of (potential) investors.
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON STOCKS AND
SHARES
EXERCISE 10.01 Collocations
Match the words with their de nitions.
˜ to go public, due diligence, a prospectus,
otation/ oatation
1. a detailed examination of a company and its nancial
situation.
2. to change from a private company to a public limited
company (PLC) by selling shares to outside investors for the
rst time.
3. an o er of a company’s shares to investors, be they
nancial institutions or the general public.
4. a document inviting the public to buy shares, stating the
terms of sale and giving information about the company.
Réponse

EXERCISE 10.02 Collocations

Match the words to make up phrases and use the right
combinations to complete the sentences.
˜ o er, go, produce, underwrite, an issue, a prospectus,
public, shares
After two very successful years, the company is considering
and will 50,000 for sale.
Our experts have a highly appealing and
although a leading investment bank is the ,
we’re pretty con dent they won’t have to buy any of them.

EXERCISE 10.03 Acronyms

What do the following acronyms stand for?
˜ NASDAQ, NYSE, LSE, AIM, DJIA, IPO
Réponse

EXERCISE 10.04
In the following conversation Paul explains to Maria how the
stock market works. Try to ll in the blanks.
Maria: ‘I’m a little worried about investing in the stock market.
It isn’t doing well at the moment. Do you think I’ll lose money
if I buy s at the moment?’
Paul: ‘You’re right. The overall or average value of stocks and
shares is falling at the moment. People who work in the stock
market call this a b m , when overall share
prices are falling. When overall share prices are increasing,
they call it a b m .’
Maria: ‘How do I know how the stock market uctuates?’
Paul: ‘People who buy and sell stocks and shares look at s
i to see how well the stock market in
general is performing. A share i measures the
average performance of the share prices of a group of
di erent companies and will tell if the average share price of
all the companies in that group is increasing or decreasing.
For example the D J 30 index measures the
average combined performance of the share prices of the 30
largest public limited companies in America. In the last 6
months, the value of the Dow Jones 30 index has fallen from
15,270 to 11,153. But share indices only measure the a
performance: although the majority of companies’ share
prices are falling, there will be some companies whose share
prices are actually increasing. So even in a bear market where
average share prices are falling, if you buy shares in the right
company, you can still make money.’
Maria: ‘What happens if I buy shares in a company and it f
for b ?’
Paul: ‘Once a company g into l , all trading
(buying and selling) of its shares is stopped/suspended on
the s e . If the company has to close down,
then you’ll probably lose all the money you spent on the
company’s shares.’
Maria: ‘So I need to do some research on companies before I
decide which shares to buy. With the stock market
performing so badly at the moment, it seems like a big risk to
i money in stocks and shares.’
Paul: ‘Choose shares in companies which are stable and your
s p , which means what shares or stock you
own, should be a mixture of shares from di erent companies
in various industries. This will s your risk, so you
won’t lose all your money if one of the companies you have
shares in goes bankrupt. Also, after you have bought shares in
a company, you should decide at what price you will sell or
unload the shares if their price changes. This is called an e
p .’

– WRITING EXERCISES ON STOCKS AND SHARES

EXERCISE 10.05 Assessing the worth of a stock
˜ What factors do investors take into account when
assessing which stocks to buy?
Réponse

EXERCISE 10.06 Predicting share price changes

There are di erent theories about whether share price
changes can be predicted: the random walk hypothesis, the
e cient market hypothesis, the technical analysis and the
fundamental analysis. Are the following statements
concerning these theories true or false? Justify.
a. Fundamental analysts think that stock prices depend on
psychological factors rather than pure economic data.
b. Fundamental analysts say that the true value of a stock is
all in the income it will bring an investor in the future,
measured at today’s money values.
c. Investors can protect themselves against unknown,
unsystematic risks by having a broad collection of di erent
investments.
d. Unsystematic risks can a ect an investor’s entire portfolio.

Réponse
 11
Bonds
Bonds are securities issued by local and national governments or
businesses in exchange for a loan to be repaid. ey are usually
considered as a risk-free investment. Bondholders (= the investors on
this market) generally get xed interest payments once or twice a year
and get the principal back on a maturity date previously agreed upon.
e bond market is thus used to raise capital.
bonds • obligations/ bons (du trésor)
a security • titre
stocks and bonds • actions et obligations
government bonds • bons du trésor
corporate bonds • obligations (de société)
junk bonds • obligations à haut risque
to issue bonds • émettre des obligations/ bons
the issuer • l’émetteur
a bondholder • obligataire/ porteur d’obligations
a bearer bond • obligation au porteur
a registered bond • obligation nominative

debenture • obligation
shares • parts/ actions
convertible shares (UK)/ bonds (US) • obligations convertibles
stocks • actions/ options
speculative stocks • actions spéculatives
 loan on stocks • emprunt sur titres

In Britain, government bonds are known as gilt-edged stock or gilts.

In the US, they are called Treasury notes (maturity between 2 and 10
years) or Treasury bonds (maturity between 10 and 30 years).
Treasury bills on the other hand don’t have the exact same function.
to raise funds • lever des fonds
a xed interest payment • paiement d’intérêts xe
to set an interest rate • xer un taux d’intérêt
a deferred bond • obligation di érée
an equity bond • obligation participative
principal and interest • capital et intérêt
face value/ par value • valeur nominale
maturity date • date d’échéance/ de maturité

Credit rating is an assessment of the creditworthiness (=solvency) of

a borrower in general terms or with respect to a particular debt or
nancial obligation. A credit rating can be requested by any entity that
wants to borrow money: an individual, corporation, state or provincial
authority, or sovereign government.
Credit assessment for companies and governments is generally done
by a credit rating agency such as Standard & Poor’s (S&P), Moody’s,
or Fitch. ese rating agencies are paid by the entity that is seeking a
credit rating for itself or for one of its debt issues.
Each agency gives countries around the world a speci c credit rating
score. ese range from a top mark of “AAA”, which stands for “prime”,
down to the lowest reading of “D”, which stands for “in default”. In
between there are scores such as “BBB” or “CC”. Moody’s has a total of
21 ratings.
 e agencies also give outlook-assessments. ese are either “positive”,
“stable”, or “negative”. ey indicate whether the agency in question
thinks it may soon raise its rating (positive), downgrade it (negative),
or leave it the same (stable) for the country in question.
www.bbc.com/news/business-36629099
a creditor • créancier
a debtor • débiteur
creditworthiness/ solvency • solvabilité
to go bankrupt/ to go under • faire faillite
to le for bankruptcy • déposer le bilan
to be in default/ to become
• être en cessation de paiement
insolvent
• ne pas (pouvoir) s’acquitter d’une
to default on a debt
dette
to borrow money from sb at • emprunter de l’argent à qqn à un taux
a high rate d’intérêt élevé

current yield • taux de rendement courant

dividend yield • rendement d’une action
bond yield • rendement de l’obligation
benchmark yield • taux de référence

A yield curve (which can also be known as the term structure of

interest rates) represents the relationship between market
remuneration (interest) rates and the remaining time to maturity of
debt securities. e information content of a yield curve re ects the
asset pricing process on nancial markets. A bond yield is the amount
of return an investor realizes on a bond. Several types of bond yields
exist, including nominal yield which is the interest paid divided by the
face value of the bond, and current yield which equals annual earnings
of the bond divided by its current market price.
to quote a price for sthg • donner/ xer un prix pour qqch
to quote a bid • a cher un prix acheteur
stock quote • cours de la Bourse
a quote currency • devise de cotation
market quote • cotation au cours du marché

leveraged buyout (LBO) • rachat d’entreprise avec e et de levier

to take over a company • racheter une entreprise
to issue debt • émettre de la dette
senior debt • dette de premier rang
junior debt • dette de deuxième rang
mezzanine nance • nancement mezzanine/ intermédiaire
to service one’s debt • payer les intérêts d’un emprunt

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON BONDS

EXERCISE 11.01 MCQ
Make sure you have the information to answer the following
questions properly.
1. Which is the safest for an investor? Why?
a. a corporate bond
b. a junk bond
c. a government bond
2. Which is the cheapest way for a company to raise money?
a. a bank loan
b. an ordinary bond
c. a convertible
3. Which gives the highest potential return to an investor?
a. corporate bond
 b. a junk bond
c. a government bond
4. Which is the most pro table for an investor if interest rates
rise?
a. a treasury bond
b. a oating-rate bond
c. a treasury note

Réponse

EXERCISE 11.02 Back to basics

Make sure you make a clear distinction between the
following groups of words.
1. Treasury bonds, Treasury bills and Treasury notes.
2. A bond and a debenture.
3. A bearer bond vs a registered bond.

Réponse

EXERCISE 11.03 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the following sentences with the right preposition or
particle. Translate into French.
1. Some recent empirical evidence also suggests that
sovereigns have defaulted di erentially debt held by
domestic and external creditors.
2. Unlike chartered banks, near banks cannot change their
basic money supply, that is, they cannot borrow money
or lend money the Bank of Canada to
make new deposits or new loans.
3. In fact it is commonly accepted that the collateral taker has
a right a commission in exchange the loan
it has granted.
4. Credit rating scores can range a top mark of
“AAA” down the lowest reading of “D”.
5. When I receive a formal reply saying that the rules are
being complied , I have to take it face value
unless there is evidence to the contrary.

– WRITING EXERCISE ON BONDS

EXERCISE 11.04
Answer the following questions.
1. Why would a company issue bonds? Isn’t it much cheaper
to raise money through equity nancing since they don’t
have to worry about paying interest and relaying the
principal amount back to the bond holders?
2. In the news you can nd headlines like the following. What
do they actually mean and indicate in terms of economic
health?
a. Cash Squeeze Inverts India’s Corporate Bond Yield Curve
Bloomberg 22/01/18
b. Yield curve steepens ahead of Trump’s State of the Union
speech
MarketWatch 30/01/18
c. TREASURIES-Borrowing plan, Fed signal on rate hikes
attens U.S. yield curve
Reuters 31/01/18
Réponse
 12
Hedge Funds
Hedge funds are private investment funds for wealthy investors, run
by partners who have made large personal investments in the fund.
ey pool their money and trade in securities and derivatives to get
returns as high as possible regardless of the uctuations of the
markets. Because they are private, they are not as regulated as, say,
mutual funds.
to pool money • mutualiser des fonds
to mitigate risks • atténuer/ limiter les risques
to place money with hedge • placer de l’argent dans des fonds
funds spéculatifs
to pull out of hedge funds • se retirer de fonds spéculatifs
to hedge against futures • se protéger face à des évolutions à
changes venir
to hedge an investor • couvrir un investisseur
hedging • couverture/ arbitrage
a mutual fund • fonds commun de placement
• gestionnaire de fonds de pension/
a hedge-fund manager
spéculatif
a portfolio manager • gérant de portefeuille

• retours sur investissement/

returns
rendements
to earn a high/ low return
• percevoir un haut/ bas rendement
from
to aim for high returns • viser un rendement élevé
to make short-term pro t • faire du béné ce/ pro t à court terme
to su er a loss • subir des pertes
to speculate on sthg • spéculer sur
speculation • spéculation

gearing • taux d’endettement

to leverage
to take a long position
to take a short position
arbitrage/ arbitraging
an arbitrageur/ arbitrager
• acheter avec un emprunt à e et de levier
• opter pour une position longue
• opter pour une position courte
• arbitrage
• arbitragiste

a security/ securities • titre(s)

bearer security • titre au porteur
derivatives • dérivés/ sous-jacents
forward/ forward contract • contrat à terme
a swap contract • contrat d’échange
buying forward/ forward
• achat à terme
buying
selling forward • vendre à terme
• opérations/ livraisons/ cotations à
futures
terme
options • options (négociables)
warrant/ share warrant • warrant/ bon de souscription

spot/ current price • prix enlevé/ du disponible

spot market • marché au comptant/ du disponible
spot delivery • livraison immédiate
 to specialize in (equities) • se spécialiser en capitaux
bond yields • rendements des obligations
private equity • capitaux propres
tax haven • paradis scal
equity benchmark • indice de référence
the highs and lows / the peaks and • les hauts et les bas/ les pics et
troughs les creux

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON HEDGE FUNDS

EXERCISE 12.01 True or false?
˜ Are the following statements concerning hedge funds
true or false? Justify your answers.
1. Hedge funds are so named because they protect against
losses.
2. Hedge funds use their investors’ money as well as
borrowed money.
3. Hedge funds focus on making long-term investments.
4. The fact that investors can make a pro t from arbitrage
shows that markets are not perfectly e cient.
Réponse

EXERCISE 12.02
Use your vocabulary and try to translate the following
sentences into English.
1. Lorsque les transactions nancières sont trop
déconnectées des réalités économiques, avec par exemple la
création de sous-jacents tels que les bons de souscription ou
les contrats d’échange, une bulle spéculative risque de se
créer.
2. L’argent spéculatif se déplace au rythme de l’information
politique et économique mondiale.
3. Les directeurs nanciers suivent les variations du marché
des devises pour protéger les contrats des entreprises plus
que par goût de la spéculation.
4. Je sais que ce placement fait mieux que le marché, mais
quel est son rendement exact ?
Réponse

EXERCISE 12.03 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the blanks with the right particle or preposition.
1. During the past two years the Government, with
Parliament’s approval, has placed $3.65 billion of public
money the private sector to achieve certain
objectives.
2. The company’s plan fell through earlier this year when
underwriter Sun Hung Kai International pulled
the deal.
3. New sources of capital will incentivize investment by
providing a means to hedge risk, thereby reducing
industry volatility.
4. Some seek to maximize performance by assuming high
levels of risk, while others aim more modest, stable
returns with lower volatility.

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON HEDGE

FUNDS

Activist Hedge Funds: Good for Some, Bad for Others?

When we hear the word “activist”, we conjure up images
of Greta Thunberg standing in Trafalgar Square speaking
out about climate change, or anti-war protestors in Paris
venting into megaphones. While we typically think of
activists as those ghting to advance environmental or
social causes, in this sense, the term “activist hedge
fund” is something of a misnomer. Activist hedge funds
are investors that purchase shares of companies to
become active in a di erent way: they shake
management with an aim to make the voice of
shareholders heard more loudly. But, as activist hedge
funds voice their concerns, we must ask: what are the
long term nancial and non- nancial consequences?
A hedge fund is a limited partnership of private investors
whose money is managed by a team of professional fund
managers. Many hedge funds are passive in the sense
that they invest in businesses and then wait for returns to
arise over a given time period. In contrast to these more
passive funds, activist hedge funds aim to invest in
businesses and then take actions that boost the
companies’ stock price before selling the shares for a
pro t soon afterwards. Among other demands, they do
this by demanding that companies cut costs, scale back
investments, restructure assets and redistribute cash to
shareholders. While alone they don’t have the power to
make these changes, activist hedge funds can have their
demands met by calling upon other shareholders to
support their demands. Activist hedge funds’ strategies
are sometimes described as aggressive and destabilizing
by minority owners and management.
Indeed, some question the long-term e ects of activism
on the sustainability of targeted companies. Does hedge
fund activism redress sleepy management and refocus
their attention on shareholders’ interests or does it
hollow out the targeted companies?
Since mid-2010, many European companies have been
targeted by activist hedge funds, including Unilever,
Danone, Pernod-Ricard, among others. Plenty of research
has shown that a company’s stock price tends to increase
immediately after being targeted by an activist hedge
fund, but research has been lacking into the long-term
consequences.
In both our sample and in prior research, after being
targeted by an activist hedge fund, companies
 experience an immediate rise in their value. Our research
nds a 7.7% uptick in company value in the year following
targeting. However, this rise is short lived as it turns
negative. In the years that follow, the value of the
companies targeted by activist hedge funds steadily
drops, falling 4.9% four years after targeting and
continuing downwards ve years after targeting. Overall,
when comparing the total value generated over ve
years, shareholders of targeted companies bene t from
hedge fund activism in the short term but seem at a
disadvantage in the later years.
Two years after being targeted by an activist hedge fund,
companies see their corporate social performance fall by
18% on average. By year ve, this number becomes 25%.
This compares unfavourably to the matched sample of
companies that were not targeted by activist hedge
funds, where corporate social responsibility e orts
steadily rose. The results suggest that as soon as an
activist hedge fund takes ownership of a company’s
shares, the company is likely to rmly place on hold their
e orts to be more environmentally sustainable and
socially responsible while the non-targeted rms keep
improving–which explains the striking di erence.
Corroborating our quantitative results, several activist
hedge fund managers we spoke to viewed corporate
social responsibility e orts as potentially wasteful. One
activist hedge fund manager warned, “Of course I would
be glad to be ESG [environmental-social-governance]
conscious and responsible, but if that means I’m going to
underperform, I’m not going to do it.”
www.hec.edu (on February, 2020)

EXERCISE 12.04 Understanding the main ideas

After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. Do activist hedge funds have anything to do with activism?
2. What distinguishes a regular hedge fund from an activist
hedge fund?
3. What are the consequences of activist hedge funds on a
company?
Réponse
 13
Analyzing Trends
˜ Rising trends
rise/ increase/ climb/ jump • augmentation
to rise/ to increase/ to go up/ to climb/ to
• augmenter
leap
to pick up • se redresser
• monter en èche/
to skyrocket/ to soar
amber

verb example
soar Oil prices soared in November…
(sky)rocket … and skyrocketed an all-time high of $105.
leap is gure leapt to 80,000 by the end of the period.
climb e number of dishwashers sold in 2018 climbed steadily.
surge It then surged to reach a peak of 60,000 units.

NB
– “Soar “and “skyrocket” are both very strong words that describe large
rises. “Rocket” is more sudden. You probably do not need to qualify these
verbs with adverbs.
– “Leap” shows a large and sudden rise. Again, you probably do not need
to qualify it with an adverb.
– “Climb” is a relatively neutral verb that can be used with the adverbs
below.
˜ Falling trends
a fall/ drop/ decrease/ dip • baisse
to fall/ to drop/ to decrease/ to decline • chuter
to collapse/ to plummet/ to nosedive • s’e ondrer

verb example
plummet e proportion plummeted to reach an all-time low of 20%.
sink After that the number of units sold sank to 20.
drop is amount dropped to 15% in the second quarter.
dip e number of doctors in rural areas dipped in the last decade.

NB
– “To plummet” is the strongest word here. It means to fall very quickly
and a long way.
– “To drop” and “to dip” are normally used for fairly small decreases.

˜ Stability and uctuations

to stagnate/ remain stable • stagner
to hold steady • rester stable
to level out/ o • atteindre un palier/ se stabiliser
to reach a peak/ to peak/ to climax • atteindre un pic
to reach a trough • atteindre un creux
to uctuate • uctuer
to be level with • se situer au même niveau que

˜ Adjectives and adverbs

 • progressif/
gradual/ gradually
progressivement
sharp/ sharply • brutal/ brutalement
steep/ steeply • en èche
slight/ slightly • léger/ légèrement
marginal/ marginally • à la marge
regular/ regularly or steady/ steadily • régulier/ régulièrement
considerable= substantial/ considerably= • considérable/
substantially considérablement
• spectaculaire/
dramatic/ dramatically
spectaculairement
approximately/ roughly • environ/ grosso modo

adjective example adverb example

Strong variation
spectacular a spectacular fall spectacularly fell spectacularly
signi cant a signi cant rise signi cantly rose signi cantly
sudden a sudden fall suddenly fell suddenly
Small fluctuation
modest a modest increase modestly increased modestly
slight a slight rise slightly rose slightly
marginal a marginal fall marginally fell marginally

˜ Prepositions and particles

to rise/ fall by • augmenter/ diminuer de
to rise/fall from… to… • augmenter/ diminuer de… à
to rise/ fall to • augmenter/ diminuer jusqu’à
 to stand at • se monter à
a rise/ fall in the number of • une augmentation/ chute du nombre
to uctuate between… and… • uctuer entre… et…
until 2018 • jusqu’en 2018

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON ANALYZING

TRENDS
EXERCISE 13.01 Describing graphs and statistics –
Rising trends
Fill in all the gaps, with the following words.
˜ climb, modest, overall, rocketed, steadily upwards

It is noteworthy that the trend for the rst six

months of the year was .
After a increase of 10 units sold in February, this
gure to approximately 125 in March, and then
continued to until it reached nearly 200 by the end
of June.

EXERCISE 13.02 Describing graphs and statistics –

Falling trends
Fill in all the gaps.
˜ downwards, dropped, slightly, slipping, spectacular
After starting the period at almost 150 units, sales to
around 130 in August. They then rose to 135 in
September before back to 130 in October, a
trend that continued in November. The period ended
with a fall to 60 units sold.

EXERCISE 13.03 Describing graphs and statistics –

Adjectives and Adverbs
Fill in all the gaps.
˜ marginal, marginally, overall, steadily, steady, substantial
New recruits

1. It is obvious that the trend is that considerably

more women than men were recruited in this period.
2. The number of female recruits rose between 2012
and 2015, despite a dip in 2013.
3. There was a very increase in the number of men
employed in 2016.
4. There was a rise in the number of females hired
between 2012 and 2015, notwithstanding the fact that this
number fell in 2013.

– TRAINING EXERCISE ON ANALYZING TRENDS

EXERCISE 13.04
Analyze the following graph line using the vocabulary you
learnt from that unit.

Réponse
FINANCE / DERIVATIVES
 14
Derivatives
Financial instruments are monetary contracts between parties. ey
can be created, traded, modi ed and settled. ey can be cash
(currency), evidence of an ownership interest in an entity (share), or a
contractual right to receive or deliver cash (bond).
International Accounting Standards (IAS 32 and 39) de ne a nancial
instrument as “any contract that gives rise to a nancial asset of one
entity and a nancial liability or equity instrument of another entity”.
a derivative • dérivé/ sous-jacent
a security • garantie/ titre
forward/ forward contract • contrat à terme
a swap contract • contrat d’échange
buying forward/ forward
• achat à terme
buying
selling forward • vendre à terme
a forward contract • contrat à terme
• opérations/ livraisons/ cotations à
futures
terme
forward/ futures market • marché à terme
traded options • options (négociables)
an option premium • prix de l’option/ prime
warrant/ share warrant • warrant/ bon de souscription

Derivatives may be described as secondary nancial products traded

on the markets whose value is derived from the value of another
 nancial product such as a stock, a stock market index, etc. e main
kinds of derivatives are options or swaps.
to securitize a risk • titriser un risque
to manage a risk • gérer un risque
to minimize a risk • minimiser un risque
risky lending • prêt à risque
to protect against
• protéger des uctuations
uctuations
to hedge against falls in • couvrir les risques liés à une baisse des
prices prix
• couvrir/ mettre à couvert un
to hedge an investor
investisseur

a mortgage • prêt immobilier

sub-prime debt • dette hypothécaire à risque
a subprime mortgage • prêt immobilier à risque
to speculate on the stock market • spéculer en Bourse
bear speculation • spéculation à la baisse
bull speculation • spéculation à la hausse

An in-the-money (ITM) option has positive intrinsic value as well as

time value. A call option is in the money when the strike price is below
the spot price. A put option is in the money when the strike price is
above the spot price.
Out of the money (OTM) is a term used to describe a call option with
a strike price that is higher than the market price of the underlying
asset, or a put option with a strike price that is lower than the market
price of the underlying asset.
With an at-the-money (ATM) option the strike and spot price are
equal and so no advantage can be gained.
 a call option
a put option
a put and call/ double option
to write/ sell options contracts
to exercise the option
a strike price/ exercise price
• option d’achat
• option de vente
• option de vente et d’achat/ stellage
• vendre des contrats d’option
• exercer/ lever l’option
• prix d’exercice/ de liquidation

Spread betting is a type of speculation that involves taking a bet (un

pari) on the price movement of a security. A spread betting company
quotes two prices, the bid and o er price (also called the spread), and
investors bet whether the price of the underlying stock will be lower
than the bid or higher than the o er. e investor does not own the
underlying stock in spread betting, they simply speculate on the price
movement of the stock.
Spread betting and CFD trading are margined products and can
provide similar economic bene ts to investments in shares, indices,
commodities and currencies. A form of nancial derivatives trading,
spread betting is popular with UK residents because pro ts are
exempt from capital gains tax and stamp duty (droit de timbre).
settlement of bargains • règlement des transactions
account day/ settlement day • jour du terme/ de liquidation
backwardation/
• déport
backwardization
spot/ current price • prix enlevé/ du disponible
• marché au comptant/ du
spot market
disponible
spot delivery • livraison immédiate

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON DERIVATIVES

EXERCISE 14.01 MCQ
What would you do? Choose the best option(s).
1. If you expect the price of a stock to rise you can
a. buy a call option
b. sell a call option
c. buy a put option
d. sell a put option
2. If you expect the price of a stock to fall, you can
a. buy a call option
b. sell a call option
c. buy a put option
d. sell a put option
3. If an option is out-of-the-money it will
a. be exercised
b. not be exercised
4. If an option is in-the-money the seller will
a. lose money
b. gain money
5. The higher risk is taken by
a. writers of options
b. buyers of options

Réponse

EXERCISE 14.02 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the following blanks with the right preposition or
particle.
1. The traditional mechanism used to hedge
uncertainty regarding the trend of prices in the future is
recourse to nancial markets which o er a whole range of
instruments (futures, options, etc.)
2. I have speculated the stock market and lost all the
money I am going to receive my pension during the
next six months!
3. Under the law, 50 % of reinvested pro ts are exempt
tax.
4. Indeed, the market o ers no visibility, and with the
continuing nancial crisis, treasurers cannot take a bet
liquidity.
5. It ensures that the bene ts from investments
public education and health, for example, are made.

EXERCISE 14.03
Match the various nancial instruments with their
de nitions.
˜ options, swaps, forwards, futures
1. Exchange organized contracts which determine the size,
delivery time and price of a commodity. They can easily be
traded because they are standardized by an exchange. Per
commodity traded there are di erent aspects speci ed in
these contracts. Thanks to the standardization of these
contracts commodities can easily be traded and give
manufacturers access to large amounts of raw materials.
They can buy their materials on the exchange and don’t need
to worry about the producer or take on contracts with
multiple suppliers.
2. These contracts are very similar to futures as they are
contracts which give access to a commodity at a determined
price and time somewhere in the future. This type of contract
distinguishes itself from a future that it is traded between
two parties directly without using an exchange. The absence
of exchange results in negotiable terms regarding delivery,
size and the price of the contract. These contracts are usually
executed at maturity because they are mostly used as
insurance against adverse price movement and actual
delivery of the commodity takes place.
3. An agreement between two parties to exchange cash ows
at a determined date. Typically, one party agrees to pay a
xed rate while the other party pays a oating rate.
4. These are a form of derivatives, which gives holders the
right, but not the obligation to buy or sell an underlying asset
at a pre-determined price, somewhere in the future. When
you take an option to buy an asset it is called a ‘call’ and
when you obtain the right to sell an asset it is called a ‘put’.
To determine whether it is pro table to exercise an option,
the current market price (spot price) and the price in the
option (strike price) need to be compared.
Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON DERIVATIVES

Brexit and derivatives

— Standing novations
Brexit will give the derivatives market a nasty headache.
For all the talks of banks deserting London as Britain’s
departure from the EU looms, relatively little attention
has been paid to the derivatives market. Yet this is a
crucial area of business for British-based banks. The City
handles a big chunk of the market, including 39% of the
market in interest-rate derivatives alone, where global
daily turnover averages $3trn. The rest of the EU
accounts for just 9%. Brexit seems sure to cause
signi cant disruption. Mark Carney, the governor of the
Bank of England, recently warned that the very “legal
validity” of pre-existing derivatives contracts could be
put into question.
Brexit-related discussion of derivatives has tended to
focus on the role of clearing-houses, which ensure that a
contract can be honoured even if one side goes bust.
Since the nancial crisis, most countries have made it
mandatory to clear derivatives trades. LCH, a clearing-
house in London, clears over 50% of interest-rate swaps
across all currencies; London houses clear 75% of swaps
in euros and 97% of those in dollars. The EU has mooted
the idea of forcing euro-dominated derivatives to be
cleared within the EU, to ensure the eurozone’s nancial
stability. There is an obvious commercial incentive, too.
On October 9th, Eurex, LCH’s largest continental
competitor, based in Frankfurt, announced that it would
allow banks to share in the pro ts from clearing. This
brings its structure closer to LCH’s, in the hope banks will
shift business away from it to Eurex.
Yet about a quarter of derivatives contracts are not
cleared  –  often because they predated the new rules.
Such contracts are a worry. A “hard” Brexit, which more
and more rms and even regulators feel they have to
prepare for, implies a loss of the “passporting” rights that
allow nancial rms to do business across the EU. British-
based banks would no longer automatically be licensed
in the EU. They would lose the right to sign new
derivatives contracts with European counterparties. And
the status of their existing contracts would be thrown
into doubt.
To be clear, not even the hardest of Brexits would void
contracts at once. But derivatives contracts and
portfolios are often adjusted. One method is
“compression”, where some (or all) o setting contracts
are terminated and replaced with an equivalent
derivative. Another is “novation”, where an existing
contract is transferred to a di erent legal entity. Under
the rules in 6 large EU member states analysed by the
International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), a
global trade body, novations and compressions would be
considered regulated activities. Without a “passport” or
an equivalence decision, these options would no longer
be open to British counterparties. Unable to readjust
their “legacy” portfolios left in London, EU rms would
struggle to manage the risks.
Another option would be for banks to transfer all their
pre-existing contracts to a legal entity within the EU. But
 Deepak Sitlani of Linklaters, a law rm says such a step
would lose their “grandfathered” status. They would
suddenly be subject to the clearing requirements, as well
as new ones governing collateral. Besides being a short-
term shock, this would raise costs in the long term.
The sheer logistical hurdles should not be
underestimated, either. As Peter Werner of ISDA points
out, novation requires the consent of all counterparties
on any given contract. This could prove a nightmare: the
Bank of England reckons tens of thousands of rms
could be a ected. And each contract must be rewritten:
Allen & Overy, another law rm, has over the past few
months been building an automated system to help in
this mammoth task.
A simple solution that would avoid all these
complications, notes a senior British o cial would be a
law, passed in Britain and in the rest of the EU, to
grandfather pre-existing contracts. If broad enough it
could encompass other sorts of contracts too, such as
those in insurance, which face similar problems.
Alternatively, all these issues could be incorporated in the
Brexit agreement. However, the chances of that seem
even slimmer. In the huge pile of outstanding issues the
Brexit negotiations have to wade through, the fate of the
derivatives markets is probably not near the top.
From The Economist (on October 14th, 2017)

EXERCISE 14.04

General understanding
1.Sum up brie y what is at stake here.
2. Who’s who? Find the answer in the text.
Mark Carney, LCH, Eurex, ISDA, Linklaters, Allen & Overy

Detailed Understanding
3. Fill in the table and say what the gures correspond to:
 39%

$3trn

9%

50%

4. What’s a clearing house?

5. De ne the notion of “passporting” rights.
6. What’s the di erence between “compression” and
“novation”?
7. Can you now explain the pun in the subtitle: “Standing
novations”?
Réponse

EXERCISE 14.05 Vocabulary from the text –

Prepositions and particles
Fill in with the right preposition or particle and translate the
sentences into French.
1. We therefore need to pay more attention the
quality of public nances without compromising long-term
stability and sustainability.
2. These factors combined accounted approximately
$332 million of additional revenues.
3. The discrepancies identi ed seriously put
question the reliability of the accounts.
4. French monetary policy has focused exchange
rate and price stability within the framework of the ERM.
5. It has been rightly pointed that corruption cannot
thrive in a pluralistic and democratic society.
6. There is a growing shift manual work
requiring little education to expert (knowledge) work
requiring special training.

EXERCISE 14.06 Vocabulary from the text – Business

metaphors, similes and idioms
Match them with their meaning and then ll in the sentences
with the right idiom.

˜ a. at a premium,
no picnic,
˜ b. to jump through
to go through a lot of
hoops,
di cult work for sthg,
˜ c. to pour one’s money to waste money,
down the drain, to start doing something too
˜ d. to jump the gun, soon,
˜ e. to drum up business, very di cult to nd,
˜ f. to bite the bullet, to make a di cult or painful
decision,
˜ g. a mammoth task,
to nd new customers,
˜ h. to look for a needle
to be very successful,
in a haystack,
at a high price
˜ i. to sell like hot cakes
1. Allen & Overy has been building an automated system to
help in this .
2. Trying to nd a J. Smith in England is like .
3. When you design a new product that is very successful you
may expect that it will .
4. Investing in their stock at this moment is like .
5. The company by releasing a new product before
the results of the consumer testing were in.
6. When at-screen televisions rst came out, they were
selling .
7. We had to to get our visas to Russia, but we nally
got them.
8. Sales have been very slow lately. Do you have any ideas for
?
9. When demand was down, U.S. automakers had to
and cut jobs.

EXERCISE 14.07 Vocabulary from the text – Synonyms

Find in the text a synonym for the following words.
to go bankrupt/ to go under; obligatory/ compulsory; to
discuss; a guarantee; to include/ contain
Réponse
FINANCE / ACCOUNTING
AND FINANCIAL
STATEMENTS
 15
Accounting and Accountancy
Accounting involves recording and summarizing an organization’s
transactions or business deals, such as purchases and sales, and
reporting them in the form of nancial statements. In many countries,
the accounting or accountancy profession has professional
organizations which operate their own training and examination
systems, and make ethical rules: these relate to accepted ways of doing
things. In France for instance they include: l’Ordre des experts
comptables, la Compagnie nationale des commissaires aux comptes.
Bookkeeping is the day to day recording of transactions such as sales,
purchases, debts, expenses, etc. Double-entry bookkeeping is a
system that records two aspects of every transaction: every
transaction is both a debit in one account and a corresponding credit
in another.
accounting/ accountancy • la comptabilité
accounting books • livres comptables
accounting system • plan comptable
bookkeeper • aide-comptable
• tenue des comptes/
bookkeeping
registres comptables
• comptabilité en partie
double entry bookkeeping
double
certi ed public accountant (US)/
• expert-comptable
chartered accountant (UK)
book value • valeur comptable
to cook the books • truquer les comptes
 management accounting • comptabilité de gestion
a debtor • débiteur
a creditor • créancier

Financial accounting includes bookkeeping, and focuses on providing

reports for both internal users like the board of management and
shareholders or creditors and external users such as the tax o ce.
Whereas French accounting was initially geared to administrative and
scal requirements, Anglo-Saxon accounting mainly aims at informing
shareholders and investors about the economic situation of the rm.
Management accounting involves the use of accounting data by
managers to make plans and decisions.
day books/ journals • journaux comptables
to record a transaction • enregistrer une transaction
accounts receivable (US)/debtors (UK) • comptes clients/ à recevoir
• comptes fournisseur/ à
accounts payable (US)/ creditors (UK)
payer
accrued dividends • dividendes accumulés
arrears/ arrear of interests • arrérages/ rappel d’intérêts
• point mort/ seuil de
break-even point
rentabilité
operating capital (US)/ working capital
• fond de roulement
(UK)
xed assets/ tied-up capital • immobilisations
to take a charge/ to record a provision • provisionner
to take a write-down/ to book a loss • provisionner une perte
to write o • annuler une écriture

inventory (US)/ stock (UK) • stock

 ledger • grand livre
an accounting period • exercice comptable
a trial balance • balance de véri cation
a scal year (US)/ a nancial year
• exercice nancier/ scal
(UK)
calendar year • année civile
consolidated balance sheet • bilan consolidé
notes to the accounts/ to the
• annexe au bilan
balance sheet
funds ow statement • tableau de nancement
• à vue/ sur présentation/ sur
on sight
demande

closing of accounts • arrêt des comptes

to close/ balance the accounts • arrêter les comptes
cut-o date • date d’arrêt des comptes

˜ Accounting policies and standards

In the US, the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP),
and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in most
of the rest of the world are principles, rules and conventions regulating
the way companies do their accounts. ese o cial accounting
standards frame the range of methods of valuation and measurement
which companies use.
Although businesses can choose among di erent accounting policies,
they have to be consistent and their choice must be revealed to the
shareholders for them to be able to compare pro ts and values with
those of previous years.
a shareholder/ a stockholder • actionnaire
 a stakeholder
a bondholder
tax authorities
to be worth sthg
assets/ xed assets
liabilities
to comply with a standard
to provide sb with sthg
to take account of sthg
to take sthg into account
• partie prenante
• obligataire/ porteur d’obligations
• autorités scales
• valoir qqch
• actif/ actif immobilisé
• passif
• se conformer à une norme
• fournir qqch à qqn
• prendre qqch en compte
• prendre qqch en compte

˜ Accounting assumptions and principles

When working on accounts and nancial statements, accountants
have to abide by a number of assumptions, principles and
conventions. e following are the main assumptions on which
accounting work is based:
– the separate entity or business entity assumption
– the time period assumption
– the unit-of-measure assumption
On top of these assumptions, accountants also generally follow
accounting principles such as:
– the full-disclosure principle
– the principle of conservatism
– the objectivity principle
– the revenue recognition principle
a currency • monnaie/ devise
a subsidiary • liale
to go through di cult times • traverser une période di cile
 an incentive to investment • incitation à l’investissement
to deduct costs • déduire des coûts
to follow rules • suivre les règles
to apply standards • appliquer les normes

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON ACCOUNTING

AND ACCOUNTANCY
EXERCISE 15.01
Answer the following questions.
1. List and explain what the GAAP (Generally Accepted
Accounting Principles) are.
2. What do the following (mostly) British acronyms stand for?
Give their US equivalents when possible.
˜ IFRS; SIB; ICA; FSB; SSAP; IAS
3. Give a de nition of the following American English words
and phrases and say what are their British equivalents.
˜ preferred stock; earnings report; Certi ed Public
Accountant; Internal Revenue Service; operating capital
Réponse

EXERCISE 15.02
For each sentence, choose the right option.
1. The generally accepted method of valuation of the
repertory / inventory / joint-stock / warehouse is cost or
market.
2. As it would not be reasonable to charge o the full
expenditure in the present year, the cost incurred will be
gradually written / written in / written away / written o
over the next few years.
3. The decline in useful value of a xed asset due to wear and
tear from use and passage of time is called dereliction /
disparagement / redemption / depreciation.
4. This entry should have been transferred from the day book
to the directory / wager / ledger / badger.
5. Many rms draw up a control balance / controlling balance
/ trial balance / checking balance at the end of each month
with a view to testing the accuracy of their accounting.
6. Accrued interest means the interest earned since last
settlement date but not yet due to a payable / additional
interest / increased interest / an additional interest yielded
by external sources and to be paid separately.
7. Total pro t represents a 10% return on / bene t on /
income on / output of capital.
8. The art of presenting the accounts of a company in the
most favorable light is called window shopping / window
dressing / book cooking / book dressing.
9. A stock is said to have high leverage if the company that
issued it has a large proportion of ordinary shares / bonds
and preferred stock / xed assets / blue chips outstanding
in relation to the amount of common stock.
10. Are outcoming / declining / issuing / outgoing auditors
eligible for re-election?
Réponse

EXERCISE 15.03
Complete the sentences using ‘debit’ or ‘credit’.
1. If you buy new assets, you the cash or capital
account.
2. If you pay some bills, you the liabilities account.
3. If you buy materials from a supplier on 90 days’ credit, you
the purchases account and the supplier’s
account.
4. If you sell something to a customer who will pay 30 days
later, you the sales account and the
customer’s account.

EXERCISE 15.04
Translate the following sentences into English.
1. Vous auriez tout intérêt à faire établir votre déclaration
d’impôt par un conseiller scal.
2. Demandez au chef comptable si on a reçu leur virement de
fonds.
3. Vous trouverez ci-joint le relevé de votre compte à la date
du 5 mai et présentant un solde créditeur de 120 euros.
4. À la n de chaque exercice, le travail habituel de
l’entreprise est perturbé par l’inventaire.
5. Le bilan est un état détaillé de l’entreprise à un moment
donné qui donne des renseignements sur la situation
nancière et la solvabilité de l’a aire.
6. En comparant des bilans successifs, on peut se faire une
idée très claire de la progression ou du déclin d’une
entreprise.
7. L’a aire Enron a révélé que les commissaires aux comptes
avaient certi é les comptes alors qu’ils étaient falsi és.
Réponse

EXERCISE 15.05 Word derivation

Complete the table. Put a stress mark in front of the
stressed syllable in each word.
˜ Verb Noun(s) Adjective

to ‘calculate /

/ con’sistency

‘measurement /

‘valuable

/ ‘accurate

com’pliance /

to recom’mend

to ex’amine /

/ ob’jective
 veri ’cation

Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON ACCOUNTING

AND ACCOUNTANCY

Will robots take over the accountant’s job?

A few years ago, a website was launched that claimed to
rank various professions according to their likelihood of
automation. For accountants and auditors, the website
spelt out its blunt verdict in a stark, bold font, “You are
doomed.” But is this really the case?
Let’s consider the facts. The Singapore Accountancy
Commission’s Accounting Entity Survey 2019 found that
the nation’s accounting industry actually registered
strong revenue growth in 2018. (…)
Accountants can ride the wave of automation. As
technology takes over more rules-based and repetitive
recordkeeping tasks, accountants and auditors have
moved up the value chain to undertake more complex,
challenging and enriching work. Today’s accountant may
be an external auditor evaluating the client’s complex
merger and acquisition transaction, an internal auditor
assessing the organisation’s cyber defence strategy, a
Chief Financial O cer exploring various fundraising
options or an analyst valuing an Initial Public O ering-
aspirant’s shares.
And help is given. In 2018, Singapore announced the
Accountancy Roadmap that focused on developing skills,
boosting productivity, fostering innovation and
promoting internationalisation. Small and medium-sized
accounting rms can go to new innovation centres to
seek digital solutions or prototype ideas.
The application of data analytics (DA), robotic process
automation (RPA) and arti cial intelligence (AI) is still at
a nascent stage in the accounting industry, when
compared to other elds such as retail, banking,
insurance and medical services. However, most large
auditing rms are currently in a game-changing phase as
they embark on pilot projects to automate the auditing
process.
There is potential in automation. In Deloitte’s 5th Annual
Global Robotics Survey 2019, over 500 executives in 26
countries across the globe were asked about their
intelligent automation strategies and the impact on their
workforce. The respondents said they expected
automation to increase their workforce capacity by 27%
over the next three years, with a signi cant rise in
productivity and enrichment in human experience as the
employees’ work becomes more meaningful.
Accountants and auditors play a key role in producing
high-quality and reliable nancial information. This
function has existed since the 1800s and is expected to
continue, as long as there is a separation of company
ownership and management. This function also exists
because investors need nancial reporting for
accountability, corporate governance and decision-
making. Automation has certainly taken over many of the
more monotonous process elements of traditional
accounting and auditing.
But in today’s complex and dynamic global business
climate, accountants and auditors are performing much
more than a technical role. Delivering insightful
judgements, spotting meaningful patterns from big data,
balancing stakeholders’ interests and having the mental
exibility to understand the many humanistic nuances
are among the critical competitive skills needed to add
value for employers or clients. In one rm, a valuation
team has devised a comprehensive spreadsheet to
automate the valuation of acquisition targets. With a few
 key strokes, the valuations pop out of the computer but
the results are often far out of the reasonable range
expected by the valuers. This is because while the
automated model incorporates some clear-cut factors, it
lacks the human ability to consider other nuanced factors
too complex for modelling. The machine’s output, based
on a narrow set of inputs, is just the rst cut. From this,
humans must continue to use their broader business
sense and professional experience to polish it to a nal
product. Ultimately, it is the business leaders, not the
machine, who make a nal call based on their vision,
judgement and business acumen.
The human element will continue to be essential,
especially when it comes to building trust with clients,
understanding their business and helping them address
the challenges they face. Those of us who have
interacted with the chatbots of service providers
understand how impersonal and rigid the chatbot can be
in answering our questions, let alone understand our real
concerns and build rapport with us.
The real high-value intelligence comes from skilled
humans who are able to apply this powerful technology
to produce innovative applications and deliver critical
insights – actionable intelligence that o ers tangible
business solutions and opens up opportunities.
Chua Kim Chiu, https://journal.isca.org.sg (on April 28th,
2020)

EXERCISE 15.06 Understanding the main ideas

After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. What does it mean that accountants and auditors “have
moved up the value chain”?
2. What are the advantages of automation?
3. What conclusion does C. Kim Chiu draw from the whole
process of automation?
4. What does he mention chatbots for?
Réponse
 16
Auditing
Auditing consists in examining a company’s systems of control and
the accuracy of its records, looking for errors or potential fraud.
An internal audit is carried out by a company’s own accountants or
internal auditors.
An external audit is done by independent auditors.
e external audit examines the truth and fairness of nancial
statements. is means that the nancial statements must give a
correct and reasonable outline of the company’s current condition.
e external audit tries to prevent “creative accounting”, which means
recording transactions and values in a way that produces false or fake
results.
true and fair view (UK)/ fair
• délité des comptes
presentation
consistency • permanence des méthodes
going concern principle • continuité d’exploitation

In most European countries, governments pass laws pertaining to

accounting. In the US, companies whose stocks are traded on public
stock exchanges have to follow rules set by the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), a government agency. In Britain
standards have been established by independent organizations such as
the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) which was replaced on 2 July
2012 by the Accounting Council that reports to the Codes and
Standards Committee of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC).
Businesses are expected to comply with these standards to give a true
and fair view of their annual accounts.
to audit/ to do an audit • auditer
 to carry out an audit/ to perform an • mener un audit
audit
clean audit • audit sans reserve
clean audit report/ unquali ed audit
• rapport d’audit sans réserve
report
• auditeur/ commissaire aux
an auditor
comptes
an auditee • audité
snap audit • véri cation par sondage
a sample • échantillon
statistical sampling • échantillonnage statistique
reporting • information comptable
accounting/ reporting standards • normes de présentation
valuation • estimation de la valeur

Creative accounting consists of accounting practices that follow

required laws and regulations, but deviate from what those standards
intend to accomplish. Creative accounting capitalizes on loopholes in
the accounting standards to falsely portray a better image of the
company. Although creative accounting practices are legal, the
loopholes they exploit are often reformed to prevent such behaviors.
slush fund • caisse noire
to falsify/ to forge • falsi er
forgery/ forged document • faux
to operate double standards • faire deux poids deux mesures
to detect fraud • détecter une fraude
to defraud sb of sthg • escroquer qqch à qqn
fraudulent • frauduleux
 to indulge in creative • se livrer à des manipulations
accounting comptables
a loophole • faille (juridique)
to tweak gures • ajuster/ truquer les chi res
to twist the truth • deformer/ manipuler la vérité
misleading/ deceptive • mensonger
to mislead sb • tromper qqn

SEC: e Securities and Exchange Commission is a government

commission created by Congress to regulate the securities markets
and protect investors. In addition to regulation and protection, it also
monitors the corporate takeovers in the U.S. e SEC is composed of
ve commissioners appointed by the U.S president.
FRC: e Financial Reporting Council is an independent regulator in
the UK and Ireland, responsible for regulating auditors, accountants
and actuaries, and setting the UK’s Corporate Governance and
Stewardship Codes. e FRC seeks to promote transparency and
integrity in business by aiming its work at investors and others who
rely on company reports, audits and high-quality risk management.
In December 2018, an independent review of the FRC, led by Sir John
Kingman, recommended its replacement by a new Audit, Reporting
and Governance Authority, a recommendation followed by the
government in March 2019.
account books • livres comptables
to examine accounts • examiner les comptes
to certify the accounts • certi er les comptes
to comply with laws/
• se conformer aux lois/ aux règles
regulations
compliance with standards • respect des norms
approval of the accounts • approbation des comptes
 to take stock
to recommend changes
to submit a document to
auditors
to adhere to accounting
standards
to operate in a country
• faire l’inventaire
• recommender des changements
• soumettre un documents aux
commissaires
• adhérer à des normes comptables
• opérer dans un pays

In February 2014, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards

Board (IAASB) issued its publication, which describes the di erent
elements that create the environment which maximizes the likelihood
that quality audits are performed on a consistent basis.
e responsibility for performing quality audits of nancial statements
rests primarily with auditors. However, audit quality is best achieved in
an environment where there is support from, and appropriate
interactions among, participants in the nancial reporting supply
chain.
e objectives of the Framework include:
Raising awareness of the key elements of audit quality
Encouraging key stakeholders to explore ways to improve audit quality
Facilitating greater dialogue between key stakeholders on the topic
e Framework describes the inputs, processes and outputs factors
that contribute to audit quality at the engagement, audit rm and
national levels, for nancial statement audits.
e Framework applies to audits of all entities regardless of their size,
nature and complexity. It also applies to all audit rms regardless of
size. e Framework is non-authoritative. It is not a substitute for
standards of quality control, nor does it establish additional standards
or provide procedural requirements for the performance of audit
engagements.
e Framework can be depicted as follows:
 IAASB
˜ Inputs
Quality audits involve auditors:
Exhibiting appropriate values, ethics and attitudes
Being su ciently knowledgeable, skilled and experienced and having
su cient time allocated to them to perform the audit work
˜ Outputs
Quality audits result in outputs that are useful and timely. ey are
described in relation to the entire nancial reporting supply chain and
include outputs from the auditor, the audit rm, the entity and the
audit regulators. Outputs include reports and information that are
formally prepared and presented by one party to another, as well as
outputs that arise from the auditing process that are generally not
visible to those outside the organization being audited.
˜ Process
Quality audits involve auditors applying a rigorous audit process and
quality control procedures that comply with laws, regulations and
applicable standards.
˜ Interactions
Each stakeholder plays an important role supporting high-quality
nancial reporting and the way in which they interact may a ect audit
quality. Increased interaction is promoted.
˜ Contextual Factors
Collectively, the contextual factors have the potential to impact the
nature and quality of nancial reporting and, directly or indirectly,
audit quality. Such factors include amongst others, laws and
regulations and corporate governance.
From: https://isca.org.sg/tkc/aa/current-issues/hot-topics/audit-
quality/
a stakeholder • partie prenante
to issue a statement • publier une déclaration
to raise awareness (of) • sensibiliser
to be knowledgeable about sthg • s’y connaître en qqch
to be skilled • être compétent
corporate governance • gouvernance d’entreprise

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON AUDITING

EXERCISE 16.01
Match the job titles with the descriptions.
˜ bookkeepers, accountants, internal auditors, external
auditors, chartered accountants, actuaries
a. company employees who check the nancial statements
b. people who passed an examination after a 3-year training
period to become a member of the accounting profession.
c. people who prepare nancial statements
d. people who prepare a company’s day-to-day accounts
e. expert accountants working for independent rms who
review companies’ nancial statements and accounting
records
f. people who compile and analyze statistics and use them to
calculate insurance risks and premiums.
Réponse

EXERCISE 16.02 Stress patterns

Put the following words into the table according to their
stress patterns.
˜ major, capital, requirements, disclosure, average,
develop, di erent, acquire, balance, pro t, taxation,
measure, require, value, actually
Oo oO Ooo oOo

major

Réponse

EXERCISE 16.03 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the blanks with the right prepositions and/ or
particles.
1. Rather than carry an audit on these updates, we
carry out enough procedures to allow us to conclude the
information is plausible in the circumstances. to defraud sb of
sthg
2. All employees and o cers are expected to respect and
comply laws and regulations that apply to them.
3. At the same time, a company’s ‘license to operate’
a particular country or gaining access to global markets
increasingly depends on sound environmental credentials.
4. No matter who the advisor is, he or she cannot possibly be
as knowledgeable the facts of the situation as you
are.

– WRITTEN UNDERSTANDING ON AUDITING

EXERCISE 16.04
Read the following texts and answer the questions.

Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance

and consulting activity designed to add value and
improve an organization’s operations. It helps an
organization achieve its objectives by bringing a
systematic, disciplined approach to assess and improve
the e ectiveness of risk management, control and
governance processes and evaluate the accuracy of the
accounts.
An internal audit is thus an examination of a company’s
accounts by its own internal auditors or controllers.
Internal auditing is a catalyst for improving an
organization’s governance, risk management and
management controls (over e ciency/e ectiveness of
operations including safeguarding of assets) by
providing insight and recommendations based on
analyses and assessments of data and business
processes. With commitment to integrity and
accountability, internal auditing provides value to
governing bodies and senior management as an
objective source of independent advice.
Professionals called internal auditors are employed by
organizations, government agencies (federal, state and
local), publicly traded companies, and non-pro t
companies across all industries to perform the internal
auditing activity.
Internal auditing may also involve conducting proactive
fraud audits to identify potentially fraudulent acts;
participating in fraud investigations under the direction
of fraud investigation professionals, and conducting post
investigation fraud audits to identify control breakdowns
and establish nancial loss.
Internal auditors are not responsible for the execution of
corporate activities; they advise management and the
Board of Directors (or similar oversight body) regarding
how to better execute their responsibilities. As a result of
their broad scope of involvement, internal auditors may
have a variety of higher educational and professional
backgrounds.
The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) is the recognized
international standard setting body for the internal
audit profession and awards the Certi ed Internal
Auditor designation internationally through rigorous
written examination. Other designations are available in
certain countries. In the United States the professional
standards of the Institute of Internal Auditors have
been codi ed in several states’ statutes pertaining to
the practice of internal auditing in government (New
York State, Texas, and Florida being three examples).
adapted from Wikipedia

An external audit is an examination that is conducted by

an independent accountant. This type of audit is most
commonly intended to result in a certi cation of the
nancial statements of an entity. This certi cation is
required by certain investors and lenders, and for all
publicly-held businesses.
The objectives of an external audit are to determine the
accuracy and completeness of the client’s accounting
records. It should also check whether the client’s
accounting records have been prepared in accordance
with the applicable accounting framework and whether
the client’s nancial statements present fairly its results
and nancial position.
There are other types of external audits that may be
targeted at speci c issues concerning a client’s
accounting records, such as an examination that searches
 for the existence of fraud. It is not the prime role of the
audit to detect fraud, although this may of course come
to light during the checks that take place. Auditors have
thus been described as ‘watchdogs not bloodhounds’.
Auditors only have a limited time in which to complete
their work, so they concentrate on testing the validity of
a sample of transactions and results rather than
vigorously checking everything.
Although an auditor’s independence must be respected
and observed at all times, they are nonetheless providing
a service for a fee – you have a right to expect value for
money.
The audit should be a positive experience and not one
to be feared; it is an opportunity to receive feedback on
strengths and weaknesses in systems.

1. What are the main di erences between internal and

external auditors?
2. To complete your answer, look at the following activities
and decide which ones are normally done internally or
externally.
a. spends time getting to know the business as well as the
environment and the industry in which it operates
b. analyzes the internal business and nancial systems used
to make and record transactions
c. gathers evidence on the nancial control systems and the
gures in the nancial statements
d. gives advice on the business methods and transactions of
the company
e. examines nancial statements to determine whether they
conform to generally accepted accounting principles
f. prepares the nancial statements in accordance with the
generally accepted accounting principles of the country
where the rm operates
g. examines the management report and determines whether
it conforms to the nancial statements
h. guarantees the correctness of the gures presented in the
accounts
i. provides consulting services
j. presents a written report to the management of the
company, describing whether the accounting records,
nancial statements and management reports conform to
legal requirements
k. maintains con dentiality and independence
3. Explain that sentence: “Auditors have thus been described
as ‘watchdogs not bloodhounds’.” Do you agree?

E orts to x the market in auditing rumble on

Regulators in both Britain and Europe want to make
audits less cosy
Auditors are supposed to provide an independent view
of company accounts. But regulators fear that the
relationship between auditors and those they audit can
become too cosy—which is why the European Union has
decided that, from 2020, companies will have to switch
auditor at least once every 20 years. Last week the
Financial Reporting Council (FRC), a British regulator,
sent a letter to audit rms warning them away from
“rotation in form but not in substance”.
That was aimed at subsidiaries of American banks. The
FRC wants to deter Goldman Sachs and PwC, the auditor
it has used since 1926, from seeking to satisfy the new
rules by hiring a smaller auditor for the Wall Street rm’s
British subsidiary while retaining PwC for the global
business.
The spat [= a con ict] is a consequence of aws in the
audit market. It is dominated by four global networks:
PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY, which also have
consultancy arms and between them audit 98% of
companies in the S&P 500 and FTSE 350. Most big
multinationals receive consultancy services from those of
the Big Four that they do not use as auditor. Rotating
auditors therefore means either severing a consulting
relationship or turning to a smaller audit rm. But none
outside the Big Four is likely to have the expertise to
audit a global company.
Recent high-pro le corporate failures, notably that of
Carillion, a construction rm, have put Britain at the
centre of discussions about how to x the audit market.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the
national antitrust watchdog, has been considering
possible reforms since last autumn. In a paper published
in December it suggested several, including operational
division of audit and consulting within rms (it shied
away from proposing forced break-ups). A consultation
on its ideas closed on January 21st.
Another of its proposals was for mandatory joint audit, in
which two rms would share the work. Both would retain
full responsibility, unlike Goldman’s plans to split its audit
work geographically. Companies could not retain either
for longer than 20 years. The thinking is that joint audits
might be higher-quality and, if one of the auditors was a
minnow [= a small or insigni cant person], it would be
given the chance to gain experience and grow.
On the same day as the CMA published its paper, another
review came out looking at the FRC. Commissioned by
the British government from Sir John Kingman, the
chairman of Legal & General, a life insurer, it was
scathing. It likened the FRC to a “ramshackle [=délabré]
house” built on weak foundations, and recommended its
replacement by a new regulator with more powers.
Despite the harsh words the FRC welcomed the report,
which it said had “set a course for a stronger, new
regulator to emerge”.
The government said it would act on the
recommendations. Meanwhile, the outgoing chairman of
the London Stock Exchange, Donald Brydon, has been
asked to lead yet another review on audit quality,
 building on the previous work. Companies up against a
tight deadline to switch auditor can expect the rules to
change more.
From The Economist (on June 26th, 2019)

Réponse

EXERCISE 16.05
After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. What is the main issue raised in this article?
2. What proposals were made to solve the issue by the 2 main
regulators mentioned in the article?
3. What does the future of the market of auditing look like?

Réponse

– WRITING ON AUDITING
EXERCISE 16.06
Answer the following questions about creative accounting.
1. How does creative accounting work?
2. Can you list di erent types of creative accounting?
3. Give 3 concrete cases of fraudulent creative accounting.

Réponse
 17
Financial Accounting and
Management Accounting
Accountancy is more than just calculating pro t and loss.
Management accountants help larger and more mature companies
make tough nancial decisions that shape their future. ey can
actually help in increasing revenue and decreasing overheads as well.
Whereas nancial accounting is focused on providing reports for
both internal users like the board of management and external users
such as the tax o ce, management accounting focuses on providing
information for internal users and management accounts include
detailed information and forward projections for the nancial year, to
help in budgeting and cost control.
a shareholder/ a stockholder • actionnaire
a stakeholder • partie prenante
equity stake • participation
to be entitled to sthg • avoir droit à qqch
a share of the pro t • part du béné ce
a pro table investment • investissement rentable
pro tability • rentabilité
pro t-generating activities • activités générant du béné ce
to owe money • devoir de l’argent
to pay back • rembourser
accounting/ accountancy • comptabilité
book-keeping • tenue des registres comptables
 e Annual Report is a public document distributed to shareholders,
in which the management discusses the past year’s performance and
presents the company’s accounts.
a nancial statement • état nancier
the balance sheet • bilan
assets • actif
liabilities • passif
pro t and loss account (UK) • compte de résultat
income statement/ statement of • compte de résultat/ compte
income d’exploitation
earnings report • compte de résultat
revenue • recettes
expenses/ spendings • dépenses
net pro t • béné ce net
net loss • perte nette
cash ow statement • tableau de ux de trésorerie
to sell shares • vendre des parts
to raise capital • lever du capital
to pay a dividend • verser un dividende
to meet one’s obligations • remplir ses obligations

e Institute of Chartered Accountants (UK) and the American

Institute of Certi ed Public Accountants are the o cial bodies in
charge of issuing the norms and rules regulating accounting in the
Anglo-Saxon countries. All accounts and nancial statements should
be presented in compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles which are as follows: going concern (continuité
d’exploitation), true and fair presentation, prudence, consistency
(permanence des méthodes), matching principle, historical cost,
accruals basis (comptabilité d’engagement), materiality (importance
relative).
management accounting • comptabilité de gestion
to assist the company in
• aider l’entreprise à faire qqch
doing sthg
• rédiger une version préliminaire d’un
to draft a report
rapport
to issue a report • publier un rapport
a forward projection • prévision à long terme
gross margin • marge brute
overheads (UK)/ overhead
• frais généraux
(US)
xed costs • coûts xes
variable costs • coûts variables
to allocate costs to a product • imputer les coûts à une gamme de
line produits

Activity-based costing calculates all the costs connected with a

particular activity (for instance product design, manufacturing,
distribution), even if they are carried out by di erent departments in
the company.
a debtor • débiteur
a creditor • créancier
to set a budget • xer un budget
to oversee/ to supervise • superviser
to a ord • avoir les moyens/ pouvoir s’o rir
to carry out an analysis • mener une analyse
 to manage the costs • gérer les coûts
working capital (UK) • fonds de roulement

e bottom line (littéralement : ligne du bas) is generally the last line

of an income statement, that indicates the net result (pro t or loss) of
the rm. It has gradually come to mean the end result or the last word
on something.
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON FINANCIAL
ACCOUNTING AND MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
EXERCISE 17.01 Acronyms
What do the following acronyms stand for?
˜ FSA; SSAP; IRS; SEC; AICPA; FASB
Réponse

EXERCISE 17.02
Sort the following items into direct, indirect, xed and
variable costs.
˜ advertising expenses, property tax, insurance, electricity
to run machines, rent, electricity for heating, equipment
repairs, factory restaurant, overtime pay, raw materials
Réponse

EXERCISE 17.03
Match the following words with their de nitions.
˜ overheads; pro table; breakeven point; cost center; xed
costs; variable costs
a. costs that change according to the level of activity; usually
volume-related
b. costs that remain the same and are not dependent on the
level of activity; usually time-related
c. the sales volume at which a company doesn’t make a loss
or a pro t
d. regular and necessary costs involved in operating a
business
e. adjective meaning that an activity is actually providing
income for a company
f. a unit of activity in an organization or company for which
costs are calculated separately
Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON FINANCIAL

ACCOUNTING AND MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING

Activity-based costing
Activity-based costing (ABC) is a method of assigning
costs to products or services based on the resources that
they consume. Its aim, The Economist once wrote, is “to
change the way in which costs are counted”.
ABC is an alternative to traditional accounting in which a
business’s overheads (indirect costs such as lighting,
heating and marketing) are allocated in proportion to an
activity’s direct costs. This is unsatisfactory because two
activities that absorb the same direct costs can use very
di erent amounts of overhead. A mass-produced
industrial robot, for instance, can use the same amount
of labour and materials as a customised robot. But the
customised robot uses far more of the company
engineers’ time (an overhead) than does the mass-
produced one.
This di erence would not be re ected in traditional
costing systems. Hence a company that makes more and
more customised products (and bases its pricing on
historic costings) can soon nd itself making large losses.
As new technologies make it easier for rms to
customise products, the importance of allocating indirect
costs accurately increases.
Introducing activity-based costing is not a simple task  –
 it is by no means as easy as ABC. For a start, all business
activities must be broken down into their discrete
components. As part of its ABC programme, for example,
ABB, a Swiss-Swedish power company, divided its
purchasing activity into things like negotiating with
suppliers, updating the database, issuing purchase orders
and handling complaints.
Large rms should try a pilot scheme before
implementing the system throughout their organisation.
The information essential for ABC may not be readily
available and may have to be calculated specially for the
purpose. This involves making many new measurements.
Larger companies often hire consultants who are
specialists in the area to help them get a system up and
running.
The easy approach is to use ABC software in conjunction
with a company’s existing accounting system. The
traditional system continues to be used as before, with
the ABC structure an extra to be called upon when
speci c cost information is required to help make a
particular decision. The development of business
accounting software programs has made the
introduction of activity-based costing more feasible.
Setting up an activity-based costing system is a
prerequisite for improving business processes and for
any re-engineering programme. Many rms also use ABC
data for the measures required for a balanced scorecard.
Activity-based costing became popular in the early 1980s
largely because of growing dissatisfaction with
traditional ways of allocating costs. After a strong start,
however, it fell into a period of disrepute. Even Robert
Kaplan, a Harvard Business School professor sometimes
credited with being its founding father, has admitted that
 it stagnated in the 1990s. The di culty lay in translating
the theory into action. Many companies were not
prepared to give up their traditional cost-control
mechanisms in favour of ABC. (…)
Nevertheless, ABC has many satis ed customers.
Chrysler, an American car manufacturer, claims that it
saved hundreds of millions of dollars through a
programme that it introduced in the early 1990s. ABC
showed that the true cost of certain parts that Chrysler
made was 30 times what had originally been estimated, a
discovery that persuaded the company to outsource the
manufacture of many of those parts.
From The Economist (on June 29th, 2009)

EXERCISE 17.04
Scan the text and list the bene ts and drawbacks of ABC
that it mentions.
Réponse

EXERCISE 17.05
Answer the following questions concerning the text.
1. Find and write down the de nition of ABC.
2. Why was ABC introduced as an alternative to traditional
accounting?
3. What is ABB? And why is it mentioned in the article?

Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISES ON FINANCIAL

ACCOUNTING AND MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
EXERCISE 17.06 Argue your case
˜ Is activity-based costing the key to pro tability?
Réponse
EXERCISE 17.07 Argue your case
˜ Is activity-based accounting acceptable in all areas? (e.g.:
medical treatment) Justify your point of view.
Réponse

– SPEAKING EXERCISES ON FINANCIAL

ACCOUNTING AND MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
EXERCISE 17.08 Pair work – Defending an option
˜ You work for Harryn’s, a company that produces
processed breads and pastries. The rm is considering
introducing activity-based costing to replace traditional
accounting methods that your company uses at the moment.
STUDENT A believes that the best option is to switch to ABC
accounting and gives at least 4 arguments.
STUDENT B on the other hand thinks that it would not be the
best option for the company and prepares at least 4
arguments.
You discuss the issue and try to come to an agreement on
the future method that will be used by your company.
Réponse
 18
Financial Statements
chartered accountant (UK)/ certi ed public
• expert-comptable
accountant (US)
bookkeeper • aide-comptable
• tenue des comptes/
bookkeeping
registres
book value • valeur comptable
to cook the books • truquer les comptes
• grand livre des
share ledger
actionnaires
• état/ relevé/
statement/ report
déclaration
seed money • mise de fonds initiale

e accountant is responsible for preparing various reports among

which three main statements.
• e income statement which is a statement of the company’s
business activity and the expenses resulting from that business for a
given nancial period of time. It shows:
– the sales gures achieved minus the expenses incurred,
– the gains or losses from the company’s long and short-term
investments,
– the gains or losses from the sale of company’s assets,
– the tax due to be paid on the net result.
After all deductions have been made, the net pro t/ loss gure
(bottom line) is transferred to the balance sheet.
• e statement of capital for sole proprietorships and partnerships
or retained earnings statements for corporations (= income earned by
a corporation and dividends paid).
• e balance sheet is a re ection of the nancial health of a company.
It gives a detailed analysis of the following equation: Assets= liabilities
+ capital (A = L + C).
ese nancial statements present the accounting information in
formal reports that tell stakeholders, such as creditors, prospective
investors, shareholders, employees, as well as government agencies
how the company is faring.
balance sheet (UK)/ statement of nancial
• bilan
position (US)
• bilan consolidé/
consolidated balance sheet
uni é
notes to the balance sheet • annexes au bilan
o -balance sheet • hors bilan
• actif/
assets
possessions/avoirs
current assets • actif circulant
quick assets • actif disponible
wasting assets • actif(s) défectible(s)
• actif(s)
intangible assets
incorporel(s)
xed assets/ tied-in capital • immobilisations
liquid assets/ available assets • liquidités
liabilities • passif
current liabilities • passif exigible

cash/ ready money • argent liquide

accounts payable (receivable) • comptes à payer (à
recevoir)
stockholders’ equity (US)/ shareholders’ • capital propre/ avoir des
equity (UK) actionnaires
claims • créances
bad debt • créance douteuse
depreciation/ redemption/
• amortissement
amortization
to depreciate/ to write o • amortir du matériel
to redeem a debt • amortir une dette
capital surplus • prime d’émission
• encaisse/ argent comptant,
cash in hand
espèces
common equity • action ordinaire
return on equity (ROE) • retour sur fonds propres
equity capital • capitaux/ fonds propres
• survaleur/ fonds de
goodwill
commerce
• béné ces non distribués/
retained earnings
réserves
mortgage • hypothèque
revenue/ turnover • chi re d’a aires
sinking fund • fonds d’amortissement

pro t and loss account = P&L

• compte de résultat
(UK)
income statement/ statement of • compte de résultat/ compte
income d’exploitation
earnings report • compte de résultat
 break-even point • seuil de rentabilité
clean audit • audit sans réserve
accrued dividends • dividendes accumulés
advanced payment • paiement anticipé
appreciation • plus-value
arrears • arrérages
bearer security • titre au porteur
below par • en dessous de la valeur nominale

˜ Two possible presentations of balance sheets

Example one (US)
Balance sheet December 31st 2017
Assets Liabilities and stockholders’
Current assets equity
Cash Current liabilities
Marketable securities Accounts payable
Accounts receivable Notes payable
Minus: Provision for bad debts Accrued expenses payable
Inventories Federal income tax payable
Total current assets Total current liabilities
Investment in unconsolidated Long term liabilities
subsidiaries First mortgage bonds, 5% interest,
Long-term assets due
Land Total liabilities
Buildings Stockholders’ equity
Machinery Capital stock
O ce equipment Preferred stock
Minus: Accumulated depreciation Common stock
Net property, plant and equipment Capital Surplus
Prepayments and deferred charges Accumulated retained earnings
Goodwill patents, trademarks Total stockholders’ equity
 Total assets Total liabilities and stockholders’
equity
Example two (UK)
Assets
Cash
Accounts receivable
Merchandise inventory
Equipment
Minus: Accumulated depreciation
Intangible assets
Total assets
Liabilities
Accounts payable
Notes payable
Total liabilities
Stockholders’ equity
Common stock
Retained earnings
Total stockholders’ equity
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity
Total xed and long term assets
Total assets

Assets
Current assets can be turned into cash quickly. ey include cash at
the bank, accounts receivable (i.e. money owed by customers) and
inventories that is to say unsold stock.
Long-term assets on the other hand can’t be turned into cash so easily.
ey include xed assets like plant and machinery, intangible assets
such as copyrights and patents, and nancial assets.
Liabilities
Current liabilities are those that have to be paid within the next year.
ey include bank debt, accounts payable which are the money owed
to suppliers and utility bills, liabilities for current tax and provisions,
that is to say money set aside for a particular purpose such as a court
ruling.
Long-term liabilities include bank loans including any mortgage and
money owed to bondholders.
Shareholders’/ Stockholders’ equity corresponds to the capital
originally invested to start the business which has grown through
reinvested pro ts or any additional shares that have been issued.
e income statement= pro t and loss account (P&L)
Revenue
– Cost of sales
= Gross Pro t
– Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A)
= Operating Pro t
+ Non-operating pro t
= Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA)
– Interest
– Tax
– Depreciation
– Amortization
= Net pro t after tax
– Dividends
= Retained pro t
Revenue (= turnover) can be de ned as the money earned by a
company from the sales of products or services. Revenue is often
referred to as ‘top line’ because this is where it appears in a P&L. So
‘top line growth’ refers to sales growth.
Expenses (= costs) can be de ned as the money that a company has
to spend to run the business. A distinction is made between costs of
sales (costs of goods sold= COGS) which include all the costs
pertaining to the manufacturing of the product, and the SG&A which
include all marketing costs such as advertising, rent, electricity, etc.
Pro t (= earnings) falls into two categories: operating pro t from
regular business activities and non-operating pro t which may result
from the sale of some land or shares.
e P&L may be used as the basis for the budget report which
compares the actual results to the budgeted results in order to analyze
the variance which can be favorable or unfavorable.
net sales • chi re d’a aires net
net income • résultat net
gross pro t • marge brute
operating income • marge opérationnelle
interest expenses • frais nanciers
income taxes • impôts sur le revenu

cut-o date • date d’arrêt des comptes

• procédure de clôture des
cut-o procedures
comptes
due date/ maturity • date d’échéance
to fall due/ to mature/ to come to
• échoir
maturity
before maturity • avant l’échéance
• temps à courir jusqu’à
period to maturity
échéance
scal period/ scal year • exercice (comptable)
to close/ to balance/ to make up the
• arrêter les comptes
accounts

e cash ow statement is an o cial nancial statement which

comes from the P&L and the balance sheet but is only concerned with
cash regardless of the amounts that haven’t been yet received or paid.
Investors generally prefer to study the CFS because it is less open to
the use of accounting manipulations.
Cash ows may appear in three main areas:
– from operations, that is to say the earnings or loss generated by
company’s activity,
– from investing either in tangible assets (plant, equipment, etc.) or in
stocks and bonds,
– from nancing: this includes the pro t made by issuing new shares
or expenses generated by the purchase of shares from the market;
dividend payments made to shareholders and the ows of money to
and from banks due to loans and repayment thereof also fall into this
category.
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON FINANCIAL
STATEMENTS
EXERCISE 18.01
Fill in the missing letters and translate into French.
a. Assets are elements that you ow_.
b. Liabilities are elements that you ow_.

Réponse

EXERCISE 18.02
Match the following words with their de nitions.
˜ bonds; to set aside; mortgage; to pay o ; debt; goodwill
a. an amount of money that a person or a company owes
b. documents given to people who invest money in a
company, promising to pay back the principal with interest
c. a company’s reputation, relationships with customers and
collective know how
d. to keep from a larger amount in order to be used later
e. the money that you borrow from the bank to buy a
property
f. to give somebody all the money you owe them
Réponse

EXERCISE 18.03 Prepositions and particles

Find the right preposition or particle.
1. Companies can turn their current assets cash if
need be.
2. In a balance sheet the ‘accounts receivable’ section
corresponds to the money owed customers.
3. Whereas the section called ‘accounts payable’ corresponds
to the money owed suppliers.
4. Investments another company can be found
under the ‘ nancial assets’ category.
5. Bondholders have to be paid at maturity.
6. A highly leveraged company has taken a lot of
debt.

EXERCISE 18.04 Acronyms

What do the following acronyms stand for?
˜ ROE; P&L; SG&A; EBITDA; COGS; CFS
Réponse

EXERCISE 18.05
Find a synonym for the following words.
˜ turnover; earnings; overheads; amortization; to su er a
loss
Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON FINANCIAL

STATEMENTS
EXERCISE 18.06 True or false?
Are the following statements true or false? Justify your
answer.
1. British and American balance sheets show the same
information but it is displayed di erently.
2. The revenue of the company in the past year is shown on
the balance sheet.
3. The two sides of a balance sheet always show the same
total.
4. A current liability will be paid before the date of the
balance sheet.
5. A company’s accrued expenses are similar to an individual’s
savings to pay future bills.
6. If companies retain part of their pro ts, this money no
longer belongs to the owners.
7. Companies can sell shares above their face value.

Réponse

EXERCISE 18.07 Pro t and loss

Fill in the P&L with the following words: EBIT; dividends;
COGS; income taxes
Pro t and loss account ( gures in millions)
Operating revenues
Net sales $10,219
Operating expenses
a. $3,950
SG&A $4,208
Depreciation and amortization $320
Total operating expenses ($8478)
Operating pro t $1530
Non-operating pro t $45
b. $1,575
Interest ($63)
Earnings before income taxes $1,512
c. ($435)
Net pro t after tax $1,077
d. ($638)
Retained pro t $439

EXERCISE 18.08 Cash ow forecast

˜ A cash ow statement takes stock of the situation at a
given date. But forecasts can also be made to help a business
make decisions concerning operations for instance. Here you
have a cash ow forecast that anticipates the evolution of
income and outgoings.
1. Study the document and add the right gures in the right
place.
Cash ow from operations
Open January February

Opening balance $70,400

Income
Sales
$19,800 $23,100
Capital in
Total income $70,400

$70,400 $19,800

FINANCES

Loan repayments $440 $440

Interest paid
$88 $88

DIRECT COSTS

Inventory $14,300 $8,800

Labor
$3,960 $3,960

EXPENSES

Wages $5,280 $5,280

Rent
Web services $880 $880
O ce supplies
$880
Utilities
Insurance $440 $176
 $528

$1,100

Total outgoings $26,488

Net cash ow $70,400 ($6,688)

Ending balance $70,400 $59,312

2. Look at the cash ow statement and mark the following

statements as Right (R) or Wrong (W).
a. The wages of the sta are shown separately from the salary
of the manager.
b. The gas, water and electricity companies are paid monthly
in advance.
c. The net cash ow in January is negative.
d. Insurance is to be paid monthly for the company.

– WRITING EXERCISES ON FINANCIAL

STATEMENTS
EXERCISE 18.09 Argue your case
˜ You’re thinking about investing in a company, but you
have access to only one nancial document, either the
income statement or the balance sheet; which one would you
choose and why? Write 100 words.
Réponse

EXERCISE 18.10 Brainstorming

˜ You run a chain of small co ee shops. Your ercest
competitor is Starbucks. Last quarter, both revenue and costs
were above budget. This balanced out, so that the operating
pro t was in line with the budgeted gure.
Brainstorm as many reasons as possible for this variance.
Réponse
MANAGEMENT /
MANAGEMENT
 19
Management
˜ What is management?
Managing entails di erent objectives and practices depending on the
organization the manager works with. Still, managers share some key
management responsibilities regardless of the structure they work in.
ey all need to:
– identify the customers’ needs,
– set targets and set up a plan to reach them,
– plan and schedule their own work and their team’s,
– appraise (évaluer) performance and measure the results,
– report on the results.
˜ Management styles
Every manager will be di erent but management theory has
established three main categories of management style:
• e authoritarian manager is strict, demanding (exigeant),
controlling and probably too rigid. ey take a top-down approach.
With them though, the sta know where they stand and what their
responsibilities are: their jobs are clearly de ned.
• e consensual manager believes in consultation and in coaching
and mentoring their sta to help them develop. e main drawback
may be that this kind of manager may lack (manquer de) vision and fail
to show leadership.
• e hands-o manager delegates everything in order to empower
(responsabiliser) their sta . eir subordinates however may feel a lack
of guidance and support.
to be authoritarian • être autoritaire
 authoritarianism • autoritarisme
to lack charisma • manquer de charisme
charismatic • charismatique
empathetic/ sympathetic • empathique
empirical • empirique

e word management has several meanings in English. In French,

depending on the context, it can be translated by: gestion, direction,
patronat ou équipe dirigeante.
Henry Mintzberg (born in 1939) is an internationally renowned
academic and author on business and management. He is a Professor
of Management Studies in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he has
been teaching since 1968. He has made signi cant contributions to our
understanding of managerial work (1973: e Nature of Managerial
Work) and the role of manager. He has identi ed ten management
roles, which he divided up into three categories:
– Interpersonal role – a manager is the gurehead ( gure de proue),
providing leadership for the team, the department or the organization
as well as liaison with other stakeholders.
– Information role – a manager has to be an e ective communicator
as information constantly moves in, round and out of the organization:
he monitors it and conveys it to the collaborators.
– Decision role  – a manager must spot opportunities, allocate
resources and deal with con icts that can arise in the team or
organization.
junior executive/ middle manager • cadre moyen
senior executive/ top executive • cadre supérieur
project manager • chef de projet
management board/ executive committee • conseil de direction
management control • contrôle de gestion
management controller • contrôleur de gestion
management consultant • conseiller en gestion
management costs • frais de gestion
to manage/ to run/ to head • diriger
to mismanage • mal gérer
to supervise • superviser/ encadrer
to streamline • rationaliser

˜ What do managers manage?

Operations Finance People Information Career
Development
Planning Preparing Recruiting Chairing Managing
budgets sta meetings your boss
Setting Monitoring Motivating Replying to Developing
targets budgets emails your skills
Improving Making Planning Keeping les up Attending
productivity investment sta ng to date conferences
decisions needs and seminars
Decision- Controlling Managing Minimizing
making costs con ict stress
Meeting Rewarding Reading and
customer achievement writing reports
needs and proposals
Managing Appraising
change performance
Managing Developing
quality the team,
supporting
Idioms
to be under new management
to be in charge of
to be responsible for
to deal with
to report to the general
manager
to reach a goal/ an objective/ a
target
to achieve one’s purpose
to meet one’s commitments
to have a say in sthg
to have clout/ in uence
to ex one’s muscles
to put one’s foot down
to make people toe the line
to pull the strings
con ict of interest
• avoir une nouvelle direction
• être chargé de
• être responsable de
• s’occuper de/ traiter de
• dépendre directement du directeur
général
• atteindre un objectif
• réaliser son but
• honorer ses engagements
• avoir voix au chapitre
• avoir de l’in uence
• montrer sa force
• s’opposer fermement
• forcer les gens à respecter les règles
• tirer les celles
• con it d’intérêt

Henri Fayol (1841-1925), the founding father of management, was a

French coal-mine engineer, director of mines and modern
management theoretician. His scienti c management theory forms the
base for business administration and business management. His book
General and Industrial Management laid the foundation of the 14
Principles of management which serve as a guideline for decision-
making and management actions.
1. Division of Work
According to Henri Fayol, specialization promotes e ciency of the workforce
and increases productivity.
2. Authority and Responsibility
According to Henri Fayol, the accompanying power or authority gives the
management the right to give orders to the subordinates.

3. Discipline

4. Unity of Command
The management principle ‘Unity of command’ means that an individual
employee should receive orders from one manager and that the employee is
answerable to that manager.
By using this principle, the responsibility for mistakes can be established
more easily.

5. Unity of Direction
All employees deliver the same activities that can be linked to the same
objectives. All activities must be carried out by one group that forms a team.
These activities must be described in a plan of action.
The manager is ultimately responsible for this plan and he monitors progress.

6. Subordination of Individual Interest

In order to have an organization function well, Henri Fayol indicated that
personal interests are subordinate to the interests of the organization
(ethics).

7. Remuneration
Motivation and productivity are close to one another as far as the smooth
running of an organization is concerned. The remuneration should be
su cient to keep employees motivated and productive.
There are two types of remuneration: non- nancial (a compliment, more
responsibilities, credits) and nancial (compensation, bonus, perks) that are
about rewarding the e orts made.

8. The Degree of Centralization

Management and authority for decision-making process must be properly
balanced in an organization. This depends on the volume and size of an
organization including its hierarchy.
Centralization implies the concentration of decision making authority at the
top management (executive board). Sharing of authorities with lower levels
(middle and lower management), is referred to as decentralization.

9. Scalar Chain
Henri Fayol’s “hierarchy” management principle states that there should be a
clear line in the area of authority (from top to bottom and all managers at all
levels). This can be seen as a type of management structure.

10. Order
Employees in an organization must have the right resources at their disposal
so that they can function properly in an organization. In addition to social
order (responsibility of the managers) the work environment must be safe,
clean and tidy.

11. Equity
 Employees must be treated kindly and equally. They must be in the right
place in the organization to do things right. Managers should supervise and
monitor this process and they should treat employees fairly and impartially.

12. Stability of Tenure of Personnel

Management strives to minimize employee turnover and to have the right
sta in the right place.

13. Initiative
Employees should be allowed to express new ideas. This encourages interest
and involvement and creates added value for the company. Employee
initiatives are a source of strength for the organization.

14. Esprit de Corps

Managers are responsible for the development of morale in the workplace;
individually and in the area of communication. Esprit de corps contributes to the
development of the culture and creates an atmosphere of mutual trust and
understanding.

Henri Fayol also de ned ve functions of management which focus

on the relationship between sta and its management and they
provide points of reference so that problems can be solved in a
creative manner.
ose ve functions are the following: planning, organizing,
commanding, coordinating and controlling.
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON MANAGEMENT
EXERCISE 19.01 Antonyms
Find the antonym for the following adjectives.
simple bureau_ _ _ _ _ c
exible ri_ _ d
hands-o hands- _ _
intuitive rat_ _ _ _ l
methodical carel_ _ _
stressed re _ _ _ ed
top-down b_ _ _ _ _-_ _
 transparent _ _ clear

Réponse

EXERCISE 19.02 Word Derivations – Pre xes

To make an adjective with the opposite meaning, you
sometimes just need to add a pre x: de-, dis-, in- or un-:
centralized
cooperative
coordinated
direct
honest
organized
supportive
Réponse

EXERCISE 19.03 Collocations

Make ten compound words by matching elements from the
rst list with elements from the second list.
˜ allocate, cover, identify, make, measure, meet, pay
attention to, report on, set, spot
1. a pro t
2. costs
3. detail
4. needs
5. opportunities
6. performance
7. prices
8. resources
9. results
10. targets

Réponse
EXERCISE 19.04
Fill in the sentences with the words provided.
˜ manager, subordinates, coach, CEO, workers, sta ,
directors, employee
1. The new improved the operating processes in our
department.
2. The praised his team upon winning the World
Cup.
3. Our board of meets every month to discuss the
future of our company.
4. The factory went on strike because of the
constant power shortages.
5. The value of the stock option went up when the new
was appointed.
6. I have to organize the appraisal meetings for the six
who report to me.
7. The low pay led to an increase in turnover.
8. Every in the company is entitled to health and
safety training.

EXERCISE 19.05
The following words are ALMOST transparent. Find their
translation in English, but mind your spelling!
˜ autoritaire, empathique, empirique, con it d’intérêt,
recruter, responsabilité, motiver, su sant
Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON
MANAGEMENT

When rank leads to rancour

How not to give employee feedback
In David Mamet’s lm, “Glengarry Glen Ross”, a group of
American property salesmen are forced into a contest to
maximise sales. The top two will get prizes; the bottom
two will be red. The play comes across as a critique of
the corrupting e ect of “dog-eat-dog” capitalism and
putting performance above all else. But is competition
between employees an e ective way of improving overall
outcomes for business? [Researchers] tested whether
performance ranking helped or hindered group e ort.
Their approach was to use a “public goods” game in
which participants are given tokens which they can
invest. They had the choice of investing in an individual
project or investing collectively. Two di erent versions of
the game were played. In both games returns were
higher if everyone collaborated. But in one version,
investing in the individual project improved the relative
ranking of the participant, even though the returns to
both the individual and the group were lower.
Participants in the game included some students and
some experienced managers. The researchers observed
no signi cant di erence in the way the two groups
played the game. What mattered was the form of
feedback. In one version of the game, individuals were
told how well they scored and how well they were
performing relative to the rest of the group. In another,
they were informed about how well the group as a whole
was performing, relative to the maximum possible return.
Predictably, the second feedback mechanism led to more
co-operation. Less obviously, information on individual
performance relative to fellow group members led
players to favour moving up the pecking order over not
just their group’s collective returns, but also over their
material wellbeing. They were willing to forgo guaranteed
nancial gains; achieving “status” was more important.
As the authors note, this result has implications for most
organisations. “Ranking feedback, which is often used in
organisational settings, prompts people to perceive even
 situations with co-operative outcome structures as
competitive,” they write. People may not be innately co-
operative or competitive; they may simply respond to
cues set by the organisation they work for.
Destructive competition would be a particular problem
for those companies which use so-called “agile”
management approaches, in which sta from di erent
departments are organised into teams and asked to work
together. Instead of being agile, such teams may wrestle
themselves to a standstill.
The research also raises more questions about a
management approach, dubbed “rank and yank”, under
which all employees are rated yearly and those who fall
into the lowest category are liable to lose their jobs.
Ranking systems of this kind, associated with Jack
Welch’s tenure as boss of GE, an engineering giant, from
1981 to 2001, have been the subject to increased
academic scrutiny. Study after study suggests that they
hurt overall performance, not least by lowering
productivity.
Businesses need to compete with their rivals but within
the rm, co-operation is normally much more useful than
competitive rivalry; a house divided against itself, cannot
stand, as Abraham Lincoln said. Competitive ranking
seems not just to reduce co-operation and foster
sel shness but also to discourage risk-taking. Such
ndings have prompted many bosses to yank “rank and
yank”. Microsoft abandoned it in 2013. […]
In “Glengarry Glen Ross” two of the salesmen conspire to
rob the o ce, steal some of the best sales leads and sell
them to a rival business. If you set up a dog-eat-dog
system, you risk having the hounds turn around and bite
their owner.
From The Economist, (on Feb 27th, 2020)

EXERCISE 19.06
After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. Rephrase the question that the journalist is raising in this
article.
2. Sum up the methodology of the experiment conducted by
the researchers who wanted to nd out what impact rank
had on individual and collective performance.
3. What were the results of the experiment?
4. What conclusions can be drawn from that experiment in
terms of management?
5. Explain what the “rank and yank” management method
consists in.
6. Is that method described as e ective in the article?

Réponse
 20
Work and Motivation
Frederick Herzberg (1923-2000), a clinical psychologist and pioneer
of ‘job enrichment’, is regarded as one of the great original thinkers in
management and motivational theory.
e two-factor theory (also known as Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene
theory and dual-factor theory) states that there are certain factors in
the workplace that cause job satisfaction (‘motivators’), while a
separate set of factors cause job dissatisfaction (‘hygiene factors’).
Herzberg was attempting to bring more humanity and caring into the
workplace. He did not develop these theories to be used as
‘motivational tools’ purely to improve organizational performance.
He sought instead to explain how to manage people properly, for the
good and welfare of all people at work.
Herzberg’s research proved that people will strive to achieve ‘hygiene’
needs because they are unhappy without them, but once satis ed the
e ect soon wears o (s’estomper) – satisfaction is temporary. en
poorly managed organizations fail to understand that people are not
‘motivated’ by addressing ‘hygiene’ needs such as working conditions
or salary. People are only truly motivated by the factors that Herzberg
identi ed as real motivators, such as recognition of achievement,
advancement and career development, etc., which represent a far
deeper level of meaning and ful lment.
appalling / pleasant working • conditions de travail e royables /
conditions agréables
red tape • paperasse
salary level • niveau de salaire
recognition of achievement • reconnaissance de la performance
 to take charge of a project
opportunities for advancement
job security
to promote job satisfaction
employee’s well-being/ welfare
to provide sb with sthg
a (non) monetary reward
rewarding (adj)
• être chargé de projet
• perspectives de promotion
• sécurité de l’emploi
• promouvoir la satisfaction de
l’emploi
• bien-être du salarié
• fournir qqch à qqn
• récompense (non) nancière
• grati ant

eory X and eory Y are theories of human motivation and

management. ey were created and developed by Douglas McGregor
at the MIT Sloan School of Management, initially presented at a
management conference in 1957 and developed during the 1960s.
ese two theories describe contrasting models of workforce
motivation applied by managers in human resources management,
organizational behavior, organizational communication and
organizational development. According to the models, the two
opposing sets of general assumptions of how workers are motivated
form the basis for two di erent managerial styles. eory X stresses
the importance of strict supervision, external rewards, and penalties; in
contrast, eory Y highlights the motivating role of job satisfaction
and encourages workers to approach tasks without direct supervision.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ eory_X_and_ eory_Y
to appraise/ to assess/ to evaluate • évaluer
an appraisal meeting • entretien d’évaluation
the appraisal process • le processus d’évaluation
self-assessment • auto-évaluation
an appraiser • évaluateur/ assesseur
 an appraisee • personne évaluée
to praise sb’s work • faire l’éloge du travail de qqn

ongoing training • formation continue

initial training • formation initiale
mandatory training • formation obligatoire
health and safety training • formation hygiène et sécurité
coaching • encadrement
mentoring • tutorat
work-shadowing • observation
skills update • réactualisation des compétences
to recruit/ to hire/ to take on • recruter/ embaucher
to retrain • recycler

˜ Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics model

e job characteristics model, designed by Hackman and Oldham, is
based on the idea that the task itself is key to employee motivation.
Speci cally, a boring and monotonous job sti es (étou er) motivation
to perform well, whereas a challenging job enhances motivation.
Variety, autonomy and decision authority are three ways of adding
challenge to a job.
According to Hackman, procedures that can lead to improvements in
performance and commitment in the workplace are:
– job rotation: moving people regularly between di erent sets of tasks,
– job enlargement: giving an individual a larger number of broadly
similar tasks,
– job enrichment: adding extra tasks that involve more decision-
making, and increased autonomy.
 www.slideshare.net/KapilRajput1/job-characteristic-model
a monotonous task • tâche monotone
a routine task • tâche de routine
to be involved in a decision • être impliqué dans une décision
a peer • pair
employee empowerment • responsabilisation du salarié
absenteeism • absentéisme
sta turnover • turnover
turnover • chi re d’a aires

a pay rise/ a wage increase • augmentation salariale

wage claims • revendications salariales
perks/ fringe bene ts • avantages en nature
an incentive bonus • prime d’encouragement
a performance-related bonus • programme de primes à la
scheme performance
exible schedule • emploi du temps exible

Emotional intelligence was de ned by Daniel Goleman (born 1946)

as the ability to identify, assess, and control one’s own emotions, the
emotions of others, and that of groups. It includes self-awareness, self-
regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. Goleman found out
that there was a strong correlation between emotional intelligence and
measurable business results.
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON WORK AND
MOTIVATION
EXERCISE 20.01 Word derivation
Turn the following verbs into nouns and translate the nouns
into French.
Ex: to retire a retiree un retraité
˜ to appraise, to address, to evacuate, to employ, to
interview, to franchise, to license, to train
Réponse

EXERCISE 20.02
Complete each sentence with the correct form of the words
in italics. Sometimes, you will need to use a negative form.
1. lead
a. It’s the business in the eld.
b. That company is the market this year.
c. She showed excellent ability under the
circumstances.
2. motivate
a. Recognition of achievement is probably the number one
factor.
b. I left my job because it o ered no new challenges. I felt
useless and was therefore .
3. manage
a. change in a fast-moving world is one of the
leader’s most challenging tasks.
b. This situation is completely : we won’t be able to
meet the deadline!
4. satisfy
a. A job well done often gives employees a great feeling of
.
b. Too working conditions may generate a high sta
turnover.
5. analyze
a. Sally is particularly apt at separating a complex problem
into its parts: she’s very .
b. On the whole one can only agree with your of the
situation. You did a great job at assessing it.

EXERCISE 20.03 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the following sentences with the right preposition or
particle.
1. For employees to feel well at work it is necessary to bring
more humanity and caring the workplace.
2. To avoid dissatisfaction, employers need to provide their
workers sensible working conditions.
3. After having taken a quali ed manager it is
necessary to train him so that he gets the right
understanding of the company’s particular culture.
4. Managers will be more willing to take charge a
project if they feel it is a rewarding task.
5. If you want to motivate your sta you need to involve them
the decision-making process.

EXERCISE 20.04
Match the following compounds with their de nition.
˜ compensation program, stretch targets, comparison
companies, annual base salary, short-term cash incentives,
equity-based awards, increased shareholder value,
customer-retention rates
a. the percentage of customers that stay loyal in the long
term
b. system of payments and rewards for employees
c. stock given to employees as rewards
d. better returns for shareholders
e. strategic objectives extremely di cult to achieve
f. bonuses to encourage better performance
g. yearly salary, excluding bonuses, etc.
h. competitors

Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISE ON WORK AND

MOTIVATION
EXERCISE 20.05 Questions
1. List elements that you think can motivate employees in a
company. Try to distinguish intrinsic and extrinsic factors.
2. Which of the following jobs do you think should use some
form of performance-related pay (payment by results, not
just time): investment bankers, school teachers, sports
players, cleaners, doctors, actors, others? Which of these
jobs do you think should be the most highly paid? Why?
3. Find out the advantages and drawbacks of Theory X and
Theory Y respectively.
Réponse
MANAGEMENT / COMPANY
STRUCTURE
 21
Company Organization
An organization chart, or ow chart is a visual representation of how
a rm works and of how a rm intends responsibility and information
to ow (circuler) within the structure. It usually depicts di erent
management functions (accounting, nance, human resources, etc.)
and their subdivisions as boxes linked with lines along which decision-
making power travels downwards.
a position • poste
a subordinate • subordonné
a Chief Executive O cer (CEO) • Président directeur général (PDG)
a hierarchical level • niveau hiérarchique

an intern/ a trainee • stagiaire

an internship/ a training period • stage
training • formation
an apprentice • apprenti
a temporary worker (a temp) • intérimaire
a freelance worker • travailleur indépendant
shift work • travail posté
a department • service (dans une entreprise)
a Vice President (VP) • chef de service

to be responsible for • être responsable de

to be in charge of • être chargé de
to deal with • s’occuper de
 reliable/ dependable/ trustworthy • able
to apply for a job • postuler à un emploi
to appoint sb to a position • nommer qqn à un poste
to provide sb with sthg • fournir qqch à qqn

some key departments des services clés

HR: Human Resources RH : Ressources humaines
PR: Public Relations RP : Relations publiques
M&A: Mergers and Acquisitions Fusions et Acquisitions
R&D: Research and Development Recherche et Développement

Organizational culture corresponds to the values and behaviors that

contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an
organization.
It includes an organization’s expectations (attentes), experiences,
philosophy, and values that hold it together, and is expressed in its self-
image, inner workings, and interactions with the outside world. It is
based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten
rules that have been developed over time. Also called corporate
culture, it’s shown in:
– the way the organization conducts its business, treats its employees,
customers, and the wider community,
– the extent to which freedom is allowed in decision-making,
developing new ideas, and personal expression,
– how power and information ow through its hierarchy, and
– how committed employees are towards collective objectives.
It a ects the organization’s productivity and performance, and
provides guidelines (directives) on customer care and service, product
quality and safety, attendance and punctuality, and concern for the
environment.
 www.businessdictionary.com/de nition/organizational-culture.html
˜ Di erent types of companies
an MNC: a multinational company multinationale (FMN = Firme
multinationale)
an SMB: a small or medium sized PME (Petite et moyenne entreprise)
business
an Ltd: a Private Limited Company SARL (Société à responsabilité limitée)
(UK)
a PLC: a Public Limited Company SA (Société anonyme)
(UK)
a partnership société en nom collectif

A start up company (startup or start-up) is an entrepreneurial venture

which is typically a newly emerged, fast-growing business that aims to
meet a marketplace need by developing a viable business model
around an innovative product, service, process or a platform. A startup
is usually a company designed to e ectively develop and validate a
scalable business model. (Wikipedia)
A joint venture (JV) is a business arrangement in which two or more
parties agree to pool their resources for the purpose of accomplishing
a speci c task. is task can be a new project or any other business
activity. In a joint venture (JV), each of the participants is responsible
for pro ts, losses and costs associated with it. However, the venture is
its own entity, separate and apart from the participants’ other
business interests. (www.investopedia.com)
A holding company (société de portefeuille) is a parent corporation,
limited liability company or limited partnership that owns enough
voting stock in another company to control its policies and
management. A holding company exists for the sole purpose of
controlling another company, which might also be a corporation,
limited partnership or limited liability company, rather than for the
purpose of producing its own goods or services. Holding companies
also exist for the purpose of owning property such as real estate,
patents, trademarks, stocks and other assets. If a business is 100%
owned by a holding company, it is called a wholly owned subsidiary.
(www.investopedia.com)
A dotcom is a company that embraces the internet as the key
component in its business. Dotcoms are so named because of the URL
customers visit to do business with the company, such as
www.amazon.com. e com stands for commercial; by contrast,
websites run by companies whose primary motivations are not
commercial, such as nonpro t companies, often have domain names
ending in “.org”, which is short for “organization”.
to acquire legal status • acquérir la personnalité juridique
to allot shares • attribuer des actions
annual general meeting • assemblée générale annuelle
articles of association • statuts
memorandum • acte constitutif
registration • inscription/ immatriculation
a subsidiary • liale
a branch • succursale/ une agence (bancaire)
a parent company • société mère
to dissolve a company • dissoudre une société
to oat a public company • constituer une société anonyme

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON COMPANY

ORGANIZATION
EXERCISE 21.01
Translate the following words into English. Mind your
spelling.
˜ responsabilité ; ressources humaines ; hiérarchique ;
recherche et développement
Réponse

EXERCISE 21.02 Word Derivation – Su xes

Add the right su x to derive these words.
Un apprenti an apprentice an apprentice un
apprentissage
Un stagiaire an intern an intern un stage
Acquérir to acquire acqui acquisition
Nommer to appoint an appoint nomination
Démissionner to resign resign démission
Fusionner to merge merge fusion

EXERCISE 21.03
Complete the words. The rst letter is given.
1. A u r looks after the interests of sta , e.g.
in getting better pay and working conditions.
2. A r sits in the lobby or entrance area of a
company. He greets and checks in visitors.
3. A d is generally a very senior person who sits on
the board of a company.
4. A h r m takes care of lling
vacant positions.
5. A s o makes sure there are no dangers
from machines, etc. and that accidents at work are properly
investigated.
6. A c a is an expert in nancial matters
that concern the company.
7. A v p is the person in charge of a
department.
8.M and A are a process by which a
company can grow externally.

EXERCISE 21.04
Get your name tags right! Match the job title with its
de nition.
˜ a president; a chairman; a managing director; the CEO
1. The person who heads a Board of Directors.
2. The highest executive o cer in a company.
3. The person managing the a airs of a corporation.
4. The senior director after the chairman.

Réponse

EXERCISE 21.05
Match the terms in the list with their de nitions.
˜ chain of command; lines of responsibility; spans of
control; Board of Management
1. Handing decision making from the higher levels of an
organization to lower levels.
2. The number of people a manager can e ectively manage in
a particular situation.
3. The speci cation of individual employees’ responsibilities
for particular aspects of work and of their management
responsibilities and who they report to in the organization.
4. A committee of members elected by the shareholders to
manage and oversee the company.
Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON COMPANY

ORGANIZATION

The number of the best

Finding the optimal size of teams and organisations
How big should a business team be? It is an enormously
important issue for companies. Teams that are too small
may lack the skills required to get the job done; teams
that are too big may be impossible to co-ordinate.
Similar trade-o s may apply when it comes to rms as a
whole. Startups are often short of sta . The founders
must play a host of di erent roles, from obtaining nance
to product development and marketing, for which they
may not be equally suited. But the upside is that they can
have highly collaborative working environments.
People who have worked for startups say the culture
changes when the company reaches a certain size. Patty
McCord, formerly of Net ix, referred to the “stand-on-a-
chair number”—the biggest group that can easily hear
the boss address them.
Robin Dunbar’s argument, an anthropologist at Oxford
University, […] is that the size of the group is linked to the
size of the brain. With their large brains, humans can
cope with larger bands. A larger social group has many
advantages, allowing for greater protection and
specialisation.
Whereas 150 is sometimes referred to as the “Dunbar
number”, the academic himself in fact refers to a range
of gures. He observes that humans tend to have ve
intimate friends, 15 or so good friends, around 50 social
friends and 150-odd acquaintances.
Running a larger network can be di cult. So much time
is needed to maintain relationships that their quality
inevitably su ers. The armed forces have spent millennia
experimenting with unit size. A Roman centurion
oversaw 100. The modern American army company has
180 members. Britain’s equivalent numbers 120.
These are rough estimates, rather than rigid gures. But
it is striking that many group activities seem to be close
to a Dunbar number. […].
Sports-team sizes relate to the playing area. There are
ve players in a basketball side and six in ice hockey;
outdoors there are 11 players in football and cricket
teams, and 7-15 in the various forms of rugby. Perhaps
this is the optimal size for coaching purposes, or perhaps
crowds would struggle to distinguish individual players if
teams were larger.
Small work teams may also tend towards these size
ranges. “If you want a committee to decide something,
limit it to four to ve people,” says Mr Dunbar. “But to
brainstorm in a meeting, you need 12-15.” Many
companies use “agile” teams which draw employees from
across the company; they tend to have between ve and
nine members.
Most businesses are small. A survey of British rms in
2015 found that only 0.6% employed more than 150
people. Nor are small companies necessarily ephemeral.
One study concluded that 89% of organisations that last
more than 100 years employ fewer than 300 people. […]
For much of economic history, work was conducted in
small units by peasants, tenant farmers and artisans (for
example blacksmiths). The advent of powered machinery
enabled production at a much larger scale, with workers
crowded into factories. These days the rise of the service
economy means that workers are no longer concentrated
in such large groups.
This may not be a bad thing. It was easy for employees in
large factories to regard remote company owners as
“them” rather than “us”, and indeed it was easy for
business owners to perceive workers as an
undi erentiated mass of people and treat them
accordingly. Strikes were common.
The modern company may settle on a model with a small
group of “core” workers and a larger group of contract
workers. The result may be more cohesion within the
core sta but the non-core sta may be less well treated.
 The small core teams may work e ectively. The big
question will be the e ect on morale of those outside
those teams.
From The Economist, (on Jan 23rd, 2020)

EXERCISE 21.06
After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. What does the phrase “stand-on-a-chair number” illustrate
here?
2. Why does 150 seem to be the limit for a group to work
properly and collectively?
3. What de nes an “agile” team in companies?
4. What does the journalist think of the fact that most
companies today are rather small?
Réponse

EXERCISE 21.07 Going further

1. Research a little more about the “Dunbar number”. Make
sure you can talk about it.
2. Find examples of companies that switched to more “agile”
forms of organizations.
Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISE ON COMPANY

ORGANIZATION
EXERCISE 21.08 Analyzing an inconographic document
˜ Analyze the following document.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Org_charts%
22_comic_by_Manu_Cornet.png

Réponse
 22
Companies and their
Stakeholders
a stakeholder • partie prenante
a stockholder/ a shareholder • actionnaire
a dividend • dividende
a share/ a stock • part/ action

Companies entertain a complex relationship with their stakeholders,

which entails responsibilities, compliance with (respect) certain
standards, duties, but also rights and rewards (be they nancial or not)
for those which manage to comply with (se conformer à) their
environment.
e concept of Corporate Social Responsibility perfectly illustrates
the complexity of that relationship.
˜ What is CSR?
Corporate Social Responsibility is a management concept whereby
companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their
business operations and interactions with their stakeholders. CSR is
generally understood as being the way through which a company
achieves a balance of economic, environmental and social imperatives
(“Triple-Bottom-Line-Approach”), while at the same time addressing
the expectations of shareholders and stakeholders. In this sense it is
important to draw a distinction between CSR, which can be a strategic
business management concept, and charity, sponsorships or
philanthropy. Even though the latter can also make a valuable
contribution to poverty reduction, will directly enhance the
reputation of a company and strengthen its brand, the concept of CSR
clearly goes beyond that.
Key CSR issues: environmental management, eco-e ciency,
responsible sourcing, stakeholder engagement, labor standards and
working conditions, employee and community relations, social equity,
gender balance, human rights, good governance, and anti-corruption
measures.
A properly implemented CSR concept can bring along a variety of
competitive advantages, such as enhanced access to capital and
markets, increased sales and pro ts, operational cost savings,
improved productivity and quality, e cient human resource base,
improved brand image and reputation, enhanced customer loyalty,
better decision making and risk management processes.
www.unido.org/csr/o72054.html (United Nations Industrial
Development Organization)

to appeal to/ to attract consumers • attirer les consommateurs

to arouse interest in a product
a loyal customer
an aftersales service
a loyalty card
• susciter l’intérêt pour un
produit
• client dèle
• service après-vente
• carte de délité
a reward programme (UK)/ program
(US)
a voucher/ a coupon
to expect/ expectations
to meet expectations
• programme de délité
• coupon de réduction
• s’attendre à/ les attentes
• répondre aux attentes

a retailer • détaillant/ grand distributeur

a wholesaler • grossiste
a supplier • fournisseur
an economic actor • acteur économique
to make money/ to make pro t • faire de l’argent/ du béné ce
to rely on sb • compter sur qqn
an advertiser • publicitaire
to advertise for sthg • faire de la publicité pour qqch
a catch-phrase • slogan/ phrase d’accroche

a bank/ a banker • banque/ banquier

to take out a loan
to provide capital/ funds
a sleeping partner
an interest rate
banking fees
• souscrire un emprunt
• fournir le capital/ les fonds
• bailleur de fonds
• taux d’intérêts
• frais bancaires

the workforce/ labor force (US)/ labour force

• main d’œuvre
(UK)
the labor market (US)/ labour market (UK) • marché du travail
a trade union • syndicat
working conditions • conditions de travail
 a decent wage • salaire décent
• augmentation
a pay-rise/ a wage increase
salariale

“Brand image” is synonymous with reputation. Companies need to

build up their image by a whole series of strategies which consist in
giving themselves a sort of personality. is is called branding. A brand
image is built on the choice of a name and a symbol in order to
increase its perceived value. A brand name should be easy to
pronounce, remember and recognize.
A good brand image is very important to build up the loyalty of
customers, to establish brand recognition and to di erentiate a brand
from its competitors. It brings added value to the products or services
and can even justify an increase in prices.
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON COMPANIES AND
THEIR STAKEHOLDERS
EXERCISE 22.01
Translate the underlined words.
a. A company that cares for the welfare of its employees
increases its chances of success.
b. Downsizing is generally a very unpopular decision in a
company.
c. Marks and Spencer decide to retrain some of their sta
after they had to leave France in 2001.
d. Sustainable Development stands for meeting the needs of
present generations without jeopardizing the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
Réponse

EXERCISE 22.02 Synonyms

Find at least one synonym for the following words.
˜ to be unemployed; rich; to foster; wage
Réponse

EXERCISE 22.03 Prepositions and particles

Fill in with the right preposition or particle and translate the
phrasal verb.
a. Companies participate increasing the GDP of a
country.
b. They also contribute keeping the unemployment
rate low.
c. I’ve been the dole ever since I lost my job with
Marks and Spencer.
d. Companies have to comply norms if they want to
be able to operate in the EU.
e. They have to take account the local habits to stay
competitive.
f. Women are generally discriminated because of
their gender.

EXERCISE 22.04 Acronyms

What do the following acronyms stand for? Translate them
into French.
˜ CSR; R&D; an NGO; M&A; a PLC; GDP
Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISE ON COMPANIES

AND THEIR STAKEHOLDERS

The butter y e ect

Charities are irritating but often help companies do the
right thing.
“WE NOW understand it’s about corporate partnerships...
That’s the model...and it’s killing us.” Thus did Naomi
(“No Logo”) Klein, self-proclaimed champion of the anti-
capitalist Occupy movement, recently castigate carbon
markets, green incentives and the close ties between
companies and charities that have sprung up to support
them.
(…) On this occasion her views coincide with a broader
backlash against links between companies and NGOs.
Partnerships between the two have become like o -site
team-building exercises: they were once slightly exotic,
but now no self-respecting rm does without them. A
survey of European multinationals and British charities
(…) found that over a third of the rms invest £10m or
more in their charitable alliances and almost two-thirds
classify the partnerships as “strategic” (whatever that
means).
But these are partnerships of opposites. Businesses tend
to think they discharge their duty to society by obeying
the law. Charities want to do the right thing. Indeed,
charities like rights in general: the right to food, the right
to clean water, and so on. Businesses think in terms of
markets, not rights.
The gap is widening. The share of rms that told C&E
they are “very con dent” that their partnership with
NGOs will meet its aims has fallen by nearly half over the
past year. Only 40% of NGOs say partnerships have
changed companies’ behaviour for the better – down ten
points in a year.
The recent past has dealt several hefty blows to the
perceived merits of these links. Most companies sign
such deals to seek “the bubble reputation” (…): to look
good, whether or not the activity is worthwhile. But the
millions that BP gave to American environmental NGOs
did nothing to stop the company’s good name being
dragged through the muck of the Gulf of Mexico. John
Browne, BP’s former boss, was even on the board of one
of those NGOs – for all the good it did him.
On their side, charities  –  which are often reluctant
partners, since they risk accusations of selling out  –  feel
burned by two occurrences in April this year. One was
the failure of the carbon-trading market in Europe. (…).
The debacle at the world’s largest carbon-trading
scheme embarrassed all its backers and left responsible
NGOs under attack (…).
The other event was the collapse of the Rana Plaza
textile building in Bangladesh. Some of the world’s best-
known NGOs have put great e orts into improving the
supply chains of big clothing – makers such as Benetton,
(…), Primark and Walmart. Factories at Rana Plaza made
clothes for all of them. But if the suppliers condoned
such deadly working conditions, what was the point of
those well-meaning e orts? For a charity, why take all
the trouble? Why not just go around to Primark’s agship
store in London  –  as did War on Want  –  and shout that
the company was to blame for the deaths?
Before concluding that partnerships are valueless,
though, it is worth recalling the reasons why they took
o in the rst place. NGOs help companies reach parts of
the market they cannot reach by themselves. In a new
book, (…), Duncan Learmouth of GSK, a pharmaceutical
rm, argues that “what NGOs bring is an insight into the
base of the pyramid, the marginalised populations...That’s
an understanding we just don’t have in the business.”
Environmental NGOs help companies consolidate their
e orts to cut pollution and waste. P&G, the world’s
biggest packager of consumer goods, says green groups
have helped it save nearly $1 billion through its
“sustainability programme” in the past ten years.
NGOs are usually better than companies at attracting
and retaining idealistic graduates: partnerships allow a
little of the magic to rub o on rms. (…) Partnerships
cannot save companies from public-relations disasters
like BP’s but they can improve relations with regulators:
WWF, an environmental charity, helped Coca-Cola
 defuse a damaging con ict in India which at one point
led to the Indian Supreme Court demanding that the
company hand over its exact (and still secret) formula.
— Even evil capitalists have their uses
For NGOs, too, partnerships with rms have their uses.
Companies provide money, which all charities need. They
also o er a way of in uencing the behaviour of millions.
About 1.5 billion people are cultivating and making food
around the world. NGOs which want to improve nutrition
or reduce food waste cannot hope to a ect the
behaviour of so many. But roughly 100 companies are
involved in selling a quarter of the world’s food.
Changing the standards they apply could have a greater
impact than the charities would ever achieve on their
own.
All that said, the bene ts of partnerships will never be
uniform, smooth or even very satisfying. Some alliances
are well designed; many are not. Some rms are
committed to the idea; some are not. And NGOs are like
companies themselves: they seek market share; they
compete for contributions. Some, like WWF, want to
engage with businesses. Others, like Greenpeace, do not.
And a few, like Oxfam, want both – slamming companies
one minute, advising them the next. Partnerships are
messy and patchy. But on balance they are forces for
good.
From The Economist (on Nov 2nd, 2013)

EXERCISE 22.05 Rephrase

1. Who is Naomi Klein? What does she think of corporate
partnerships?
2. Sum up the main positive aspects of the partnerships
between charities and companies.
3. Sum up the negative aspects both for charities and
companies.
4. What distinguishes WWF from Greenpeace? De ne what
kind of organizations they are.
5. What’s the journalist’s opinion on those partnerships?
Justify by rephrasing.
Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISE ON COMPANIES AND THEIR

STAKEHOLDERS
EXERCISE 22.06 How to write a letter
Write the following letter (150 words).
Vous êtes John/Jane White résidant au 30 Newbury Street,
London SE6 4JJ. Vous êtes actionnaire d’une entreprise de
nouvelles technologies (Cognizant Technology Solutions,
située au 1 Kingdom Street, London, W2 6BD, United
Kingdom) qui, à la dernière assemblée générale, a proposé la
délocalisation de la société a n de réduire les coûts.
Écrivez une lettre à Patrick/Patricia Clayton, le président du
conseil d’administration (Chairman of the Board of Directors)
a n de faire part de votre opinion. Vous rappellerez la raison
de votre courrier, la responsabilité de votre société auprès de
ses di érents partenaires et vous expliquerez comment vous
allez voter : pour ou contre la proposition et pourquoi.
Réponse
 23
Governance
Corporate governance is the framework of rules and practices by
which a board of directors ensures accountability, fairness, and
transparency in a company’s relationship with all its stakeholders
(investors, customers, management, employees, government, and the
community).
e corporate governance framework consists of explicit and implicit
contracts between the company and the stakeholders for distribution
of responsibilities, rights, and rewards, procedures for reconciling the
sometimes con icting interests of stakeholders in accordance with
their duties, privileges, and roles, and procedures for proper
supervision, control, and information- ows to serve as a system of
checks-and-balances.

a framework • cadre/ structure

a theoretical framework • cadre théorique
a regulatory framework • cadre légal/ réglementaire
legal framework • cadre juridique

annual shareholders’ meeting • assemblée générale ordinaire

shareholder rights • droits des actionnaires
 annual general meeting • assemblée générale ordinaire
to vote on issues • voter sur des questions

˜ e right word: the case of “responsabilité”

French speakers tend to use the word ‘responsibility’ where English
speakers use a great variety of words. Note that the spelling of that
word di ers in English too.
Here are some examples to clarify the matter.
1. accountability (responsabilité): the fact of being responsible for
what you do and able to give a satisfactory reason for it, or the degree
to which this happens.
Example: Accountability is important these days, and managers aren’t
always willing to adopt risky strategies.
to hold sb accountable for sthg • tenir qqn pour responsable

2. liability (responsabilité): the fact that someone is legally responsible

for something.
Example: He denies any liability for the damage caused.
to admit liability for sthg • admettre sa responsabilité dans qqch

3. responsibility (responsabilité): something that it is your job or duty

to deal with.
Example: It’s her responsibility to ensure the project nishes on time.
to take responsibility for sthg • assumer la responsabilité de qqch

e main di erence between responsibility and accountability is that

responsibility can be shared while accountability cannot. Being
accountable not only means being responsible for something but also
ultimately being answerable for your actions.
balance of power • équilibre du pouvoir
con ict of interest • con it d’intérêt
 ownership • propriété
governing body • comité/ organe directeur
controlling shareholder • actionnaire majoritaire
minority shareholder • actionnaire minoritaire

e tension between ‘performance’ (driving forward) and

‘conformance’ (prudent control) provides a useful framework for
analyzing the corporate governance system of any organization.
board of directors/ board of management • conseil d’administration
to sit on the board • siéger au conseil
to serve on a board • faire partie d’un conseil
chairman of the board • président du conseil
supervisory board • conseil de surveillance
supervisory body • organisme de tutelle
duciary management • gestion duciaire

ere are di erent types of business entity. For each one there are
di erent legal frameworks.
˜ Sole proprietorship
A sole trader (UK) or sole proprietorship (US) is one individual in
business alone. Sole proprietorships are the most common form of
business structure. is type of business is simple to form and operate,
and may enjoy greater exibility of management, fewer legal controls,
and fewer taxes. However, the business owner is personally liable for all
debts incurred by the business.
˜ Main types of partnerships
A general partnership is composed of 2 or more persons who agree
to contribute money, labor, or skill to a business. Each partner shares
the pro ts, losses, and management of the business, and each partner
is personally and equally liable for debts of the partnership. Formal
terms of the partnership are usually contained in a written partnership
agreement.
A limited partnership is composed of one or more general partners
and one or more limited partners. e general partners manage the
business and share fully in its pro ts and losses. Limited partners share
in the pro ts of the business, but their losses are limited to the extent
of their investment. Limited partners are usually not involved in the
day-to-day operations of the business.
A limited liability partnership (LLP) is similar to a general
partnership except that normally a partner doesn’t have personal
liability for the negligence of another partner. is business structure is
used most by professionals, such as accountants and lawyers.
A company (UK and US) or corporation (US) is a more complex
business structure. It has certain rights, privileges, and liabilities
beyond those of an individual. Doing business as a corporation may
yield tax or nancial bene ts, but these can be o set by other
considerations, such as increased licensing fees or decreased personal
control. Corporations may be formed for pro t or nonpro t purposes.
A limited liability company (LLC) is formed by 1 or more individuals
or entities through a special written agreement which details the
organization of the LLC, including provisions for management,
assignability of interests, and distribution of pro ts and losses. LLCs are
permitted to engage in any lawful, for-pro t business or activity other
than banking or insurance.
to comply with rules • se conformer à des règles
to abide by regulations • obéir à des réglementations
an ethical commitment to sthg • engagement éthique vis-à-vis de qqch
to pay lip service to sthg • ne souscrire à qqch qu’en apparence
 sound governance • gouvernance saine
corporate citizenship • citoyenneté d’entreprise

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON GOVERNANCE

EXERCISE 23.01 Acronyms
What do the following acronyms hide?
˜ CEO, AGM, PLC, LLC
Réponse

EXERCISE 23.02
For each sentence underline the right word(s).
1. The money that a corporation owes is debt / liability.
2. A(n) owner / proprietor is sb who legally possesses sthg
(this sthg can be anything) whereas a(n) owner / proprietor
is sb who owns a business.
3. A shareholder / stakeholder / stockholder is sb who owns
part of a business, in British English. A shareholder /
stakeholder / stockholder is the same but in American
English.
4. If you’re a shareholder in a company, then every year you
receive an income / a pro t / a dividend paid out of the
company’s income / pro ts / dividends.
Réponse

EXERCISE 23.03
Fill in the following sentences with the right prepositions or
particles and translate them into French.
1. The Chair will vote issues only to break a tie.
2. Each director commits serve the board
for an extended period of time if elected.
3. We now have to build a future within an increasingly
complex world that challenges both our imagination and our
ethical commitment future generations.
4. It is not an option to allocate budgetary funds without
evaluating the result of their application or to pay lip service
proposals which are never realized.

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON
GOVERNANCE

A clan of activist investors takes on Japan Inc

More Japanese shareholders are growing restless
Murakami Yoshiaki, activist investor and scourge of
Japanese boardrooms, knows how to rattle cages. On
January 21st his family launched a hostile bid for Toshiba
Machine, a maker of industrial robots. The company’s
threat to block the takeover by issuing shares should
alarm anyone who cares about how Japanese rms are
run, says Mr Murakami’s daughter, Aya, who runs one of
the family funds.
The Murakamis want Toshiba Machine either to deploy its
roughly ¥50bn ($456m) in reserves more productively or
to return more to owners. Shareholders support the bid,
she claims, but are being ignored. “If this is allowed to go
ahead, what is the point of shareholders?” she fumes.
Her clan’s wider aim, says Ms Murakami, is to get
Japanese boardrooms to operate more openly. On that
score Japan Inc has seen progress since a corporate-
governance code was introduced in 2015, says Oguchi
Toshiaki of Governance for Owners Japan, which
represents shareholders. The share of big listed rms
with two or more external directors has tripled in ve
years to over 90%.
That is welcome. But outsiders on boards are useful only
if they are truly independent, says Nicholas Benes, who
helped draft the new code. With four outside directors,
Toshiba (which owns about 3% of Toshiba Machine) was
considered a model of good governance until it was hit
by an accounting scandal in 2015. Nissan’s board, which
also looked diverse, failed to rein in the carmaker’s
imperious boss, Carlos Ghosn, for years before turning on
him.
For oversight actually to bene t shareholders, it must be
more than token, according to a new study by Mr Benes
of listed non- nancial rms’ performance between 2014
and 2018. He found, among other things, that Japanese
companies which created nominating committees for
directors and then allowed them to appoint independent
outsiders outperformed rivals which did neither.
By contrast, rms with big “allegiant” shareholdings—
large stakes held by other rms which help protect
against unwanted takeovers but also insulate
management from the remaining shareholders—did
relatively poorly. Every 1% of allegiant stakes was linked
to a 0.12-percentage-point drop in the return on invested
capital. That is a problem for investors in Japan.
Hundreds of companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
own allegiant stakes in each other. The total market value
of such cross-shareholdings in non- nancial blue chips is
roughly ¥31trn, reckons Mr Benes—big enough to weigh
on overall stockmarket returns.
 These peculiar listed subsidiaries, a unique feature of
Japanese capitalism, are under less pressure to reinvest
pro ts or hand them back to shareholders because those
who wield ultimate control care more about maintaining
it than about returns. Japanese companies’ cash piles
exceeded ¥446trn last year, even after they had bought
back a record ¥6.5trn in shares the year before. Firms’
reluctance to part with cash shortchanges investors in
Japan by ¥16trn a year, according to one estimate. The
Murakamis are unlikely to be the last to grow restless.
From The Economist (on Jan 23rd, 2020)

EXERCISE 23.04
1. After reading the text, de ne the notion of “activist
investor”.
2. What does the Murakami family (who are activist investors)
want Toshiba to do?
3. What has the “corporate-governance code” introduced in
2015 changed in the way Japanese companies are run?
4. What limits to the code does the journalist raise though?

Réponse

EXERCISE 23.05 Going further

Look into the additions that were made to the corporate-
governance code issued in 2015 and sum up the main
information in around 150 words.
Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISES ON GOVERNANCE

EXERCISE 23.06 Write 150 words
The Anglo-American model of putting the shareholder rst
can be detrimental to the employees, the community and
even business. Do you agree? Use examples seen in this unit
and from your experience to justify your opinion.
Réponse

EXERCISE 23.07 Research

Have you recently heard a story in the news about weak
governance at a particular company? Has it led to any
disaster or scandal? If so, report on it.
Réponse
 24
New Business Models
e gig economy gets its name from each piece of work being akin to
an individual ‘gig’. It has previously been called the “sharing
economy” – mostly in reference to platforms such as Airbnb – and the
“collaborative economy”.
However, at its core are app-based platforms that dole out work in bits
and pieces – making deliveries, driving passengers or cleaning homes –
leading some to prefer the term “platform economy”.
Not all gig economy roles are based around a technology platform. Gig
economy workers can also work for more traditional companies, which
have changed how their sta ng system operates. Delivery drivers for
Hermes, for example, also work on a piece-by-piece delivery basis,
though their employer does not have the tech startup origins often
associated with this type of work.
In a gig economy, temporary, exible jobs are commonplace and
companies tend toward hiring independent contractors and
freelancers instead of full-time employees.
a gig (= a performance by musicians) • concert/ bœuf
a gig (= a job, esp. a temporary one) • travail temporaire
to temp • faire de l’intérim
a temp/ a temporary worker • intérimaire
to work part-time • travailler à temps partiel
a full-time employee • employé à plein temps
• collaborateur
a freelancer/ freelance worker
indépendant
a contractor • entrepreneur
(construction)
 a contractor • contractuel non employé
an independent contractor (= self-
• travailleur indépendant
employed)
a casual contractor • vacataire/ intermittent

˜ How many people work in the gig economy?

According to a parliamentary report, 15% of UK workers are self-
employed — some ve million people. But not all will be in what we
consider to be the gig economy, as this also covers traditional freelance
roles and contractors. Jobs include couriers, ride-hailing drivers and
video producers. One-in-ten British workers are in “precarious work”.
Due to the large numbers of people willing to work part-time or
temporary positions, the result of a gig economy is cheaper, more
e cient services (such as Uber or Airbnb) for those willing to use
them.
ose who don’t engage in using technological services such as the
Internet tend to be left behind by the bene ts of the gig economy.
Cities tend to have the most highly developed services and are the
most entrenched in the gig economy. While not all employers tend
toward hiring contracted employees, the gig economy trend often
makes it harder for full-time employees to fully develop in their careers,
since temporary employees are often cheaper to hire and more exible
in their availability.
e sharing economy is an umbrella term with a range of meanings,
often used to describe economic and social activity involving online
transactions
Originally growing out of the open-source community to refer to peer-
to-peer based sharing of access to goods and services, the term is now
sometimes used in a broader sense to describe any sales transactions
that are done via online market places, even ones that are business to
business (B2B), rather than peer-to-peer. For this reason, the term
sharing economy has been criticised as misleading, some arguing that
even services that enable peer-to-peer exchange can be primarily
pro t-driven. However, many commentators assert that the term is still
valid as a means of describing a generally more democratized
marketplace, even when it’s applied to a broader spectrum of services.
A common academic de nition of the term refers to a hybrid market
model (in between owning and gift giving) of peer-to-peer exchange.
Such transactions are often facilitated via community-based online
services.
e sharing economy may take a variety of forms, including using
information technology to provide individuals with information that
enables the optimization of resources through the mutualization of
excess capacity in goods and services.
ere are many related concepts and alternate names used for the
access economy. ey include:
• On-demand economy
• Circular economy
• Collaborative economy
• Uberisation
• Gig economy
• Peer-to-Peer (P2P) economy
• Reputation economy
• Trust economy
Naturally, the validity of some of those is disputed.
to deliver sthg • livrer qqch
a delivery • livraison
a delivery man • livreur
a courier • coursier/ livreur
to order sthg/ to place an order • commander qqch
to run errands • faire des courses
 a ride-hailing driver • chau eur à la course
a fare • prix du billet/ tarif
a commission fee • commission
to charge sb sthg • faire payer qqch à qqn
unfair competition • concurrence déloyale

˜ ’New ways of working’

One di erence worth noting is that workers in the gig economy di er
slightly from those on zero-hour contracts. Like workers in the gig
economy, zero-hour contractors  – or casual contractors  – don’t get
guaranteed hours or much job security from their employer.
But people on zero-hour contracts are seen as employees in some
sense, as they are entitled to holiday pay. But, like those in the gig
economy, they are not entitled to sick pay.
Gig-economy work and zero-hour contracts have similarities. Both
treat workers as contractors and o er no guarantee of pay, but gig
economy roles are normally paid per piece  – such as a set rate to
deliver a package or drive a fare to a location  – while zero-hour
contracts are paid hourly, but with no set minimum. Both are the
result of companies trying to cut or limit sta ng costs, and can leave
workers unsure how much they’ll earn.

Note
A zero-hour contract is a type of contract between an employer and a
worker, where the employer is not obliged to provide any minimum
working hours, while the worker is not obliged to accept any work
o ered.

e employee may sign an agreement to be available for work as and

when required, so that no particular number of hours or times of work
are speci ed.
While the term ‘zero-hour contract’ is primarily used in the United
Kingdom, where around 3% of the workforce are on zero-hour
contracts, casual and part-time workers are employed under similar
terms in many countries.
In the UK, zero-hour contracts are controversial. British business
leaders have supported them, stating that they provide a exible
labour market. ey may suit some people such as retirees and
students who want occasional earnings and are able to be entirely
exible about when they work. It has been reported that 60% of
people on zero-hour contracts are happy with the hours they work.
Trade union groups and others have raised concerns about the
possibility of exploitation and the use of such contracts by
management as a tool to reward or reprimand employees for any
reason, or for no reason. ey also raise concerns about how workers
can adequately assert their employment rights or maintain decent
employment relations.
to be entitled to sthg • avoir droit à qqch
to grant sthg • accorder qqch
to be granted sthg • se voir accorder qqch
a grant/ a stipend • bourse

holiday pay • congés payés

sick pay • indemnités maladie
to be on a leave • être en congé
a sick leave • congé maladie

a minimum wage • salaire minimum

a pension • pension de retraite
social bene ts • allocations sociales
 unemployment bene t • allocation chômage
a precarious job • emploi précaire
precariousness • précarité
a trade union • syndicat

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON NEW

BUSINESS MODELS
EXERCISE 24.01
Fill in the blanks by looking up “Deliveroo” on the web.
Deliveroo, a British online food delivery company with
operations spread across cities in various countries
was founded in (place) in (year) by
(a former economical analyst and former
investment banker) and (who previously
worked as a software developer and as a director of
technology).
Orders are placed through its and then either
employed or self-employed bicycle, motorcycle or car
transport orders from restaurants to customers. The
company makes money by charging restaurants a
, as well as by charging customers a fee per .
Deliveroo’s London drivers held a day-long strike in
(date) to protest a new pay plan that they claimed would
result in riders earning substantially below ,
and the continuing lack of sick and accident pay. The
company later abandoned these plans.
During these strikes, as a means of protest, London Deliveroo
drivers held up signs containing the neologism “ ”, a
term formed as a contraction between “slavery” and the
company’s name. The term and its corresponding social
media were adopted by several news
outlets, including non-English international media.
In the aftermath of these protests, chair of the Independent
Workers Union of Great Britain Couriers and Logistics Branch,
which represents couriers and delivery drivers in London,
(name), published an article in The
Guardian wherein she backed up the protestors, saying that
Deliveroo’s claim of freedom and exibility vis-à-vis its
couriers are sham, calling it “exploitation and exhaustion”
instead.
On 8 November 2016, news headlines covered the demand of
Deliveroo drivers in the United Kingdom to gain rights such
as minimum wage and to seek union recognition by the
company. The
(IWGB), representing the drivers in the Camden area
of north London, was leading such a campaign in an attempt
for Deliveroo to negotiate worker conditions with union
representatives.
In mid-November 2016, it was reported that Deliveroo’s
(3 letters), Will Shu, almost doubled his salary
around the same time that low-paid Deliveroo drivers were
demanding better employment conditions. Shu increased his
pay to £ in the year to December 2015, from £53,333
the year before that.
http://healthyfoodwiki.blogspot.ie/2018/03/deliveroo.html

How COVID-19 Has Transformed The Gig Economy

Participation in the gig economy has grown rapidly over
the past few years, and expanded exponentially since the
onset of the coronavirus pandemic, due in part to the
increased reliance on gig workers to home-deliver
necessities to consumers. Furthermore, the crisis has
upended the traditional 9-5 working world and caused
many blue- and white-collar employees to pursue gig
work for additional – or even primary – income during
these unprecedented times.
As the world starts to more fully embrace this new way of
working, which will undoubtedly continue to grow post-
pandemic, talent leaders must plan for this inevitable shift
and nd new ways to support workers to ensure the gig
economy’s long-term viability.
While there is no universal de nition of a gig worker,
making them a di cult cohort to categorize, some
estimates predict that gig workers represent around 35
percent of the U.S. workforce in 2020, up from between
14 and 20 percent in 2014. That means roughly 57 million
Americans currently engage in some type of gig work
that contributes more than $1 trillion to the U.S. economy
annually. Those gures are only expected to grow, with
some predicting that freelance workers will make up
more than half of the U.S. workforce by 2023.
However, these estimates were made before COVID-19,
and it is important that we understand and plan for how
the world of work and the gig economy will
fundamentally change post-pandemic:
[Paragraph 1]
One of the biggest bene ts of the gig economy is the
exibility it o ers, both in terms of working hours and the
types of jobs that workers can take on. In fact, before the
pandemic, around 70 percent of gig workers reported
that they participated in the gig economy out of choice
and because it provided more exibility, and sometimes
more income, than a full-time job. While this exibility has
always been appealing, since the start of COVID-19, it is
likely that many full-time employees have had to
reluctantly join the gig economy out of necessity.
Given that the pandemic has forced many o ces and
schools to close their physical doors, working parents
have been forced to become both remote employees and
homeschool teachers during the day. Without the option
of having someone watch their children, many parents –
and especially working women – have had to leave their
9-5 jobs to care for their families and have taken on gig
jobs.
Gig work allows individuals to focus on their families
during the day and pick-up work where and when it best
 ts into their schedule. How this trend could impact full-
time work remains to be seen, but traditional employers
may need to adapt and o er increased exibility to full-
time employees who have become accustomed to more
exible gig work arrangements during the pandemic.
[Paragraph 2]
Although demand for gig workers has accelerated since
the start of the pandemic, competition for gig jobs has
also increased. Workers who participate in the gig
economy as their sole source of income must now
compete with one another, as well as previously full-time
employees who have been forced into gig work.
Additionally, as more and more Americans turn to the gig
economy, workers face challenges in securing the
bene ts they once enjoyed. While this may be a cost
advantage for some businesses that rely on gig talent,
workers themselves will have to strengthen their personal
brand and expand their skill set to secure the most viable
opportunities.
[Paragraph 3]
The global health crisis we are living through has placed
even greater emphasis on the rights, bene ts and
protections that businesses o er to their workers,
otherwise known as the social contract. While many
American gig workers choose a more exible lifestyle and
don’t wish to be hired as full-time employees, debate
continues around what bene ts and protections
businesses should o er to all workers in their
organization.
This was the crux of the recent Prop 22 vote in California,
a measure which allowed businesses to classify gig
workers as independent contractors, but required them
to provide those individuals with a healthcare
contribution subsidy and 120 percent of the local
minimum wage. This maintains the exibility that gig
workers value, but also highlights the need for
 protections like health coverage, especially in the midst
of a pandemic.
It is likely that other states will follow California’s lead as
gig workers and the public at large put increased
pressure on businesses, especially large tech companies,
to take better care of their people regardless of their
employment classi cation. Providing both the exibility
and protection that gig workers want will likely require
collaboration among employers, workers and state
governments to be successful.
It is undeniable that the gig economy has become an
integral part of the American workforce, a trend that has
only been accelerated during the pandemic. Millions of
employees are deciding to pursue a working arrangement
that better ts with their lifestyle than what current full-
time work often provides. However, the growth of the gig
economy also raises important questions about the
protections its workers are entitled to, and the long-term
viability of this working arrangement if those protections
aren’t provided.
Now is the time for businesses to reevaluate the role gig
workers play in their organization and create a plan to
retain them in the future. While their growing ranks may
provide workforce agility and cost e ciency, as the
economy looks to improve in 2021, employers will have to
consider how to retain the best gig workers to help their
organization accelerate recovery e orts in the months
and years ahead.
Rebecca Henderson, Forbes (on December 10th, 2020)

EXERCISE 24.02 Understanding

After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. Everything is in the title: Match the following titles with the
right paragraphs:
a. A Strong Social Contract Will Become a Requirement
 Job Flexibility Is More Appealing, and Potentially More
b.
Necessary, Than Ever
c. Competition for Gig Work Has Increased
2. How has COVID-19 impacted the workforce?
3. What will the consequences be for employers in the future?
4. According to what you have read in the article would you
say that the future of the gig economic looks bright or bleak?
Réponse

EXERCISE 24.03 Going further: Proposition 22 and its

fallout
1.What is Proposition 22 about?
2. Why is it challenged? Watch the following video to nd out:
“Some Uber, Lyft drivers sue to overturn California’s Prop. 22
ballot measure”, ABC7, Jan 13th 2021
https://abc7.com/prop-22-lawsuit-uber-lyft/9601505/
Réponse

EXERCISE 24.04 Vocabulary

Fill in the following sentences with the right preposition or
particle.
1. Independent contractors are generally not entitled
health bene ts.
2. The public put increased pressure companies to
take better care their employees regardless
their employment classi cation.
3. Employers must provide their workers a
minimum wage if they want to retain them.
4. The pandemic highlighted the need basic health
coverage, without which workers may have to face dire
circumstances.
5. Workers who participate the gig economy as
their sole source of income must now compete full
time employees who have been forced into gig work.
 6. Working parents nd it di cult to focus a task
when their children are homeschooled.
7. More and more employees have been forced to switch to
gig work in order to be able to care their families
at home.

EXERCISE 24.05
Underline in the text all the compound nouns based on the
root word “work”.
Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISES ON NEW BUSINESS

MODELS
EXERCISE 24.06
List the pros and cons of the development of the gig
economy.
Réponse

EXERCISE 24.07
˜ Would you say that the uberization of the economy is
creating a new underclass?
Réponse
MANAGEMENT / CROSS
CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
 25
Team Building
Forming a team takes time, and members often go through
recognizable stages as they change from being a collection of strangers
to a united group with common goals. Dr Bruce Tuckman’s (born
1938) Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing model which
he published in 1965 describes these stages. He added a fth stage,
Adjourning, in the 1970s. e Forming Storming Norming Performing
theory is an elegant and helpful explanation of team development and
behavior.
a multicultural team • équipe pluriculturelle
team members • équipiers
a team leader • chef d’équipe
a team-mate/ teammate • coéquipier
a team player • personne qui a l’esprit d’équipe
team-work/ team work • collaboration/ travail d’équipe
team spirit • esprit d’équipe
to team up with sb • s’associer/ faire équipe avec qqn
team bonding • esprit d’équipe
teambuilding • développement de l’esprit d’équipe
team achievements • réalisations collectives

group work • travail de groupe

group norms • normes collectives
group cohesion • cohésion de groupe
group membership • adhésion au groupe
 group management • gestion de groupe

˜ Forming
In this stage, most team members are positive and polite. Some are
anxious, as they haven’t fully understood what work the team will do.
Others are simply excited about the task ahead.
is stage can last for some time, as people start to work together, and
as they make an e ort to get to know their new colleagues.
˜ Storming
Next, the team moves into the storming phase, where people start to
push against the boundaries established in the forming stage. is is
the stage where many teams fail.
Storming often starts where there is a con ict between team
members’ natural working styles. People may work in di erent ways
for all sorts of reasons but, if di ering working styles cause unforeseen
problems, they may become frustrated.
Storming can also happen in other situations. For example, team
members may challenge the manager’s authority, or jockey for position
as their roles are clari ed. Or people may feel overwhelmed by their
workload. Some may question the worth of the team’s goal, and they
may resist taking on tasks.
Team members who stick with the task at hand may experience stress,
particularly as they don’t have the support of established processes or
strong relationships with their colleagues.
˜ Norming
Gradually, the team moves into the norming stage. is is when
people start to resolve their di erences, appreciate colleagues’
strengths, and respect the authority of the leader.
Now that the team members know one another better, they may
socialize together, and they are able to ask one another for help and
provide constructive feedback. People develop a stronger
commitment to the team goal.
ere is often a prolonged overlap between storming and norming,
because, as new tasks come up, the team may lapse back into behavior
from the storming stage.
˜ Performing
e team reaches the performing stage, when hard work leads,
without friction, to the achievement of the team’s goal. e structures
and processes that were set up support this well.
It feels easy to be part of the team at this stage, and people who join or
leave won’t disrupt performance.
˜ Adjourning
Many teams will reach this stage eventually. For example, project
teams exist for only a xed period, and even permanent teams may be
disbanded through organizational restructuring.
Team members who like routine, or who have developed close
working relationships with colleagues, may nd this stage di cult,
particularly if their future now looks uncertain.
to expect sthg • s’attendre à/ attendre qqch
to have high expectations • attendre beaucoup de qqch
to crush/ exceed expectations • dépasser largement les attentes
to meet expectations • répondre aux attentes
to live up to / to come up to sb’s • se montrer à la hauteur des
expectations attentes de qqn
to set guidelines for doing sthg • xer des règles pour faire qqch
• publier des instructions générales
to issue guidelines on sthg
sur qqch
to abide by the rules • obéir aux règles
 to comply with standards • se conformer aux normes
a dress code • code vestimentaire
time keeping • sens de la ponctualité
time management • gestion du temps
decision-making process • processus de prise de décision

to socialize with • nouer des relations sociales avec les

colleagues collègues
to identify di erences • identi er les di érences
to discuss di erences • débattre des di érences
to share views • partager ses opinions
to get used to one
• s’habituer les uns aux autres
another
to get along well with sb • bien s’entendre avec qqn
to get to know one
• apprendre à se connaître
another
to come up with an idea • trouver/ proposer une idée/ inventer
to give feedback • donner ses impressions/ faire un retour
to share information • communiquer l’information à qqn/
with sb partager l’info

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON TEAM BUILDING

EXERCISE 25.01 Compound nouns
Fill in the gaps in this text with compounds based on the
root “team”.

Teamwork Quotes That Make Your Team Really Work

Together
 1. “Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as
at is another story.” Casey Stengel.
It’s all about attitude and choice. What’s more important
for a t m ? Taking all the glory and
looking good in front of his boss or helping his t
-m and moving the whole t forward?
2. “Talent wins games, but t and intelligence win
championships.” Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan was a great t l and one
of the best sportsmen ever. According to him, a team can
achieve much more than one man ever could.
3. “T p : One who unites others toward
a shared destiny through sharing information and ideas,
empowering others, and developing trust.” Dennis Kinlaw
(Theologian)
T s might be called the psyche of the
team. It includes motivation, but it also includes the way
that t m relate to each other. There
needs to be open and honest communication and trust.
There needs to be recognition for a job well done. There
needs to be a desire to confront mistakes, learn from
them, and improve.
www.livechatinc.com/blog/teamwork-quotes/

EXERCISE 25.02 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the gaps with the right particle or preposition.
1. Practically all top performers get well with people
and enjoy working them.
2. The latter often fail to comply standards of quality
and working conditions, as exempli ed by the increasing use
of unstable working contracts.
3. It is important that entrepreneurs who come
an idea and have the drive to carry it
should have easy access to relevant advice.
4. Some people go to church to network for business, or just
to socialize others.
5. The summit clearly failed to come
expectations and consequently I would not say that it was a
landmark summit.

– SPEAKING AND WRITING EXERCISES ON TEAM

BUILDING
EXERCISE 25.03 Group Work – Defending a point of
view
Review the group behaviors list. As a group, see if you can
reach agreement as to which Tuckman stage each of the 20
behaviors belong. If your group members disagree, work at
listening and understanding one another’s point of view.
Using the correct classi cation list sheet, score your group’s
answers.
˜ Group Behaviors List
1. Members are listening and seeking to understand one another.

2. Members seem distracted and aren’t focusing on the core group project.

3. Members are not fully committed to talking about the group goal.

4. Members refer to their group with obvious pride and enjoyment.

5. Members comment they are glad things are nally progressing smoothly.

6. Chairing of meetings is shared among di erent members.

7. Leadership role is rotated among appropriate members for certain tasks.

8. Members anxiously believe their assigned tasks will be completed by other

members.

9. Members seem more involved and connected to sub-groups than to the

whole group.

10. Members are satis ed with the group progress.

11. Members argue with one another, even when they agree on the basic
issues.

12. Members attempt to gure out their roles and functions.

13. Members begin to enjoy team activities.

14. Members challenge, evaluate, and destroy ideas.

 15. Members choose one position or another in an argument.

16. All members participate in some fashion in all group activities.

17. Disagreements become more civilized and less angry and emotional.

18. Divisive feelings and sub-groups within the group increase.

19. Meeting mechanics and agenda following become smooth and automatic.

20. Group members follow a self-appointed or designated leader’s

suggestions without enthusiasm.

Group Record Sheet

Item number Which stage? Correct?

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20
 Réponse

EXERCISE 25.04
Answer the following questions.
1. What is the di erence between a team and a group?
2. “When you have a very diverse team – people of di erent
backgrounds, di erent culture, di erent gender, di erent
age, you are going to get a more creative team  – probably
getting better solutions, and enforcing them in a very
innovative way and with a very limited number of
preconceived ideas.” Carlos Ghosn.
What does he mean? Do you agree with that analysis?
Réponse
 26
Managing across Cultures
to foster cultural diversity
to overcome/ bridge cultural
di erences
to enhance cultural awareness
to debunk cultural stereotypes
to get rid of cultural
assumptions
to recognize similarities
to embrace di erences
to gloss over the di erences
• favoriser/ encourager la diversité
culturelle
• dépasser les di érences culturelles
• mettre en avant les compétences
interculturelles
• mettre n aux stéréotypes culturels
• se débarrasser des préjugés
(culturels)
• reconnaître les similitudes
• accepter les di érences
• faire abstraction des di érences

Geert Hofstede (born 1928), a Dutch social psychologist, former IBM

employee, and Professor Emeritus at Maastricht University, is well
known for his pioneering research on cross-cultural groups and
organizations. He developed a framework to understand cultural
di erences and managing problems that can arise because of a lack
(un manque) of cultural awareness. He identi ed six dimensions for
de ning work-related values associated with national culture:
1. power distance: the way people perceive power di erences and
how a society handles inequalities and di erences in status,
2. individualism/ collectivism: behavior towards the group,
3. masculinity/ femininity: behavior according to characteristics
associated with the genders,
4. uncertainty avoidance: the need for structure and clear rules,
5. long-term orientation/ short-term orientation: this dimension
associates the connection of the past with the current and future
actions/challenges,
6. indulgence/ restraint: a measure of happiness; whether or not
simple joys are ful lled.
the interplay of cultures • interaction entre les cultures
a culture shock • choc culturel
corporate culture • culture d’entreprise
cross-cultural competencies • compétences transculturelles
cross-cultural
• malentendus interculturels
misunderstandings
• fusion d’entreprises de cultures
a cross-cultural merger
di érentes
to move out of one’s comfort
• sortir de sa zone de confort
zone

Synergy is a state in which two or more things work together in a

particularly fruitful way that produces an e ect greater than the sum
of their individual e ects. Expressed also as “the whole is greater than
the sum of its parts.” In business it means that when two or more
organizations combine their e orts, they can accomplish more
together than they can separately.
to make an assumption • présumer que
a dress code • code vestimentaire
body language • langage corporel
to deal with cultural diversity • composer avec la diversité culturelle
a set of values • ensemble de valeurs
to share some beliefs • partager des croyances
unwritten rules • règles tacites
 codes of behavior • règles/code de conduite
to socialize with colleagues • socialiser/ sortir avec des collègues
a counterpart • homologue

A ‘silo’ mentality is an attitude that occurs when groups fail to share

information with other members of the same company, reducing
e ciency of a corporate culture.
– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON MANAGING
ACROSS CULTURES
EXERCISE 26.01
Match the countries with the ndings of the global study on
cultural di erences.
˜ small power distance large power distance

more individualist more collectivist

strong uncertainty avoidance weak uncertainty avoidance

more masculine values more feminine values

a. In the UK, the main culture expects people to develop and

display their individual personalities, whereas in China people
rather act as part of a long-term group, such as an age group
or profession.
b. In New Zealand, employees generally relate to one another
as equals and managers delegate responsibility, unlike
Malaysia, where subordinates tend to accept hierarchical
positions and do not expect to have to take on much
responsibility.
c. In the USA, determination and competitiveness are
regarded as valuable qualities, whereas in the Netherlands
warm relationships and quality of life are given priority.
d. UK workers don’t mind taking risks and changing jobs
frequently, whereas Japanese workers prefer to work in a
structured situation and stay with the same company.
 Réponse

EXERCISE 26.02 Collocations

Match the verbs with the right nouns and prepositions.
Verbs: seize; resolve; give; enhance; solve; create; seize
Nouns: synergy; opportunity; chance; con ict; problem; transparency
Prepositions: between; with; to; among

Réponse

EXERCISE 26.03 “Culture” compounds

Match the compounds with their de nitions.
˜ company culture/ canteen culture/ long-hours culture/
macho culture
1. where people are expected to work for a long time each
day (e.g.: in Japan, the US).
2. the way a particular company works, and the things it
believes are important.
3. the ways that people in an organization such as the police
think and talk, not approved by the leaders of the
organization.
4. ideas typically associated with men: physical strength,
aggressiveness, etc.
Réponse

– READING, WRITING AND SPEAKING EXERCISES

ON MANAGING ACROSS CULTURES
EXERCISE 26.04 A cross-cultural checklist
Pick a country or culture that is di erent from yours.
Fill in the table according to what you think you know about
this country or culture.
Where you answer “Don’t Know”, try to nd out about the
answer to this cultural question.
˜ Non verbal communication Yes No Don’t
know

Are there di erences in what is considered as

appropriate ‘personal space’?

Do my counterparts use touch di erently?

Should I avoid any particular gestures?

Is any body language taboo?

Do I need to pay attention to anything in particular

when giving or receiving business cards?

Should I expect di erences in the level of acceptable

eye contact?

˜ Communication Yes No Don’t

know

Are attitudes about the acceptability of asking

personal questions the same?

Is interrupting acceptable?

Do I know what type of argument is likely to be most

persuasive?

Is the expression of anger considered as acceptable?

Can I use humor and display emotions?

Is it possible to address di cult issues directly?

Do I know what style of feedback is acceptable?

Should I anticipate di erent expectations about the

expression of criticism?

Do I know the range of ways in which disagreement is

likely to be expressed?

Should I expect a di erent style of con ict resolution?

Are the communication styles in use any di erent?

Do I know when to use rst names and surnames?

Do I know what professional titles to use?

Is small-talk a common feature?

Are attitudes towards the importance of saving face

divergent?
 Should I expect di erent attitudes towards displays of
a ection?

Réponse

EXERCISE 26.05
Go to www.commisceo-global.com/country-guides and nd
out more about the country you have chosen. Sum up what
you discovered and make a presentation to the class.
Réponse

– READING AND UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES

ON MANAGING ACROSS CULTURES

Cross-Cultural Bonding Leads to Higher Creativity

A close friendship or romance with someone from
another culture can enhance outside-the-box thinking.
The stamp in one’s passport doesn’t always de ne the
distance one has travelled. For some professionals, an
overseas stint is an opportunity to change not only their
surroundings but also themselves – to become more
broad-minded and creative people. Previous research
suggests that expats who deeply engage with the local
culture by mixing with locals and learning their language,
for example, tend to become more creative and enjoy
greater professional success after returning home than
those who stick to expat enclaves.
If what matters most for creative growth is the bridges
you build between cultures, not the physical borders you
cross, perhaps leaving home isn’t absolutely necessary.
After all, globalisation has produced an unprecedented
mingling of cultures and ethnicities, as is evident on the
streets of nearly every major global city (much to the
outrage of the far right). The chance to form cross-
cultural bonds could be as close as the next street corner,
or the next cubicle.
Regardless of the surroundings, close personal
relationships – including romantic relationships – with
people from other cultures can be a source of creative
enrichment, as we uncovered in research recently
published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (our co-
authors were Jackson Lu, Dan Wang, and Adam Galinsky
of Columbia Business School, and Paul Eastwick of UC-
Davis). You don’t have to be a social omnivore to reap
these bene ts; even a deep, long-lasting connection with
one person can have a meaningful impact.
— “Have you dated…?”
For our rst study, we administered creativity tests to 115
INSEAD MBA students (representing 39 nationalities) at
both the start and nish of the 10-month programme. We
also asked them whether they had been romantically
involved with someone from another culture during their
time at INSEAD. The 24 students who responded “yes”
also displayed higher creative performance across the
board.
In a subsequent study, we asked participants who dated
individuals from both their home country as well as
foreign cultures to write about any dating experience
they chose, before taking creativity tests. We found not
only that those who opted to re ect upon a cross-
cultural dating experience did better on the tests, but
also that the rise in creativity was speci cally linked to
inter-cultural learning experiences described in the
essays. These results showed that learning about a
di erent culture strengthens cognitive exibility, and by
extension, creativity.
In a third study, we analysed participants’ dating histories
in greater detail alongside their creativity test scores.
Interestingly, the duration of past inter-cultural romantic
relationships was the most signi cant predictor of
creative performance, while the number of such
relationships was not signi cant.
Finally, we broadened our research beyond romance to
study intercultural friendships as well. Surveying 2,226
professionals from all over the world who had formerly
worked in the United States, we found that those who
were still in close contact with friends they made in the
U.S. were more likely to have started their own business
after returning home, and (in the case of non-
entrepreneurs) more likely to be a force for innovative
change in their workplace.
— Grasp learning opportunities
Strolling through the campuses of elite schools such as
INSEAD, one hears a variety of languages being spoken
by students, faculty and sta . The same could be said of
the bustling o ces of many major multinationals.
Diversity in and of itself can be exciting, but if globalised
citizens remain within their language and culture
bubbles, golden opportunities for cross-cultural learning
will be missed. Making a conscious e ort to step outside
your cultural comfort zone – by, for example, organising a
language exchange programme in your hometown – can
enrich you personally and professionally.
In addition, our ndings suggest that organisations can
foster a more creative workforce by embracing diversity
and then capitalising on it through facilitating close
cross-cultural collaboration among employees. In
addition, organisations should treat the cultural
di erences of their diverse workforce as priceless
learning opportunities, rather than encouraging
conformity to a corporate mono-culture.
Governments also have a role to play. The voices of
globalisation’s detractors have grown louder of late, yet,
as our results show, building walls between cultures runs
counter to innovation, the engine of future economic
growth. Clearly, policymakers in developed countries
 must work harder to focus public attention on
globalisation’s bene ts to society at large, and the
economic risks that lie along the populist path.
William Maddux, INSEAD Professor of Organisational
Behaviour, and Andrew Hafenbrack, Assistant Professor
at Católica-Lisbon School of Business and Economics (on
April 21, 2017)From:
http://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-
organisations/cross-cultural-bonding-leads-to-higher-
creativity-5896#kXsDj8RS87sK5Y2J.99

EXERCISE 26.06 Understanding the text

Read the article and answer the questions.
1. Match each of the following titles to one of the rst three
paragraphs of the text:
a. Before getting on a plane to discover the world, look
around you.
b. One meaningful relationship is enough to raise cultural
awareness.
c. How to make your expatriation successful.
2. Sum up the ndings of the 4 studies conducted on the
impact of cross-cultural (romantic) relationships. What are
the main di erences between the rst three studies and the
last one?
3. Explain the following extract from the text: “Diversity in
and of itself can be exciting, but if globalised citizens remain
within their language and culture bubbles, golden
opportunities for cross-cultural learning will be missed.”
4. What advice is given in the last 2 paragraphs of the text?

Réponse

EXERCISE 26.07 Compound nouns

Expand your vocabulary by listing all the compounds
derived from “culture” in the text.
Réponse
MANAGEMENT /
RECRUITMENT
 27
Recruitment and Selection
to apply for a job • poser sa candidature à un emploi
an applicant / candidate for
• postulant/ candidat à un emploi
a job
a job seeker • personne en recherche d’emploi
• candidature à un emploi/ demande
a job application
d’emploi
to submit an application • soumettre un formulaire de
form candidature
to acknowledge receipt of
• accuser réception de qqch
sthg

• pourvoir un poste/ à une

to ll a vacancy
vacance
entry-level job • poste de débutant
to recruit • recruter
a recruitment agency • agence/ cabinet de recrutement
• agence de placement/ pour
an employment agency
l’emploi
a temporary sta agency • agence d’intérim
a headhunter • chasseur de têtes
to advertise a vacancy • publier un poste à pourvoir
to place a job advertisement in a • publier une o re d’emploi dans
newspaper un journal
a job o er • o re d’emploi
job description • description de poste
 to meet the requirements of the • satisfaire aux exigences de
job l’emploi

Don’t confuse or misuse job, work, and employment.

Firstly, on a grammatical level, work is both a verb and an uncountable
noun, whereas job and employment are only nouns, job being a
countable noun and employment an uncountable noun.
1. A job is an activity that an individual performs in exchange for
payment while work is an activity that an individual performs in order
to produce or accomplish something.
2. Individuals perform their jobs in order to get monetary
compensation while people work on something not only to earn but
also as part of their responsibility towards others which does not
involve any compensation.
3. “Work” is a general term that refers to all activities that one does
while “job” is more speci c.
Interestingly, all jobs involve work but doing work isn’t always part of a
job.
4. Employment involves a contract between an employer and an
employee that also includes a set of tasks and responsibilities for both
parties. Whereas work is anything that requires e ort, employment is
anything you get paid for doing.
Both job and employment can be used in conjunction with the term
occupation. An occupation is basically an individual’s means to earn a
living, and it encompasses a variety of professions; it may include
employed individuals or self-employed individuals, or it may be
referred to in connection with an individual’s business enterprise. For
instance, an individual may have an occupation as a teacher and be
employed by a school district, whereas a sole proprietor may have an
occupation as a lawyer. Each occupation encompasses a variety of job
tasks, but one individual may work for himself and the other individual
performs services for an employer.
a curriculum vitae/ a resumé
a covering letter (UK)/ a cover letter
(US)
knowledge
skills
a degree
to graduate (from)
professional experience
core competencies
to match sthg against sthg
to set up a job interview
to carry out a job interview
an assessment center
a selection panel
a recruitment team
to conduct a selection procedure
a selection criterion (pl. criteria)
competency pro ling
an appraisal meeting
to undertake an activity
to pass a test
to take/ sit a test
to make a conditional o er
to receive reference from sb
• CV
• lettre de motivation
• connaissances
• compétences
• diplôme
• être diplômé (de)
• expérience professionnelle
• compétences
fondamentales
• comparer qqch à qqch
• organiser un entretien d’embauche
• mener un entretien d’embauche
• centre d’évaluation
• jury de sélection
• équipe de recrutement
• mener une procédure de sélection
• critère de sélection
• pro lage
• entretien d’évaluation
• entreprendre une activité
• réussir un test
• passer un test
• faire une o re conditionnelle
• obtenir des références de la part de qqn
 a referee
a letter of reference
to draw up a contract
a contract of employment
a temporary contract
part-time workers
full-time sta
• recommandataire
• lettre de recommandation
• établir un contrat
• contrat d’embauche
• contrat à durée déterminée
• employés à temps partiel
• personnel à temps complet

a start date • date de début de contrat

to be responsible for sthg
to be in charge of sthg
to appoint sb to a post/
position
to put a candidate onto the
payroll
to be on the payroll/ sta
to take up one’s duties
• être responsable de qqch
• être chargé de qqch
• nommer qqn à un poste
• inscrire un candidat au registre du
personnel
• faire partie du personnel
• entrer en fonction

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON RECRUITMENT

AND SELECTION
EXERCISE 27.01 Collocations
Fill in the sentences with the words given below to make
collocations with ‘career’.
˜ be over/ break/ chose/ concentrate on/ ladder/ make/
move/ opportunities/ promising/ take o
1. My goal is to a good career, nd my place in life,
achieve happiness and wealth ( nancial and personal). But
this means that for the next few years I’ll have to my
career.
2. More often than not, German women take a career
to devote three to six years to raising their family even
though this means that it is di cult to maintain their skills at
the required level and that their career may never .
3. This is Brian’s story, who spontaneously decided to make a
drastic career and put his creative talents to work
for the artistic community which meant that his career in
nance .
4. These documents show the career prospects that
are possible for women in ICT. There are ways for them to
move up the career very quickly.
5. All new sta members joining the Group do so with the
intention of developing their skills and advancing in their
career.
6. The marine sector o ers career with specialized
and modern skills that are highly transferable both within and
outside the sector.

EXERCISE 27.02 Job, work and employment

Fill in the crossword puzzle using the de nitions that are
given.
Recruitment

˜ Across
3. assess sb and decide that they have a particular level.
5. nding sb who has the right skills for a senior position and
convincing to leave their present job.
6. to decide to use a particular amount of money for a
particular purpose.
7. buildings used for a company.
8. an ability, characteristic, or experience that makes you
suitable for a particular job or activity.
˜ Down
1. a job or position that is available.
2. pre-designed document formatted for a particular purpose.
4. a list of people who have been judged the most suitable for
a job, made from a longer list of people originally considered,
and from which one person will be chosen.
Réponse

EXERCISE 27.03 Word derivation

Find the word corresponding to the de nition and ll in the
other two columns of the table.
˜ De nition verb noun person

to make a formal request to

apply

a ght to decide who is superior in terms of

ability or strength

a formal consultation usually to evaluate

quali cations

to make a plan for sthg that will be built

to evaluate

a process by which people exchange information

to choose sb for a position

the process of nding people to work for a

company or become a new member of an
organization

Réponse

–
– SPEAKING EXERCISE ON RECRUITMENT AND
SELECTION
EXERCISE 27.04 Pair work – How to succeed in your
job application
˜ Student A: Tell your neighbor about your latest job
application: what steps were involved? Did you participate in
an interview? What sort of questions were you asked? Was it
successful or not? Do you know why?
Student B: Listen to your neighbor. Ask as many questions as
possible to prepare a complete report of their experience.
Prepare pieces of advice on how to perform even better.
Réponse

– RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION:

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
EXERCISE 27.05 Organizing a recruitment session
Imagine you were given responsibility for hiring several
hundred employees for a new spa resort in a short period of
time. How would you organize the recruitment process?
Detail the process and present it to the group for further
discussion.
Réponse
 28
Human Resources
Management
Human resources departments are in charge of/responsible for
recruiting new personnel/sta . Candidates/applicants are initially
asked to provide a curriculum vitae (CV)/resumé which gives
information about their quali cations, (professional) experience and
skills. e recruiter then screens the applications and selects
candidates for interview. Successful applicants are hired and put on
the payroll.
a vacancy • poste à pourvoir
to ll a vacancy • pourvoir à un poste vacant
to advertise a vacancy • publier un poste à pourvoir
to circulate job vacancies • di user des o res d’emploi
job description • description de poste/ che de poste
job requirements • exigences du poste

unemployment/ joblessness • chômage

unemployment bene t/ allowance • allocation chômage
to be unemployed/ jobless • être au chômage
to be on the dole • percevoir les allocations chômage
to go on the dole • perdre son emploi
a job seeker • demandeur d’emploi
a job application • demande d’emploi
an applicant/ a candidate • postulant/ candidat
social insurance • assurance sociale

pay rise/ wage increase • augmentation salariale

payroll • masse salariale
payroll tax • contributions sociales
to be granted a promotion • obtenir une promotion
to be promoted • être promu
• donner de l’avancement/
to promote
promouvoir
wage costs • charges salariales
wage freeze • gel des salaires
labour cost • coût de la main d’œuvre
to be eligible for/ to qualify for/ to be
• avoir droit à
entitled to
to earn a living/ to make a living • gagner sa vie

a leave • congé
to be on sick leave • être en congé maladie
to be on maternity/ paternity/ • être en congé maternité/
parental leave paternité/ parental
to take a day o • prendre un jour de congé
paid leave/ holiday pay • congé payé
absence without leave • absence injusti ée
bank holiday/ legal holiday • jour férié

an intern/ a trainee • stagiaire

an internship/ a training
• stage
period
probation period • période d’essai
to be on probation
vocational training
to train
to retrain
an apprentice
to be apprenticed to sb
a temporary worker (a temp)
a freelance worker
shift work
a department
a vice president (VP)
a retiree/ a pensioner
to retire
to retire from o ce/ business
to take early retirement
a former employee
labor contract/ employment contract
a xed-term contract
an unlimited-term contract
zero-hour contract
an unskilled job
a trade union (UK)/ a labor union (US)/ a
syndicate
• être à l’essai
• formation professionnelle
• former
• (se) recycler
• apprenti
• être en apprentissage chez qqn
• intérimaire
• travailleur indépendant
• travail posté
• service (dans une entreprise)
• chef de service
• retraité
• prendre sa retraite
• se retirer de ses fonctions/ des
a aires
• prendre une retraite anticipée
• ancien employé
• contrat de travail
• contrat à durée
déterminée
• contrat à durée
indéterminée
• contrat à la tâche
• emploi non quali é
• syndicat
 a union representative • délégué syndical
collective (labour) agreement • convention collective
the right to strike • droit de grève
• débrayage/ arrêt du
work stoppage
travail
labour law (UK)/ labor law (US) • droit du travail
industrial injury • accident du travail

A zero-hour contract is a type of contract between an employer and

a worker, where the employer is not obliged to provide any minimum
working hours, while the worker is not obliged to accept any work
o ered.
e employee may sign an agreement to be available for work as and
when required, so that no particular number of hours or times of work
are speci ed.
While the term ‘zero-hour contract’ is primarily used in the United
Kingdom, where around 3% of the workforce are on zero-hour
contracts, casual and part-time workers are employed under similar
terms in many countries.
In the UK, zero-hour contracts are controversial. British business
leaders have supported them, stating that they provide a exible
labour market. ey may suit some people such as retirees and
students who want occasional earnings and are able to be entirely
exible about when they work. It has been reported that 60% of
people on zero-hour contracts are happy with the hours they work.
Trade union groups and others have raised concerns about the
possibility of exploitation and the use of such contracts by
management as a tool to reward or reprimand employees for any
reason, or for no reason. ey also raise concerns about how workers
can adequately assert their employment rights or maintain decent
employment relations.
 to sack/to give the sack/ to re/ to let • renvoyer
go
to lay o / to make redundant • licencier économiquement
to get the pink slip • être licencié
term of notice/ period of notice • délai de préavis
• donner un préavis de trois
to give three months’ notice
mois
a dismissal notice • lettre de licenciement
mass dismissal • licenciements collectifs
to take on/ to sign on/ to hire • embaucher
to recruit • recruter
to step down/ to resign (UK)/ to quit
• démissionner
(US)
to tender one’s resignation • donner sa démission

˜ Business idioms based on colors

A pink slip refers to the American practice, by a human resources
department, of including a discharge notice in an employee’s pay
envelope to notify the worker of his or her termination of
employment or layo .
Red tape is an idiom that refers to excessive regulation or rigid
conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or
bureaucratic and hinders or prevents action or decision-making. It is
usually applied to governments, corporations, and other large
organizations.
ings often described as “red tape” include lling out paperwork,
obtaining licenses, having multiple people or committees approve a
decision and various low-level rules that make conducting one’s a airs
slower, more di cult, or both.
Deriving its meaning from the fact that blue chips in poker have the
highest value, a ‘blue chip company’ is a company that is well-
established, nancially stable and has a good reputation. Some blue
chip companies include Disney and Coca-Cola.
A blueprint is a guide for making something, it’s a design or pattern
that can be followed. e literal meaning of a blueprint is a paper
(which is blue) with plans for a building printed on it. You can also call
other guides or plans blueprints. e way you do your homework
every night could provide a blueprint for your little sister’s study
habits. A business plan is a blueprint for a pro table business. Religions
and philosophies provide the blueprint for many people’s lives. A
blueprint helps you gure out what to do.
A blue collar worker is someone who works in manual labour. Some
blue collar professions are construction, maintenance and mining. e
name references the blue shirts that manual labourers used to wear,
that could hold dirt around the collar without standing out.
A white collar worker on the other hand is a person who performs
professional, managerial, or administrative work.
A golden parachute is an agreement between a company and an
employee (usually upper executive) specifying that the employee will
receive certain signi cant bene ts if employment is terminated.
a (business) executive • cadre
a top/ a senior executive/ an upper executive • cadre supérieur
a junior executive • jeune cadre
a middle manager • cadre moyen
an executive job • poste de cadre

a salary/ pay • salaire

wages • gages
pay scale/ wage scale • échelle des salaires
 a wage earner/ a bread-winner • salarié
to be on the payroll • être salarié
incomes/ earnings • revenus
• faire des heures
to work overtime
supplémentaires
an incentive bonus • prime d’encouragement
a relocation allowance • prime d’expatriation
severance pay • prime de licenciement
sign-on bonus • prime à l’embauche
an e ciency bonus • prime de rendement
fringe bene ts/ perks • avantages en nature
to trim the workforce/ to cut the
• réduire les e ectifs
payroll
pay claim/ wage demand • revendication salariale
moonlighting • travail au noir

e essential di erence between a salary and wages is that a salaried

person is paid a xed amount per pay period and a wage earner is paid
by the hour. Someone who is paid a salary is paid a xed amount in
each pay period, with the total of these xed payments over a full year
summing to the amount of the salary. is person is considered to be
an exempt employee. ere is no link between the amount paid and
the number of hours worked. Someone receiving a salary is usually in a
management or professional position.
Someone who is paid wages receives a pay rate per hour, multiplied by
the number of hours worked. is person is considered to be a “non-
exempt” employee.
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON HUMAN
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
EXERCISE 28.01 Compounds
Find the compound nouns using the base word “equal”
which are translated here.
1. equal égalité de traitement
2. equal accès égal
3. equal égalité des chances
4. equal salaire égal
5. equal pied d’égalité

EXERCISE 28.02 British English vs American English

Find the American equivalent of the following British terms.
1. holiday
2. trainee
3. trade union
4. dismissal notice
5. labour

Réponse

EXERCISE 28.03
Translate the following sentences into English.
1. Elle aurait dû toucher une indemnité de licenciement.
2. Elle est en congé maladie depuis deux mois.
3. Il a obtenu un contrat à durée déterminée.
4. M. Davis ne fait plus partie du personnel.
5. Le directeur du personnel a e ectué un premier tri des
candidatures.
Réponse

EXERCISE 28.04
Choose the right answer.
1. How much would you require to report for work?
˜ delay, notice, period, warning
2. He only joined the rm two years ago, and is not eligible
for the job in terms of .
˜ seniority, advance, retirement, pro t
3. Stronger emphasis is to be laid on if we want our
workers’ quali cations to improve.
˜ job studying, trade forming, work teaching, vocational
training
4. There was no job security and you could nd yourself
overnight.
˜ out of job, out of a job, o his job, laborless

EXERCISE 28.05 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the blanks with the right preposition or particle.
1. This would also in all likelihood force some companies to
cease production and lay their employees in the
near future.
2. In that country, too, the government had to step in
the face of popular protest.
3. At the time the questionnaire is sent out, some women
might be maternity leave.
4. It is much better to help the industry keep those core
people the payroll and retrain them than to let them
go and then to hire them back again later.
5. I personally feel very con icted about taking a day
work to take care elderly parents or when
my teenager is sick.
6. After several months the dole, she was forced to
accept a temporary job a subcontracting company.
7. When you needed help with your family law case, was the
lawyer duty able to speak to you in your language?

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON HUMAN

RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
The case for free speech at work
Companies should be stopped from trying to silence their
employees
Can you really lose your job for posting an opinion on
Twitter, or even for clicking “like” on somebody else’s
message? Surprising though it may be to employees who
expect rms to indulge [= céder à (un caprice)] their
odd working hours, their tastes in co ee and their pets,
the answer is often yes. Pascal Besselink, an employment
lawyer in the Netherlands, reckons [= to consider] that
about one in ten abrupt sackings there is connected to
behaviour on social media.
Controversial opinions were once expressed in bars after
work, and went no further. Today Twitter and other social
media broadcast employees’ thoughts; they also make it
easy for anyone who is o ended to put together a mob
and retaliate against the poster and their employer.
Jittery [= nervous] rms respond by sacking the
o ender. Some, like General Motors, have introduced
conduct codes which police workers’ speech even when
they are not at work. […]
Though it is not necessarily in companies’ interests to
allow the free expression of opinion, it is clearly in
society’s interest. Free speech, including by employees, is
a cornerstone of democracy. At the moment workers are
too easily gagged [= bâillonner].
In countries such as America most employees have scant
[= insu cient] protection against punitive employers. In
others, laws written to protect religious freedom are
being extended to govern other beliefs and views. British
judges have decided that ethical veganism deserves legal
protection. A think-tank [= experts] was ruled to have
acted legally when it did not renew the contract of a
researcher after she tweeted that biological sex is
immutable. This case-by-case evolution leaves employees
 and employers unsure which views are acceptable and
where.
In laying down clearer rules, legislators should remember
that o ending and harassing are di erent. It is not
reasonable for companies to try to prevent their
employees from expressing displeasure at gay marriage,
no matter how strongly others disagree—at least if that is
not relevant to the job they do. But an employee who
repeatedly says at work that gays are damned, even after
being told to stop, has crossed the line into harassment.
That should be grounds for dismissal.
There is also a di erence between what people do at
work and what they do outside. Speech is like a dress
code. Just as companies can demand that their
employees look the part while at work, they should be
able to restrict what they say there, provided they are
clear and fair about it. After people go home, though,
they should be able to express their opinions freely, just
as they are free to change into jeans and a t-shirt. A
woman red in 2004 by a housing rm for displaying a
sticker backing John Kerry on her car was poorly treated.
[…]
Firms will lobby to preserve their freedoms. But robust
laws against unfair dismissal that protect speech would
help them stand up to complaints from angry mobs and
the Chinese government. Politicians should hold their
nerve. Many complain that their constituents [= un
électeur] have become so ideological and tribal that they
have forgotten how to talk to those with opposing views.
Geographical and technological spaces are increasingly
segregated. That makes it all the more important that
people encounter di erent views at work—and especially
outside it.
From The Economist (on Feb 27th, 2020)

EXERCISE 28.06 Understanding

After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. What does the journalist hint at when he writes: “… it may
be surprising to employees who expect rms to indulge their
odd working hours, their tastes in co ee and their pets”?
2. Why could employees in the past express their opinions
more freely than they do today?
3. The journalist does not exclude punishment for
inappropriate behaviour but what should the legislator pay
attention to?
4. Why should companies and governments work hand in
hand to protect free speech?
Réponse

EXERCISE 28.07 Vocabulary

Fill in the following sentences with the right particle or
preposition (from the text).
1. If you can show that women’s wages are lower than men’s
then make the case equalising their wages.
2. Action must be taken promptly to stop the disease
spreading.
3. One ten of these students expressed interest
non-pro t employment following graduation,
although most were also considering other career
possibilities.
4. Never retaliate any employee for having raised
concerns or complaints in good faith.
5. In this context, a general framework was de ned, laying
the principles and tools for involving the private
sector nancial crisis prevention and resolution.
6. It was the poverty or near poverty in their youth that
prevented them setting aside money for retirement.
7. Governance of the Agency must be able to stand
public scrutiny.

EXERCISE 28.08
Translate the sentences from the previous exercise. Pay
particular attention to the phrasal verbs and collocations.
Réponse
MARKETING / MARKETING
 29
Marketing Principles
Marketing can be de ned as the process which identi es, anticipates
and satis es customers’ requirements/needs expectations pro tably.
A company’s marketing strategy is based on research that focuses on
a business’s competitors, customers, market size and the potential for
market growth. e strategy will help to determine what aspects of the
business have the most in uence on its customers. It includes a
presentation of target markets, product and pricing policies. e
marketing strategy consists in:
– identifying new markets and gaps in the market,
– developing new products and identifying their desired positioning,
– developing the company’s competitive advantages,
– maximizing revenues and pro ts,
– gaining market share.
marketing department • service marketing
marketing goals • objectifs commerciaux
marketing manager • directeur du marketing
marketing mix • plan de marchéage/ marketing mix
marketing strategy • stratégie marketing
marketing techniques • techniques marketing
mass marketing • commercialisation de masse

e various activities of the marketing process are referred to as the

marketing mix or the 4Ps, a theory launched by a marketing expert
named E. Jerome McCarthy (1928-2015) in the 1960s.
Originally there were 4Ps of marketing (Product, Place, Promotion,
Price), but over time marketers added other ones to reach up to 7Ps
(People, Process, Physical Environment). In the 1990s, they
developed the 4Cs theory (Customer, Cost, Convenience,
Communication).
direct marketing campaign • campagne de marketing direct
to meet the customer’s needs • répondre aux besoins du client
customer satisfaction • satisfaction client
to purchase/ to buy • acheter
purchasing power/ buying power • pouvoir d’achat
buying frequency • fréquence d’achat
buying habit • habitude d’achat
propensity to consume • propension à consommer
consumer behavior pattern • comportement de consommation

a market segment • segment/ créneau de marché

a brand • marque
a branded good • produit de marque
branding • valorisation de la marque
a licensed brand • marque sous licence
to compete with sb • être en concurrence avec qqn
a competitive advantage/ edge • avantage concurrentiel
a target audience • public cible

to target a market • cibler un marché

a niche market • marché de niche
to gain market shares • gagner des parts de marché
to become a market leader • devenir le leader d’un marché
to break into a market • pénétrer un marché
packaging • emballage/ conditionnement
tailor-made/ customised products • produits personnalisés
substitute products • produits de substitution
mass-market product • produit de grande consommation
prestige product • produit haut de gamme

a label/ a tag • étiquette

a price tag • étiquette de prix
a cartel price • prix de cartel

advertising • publicité
an advertising campaign • campagne de publicité
to launch/ to roll out a product • lancer un produit
a billboard • panneau publicitaire
a poster/ a bill (UK) • a che (publicitaire)
a TV commercial • spot publicitaire

NB
Don’t confuse advertising which can be de ned as telling people about a
product (e.g. on TV or in magazines) in order to coax them into buying it,
and publicity which can be described as any information that makes
people notice a product positively or negatively and which may be
unplanned, out of the control of the company.

to promote a product • promouvoir un produit

promotion • promotion
sales promotions • promotions
sales • soldes/ ventes
 public relations (PR) • relations publiques (RP)

to coax sb into doing sthg
to talk sb into doing sthg
to talk sb out of doing sthg
to deter sb from doing sthg
a deterrent
an incentive
• amadouer qqn pour qu’il fasse qqch
• convaincre qqn de faire qqch
• dissuader qqn de faire qqch
• dissuader qqn de faire qqch
• élément dissuasif
• incitation

A STEEP analysis is a tool commonly used in marketing to evaluate

di erent external factors which impact an organization. It is essential
for every business to consider some external forces before they can
make decisions.
It is often conducted by rms to get a detailed overview on what
external factors determine the trends. It also helps to predict what
might happen in the future. STEEP is basically an acronym which
stands for Social, Technological, Economical, Environmental, and
Political. It is also known around the world as PEST, PESTEL, and
PESTLE.
Social developments include factors like consumer behaviour,
demographics, religion, lifestyles, values, and advertising.
Technological: this aspect focuses highly on technological
advancements. It includes factors like innovation, communication,
energy, transport, research and development, patent regulations and
life-cycle of products.
Economic: the economic condition is strongly associated with the
consumers’ buying position. In this step, factors such as interest rates,
international trade, taxes, savings, in ation, subsidies, availability of
jobs and entrepreneurship are considered.
Environmental developments involve ecosystem factors such as water,
wind, food, soil, energy, pollution and environmental regulations.
Political: developments can highly in uence individuals and
organizations. It is important to be aware of likely upcoming shifts in
power. Political developments can a ect environmental, antitrust,
nancial markets, trade, and other kinds of laws. Factors to be
considered include political stability, regulation of monopolies, tax
policies, price regulations consumer protection, jurisdiction and trade
unions.
STEEP is commonly used to gain an insight into past, current and
future of the external environment developments during times of
uncertainty, times of information overload and times of
disorganization.
to analyse the business • analyser l’environnement de
environment l’entreprise
to gain insight into sthg • avoir un aperçu de qqch
information overload • excès/ surcharge d’information
to act on the price • agir sur le prix
after-sales service • service après-vente
to be out of stock • être en rupture de stock

to make a pro t • faire du béné ce

to meet expectations
to meet demands
to suit a customer
to please a customer
a customer-focused business
strategy
a customer service
• répondre aux attentes
• répondre aux exigences
• convenir à un client
• plaire/ faire plaisir à un client
• stratégie d’entreprise centrée sur le
client
• service clients

e company’s marketing plan is the written document which details

the marketing techniques adopted by the business and examines the
resources needed to reach the objectives.
e contents of a strategic marketing plan include:
– the mission statement which sets out the objective of the company
and expounds its role, business de nition, and future direction.
– a market overview: a snapshot of the market, including market
structure, market trends, key market segments and gap analysis.
– a SWOT analysis which outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the
company compared with competitors as well as opportunities and
threats in the external environment.
– the marketing objectives made of quantitative statements of the
pro t, volume and market share the company wants to achieve.
– the marketing strategies that will be enforced.
– Resource requirements and budget which list the revenues and costs
for each year.
a production-led approach • approche centrée sur la production
a sales-led approach • approche centrée sur les ventes
to sell goods to sb • vendre des biens à qqn
to buy goods from sb • acheter des biens à qqn
a market-driven business • entreprise régie par la loi du marché
market research/a market
• étude de marché
study
a market share • part de marché
supply of goods • o re de biens
• demande/ exigence du
consumer demand
consommateur

a manufacturer • fabricant
to manufacture • fabriquer
a retailer • détaillant/ grande enseigne
 a wholesaler • grossiste
a distributor • distributeur

a marketing manager • responsable/ directeur marketing

to design a product
to identify future opportunities
a market segment
a niche market
external environment
internal performance
• créer un produit
• identi er des opportunités à venir
• segment de marché
• marché de niche
• environnement externe
• rendement/ performance interne

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON MARKETING

PRINCIPLES
EXERCISE 29.01 Compounds
Make ve compounds based on the root “customer”, using
the translation to help you.
1. customer service clients
2. customer besoins du client
3. customer souhaits du client
4. customer exigences du client
5. customer attentes du client

EXERCISE 29.02 Compounds

Make 10 compounds using “market” or “marketing” with the
following words.
˜ agency, campaign, study, leader, mix, price, sector, share,
strategy, tool
Réponse

EXERCISE 29.03 How to translate “gagner” into

English?
Complete the following sentences with the right word from
the list and translate them into French. What do you notice?
˜ to win money, to earn money, to save time, to gain
market shares, to make a living
1. This helps and resources in the long term and can
contribute to more lasting positive e ects.
2. Such o ers encourage gamblers to believe they can
improve with time and more easily.
3. Companies have never before had a better opportunity to
by doing good.
4. If one can out of marketing mud, gravel, sand and
dirt, then I suppose one could create a gravel pit.
5. The Group was able to in a highly competitive
environment still impacted by a weak economy.

EXERCISE 29.04 Synonyms – Antonyms

Use your vocabulary list. Find either a synonym or an
antonym for the following words.
synonym antonym

a competitive advantage

an incentive

to talk sb into doing sthg

a retailer

to buy goods from sb

to meet the requirements

tailor-made products

Réponse

EXERCISE 29.05 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the following sentences with the right preposition or
particle.
1. If it happens that the products ordered are
stock, we will notify customers by e-mail as soon as
possible.
2. The European operators have the possibility to act
the price of olive oil.
3. The delay in enacting the bill had provided an opportunity
to gain insight its implications for the structure of
public service.
4. It appears that small rms are more likely to break
a market when they are championing new technology or
processes to meet customer needs.

– WRITING/RESEARCH EXERCISES ON
MARKETING PRINCIPLES
EXERCISE 29.06
What kind of techniques are used in terms of marketing
research?
Réponse

EXERCISE 29.07
˜ Many people who have taken a marketing course have
learned about the “4P’s” of marketing. Aren’t the elements of
this marketing formula something from the past? Shouldn’t
they make way for the 4C’s?
Réponse

– MARKETING PRINCIPLES: PROFESSIONAL

SKILLS
EXERCISE 29.08 How to make a SWOT analysis
Make a SWOT analysis of a company that you work(ed) for
or know well.
Réponse
 30
Place
‘Place’ is the second of the four Ps in the marketing mix: customers
must be able to access the product easily for it to sell better. Access will
depend on the distribution channel (canal de distribution).
point of sale (POS) • point de vente
a brick-and-mortar shop/ store • magasin physique/ en dur
a supermarket chain • chaîne de supermarché
• magasin de proximité/
a convenience store
supérette
a corner shop/ Mom-and-Pop store
• magasin de proximité/ du coin
(US)
a cash and carry/ warehouse store
• entrepôt de vente en direct
(US)
an outlet/ shop • magasin/ point de vente
a franchised outlet • magasin franchisé
a mall/ shopping centre • centre commercial
a department store • magasin de centre-ville
inner city • centre-ville
a superstore • hypermarché
drive-thru • express drive
a high-street shop • boutique qui a pignon sur rue
consuming habits • habitudes de consommation

economies of scale • économies d’échelle

to display a product • présenter/ a cher un produit
 an end display • tête de gondole
to lay out • agencer
layout • agencement

Click and mortar is a type of business model that includes both online
and o ine operations, which typically include a website and a physical
store. A click-and-mortar company can o er customers the bene ts of
fast online transactions or traditional face-to-face service. is model is
also referred to as clicks and bricks.
to buy retail • acheter au détail
retail • vente au détail
a retailer • détaillant/ grande enseigne
retailing • vente au détail
retail chains • chaînes de magasins
an e-tailer/ an online retailer • détaillant/ site de vente en ligne
an online store • magasin en ligne
a hard discounter • magasin de hard discount
to buy wholesale • acheter en gros
a wholesaler/ wholesale dealer • grossiste
purchasing/ buying group • centrale d’achat
a agship store • magasin phare
a shop owner • petit commerçant

e role of retailers is to sell goods or services to end-users. ey

purchase their goods either from wholesalers or directly from the
manufacturers in bulk and, in turn, charge a mark-up to the general
public to cover their costs and make a pro t.
distribution chain • circuit de distribution
distribution cost
direct distribution
an indirect distribution channel
distribution/ distributing
network
a distributor
a sales representative
door-to-door calling/selling
a manufacturer
to eliminate the middlemen
to sell directly to the customers
to reach potential customers
to cut the distribution costs
to have access to a product
• coût de distribution
• distribution directe
• canal de distribution indirect
• réseau de distribution
• distributeur
• représentant/ commercial
• démarchage à domicile
• fabricant
• éliminer les intermédiaires
• vendre directement aux clients
• atteindre des clients potentiels
• réduire les frais/ coûts de
distribution
• avoir accès à un produit

The right word

e case of ‘place’
French speakers tend to use the word ‘place’ where English speakers use a
great variety of words. Here are some examples to clarify the matter.
1. Space: an area which is free, available, or unoccupied / a gap.
Examples: e new o ce furniture took up too much space. We need to
leave some space between the tables.
2. Place: a particular position, point, or area / a location.
Examples: I can’t be in two places at once! ere is no place like home.
3. Room: a space that can be occupied or where something can be done /
opportunity or scope for something to happen or be done
 Examples: Your o ce is too small – there is no room for a second desk.
ere is always room for improvement.

to keep track of inventory • faire le suivi de son inventaire

customer orders
to take an order
to place an order
to cancel an order
a bulk order
to make a mark-up
the mark-up on sthg
• commandes de client
• prendre une commande
• passer une commande
• annuler une commande
• commande en gros/ en vrac
• faire une marge
• la marge sur qqch

A trade fair is a massive, stage-set, and usually regular trade event at

which a large number of manufacturers from a particular industry
present their products and show their capabilities to distributors,
wholesalers, retailers, and end-users. Some trade fairs attract
participants and visitors from all over the world and provide
widespread interactions and exposure.
a trade fair/ trade show/ trade
• foire/ salon commercial(e)
exhibition
to attend an event • assister à un événement
to showcase a product • exposer un produit
an exhibitor • exposant
• rencontrer des clients/ partenaires
to generate leads
potentiels
• créer des occasions/ o rir des
to create opportunities
opportunités
to host a fair • héberger un salon/ une foire
to participate in an event • participer à un événement
 to book a stand/ a booth • réserver un stand
to close/ clinch a deal • conclure un marché
to prospect new clients • prospecter de nouveaux clients

mission statement • profession de foi

to lose ground on sthg • perdre du terrain
to give a hard time to sb • donner du l à retordre
cut-throat competition • concurrence acharnée

to customize the shopping

experience
to tailor merchandise assortments
to suit the market
purchase intent
a cost-conscious consumer
value for money
to appeal to consumers
to lure shoppers into the store
end-users
• personnaliser l’expérience d’achat
• personnaliser les gammes de
produits
• convenir au marché
• intention d’achat
• consommateur responsable
• rapport qualité-prix
• attirer/ séduire les
consommateurs
• attirer les clients dans le magasin
• consommateurs naux

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON PLACE

EXERCISE 30.01
Use your vocabulary list.
1. Give examples of di erent retail outlets.
2. What is the di erence between a mall and a department
store?
3. Fill in the sentences with words from the list.
a. Large series allow economies of .
b. We needed more and had our premises enlarged.
c. At trade fairs, exhibitors goods and supply
information.

EXERCISE 30.02
Match the words with their de nitions.
˜ the High Street, a doorbuster, an incentive, a mall, a pure
player
1. a product sold at a very low price for a short period of time
for which customers are ready to “bust doors” and seize the
product on sale.
2. a retailer which sells its products exclusively online.
3. a device or scheme which will incite consumers to buy.
4. the shops located in city centers.
5. a shopping center, generally located in the outskirts of
cities and towns.
Réponse

EXERCISE 30.03
Choose the right answer for each sentence.
1. changes, means, channels, canals
Many new of distribution have emerged recently.
2. bracket, target, report, customs
Teenagers make up the bulk of our audience.
3. part, income, trend, share
Our top priority is to increase our market .
4. household, purchaser, directory, wholesaler
The is an intermediary between the manufacturer
and the retailer.
5. brand, gure, poll, dealer
This is present in many small outlets.

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON PLACE

Click And Order To Brick And Mortar: The Bene ts Of
Going Digital First
A growing list of prominent retailers is turning the old
retail model on its head. And perhaps you should, too.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, 2017
kicked o with the healthiest retail market since 2014.
Strong increases in month-over-month sales point to the
fact that Americans are shopping again  – they’re just
doing it in a di erent way than they used to.
In the last 10 years, there have been countless web
articles and thought pieces on the digital shopping
landscape. We’ve been informed over and over again, ad
nauseam, about the booming business that is online
retail. It probably won’t surprise you that in 2016, online
sales in the U.S. were predicted to reach $394 billion,
according to a Forrester report.
However, it may surprise you that an expanding group of
web-only retailers is venturing into brick and mortar, and
nding enormous success in doing so. We’re one of them.
Pink Lily began as a web retailer and quickly grew to $30
million in revenue. Just this year, we opened our rst
physical store. And we’re not the only ones who have
seen the opportunity in returning to the traditional
shopping model after building a thriving online business.
Eyewear brand Warby Parker, menswear brand Bonobos
and even Amazon all exemplify other retailers that
started online before adding a network of physical store
locations. Here are a few key tips to choosing a similar
path:
1.
Retailers that choose the traditional model of launching
with brick-and-mortar stores face an uphill battle. Recent
bankruptcies and closures of major retail chains like The
Limited, American Apparel, Wet Seal and Aeropostale, as
well as the consolidation of longtime department stores
like Macy’s, has demonstrated the ongoing evolution of
the old shopping landscape.
Entering this competitive and struggling world means
competing with established brands. It also means putting
up the capital and taking the risk on a physical property. I
recommend starting out in a much safer way: by building
a web business rst. Building an e-commerce site and
growing a digital following is far less risky and you have
plenty of potential for later expansion.
Going online rst also allows you to market your products
on a much larger scale. You can advertise to the entire
country (or perhaps the world) and the chances of your
product getting noticed are higher. With just a physical
store, your potential customers are limited to your
geographic location. It can be di cult to get noticed
unless you’re placed in an area with excellent foot tra c.
2.
Starting with an online business o ers the opportunity to
really learn about your customers  – what they like, what
they want and how they behave. Ultimately, your business
and the investments you choose to make in it will mirror
your customers’ needs and demands.
As you grow to o er more diverse products and services,
your customers will feel they had a hand in the evolution
of your business. At Pink Lily, we saw this play out in our
usage of social media. By directly interacting with
customers and cultivating personal relationships online,
we were able to harness their comments, complaints and
suggestions to grow and improve our business over time.
3.
Financially speaking, it’s much more cost-e ective to
start digitally. There are virtually no startup costs
whatsoever. Your home o ce is free, and an e-commerce
website is more a ordable than ever. By purchasing a
small amount of starting inventory, you can utilize the
revenue generated from your sales to continue
purchasing new stock.
Contrast that nancial outlook with the exorbitant costs
of opening a physical retail location, including rent,
utilities, racks/ xtures, point-of-sale systems, extra
inventory and so on, and it’s a no-brainer. Additionally, if
you’re in tune with your customers’ desires and able to
build an intuitive online shopping experience, the revenue
will really start coming in. Pro ts, in turn, will allow more
room for investing in the aspects of your online business
that are playing well, like your most popular product
o erings, as well as the aspects that need more TLC, like
perhaps your customer service speed and e ciency.
Over time, the organic growth of your online revenues
can pave the way for exciting new marketing
opportunities and business expansions. One such
expansion may be an evolution into the world of brick
and mortar. After all, customers still appreciate seeing,
feeling and interacting with products in person. The trick
is using this strategy in your own way, at the right time
for your growing business.
4.
While many customers are switching to the convenient
method of online shopping, some still like the experience
of shopping at a physical store and trying on clothes. At
Pink Lily, we are happy to be able to serve both types of
customers. According to Forrester Research, U.S. cross-
channel retail sales (in uenced by the web, but made in
stores) will reach $1.8 trillion this year. If you want a piece
of that pie, you need to think carefully about how you
choose to cut your slice. Depending on your business,
that may just mean going digital rst.
By Chris Gerbig, Co-founder, president and COO of Pink
Lily (on August 18th, 2017)From:
www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcounci
l/2017/08/18/click-and-order-to-brick-and-mortar-the-
bene ts-of-going-digital- rst/2/#47238ed7538c
EXERCISE 30.04
Answer the following questions concerning the text.
1. Who is writing? What is the latest strategy implemented by
the company he stands for?
2. Give other examples of companies, taken from the text, that
followed the same path.
3. Why are The Limited, American Apparel, Wet Seal and
Aeropostale mentioned in the text?
4. What are the main advantages of starting digitally?

Réponse

EXERCISE 30.05
Match the title with the corresponding paragraph.
˜ Learn Your Customer, The Final Word, Build Revenue,
Start Safe
Réponse

EXERCISE 30.06 Vocabulary – Business metaphors

Match the phrases with their de nitions.
˜ an uphill battle, to harness sthg (e.g.: emotion), to have a
hand in sthg, to be in tune with sb/ sthg, to pave the way for
sthg
1. Something di cult to do because of obstacles such as
opposition from other people.
2. To be involved in doing something.
3. To make it possible or easier for something or someone to
follow.
4. Having a good understanding of someone or something.
5. To bring something under control and use it.

Réponse
 31
Price
Price is the last of the four Ps of the marketing mix and may therefore
be overlooked. And yet, pricing decisions are critical for revenue. Every
pricing strategy must cover at least the costs unless the price is being
used to attract customers to the business (loss leader pricing). A
product is only worth as much as people are prepared to pay for it,
which will depend on product features and the target market’s budget.
Competitor pricing and factors within your marketing environment
must also be considered when setting a price.
price-sensitive buyers • acheteurs sensibles au prix
psychological threshold • seuil psychologique
a price-sensitive product • produit sensible à l’évolution du prix
price competitiveness • compétitivité du prix
price perception • perception du prix

to set a price • xer un prix

pricing
a pricing strategy
to charge a high price for a
product
to carry out a price test
a fair price
to spend money on sthg
to waste/ squander money on
sthg
to invest money in sthg
• tari cation
• stratégie de tari cation/ de prix
• pratiquer un prix élevé pour un
produit
• mener un test sur le prix
• prix juste
• dépenser de l’argent pour qqch
• gaspiller de l’argent
• investir de l’argent
Before any pricing decisions are made, a company must know what
they want to achieve through pricing.
1. Pro t Maximization: A company may want to maximize pro ts by
balancing out revenue and costs. Pro t maximization objectives
should be long term and not focus only on the short term.
2. Revenue Maximization: With less focus on pro ts, a company may
concentrate on increasing revenues in order to raise market share and
lower costs in the long term.
3. Quantity Maximization: A rm may want to sell a speci c number
of items to decrease long-term costs.
4. Pro t Margin Maximization: this means increasing the pro t
margin for each unit rather than focusing on the total number of units
sold.
5. Quality Leader: A business may want to use price to signal high
quality and become the quality leader.
6. Partial Cost Recovery: If an organization has various sources of
revenue, it may not be too bent on recovering 100% of its costs on
every product.
7. Survival: Sometimes, the best a company may want to do is to cover
costs and to remain in the market. If the market is in decline or the
pressure of competitors is too high, survival may take temporary
priority over pro t.
8. Status Quo: ere may be a need to avoid price wars with
competitors. So a company may maintain a stable price to continue a
stable pro t level.
a competitive advantage • avantage concurrentiel
a competitive product • produit concurrentiel
to gain market share • gagner des parts de marché
• s’implanter dans un nouveau
to gain a hold in a new market
marché
to appeal to/ attract new • attirer de nouveaux clients
clients
an incentive • incitation
to be a deterrent • avoir un e et dissuasif
to deter sb from doing sthg • dissuader qqn de faire qqch

to price oneself out of the • se placer au-dessus des prix du

market marché
costly • coûteux
pricey • cher
overpriced • excessivement cher/ hors de prix
it’s a rip-o • c’est du vol/ une arnaque

a prize freeze • gel des prix

to slash prices • casser les prix
low-priced • à prix bas
inexpensive • bon marché
economical • économique
cheap • bon marché/ pas cher
a bargain • bonne a aire
free of charge • gratuit

purchase price • prix d’achat

retail price • prix au détail
wholesale price • prix de gros
cash price • prix au comptant
cost price • prix de revient/ prix coûtant
sale price/ selling price • prix de vente
 a price list • tarif(s)
a markup • marge

a price tag • étiquette (de prix)

to o er a discount
a coupon/ a voucher
a loyalty programme (UK)/ program
(US)
bundle pricing
• proposer une réduction/ une
remise
• bon de réduction
• programme de délité
• o re groupée

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON PRICE

EXERCISE 31.01
Match the concepts with their de nitions.
˜ price skimming, price xing, price discrimination,
opportunistic pricing
1. a practice whereby rival companies come to an illicit
agreement not to sell goods or services below a certain price.
2. a microeconomic pricing strategy where identical or largely
similar goods or services are transacted at di erent prices by
the same provider in di erent markets. For example,
moviegoers may be subdivided into seniors, adults and
children, each paying a di erent price when seeing the same
movie at one theater.
3. a strategy by which a rm charges the highest initial price
that customers will pay. As the demand of the rst customers
is satis ed, the rm lowers the price to attract another, more
price-sensitive segment. Good examples include innovative
electronic products, such as the Apple iPhone and Sony
PlayStation 3.
4. a practice wherein some companies set prices for new
products not based on any relationship to development and
manufacturing costs, but rather based on ever escalating
perceptions of “what the market will bear.”
Réponse

EXERCISE 31.02 Synonyms

Find one or two synonyms for the following words.
˜ costly, cheap, to waste money on sthg, a coupon, to
attract new customers
Réponse

EXERCISE 31.03 Antonyms

Give an antonym for each of the following words.
˜ a deterrent, selling price, to convince sb to do sthg, free
of charge, a bargain
Réponse

EXERCISE 31.04 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the following sentences with the right preposition or
particle.
1. Some businesses purposely charge a very high price
their product so that their customers feel that they
are getting a better product or service.
2. It is recommended to carry a price test before
launching a new product the market.
3. Because of the tight competitive situation on the lending
side, the EIB would price itself the market
if it would pay higher interest rates for domestic bond issues.
4. Incentives to invest innovative and expanding
sectors (such as green jobs and also white jobs) should be
considered.

EXERCISE 31.05 Compound nouns

Make compound nouns using the root noun “price”.
1. price: prix au détail
2. price: prix de gros
3. price: prix au comptant
4. price: prix de revient/ prix coûtant
5. a price : tarif(s)
6. a price : étiquette (de prix)

– READING AND UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES

ON PRICE
EXERCISE 31.06
Fill in the blanks in the article with the verbs from the list.
˜ charge, control, concentrate, fret about, select, introduce,
is being given up, pricing, operate, cost, compete with, gives
away, sells, will pay, tweaked, varies, generated

Apple’s Expensive Devices Bring Big Pro ts, But Come

At A Price
Does the Amazon e ect mean it’s time for Apple to
“think di erent?”
For years, Apple has been able to (1) near-
luxury prices for what amount to mass-market products.
Its iPhone has had a base price of $649 for the past half-
decade and fancier con gurations (2) even
more. This year’s soon-to-arrive iPhone X will debut at
$999. This strategy has (3) endless criticism (…).
Of course, at its core the argument is silly: The company
is wildly successful, is the most valuable corporation on
earth, and (4) literally hundreds of millions of
devices every year.
But the long simmering question is: When does Apple’s
pricing strategy require rethinking? And when does a
bigger slice of the market matter at least as much as
pro t margin? Apple’s answer to these questions
(5) a great deal from segment to segment. And
it might especially come back to haunt the company in
the battle for the living room, where premium pricing
with di cult-to-experience di erentiation won’t
necessarily work.
To understand Apple pricing is to grok the idea that most
of its products sell to a speci c price and margin target.
It’s no coincidence that in most categories, Apple’s
average revenue per unit sold is nearly a straight line
when viewed on a graph tracking it over time. (…) This
kind of ruler-like precision is not an accident. Apple
executives spec components to the price targets and
(6) product mix – the di erent models that
make up the line – with a rather speci c intent to make
these prices stick. When needed, the amounts of extra
storage available as upsells or the precise con gurations
o ered are (7) and, voila, pricing is back where
Apple wants it.
Still the company has learned some lessons that it can’t
always completely (8) its own fate. At the iPad
introduction, Apple took the breath away from media
and analysts by (9) the product much lower
than expected. (…) But eventually Apple concluded that
it owned all the valuable segments in the tablet market.
Growth would come from selling devices that mostly will
replace PCs, not from inexpensive video players.
Amazon, by contrast, has pricing of $50, $80, and $150
on its Kindle Fire line, depending on screen size. For just
watching movies or TV, they all work great. They also sell
for prices where Apple can’t realistically (10) its
business model.
Still, Apple doesn’t want to lose its dominance in tablets
to Amazon, Samsung, or anyone. And to that end it did
last year (11) a $329 version of the iPad so that
people could buy an Apple ecosystem tablet for a mostly
reasonable entry price. While iPad selling prices did
decline rapidly in the rst few years of the product, since
then they’ve become very Apple-like. iPads sell for an
average of the upper $400s, causing consternation
among pundits, but likely little at Apple. The company
has simply learned to stop worrying about unit sales in
tablets and  (12) on the portion of its customers
who (13) a premium product.
In many ways, this makes iPad healthy because the build
quality and customer satisfaction still lead to tens of
millions of sales annually and it’s not as if a strategic
beachhead (14). No other manufacturer is
building a giant market even though Apple sells just
about 1/4 of the world’s tablets.
This belies some weaknesses, however. Amazon
e ectively  (15) Kindle Fire as a gateway drug to
its own ecosystem. And while much of that centers
around online shopping, the parts of Amazon that o er
music and video very directly (16) Apple. In K-
12, Apple’s lack of a ordable o erings has given Google’s
Chromebook a signi cant presence and trained a new
generation of schoolchildren to think “cloud rst”
without even knowing they’re getting indoctrinated in a
computing paradigm that is very di erent from Apple’s.
Apple has allowed this to happen, perhaps somewhat
intentionally but surely not with an eye focused on the
long term. Indeed, this is a large part of why Wall Street
and analysts constantly (17) the company’s
future. No one is confused how Google or Facebook will
generate billions 5-10 years from now. But if tablets and
smartphones are no longer central to the computing
universe, will Apple make anywhere near the money it
makes today? The reality is that older device-based
businesses can be attractive – Apple is probably very
happy with Macintosh, a 33-year-old product line – but
won’t generate the kind of growth and pro ts investors
crave.
There’s no question Apple has generated tremendous
wealth over the past 15 years doing exactly what it still
does today. The larger question is where and how it
 should change its thinking. Amazon’s bombshell
announcement this past week isn’t necessarily a disaster
for Apple, but perhaps it should serve as a call to
consider this question more in earnest. (…)
Mark Rogowsky, for www.forbes.com (on September 30,
2017)

EXERCISE 31.07
Answer the following questions.
1. What Apple products are mentioned in the article? What
di erences between them does Mark Rogowsky point out?
2. Which Apple competitors are mentioned? To what
purpose?
3. What advice is given to Apple to remain a successful brand
in the future?
Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISE ON PRICE

EXERCISE 31.08 Pricing Strategies
Answer the following questions.
1. Find out what internal and external factors may a ect
price.
2. Find at least 5 di erent pricing strategies that a company
can implement.
3. What steps must be considered in the pricing process?

Réponse
MARKETING / PRODUCT
 32
New Product Development
e new product development process, often referred to as “ e
Stage-Gate innovation process”, developed by Dr. Robert G. Cooper, is
made of di erent steps. e rst one is the idea generation, a process
which consists in looking for new products ideas, either through
internal brainstorming or market research or even by asking
distributors about their customers’ needs.

From www.feedough.com/new-product-development-npd/
customer demands • exigences du client
consumer needs • besoins du consommateur
to identify customer needs • identi er les besoins du client
to meet the needs/ demands of the • répondre aux besoins/ exigences
customer du client
a customer-driven/ customer- • une approche tournée vers le
centric approach consommateur
to identify gaps in the market • identi er les lacunes sur le

to think out of the box
to screen ideas
to assess/ appraise an idea
to stay/ remain competitive
a competitive edge/ advantage
to beat competitors to market
to conduct a feasibility study
to gather data on sthg
to conduct a survey
to launch a new product/ to roll out
a new product
launch date
to introduce a new product onto a
market
product innovation
product improvement
product modi cation
market potential
a market share
market size
a mass market
a niche market
to penetrate the market
market penetration
marché
• faire preuve d’imagination
• examiner/ trier des idées
• évaluer une idée
• rester compétitif
• avantage concurrentiel
• précéder ses concurrents sur un
marché
• mener une étude de faisabilité
• collecter des données sur qqch
• faire un sondage
• lancer un nouveau produit
• date de lancement
• présenter un nouveau produit
sur le marché
• innovation produit
• amélioration d’un produit
• modi cation du produit
• potentiel de marché
• part de marché
• taille du marché
• marché de masse
• marché de niche
• s’introduire sur un marché
• introduction sur le marché
 to make money/ to make pro t
to carry out market research
to be pro table
to lack pro tability
a viable idea
to generate income
• faire du béné ce
• mener une étude de marché
• être rentable
• manquer de rentabilité
• idée viable
• générer des revenus

Once an idea is selected through a screening process, it may be

developed into di erent product concepts which are then tested with
customers. It is important to note, it is di erent from test marketing.
e objective is to measure customer response to a new product.
Arranging private tests groups, launching beta versions, and then
forming test panels after the product has been tested will provide the
company with valuable information allowing last minute
improvements and tweaks (réglages).
customer response • réaction du consommateur
customer satisfaction • satisfaction client
a consumer test panel • panel de consommateurs
a blind product test • test à l’aveugle d’un produit
to sound out the market • sonder le marché
to allocate resources • distribuer/ allouer les ressources
to create/ design a prototype • créer/ concevoir un prototype
to remove errors • se débarrasser des erreurs
to collect information on sthg • collecter des renseignements
to forecast sales • prévoir les ventes
to uncover problems • mettre au jour les problèmes
Next step is the product development phase where “ e production
department will make plans to produce the product. e marketing
department will make plans to distribute the product. e nance
department will provide the nance for introducing the new product.”
(Akrani)
to spend time in the • passer du temps dans la phase de
development pipeline développement
time to market • délai de mise sur le marché
• ordonner les décisions par ordre de
to prioritize decisions
priorité
a random sample • échantillon aléatoire
random sampling • échantillonnage aléatoire
to manage risk • gérer le risque
to ne-tune a product • a ner/ peau ner un produit
• a ner/ a ûter/ perfectionner les
to hone technicalities
aspects techniques
• lancement/ déploiement/ sortie sur le
market rollout
marché

Commercialization, also known as market introduction, is the nal

stage in the new product development process. e distribution
network and marketing action plan must be ready by the launch date.
Everett Rogers, a professor of communication studies, popularized
the theory of the Di usion of Innovations (1962) that o ers a time-
tested framework to examine some of the factors that may have
contributed to an innovation’s success or failure. Rogers describes the
way consumers evaluate and adopt new products as well as the
categories of consumers at stages of adoption as the product di uses
through the market.

–
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON NEW PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
Notice that most of the vocabulary lists given to you include
many collocations (words that usually go together). These
collocations are often a combination of an adjective + noun
or noun + noun.

Some examples
— quality management
e.g.: We’re looking to hire quality management for our
marketing rm.
— socio-economic factors
e.g.: There are a number of socio-economic factors that we
need to take into consideration.
— customer satisfaction
e.g.: Customer satisfaction is our number one priority.
— potential market
e.g.: The potential market for our products is enormous.
Also note that most of these expressions relate to di erent
expressions linked to a particular term.
— market segmentation
e.g.: The market segmentation in Korea is very pronounced.
— market share
e.g.: If this advertising campaign is successful, we’ll increase
our market share.
— market size
e.g.: The market size is somewhere between ten and twenty
million.
— market survey
e.g.: Let’s put out a market survey to begin our research.
— market test
e.g.: The market test was successful, so let’s move ahead with
the campaign.
Finally, remember that many of these terms and phrases are
compound nouns which are made up of a combination of
two nouns.
— display material
e.g.: Our display material was taken from a recent survey.
— product manager
e.g.: The product manager is coming to the meeting next
Wednesday.
— sales analysis
e.g.: Let’s include a sales analysis to check on the trends.

EXERCISE 32.01 Transparent word or deceptive

cognate?
Transparent word or deceptive cognate? Find out by giving
an accurate translation of the following items.
customer demand
to launch a new product
viable idea
to be pro table
customer response
product modi cation
Réponse

EXERCISE 32.02 Compound nouns

Fill in the blanks to form compound nouns made from the
root “market” and “product”.
1. Product i was primarily limited to reducing the
size of the device and multiplying the colors in which it was
available.
2. To ensure increased market p of electricity from
renewable energy sources in the medium term, it is necessary
to require all Member States to set national targets for the
consumption of electricity from renewable sources.
3. While Canadian governments largely treat the organic
products sector as a n market, in other nations the
rapid growth of the organic products industry has forced
governments to rethink their approach.
4. The essential objective of a b product t
is to obtain from consumers a measure of their “overall
hedonic evaluation” of a product, and in as far as is possible,
understand the reasons for this evaluation.
5. People are consumed by the desire to enter the m
market and make a vast pro t.
6. To support the market r of this new type of
vehicle, INERGY is working on solutions that can also meet
hybrid requirements.

EXERCISE 32.03 Word derivations

Fill in the following table where words are derived from one
another.
˜ VERB PERSON NOTION ITEM/ THING

to consume

a product

a marketer

competition

to innovate

Réponse

EXERCISE 32.04 Business idioms and metaphors

Match the phrases to their de nitions and build a new
sentence with them.
˜ to jump the gun, to fast track a project, crunch time, to
dot your i’s and cross your t’s, to keep something under
wraps
1.to be very careful; to pay attention to details
2. to keep something secret; to not let anybody know about a
new project or plan
3. a short period when there’s high pressure to achieve a
result
4. to start doing something too soon or ahead of everybody
else
5. to make a project a high priority; to speed up the time
frame of a project
Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISES ON NEW PRODUCT

DEVELOPMENT
EXERCISE 32.05
Enter “stage-gate process” in a search engine online and
sum up what you learn about this process.
Réponse

EXERCISE 32.06
Here is a chart that illustrates Everett Rogers’ framework.
Explain what it represents.

www.smartinsights.com/marketing-planning/marketing-
models/di usion-innovation-model/
Réponse

–
– SPEAKING EXERCISE ON NEW PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
EXERCISE 32.07 Group Work
Brainstorm some ideas for a new product. Discuss, develop
di erent options and design the main features.
Réponse
 33
Product Life Cycle
e product life cycle stages are four clearly de ned phases, each
with its own characteristics that mean di erent things for businesses
that are trying to manage the life cycle of their particular products.
Stages include introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

e Boston Consulting Group matrix was designed in the 70s as a

planning tool for marketers to help them analyze their product lines
and decide where to allocate money. Market growth rate is compared
to relative market share. Products or services have either high or low
market growth rates or relative market shares.
a product line • gamme de produits
a range of products • gamme/ éventail de produits
color gamut • gamme/ éventail de couleurs
assortment • assortiment/ gamme

to carry out market research • faire une étude de marché

product placement • placement de produit
product launch/ roll out • lancement d’un produit
a planning tool • outil de plani cation
a market share
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix
Market Growth Rate high
low
to build up product awareness
to develop/ build customer
loyalty
to analyze customer needs
to monitor the environment
to keep ahead of competition
return on investment (ROI)
a saturated market
to generate cash ow
to generate pro t/ to make a
pro t
pro tability
to reach maturity
obsolescence
planned obsolescence
a limited lifespan
life-cycle
to make a loss
to take a product o the market
• part de marché
(Rising)Stars Question Marks
Cash Cows Dogs
high low
Relative Market Share
• sensibiliser au/ faire connaitre un
produit
• déliser la clientèle
• analyser les besoins du client
• surveiller l’environnement
• devancer la concurrence
• retour sur investissement
• marché saturé
• générer un ux de trésorerie
• faire du béné ce
• rentabilité
• arriver à maturité
• désuétude/ obsolescence
• obsolescence programmée
• durée de vie limitée
• cycle de vie
• subir/ enregistrer une perte
• retirer un produit du marché
 to withdraw from the market • retirer du marché
to recall a product • rappeler un produit
to invest money in sthg • investir de l’argent dans
to allocate money • distribuer/ répartir des fonds

A product type is a group of products o ered by di erent companies

which are technically similar but whose price, appearance and
marketing may vary. A product class is a group of products that may
be considered as substitutes for one another.
• appareils électro-ménagers/ produits
white goods
blancs
brown goods • matériel audio-visuel/ produits bruns
perishable goods • biens/ denrées périssables
generic/ no-name/ no-brand • produits génériques/ à marque de
products distributeur
branded product • produit de marque
consumer goods • biens de consommation
staple goods • biens de première nécessité
fast moving consumer goods
• produits de grande consommation
(FMCG)
consumer packaged goods
• biens de consommation courante
(CPG)

a price-sensitive market • marché sensible aux prix

innovative • innovant
a counterfeit • objet contrefait
appealing/ attractive • attrayant/ attirant
state-of-the-art technology/ • technologie de pointe/ appareil
device dernier cri
 up-market/ upscale • haut-de-gamme

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON PRODUCT LIFE

CYCLE
EXERCISE 33.01 Compound nouns
List all the compound nouns (N+N) from the list made with
‘product(s)’. Translate them into French and add more if you
can.
Réponse

EXERCISE 33.02 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the blanks with the right preposition or particle and
translate the sentences into French.
1. They should modernize their technology, rationalize
production methods, and carry market research to
identify the textile products in which they can compete
e ectively in international markets on the basis of quality and
price.
2. This group will use trade shows and specialized print media
to build product awareness.
3. The company listens to users and health professionals in
order to keep the competition and o er
products that truly meet expectations.
4. Clearly we’re not saying the government should not have
the right to take a product the market if it suspects
there’s a problem.

EXERCISE 33.03
Place the di erent goods in the right category. Note: some
products may t in more than one category.
˜ bananas, MacBook Air laptop, Samsung TV, refrigerator,
bottled water, bread from the baker’s, Lidl yoghurt, iPad,
dishwasher, Nike sneakers
white goods
 branded goods

brown goods

perishable goods

staple goods

consumer packaged goods

generic goods

Réponse

EXERCISE 33.04 Acronyms

What do the following acronyms stand for? Find out and
give a de nition for each.
˜ ROI, BCG, CPG, FMCG
Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISES ON PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

EXERCISE 33.05
Find out the characteristics of each type of products in the
BCG matrix and write a sentence using the new vocabulary.
Ex: A cash cow is a product, service, or business division that
generates a lot of cash for the company, without requiring
much investment.
Sentence: With strong sales every year and a great brand
name, Mercedes is a cash cow for Daimler Chrysler.
Réponse

EXERCISE 33.06
Find examples of products that t in each category: cash
cow, question mark, dog and star.
Réponse
EXERCISE 33.07
Think of products and services that are at the following
stages in the product life cycle: introduction, early growth,
maturity, decline.
Réponse
 34
Branding
Branding consists in creating a unique name and image for a product
in the consumer’s mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a
consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a signi cant and
di erentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal
customers.
Originally the term meant marking your cattle to make sure the cow
that belonged to you stood out among all the others.
A brand on the other hand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any
other feature (trait caractéristique) that identi es one seller’s good or
service as distinct from those of other sellers.
a brand • marque
a sub-brand • sous-marque
brand equity • valeur de la marque
brand extension • extension de la marque
brand positioning • positionnement de la marque
brand strategy • stratégie de marque
brand switching • substitution d’une marque à une autre

a branded product • produit de marque

a trademark • marque déposée
brand awareness/ • reconnaissance/ notoriété de la
recognition marque
brand values • valeurs de la marque
a brand image • image de marque
brand loyalty • loyauté/ délité à la marque
 customer loyalty
a sense of belonging
a brand name
to build brand awareness
• délité du client
• sentiment d’appartenance
• marque (de fabrique)/ marque
déposée
• bâtir la notoriété de la marque

an ad/ advert/ advertisement • UNE publicité

advertising • LA publicité
advertising blitz • matraquage publicitaire
misleading/ deceptive advertising • publicité mensongère
target audience • public cible

Celebrity endorsement is a form of brand or advertising campaign

that involves a well-known person using their fame to help promote a
product or service. Manufacturers of perfumes and clothing are some
of the most common business users of classic celebrity endorsement
techniques, such as television ads and launch event appearances, in
the marketing of their products.
to di erentiate a product from • di érencier un produit d’un
another autre
to position a product • positionner un produit
to launch a brand • lancer une marque
to stretch the brand • élargir la marque
to market the brand • commercialiser la marque
to enhance the brand • améliorer la marque
to rebrand • changer d’image
an own-label product • produit de marque distributeur

an area of expertise • domaine d’expertise

 customer satisfaction • satisfaction du client
value for money • rapport qualité-prix
to be user-friendly • être convivial/ facile à utiliser
to mirror one’s customers’ values • re éter les valeurs de sa clientèle
an eye-catching logo • un logo attirant/ accrocheur
to appeal to the consumer • séduire le consommateur
to convey an idea • véhiculer une idée
a typeface • police
packing • emballage
packaging • emballage/ conditionnement

Merchandising is used to describe a marketing practice in which the

brand image of one product, the core brand, is used to sell another
product. e purpose of merchandising is to increase retail sales.
Merchandising activities may include display techniques, free samples,
on-the-spot demonstrations, pricing, shelf talkers, special o ers, and
other point-of-sale methods.
in-pack o ers • o res contenues dans les paquets
on-pack o ers • o res sur les emballages
a promotional gift • cadeau promotionnel
freebies/ goodies • petits cadeaux/ cadeaux gratuits
a free sample • échantillon gratuit
to stand for sthg • représenter qqch
to generate additional
• générer des recettes additionnelles
revenue
a collectible • objet à collectionner
memorabilia • articles commémoratifs
 to sign a merchandising deal
to sign a licensing deal
a sponsor
sponsorship
a commercial partner
spin-o sales
• signer un accord sur les produits
dérivés
• signer un contrat de licence
• parrain
• parrainage
• partenaire commercial
• ventes indirectes

Packaging encompasses the processes (such as drying, preserving)

and materials (such as glass, metal, etc.) employed to contain, handle,
protect, and/or transport a product. e role of packaging is
broadening and may include functions such as to attract attention,
assist in promotion, provide machine identi cation (barcodes, etc.),
impart essential or additional information, and help in utilization.
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON BRANDING
EXERCISE 34.01
True or false? Justify your answers and correct the false
statements.
1. An advertising campaign illustrates the brand values.
2. The brand strategy is a way to bring to the fore the human
characteristics of a brand.
3. Cinema advertising, packaging and website design are
examples of touchpoints.
4. To stretch a brand is to communicate in a new advertising
channel.
5. Brand management, brand vision and brand strategy are all
part of the brand platform.
Réponse

EXERCISE 34.02
Fill in this crossword puzzle with word combinations of
brand corresponding to the de nitions.
Branding

Across
3. a brand that is cheaper than its competitors.
4. two brands working together to create a new product.
5. the brand for which a business is best-known and which
represents its image most appropriately.
7. the best-selling brand in a particular market.
Down
1. a high quality brand that is generally more expensive than
its competitors.
2. a brand that is made exclusively for the retailer that sells it.
It is also known as an own-label brand or a private label
brand.
6. a product that doesn’t have a brand associated with it
which is also known as a generic brand.
Réponse

EXERCISE 34.03
˜ Are the following logos abstract, descriptive or
typographic designs?
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON BRANDING

The World’s Most Valuable Brand: Apple’s Secret to

Success
Earlier in May, Forbes published the 2016 edition of their
annual study into the world’s most valuable brands. The
front-runner, Apple, came as no surprise to most
considering this was their 6th consecutive year in the top
spot. Despite a less-than-desirable revenue growth in
April, the tech giant still outpaced other brands with a
value of $154.1 billion.
The top ten, as reported by Forbes, is as follows:
– Apple: Brand value $154.1 bn
– Google: Brand value $82.5 bn
– Microsoft: Brand value $75.2 bn
– Coca-Cola: Brand value $58.5 bn
– Facebook: Brand value $52.6 bn
– Toyota: Brand value $42.1 bn
– IBM: Brand value $41.4 bn
– Disney: Brand value $39.5 bn
– McDonald’s: Brand value $39.1 bn
– General Electric: Brand value $36.7 bn
The question we have to ask is this: how are these brands
the most valuable in the world?
Perceived value—the customer’s evaluation of the
bene ts and costs of one brand compared to others—is a
primary factor as to why the world’s most valuable
brands are so successful. What makes it important from a
company’s perspective is that customers may be willing
to pay a higher price because they deem the brand as
high quality or status achieving.
When laid bare, Apple phones are not that distinct from
the rival Samsung gadget, which accounts as to why the
two companies are always in one ti or another. However,
Apple can price their technology more than 2x what their
competitors charge and not even break a sweat. Why?
Because Apple has built one of the most hardcore fan
bases ever, one that will gladly pay a premium because
of the perceived value attached to Apple products.
Branding lessons from Apple.
It’s hard to nd a more inspirational branding success
story than Apple. Founded by two college dropouts, the
brand’s expansion into various industries and new
services such as Apple Pay helped to propel Apple into
becoming America’s rst $700 billion company.
Moreover, it is one of the most recognized and respected
brands in the world.
Apple’s iconic branding strategy has always focused on
emotion. The brand does not just forge intimate
connections with its customers, but it is adored in return.
Building upon the emotions we feel while discovering,
owning, and using Apple products, the brand capitalizes
on the lifestyle, imagination, passion, innovation,
empowerment and aspirations of Apple users.
Steve Jobs once said that “The chance to make a
memory is the essence of brand marketing.” By engaging
emotion and not just reason, Apple forged that
connection to create a memorable identity.
Customers are more likely to remember (and purchase)
products and services that make them feel good.
Are you familiar with the term unboxing? Put simply,
unboxing is when consumers record the actual process
of unwrapping their newly purchased Apple products.
Why? Because the products make them feel good.
Unboxing videos o er an unvarnished and honest peek
at products, while positioning the unboxer in a central
position within a brand’s community. No one tells these
people to create these videos, but Apple facilitates a
user experience that expands way past the purchase
stage, which is why if you search for unboxing videos in
YouTube, you can nd an array of media with a
somewhat staggering view count.
The momentous following of the Apple brand does, of
course, present the organization with a formidable
reputation to live up to. All technology-leading products
which Apple delivers are not only designed to match the
brand promise but are fundamental to keeping Apple so
pro table.
So, how does Apple incorporate customer experience
into branding? They put the customer at the heart of
everything they do. Take their ‘Shot on iPhone’ campaign
for example, not only does it showcase the sheer
versatility of the iPhone camera, but it features utterly
charming videos shot by real people.
O ering their customers the chance at being part of
something huge (…) ‘Shot on iPhone’ successfully
coupled human emotion with real product bene ts.
Showing how their products t people’s lives, the
 campaign reinforces the brand pillars of Apple and
further solidi es the emotional connection with the
audience.
The importance of emotion in brand loyalty.
No matter how entertaining or creative your branding
campaigns are, without leveraging the emotional aspects
of your products, your marketing strategy may fail to
resonate with your audience.
By creating an emotional connection with its customers,
Apple has acquired a loyal following, and there’s no
doubt that brand loyalty has played a huge part in its
global success. (…)
So what is the key to brand loyalty? Firstly, you have to
be trustworthy and transparent with all your
communications. Second, you have to stop telling people
about what your company makes or provides, and
instead, communicate what your organization believes in
to connect with your target market.
Apple’s mission statement focuses on just that, and
reads: “Apple is committed to bringing the best personal
computing experience to students, educators, creative
professionals and consumers around the world through
its innovative hardware, software and Internet o erings.”
Apple’s global branding success owes a lot to its
inspiring mission statement simply because it resonates
throughout each and every part of its operations. With
this in mind, ask yourself this; what makes my brand tick?
(…) If you want brand loyalty, do as Apple did and
emotionally connect with your customers and start a
movement that you believe in. The rest will certainly
follow. (…)
Nikki Chapman, http://blog.bynder.com/en/
the-worlds-most-valuable-brand-apples-secret-to-
success, (on 10 June, 2016)

EXERCISE 34.04
Answer the following understanding questions.
1. Find the de nitions of “perceived value” and “unboxing”.
2. In the Apple vs Samsung battle, why is Apple the winner?
3. What role do emotions play in Apple’s branding strategy?
4. Give two examples that illustrate how Apple places the
consumer at the heart of their strategy.
Réponse

EXERCISE 34.05 Deceptive cognates

Are the following words transparent words or deceptive
cognates? Look them up in a dictionary if you hesitate.
˜ revenue, bene ts, to forge connections, formidable, to
pay a premium, momentous, to record, the actual process, to
deliver, to design
Réponse

EXERCISE 34.06
English is a linguistic system based both on Latin and Anglo-
Saxon roots. Find in the text the Latin or Anglo-Saxon
synonym for the following words.
˜ LATIN/ FRENCH root ANGLO-SAXON root

to strengthen

to harden

to make sthg easy/ easier

a gamut of

at the core of

Réponse

EXERCISE 34.07 Word derivation – Pre xes and

su xes
To make up new words you can add pre xes or su xes to
root words. List all of the words from the text that are made
like the following examples.
unboxing negative pre x: un-, root word: box, su x: –ing
Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISE ON BRANDING

EXERCISE 34.08
1. Why are some people ready to pay more for a brand even
though the quality of the alternative product may be the
same? Would you pay a price premium for certain branded
products?
2. Retail marketing consists in communicating what the brand
stands for through the design of the store. Discuss how
iconic brands do this in stores you have visited. Consider the
following elements: shop window, product displays, lighting,
customer service, store layout and location, interior design
and use of color.
Réponse
MARKETING /
COMMUNICATION
 35
Promotion
Promotion, the third of the four Ps, aims to build product awareness,
reinforce a brand, stimulate demand by attracting new customers or
getting actual customers to buy more. Promotional activities include
advertising, sales promotions, personal selling and even public relations
(PR). e promotional mix is a blend of the promotional tools used to
communicate about the product.
to launch an advertising
• lancer une campagne de publicité
campaign
a display ad • placard publicitaire
a billboard (US)/ hoarding (UK) • panneau d’a chage
an advertising agency • agence de publicité
• construire une stratégie
to build an advertising strategy
publicitaire
to reach the target audience • atteindre un public cible
to keep in contact with sb • rester en contact avec qqn

direct mail • courrier individuel

direct mail advertising
an exhibition
a trade fair/ a trade show
a point of sale
street marketing
• publipostage
• exposition
• foire exposition/ salon professionnel
• point de vente
• marketing de rue

to draw attention to sthg • attirer l’attention sur

to build loyalty • déliser
a loyalty programme (UK)/ program • programme de délisation
(US)
to o er a loyalty programme (UK)/ • proposer un programme de
program (US) délité
• encourager/ déclencher
to encourage purchase
l’achat
a touchpoint • point de contact
• e ectuer une veille
to monitor the media
médiatique

The right word

“Promotion” in English covers di erent realities.
• promotion (professionnelle ou
a promotion
commerciale)
to be promoted • être promu
promotion to a higher
• promotion à un poste plus élevé
post
to try for promotion • chercher à être promu
“Promotion” can also be considered as a synonym for advertising.
to promote • promouvoir (produit ou employé)
the promotion of a product • LA promotion d’un produit
And nally “promotion” can also be understood as a special deal.
a promotion for a product • UNE promotion pour un produit
a discount • promotion/ rabais/ remise
to o er a discount • proposer une remise
a special o er • promotion/ o re promotionnelle
 to advertise on TV
a commercial
to air a commercial on TV
to run an ad
to place an ad in the media
• faire de la publicité à la télévision
• spot publicitaire télévisuel
• di user un spot publicitaire à la télévision
• passer une annonce
• faire passer une publicité dans les médias

a catchy jingle • air (musical) accrocheur

a memorable slogan • slogan mémorable
an eye-catching ad • publicité accrocheuse/ voyante
to come up with ideas • avoir/ proposer une idée
product placement • placement de produit

AIDA is an acronym that stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and

Action. e AIDA model is widely used in marketing and advertising to
describe the steps or stages that occur from the time when a consumer
rst becomes aware of a product or brand through to when the
consumer trials a product or makes a purchase decision.
Given that many consumers become aware of brands via advertising or
marketing communications, the AIDA model helps to explain how an
advertisement or marketing communications message engages and
involves consumers in brand choice. In essence, the AIDA model
proposes that advertising messages need to accomplish a number of
tasks in order to move the consumer through a series of sequential
steps from brand awareness through to action (purchase and
consumption).
sales promotions • animation commerciale
POS (point of sale) promotion/ in-store • promotion sur le lieu de
promotion vente
below-the-line promotion • promotion hors-média
 a promotional item • article promotionnel

corporate gifts • cadeaux d’entreprise

• organiser une tombola/ un tirage
to run a prize-draw/ a sweepstake
au sort
to o er free samples • proposer des échantillons gratuits
to o er a free trial • proposer un essai gratuit
a coupon/ voucher/ a money-o
• bon de réduction
coupon
a gift coupon • bon cadeau
an e-coupon/ online coupon • bon de réduction numérique
a “buy one get one free” deal
• une o re “deux pour le prix d’un”
(BOGOF)

A lea et generally advertises a product or a service whereas a yer

generally promotes an event.
to sponsor an event • parrainer/ sponsoriser un événement
a sponsor • parrain/ sponsor/ mécène
a sponsorship • parrainage
a sponsee • lleul

Above-the-line advertising (often referred as above-the-line

promotion/ above-the-line marketing/ ATL marketing/ ATL
advertising) consists of advertising activities that are largely non-
targeted and have a wide reach. ATL communication is done to build
the brand and inform the customers about the product.
Below-the-line advertising (often referred as below-the-line
promotion/ below-the-line marketing / BTL marketing / BTL
advertising) consists of very speci c, memorable and direct advertising
activities focused on targeted groups of consumers. Often known as
direct marketing strategies, below-the-line strategies focus more on
conversions than on building the brand. is advertising type tends to
be less expensive and more focused.
rough-the-line advertising refers to the use of mass advertising
forming a prospect or customer database, which can be implemented
for direct marketing activities. An example of this would be an ad on
TV, which features a toll-free number for driving direct contact with
new clients or customers.
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON PROMOTION
EXERCISE 35.01 Advertising
Match the following words with their de nitions.
˜ artwork, body copy, slogan, logo, headline, publicity stunt
1. a drawing representing the company
2. a word or short sentence that conveys the main idea of the
ad
3. a photo or drawing
4. words written in a smaller type that gives more info about
the product
5. a short phrase easy to remember that represents the
company
6. a planned event designed to attract the public’s attention

Réponse

EXERCISE 35.02
Choose the most suitable words to complete these
sentences.
1. A lot of cosmetics companies give away lea ets /
commercials / free samples so that customers can try the
product before they buy.
2. Advertising companies spend a lot of money on creating
clever slogans / posters / exhibitions that are short and
memorable, such as the message for Nike: ‘Just do it’.
3. Celebrity exhibition / research / endorsement is a
technique that is very popular in advertising at the moment.
4. If news about a product comes to you by word of mouth /
the press / the Internet, someone tells you about it rather
than you seeing an advert.
5. Many companies use post and electronic slogans /
mailshots / posters because they can target a particular
group of consumers all at the same time.
Réponse

EXERCISE 35.03 Compound nouns

Use the words from the list to make compound nouns.
˜ tour, o er, gifts, deal, loyalty, needs, price, audience
1. special
2. sponsorship
3. free
4. brand
5. promotional
6. customer
7. target
8. premium

Réponse

EXERCISE 35.04 Antonyms

Find the antonym of the following words.
˜ a producer, pro t, output, cost, below-the-line
advertising
Réponse

EXERCISE 35.05 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the following sentences with the right preposition
and/or particle and translate them into French.
1. This procedure will enable us to keep contact
our main customers in order to better serve their
needs for new creations and market trend knowledge.
2. A well-designed logo guides the consumers’ attention,
drawing attention certain brands.
3. Today, when women’s associations want to place an ad
the media, this aspect is taken
consideration.
4. Two round tables prompted participants to come
ideas at the forum.

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON PROMOTION

Yankee Candle visits New York for the holidays. Here’s

why more brands are opening pop-up shops.
Generic stores and static brands don’t quite cut it
anymore with experience-hungry millennials who want to
show the world they’re unique.
Dwindling foot tra c in malls and competition on shelves
has forced companies to rethink how they reach
consumers. Pop-up shops o er both a testing ground
and a marketing tool, making them a favorite, especially
during the holidays.
Yankee Candle’s version in New York is a stark departure
from its classic mall store layout. Inside, visitors explore
various settings: a forest, a poolside lounge, a eld of
giant roses and a sideways room that could be a scene in
“Alice in Wonderland.” In another room, visitors can use
their ngers to guide koi sh on a screen.
Traditional candles comprise just a corner of the space,
while personalized jars are the centerpiece of the store.
Visitors can choose an image, add words, select a
fragrance and have it printed on a candle. Brands
WoodWick and Chesapeake Bay are also featured, both
of which Yankee’s parent company, Newell Brands,
acquired this year. Four New York-themed scents are
unique to the store. Exclusive products are essentially an
unwritten rule for pop-up shops.
“We really want to show the brands to customers in a
di erent way, so they think about them in the way they
always have and in a new way they never have. This
experience absolutely gives them the opportunity to do
that,” said Hope Margala, Newell Brands’ CEO of home
fragrance.
Yankee Candle’s pop-up shop includes displays that
match selected scents.
Brands across the spectrum have played with the
concept. Luxury out ts Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino,
Pringles and Pop-Tart maker Kellogg, consumer goods
giant Unilever and streaming service Net ix are among
those that have opened pop-up shops this year.
Traditional retailers are pairing up with digital brands to
bring them into brick and mortar. Calvin Klein and
Amazon, Topshop and Kylie Jenner, Domino and Home
Depot are among the matchups.
Pop-up shops give retailers a chance to experiment with
new formats and gain consumer insights. They help
consumer packaged goods companies shape the
connection shoppers have with their brands, something
they normally relinquish to the store.
Open from mere days to multiple months, pop-up shops
create a sense of urgency, and lure in shoppers with
exclusive items. It’s all about the buzz. They’re usually
designed for art rather than function and include spots
that beg to be shared on social media to spark chatter.
“The No. 1 thing we share with brands in this is the new
(return on investment). So instead of putting marketing
dollars in digital ads or putting separate marketing
money in a retail shop, you’re actually merging them
together to create an experience that will drive sales,”
said Joy Fan, chief creative o cer of Storefront, a search
engine that helps companies nd spots for pop-up shops.
 Newell Brands declined to say how much it spent on its
holiday setup. On average, operating a space under 1,000
square feet in Nolita, a New York neighborhood near
SoHo, can cost between $35,000 and $40,000 a month,
according to Fan. That number varies based on location
and size, she said, with a 10,000-square-foot space
costing up to $60,000 a month in rent alone.
Sales can help o set the expenses, Fan added. The
information gained from consumers can also justify the
price tag. Brands can study shoppers’ product
preferences and collect information like email addresses
to connect with them after the store closes.
Some companies are searching for other ways to create
occasions that will help their products stand out. Procter
& Gamble brought a Charmin-branded van containing a
private bathroom to New York this summer. There’s talk
the company could bring it back during the holiday rush.
As for Yankee Candle, it’s too early to say whether the
pop-up shop will return next year or appear in another
city after the current store closes days after the new year.
Margala said she hopes to open another, but she has to
see how this one turns out. Her team will measure
marketing tracking gures and sales numbers, among
other metrics. “I think part of this is just seeing people
interact with the brand and the a nity they’ll have for the
brands,” she said. “That’s absolutely how we judge that.”
By Angelica LaVito, for CNBC.com (on Nov 23, 2017)

EXERCISE 35.06
True or false? Justify with a quote.
1. People from generations Y and Z shun traditional brands
and stores.
2. Malls are more and more appealing to shoppers.
3. Pop-up shops are strategic tests for brands.
4. Pop-up shops are generally very successful with consumers
because they are ephemeral.
 Réponse

EXERCISE 35.07
Answer the following questions concerning the text.
1. What are the advantages of pop up stores for the di erent
actors involved?
a. For consumers
b. For retailers
c. For digital brands
2. What did Yankee Candle o er in its pop-up shop that is
di erent from their traditional strategy?
3. Which other brands jumped on the bandwagon of pop-up
stores?
4. What is the main downside of pop-up stores for brands?

Réponse
 36
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing (or ‘word of mouse marketing’) is a method of
advertising and promoting a company’s products or services in which
individuals send information to their relatives and/or friends using a
large range of online media such as email, blogs, Facebook and other
social networking sites.
to go online • se connecter/ être présent sur internet
to shop online • faire du shopping en ligne
online communities • communautés connectées
to read/ write blogs • lire/ écrire des blogs
a blogger • blogueur
an in uencer • in uenceur/ prescripteur
a trendsetter • initiateur de tendance

a testimonial from a consumer • témoignage de consommateur

word of mouth (WOM)
word of mouth publicity
to spread the word
to get the word out about sthg
to pass along information/ a
message
to share the information with sb
• bouche à oreille
• campagne par le bouche à oreille
• faire passer le mot
• faire passer le message sur qqch
• faire passer l’information/ le
message
• partager l’information avec qqn

to live up to the consumer’s • répondre aux attentes du

expectations consommateur
a target audience • public cible
 to increase brand awareness • mieux faire connaître une marque
to build awareness • sensibiliser

buzz marketing • marketing viral

to be buzzworthy
social networks
social media
stealth marketing
search engine marketing (SEM)
• qui fait le buzz
• réseaux sociaux
• média sociaux
• marketing furtif
• marketing par moteur de recherche

Street marketing is a means to promote products or services in an

unconventional way in public places. Unlike typical public marketing
campaigns that resort to billboards, street marketing involves the
application of multiple techniques and practices in order to establish
direct contact with the customers. One of the goals of this interaction
is to cause an emotional reaction in the clients to get people to
remember brands in a di erent way than they are used to.
Street marketing combines pictures, text, sounds, smells, and
interactive experiences in its e ort to reach customers. By and large,
street marketers are limited only by their imagination and their ability
to creatively use the tools and the spaces that are available to them.
to embed a video clip on a • incorporer une vidéo à un site
website web
to release a viral commercial • publier une publicité virale
a pop-up window • fenêtre pop up
a chat room • forum en ligne
an online discussion board • forum (de discussion) en ligne
a peer-to-peer website • site web P2P
peer approval • approbation des pairs
 to collaborate with peers • coopérer avec ses pairs

to provide a business • représenter une opportunité

opportunity commerciale
to advertise a product • faire la publicité d’un produit
to promote a service • promouvoir un service
a product line • gamme de produits
a brand ambassador • ambassadeur d’une marque
celebrity endorsement • parrainage d’une célébrité

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON VIRAL

MARKETING
EXERCISE 36.01 Collocations
Match the words from the two lists to make collocations
around online retailing.
˜ buzz, discussion, interactive, online (2X), physical, target,
viral
retailer, business, feature, forum, marketing (2X), outlet,
audience
Réponse

EXERCISE 36.02 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the following sentences with the right particle or
preposition.
1. Featuring photographs of club projects and providing
membership information the attendees will help get
the word your club.
2. Commissioners should not pass information about
matters of private concern except upon request of those
involved.
3. We may share the information you give us other
government departments.
4. The company seeks to capitalize its established
brands by producing high-quality sequels that live
consumer expectations thanks to new emotions and
new features.
5. After you register in Google Analytics and acquire the
required code, you can embed Google Analytics
your website.

EXERCISE 36.03 Words and concepts

˜ What’s the di erence between buzz marketing, viral
marketing and stealth marketing?
Réponse

– READING AND UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES

ON VIRAL MARKETING

Look Out For This Surprising Consequence Of

In uencer Marketing That Could Hurt Your Brand
In uencer marketing campaigns  –  also known as viral
marketing or seeded marketing campaigns – seem to be
all the rage these days. In some categories, such as
fashion and beauty, marketers have gone all in and are
heavily reliant on so-called “in uencers” to help drive
brand mentions, positive sentiment and possibly even
sales. (…) Although no longer a new approach to
marketing, word-of-mouth marketing and in uencer-
related campaigns were seen by Kantar Media as one of
the big trends for 2017 in social media marketing.
Further, marketers seem to be putting their money where
their mouths are. For example, a November 2016 survey
by in uencer marketing agency Linquia found a
whopping 72% of marketers planned to increase or
maintain their in uencer budgets this year.
The rising popularity and sophistication of in uencer and
viral marketing is in part due to the growing consumer
trend of avoiding advertising in its more “traditional”
forms. Ad blocking, for example, continues to be on the
rise in the digital space, which means that marketers
have had to nd new ways to reach and in uence
consumers without relying on display, search and social
ads as much. Beyond this fairly pragmatic reason for
turning to in uencer marketing, marketers are also
looking for ways to leverage the authenticity embedded
in the connections that in uencers or “seeds” have with
their followers and friends in social media. This can be
very successful for brands, including large mass-market
brands such as L’Oréal. Last year they created a ve-
member “beauty squad” of social media in uencers in
the UK for their agship L’Oréal Paris brand that has
proven to be an e ective part of the brand’s marketing
mix.
But is it all positive when it comes to in uencer
marketing? Are there any concerns that marketers should
have or be aware of when running in uencer campaigns?
If so, what should marketers be on the lookout for?
It is these kinds of questions that prompted me, (…) to
conduct a study that looked at various outcomes of
running in uencer campaigns. We were looking in
particular for unintended consequences of seeding
products with apparently in uential individuals who are
supposed to spread word of mouth (WOM) about those
products through social media. (…)
Our study looked at “seeded marketing campaigns,”
which are a typical form of in uencer/viral campaign in
which “seed” consumers are selected from a community,
sent free products, encouraged to use them and then
share their experiences with others by posting online. We
focused on products in the cosmetics, beauty and
skincare categories (…) We examined 390 campaigns
that featured 192 di erent brands in these categories. For
each campaign, we tracked all the WOM generated (…).
Importantly, we tracked not only all the WOM generated
for each of the 390 campaigns’ “focal products,” but also
all of the WOM created at the same time for other
products from the same brand as the focal product, as
well as for products in the same category but produced
by competing brands. (…)
Suppose that L’Oréal Paris seeded a new lipstick product
with a set of seed consumers for one of these
campaigns. The lipstick is the focal product, and we
tracked all the seed and non-seed WOM for that product
(focal product WOM). But we also captured all the WOM
for L’Oréal Paris products other than the lipstick, such as
L’Oréal mascara (brand WOM) and all the WOM for non-
L’Oréal Paris products in the lipstick category, such as
Chanel lipstick (category WOM). By tracking focal
product, brand and category WOM we were able to see
whether seeding a product resulted in not only increases
in focal product WOM (…), but also how it a ected brand
and category WOM.
Our ndings were surprising because they are counter to
conventional wisdom which usually expects a “halo
e ect” from advertising a product such that ads for a
particular (focal) product also help the product’s brand
and, thus, other products under that brand. Similarly,
oftentimes advertising by one brand in a category can lift
sales in the entire category, including for competitors’
products. These e ects are known as spillover e ects
and they tend to be positive (i.e., halo e ects).
Instead, we found negative spillover e ects for brand
and category WOM. Getting seed consumers to post
about a new product did result in more focal product
WOM from non-seeds – exactly what you’d expect if the
campaign was successful in generating buzz – but the
opposite occurred for brand and category WOM. This
means that running an in uencer campaign for a focal
product (e.g., a new type of L’Oréal Paris lipstick) is
associated with subsequently less WOM during that
campaign about other products from the same brand but
in di erent categories (e.g., other, non-lipstick products
from L’Oréal Paris). The same applies for category WOM:
there was subsequently less WOM about other products
from di erent brands but in the same category as the
focal product (e.g., other lipstick products from L’Oréal’s
competitors).
The negative WOM spillover e ect for brand WOM was
the strongest of these e ects in our study, and is
potentially the most worrying. It means that when a
marketer runs an in uencer campaign to promote a
speci c product they can expect, all else equal, to
suppress online WOM for other products in their brand.
There is no “brand bump” due to the campaign; in fact,
the opposite occurs.
We speculated that this happens because in uencers, at
least in these categories, tend to focus their WOM on
speci c things, such as how well a product works or
looks, or how easy it is to use. By focusing on speci c
product attributes, the seed consumers inadvertently
also focus everyone else on the speci cs of the product.
This makes it less likely that non-seed consumers will
have what psychologists call “higher-level construals”
whereby they will think about broader concepts, such as
the overarching brand or general product category. In
this context, higher-level construals are needed if non-
seed consumers are to be prompted by the seed’s WOM
about a focal product to talk about things other than the
focal product (…). Instead of this, here what seems to be
happening is that they do not have these kinds of higher-
level thoughts and therefore stay down in the weeds with
the seeds and hone in on the focal product too.
Not all is lost, of course, because category WOM will also
be suppressed. This means that, all else equal, your
competitors in the same category will have less WOM
generated about their products during your in uencer
 campaign (…). However, we found the category spillover
e ect to be generally much smaller than the brand
spillover e ect, so this might not be much of a
consolation. Nevertheless, it may be that in uencer
campaigns could be used to not only generate buzz for
your own product but also suppress WOM about your
competitors.
All this said, this is not a reason to put the brakes on your
in uencer marketing activities. But it does serve as a
reminder (…) that marketers should be aware of these
kinds of unintended consequences from their campaigns.
In this case, it means that seeding products with selected
in uencer consumers and having them post about them
should be seen very much as a product-focused
marketing activity and nothing more. This probably won’t
directly help your brand more generally, but it is likely to
build some buzz around the campaign’s focal product
and lead to some additional sales. Thus, if used in a
product-focused manner and performance expectations
are kept in check and at the level of the promoted
product (and not the brand), in uencer approaches
relying on WOM to generate buzz and interest can be
very e ective ways to leverage the power of social media
for marketing purposes.
By Andrew Stephen, www.forbes.com (on June 25, 2017)

EXERCISE 36.04
De ne the following words used in the text.
1. WOM marketing
2. focal product WOM ≠ brand WOM ≠ category WOM.
3. an in uencer
4. a seeded marketing campaign
5. the halo e ect

Réponse
EXERCISE 36.05
Answer the following questions using the information from
the text.
1. Why have in uencer marketing campaigns become so
popular?
2.What were the “surprising” ndings of the study conducted
by Andrew Stephen?
3. How does he account for the unexpected e ect of
in uencer marketing campaigns?

Fake online in uencers a danger to children, say

campaigners
Virtual personalities created by companies ‘have potential
to manipulate young people’
Parents are being warned of a fresh online threat to
children from social media in uencers who look real and
post photos of themselves with other celebrities, but are
in fact digital creations of the advertising industry.
The rise of deep fakes and “virtual in uencers” allows
companies to “easily manipulate” young people and
threatens to damage their wellbeing, according to
Internet Matters, an online safety campaign backed by
internet service providers and social media companies.
Fake in uencers include Lil Miquela, a virtual “singer” and
“model” created by a US company, who has 1.6 million
followers on Instagram, and Bermuda, another pretend
music star who has 172,000 followers and a ctional on-
o relationship with Blawko, a virtual in uencer who is
shown skateboarding, playing basketball, getting a tattoo
and drinking a beer on his Instagram account, which has
145,000 followers. They have been used to promote
brands such as Spotify, Absolut Vodka and Fendi.
“The virtual in uencer gives brands and corporations the
ability to create posts that feature perfect boys and girls
who can speak to a large young audience at the click of a
button,” said psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos, an
ambassador for Internet Matters. “This potentially allows
companies to easily manipulate young people by using
live data to create the most in uential series of images.”
The virtual in uencers sometimes describe themselves as
robots, but also present as if they were human – what the
industry calls “mixed reality”. Lil Miquela wrote recently:
“I keep a Spotify list of stu I’m listening to, but outside
of that, I’ve been really into Skee Mask and Nina Kraviz. I
found a cool remix of that new Lizzo song I really like the
other day. But yeah, the new Billie Eilish and Slayyyter
songs are on repeat, too.”
Her Instagram posts show her posing with real musicians
backstage and sometimes there is political messaging.
She posted a sign saying “keep abortion legal”, while
Bermuda was an outspoken Donald Trump supporter.
“This in-between thing can be very di cult for children,”
Papadopoulos said. “A child needs role models but these
role models are being created by marketeers. They aren’t
real and create nothing but attention-seeking. They are
grabbing attention and for what? They are not there to
educate and empower; they are there to engage and
they do that by making us feel afraid, angry and insecure.
The biggest thing we can do for our kids is get them to
think critically, to ask, am I being in uenced by an
individual or a group? And why?”
Peter Fonagy, the chief executive of the Anna Freud
Centre for child mental health, said fake in uencers were
an example of computers being used to mimic a deep
psychological process which allows people to trust
others, that is feeling recognised.
“The problem is that AI can mimic this process,” said
Fonagy. “You can programme it so that the optimal
number of people feel that this voice can be trusted … I
am not trying to create a moral panic, but it is important
we are aware computers can mimic some important
 aspects of what the human brain has evolved to be able
to detect.”
Advertising industry sources said that within two or three
years, arti cial intelligence would allow virtual in uencers
to generate their own fresh Instagram posts using
machine learning to analyse data about followers and
work out how best to manipulate them.
In the UK, fashion photographer Cameron-James Wilson
has already created a stable of virtual models, which
have been used to promote Smart cars, Ellesse and KFC.
“There are some virtual in uencers that aren’t
showcasing that these models aren’t real, and I nd that
quite worrying,” he said. “If you are liking and following
an account and you don’t know who is behind it, you
could be following someone with completely di erent
views. It is extremely worrying when accounts have
political views.”
Philip Trippenbach, head of in uencer at Edelman UK, a
multinational communications agency, said virtual
in uencers could appeal to consumers who “think it’s
cool to have a not real person”, but warned that “in a
communications environment that has become full of
algorithmic communication of outstanding power this is
one of the things that parents need to be vigilant of”.
Robert Booth, Social a airs correspondent, The Guardian
(on Nov 4th, 2019)

Réponse

EXERCISE 36.06
After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. What are fake online in uencers?
2. Why were they created and by whom?
3. Why do they pose a threat to younger children?
 Réponse

EXERCISE 36.07 Going further

1. Find more information about “in uencer marketing” and
prepare a 150-word presentation.
2. Research more precisely which brands resort to that
method to advertise for or place their products.
Réponse
PRODUCTION /
PRODUCTION
 37
Capacity and Inventory
˜ Stock or inventory
In British and American English, inventory refers to the complete list of
goods in stock. However, in American English, the word also refers to
the amount of goods in stock.
consumables • consommables
o ce supplies • fournitures de bureau
raw materials/ commodities • matières premières
spare parts • pièces détachées
components • composants

to label • étiqueter
a label/ a tag • une étiquette
item coding • étiquetage/ encodage d’un article
an identifying tag • étiquette d’identi cation
a bar code • code barre
a magnetic strip • piste magnétique
optical scanner/ reader • scanner/ lecteur optique

to purchase goods and services • acheter des biens et services

consulting services • services de conseil
to take stock • faire l’inventaire
nished goods inventory • stock de produits nis
nished product • produit ni
˜ Choosing suppliers
ere are di erent options to nd suppliers: the supply chain manager
may make direct contact with potential ones or may use public
advertising in the form of a Request for Information (RFI), Request
for Quotation (RFQ) or a Request for Proposal (RFP).
a supplier • fournisseur
an approved supplier • fournisseur agréé
a subcontractor • sous-traitant
a trade directory • annuaire professionnel
an online database • base de données en ligne
to consider a proposal • considérer/ examiner une o re
to shortlist potential
• sélectionner des revendeurs potentiels
vendors
to examine product • examiner/ analyser des échantillons de
samples produits
to carry out trials • mener des tests

to subcontract the production • sous-traiter la production

to outsource the production • externaliser la production
to win a tender • gagner un appel d’o re
to draw up a contract • rédiger un contrat
to negotiate prices • négocier les prix
to customize possibilities • personnaliser les options

to meet the criteria • répondre aux critères

to monitor performance • contrôler les résultats/ la prestation
to carry out a supplier audit • mener un audit fournisseur
to take remedial steps • prendre des mesures de remédiation
 to face legal action • risquer des poursuites

Sourcing can be de ned as nding and assessing suppliers.

Outsourcing is a way to subcontract work to external companies. If
the latter are headquartered in another country, then we talk about
‘global sourcing’ (aka ‘o shoring’).
˜ Purchasing and low-cost manufacturing
e word procurement can be de ned as follows: ‘ nding and
purchasing supplies or equipment, especially goods or services that
are di cult to get.’ e purchasing manager in a company is thus in
charge of buying the supplies a company needs to work properly.
Although this job title may still be used in some businesses, it has
gradually been replaced by that of supply chain manager who has
broader responsibilities for sourcing, logistics, etc.
purchasing process • processus d’achat(s)
procurement department • service des achats
to draw up speci cations • formuler/ établir le cahier des charges
to carry out a value analysis • mener une analyse de valeur
to place an initial order • passer une commande initiale
repeat purchases • achats récurrents
a repeat order • renouvellement de la commande
to save costs • réaliser des économies
to cut costs • réduire les coûts

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON CAPACITY AND

INVENTORY
EXERCISE 37.01 Acronyms
Find what the following acronyms stand for.
˜ RFI, RFQ, RFP
Réponse

EXERCISE 37.02
Match the words with the right de nitions.
˜ Unitization, Third party operations, Stocktaking,
Shortage, Rule of 80/20, Reverse logistics, Pipeline stock,
Postponement, Break bulk, Lean strategy
1. moves almost- nished products into stock, and delays nal
modi cations or customization until the last possible
moment.
2. the use of an outside organization to perform non-core
activities (which are outsourced).
3. brings materials (defects, spare units, wrong deliveries,
packaging, materials for recycling, containers, etc.) back from
customers to suppliers.
4. periodic checks to nd di erences between recorded and
actual stock levels.
5. occurs when customer demand cannot be met from stock
(resulting in backorders or lost sales).
6. also called Pareto analysis or ABC analysis, is a way of
categorizing inventory items depending on value and use.
7. stock that is currently being moved from one location to
another.
8. putting materials into standard packages (typically on
pallets or in containers) to ease movement.
9. a business strategy that aims at doing every operation
using the least possible resource – people, space, stock,
equipment, time, etc.
10. typically done in a warehouse, where large quantities of an
item are broken into smaller amounts for delivery to
customers.
Réponse
EXERCISE 37.03
Use one of the following words to ll in the gaps.
˜ price tag, supplier, safety measures, production cycle,
project manager, order backlog, notice board, non-
in ammable, warehouse, quality control
1. I’ll have to speak to the to get approval for the
purchase.
2. Let me call down to the to see if we have any
spare parts in stock.
3. We make sure to take all necessary to ensure the
safety of our sta .
4. All of our workers’ uniforms are made of material
for safety.
5. Our takes about three months to complete.
6. Unfortunately, we have an for two months. We
could deliver the items in January.
7. Our told us they would deliver the parts by next
Friday.
8. You can nd all safety regulations posted on the .
9. We need to change the on that item as we’ve
raised prices.
10. We make sure to implement stringent on each
product.

– UNDERSTANDING AND READING EXERCISES ON

CAPACITY AND INVENTORY

NB
To have a better grasp of what capacity is and how it works, log on to:
www.headscratchingnotes.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Lecture-
31.pptx where you’ll nd an enlightening case study about McDonald’s
management of its capacity.
Fashion retailers struggle to manage their inventories
Matching supply and demand in a pandemic is proving a
headache
“No one wants to buy clothes to sit at home in,” Simon
Wolfson, boss of Next, told analysts in March. On the
same call the British fashion retailer revealed it might lose
up to £1bn ($1.2bn), or 25%, in annual sales this year
because of the covid-19 pandemic. Fashion retailers have
been clobbered by the mandatory lockdowns in Europe
and America. Since they sell non-essential goods, many,
including Next, have been forced to close warehouses
and stop online sales, too. A season’s worth of clothing
will go unsold.
Many retailers ogging non-essential goods are stuck
with useless inventory—with more piling up as pre-
pandemic orders stream in from factories in faraway
emerging markets. But it is a particular headache for
fashion rms. Unlike food or some medicines, their
products do not go o . But many go out of style—
sometimes, as with seasonal apparel collections, rather
quickly. Inditex, the world’s biggest fashion retailer,
announced that it is taking a €287m ($313m) hit to
inventories. Other big fashion retailers will follow suit,
predicts Aneesha Sherman of Bernstein, a research rm.
American retail sales in March fell by 8.7% from February,
the biggest monthly decline since 1992. Those of clothes
fell by half.
Inventories are not easy to get right in good times—which
these are not. Retailers always run the danger of cutting
orders too aggressively, warns Knut Alicke of McKinsey, a
consultancy. They endanger the survival of their suppliers.
Supply-chain experts refer to the “bullwhip e ect”,
named after the way the amplitude of a whip increases
down its length—just as the relative shock to small
suppliers, which risk losing all their custom at once, is
bigger than to larger, more diversi ed rms further up
the value chain. Retailers risk missing out on the recovery,
because they do not have enough stu to ll shelves, or
the wrong kind.
The pandemic has cracked the whip with force. One way
retailers are coping with the jolt is by shifting what they
can online at deeply discounted prices. h&m of Sweden
has slashed prices by up to 70% at its post-Easter “mid-
season sale”. The online sale of women’s clothes at gap,
an American company, o ers 50% o previously
discounted prices. Japan’s Uniqlo is selling sweatpants
and leggings (“to work out from home”) on the internet
for a song.
Another widespread tactic is to unceremoniously cancel
deliveries. Marks & Spencer, a British rm, sent a note to
suppliers in late March suspending its orders. Ross Dress
for Less, an American chain of discount department
stores, announced that it will cancel all merchandise
orders until mid-June. So far European and American
retailers have binned about $1.5bn-worth of garment
orders from Bangladesh. Many invoked force majeure
clauses in their contracts, though aggrieved suppliers
may challenge this in court—if they survive.
Where cancellations are impossible retailers are asking
partners to ship them more slowly. Literally. Green
activists have lobbied for “slow steaming” for years, to
cut shipping’s greenhouse-gas emissions, but were
roundly ignored. No longer. Companies are using
container ships as oating warehouses to save on storage
fees on land. In addition, Maersk and msc, the world’s
biggest shipping rms, are o ering “suspension of
transit” programmes that allow customers to store
unwanted shipments at cheaper locations such as Lomé
in Togo.
As places like Austria, Spain and the Czech Republic
slowly begin to ease restrictions on businesses, fashion
retailers see a silver lining. Summer collections are less
lucrative than pricey winter coats and jackets. If shoppers
 return in September, companies with solid balance-
sheets, such as Inditex (which owns Zara, Massimo Dutti
and Bershka), may recover quickly—if they can keep their
suppliers alive. In the meantime, many are resigned to
grasping at straws. Next reopened its website on April
14th—but shut it again within two hours because it had
reached the maximum number of orders it could ful l
with skeleton sta .
From The Economist (on Apr 18th, 2020)

EXERCISE 37.04 Understanding

After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. What issue is raised in this article?
2. Where does the surplus come from?
3. Why is it a problem (more severe in the fashion industry)?
4. What are the solutions?

Réponse

EXERCISE 37.05 Going further

1. Why does the world need a “fashion revolution”?
2. How can we slow down fast fashion?
3. What recent textile-related scandals have you heard of?

Réponse
PRODUCTION / LOGISTICS
 38
Supply Chain Management
e supply chain is the ow of parts and raw materials from their
point of origin to the factory gates, then through the factory as work-
in-process, and nally out of the factory as nished goods to be
delivered to the nal customer.
Supply chain management (SCM): during the whole process,
inventory needs to be stored in warehouses and distribution centres
and then transported. All of this involves a huge amount of
computerized information about the location of inventory, its
expected arrival time at the next point, etc. is information is
generally shared across many di erent companies and IT networks. e
management of this information is critical to the success of the
business.
information system • système d’information
a subcontractor • sous-traitant
a subcontracting company • entreprise sous-traitante
to bear a cost • supporter un coût
to hold stock of products • garder des produits en stock
holding cost • coût de stockage
a warehouse • entrepôt
a shelf/ shelves • une/ des étagère(s)
a factory/ a plant • usine
costly storage • stockage coûteux
unused stock • invendus

a supplier audit • audit fournisseur

 a rating system • système d’évaluation
purchasing procedures • procédures d’achat(s)
a purchasing process • processus d’achat
procurement • approvisionnement
procurement department • service des achats
deadline • échéance/ date limite
delay • retard
to be on time • être à l’heure
to be in time • être dans les temps
to be within budget • être dans le budget
to provide a product • fournir un produit

Logistics is the management of the transport and storage of goods.

e word logistics refers to the practical issues surrounding
transportation, warehousing and inventory management. Where there
is an external focus it’s a synonym for SCM, but it can also have an
internal focus, getting materials from site A to site B inside a company
at di erent stages of the business process.
means of transport(ation) • moyens de transport
a shipping method/ option • méthode/ option de transport
a container ship • porte-conteneurs
• chargement/ cargaison/ fret/
a shipment
expédition
a cargo airline • transporteur de fret aérien
to stack up containers • empiler des conteneurs
a truck (US)/ a lorry (UK) • camion
a trailer • remorque
road haulage • transport routier
haulage contractor • entreprise de transport routier
freight • fret/ marchandise/ cargaison
a freight forwarder • transporteur
rail freight • fret ferroviaire
the load • cargaison
goods lift (UK)/ goods elevator
• monte-charge
(US)

Note
Roll-on/roll-o (RORO or ro-ro) ships are vessels designed to carry
wheeled cargo, such as cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers, and
railroad cars, that are driven on and o the ship on their own wheels or
using a platform vehicle, such as a self-propelled modular transporter
is is in contrast to lift-on/lift-o (LoLo) vessels, which use a crane to
load and unload cargo.

to do business with sb • faire a aire avec qqn

to be cost-e ective/ pro table • être rentable
to order sthg • commander qqch
to place an order • passer une commande
product assembly • assemblage/ montage du produit
an assembly line • chaîne d’assemblage
premises • locaux

to source products from a • acheter ses produits auprès d’un

supplier fournisseur
to outsource an activity • externaliser/ délocaliser une activité
 to o shore production • délocaliser la production
to relocate • délocaliser/ relocaliser

e just-in-time (JIT) approach relies on a simple principle: parts and

components are delivered only as they are needed: at the right time, in
the right amounts and in the right sequence. JIT aims to minimize
inventory, produce items at a rate set by the customer, to eliminate any
unnecessary lead time and generally to optimize the ow of materials
from suppliers through production and up to the point of sale of the
nished product.
E cient customer response is an extension of JIT principles to other
organizations in the supply chain.
to forecast/ to predict • prévoir/ prédire
inventory • stocks
inventory management • gestion des stocks
purchasing department • service des achats
bu er stock • stock tampon/ stock de sécurité
stock control system • système de gestion des stocks
a margin of safety • marge de sécurité
economies of scale • économies d’échelle

just-in-time approach • ux tendu/ juste-à-temps

lead time • délai entre commande et livraison
to track purchases • suivre les achats
a quick turnaround time • délai d’exécution rapide
to load/ unload goods • charger/ décharger des marchandises
to track items • suivre/ tracer des produits
to sort items for delivery • trier des articles avant livraison
 package/ packaging • emballage/ conditionnement

e primary activities of Michael Porter’s value chain are inbound

logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and
service. ey are used to provide a company with a competitive
advantage in any one of the ve activities. e goal of the ve activities
are to create value that exceeds the cost of conducting that activity,
therefore generating a higher pro t.
Inbound logistics includes the receiving, warehousing and inventory
control of a company’s raw materials. Operations include the value-
adding activities used to turn a company’s raw materials into a nal
product. Outbound logistics are the activities needed to get a
company’s nished product to its customer for sale. Marketing and
sales are the activities needed to get a buyer to purchase a product,
and include channel selection, advertising and pricing. Finally, service
activities are those that increase a product’s value, including customer
support and repair services.
Secondary activities include procurement, human resource
management, technological development and infrastructure.
˜ Beware the deceptive cognates in English!
“L’o re” in English
supply and demand • l’o re et la demande
a special o er • o re spéciale/ une promotion
a bid • o re (aux enchères)
a demand • exigence/ revendication
a bidder • un o rant
the highest bidder • le plus o rant

“Le fournisseur” in English

a supplier • fournisseur
 a regular supplier • fournisseur attitré
a sole supplier • fournisseur exclusif
a provider • fournisseur (d’accès)
a purveyor • fournisseur/ pourvoyeur
a provisioner • fournisseur

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON SUPPLY CHAIN

MANAGEMENT
EXERCISE 38.01 Compound nouns
Make six compound nouns using the words below and match
four of them with the de nitions given.
˜ approved, initial, procurement, repeat, trade, value,
department, directory, analysis, purchases, suppliers, order
1. The is responsible for sourcing and
purchasing goods and services needed for the organization’s
processes and operations.
2. involves investigating the cost, quality
and likely useful life of an item, to make sure it will give the
organization the best value for money after purchase.
3. A/an is an extensive published list of
companies who supply di erent types of products and
services to other organizations.
4. are companies who have ful lled certain
conditions so that they are allowed to o er goods and
services to an organization on a regular basis.

EXERCISE 38.02 Collocations

Match the words to make collocations and translate them
into French.
˜ supply, nished, logistics, nal, distribution, forwarding
1. provider
2. customer
3. chain
4. agent
5. goods
6. channel

Réponse

EXERCISE 38.03
Match the words to the right de nitions.
˜ lot sizing, just-in-time, cross-docking, pull, kanban
1. an approach that organizes operations to occur at exactly
the time they are needed.
2. coordinates supply and delivery, typically at a warehouse,
so that goods arriving are moved straight away to a loading
area ready to be sent to customers
3. card (either physical or electronic) that passes a message
backwards through the supply chain to trigger JIT operations
4. combining several small orders into larger ones for Material
Requirements Planning (MRP).
5. system used by JIT, where operations are triggered by
customer demand and materials are pulled through the
supply chain.
Réponse

– READING AND UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
EXERCISE 38.04
Complete the text about the ‘Theory of constraints’ with the
words from the list.
˜ product ow, limiting factor, inventory, improvement, set
of tools, implementation, measuring performance,
bottleneck

What Is the Theory of Constraints?

The Theory of Constraints is a methodology for
identifying the most important (1) (i.e.
constraint) that stands in the way of achieving a goal and
then systematically improving that constraint until it is no
longer the limiting factor. In manufacturing, the constraint
is often referred to as a (2).
The Theory of Constraints takes a scienti c approach to
(3). It hypothesizes that every complex system,
including manufacturing processes, consists of multiple
linked activities, one of which acts as a constraint upon
the entire system (i.e. the constraint activity is the
“weakest link in the chain”).
So what is the ultimate goal of most manufacturing
companies? To make a pro t – both in the short term and
in the long term. The Theory of Constraints provides a
powerful (4) to achieve that goal, including:
• The Five Focusing Steps: a methodology for identifying
and eliminating constraints.
• The Thinking Processes: tools for analyzing and
resolving problems.
• Throughput Accounting: a method for (5) and
guiding management decisions.
Dr Eliyahu Goldratt conceived the Theory of Constraints
(TOC), and introduced it to a wide audience through his
bestselling 1984 novel, “The Goal”. (...)
One of the appealing characteristics of the Theory is that
it inherently prioritizes improvement activities. The top
priority is always the current constraint.
A successful Theory of Constraints (6) will have
the following bene ts:
• Increased pro t which is the primary goal of TOC for
most companies.
• Fast improvement that is the result of focusing all
attention on one critical area.
• Improved capacity: optimizing the constraint enables
more product to be manufactured.
 • Reduced lead times: optimizing the constraint results in
smoother and faster (7)
• Reduced (8): eliminating bottlenecks means
there will be less work-in-process
www.leanproduction.com/theory-of-constraints.html

EXERCISE 38.05
Read the following section and give each paragraph the
right title.
˜ The Thinking Processes, The Five Focusing Steps,
Throughput Accounting, Core Concept

Basics of the Theory of Constraints

[Paragraph 1]
The main idea behind the Theory of Constraints is that
every process has a single constraint and that total
process throughput can only be improved when the
constraint is improved. A very important corollary to this
is that spending time optimizing non-constraints will not
provide signi cant bene ts.
Thus, TOC seeks to provide precise and sustained focus
on improving the current constraint until it no longer
limits throughput, at which point the focus moves to the
next constraint. The underlying power of TOC ows from
its ability to generate a tremendously strong focus
towards a single goal (pro t) and to removing the
principal impediment (the constraint) to achieving more
of that goal. In fact, Goldratt considers focus to be the
essence of TOC.
[Paragraph 2]
As shown in the following diagram, it is a cyclical process.
[Paragraph 3]
The Thinking Processes are optimized for complex
systems with many interdependencies (e.g.
manufacturing lines). They are designed as scienti c
“cause and e ect” tools, which strive to rst identify the
root causes of undesirable e ects (referred to as UDEs),
and then remove the UDEs without creating new ones.
The Thinking Processes are used to answer the following
three questions:
What needs to be changed? What should it be changed
to? What actions will cause the change?
[Paragraph 4]
This is an alternative accounting methodology that
attempts to eliminate harmful distortions introduced from
traditional accounting practices – distortions that
promote behaviors contrary to the goal of increasing
pro t in the long term.
In traditional accounting, inventory is an asset (in theory,
it can be converted to cash by selling it). This often drives
undesirable behavior at companies – manufacturing items
that are not truly needed. Accumulating inventory in ates
assets and generates a “paper pro t” based on inventory
that may or may not ever be sold (e.g. due to
obsolescence) and that incurs cost as it sits in storage.
The Theory of Constraints, on the other hand, considers
inventory to be a liability – inventory ties up cash that
could be used more productively elsewhere.
In traditional accounting, there is also a very strong
emphasis on cutting expenses. The Theory of Constraints,
 on the other hand, considers cutting expenses to be of
much less importance than increasing throughput.
Cutting expenses is limited by reaching zero expenses,
whereas increasing throughput has no such limitations.
These and other con icts result in the Theory of
Constraints emphasizing Throughput Accounting, which
uses as its core measures: Throughput, Investment, and
Operating Expense.
In addition, Throughput Accounting has four key derived
measures:
Net Pro t = Throughput − Operating Expenses
Return on Investment = Net Pro t / Investment
Productivity = Throughput / Operating Expenses
Investment Turns = Throughput / Investment
In general, management decisions are guided by their
e ect on achieving the following improvements (in order
of priority): Will Throughput be increased? Will
Investment be reduced? Will Operating Expenses be
reduced?
The strongest emphasis is on increasing Throughput. In
essence, TOC is saying to focus less on cutting
expenses and focus more on building sales.
www.leanproduction.com/theory-of-constraints.html

Réponse

EXERCISE 38.06
Using the information you nd in the following extract, ll in
the table comparing lean management and the theory of
constraints. Some of it has already been lled in.
˜ What? Theory of Constraints Lean
Management

Objective Eliminate
waste

Focus
 Result

Inventory Maintain su cient inventory to maximize

throughput at the constraint.

Line
Balancing

Pacing Customer sets

the pace

Integrating with Lean

— Contrasting Theory of Constraints and Lean
Manufacturing
The Theory of Constraints and Lean Manufacturing are
both systematic methods for improving manufacturing
e ectiveness. However, they have very di erent
approaches:
• The Theory of Constraints focuses on identifying and
removing constraints that limit throughput.
• Therefore, successful application tends to increase
manufacturing capacity.
• Lean Manufacturing focuses on eliminating waste from
the manufacturing process. Therefore,
• successful application tends to reduce manufacturing
costs.
Both methodologies have a strong customer focus and
are capable of transforming companies to be faster,
stronger, and more agile. Nonetheless, there are
signi cant di erences.
From the perspective of the Theory of Constraints, it is
more practical and less expensive to maintain a degree of
excess capacity for non-constraints (i.e. an intentionally
unbalanced line) than to try to eliminate all sources of
variation (which is necessary to e ciently operate a
balanced line). Eliminating variation is still desirable in
TOC; it is simply given less attention than improving
throughput.
 — Combining Theory of Constraints and Lean
Manufacturing
One of the most powerful aspects of the Theory of
Constraints is its laser-like focus on improving the
constraint. While Lean Manufacturing can be focused,
more typically it is implemented as a broad-spectrum
tool.
In the real world, there is always a need to compromise,
since all companies have nite resources. Not every
aspect of every process is truly worth optimizing, and not
all waste is truly worth eliminating. In this light, the
Theory of Constraints can serve as a highly e ective
mechanism for prioritizing improvement projects, while
Lean Manufacturing can provide a rich toolbox of
improvement techniques. The result – manufacturing
e ectiveness is signi cantly increased by eliminating
waste from the parts of the system that are the largest
constraints on opportunity and pro tability.
While Lean Manufacturing tools and techniques are
primarily applied to the constraint, they can also be
applied to equipment that is subordinated to the
constraint.
www.leanproduction.com/theory-of-constraints.html

Réponse

EXERCISE 38.07

Covid-19 is teaching hard lessons about China-only

supply chains
At the very least, an emotional decoupling is under way
Until about the third week of January, only a few
pharmaceutical executives, drug-safety inspectors and
dogged China hawks cared that a large share of the
world’s supply of antibiotics depends on a handful of
Chinese factories. […] Then came the covid-19 outbreak,
and quarantine controls that locked down factories, ports
and whole cities across China.
Chinese leaders insist that they are well on the way to
conquering the virus, allowing them to reopen “leading
enterprises and key links with important in uence” in
global supply chains. […] But even if all those boasts
come true, foreign governments and business bosses will
not quickly forget a frightening lesson: for some vital
products, they depend on one country.
Where once only a few specialists worried about the
market share enjoyed by the industrial chemists of
Hohhot or Shijiazhuang, China’s dominance of the active
pharmaceutical ingredient (API) sector is now the subject
of hard questions in Washington’s corridors of power and
the chancelleries of Europe.
There is much speculation about whether covid-19 will
accelerate trends in America and other Western countries
to decouple from China. In truth, a rush to diversify in
certain sectors is more likely, and even such a hedging of
bets would build on trends that have been visible for
some time.
The US-China Economic and Security Review
Commission, a congressional body, held hearings in July
2019 on threats and opportunities created by China’s
medical industries. The tone quickly veered towards the
doomy. A senior Pentagon o cial, Christopher Priest,
declared that “the national-security risks of increased
Chinese dominance of the global API market cannot be
overstated.” He invited the hearing to imagine China
interrupting supplies of irreplaceable drugs, such as those
that protect troops against anthrax. […]
For implacable China hawks like Peter Navarro, who
advises President Donald Trump on trade, the covid-19
crisis is a told-you-so moment. [He] told Fox Business,
that America had outsourced “far too much” of its supply
chain for essential medicines. […] Mr Navarro, an
economic nationalist and vocal tari advocate, is little
loved by America’s trade partners. Yet his talk of nations
needing to control certain forms of production nds an
echo in rich-world capitals.
Joerg Wuttke, the president of the European Union
Chamber of Commerce in China, says China’s dominance
in sectors like pharmaceuticals and pesticides is a topic of
concern when he visits o cials in Berlin, Brussels and
elsewhere. It does not help that China has shown itself
willing to use trade to bully other countries during
political disputes […]. He does not expect rms to leave
China altogether […] but Mr Wuttke expects the epidemic
to intensify European discussions about industrial policy.
“The globalisation of putting everything where
production is the most e cient, that is over.”
James McGregor, a China veteran who heads the Chinese
operations of APCO, an American consultancy, watched
businesses putting ever more eggs in the China basket
for a decade. Hit by rising labour costs, trade tensions
and now the virus, companies have concluded that they
need to diversify—though many are struggling to nd
countries with China’s infrastructure and adaptable
labour force. […] The most capable high-tech companies
see China as “the market of the future” for such
promising industries as autonomous vehicles, robotics
and the internet of things. They may be rewarded for
their faith. “We are going to see the Chinese government
be extraordinarily nice to companies once this virus is
over,” suggests Mr McGregor.
One visible impact of the virus may be to speed changes
at the top of rms. Multinationals have increasingly
appointed Chinese executives (often Western-educated)
to run their China operations. The epidemic may
accelerate departures among the foreigners who remain.
[…] Even if covid-19 burns out soon, it has clari ed how
the world is growing warier of China. Few rms can
 a ord to leave completely. But an emotional decoupling
is under way.
From The Economist (on Feb 29th, 2020)

Lexical help
dogged = stubborn
a boast: vantardise
to hedge = to protect against a loss
to veer = to change direction suddenly
doomy = ominous
to reward: récompenser

After reading the article, answer the following questions.

1. Who is who? Find out in the text.
˜ Christopher Priest, Peter Navarro, Joerg Wuttke, James
McGregor
2. What did the COVID-19 crisis reveal to a ba ed Western
world?
3. What will the Western world undertake to manage that
threat?
4. Is it an entirely new process or initiative?
5. What are the obstacles to withdrawing from China
altogether?
Réponse
PRODUCTION / QUALITY
 39
Managing Quality
Total quality management is a philosophy that emerged in the 1980s.
It aims to put an awareness of quality at the heart of all organizational
processes and not just production. Customer satisfaction combined
with lowering costs by eliminating waste lies at the heart of that
philosophy.
Quality control consists in detecting aws or defects after they
happen. It involves random sampling (échantillonnage), spot checks,
inspection and testing.
Quality assurance is a way to prevent a defect. If a failure should
happen, it is isolated, the causes are analyzed and the process or the
parts are redesigned to avoid any new occurrence of the defect. It is
now the subject of international standards and initiatives.
e Quality Manual is a document that de nes the scope of the
organization’s quality management system (QMS) (including
exclusions from the ISO 9001 requirements), lists or includes the
documented procedures that are established for the QMS, and
provides a description of how the processes of the QMS interact.
to meet the customer’s
• répondre aux attentes du client
expectations
to meet the criteria • répondre aux critères
to exceed expectations • dépasser les attentes
to provide satisfaction to a
• satisfaire un client
client
customer satisfaction • satisfaction du client
to take responsibility for sthg • prendre la responsabilité de qqch
a customer complaint • plainte/ réclamation d’un client
 to process a customer complaint • répondre à une plainte/ une
réclamation
a customer return • retour client

e International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an

international nongovernmental organization made up of national
standards bodies which creates documents that provide requirements,
speci cations, guidelines or characteristics that can be used
consistently to ensure that materials, products, processes and services
are t for their purpose. is association composed of representatives
of several national standards bureaus, founded in London in 1947 and
based in Geneva, Switzerland, establishes and maintains international
standards for units of measurements, clothes sizes, technical
terminology, etc.
a benchmark for sthg • point de référence pour qqch
a standard • norme
to comply with norms • respecter les normes
compliance with norms • respect des normes
to meet a standard • satisfaire à une norme
to meet a requirement (for) • satisfaire à un critère
entry requirements • critères d’entrée
a set of requirements • un ensemble de critères
an activity ow chart • diagramme d’activité/ vue fonctionnelle
an order • une commande
to place an order • passer une commande
an invoice • facture
goods and services • biens et services
to implement • mettre en place/ mettre en œuvre
 to monitor a process • surveiller/ suivre un processus
to appraise a procedure • évaluer une procédure
to set a guideline for • établir une ligne directrice/ une règle

e European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) is a

not-for-pro t membership foundation in Brussels, established in 1989
to increase the competitiveness of the European economy. It promotes
an excellence model framework for organizational management
systems, which is designed to aid organizations in their drive towards
being more competitive.
to take into account • prendre en compte
a stakeholder • une partie prenante
a shareholder/ a stockholder • actionnaire
a supplier • fournisseur
a customer • client
a consumer • consommateur

Plan-Do-Check-Act (also called PDCA) is a cycle that was originated

by Walter Shewhart and made popular by Edward Deming – two of
the fathers of modern quality control. is concept is a cycle for
implementing change which, when followed and repeated, would lead
to repeated improvements in the process it was applied to.
to sample • échantillonner
a spot check • contrôle inopiné/ ponctuel
to prevent sthg from happening • empêcher qqch d’arriver
a defect/ a aw/ a fault • défaut
a defective/ faulty good • bien/ marchandise défectueuse
a damaged good • marchandise abîmée
to ensure quality • assurer la qualité
 a product recall • rappel de produits
warranty claims • garantie

to deliver a product/ a good • livrer un produit/ une marchandise

delivery • livraison
delivery time/ date • date de livraison

reliability • abilité
performance • performance
durability • résistance/ durabilité
aesthetics • esthétique
value for money • rapport qualité/prix

The right word

“e ectiveness” vs “e ciency”
E ectiveness: a comparison of the actual results and the planned
activities. e e ectiveness is how well the activities met the plan. ese
activities can be for any plan, but are often used in an ISO 9001 QMS for
assessing a process outcome against the plan for the process.
E ciency: a comparison of the results achieved and the resources
needed to achieve the results. A process can be e ective, but if it takes
too many resources to achieve the results, the process may not be
considered e cient.

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON MANAGING

QUALITY
EXERCISE 39.01
Talking about quality without using “good” or “bad”. Fill in
with the missing adjectives.
1.If quality is really good, then it’s o quality.
2. If quality is sometimes good and sometimes not so good,
then it’s v quality.
3. If quality isn’t as good as other similar products, then it’s i
quality. The contrary would be s quality.
4. If quality is bad, then we can say it’s p quality.

EXERCISE 39.02
Fill in the following de nitions with the words from the list.
˜ checking, performance, improve, defect, norm,
compliance, certi ed
1. Benchmarking is measuring your against other
companies that are best in class, and then using the
information to your processes or products and
services.
2. ISO 9000 is a set of international standards of quality.
Companies can be audited for with one of the
standards, and then publicly state that they’re ‘ISO-9000-
’.
3. Non conformance is when a requirement has not been met.
It does not need to be a serious , it could be a simple
parameter on the surface that varies from the .
4. Design-for-manufacture is a process which consists in
how easy it is to make a new product regardless of
its features.

EXERCISE 39.03
Find the phrases that match the following de nitions.
1. Standards use to assess performance or level of quality.
2. A detailed description of what is required.
3. Suitable for intended use.
4. The stages through which a product or service moves
before it is delivered to the customer.
5. A system to monitor that processes, goods and services
meet the requirements.
 Réponse

EXERCISE 39.04 Prepositions and particles

Fill in the blanks with the right preposition or particle.
1. The leading producer of sanitary products in the region, is
always trying to improve quality and provide satisfaction
its customers.
2. Streamlining the process will result savings of both
money and time, and sets a benchmark class
screenings of routine projects with predictable environmental
e ects.
3. A video-surveillance system should only be developed in
compliance norms regarding data-protection.
4. The company should take account the loss of
some of its own market share as a consequence of opening to
competition.
5. Do you wish a big capacity and big reliability storage
solution with a good value money to backup your
numerous les?

– WRITING EXERCISE ON MANAGING QUALITY

EXERCISE 39.05
˜ Does quality management work in the public sector? If so,
give concrete examples. If not, expound the potential barriers.
Réponse
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
 40
Information Systems
An Information System can be de ned as a combination of hardware,
software, database, network and people (generally trained personnel)
organized to facilitate planning, control, coordination, and decision-
making in an organization.
Hardware consists of input/output device, processor, and media
devices. Software consists of various programs and procedures.
Database consists of data organized in the required structure.
Network consists of hubs, communication media and network
devices.
It is often observed that the terms information system and
information technology are used interchangeably. In a literal sense,
information technology is a subset of information systems. e great
advancement in information systems is due to the introduction of
computers and development in information technology that,
according to Information Technology Association of America, is
de ned as “the study, design, development, application,
implementation, support or management of computer-based
information systems.”
˜ Hardware
Central Processing Unit (CPU) • unité centrale/ processeur
a hard disk • disque dur
Random Access Memory (RAM) • RAM/ mémoire vive
Read only memory (ROM) • mémoire morte
a byte • octet
a personal computer (PC) • ordinateur
a laptop • ordinateur portable

a peripheral (device) • périphérique

a keyboard • clavier
a keypad • clavier numérique
a mouse • souris
a mousepad • tapis de souris
a trackpad • pavé tactile
an ink jet printer • imprimante à jet d’encre
a feeding tray • bac d’alimentation
jam • bourrage
a cartridge • cartouche
a USB key/ drive/ a thumb drive • clé USB
a device driver • pilote de périphérique

resolution • dé nition
a touch screen • écran tactile
a sensor • capteur
a keystroke • frappe d’une touche
to strike a key • enfoncer une touche
to release a key • relâcher une touche
voice-operated • à commande vocale
voice recognition • reconnaissance vocale

to input/ enter data • saisir des données

to access data • consulter des données
to display • a cher
 to switch on/ switch o the computer • allumer/ éteindre l’ordinateur
to blink • clignoter

˜ Software
An operating system is a set of programs that control the hardware
and allow people and applications to communicate with the
hardware. Typical functions of the OS are handling input/ output
operations, running programs managing memory and organizing les
and disks. e OS also gives access to networks and allows
multitasking.
software engineering • génie logiciel
a software developer • concepteur de logiciels
an operating system (OS) • système d’exploitation
Graphic User Interface (GUI) • Interface Graphique avec l’Utilisateur
a software update • mise à jour logicielle
a software upgrade • amélioration logicielle
a tracking software • logiciel de localisation/ de suivi
word processor • traitement de texte
an add-in • logiciel compagnon

to debug a program • corriger les erreurs d’un programme

bug-ridden programs • programmes criblés d’erreurs
bug-free • sans erreur
beta release • version test
to be down/ out of order • être en panne

A spreadsheet program enables users to manage personal and

business nances. Spreadsheets or worksheets are mathematical tables
which show gures in rows and columns. ey are made of cells that
can hold 3 types of data: text, numbers and formulae.
a spreadsheet • tableur
a tutorial • didacticiel
a bookmark • un marque page
drag and drop • glisser-déposer
cut and paste • couper-coller
clipboard • presse-papier
de nable • paramétrable
to crack a code • casser un code
a back-up copy • une copie de sauvegarde/ une sauvegarde
to le • archiver

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) (= Progiciel de Gestion Intégré) is

usually referred to as a category of business management software —
typically a suite of integrated applications—that an organization can
use to collect, store, manage, and interpret data from these many
business activities.
˜ Databases
A data structure is a specialized format for organizing, processing,
retrieving and storing data. While there are several basic and advanced
structure types, any data structure is designed to arrange data to suit a
speci c purpose so that it can be accessed and worked with in
appropriate ways.
In computer programming, a data structure may be selected or
designed to store data for the purpose of working on it with various
algorithms. Each data structure contains information about the data
values, relationships between the data and functions that can be
applied to the data.
Data Base Management System
(DBMS)
to port a program
to parse a program
to abort/ undo/ cancel
to run a program
to break a program
to retrieve data
system shutdown
• Système de Gestion de Base de
Données
• adapter un programme
• analyser un programme
• annuler
• exécuter un programme
• interrompre un programme
• extraire des données
• arrêt du système

A database is a data structure that stores organized information. Most

databases contain multiple tables, which may each include several
di erent elds. For example, a company database may include tables
for products, employees, and nancial records. Each of these tables
would have di erent elds that are relevant to the information stored
in the table.
Early databases were relatively “ at,” which means they were limited to
simple rows and columns, like a spreadsheet. However, today’s
relational databases allow users to access, update, and search
information based on the relationship of data stored in di erent
tables. Relational databases can also run queries that involve multiple
databases.
side bar • bandeau latéral
scroll bar • bandeau de dé lement
a pull-down menu • menu déroulant
a template • modèle
to subscribe with a server • s’abonner à un serveur
 subscription fee • frais d’abonnement
mixed mode • alphanumérique

odd numbers • nombres impairs

even numbers • nombres pairs
uppercase/ capital • majuscule
lower-case • minuscule
case-sensitive • sensible à la casse
font • police de caractère
wild card • joker
to nest • enchâsser
a character string • chaîne de caractère
digit/ gure • chi re
integer • nombre entier
carriage return • retour à la ligne

˜ Networks
Networking allows two or more devices (computers, printers,
network access storage, etc.) to exchange information and share
resources and peripherals.
Local Area Networks (LAN) can be built with 2 main types of
architecture: peer-to-peer or client server. To link a LAN to another
network such as the internet for instance, a router is needed that
forwards data packets.
network management • administration du réseau
layout • structure/ topologie de réseau
a backbone • artère principale/ épine dorsale
 a channel • canal
a node • nœud
a gateway • passerelle
a bridge • pont
a bottleneck • encombrement
broadband/ wideband • large bande
a pulse • impulsion
• protocole de mise en
a handshake
communication
Wireless Local Area Network
• réseau local sans l
(WLAN)
an access point • un point d’accès

to route messages • acheminer des messages

to broadcast • di user
to pump data into a system • injecter des données dans un système
bus topology • con guration en bus
access time • temps d’accès
down time • temps mort
encryption • cryptage
ciphering • chi rage
to encode • coder

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON INFORMATION

SYSTEMS
EXERCISE 40.01
Fill in the blanks.
1. Intel are used in many computers.
2. Each 0 or 1 is called a bit, short for .
3. An internal controls the timing within the PC by
sending signals to synchronize its circuits and operations.
4. The processor speed is measured in .
5. carry signals between di erent parts of a PC.

EXERCISE 40.02
Fill in the blanks with the right words.
˜ LAN, nodes, switches, backbone, peer-to-peer, server
1. All the PCs on a are connected to one
which is a powerful PC whose hard disk is shared by
everyone.
2. The style of networking permits each user to
share resources such as printers or other peripherals.
3. A star topology is a topology for a Local Area Network
(LAN) in which all are individually connected to a
central connection point, like a hub or a switch.
4. The Internet may be de ned by the principal data
routes between large, strategically interconnected computer
networks and core routers on the Internet.
5. are devices commonly used to connect segments
of a LAN.

– RESEARCH ON THE TOPIC

EXERCISE 40.03
1. Find out what are the main characteristics of data
structures.
2. Data structure types are determined by what types of
operations are required or what kinds of algorithms are going
to be applied. List at least 5 types of data structures.
Réponse
 41
Data Access
An incredibly vast amount of data is now generated by our online
lives, including all our uploaded documents, social media interactions,
online errands and even GPS data from our cars. At the same time our
ability to manage this data is becoming increasingly sophisticated.
to collect data • collecter des données
to store data on • stocker des informations dans des
computers ordinateurs
a spreadsheet • tableur
data management • gestion de données

In Latin, ‘data’ is the plural of ‘datum’ and, historically and in

specialized scienti c elds, it is also treated as a plural in English, taking
a plural verb, as in ‘ e data were collected and classi ed’. In modern
nonscienti c use, however, it is generally not treated as a plural.
Instead, it is treated as a mass noun, similar to a word like information,
which takes a singular verb. Sentences such as ‘Data was collected over
a number of years’ are now widely accepted in standard English.
Data can be de ned as facts and statistics collected together for
reference or analysis.
data mining • exploration/ exploitation de données
data capture • saisie/ récolte de données
to feed data into a computer • entrer des données dans un ordinateur
data processing • traitement de données
data science • science des données

digital marketing • marketing digital/ numérique

 targeted advertising • publicité ciblée
phishing • hameçonnage
a cookie • témoin de connexion/ cookie

a sample survey • enquête par sondage/ échantillonnage

sample data • données d’échantillon
a census • recensement
scalability • évolutivité

Originally the term ‘big data’ simply referred to the very large
amounts of data being produced in the digital age, including data
generated by emails, websites and social networking sites. e term is
now also used to refer to speci c datasets that are large both in size
and complexity, with which new algorithmic techniques are required
in order to extract useful information from them.
Although it has become a buzzword, it’s a valid concept that centers
on collecting, storing and using datasets generated both from
structured data and unstructured data.
Doug Laney, an analyst, o ered a de nition for the notion back in
2001. He argued that Big Data has 3 primary components: volume
(amount of data), velocity (speed at which the data is generated), and
variety (breadth of data that exists).
a search engine • moteur de recherche
to enter a key term into a • entrer un mot clé dans un moteur de
search engine recherché
to share information • partager des informations
a query term • terme de recherche
to submit a query • soumettre une requête
to access a site • accéder à un site
 an IP address • adresse IP
to surf the web • surfer sur la toile
to rank a website • classer/ noter un site web

e ‘Cloud’ is a way of referring to a network of interconnected

servers housed in data centers across the world which provide a hub
for storing big data. It’s called “cloud” because no one knows exactly
where the data is physically stored.
to upload data to the cloud • télécharger des données vers le nuage
to manage les • gérer des chiers
to run applications/ apps • exécuter des applications
to reboot a system • redémarrer/ réinitialiser un système
an outage • panne informatique
to purge data stores • vider les stockages de données
to maximize storage space • maximiser l’espace de stockage
data compression • compression de données
data ow • ux de données

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) was the

standard way of encoding text data so as it could be stored in a
computer. Each character is allocated a decimal number (its ASCII
code). Standard ASCII uses 8 bits (also de ned as 1 byte) to store each
character. It was gradually replaced by di erent standards among
which Unicode for instance.
˜ Mobile and web services
to tap into data • puiser dans les données
to detect patterns • déceler des tendances
to understand patterns • comprendre des schémas répétitifs
a dashboard
an algorithm
˜ e Internet of things
automation
electronic sensors
to manage a device remotely
a smart device
wi- (wireless delity)
a remote server
autonomous vehicle
wearable technology
a handheld device
wireless technology
connected devices
state-of-the-art
an app/ an application
to access digital content
a remote user
to sync documents
electronic boarding pass
barcode
a digital wallet
a tbit wristband
built-in electronics
• tableau de bord
• algorithme
• automatisation
• capteurs électroniques
• contôler un appareil à distance
• appareil intelligent
• wi- / ASFI (accès sans l à l’internet)
• serveur distant
• véhicule autonome
• technologie portable
• appareil portatif
• technologie sans l
• objets connectés
• dernier cri
• une appli/ application
• accéder à des contenus numériques
• utilisateur à distance
• synchroniser des documents
• carte d’embarquement électronique
• code barre
• portefeuille électronique
• bracelet tbit
• éléments électroniques intégrés
 to track movements • suivre les déplacements
far-reaching consequences • lourd de conséquences

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON DATA ACCESS

EXERCISE 41.01 Acronyms
Find out what is hidden behind the following acronyms:
˜ RFID, UID, IP, NFC, URL, SQL
Réponse

EXERCISE 41.02 Compound nouns

Fill in the sentences with one of the compounds of “data”
seen in this unit.
1. Because of the rise of the ‘ data’ era, demand for
talent in data is growing rapidly.
2. Companies need to develop a data program that
includes standard operating procedures as well as monitoring
and quality control measures.
3. How can we talk of understanding and modelling global
processes if the data sets used refer almost
exclusively to the developed world?
4. Data techniques are used to uncover patterns
from the data, which can then be used for various purposes.
5. A data transfer system should allow a smooth and possibly
automated data from individual operators to the
public authorities and to a publicly accessible website.

EXERCISE 41.03 Compounds of ‘click’

Choose the right phrase from the list to ll in the blanks.
Check their meanings if you don’t know them.
˜ pay-per-click advertising, clickbot, clickstream analysis,
to generate clicks, clickwrap agreement
1. On a Web site, is the process of collecting,
analyzing and reporting aggregate data about which pages a
website visitor visits – and in what order.
2. LinkedIn is working on a series of changes to sponsored
content that are designed to .
3. A is a software robot that clicks on ads to help an
attacker conduct click fraud. Some can be
purchased, while others are malware that spread as such and
are part of larger botnets.
4. If you have ever noticed the advertisements that appear
alongside search results on Google and other search engines,
you are already familiar with .
5. A is an online contract that con rms a user’s
consent to a company’s terms and conditions. This type of
contract is a substitute for a real signature and is often used
to enforce software licenses or authorize online transactions.

EXERCISE 41.04 Mind your spelling!

Translate the following words into English.
˜ un algorithme, un serveur (informatique), un code barre,
l’automatisation, une adresse IP.
Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON DATA ACCESS

Never going back to the o ce? Facebook has an app

for that.
The company is rolling out a virtual reality
videoconference app as part of its “metaverse” future.
With no end to the Covid-19 pandemic in sight, it looks
like many of us may be working home for even longer
than we initially imagined.
Facebook is capitalizing on that with the release of its
new virtual reality o ce meeting software, Horizon
Workrooms. The idea is that you can interact with your
colleagues remotely in a simulated, 3D conference room,
complete with cartoon avatars, “spatial sound,” and hand
motion tracking. Think of it like Zoom on steroids. For
now, the software is free to use, and anyone can join by
dialing in to video call — but to get the full experience,
you’ll need one of Facebook’s Oculus 2 headsets.
Facebook says the Oculus-powered version of
Workrooms has already been used widely within the
company for the past six months.
“Workrooms is our agship collaboration experience that
lets people come together to work in the same virtual
room, regardless of physical distance,” the company said
in a press release announcing the launch.
The new product is another sign that Facebook is
investing heavily in its VR- and AR- lled “metaverse,”
which CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently described as an
“embodied internet” where people communicate through
digital representations of themselves. Facebook recently
created an executive team to build out the metaverse,
and as of last March, nearly a fth of the company was
working on AR or VR, according to the Information.
Zuckerberg — along with many other leaders in tech —
views AR and VR as the next frontier in computing, akin
to the mobile phone.
But so far, the technology has only really taken o
among gamers. So it makes sense that the company is
building a product that aims to make the technology
more useful for a mainstream audience. A spokesperson
for Facebook noted that Zuckerberg himself has hosted
meetings using Workrooms.
Facebook isn’t the rst company to come up with the
idea of VR-powered o ce meetings. Spatial, which
Recode’s Adam Clark Estes wrote about last year, o ers
a lot of the same features as Workrooms, raising familiar
questions about whether Facebook is copying some of
its smaller competitors. And while early adopters may
love the idea of using cutting-edge technology to make
 virtual o ce meetings less dull, it could be years before
the average person uses VR for entertainment, let alone
for work.
Still, Workrooms is trying to leverage an interesting new
technology at just the right time. Many o ce workers are
burned out after a year and a half of working from home
and are yearning for a return to a more normal o ce
setting — or the next best thing.
Shirin Gha ary,
https://www.vox.com/2021/8/19/22631573/facebook-
horizon-workrooms-virtual-reality (on August 19th, 2021)

EXERCISE 41.05 Vocabulary

Fill in the following sentences with the right preposition or
particle (you will nd them in the text).
1. Employees may not feel like going to the o ce,
now that they have experienced teleworking.
2. Facebook has rolled a brand new product that is
supposed to revolutionize remote o ce meetings.
3. This new tool will help managers to work with their teams
regardless the physical distance.
4. Facebook is investing metaverse, which they
believe is the technology of the future.
5. The world is changing at a pace akin that of the
Industrial Revolution.
6. The sales of FB’s new product have not taken yet,
but the marketing team is quite optimistic about their
evolution.

EXERCISE 41.06 Understanding

Answer the following questions after reading the text.
1. What does it mean that “Horizon Workrooms is like Zoom
on steroids”?
2. What audience is FB targeting now with that product? (as
opposed to the past)
3. Is Workrooms really an innovative product?
 Does the journalist think this tool is going to be successful?
4.
Why (not)?
Réponse

EXERCISE 41.07 Going further

1. Can you think of any shortcomings or dangers that would
come with the technology described in the article?
2. Get informed about “metaverse”: sum up your research in
around 150 words.
3. What’s the di erence between AR and VR?

Stitch Fix’s CEO on Selling Personal Style to the Mass

Market
At Stitch Fix our business model is simple: We send you
clothing and accessories we think you’ll like; you keep the
items you want and send the others back. We leverage
data science to deliver personalization at scale,
transcending traditional brick-and-mortar and e-
commerce retail experiences. Customers enjoy having an
expert stylist do the shopping for them and appreciate
the convenience and simplicity of the service.
Of course, making something seem simple and
convenient to consumers while working pro tably and at
scale is complex. It’s even more complex in the fashion
retail industry, which is crowded, ckle, and rapidly
changing. Other apparel retailers attempt to di erentiate
themselves through the lowest price or the fastest
shipping; we di erentiate ourselves through
personalization. Each Fix shipment, as we call it, is a box
containing ve clothing and accessory items we’ve
chosen just for you. Those choices are based on
information you and millions of others have given us—
rst in an extensive questionnaire you ll out when you
sign up, and then in feedback you provide after each
shipment.
Stitch Fix sold $730 million worth of clothing in 2016 and
$977 million worth in 2017. One hundred percent of our
revenue results directly from our recommendations,
which are the core of our business. We have more than 2
million active clients in the United States, and we carry
more than 700 brands. We’re not upselling you belts that
match that blouse you just added to your cart, or touting
a certain brand because you’ve bought it before, or using
browsing patterns to intuit that you might be shopping
for a little black dress—all activities that have low
conversion rates. Instead we make unique and personal
selections by combining data and machine learning with
expert human judgment.
Data science isn’t woven into our culture; it is our culture.
We started with it at the heart of the business, rather
than adding it to a traditional organizational structure,
and built the company’s algorithms around our clients
and their needs. We employ more than 80 data
scientists, the majority of whom have PhDs in
quantitative elds such as math, neuroscience, statistics,
and astrophysics. Data science reports directly to me,
and Stitch Fix wouldn’t exist without data science. It’s
that simple.
— Don’t forget the people.
The analytical part of me loves our algorithmic approach.
But shopping is inherently a personal and human activity.
That’s why we insist on combining data with a human
stylist who can alter or override the product assortment
our styling algorithm has delivered. Our stylists come
from a range of design and retail backgrounds, but they
all have an appreciation for the data and feel love and
empathy for our clients. Humans are much better than
machines at some things—and they are likely to stay that
way for a long time.
For example, when a client writes in with a very speci c
request, such as “I need a dress for an outdoor wedding
 in July,” our stylists immediately know what dress options
might work for that event. In addition, our clients often
share intimate details of a pregnancy, a major weight
loss, or a new job opportunity—all occasions whose
importance a machine can’t fully understand. But our
stylists know exactly how special such life moments are
and can go above and beyond to curate the right look
(…). That creates incredible brand loyalty.
It’s simple: A good person plus a good algorithm is far
superior to the best person or the best algorithm alone.
We aren’t pitting people and data against each other. We
need them to work together. We’re not training machines
to behave like humans, and we’re certainly not training
humans to behave like machines. And we all need to
acknowledge that we’re fallible—the stylist, the data
scientist, me. We’re all wrong sometimes—even the
algorithm. The important thing is that we keep learning
from that.
Katrina Lake, HBR’s 10 Must Reads on AI, Analytics, and
the New Machine Age (May-June, 2018)

Réponse

EXERCISE 41.08
After reading the text, answer the pertaining questions.
1. What is Stitch Fix’s line of work?
2. What is Stitch Fix’s comparative advantage/ competitive
edge?
3. How can Stitch Fix personalize each box?

Réponse

EXERCISE 41.09 Going further

1. Katrina Lake writes: “A good person plus a good algorithm
is far superior to the best person or the best algorithm alone.
We aren’t pitting people and data against each other. We
need them to work together.” Can you think of other
examples to illustrate that collaboration?
2. Have you heard of any other companies that developed the
same idea as Stitch Fix?
Réponse
 42
Security and Quality of
Information Systems
e Risk Management Framework (RMF) is a set of criteria that
dictate how United States government IT systems must be architected,
secured, and monitored. Originally developed by the Department of
Defense (DoD), the RMF was adopted by the rest of the US federal
information systems in 2010.
Today, the RMF is maintained by the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST), and provides a solid foundation for any data
security strategy. e RMF is a 6-step process to architect and engineer
a data security process for new IT systems.

to assign a role to a system • attribuer/ assigner un rôle à un système

to be consistent with sthg
risk assessment
to implement security
controls
to remediate a weakness
to strike a balance between
X and Y
• être cohérent par rapport à qqch
• évaluation du risque
• mettre en place/ exécuter les contrôles
de sécurité
• corriger une faiblesse
• trouver un équilibre entre X et Y
Information security’s primary focus is the balanced protection of the
con dentiality, integrity and availability of data (also known as the CIA
triad). Non-repudiation is really important too and has to be
associated with the triad.
Data security refers to protective digital privacy measures that are
applied to prevent unauthorized access to computers, databases and
websites. Data security also protects data from corruption. Data
security is an essential aspect of IT for organizations of every size and
type. It includes data encryption, tokenization, and key management
practices that protect data across all applications and platforms.
encryption • cryptage
to secure data/ a network • sécuriser des données/ un réseau
a data security breach • faille de sécurité
to ensure privacy • garantir/ assurer la con dentialité
to prevent tracking • empêcher l’espionnage
reliability/ dependability • abilité
a leak of information • fuite d’information
data con dentiality • con dentialité des données
data integrity • intégrité des données
data availability • disponibilité des données

˜ Internet security

Crackers are individuals who break into computers or network

systems. A cracker might be performing cracking for malicious
activities, pro t, for certain nonpro t intentions or causes, or just for a
challenge. Some crackers break into a network system deliberately to
point out the aws involved in that network’s security system. In most
cases, crackers aim to gain access to con dential data, get hold of
software applications for free, or carry out malicious damage to les.
to sabotage a system • saboter un système
to break into a computer • pénétrer/ s’introduire dans un ordinateur
to crack a code • casser un code
to carry out damage • causer des dommages/ dégâts
to commit a crime • perpétrer un crime
data theft • vol de données
to hack into a system • s’introduire dans un système (par e raction)

Black-hat hackers are the stereotypical illegal hacking groups often

portrayed in popular culture, and are “the epitome of all that the
public fears in a computer criminal”. Black hat hackers break into
secure networks to destroy, modify, or steal data, or to make the
networks unusable for authorized network users.
dark web • darknet
cybercrime • cybercriminalité
a scam • arnaque
email fraud • courriel frauduleux
phishing • hameçonnage
cyberbullying • cyber harcèlement
cyberstalking • cyber prédation
piracy • piratage
copyright piracy • violation des droits d’auteur
computer hacking • piratage informatique
 e term “white hat” in Internet slang refers to an ethical computer
hacker, or a computer security expert, who specializes in penetration
testing and in other testing methodologies that ensures the security of
an organization’s information systems. Ethical hacking is a term meant
to imply a broader category than just penetration testing.
chief information security • responsable de la sécurité des systèmes
o cer d’information
chief security o cer • chef de la sécurité
to identify vulnerabilities • repérer les failles
a security expert • spécialiste de la sécurité
an engineer • ingénieur
to put/ place at risk • mettre en danger
to foil a hacking attempt • déjouer une tentative de piratage

Malware (malicious software) is software that is speci cally designed

to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to a computer system.
a virus • virus
executable les • chiers exécutables
to run an infected program • executer un programme corrompu
to spread/ to propagate • se répandre/ se propager
an attachment • pièce jointe
a worm • ver
a Trojan horse • cheval de Troie

a spyware • logiciel espion

a ransomware • rançongiciel
an adware • publiciel/ logiciel publicitaire
a security aw • faille de sécurité
 a denial-of-service attack • attaque par déni de service

a backdoor • porte dérobée

a botnet • réseau de zombies
to be embedded in • être intégré/ imbriqué dans
to collect stored data • collecter des données stockées

A digital certi cate authenticates the Web credentials of the sender

and lets the recipient of an encrypted message know that the data is
from a trusted source (or a sender who claims to be one). A digital
certi cate is issued by a certi cation authority (CA). Digital certi cates
are used with signatures and message encryption. Digital certi cates
are also known as public key certi cates or identity certi cates.
authentication • authenti cation
an anti-virus software • logiciel anti-virus
a rewall • pare-feu
content ltering • ltrage de contenu
checksum • somme/ total de contôle
a back-up copy • copie de sauvegarde
a cybercop • cyber-policier

Useful acronyms
RMF Risk Management Framework
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
DES Data Encryption Standard
TOR e Onion Router

˜ Quality
Many companies continually strive toward creating and maintaining
quality products and processes. What is vitally important, but is often
overlooked (négligé) in the literature, is that to achieve a quality
organization, you must begin by emphasizing the importance of
creating and maintaining quality data and information systems.
Information pervades all activities of an organization, and without
e orts to collect, store, and process data in a manner that ensures
quality information, the organization’s ability to promote total quality
will be severely lessened.
to assess quality • évaluer la qualité
quality control • contrôle qualité
to comply with standards • se conformer à des normes
a user interface • interface utilisateur
to adjust a technology • ajuster une technologie

Information system quality is expected to have a strong impact on

information system e ectiveness. With proper business/IT alignment,
an e ective information system is an information system that
successfully plays a central role in the ful llment of strategic business
goals like cost leadership, increased pro tability or sustained growth.
A framework that explains the relationship between information
system quality and information system e ectiveness is the DeLone and
McLean (D&M) Model of IS Success according to which, information
system quality a ects both the use of the information system (i.e.
whether the information system is adopted by its intended users) and
how satis ed the intended users are with this use.
 From
https://is.theorizeit.org/wiki/Delone_and_McLean_IS_success_model
user satisfaction • satisfaction de l’utilisateur
user-friendliness • convivialité/ ergonomie
usability • facilité d’utilisation
accuracy • précision
practicality • aspect pratique
increased pro tability • rentabilité accrue

to meet a purpose • remplir un objectif

to malfunction • dysfonctionner
to fail • échouer

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON SECURITY AND

QUALITY OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS
EXERCISE 42.01
Form 4 compound nouns with the following elements and
translate them into French.
˜ digital, divide, engine, identity, provider, search, service,
theft
Réponse

EXERCISE 42.02
Fill in the following sentences with the right preposition or
particle.
1. It is necessary to assign a role local education
actors in the development of cluster and resource center
activities.
2. Some o shore outsourcing initiatives are embedded
a broader restructuring strategy, while others aim to
tackle a speci c identi ed ‘problem’.
3. Working outdoors at midday we were put risk of
severe sunburn.
4. A rm that specializes the analysis of handwriting
claims from a one-page writing sample that it can assess
more than three hundred personality traits
5. Today’s tech savvy criminals can hack your
computer system to gain access sensitive
information about you, your business and your customers.
6. Everyone has the right to point aws in the law
and to work towards changing these laws - lawfully, of course.
7. Voluntary contributions are accepted provided they are
consistent the policies and objectives of the
program.

EXERCISE 42.03
Fill in the following de nitions with the right compound
based on “access”.
˜ access control list (ACL), access path, access point,
access pro le, access rights, network access
1. An is a device, such as a wireless router, that allows
wireless devices to connect to a network. Most access points
have built-in routers, while others must be connected to a
router in order to provide .
2. An de nes the functions to which a speci c user
has access.
3. The permissions that are granted to a user, or to an
application, to read, write and erase les in the computer are
called . They can be tied to a particular client or
server, to folders within that machine or to speci c programs
and data les.
4. An speci es the path chosen by a database
management system to retrieve the requested tuples from a
relation.
5. An , with respect to a computer le system, is a list
of permissions attached to an object. It speci es which users
or system processes are granted access to objects, as well as
what operations are allowed on given objects.

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON SECURITY

AND QUALITY OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS
EXERCISE 42.04

About Risks
— Risk Management Frameworks
Organizations have faced, and will continue to face,
multiple challenges with regards to information security
and privacy, including the growing need to demonstrate
compliance with multiple federal, state and industry
requirements. However, given the general lack of
de nition and prescriptiveness of these requirements,
organizations are left with the task of deciding what
actions would be considered ‘reasonable and appropriate’
and what level of protection would be ‘adequate’ in the
eyes of federal, state and industry regulators, business
partners, customers, and other interested third parties.
Implementing the right framework, processes and tools is
the only e cient and e ective way to manage
information risk and compliance.
So, how can an organization determine ‘reasonable and
appropriate’ safeguards to provide ‘adequate’ protection
for sensitive information? Or stated another way, how can
an organization select and implement a speci c set of
controls to manage information security and privacy-
related risk at an acceptable level?
The textbook answer is through a comprehensive risk
analysis that (1) includes threat and vulnerability
assessments, information asset valuation, and the
selection of a comprehensive set of information security
and privacy controls that addresses the enumerated
threat-vulnerability pairs (a process sometimes referred
to as threat modeling), (2) is cost-e ective, and (3)
manages risk at a level deemed acceptable by the
organization.
From a quantitative viewpoint, this process is virtually
impossible for many—if not most—organizations to
perform. For example, unless actuarial-type information is
available, the likelihood a threat-source will successfully
exploit one or more vulnerabilities cannot be calculated
with any level of precision. In the case of a human actor,
likelihood is also dependent on the motivation of the
threat source and the di culty or cost associated with
exploiting one or more vulnerabilities to achieve the
threat actor’s objectives. As a result, it is similarly di cult
to develop a valid business case for a speci c risk
response or treatment based on a return on investment.
Organizations could take a semi- or quasi-quantitative
approach or even a purely qualitative approach; however,
it would still be di cult for an organization to develop a
valid business case, particularly for a comprehensive set
of risk responses.
An alternative approach is to rely on other organizations
that do have the resources to develop a set of controls
that addresses similar threats to similar technologies
employed by their own organization.
Risk management frameworks support a basic 4-step risk
management process model:
Step 1 - ______________________________________
The objective of this step is to determine the risks to
information and information assets that are speci c to
the organization. Risks can be identi ed through the
analysis of regulations and legislative requirements,
breach data for similar organizations in the industry, as
well as an analysis of current architectures, technologies
and market trends. The end result of this analysis should
be a prioritized list of high-risk areas and an overall
control strategy to minimize the risk to the organization
from the use of sensitive or business critical information
in terms of overall impact to the organization.
This step is supported by seven sub-processes, which
range from the classi cation of information assets to the
development of speci c risk treatments. As indicated
previously, this is one of the more problematic aspects of
risk analysis that a control-based risk management
framework will help an organization address.
Step 2 - ______________________________________
The next step is to determine a set of reasonable and
appropriate safeguards an organization should
implement to adequately manage information security
risk. The end result should be a clear, consistent and
detailed or prescriptive set of control recommendations
that are customized for the organization.
A control-based risk management framework will provide
a comprehensive control catalog derived from the seven
sub-processes outlined earlier as well as speci c criteria
for the selection of a baseline set of controls, which is
performed in this step.
Step 3 - ______________________________________
Controls are implemented through an organization’s
normal operational and capital budget and work
processes with board-level and senior executive oversight
using existing governance structures and processes. A
risk management framework will provide guidance and
tools for implementation of the framework, including the
controls speci ed earlier in step 2.
Step 4 - ______________________________________
 The objective of this last step is to assess the e cacy of
implemented controls and the general management of
information security against the organization’s baseline.
The result of these assessment and reporting activities is
a risk model that assesses internal controls and those of
business associates based on well-de ned risk factors. It
should also provide common, easy-to-use tools that
address requirements and risk without being
burdensome, support third-party review and validation,
and provide common reports on risk and compliance.
https://hitrustalliance.net/documents/campaigns/HITRUS
T-RMF-Whitepaper-FM.pdf, 2018

After reading the text, answer the following questions.

1. According to that document, who are the main stakeholders
of a company concerned by the level of protection of the
company’s data?
2. What must a well-designed risk analysis include?
3. Why is it so di cult for organizations to carry out an
e ective risk analysis?
4. Give a title to each step of the risk management process
model.
Réponse

EXERCISE 42.05

About Data Security

“In July 2009, Amazon Kindle readers found life imitating
art when their copy of Orwell’s novel 1984 completely
disappeared from their devices. In 1984, the ‘memory
hole’ is used to incinerate documents that are considered
subversive or no longer wanted. Documents permanently
disappear and history is rewritten.It could almost have
been an unfortunate prank but 1984 and Orwell’s Animal
Farm had actually been removed as the result of a
 dispute between Amazon and the publisher. Customers
were angry, having paid for the e-book and assumed that
it was therefore their property. A lawsuit led by a high
school student and one other person was settled out of
court. In the settlement, Amazon stated that they would
no longer erase books from people’s Kindles, except in
certain circumstances, including that ‘a judicial or
regulatory order requires such deletion or modi cation.’
Amazon o ered customers a refund, gift certi cate, or to
restore the deleted books. In addition to being unable to
sell or to lend our Kindle books, it seems we do not
actually own them at all.
Although the Kindle incident was in response to a legal
problem and was not intended maliciously, it serves to
illustrate how straightforward it is to delete e-documents,
and without hard copies, how simple it would be to
completely eradicate any text viewed as undesirable or
subversive. If you pick up the physical version of the book
tomorrow and read it, you know with absolute certainty it
will be the same as it was today but if you read anything
on the Web today you cannot be certain that it will be the
same when you read it tomorrow.”
Dawn E. Holmes, Big Data, pp.90-91.

After reading the text, answer the following questions.

1. Sum up in your own words what Amazon did in 2009 and
the reasons why they did it.
2. Explain why it is ironic.
3. What were the consequences of Amazon’s action?
4. What conclusion does the author draw from the incident?

Réponse
 43
Information Systems and
Management
“In the digital economy, the rm as we know it will be transformed.
Just as the organisation is changing, so are the job and the nature of
work itself. As the world of work shifts from the hierarchical
corporation to the new extended structures, there is a shift in the
potential for work location. e o ce is no longer a place, it is a
system. e roles of individuals within that system are no longer just
jobs but fundamentally new working relationships”.
Don Tapscott, e Digital Economy, McGraw Hill, 1995

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_information_system
Management Information System, commonly referred to as MIS, can
be de ned as a system that provides information to management. e
main role of MIS is to report on business operations with the purpose
of supporting decision making. is is to ensure that the organization
is managed in a better and more e cient way so that it can be able to
achieve full potential thus gain competitive advantage.
computer literacy • compétence (en) informatique
an intranet • un intranet
an on-site worker • un employé sur site
 o ce-bound computers • ordinateurs sur site
a routine job • travail routinier
to overcome a restraint • dépasser une contrainte
automation • automatisation

a high-speed network • réseau haut débit

high speed mobile data access • accès haut débit aux données mobiles
to have ready access to sthg • avoir un accès
a remote service center • centre de service à distance
a nomadic worker • employé nomade

to bene t from new technologies • pro ter des nouvelles technologies

disruptive technologies • technologies de rupture
to improve logistics • améliorer la logistique
to streamline operations • rationaliser les operations

• être adapté aux besoins/ fait sur

to be tailored to one’s needs
to provide sb with
information
to make timely decisions
a decision-maker
the decision-making process
mesure
• fournir des informations à qqn
• prendre des décisions opportunes
• décideur
• processus de prise de décision

e development of MIS calls for a change in management style since

the workers will be generally more informed due to the ability to
produce and consume more information about the business, giving
rise to what’s now known as the knowledge worker. Knowledge
workers are more empowered and hence more productive naturally.
 is means that the command-and-control method of management
will no longer be the most e ective management style for this worker.
As a result, employee autonomy is gradually becoming more and
more inevitable.
Drucker once observed that societal transformation can happen in a
matter of decades. Now 50 years after Drucker initially constructed the
idea of a knowledge worker, the system is changing again.
Today, we can instantly learn anything, anywhere. And the knowledge
worker of the past is becoming the learning worker of today. Forbes
recently noted, “how we value workers is changing, and the emphasis
now is on an employee’s ability to learn and adapt, rather than their
readiness to come into a job with the skills required to do everything.”
to collect information • collecter l’information
to process information • traiter l’information
to retrieve information • retrouver l’information
to keep track of performance • suivre les résultats
to record progress • enregistrer les progrès

to atten hierarchies • aplanir les hiérarchies

to broaden the distribution of
information
to empower employees
a self-managing worker
resistance to change
to be reluctant to (doing) sthg
• élargir la distribution de
l’information
• autonomiser les employés
• employé autonome
• résistance au changement
• être réticent à (faire) qqch

Although there is no universally accepted de nition of telework – the

available de nitions cover a wide range of homeworking, alternating
telework, multi-site telework, freelance telework, mobile teleworking,
and telework from relocated back o ces – it may be understood as
work carried out by the use of computers and telecommunications, in
order to overcome restraints in place or time of work. In the USA, it is
called Telecommuting.
freelance work • travail indépendant/ libéral
a freelancer/ freelance worker • travailleur indépendant/ libéral
a call center • centre d’appel
exibility • exibilité
job security • sécurité de l’emploi
tra c congestion • congestion de la circulation
environmental impact • impact environnemental

employee rights • droits des employés

training rights
trade union rights
a lack of sthg
contractual status
equality of treatment
health and safety
legal frameworks
• droits à la formation
• droits syndicaux
• manque de qqch
• statut contractuel
• égalité de traitement
• hygiène et sécurité
• cadres légaux/ législatifs

Telework demands both hard and soft skills:

• the hard skills of computer literacy which are increasingly taught in
schools, and updating is normally provided either by manufacturers
and suppliers themselves, or by consultants;
• the soft skills associated with telework may cover areas like personal
e ectiveness, autonomy, exibility, interpersonal skills, creativity,
organization, management, teamwork and leadership.
work-life balance • équilibre travail/ famille
 time-management • gestion du temps
data protection • protection des données
privacy • vie privée
work e ciency • e cacité au travail
social isolation • isolement social
low wages • bas salaires
childcare facilities • crèche

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON INFORMATION

SYSTEMS AND MANAGEMENT
EXERCISE 43.01
Find the English translation for the following French words.
Mind your spelling.
˜ ressources logicielles, initier une action, des éléments
interdépendants, l’automatisation, des périphériques
Réponse

EXERCISE 43.02 Word derivation: pre xes and su xes

1. Make adjectives from the following verbs (and translate the
adjectives into French).
˜ to rely, to avoid, to accept, to value, to use, to sustain
2. What do you notice?
3. Using the same rule, could you translate the following
adjectives into English? (Beware, there are traps)
˜ remplaçable, responsable, discutable, négligeable
4. Now, use the right pre x to build the antonyms of all the
previous adjectives.
Réponse

–
– WRITING EXERCISES ON INFORMATION
SYSTEMS AND MANAGEMENT
EXERCISE 43.03
Answer the following questions.
1. List and explain the classi cation of information system.
2. What distinction do you make between data and
information?
3. Illustrate the use of MIS in monitoring the performance of
the HR department.
Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND MANAGEMENT
EXERCISE 43.04

Change management in the digital revolution

The shift towards a digital workplace has been underway
for some time. Paper memos and faxes, for example,
gave way to email more than twenty years ago. But lately
it feels like things have suddenly sped up. There’s endless
buzz around increased uptake of technology in the
workplace, and it’s leaving some managers and
employees feeling like they’re playing an endless game of
catch-up.
As digitally enabled workplaces gain prominence, more
people have begun to work remotely on a regular or even
full-time basis, teams are spread out across the world,
and the line between work and personal time has
become blurred.
In the next couple of years, the rollout of 5G networks
across the world promises to make working on-the-go
and outside of usual business hours a reality for many
people. While this creates exibility and can help people
t work in around family and leisure activities, it also
means it could become harder to take a real break from
work.
In a 2019 worldwide survey of remote workers, 40% of
respondents said the biggest bene t of remote work was
increased exibility. However, many of them also said
they struggled to unplug from work and experienced
loneliness and di culties with communication.
— Increased focus on data security and privacy
In the age of GDPR, the privacy and security of personal
data is on everyone’s mind, and more people than ever
understand their rights when it comes to what
companies know about them. As such, they rightly
expect the companies they deal with, as well as their
employers, to respect those rights and comply with the
law.
With digital networks getting faster all the time, the
speed of data transfer has increased exponentially.
Today, there is very little time to completely stop a data
breach, even when discovered quickly. This means your
systems need to be secure by design. There are still
plenty of companies keeping sensitive personnel data in
unsecured spreadsheets or other less-than-secure
systems.
— Change management itself is changing
While it might be tempting to dive into deploying the
latest technologies, relying on sta you already have to
handle the change, there is a bigger picture to think
about. For companies to keep up with their competitors
– both with regards to their customers and to be seen as
a desirable employer – it’s best not to rush into sudden
change for the sake of change. To embrace the digital
revolution, you should consider how everyone in the
organisation will process and incorporate the change.
 There has been a 6% increase in the number of
permanent change management positions since 2011,
with this number expected to rise as the discipline of
change management matures and is recognised more
widely.
All this has a lot to do with the workplace digital
revolution. Companies that successfully manage the shift
to new technologies understand that technology itself is
only one part of the solution. Getting employees on
board with the reasons for, and bene ts of the change is
the bigger challenge – and the most important one to
get right.
Z. Harris, https://blog.catalystone.com/change-
management-digital-revolution (on Feb 21, 2020)

After reading the article, answer the following questions.

1. To understand the article in general, look up the de nition
of “change management”.
2. What factors have contributed to the acceleration of the
digital revolution in the workplace?
3. What are the main bene ts and the main drawbacks?

Réponse
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
 44
The Globalization of Markets
˜ No Man/ Country is an Island.
Globalization can be de ned as the internationalization of markets all
over the world (started in the 19th century and accelerated in the
middle of the 20th). It involves the free circulation of people, data,
goods, nancial and cultural elements.

labor force/ workforce/

manpower
to cut costs
domestic market
to compete with sb
unfair competition
erce/ cutthroat competition
competitive edge/ advantage
competitiveness
to carry out business on a global
scale
to keep up with a competitor
• main d’œuvre
• réduire les coûts
• marché intérieur
• concurrencer qqn
• concurrence déloyale
• concurrence acharnée
• avantage concurrentiel
• compétitivité
• faire des a aires au niveau mondial
• se maintenir au niveau d’un
concurrent
 e World Trade Organization (WTO) o cially replaced the GATT in
1995 to take into account the major economic changes that were
shaping (modeler/ façonner) the international stage and to take in the
new countries that were applying for membership (164 members in
2016).
Its main missions are to:
– regulate the international trade by issuing new rules,
– settle the possible con icts that arise between countries,
– ensure a certain economic harmony in the international orchestra.
Free trade is a policy in international markets in which governments
do not restrict imports or exports. Free trade is exempli ed by the
European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA = ALENA), which have established open markets. Most
nations are today members of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
multilateral trade agreements. However, most governments still
impose some protectionist policies that are intended to support (to
back → soutenir) local employment, such as applying tari s to
imports or subsidies to exports. Governments may also restrict free
trade to limit exports of natural resources. Other barriers that may
hinder (to hamper/to thwart) trade include import quotas, taxes
and non-tari barriers, such as regulatory legislation.
a trading partner • partenaire commercial
the balance of trade • balance commerciale
a trade surplus ≠ de cit • excédent ≠ dé cit commercial
free trade • libre échange
fair trade • commerce équitable
a free trade area • zone de libre échange
the free ow of goods • libre circulation des marchandises
oating capital • capitaux ottants/ spéculatifs
 the ight of capital • fuite des capitaux
deregulation/ to deregulate • déréglementation/ déréglementer
the liberalization of trade • libéralisation du commerce
protectionism • protectionnisme

Fair trade is an organized social movement whose stated goal is to

help producers in developing countries achieve better trading
conditions and to promote sustainability. Members of the movement
advocate (= encourage) the payment of higher prices to exporters, as
well as higher social and environmental standards. e movement
focuses in particular on commodities, or products which are typically
exported from developing countries to developed countries, but also
consumed in domestic markets (e.g. Brazil and India) most notably
handicrafts, co ee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine,
fresh fruit, chocolate, and owers. e movement seeks to promote
greater equity in international trading partnerships through dialogue,
transparency, and respect. It promotes sustainable development by
o ering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of
marginalized producers and workers in developing countries.
to comply with standards • se conformer à des normes
compliance with norms • respect des normes
standard of living/ living standard • niveau de vie
sustainable development • développement durable
a trading partnership • partenariat commercial
to bene t from trade • pro ter du commerce
to bring in money • rapporter de l’argent
a boon • aubaine
a bane • fardeau/ malédiction
 e World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) was founded in 1989 to
compensate the negative impact of free trade on the more fragile
members of the WTO and as a response of the WTO to the harsh
criticism that was leveled at them. Its creation aims at protecting the
developing countries whose living standards and economic growth are
still evolving and susceptible to/vulnerable to crises.
a subsidy • subvention
to subsidize • subventionner
international aid • aide/ assistance internationale
to raise funds • lever des fonds
to lift a country out of poverty • sortir un pays de la pauvreté

e International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created in 1945 as a

result of the Bretton Woods Conference. Its role is to:
– promote a global monetary cooperation,
– secure nancial stability,
– facilitate international trade,
– promote high employment and sustainable economic growth,
– reduce poverty around the world.
e institution is governed by and is accountable to (doit rendre des
comptes à) the 189 countries that make up its near-global membership.
e Doha Round of global trade talks is the latest round of trade
negotiations among the WTO membership. It was o cially launched in
2001 and aimed at improving the trade prospects of developing
countries.
• entraver des négociations
to hinder trade talks
commerciales
to retaliate with trade • riposter avec des barrières
barriers commerciales
to swamp the market • inonder le marché
 to break down/ to fail • échouer
to derail talks • faire échouer des négociations
to reach an agreement • trouver un accord

BRICS is an acronym that was coined/ created by US investment bank

Goldman Sachs in the early 2000s. e 5 emerging economies/
developing economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa)
making up that group were described as the economies with the most
promising potential because they are the fastest-growing economies in
the world. ey were thought to become the most dominant
economies in the world by 2050.
an emerging country/ a developing • pays émergent/ en voie de
country développement
a developed country/ an
• pays développé/ industrialisé
industrialized country
LDCs = least developed countries • PMA= pays les moins avancés

outsourcing/ o shoring • délocalisation

to relocate production/ jobs
unemployment
manufacturing jobs
to take advantage of cheap
labor
child labor
working conditions
production/ wage costs
a debt-ridden country
• relocaliser la production/ les emplois
• chômage
• emplois du secteur secondaire
• pro ter de la main d’œuvre bon
marché
• travail des enfants
• conditions de travail
• coûts de production/ salariaux
• pays criblé de dettes

Alter globalization
an antiglobalization activist/ an • altermondialiste
 antiglobalist
a riot
a rally
to demonstrate/ to march
(against)
a demonstrator/ a protester
to be a game-changer
a non-governmental organization
(NGO)
a non-pro t organization
anti-dumping suit
• émeute
• rassemblement
• protester/ manifester
• manifestant
• changer la donne
• organisation non
gouvernementale (ONG)
• organisation à but non lucratif
• procès pour pratique de
dumping

Unfair trade practices observed in some cases can be de ned as

exaggerated government support to rms like export subsidies, or
unfair behavior of rms like dumping, boycotting or discriminatory
shipping arrangements, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage
for a country’s industry.
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON THE
GLOBALIZATION OF MARKETS
EXERCISE 44.01 Collocations
Match the following verbs with a complement and translate
the phrases.
˜ to hinder, to swamp, to retaliate with, to raise
1. the market
2. funds
3. trade talks
4. trade barriers

Réponse
EXERCISE 44.02 Prepositions and particles
Fill in the following sentences with the appropriate
preposition or particle.
1. The world has become a global village now because
business is carried a global scale.
2. The tourist industry brings some resources for
poor countries.
3. McDonald’s has a long tradition of adapting the
needs of global markets. They did this by o ering “halal”
menus that complied Islamic food preparation in
Arab countries.
4. The sharing of technology bene ted emerging countries
that can now compete rich countries.
5. If these companies want to survive they need to keep
their competitors.
6. The trade talks launched in 2001 in Doha broke
after 14 years of negotiations.

EXERCISE 44.03 Synonyms

Find synonyms for the following words.
˜ to support, to march, a developing country, outsourcing,
workforce, competitive edge, to hinder
Réponse

EXERCISE 44.04
Choose the right option and translate.
1. Tax (havens/ heavens) are notoriously known for o ering
low or zero taxes, secrecy and lax regulation.
2. Deregulation often serves the (economical/ economic)
interests of the largest multinationals.
3. Most LDCs are excluded from the real advantages of
globalization because of the political instability, diseases, and
( ow/ ight) of capital that plague them.
4. Canada is considered as a (developing/ developed)
country in the Northern Hemisphere.
Réponse

EXERCISE 44.05
Find the English translation for the following French words.
Mind your spelling.
˜ protectionnisme, mondialisation, compétitivité, pays
développé, aide internationale, ONG
Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON THE

GLOBALIZATION OF MARKETS

Coronavirus Won’t Kill Globalization. But It Will Look

Di erent After the Pandemic
In the early years of globalization back in the 1990s, most
of us thought globalization would likely be a largely
positive force, we did not anticipate then that
globalization could gradually become dangerous,
infectious and hard to control. Then came a spate of
viruses that themselves seemed to be global travelers:
HIV, the swine u, mad cow disease, SARS, various brands
of in uenza, and now COVID-19. This last scourge is the
most globalized in our history. Its speed of movement is
matched only by the scale of its global reach. And it has
unleashed an assault against globalization, with critics
using the current pandemic as an example of how it can
go wrong.
All of a sudden, many in media, academia and politics
seem ready to hit the pause button on globalization.
“Globalization is headed to the ICU,” a Foreign Policy
column argued on March 9, while The Economist’s May 14
issue asked whether COVID-19 had killed globalization.
Some on the left have hailed the virus as a potential cure
for the damaged planet, a way to restrain the cruelties of
globalized capitalism and restore the virtues of
communities and countries over those of corporations
and markets. Meanwhile on the populist right, leaders like
U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair
Bolsonaro have used the widespread push to close
national borders, and to keep foreigners, tourists and
migrants out, to exploit pre-existing sentiments of
xenophobia and racism among their supporters.
But globalization is here to stay. This cannot be reversed,
any more than the industrial revolution or the emergence
of computers. So far, it’s clear that no signi cant global
player is changing its game plan. China is quietly
continuing its enormous investments in the Belt and Road
Initiative while the U.S. and Russia are in an ongoing
tussle about major arms deals with India—intensi ed
since the COVID-19 crisis became global—because neither
power wants to shrink its global share of the arms
market. French President Emmanuel Macron and
President Donald Trump have just come to a broad
agreement to slow down the E.U. e ort to tax the big
American tech rms (Google, Facebook, Microsoft) in the
interests of avoiding a tari war between the two
countries. Germany remains keen to avoid lining up with
either the United States or China in the most recent
hostilities between the two. Though many nation-states
are preoccupied with tightening their borders,
maximizing their medical resources and prioritizing the
health of their citizens above all else, no country has
taken any serious action to undo or reverse their global
alliances, interests and strategies.
The recent crisis has also shown how neither science nor
technology can succeed without globalization. This was
exempli ed by the e ort of President Trump to help the
United States to buy a German company developing a
coronavirus vaccine. The attempt, which failed, was a
 marker of the tensions that arise when science, which so
often relies on international cooperation, collides with
national ambitions and anxieties. The best virologists,
epidemiologists and public health experts are constantly
in touch with one another across national boundaries.
Drug companies rely on globally conducted trials and
scienti c talent drawn from a global pool. Emergency
equipment is sent from various countries to one another.
Although there is still a competitive race to nd the best
tests, equipment, vaccines and cures, the globalized
model of corporate collaboration in the big pharma
corporate world is sure to continue.
Just as COVID-19 is a virus with global qualities,
globalization is itself viral. But all viruses evolve, and
globalization is no di erent.
ARJUN APPADURAI, Time Magazine (on May 19, 2020)

Lexical help
a spate of: une série de
a scourge: un éau
to unleash: déverser/ déchainer
the ICU = the Intensive Care Unit
to hail sb as: acclamer qqn
to tussle with sb: être aux prises avec qqn
to be keen to do sthg: être enthousiaste

EXERCISE 44.06 Understanding

After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. How has the opinion about globalization evolved over the
last 3 decades?
2. How has COVID-19 a ected the way globalization was
seen?
3. What are the signs that globalization is not dead yet?
4. Which sectors in particular cannot do without
globalization? Why?
Réponse

EXERCISE 44.07 Going further

1. What is the Belt and Road Initiative about?
2. What does the journalist refer to here: “French President
Emmanuel Macron and President Donald Trump have just
come to a broad agreement to slow down the E.U. e ort to
tax the big American tech rms (Google, Facebook,
Microsoft) in the interests of avoiding a tari war between the
two countries.”
Réponse
 45
International Trade
As world competition heats up (s’en ammer) and as customs barriers
are lowered or dismantled, large rms which used to be dominant on
their home market have to face the onslaught (l’assaut) of foreign
companies. To remain or become a key player in today’s business
world implies operating abroad and dealing with foreign partners.
Many small and medium-sized rms also have to face world
competition and adjust to it if they want to stay a oat. ey may have
to relocate a production unit abroad to take advantage of lower labor
costs or they may resort to outsourcing and order components from
foreign manufacturers.
an MNC (multinational corporation) • FMN ( rme multinationale)
a transnational corporation • société transnationale
a parent company • société mère
a subsidiary • liale
a branch • succursale/ liale
a middleman • intermédiaire
a screwdriver plant • usine tournevis

A multinational company (MNC) is a large commercial concern that

produces merchandise or provides services in more than one country.
MNCs generally have a powerful in uence in local economies and in
the world economy. ey are indeed sometimes so large (as is the case
with some oil companies) that their revenues are higher than the GDP
of some national economies.
a small and medium-sized rm/ business/
• PME
company
 market shares • parts de marché
to dodge taxes • se soustraire à l’impôt
tax avoidance/ tax evasion/ tax dodging • évasion scale
to threaten/ a threat • menacer/ une menace
capital ow • ux de capitaux
a tax haven • paradis scal
to set up a company • monter une entreprise
• pro t/ béné ce
cross-border pro t
transfrontalier
to shift pro t away from… to • déplacer les pro ts de... à

e General Agreement on Tari s and Trade (GATT) was a

multilateral trade agreement signed by 23 nations in Geneva in 1947. It
took e ect in 1948 and aimed at regulating international trade so as to
come to a more balanced (équilibré) and fairer economic agreement.
e purpose was “a substantial reduction of tari s and trade barriers”
to get rid of (se débarrasser de) national protectionism. e
Agreement was replaced in 1995 by the World Trade Organization
(WTO) as an answer to growing criticism leveled at the GATT.
to negotiate • négocier
to pave the way for sb to do sthg • frayer le chemin
negotiations/ talks • négociations/ pourparlers
to make/ issue a statement • faire une déclaration
a stalemate/ a deadlock • impasse
to reach/ break a stalemate • aboutir à/ sortir d’une impasse
to bring talks to a halt • suspendre des négociations
to resume talks • reprendre des négociations
to reach a settlement • conclure/ trouver un accord
 to achieve a breakthrough
to work out a solution
to run out of options
to pull out of an agreement
to back out of a project
to wind up a company
• réaliser une percée/ une avancée
• trouver une solution
• être à court d’options
• quitter un accord
• ne pas donner suite à un projet
• liquider une entreprise

e Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

(OECD) (Organisation de coopération et de développement
économiques, OCDE) is an intergovernmental economic organization
made up of 35 member countries, founded in 1960 to stimulate
economic progress and world trade. It is a forum of countries
committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a
platform to compare policy experiences, seeking answers to common
problems, identifying good practices and coordinating the domestic
and international policies of its members. Most OECD members are
high-income economies with a very high Human Development Index
(HDI) and are regarded as developed countries.
foreign direct
• investissement direct à l’étranger
investment
to settle/ operate abroad • s’installer/ opérer à l’étranger
overseas customers • clients étrangers
an exporter/ importer • importateur/ exportateur
an oil-exporting country • pays exportateur de pétrole
export license • licence d’exportation
export subsidies • subventions à l’exportation
exchange rate • taux de change
market disruption • désorganisation/ perturbation du marché
 to break into a market • pénétrer un marché
to push into new • s’introduire/ accéder à de nouveaux
markets marchés

business ethics • éthique commerciale

codes of conduct • codes de conduits
• riposter à la vente à perte
to counter dumping
(dumping)
to distort competition • fausser la concurrence
free trade • libre-échange
trade liberalization • libéralisation du commerce
fair trade • commerce équitable
sustainable development • développement durable
to promote environmental • promouvoir la pérennité
sustainability écologique

Codes of conduct are international instruments indicating standards

of behavior thought desirable by the international community in the
attitude of nations and multinational corporations. Several codes of
conducts were negotiated during the Tokyo Round of the GATT with a
view to liberalizing and harmonizing domestic measures that might
impede trade.
protectionism/ protectionist • protectionnisme/ mesures
measures protectionnistes
import tari s • droits de douane à l’importation
to lower tari s • baisser les taxes douanières
to raise tari s • augmenter les taxes douanières
customs duties • droits de douane
countervailing duties • droits compensateurs
 to streamline customs processes • simpli er les formalités douanières
trade barriers/ tari barriers • barrières commerciales/ douanières
to lower trade barriers • lever les barrières commerciales

raw materials/ commodities • matières premières

know how / craftsmanship • savoir-faire
technology transfer • transfert de technologie
to weaken/ to strengthen • a aiblir/ renforcer
historic/ historical • historique

Originally, the Pareto Principle referred to the observation that 80%

of Italy’s wealth belonged to only 20% of the population.
More generally, the Pareto Principle is the observation that most
things in life are not distributed evenly. It can mean all of the
following things:
– 20% of the input creates 80% of the result,
– 20% of the workers produce 80% of the result,
– 20% of the customers create 80% of the revenue.
And on and on…
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON INTERNATIONAL
TRADE
EXERCISE 45.01
Translate the following words into English. Mind your
spelling!
˜ négocier, diplomatie, indépendance, investissement,
gouvernement, barrières commerciales
Réponse

EXERCISE 45.02 Antonyms

Find an antonym for the following words and/or phrases.
˜ to reach a stalemate, an importer, to weaken, to wind up
a company, developing countries, to go under (faire faillite),
to bring talks to a halt
Réponse

EXERCISE 45.03 Prepositions and particles

Find the right preposition or particle and translate the
sentences into French.
1. It appears that small rms are more likely to break
a market when they are championing new technology or
processes.
2. The representatives of these countries were told to work
a solution to this dispute and they discussed
the subject at a subsequent bilateral meeting.
3. Since then the company has been trying to pull
the collective labor agreement and has been forced
back it by a bitter strike.
4. Choice of the right partner could account half the
success of the activity.
5. A fundamental analysis shows that the European Central
Bank may be running options to ght the
economic recession in the Euro-Zone economy.
6. The net balance of the income will be committed
the general budget of the European Union.

EXERCISE 45.04 ‘L’étranger’ in English

Fill in the following sentences with the right word from the
list and translate them into French.
˜ abroad, foreign, foreigners, stranger, overseas, alien
1. Luke speaks three languages.
2. Brexit is said to have been caused by the Brits’ fear of
.
3. Julie has never been but it is sthg she’d like to
experience.
4. This sergeant is a complete to leniency.
5. These American companies are investing large sums
.
6. She had hired an illegal as a maid.

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISE ON
INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Global value chains: opportunities and challenges for

development
International trade has been characterized by the
growing interconnectedness of production processes
across countries, with each country specializing in
particular stages of production. Communication and
coordination technology together with low
transportation costs have permitted the unbundling of
production. The growing integration of global production
– especially the rise of supply chains – is transforming the
nature of trade and the way developing countries
“connect” to the global economy. A combination of
reduced transport and logistics costs, improved
information technologies and more open economies
have made it easier to “unbundle” production, not only
within countries, but across a range of them. Four- fths
of world trade are now channelled through multinationals
that locate various stages or tasks of the production
process in the most cost-e cient locations around the
planet.
Global value chains (GVCs) can provide an opportunity
for countries to integrate into the global economy at
lower costs by producing only certain components or
tasks rather than complete nal products.
Whereas, in the past, value chains were mainly North-
South arrangements, South-South value chains are now
expanding as well. For developing economies, value
chains can lower the bar for entry into the global
economy by linking them to established trade networks,
thus lowering the costs of economic integration, and
allowing them to focus on the products or sectors where
they have a comparative advantage, without the need for
a comprehensive industrial base. Value chains are also
in uencing the trade integration strategies of developing
economies.
More than half of developing country exports in value-
added terms involve GVCs. The share of trade in parts
and components between developing countries has
quadrupled over the last 25 years. Services play a central
role and constitute more than one-quarter of exports
from developing countries. Developing economies are
becoming important sources and recipients of foreign
direct investment (FDI).
GVCs can o er developing countries opportunities to
integrate into the world economy at lower costs – but
gains from GVC integration are not automatic. Initial
integration into GVCs typically leads to favourable
structural transformation as labour is moved to higher
productivity activities. But not all countries manage to
join GVCs; only those su ciently close to being able to
produce at world standard quality and e ciency levels
are able to participate. In these cases, knowledge and
technology transfers, which are often facilitated through
foreign direct investment (FDI) and openness to new
imports, can trigger initial integration.
However, developing countries initially join GVCs in low-
skill tasks that can be easily shifted to competing
countries, and thus their value capture can remain
limited. Upgrading within GVCs can then constitute a
way to underpin development thereafter. Yet, upgrading
to more sophisticated tasks with high value capture, such
as R&D, design, or branding, can be hard to achieve.
While it may make industrialization easier to achieve,
GVC participation also holds various risks. It typically
 heightens vulnerability to global business cycles and
supply disruptions. Also, it may adversely a ect income
inequality within countries and the risks increase when
rms quickly relocate, which can cause social
displacement. Further risks relate to labour and the
environment and a narrow eld of learning, which is the
outcome when the capabilities that are acquired cannot
be easily transferred to other, higher value-added
activities.
From the World Trade Report,
www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/wtr14-2c_e.pdf

EXERCISE 45.05
1. What does the acronym FDI stand for? Find a de nition for
the term.
2. What is the WTO? What are its main missions?
3. What are GVCs?
4. What are the pros and cons of GVCs for emerging
countries?
5. Can all countries be part of GVCs?
6. According to what is said l. 34-35: “Yet, upgrading to more
sophisticated tasks with high value capture, such as R&D,
design, or branding, can be hard to achieve.”, what are the
main competitive advantages of developed countries in this
globalized world?
Réponse

– WRITING EXERCISE ON INTERNATIONAL

TRADE
EXERCISE 45.06 How to write a classi ed ad
Write the following classi ed ad.
˜ Vous êtes directeur des Ressources Humaines dans une grande entreprise et
on vous demande de rédiger une annonce de recrutement en anglais qui sera
di usée dans The Economist. La che de poste est la suivante.
«  Spécialisée dans les produits de grande consommation,
notre structure européenne produit et commercialise des
appareils électroménagers destinés au grand public.
Rattaché au directeur du Développement en Europe, vous
prenez en charge le développement de nouveaux produits en
prenant en compte les données du marché et les contraintes
commerciales et nancières.
Il s’agit d’un poste fondamentalement international, couvrant
l’ensemble du marché européen. Pour cette responsabilité
qui engage à la fois l’évolution technique de nos produits et
nos résultats, nous recherchons une personnalité de haut
niveau, disposant de qualités relationnelles et d’une autorité
naturelle.
Vous devez être diplômé d’une grande école, être mobile
pour des déplacements fréquents. L’anglais est votre langue
de travail.
Merci d’adresser votre candidature à lkkysjoinus@nus.eu sous
la référence Z36TH8. »
Réponse
 46
Regional Trade Agreements
(RTA)
A regional trade agreement (RTA) (also known as trade pact) is a wide
ranging tax, tari and trade treaty that often includes investment
guarantees. e most common trade agreements are of the preferential
and free trade types and are concluded in order to reduce (or
eliminate) tari s, quotas and other trade restrictions on items traded
between the signatories.
a trade agreement • accord commercial
to trade with a country • commercer/ échanger avec un pays
trade talks • négociations commerciales
a trading bloc • bloc commercial
a trade/ trading partner • partenaire commercial
border state/ neighbor state • État limitrophe
to grant preferential trade • accorder un traitement de faveur
treatment commercial
to restore the balance of
• redresser la balance des paiements
payments

to go through the customs • passer la douane

to be held at the customs • être bloqué en douane
to clear goods through the
• dédouaner les marchandises
customs
customs o cer • douanier
customs duty • droit de douane
 customs union • union douanière
duty free • exempt de droits de douane
duty free goods • marchandises hors taxe
• droits de douanes proportionnels à la
ad valorem duties
valeur du bien
to impose tari s on a
• imposer des taxes douanières à un pays
country
to lower tari s • abaisser les taxes douanières

According to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation

and Development):
“Regional trade agreements (RTAs) cover more than half of
international trade and operate alongside global multilateral
agreements under the World Trade Organization (WTO). Two broad
policy lessons have emerged from OECD work in this area. e rst is
that the actual e ects of RTAs bolster (= to reinforce) the case for a
strengthened multilateral framework, particularly when regionalism
leads to a patchwork e ect between members and non-members
within the concerned region, and thereby raise transaction costs for
business. A second lesson is that while some consequences of RTA
activity contribute to the case for strengthening the multilateral
framework, some features of regional approaches may complement
multilateral rules. e scope for such complementarity arises from the
contribution which regional initiatives can make towards
multilaterally-driven liberalisation and harmonious rule-making that
goes beyond the WTO. Together, these two elements have yielded
highly e ective synergies between approaches at the regional and
multilateral levels.”
www.oecd.org/tad/bene tlib/regionaltradeagreements.htm
free trade • libre échange
to lift quotas • supprimer les quotas
 to lift an embargo
deregulation
to remove borders
to work out a joint constitution
to overcome division
• lever un embargo
• déréglementation
• supprimer les frontières
• élaborer une constitution commune
• surmonter les divisions

to clinch/ strike a deal • conclure un marché

to nd an agreement • trouver un accord
a multilateral agreement • accord multilatéral
a bilateral deal • accord bilatéral
a countertrade agreement/ an o set deal • accord de compensation

Reciprocity is the practice by which countries extend similar

concessions to each other. For instance a country may lower its tari s
in exchange for equivalent concessions from a trading partner.
Reciprocity is also de ned as mutuality of bene ts, quid pro quo and
equivalence of advantages.
to strengthen border
• renforcer la sécurité aux frontières
safety
to subsidize production • subventionner la production
a retaliatory measure • mesure de rétorsion
compulsory certi cation • certi cation obligatoire
protectionism • protectionnisme
• empêcher l’importation de marchandises
to keep out foreign goods
étrangères
to slap a tax/ a duty on a
• frapper un produit d’une taxe
product
to counter dumping • riposter à la vente à perte (dumping)

–
– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON REGIONAL
TRADE AGREEMENTS
EXERCISE 46.01 Acronyms
˜ What do the following acronyms correspond to?
ASEAN, EFTA, EU, MERCOSUR?
Réponse

EXERCISE 46.02
Translate the following sentences into English.
1. Quand j’irai en Australie, j’achèterai de bons whiskys
détaxés dans les boutiques de l’aéroport.
2. Les nouveaux arrivants dans l’Union européenne rati eront
la constitution commune dès qu’ils se seront mis d’accord sur
les conditions.
3. Il expédiera les cartons dès qu’il aura dédouané la
marchandise.
4. Donald Trump a annoncé qu’il empêcherait l’importation
d’acier et d’aluminium européens.
5. La Chine et l’Europe ont pris des mesures de rétorsion à
l’égard des États-Unis.
Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON REGIONAL

TRADE AGREEMENTS

A new kind of cold war

How to manage the growing rivalry between America and
a rising China
Fighting over trade is not the half of it. The United States
and China are contesting every domain, from
semiconductors to submarines and from blockbuster
 lms to lunar exploration. The two superpowers used to
seek a win-win world. Today winning seems to involve the
other lot’s defeat—a collapse that permanently
subordinates China to the American order; or a humbled
America that retreats from the western Paci c. It is a new
kind of cold war that could leave no winners at all.
As our special report in this week’s issue explains,
superpower relations have soured. America complains
that China is cheating its way to the top by stealing
technology, and that by muscling into the South China
Sea and bullying democracies like Canada and Sweden it
is becoming a threat to global peace. China is caught
between the dream of regaining its rightful place in Asia
and the fear that tired, jealous America will block its rise
because it cannot accept its own decline.
The potential for catastrophe looms. Under the Kaiser,
Germany dragged the world into war; America and the
Soviet Union irted with nuclear Armageddon. Even if
China and America stop short of con ict, the world will
bear the cost as growth slows and problems are left to
fester for lack of co-operation.
Both sides need to feel more secure, but also to learn to
live together in a low-trust world. Nobody should think
that achieving this will be easy or quick.
The temptation is to shut China out, as America
successfully shut out the Soviet Union—not just Huawei,
which supplies 5g telecoms kit and was this week
blocked by a pair of orders, but almost all Chinese
technology. Yet, with China, that risks bringing about the
very ruin policymakers are seeking to avoid. Global
supply chains can be made to bypass China, but only at
huge cost. In nominal terms Soviet-American trade in the
late 1980s was $2bn a year; trade between America and
China is now $2bn a day. In crucial technologies such as
chipmaking and 5g, it is hard to say where commerce
ends and national security begins. The economies of
America’s allies in Asia and Europe depend on trade with
China. Only an unambiguous threat could persuade them
to cut their links with it.
It would be just as unwise for America to sit back. No law
of physics says that quantum computing, arti cial
intelligence and other technologies must be cracked by
scientists who are free to vote. Even if dictatorships tend
to be more brittle than democracies, President Xi Jinping
has reasserted party control and begun to project
Chinese power around the world. Partly because of this,
one of the very few beliefs which unite Republicans and
Democrats is that America must act against China. But
how?
For a start America needs to stop undermining its own
strengths and build on them instead. Given that migrants
are vital to innovation, the Trump administration’s hurdles
to legal immigration are self-defeating. So are its frequent
denigration of any science that does not suit its agenda
and its attempts to cut science funding (reversed by
Congress, fortunately).
Another of those strengths lies in America’s alliances and
the institutions and norms it set up after the second
world war. Team Trump has rubbished norms instead of
buttressing institutions and attacked the European Union
and Japan over trade rather than working with them to
press China to change. American hard power in Asia
reassures its allies, but President Donald Trump tends to
ignore how soft power cements alliances, too. Rather
than cast doubt on the rule of law at home and bargain
over the extradition of a Huawei executive from Canada,
he should be pointing to the surveillance state China has
erected against the Uighur minority in the western
province of Xinjiang.
As well as focusing on its strengths, America needs to
shore up its defences. This involves hard power as China
arms itself, including in novel domains such as space and
cyberspace. But it also means striking a balance between
protecting intellectual property and sustaining the ow of
ideas, people, capital and goods. When universities and
Silicon Valley geeks sco at national-security restrictions
they are being naive or disingenuous. But when defence
hawks over-zealously call for shutting out Chinese
nationals and investment they forget that American
innovation depends on a global network.
America and its allies have broad powers to assess who is
buying what. However, the West knows too little about
Chinese investors and joint-venture partners and their
links to the state. Deeper thought about what industries
count as sensitive should suppress the impulse to ban
everything.
Dealing with China also means nding ways to create
trust. Actions that America intends as defensive may
appear to Chinese eyes as aggression that is designed to
contain it. If China feels that it must ght back, a naval
collision in the South China Sea could escalate. Or war
might follow an invasion of Taiwan by an angry,
hypernationalist China.
A stronger defence thus needs an agenda that fosters the
habit of working together, as America and the ussr talked
about arms-reduction while threatening mutually assured
destruction. China and America do not have to agree for
them to conclude it is in their interest to live within
norms. There is no shortage of projects to work on
together, including North Korea, rules for space and
cyberwar and, if Mr Trump faced up to it, climate change.
Such an agenda demands statesmanship and vision. Just
now these are in short supply. Mr Trump sneers at the
global good, and his base is tired of America acting as
the world’s policeman. China, meanwhile, has a president
who wants to harness the dream of national greatness as
a way to justify the Communist Party’s total control. He
sits at the apex of a system that saw engagement by
America’s former president, Barack Obama, as something
to exploit. Future leaders may be more open to
enlightened collaboration, but there is no guarantee.
Three decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, the
unipolar moment is over. In China, America faces a vast
rival that con dently aspires to be number one. Business
ties and pro ts, which used to cement the relationship,
have become one more matter to ght over. China and
America desperately need to create rules to help manage
the rapidly evolving era of superpower competition. Just
now, both see rules as things to break.
From The Economist (on 19th May, 2019)

Lexical help
rivalry : rivalité
to seek/ sought/ sought: chercher
to sour = to become unpleasant or di cult to cheat: tricher
to loom = to seem about to happen
to stop short of sthg = not go as far as sthg
to bear the costs: supporter les coûts
to fester = to deteriorate
a supply chain: une chaîne d’approvisionnement
a chip = une puce — chipmaking = fabrication de puces
brittle: fragile
to undermine: saper
a hurdle = an obstacle
to cut funding = to decrease investment
to cast doubt on sthg: jeter le doute sur
to bargain over sthg: marchander
to shore up = to reinforce
to strike a balance = to nd a new kind of equilibrium
to sco at sb = to sneer at = to mock
disingenuous: peu sincère
to be in short supply = to be rare
to harness = to control
 the apex: l’apogée

EXERCISE 46.03
After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. Sum up the article in 330 words. (+/-10%)
2. What historical events does the following extract from the
text refer to: “Under the Kaiser, Germany dragged the world
into war; America and the Soviet Union irted with nuclear
Armageddon.”?
3. Why is the article entitled ‘A new kind of cold war’?

Réponse

EXERCISE 46.04 Lexical work: Idioms

Use the following phrases to ll in the blanks. Translate the
sentences into French.
˜ to stop short of, to bear the cost of, to be left to fester, to
overcome hurdles (to), to cut funding, to buttress sthg, to
cast doubt on sthg, to strike a balance
1. The alliance a full freeze in diplomatic contacts
with Russia, but expressed concern about NATO’s future
relations with Moscow in the wake of the con ict.
2. If nuclear weapons are perceived the sense of
security and if countries appear to bene t from their
possession, a rush for their acquisition will naturally occur.
3. The conspiracy theories or theories about plots rightly or
wrongly chapters of history as being one of
manipulations coming from ‘dark powers’ to arrive at their
ultimate goals.
4. Discussions often bring out hidden disagreements which
might otherwise unhealthily in silence.
5. The implementation of environmental taxes ensures
polluters their actions.
6. The Committee must between the public’s right to
know and its legal obligation to protect national security and
privacy.
7. Kentucky was one of only ve states that for
higher education in 2019.
8. The experiences of various countries provide useful lessons
and ways of the implementation of various e-voting
systems.

EXERCISE 46.05 Lexical work: Synonyms

Find in the text the synonyms for the following words.
˜ Verbes latins et synonymes prépositionnels anglo-saxons :
to cause, to reinforce, to ostracize/ to exclude, to mock (2
synonyms)
˜ Autre forme de synonymie : a lack, to lack, to stand by
Réponse

EXERCISE 46.06 Lexical work: Deceptive cognates or

transparent words?
1. Decide if the followings words are deceptive cognates (DC)
or transparent words (TW).
˜ a defeat, temptation, to supply, an agenda, an attempt, a
balance, sensible, to suppress, to ban, to demand
2. Translate the following sentences into French.
a. The government’s commitment to supply our troops with
unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones is also encouraging.
b. Some people have not been able to resist the temptation
to reply simply that this question is not on the agenda.
c. The government is attempting to suppress dissent, an
action which no democratic government should engage in.
d. The activists are demanding the repeal of several laws.

Réponse

EXERCISE 46.07 Lexical work: Word derivation

The lexical eld of war pervades the text. Fill in the following
tables using pre xes or su xes.
 NB
Find the missing words in the text.

Root word Derived word (pre x) Derived word (su x)

to escalation

a threat to

a defeat

an an alliance

a rival

defensive

to a winner

to invade an

to collide a

to destroy

war

Réponse

EXERCISE 46.08 Grammar work

Fill in the following sentences with the right preposition/
particle.

NB
e sentences are extracted from the text.

1. Fighting trade is not the half of it.

2. America may retreat the western Paci c.
3. Under the Kaiser, Germany dragged the world war;
America and the Soviet Union irted nuclear
Armageddon.
4. The temptation is to shut China .
5. The economies of America’s allies in Asia and Europe
depend trade with China.
6. As well as focusing its strengths, America needs to
shore its defences.

– REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS: GOING

FURTHER
EXERCISE 46.09
Answer the following question in around 200 words: Are
RTAs a boon or a bane?
Réponse
 47
Competition and the Law
e National Industrial Property Institute (INPI, standing for Institut
national de la propriété industrielle in French), is the national
intellectual property o ce of France, in charge of patents (brevets),
trademarks (marque déposée) and industrial design rights. Yves
Lapierre is, since 2010, the directeur général (chief executive o cer) of
the INPI.

a brand • marque
piracy • piratage
copyright piracy • violation des droits d’auteur
counterfeiting • la contrefaçon
a counterfeit/ a fake • une contrefaçon/ un faux
a counterfeiter • contrefacteur/ faussaire
forgery • falsi cation/ contrefaçon
to infringe (on)/ to violate rights • enfreindre/ violer des droits
a copycat • copieur/ imitateur
a trademark • marque déposée
a patent • brevet
to patent/ to trademark/ to • breveter
 license
intellectual property • propriété intellectuelle
licensing fee • redevance/ droit de licence
copyright • droit d’auteur
• action pour usurpation
passing o action
d’appellation

e Intellectual Property O ce (IPO) is the o cial UK government

body responsible for intellectual property (IP) rights including patents,
designs, trademarks and copyright.
IPO is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department for Business,
Energy & Industrial Strategy.
a monopoly • monopole
sole right • droit exclusif
a bogus company • société fantôme
a guild • corporation/ guilde
anti-trust law • loi anti-trust
law enforcement • application de la loi
misdemeanor (US) • infraction
tax exemption • exonération d’impôt

ere are two symbols commonly used to mark trademarks; they are:
® (registered) and ™ (trademark). A business can use the ™ symbol
whenever it wishes to claim a trademark. ey do not need to le any
paperwork to receive permission to use it.
Yet, the ® symbol may only be used after the US Government grants a
Federal registration certi cate. It may not be used while the Federal
application is pending (en attente). Additionally, the ® symbol may
only be used in connection with the goods and services listed on the
registration certi cate.
 e copyright symbol © indicates that the author is the owner of the
work. An author retains ownership (propriété) of that work unless he
gives written permission for someone else to use the work or take the
copyright. Any reproduction, distribution, performance or public
display of the work without permission is an infringement of the
copyright.
dumping • dumping
unfair competition • concurrence déloyale
competitive advantage/ edge • avantage concurrentiel
competitiveness • compétitivité
to compete with sb • être en concurrence avec qqn
compliance with regulations • respect des réglementations
to settle a legal dispute • régler un litige/ un contentieux
case law • jurisprudence
to sue sb for damages • poursuivre qqn en dommages-intérêts
to prosecute • poursuivre en justice

– VOCABULARY EXERCISES ON COMPETITION

AND THE LAW
EXERCISE 47.01 Word derivation
Fill in the table.
˜ Noun Verb Translation

To prohibit interdire

agreement

competition

To prosecute

monopoly

breach
 Réponse

EXERCISE 47.02 Synonyms

Give a synonym for the following words and translate them.
˜ to sue, to violate, an imitator, a shop, similar, to
safeguard, creativity, dispute, a lawyer, a trial
Réponse

EXERCISE 47.03 Antonyms

Turn the following verbs into adjectives and give their
antonym.
˜ to pro t, to a ord, to distinguish, to compare, to accept,
to reason
Réponse

EXERCISE 47.04 Acronyms

Match the following acronyms with the right de nition.
˜ OFT, FTC, IP, FDA
a. a federal agency of the United States Department of Health
and Human Service. It is responsible for protecting and
promoting public health through the control and supervision
of food safety.
b. an agency that enforces anti-trust laws in the UK.
c. an anti-trust agency that focuses its enforcement
responsibility in the oil and gas, pharmaceutical and health
care industries in the US.
d. it refers to creations of the mind such as inventions, literary
and artistic works, symbols, names, images, designs used in
commerce.
Réponse
EXERCISE 47.05
Find the words matching the following de nitions.
1. An agreement between competitors to raise, lower or
otherwise stabilize the price range. (Illegal practice)
2. Vertical combination of companies whose purpose is to
regulate supply and restrict competition. They may be
combinations on a vertical or horizontal basis.
3. A legal concept giving the creator of an original work
exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited period of time.
4. The exclusive possession or control of the supply of or
trade in a commodity or service.
Réponse

EXERCISE 47.06 Deceptive cognates

Deceptive cognates may fool you. Find the right translations
for the following words.
1. The registration fee is usually not included but lodging is.
2. The author had not appealed against his conviction for
forgery.
3. The price of commodities like copper and cotton can
uctuate dramatically over a year.
4. In order to be patented a product must show some kind of
novelty compared to what is to be found on the market.
5. Some counterfeits can deceive the consumers easily.

Réponse

EXERCISE 47.07 Prepositions and particles

Fill in with the right preposition or particle.
1. When you register a patent you are entitled the
exclusive right to make use of your invention.
2. If you don’t comply copyright laws you may be
sued.
3. To protect inventors infringement their
rights the INPI controls the market of patents.
4. When two partners disagree the decision to be
made they may need to resort an arbitrator.
5. In all countries that belong the EU the sales of
counterfeited goods is theoretically punishable by law.

EXERCISE 47.08
Translate into English.
1. Cette innovation est une véritable mine d’or !
2. Cette jeune lle a été témoin du meurtre.
3. Le juge a révoqué cette décision.
4. Il ne faut pas hésiter à saisir cette belle occasion.

Réponse

– UNDERSTANDING EXERCISES ON COMPETITION

AND THE LAW

Lindt beats Haribo in legal battle over gold chocolate

bear
Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli has defeated a
legal challenge from rival confectioner Haribo, which
sought to stop it making its gold chocolate bears.
Haribo claimed the Lindt version was a violation of its
“Gold Bear” logo.
Germany’s Federal Court of Justice ruled Lindt’s bear
was neither a violation of Haribo’s trademark or an
imitation of its fruit gum sweets.
Haribo has been making gummy bear sweets since the
1960s.
Lindt introduced its chocolate teddy in 2011.
Haribo took its rival to court in 2012, arguing the
products were too similar and it would cause confusion
 among consumers.
A German court initially ruled in favour of the German
manufacturer but an appeal court later threw out the
verdict.
Lindt argued that its gold bear was styled on its Easter
bunnies, which are wrapped in gold foil with a ribbon and
small bell around their necks. The bunnies were rst
produced in 1952.
The federal court said in a statement (in German) on
Wednesday that Lindt’s product could be described
using a number of terms such as “teddy” or “chocolate
bear” and not just using the term “gold bear”.
It said it wanted to avoid the danger of “product design
monopolisation” in the area of three-dimensional goods.
In a statement, Lindt welcomed the ruling and said it
would “continue to delight all Lindt chocolate lovers with
the Lindt Teddy”..

From www.bbc.com (on September 23, 2015)

EXERCISE 47.09 General understanding

1. Who sued whom and why?
2. Who won the case?

Réponse

EXERCISE 47.10 Detailed understanding

1. List Haribo’s arguments and Lindt’s arguments.
2. What does this sentence mean: “A German court initially
ruled in favour of the German manufacturer but an appeal
court later threw out the verdict.”?
Réponse

EXERCISE 47.11 Going further

1. What are the nationalities of the two rms involved?
2. Who is competent to rule in such cases?
3. What is to be understood by ‘product design
monopolisation’?
Réponse

EXERCISE 47.12 Vocabulary to remember and re-use

Find a synonym in the text for the following words or
phrases.
˜ a legal battle, to beat, infringement, candy(-ies), to
prosecute, to overturn a verdict, a sentence
Réponse
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 01.02
1.traveller’s cheque: traveler’s check
2. overdraft: credit line
3. a merchant bank: an investment bank
4. to save money: to put money aside
5. a bank clerk: a bank teller
6. a strong room: a vault
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 01.03
ATM: Automatic Teller Machine (guichet/ distributeur automatique de billets,
guichet automatique bancaire – GAB)
EFTPOS: Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale
IOU: I Owe You (une reconnaissance de dettes)
LIBOR: London Interbank O ered Rate
NSF: Non su cient Funds (compte à découvert)
SWIFT: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (système
de transfert électronique de fonds)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 01.05
1. According to Mr Parsons, Mr Trump
promised he would boost the economy,
by lowering (corporate and individual)
taxes and by introducing more exibility
on the banking market which he
considers too heavily regulated.
2. It depends on the actor that we
consider. Mr Parson questions the
assumption saying that banks make more
money when rates rise. He demonstrates
that although this may be true for a few
individual banks which will capitalize on
there being higher rates, the rule does not
apply to the banking industry in general.
He also insists that rising rates are
actually detrimental to borrowers and
thus may cause a slowdown of the
economic growth.
3. The loan growth should not exceed the
GDP growth because if it does, it means
that the economy is excessively leveraged
and this could lead to a crisis similar to
the 2007 subprime crisis.
4. The Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) is a United States
government corporation providing
deposit insurance to depositors in US
banks. The FDIC was created by the 1933
Banking Act during the Great Depression
to restore trust in the American banking
system; more than one-third of banks
failed in the years before the FDIC’s
creation, and bank runs were common.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures deposits in banks
and thrift institutions for at least $250,000; by identifying, monitoring and
addressing risks to the deposit insurance funds; they endeavor to limit the
e ect on the economy and the nancial system when a bank or thrift institution
fails.
The FDIC directly examines and supervises about 4,000 banks and savings
banks for operational safety and soundness, more than half of the institutions in
the banking system.
The FDIC also examines banks for compliance with consumer protection laws.
Finally, the FDIC examines banks for compliance with the Community
Reinvestment Act (CRA) which requires banks to help meet the credit needs of
the communities they were chartered to serve.
The FDIC is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but conducts much of its
business in regional and eld o ces around the country.
The FDIC is managed by a ve-person Board of Directors, all of whom are
appointed by the President and con rmed by the Senate, with no more than
three being from the same political party.
www.fdic.gov/about/learn/symbol/
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 01.06
Banks play an important and pivotal role in the nancial system. They lend
directly to companies; they undertake longer-term funding and investment
through securitisation and covered bond issuance; they use their securities
a liates’ to participate in underwriting debt securities issued by companies,
using the banks’ balance sheet; and they participate in derivatives markets
including swaps and CDS which a ect the cost of capital. A dysfunctional
banking system reverberates through all of these channels and may be
associated with deleveraging and high risk-premiums. In particular, the shift
from an “originate and hold” to an “originate and distribute” approach may
have endangered the fundamentals of sound bank business models. Where
lending is a ected, small and medium-sized businesses (SME’s) nd it hard to
nance inventory and other investments. Where interbank lending freezes up,
securities market activities (including underwriting and derivatives
transactions) become more di cult, and uncertainty and the cost of capital
rise. This a ects projects that need longer-term nancing, such as
infrastructure. The business models of banks, as the recent crisis has shown, are
at the very heart of these issues.
www.oecd.org/ nance/private-
pensions/G20reportLTFinancingForGrowthRussianPresidenc
y2013.pdf
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 01.07
BNP Paribas targets stronger pro tability, dividends by 2020 as Q4 pro ts
rise
PARIS, Feb 7 2017 (Reuters) – BNP Paribas set out plans on Tuesday to deliver
an increased dividend payout and an improved return on equity by 2020,
hoping that headwinds it faces, such as low interest rates and regulatory
pressures, would ease by then.
France’s biggest bank unveiled some details of the 2017-2020 plan as it
reported a lower-than-expected rise in fourth-quarter net pro t, weighed down
by a goodwill impairment for its Polish unit BGZ.
BNP Paribas’ fourth-quarter net income rose to 1.44 billion euros ($1.5 billion),
more than doubling from 665 million a year ago, although the result came in
below the average of analyst estimates of 1.50 billion in a Reuters poll.
Group revenues rose 2 percent to 10.66 billion euros, above the poll average of
10.48 billion, as a surge in trading activity helped corporate and institutional
banking revenues rise by 8 percent.
BNP Paribas’ results were published on its website.
www.reuters.com/article/bnp-paribas-results/bnp-paribas-
targets-stronger-pro tability-dividends-by-2020-as-q4-
pro ts-rise-idUSP6N1A600P
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 09.01
1
yield: a shareholder’s pro t on capital invested.
2
hedging: a strategy aimed at minimizing or even eliminating investment risk.
3
debenture: a document acknowledging a loan to a company and
guaranteeing the payment of interest to the holder.
4
dividend: share of a company’s pro t paid to the investor or shareholder.
5
futures: contracts made for deferred delivery in stock exchange transactions.
6
broker: the British counterpart of the American dealer.
7
securities: the general term used for all types of stocks and shares.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 09.02
1. A stock index or stock market index is a
measurement of a section of the stock
market. It is computed from the prices of
selected stocks (typically a weighted
average). It is a tool used by investors and
nancial managers to describe the
market, and to compare the return on
speci c investments.
2. The Nasdaq-100 Index includes 100 of
the largest domestic (American) and
international non- nancial companies
listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market based
on market capitalization. The index
re ects companies across major industry
groups including computer hardware and
software, telecommunications,
retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology.
It does not contain securities of nancial
companies including investment
companies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is a price-weighted average of 30
signi cant stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the
NASDAQ.
The Standard & Poor’s 500, often abbreviated as the S&P 500 is an American
stock market index based on the market capitalizations of 500 large companies
having common stock listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ. The S&P 500 index
di ers from other U.S. stock market indices, such as the Dow Jones Industrial
Average or the Nasdaq Composite index, because of its diverse constituency
and weighting methodology. It is one of the most commonly followed equity
indices, and many consider it one of the best representations of the U.S. stock
market, and a bellwether for the U.S. economy.
The FTSE MIB (Milano Indice di Borsa) is the benchmark stock market index for
the Borsa Italiana, the Italian national stock exchange.
The DAX 30 (Deutscher Aktienindex) is a blue chip stock market index
consisting of the 30 major German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock
Exchange. DAX measures their performance in terms of order book volume and
market capitalization.
The CAC 40 (Cotation Assistée en Continu) is a benchmark French stock
market index. The index represents a capitalization-weighted measure of the 40
most signi cant values among the 100 highest market caps on the Euronext
Paris (formerly the Paris Bourse).

3. a. S&P500: 2,821.98
b. Nikkei 225: 23,486.11
c. OMX Stockholm 30: 1,601.84
d. CAC 40: 5,454.54

4. The DJIA with a negative variation of

665.75.
5. a. DAX30 (– 218)
b. NASDAQ 100 (– 141)
c. BEL20 (– 50)
d. HANG SENG INDEX (– 40)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 09.03
1.Tesla, Inc. (TSLA), the Palo Alto, Calif.-
based electric car behemoth, was added
to the S&P 500 on Dec. 21, according to
S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Helmed by Elon Musk, Tesla’s addition to the stock index further established the
fast-rising rm as a pillar of the automotive industry. It also means that long-
term, passive investors were to gain access to at least a portion of the company
through low-cost exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and index funds.
To be added to the S&P 500, a company needs to amass at least four
consecutive quarters of pro tability. This is actually not as straightforward as it
may seem. Many newer, growth companies, especially tech names like Uber,
take years to become pro table.
In October 2020, Tesla recorded its fth straight pro table quarter, taking in
more than $330 million in its third quarter. The company also beat out analyst
expectations on key metrics like revenue and earnings.

2.If some people own a S&P 500 index

fund, they were about to get a piece of
the world’s most valuable automaker.
Tesla may be among the hottest stocks on the market, and it will most likely be
the biggest company added to the S&P 500, but it’s still just one of 500
companies listed in the benchmark index.
In fact, Tesla will only comprise slightly more than 1% of the S&P 500, and
nearly 10% of the consumer discretionary sector, according to Silverblatt. Tesla
may not even be one of the top ten constituents of the S&P 500 by index
weighting once it comes on board. For context, the number one S&P 500
constituent, Apple Inc (AAPL), makes up 6.5% of the index.
For ETF and index fund holders, this means that while you’ll gain some
exposure to the automaker, you aren’t likely to see moves in shares of Tesla
signi cantly impact your portfolio’s performance. Instead, Tesla will
complement the shares of the 499 other companies included in the S&P 500,
helping to provide the kind of long-term, diversi ed growth funds are known
for.
3. Tesla is more than a car company. It has
a solar panel business, as well as plans to
upend the ride-share/taxi industry with a
proposed network of autonomously
driven robotaxis. According to the
journalist Tesla was launched by Musk to
“save the Earth by making electric
vehicles cool and ubiquitous”. But Musk
has a plan B in case saving the earth fails:
colonizing Mars. Hence his pet project:
Space X.
4. Ever since it went public, Tesla’s stock
has kept soaring: from mid-March to mid-
July 2020 for instance, the stock
quadrupled.
Tesla’s value is mainly driven by intangibles although it is an auo-maker. Indeed,
some investors see it more as an autonomous driving, battery and arti cial
intelligence company.
But this kind of stock surge is very di cult to justify based on traditional
nancial metrics. It seems the value of Tesla relies mainly on the con dence
investors put in its CEO’s vision. And, if the introduction of Tesla in the S&P
actually may reassure some of them, the value of the company’s stock still
seems to rely on thin air for some analysts.

5. Professor AD is cautious (to say the

least) about the evolution of Tesla’s value.
He believes the value of the stock is
bound to fall depending on the market’s
“mood”, which is pretty worrying since it
cannot be anticipated or predicted.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 09.04
1. The Standard & Poor’s 500, often
abbreviated as the S&P 500 is an
American stock market index based on
the market capitalizations of 500 large
companies having common stock listed
on the NYSE or NASDAQ. The S&P 500
index di ers from other U.S. stock market
indices, such as the Dow Jones Industrial
Average or the Nasdaq Composite index,
because of its diverse constituency and
weighting methodology. It is one of the
most commonly followed equity indices,
and many consider it one of the best
representations of the U.S. stock market,
and a bellwether for the U.S. economy.
NASDAQ 100, CAC 40, BEL20, DAX30, HANG SENG INDEX
2.
— Tesla soars past $1tn in market value
Tesla has become the rst carmaker to be valued at $1tn after rental group
Hertz said it had ordered 100,000 Tesla Model 3 sedans to electrify its eet.
Tesla’s shares closed 12.6 per cent higher on Monday at $1,024, bringing year-
to-date gains above 40 per cent and lifting the company’s market cap past
$1tn.
The move came hours after Hertz announced the Tesla deal in a push to
electrify its eet of rental cars. The 100,000 vehicle order is sizeable for the
carmaker, which delivered a total of 241,300 vehicles in the third quarter, a
record for the company.
In a tweet on Monday afternoon, chief executive Elon Musk said it was “strange”
the Hertz announcement had “moved valuation, as Tesla is very much a
production ramp problem, not a demand problem”. Musk’s stake in the
company is now valued at $172bn, worth more than any other carmaker except
Toyota.
Tesla overtook Toyota in July 2020 to become the world’s most valuable
carmaker by market value. Since then, its value has increased vefold with the
company now worth more than the next nine most valuable public carmakers
combined. It is the sixth American company to hit a trillion-dollar valuation
following Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook (the seventh
company to surpass the $1tn valuation is Middle East group Saudi Aramco).

After being mocked for years for failing to produce two consecutive quarters of
pro t, Tesla has now earned net income for nine quarters in a row.
Its latest ling showed net pro ts up 380 per cent from a year ago to $1.62bn, a
record high, with vehicle production rising 72 per cent at a time when others
have been crippled by a global chip shortage.
Although Tesla only produced half a million cars last year, Musk said the
company’s vehicle production would grow 50 per cent a year for the
foreseeable future as China production expands, its German factory comes
online and its facility in Texas begins producing the Cybertruck, the Model Y
SUV and, eventually, a semi-truck.

Musk has said he anticipates building 20m cars a year by 2030 — roughly
double what leaders such as Volkswagen and Toyota currently produce.
Tesla also sells a “full self-driving” software upgrade for $10,000 upfront or for
$199 a month.
Such fees represent a new pro t model for carmakers, which typically sell
volume cars in single-digit margins and premium vehicles in low double-digit
margins. However, the controversial driver-assist programme could potentially
run afoul of regulators.
“Tesla is anything but a car manufacturer because 75 per cent of their future
pro ts will come from software and subscriptions,” said Pierre Ferragu,
managing partner at New Street Research, whose 12-month price target on the
group’s shares would value the company at $1.4tn.
“We think licensing software will be a future for Tesla, especially for potential
partners like Volkswagen,” said Ross Gerber, a longtime Tesla bull and chief
executive of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, which holds
more than 100,000 Tesla shares. “But it’s hard to quantify software or full-self
driving.”
But Tesla sceptics abound. Neil Campling, researcher at Mirabaud, said that
while the Hertz order was worth $4.2bn for Tesla, it had led the stock to add
$80bn in market value. “That’s insane,” he said.
“Wall Street is drinking the Tesla Kool-Aid and they aren’t asking the tough
questions about the chip shortage,” he added. “Even the world’s largest
company, Apple, is having chip problems but somehow Tesla isn’t.”
Bernstein analysts said Tesla’s valuation implied huge volume and industry-
leading pro tability, which would be “historically unprecedented”. Bernstein’s
12-month price target is $300, implying Tesla will lose 70 per cent of its value in
the coming year.
Bernstein said it was “unclear that Tesla”, which currently sells just four models,
“will have the breadth of line-up to deliver 50 per cent growth” in the next two
years. It acknowledged, however, that the Model 3 saloon and Model Y SUV are
the among the top-selling luxury cars in the world at annual run-rates of
500,000 and 400,000, respectively.
Patrick McGee and Mamta Badkar, Financial Times (on
October 25th, 2021)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 10.01
to go public — to change from a private company to a public limited company
(PLC) by selling shares to outside investors for the rst time.
due diligence — a detailed examination of a company and its nancial
situation.
a prospectus — a document inviting the public to buy shares, stating the terms
of sale and giving information about the company.
otation/ oatation — an o er of a company’s shares to investors, be they
nancial institutions or the general public.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 10.03
NASDAQ: When it was founded (1971), NASDAQ stood for the acronym of
“National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations”. The
Nasdaq Stock Market is the second-largest exchange in the world by market
capitalization, behind only the New York Stock Exchange located in the same
city.
NYSE: The New York Stock Exchange is the oldest stock exchange in the United
States, and it’s located on Wall Street in lower Manhattan. It is the world’s
largest stock exchange by market capitalization of listed companies. The NYSE
is also known as the Big Board.
LSE: The London Stock Exchange is the primary stock exchange in the U.K. and
the largest in Europe. Originated in 1773, the regional exchanges were merged
in 1973 to form the Stock Exchange of Great Britain and Ireland, later renamed
the LSE. The Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 Share Index, or
“Footsie”, is the dominant index, containing 100 of the top blue chips on the
LSE.
AIM: the Alternative Investment Market is a sub-market of the London Stock
Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 and allows smaller, less-viable
companies to oat shares with a more exible regulatory system than is
applicable to the main market. Alternative investments include private equity,
hedge funds, managed futures, real estate, commodities and derivatives
contracts.
DJIA: Dow Jones Industrial Average is a stock market index of thirty major
companies and one of several indices created by Wall Street Journal editor and
Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow in 1896. It is a price-weighted
average of 30 signi cant stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE) and the NASDAQ.
IPO: an Initial Public O ering or stock market launch is a type of public o ering
in which shares of a company are sold to investors; an IPO is underwritten by
one or more investment banks, who also arrange for the shares to be listed on
one or more stock exchange.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 10.05
Professional investors consider a large range of factors to assess the worth of a
stock:
a. SWOT of the company
b. Financial situation of the company (includes all nancial statements)
c. Market conditions (prospects, general economic situation)
d. Technical elements (e.g.: cycle analysis)
— A more thorough investigation into what to take into account is available on
editions-foucher.fr. See article “How to choose a stock” (marketwatch.com).
How to Choose a Stock
Choosing the right company to invest in may sound like the rst step in
building a portfolio, but nancial advisors say that a beginning investor
shouldn’t actually “begin” with individual stocks. If you’re just starting to build
your investment portfolio, buying a single stock is much riskier than buying a
low-cost mutual fund that tracks a large group of stocks, and it’s more likely
that you’ll see sharp, sudden changes in the value of your investment if you own
just a few stocks.
If you already have a diversi ed portfolio of mutual funds and ETFs, then you
may want to add in a few individual stocks. With the risk of an individual stock,
there’s also the potential for greater returns: the S&P 500 gained just 0.75%
from 2006 through 2010; in the same ve years, Apple’s stock rose more than
348%. And if you build your portfolio by picking stocks yourself, you’ll save
some money compared to an investor who pays a fund manager through the
fund’s expense ratio, to pick stocks.
Keep in mind that when you’re buying a stock, you’re becoming a part owner of
that company. So, short-term market movements aside, the value of your
investment depends on the health of the business. Here’s more on how to
choose a stock:
Buy what you know. Start with an industry or a company that’s familiar to you.
Here’s why:
A place to start. You know why you choose to buy your favorite brands, or how
busy the chain restaurant down the street is on a typical night. That’s not all the
information you’ll need, of course, but it may help you put those companies’
earnings reports in context.
Avoid the hype. During the dot-com bubble, lots of investors bought stocks
without fully understanding how those companies planned to make money. In
many cases, it turned out, management didn’t fully understand either.
Consider price and valuation. Investment pros often look for stocks that are
“cheap” or “undervalued.” Generally, what they mean is that investors are
paying a relatively low price for each dollar the company earns. This is
measured by the stock’s price-to-earnings ratio, or P/E. (Find that measure on
SmartMoney.com, or calculate it yourself by dividing a company’s share price
by its net income.) Very roughly speaking, a P/E below about 15 is considered
cheap, and a P/E above 20 is considered expensive. But there’s more to it than
that:
Know what kind of stock you’re talking about. A company that’s expected to
grow rapidly will be more expensive than an established company that’s
growing more slowly. Compare a company’s P/E to other companies in the
same industry to see if it’s cheaper or more expensive than its peers.
Cheap isn’t always good, and expensive isn’t always bad. Sometimes a stock is
cheap because its business is growing less or actually slowing down. And
sometimes a stock is expensive because it’s widely expected to grow its
earnings rapidly in the next few years. You want to buy stocks that you can
reasonably expect will be worth more later, so look at value combined with
expectations for future earnings.
Evaluate nancial health. Start digging into the company’s nancial reports. All
public companies have to release quarterly and annual reports. Check the
Investor Relations section of their web site, or nd o cial reports led with the
SEC online here. Don’t just focus on the most recent report: What you’re really
looking for is a consistent history of pro tability and nancial health, not just
one good quarter.
Look for revenue growth. Anything can happen day to day, but in the long run,
stock prices increase when companies are making more money, which usually
starts with growing revenue. You’ll hear analysts refer to revenue as the “top
line.”
Check the bottom line, too. The di erence between revenue and expenses is a
company’s pro t margin. A company that’s growing revenue while controlling
costs will also have expanding margins.
Know how much debt the company has. Check the company’s balance sheet.
Generally speaking, the share price of a company with more debt is likely to be
more volatile because more of the company’s income has to go to interest and
debt payments. Compare a company to its peers to see if it’s borrowing an
unusual amount of money for its industry and size.
Find a dividend. A dividend, a cash payout to stock investors, isn’t just a source
of regular income, it’s a sign of a company in good nancial health. If a
company pays a dividend, look at the history of their payments. Are they
increasing dividend or not?
www.marketwatch.com/story/how-to-choose-a-stock-
1305567953708
(on May 16, 2011)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 10.06
a. False: The fundamental approach is
based on an in-depth and all-around
study of the underlying forces of the
economy, conducted to provide data that
can be used to forecast future prices and
market developments.
The fundamental analysis ignores the behavior of investors and assumes that a
share has a true value.

b. True: A combination of the data is used

to establish the true current value of
stocks, to determine whether they are
over– or undervalued and to predict the
future value of the stocks based on this
information.
c. True: If you’re just starting to build your
investment portfolio, buying a single
stock is much riskier than buying a low-
cost mutual fund that tracks a large group
of stocks, and it’s more likely that you’ll
see sharp, sudden changes in the value of
your investment if you own just a few
stocks. If you already have a diversi ed
portfolio of mutual funds and ETFs, then
you may want to add in a few individual
stocks.
d. False: Unsystematic risks a ect
individual companies and their shares.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 11.01
Which is the safest for an investor?
1.
Why? — c. a government bond
A government bond, because the government always guarantees to pay the
interest and to repay the stocks on maturity.

2. Which is the cheapest way for a

company to raise money? — c. a
convertible
Convertibles are bonds issued by companies that the owner can later change
into shares. They pay lower interest rates than ordinary bonds.

3.Which gives the highest potential return

to an investor? — b. a junk bond
Junk bonds are bonds with a low credit rating but paying a high interest rate.

4. Which is the most pro table for an

investor if interest rates rise? — b.  a
oating-rate bond
The price of bonds varies inversely with interest rates. If interest rates rise, new
borrowers have to pay a higher rate, so existing bonds lose value. If interest
rates fall, existing bonds paying a higher interest rate than the market rate
increase in value. Floating rate bonds see their interest rate vary with market
interest rates.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 11.02
1.A Treasury bond (US) is a long-term
security issued for the American
government by the FED in denominations
(coupures) of $1,000 or more which have
a maturity of more than ten years. Other
countries like France issue equivalent
borrowing instruments, but not the UK.
A Treasury bill is a short-term money market instrument issued mainly by UK
and US central banks to nance shortfalls in government income or as a means
of in uencing credit and the money supply. They are always bought and sold at
a discount (avec escompte).
A Treasury note (US) is an intermediate security (that is to say between short-
term and long-term) issued by the US government with a maturity between
two and ten years, usually in denominations of $1,000.

2. Bonds are very similar to debentures.

Debentures are actually another form of
IOU but very similar to a bond in so far as
it is mainly a xed-interest security issued
by limited companies or public
organizations in exchange for a loan, to
be redeemed at a future date. The interest
on a debenture is called a coupon.
3. Bonds mainly come in two forms: with a
registered bond, the bond and payments
belong to whoever is registered with the
borrower as being the owner whereas
with a bearer bond, the bond and
payments belong to whoever holds the
bond.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 11.04
1. A basic answer is that bonds are
temporary while equity is permanent. In
either form of nancing, you’re trading
your company’s future pro tability for
current cash. With bonds you’re trading a
xed dollar amount of that pro t while
with equity you’re trading a permanent
entitlement to a percentage of your
pro ts.
For example, say you take out $100,000 nancing when your company is worth
$1,000,000 (10% of your total value), and with that nancing you manage to
increase your company’s value to $20,000,000. If you used bonds, you would
only have to repay the $100,000 (plus interest). If you used equity, your
nancier would be entitled to 10% of your company’s value ($2,000,000). Thus,
equity is only “cheaper” in the long run if the funds fail to increase the value of
your business.

2. Headlines are always di cult to

decipher because they have to be short,
eye-catching and synthetic enough to say
as much as possible in as few words as
possible. To understand them better it is
generally essential to read part of the
article itself but also in this case, to be
familiar with the vocabulary related to
statistics.
Indeed, here words such as ‘to invert’, ‘to steepen’, ‘to atten’ and ‘yield curve’
all belong to the lexis of trend analysis. It is necessary to revise it regularly to
get the general idea at rst sight.
Remember here that: the yield curve may be in uenced by nancial factors
(‘cash squeeze’), political factors (‘Trump’s speech’) and that it can vary
positively or negatively (‘steepen’/ ‘ atten’) according to these various factors.
— For a better understanding, read the extracts of two of the articles
mentioned on editions-foucher.fr. It will help you understand how the yield
curve actually works and what it says of the economic health of a country
(here: India and the USA).
– Extract 1: “Cash squeeze inverts India’s corporate bond yield curve” by Divya
Patil.
– Extract 2: “Yield curve steepens ahead of Trump’s State of Union speech” by
Mark Decambre.
•Extract 1
Cash Squeeze Inverts India’s Corporate Bond Yield Curve, by Divya Patil
The Reserve Bank of India’s tight leash on liquidity is having an undesired e ect
on short-term borrowing costs for the nation’s companies, making it more
expensive to sell one-year commercial paper than longer-tenor notes.
The cost of issuing 12-month commercial paper has risen to 7.84 percent or 19
basis points more than average yields on notes maturing in three years,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gap had widened to as much as
20 basis points on Jan. 19, the most since February last year.
Excess cash with banks averaged 397 billion rupees ($6.2 billion) last week,
compared to a peak of more than 5 trillion rupees in March, according to
Bloomberg Intelligence India Banking Liquidity Index. India’s central bank is
drawing liquidity out of the system as it seeks to keep in ation in check.
“Cash shortage is pushing up money market rates and inverting the yield curve”
said Killol Pandya, head of xed income at Essel Finance AMC Ltd. “I expect
inversion to persist at least till March.”
Seasonal demand from mutual funds for three-year corporate debt is
aggravating the credit curve inversion, said Pandya.
“Every year during this time, mutual funds tend to oat a lot of xed-maturity
plans that have a tenor of around three years,” he said. ”This results in buying
interest in three year corporate debt, and pushes yields down, and further
inverts the curve.”
•Extract 2
Yield curve steepens ahead of Trump’s State of the Union speech, by Mark
Decambre
Short-dated Treasury yields were at on Tuesday while longer dated yields
extended their climb ahead of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union
address. The moves for U.S. government paper also come as the Federal
Reserve is set to kick o its two-day policy meeting with an updated outlook
due Wednesday.
How are Treasurys performing?
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, +1.64% was up 3 basis
point at 2.725%, the highest since April 2014, according to WSJ Market Data
Group. The 30-year bond yield TMUBMUSD30Y, +1.34% climbed 4 basis points
to 2.980%, its highest since Mar. 2017.
Meanwhile, the 2-year note yield TMUBMUSD02Y, +0.78% was virtually
unchanged at 2.124%.
Bond prices move inversely to their yields.
What is driving markets?
Amid higher in ation prospects, market participants saw the yield curve
steepen, re ecting a wider gap between short-dated and long-dated bond
yields. The 10-year note yield and the 30-year bond yield are sensitive to
shifting expectations for future price pressures.
Investors anticipate an economic boost from corporate tax cuts and other
stimulus measures which could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest
rates at a faster pace than the roughly three or four that the market has
previously priced in, undercutting appetite for bonds.
The uptrend in yields for government paper has created some headwinds for a
record-setting run in global equities, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA, +0.14% the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.06% and the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP, -0.35% fell for a second session in a row.
Richer bond yields can undercut demand for assets perceived as relatively risky
like stocks, with investors tending to gravitate to safety of higher-yielding
paper.
Later Tuesday, Trump will deliver his rst o cial State of the Union address,
which investors will keenly watch for signs of additional scal-stimulus
measures to come. With the economy close to full capacity, analysts say the
timing of Trump’s pro-growth legislation could spur in ation faster than
expected.
On Wednesday, Fed policy makers, in Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s last meeting,
will o er further details about the central bank’s plan for reducing its crisis-era
bond portfolio and communicate an updated economic and monetary policy
outlook, which tends to have an outsize in uence on short-date notes.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 12.01
1.Hedge funds are so named because
they protect against losses.
False. In spite of their name, hedge funds do not necessarily use hedging
techniques. They are called “hedge funds” because they were originally
designed to allow larger investors to “hedge their bets” by diversifying into
asset classes other than wherever the large investor already had most of their
assets. They were called hedge funds because investing in one of them is a
hedge against something else.

2.Hedge funds use their investors’ money

as well as borrowed money.
True. Most hedge funds use gearing or leverage, which means borrowing
money as well as using their own funds.

3. Hedge funds focus on making long-

term investments.
False. They generally specialize in high-risk, short term speculation to maximize
pro t.

4. The fact that investors can make a

pro t from arbitrage shows that markets
are not perfectly e cient.
True. Investors can pro t from price di erences between markets. If markets
were perfectly e cient, the price di erence would not exist.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 12.02
1. When nancial operations are too far
removed from real economic life with for
instance the development of derivatives
such as share warrants or swap contracts,
a speculative bubble may emerge.
2. Hot money/speculative money/ oating
capital moves in tune with global political
and economic information.
3. Finance manager/ nancial
o cers/treasurers (US) follow the
uctuations of the currency market so as
to hedge corporate contracts more than
out of taste for speculation.
4. I know this investment outperforms the
market but what is its actual yield/return?
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 12.04
1. They share an adjective ‘activist’ that
may also be a noun like in ‘an
environmental activist’. But actually an
activist hedge fund has nothing to do
with campaigning to bring about political,
environmental or social change. Activist
hedge funds are actually investors who
make a large enough investment in a
company to be able to participate in the
management and the rm’s decision
making.
2. Hedge funds are private investment
funds for wealthy investors, run by
partners who have made large personal
investments in the fund. They pool their
money and trade in securities and
derivatives to get returns as high as
possible regardless of the uctuations of
the markets. Because they are private,
they are not as regulated as, say, mutual
funds.
The term “hedge fund” is actually self-explanatory. The manager of any
traditional investment fund may devote a portion of the available assets to a
hedged bet. That’s a bet in the opposite direction of the fund’s focus, made in
order to o set any losses in its core holdings.
Traditional hedge funds are mainly passive for the investors since all they do is
wait for the market to generate pro ts for them. An activist hedge fund on the
other hand is based on the participation of the stockholders in the
management of the company to boost pro ts. They are generally regarded as
more aggressive.

3. In theory, the point of activist hedge

funds is to improve the management of
rms that may have gone a bit awry or
lazy to refocus their attention on
shareholders’ interests.
And indeed, a company’s stock price tends to experience an immediate rise in
their value after being targeted by an activist hedge fund, but research has
been lacking into the long-term consequences.
It seems however that this rise is short lived as it turns negative. In fact, in the
years that follow, the value of the companies targeted by activist hedge funds
gradually falls.
One explanation for that steady decline is that as soon as an activist hedge
fund gets involved in a company’s management, the company is likely to stop
their e orts to be more environmentally sustainable and socially responsible
because it is not pro table enough for the shareholders. The non-targeted rms
on the other hand keep improving–which explains the di erence in
performance in the long term.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 13.04
Oil prices were pretty/roughly stable during the rst 26 years even decreasing a
bit. They rose for the rst time in 1972 because of the Yom Kippur War (Arab
oil-exporting countries stopped shipping oil to Western countries because they
supported Israel) and they soared in 1979 because of the Islamic Revolution in
Iran. That is when oil prices reached their climax (apogée)/reached a peak
because of the shortage (pénurie) of oil due to the war. They then plummeted
(tomber en chute libre) until 1986 when they nosedived (piquer du nez).
Another slight peak occurred in 1990 because of the Gulf War which took place
in another oil-exporting country (namely Kuwait) and thus caused another
shortage. From then on oil prices never remained (= stayed) stable, rising
before dropping again until 1998 when they dipped before climbing to their
second all-time high in 2008 because of the subprime crisis and the bursting of
the speculative bubble.
This peak was followed by a spectacular fall in prices which reached a trough in
February 2009. This uctuation however was just temporary since oil prices
then picked up again to reach a value uctuating around $80 a barrel.
2016 saw a new sharp decrease that may be accounted for by various factors:
the Iranian embargo was lifted, the oil-exporting countries reduced their prices
to put some pressure on the American shale gas producers and the US
managed to produce enough shale so as to challenge the oil producers. Prices
have since then been quite low and may not experience another increase in the
close future.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 14.01
1. If you expect the price of a stock to rise
you can — a. buy a call option, d. sell a
put option
2. If you expect the price of a stock to fall,
you can — b. sell a call option, c. buy a
put option
3. If an option is out-of-the-money it will
— b. not be exercised
4. If an option is in-the-money the seller
will — a. lose money
5. The higher risk is taken by — a. writers
of options
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 14.03
1. — futures
2. — forwards
3. — swaps
4. — options
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 14.04
1. With the UK leaving the EU, the market
of derivatives will be more complex to
manage because the rules that have
applied so far might become void and
thus jeopardize the contracts that were
signed before the decision was made by
the UK to withdraw from the EU.
2.  Mark Joseph Carney, (born March 16,
1965) is a Canadian economist and the
Governor of the Bank of England and
Chairman of the G20’s Financial Stability
Board.
Carney began his career at Goldman Sachs before joining the Canadian
Department of Finance. He then served as the Governor of the Bank of Canada
from 2008 until 2013, when he moved to his current post at the Bank of
England. He intends to serve in this role until June 2019.
LCH is a UK registered, European-based independent clearing house that
serves major international exchanges, as well as a range of OTC markets. Based
on 2012 gures, LCH cleared approximately 50% of the global interest rate
swap market, and is the second largest clearer of bonds and repos in the world.
Eurex Exchange is an international exchange which primarily o ers trading in
European based derivatives and it is the largest European futures and options
market. It is LCH’s largest continental competitor, based in Frankfurt.
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) is a trade
organization of participants in the market for over-the-counter (OTC)
derivatives. It is headquartered in New York City, and has created a
standardized contract (the ISDA Master Agreement) to enter into derivatives
transactions. It is a private entity whose members are banks who deal in
derivatives.
Linklaters LLP is a multinational law rm headquartered in London. Founded in
1838, it is a member of the “Magic Circle” of elite British law rms. It currently
employs over 2,000 lawyers across 29 o ces in 20 countries.
Allen & Overy is an international law rm headquartered in London providing
legal services for global business and industry. it is widely regarded as one of
the United Kingdom’ s leading law rms with 2500 sta based in London.

3.
39% The share of the market in interest-rate derivatives which the nancial
district of London handles.

$3trn The average global daily turnover on the interest-rate derivatives

market.

9% The share of the EU in the interest rate derivatives market.

50% The share of interest-rate swaps across all currencies cleared by LCH,
a clearing-house in London.

4. A clearing house is an intermediary

between buyers and sellers of nancial
instruments. More precisely, it is an
agency or separate corporation of a
futures exchange responsible for settling
trading accounts, clearing trades,
collecting and maintaining margin
monies, regulating delivery, and reporting
trading data. Clearing houses act as third
parties to all futures and options
contracts, as buyers to every clearing
member seller, and as sellers to every
clearing member buyer.
5. “Passporting” rights allow nancial rms
to do business across the EU without the
need for licences in individual countries.
6. One method to adjust derivatives
contracts and portfolios is “compression”,
where some o setting contracts are
terminated and replaced with an
equivalent derivative. Another is
“novation”, where an existing contract is
transferred to a di erent legal entity. The
problem with Brexit is that UK rms or
legal entities would no longer have
passporting rights and thus could not
resort to these methods any more.
7. The subtitle plays on the set phrase
“standing ovation” and the word
“novation” which is a method to adjust a
derivatives contract. The idea is that most
derivatives contracts will be subject to
changes due to the decision made by the
UK to withdraw from the EU. They are
thus on stand by and may undergo
“novations”.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 14.07
to go bankrupt/ to go under — to go bust
obligatory/ compulsory — mandatory
to discuss — to moot
a guarantee — collateral
to include/ contain — to encompass
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 15.01
1. The GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) are:
Going concern (continuité d’exploitation) is the basic assumption that the
company has no intention or obligation to liquidate or curtail operations.
True and fair view (UK)/ fair presentation (US) ( délité des comptes) : the
word “fair” goes beyond the simple notion of accuracy since accounts may be
accurate while concealing some facts or failing to disclose some aspects of a
r’s economic and nancial position.
Prudence here is a synonym for caution: results should not be over- or under-
estimated.
Consistency (permanence des méthodes) implies that similar operations should
be dealt with in the same manner from scal year to scal year so as to be able
to compare the possible evolutions or variations.
Matching Principle (rattachement des charges et produits aux exercices
correspondants).
Historical Cost (coût historique): Assets should be recorded in the books at
their initial cost, at the time of acquisition, as opposed to replacement cost for
instance.
Accruals Basis (comptabilité d’engagement) means taking into account
incomes and expenses when earned and incurred regardless of when cash is
actually received or spent.
Materiality (importance relative/ seuil de signi cation)
In the event of non compliance with one of the above principles, the reasons for
it and the e ects on the accounts must be set out clearly in the notes to the
nancial statement.

2.
Acronyms Stand for US equivalent

IFRS International Financial Reporting Standards

SIB Securities and Investments Board SEC

ICA Institute of Chartered Accountants AICPA

FSB Financial Standards Board FASB

SSAP Statements of Standard Accounting Practice SFAS

IAS International Accounting Standards

3.
– preferred stock (US): stock that entitles the holder to a xed dividend, whose
payment takes priority over that of ordinary share dividends. UK: preference
share.
– earnings report (US): an earnings announcement is an o cial public
statement of a company’s pro tability for a speci c time period, typically a
quarter or a year. UK: pro t and loss account.
– Certi ed Public Accountant (US): a member of an o cially accredited
professional body of accountants. UK: Chartered Accountant.
– Internal Revenue Service (US) is a bureau of the Department of Treasury that
is tasked with the enforcement of income tax laws and oversees the collection
of federal income taxes. UK: Inland Revenue.
– operating capital (US) is de ned as the cash required for running the daily
operations of the company. UK: working capital.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 15.02
1. The generally accepted method of
valuation of the inventory is cost or
market.
2. As it would not be reasonable to charge
o the full expenditure in the present
year, the cost incurred will be gradually
written o over the next few years.
3. The decline in useful value of a xed
asset due to wear and tear from use and
passage of time is called depreciation.
4. This entry should have been transferred
from the day book to the ledger.
5. Many rms draw up a trial balance at
the end of each month with a view to
testing the accuracy of their accounting.
6. Accrued interest means the interest
earned since last settlement date but not
yet due to a payable.
7. Total pro t represents à 10% return on
capital.
8. The art of presenting the accounts of a
company in the most favorable light is
called window dressing.
9. A stock is said to have high leverage if
the company that issued it has a large
proportion of bonds and preferred stock
outstanding in relation to the amount of
common stock.
10. Are outgoing auditors eligible for re-
election?
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 15.04
1. It would be worth your while to have
your tax-return drawn-up by a tax
consultant (adviser).
2. Ask the chief accountant whether their
transfer of funds was received.
3. Please nd enclosed the statement of
your account as of May 5th, showing a
credit balance of €120.
4. At the end of each nancial year the
usual routine work of the rm/ company
is upset/ hampered by stock-staking.
5. The balance sheet is a detailed
statement at a given date giving
information about the nancial status and
solvency of the rm/ company/ business.
6. By comparing several successive
balance sheets it is possible to obtain/
get a very clear idea of the rm’s progress
or decline.
7. The Enron case revealed that the
auditors had certi ed the accounts,
although they had been falsi ed.
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 15.05
Verb Noun(s) Adjective

to ‘calculate calcu’lation /

/ con’sistency con’sistent

to ‘measure ‘measurement /

to ‘value ‘value/ valu’ation ‘valuable

/ ‘accuracy ‘accurate

to com’ply com’pliance /

to recom’mend recommen’dation recom’mended

to ex’amine exami’nation /

/ objec’tivity ob’jective

to ‘verify veri ’cation ‘veri able

 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 15.06
1.Technology (software, AI, etc.) has taken
over rules-based and repetitive
recordkeeping tasks as well as many of
the more monotonous process elements
of traditional accounting and auditing.
This means that accountants and auditors
are performing much more than a
technical role and the employees’ work
becomes more meaningful.
Accountants and auditors perform a variety of tasks that need more than being
able to crunch numbers: an external auditor may assess a client’s complex
merger and acquisition transaction, an internal auditor will have a critical role in
evaluating a rm’s cyber defense strategy, etc.
An accountant or auditor today is expected to deliver insightful judgements,
spot meaningful patterns from big data, and so on.

2. Automation will increase the workforce

capacity with a signi cant rise in
productivity. It will take over the
monotonous tasks that consists in
compiling gures and will give to auditors
and accountants a basis on which to
work.
3. He believes that advances in technology
do not spell the death of accounting and
auditing. He urges accountants to realize
that technological change is an
inevitability and something to be
embraced as part of a process of
continual learning.
4. He mentions them to illustrate the fact
that humans will always be needed in the
trade to build some customer trust
because machines still remain too
impersonal to seem to be able to
understand the clients’ concerns and
hesitations. He uses chatbots as a
meaningful example of what would be
lacking if the work of auditing and
accounting relied solely on automated
process.
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 02.01

Word derivation
Derivation is the formation of a new word or in ectable stem from
another word or stem. It typically occurs by the addition of an a x. e
derived word is often of a di erent word class from the original. It may
thus take the in ectional a xes of the new word class.

verb adjective noun

to supervise supervisory supervision

to advise advisory advice

to participate (in) participative participation

to (de)stabilize destabilizing destabilization

to in uence in uential in uence

Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 02.02
To get larger To get smaller

to stretch to scale back

to spiral to shrink

to expand to decline

to fall

to reduce
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 02.03
— Correction. See article on editions-foucher.fr: “Central Banks’function and
role” by Kimberly Amadeo (balance.com).
Central Banks’ Function and Role
De nition: A central bank is an independent national authority that conducts
monetary policy, regulates banks, and provides nancial services including
economic research. Its goals are to stabilize the nation’s currency, keep
unemployment low and prevent in ation.
Most central banks are governed by a board consisting of its member banks.
The country’s chief elected o cial appoints the director.
The national legislative body approves him or her. That keeps the central bank
aligned with the nation’s long-term policy goals. At the same time, it’s free of
political in uence in its day-to-day operations. The Bank of England rst
established that model.
Monetary Policy
Central banks a ect economic growth by controlling the liquidity in the
nancial system. They have three monetary policy tools to achieve this goal.
First, they set a reserve requirement. That tells their network of private banks
how much cash to have on hand each night. That controls how much banks can
lend.
Second, they use open market operations to buy and sell securities from
member banks. It changes the amount of cash on hand without changing the
reserve requirement. They used this tool during the 2008 nancial crisis. Banks
bought government bonds and mortgage-backed securities to stabilize the
banking system.
The Federal Reserve added $4 trillion to its balance sheet with Quantitative
Easing.
Third, they set targets on interest rates they charge their member banks. That
guides rates for loans, mortgages, and bonds. Raising interest rates slows
growth, preventing in ation. That’s known as a contractionary monetary policy.
Lowering rates stimulates growth, preventing or shortening a recession. That’s
called expansionary monetary policy. The European Central Bank lowered rates
so far that they became negative.
Monetary policy is tricky. It takes about six months for the e ects to trickle
through the economy. Banks can misread economic data as the Fed did in
2006. It thought the subprime mortgage meltdown would be restricted to
housing. It waited to lower the Fed funds rate. By the time the Fed realized the
slowdown was in ltrating the entire economy, it lowered the rate quickly. It was
already too late.
But if central banks stimulate the economy too much, they can trigger in ation.
Central banks avoid in ation like the plague. Ongoing in ation destroys any
bene ts of growth by raising prices, and costs, and eating up any pro ts.
Therefore, central banks work hard to be sure to keep interest rates high
enough to prevent it.
Politicians and sometimes the general public are suspicious of central banks.
That’s because they usually operate independently of elected o cials. They
often are unpopular in their attempt to heal the economy.
For example, Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker raised interest rates to
curb runaway in ation. He was bitterly criticized for it. Central bank actions are
often not well understood, which raises the level of suspicion.
Bank Regulation
Central banks regulate their members by requiring enough reserves to cover
potential loan losses. They are responsible for ensuring nancial stability and
protecting depositors’ funds.
In 2010, the U.S. Congress gave more regulatory authority to the Federal
Reserve with bank reform. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency gave
regulators the power to split up large banks, so they don’t become “too big to
fail.” It eliminates loopholes for hedge funds, and mortgage brokers. The
Volcker Rule bans banks from owning hedge funds and using investors’ money
to purchase risky derivatives for their own pro t.
It established the Financial Stability Oversight Council. It warns of risks that
a ect the entire nancial industry. It can also recommend that the Federal
Reserve regulate any non-bank nancial rms. That’s to keep insurance
companies or hedge funds from becoming too big to fail.
Provide Financial Services
Central banks serve as the bank for private banks and the nation’s government.
That means they process checks and lend money to their members.
They also store currency in their foreign exchange reserves. That allows them to
a ect exchange rates by adding foreign currency, usually the U.S. dollar or the
euro, to keep its own currency in alignment. That’s known as a peg, and it helps
exporters keep their prices competitive.
Central banks also control in ation by managing exchange rates.
Most central banks produce regular economic statistics to guide scal policy
decisions. Here are examples of reports provided by the Federal Reserve:
Beige Book: A monthly report from regional Federal Reserve banks on the state
of the economy in their areas.
Monetary Policy Report: Semi-annual report on the economy
Credit Card Debt: A monthly report on consumer credit.
Kimberly Amadeo, www.thebalance.com (on April 15, 2017)
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 02.04
Federal Reserve (FED) European Central Bank (ECB)

HISTORY

Established by the Federal 3 stages (mirroring the 3 stages of the

Reserve Act of 1913, the Fed is EMU):
actually the third (and longest- 1990: Council of Governors of the central
running) central bank in United banks of the EEC – advisory role
States history. 1994: European Monetary Institute with 2
Two central banks existed prior tasks:
to the Federal Reserve: strengthen central bank cooperation and
The 1st Bank of the United States monetary policy coordination
(1791-1811) make preparations for the establishment
The 2nd Bank of the United of the ESCB, the single monetary policy
States (1816-1836) and the creation of a single currency
Both institutions acted as “ scal June 1st, 1998: European Central Bank.
agents” for the U.S. Treasury. Headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany
Following the disastrous
nancial panic of 1907, many of
the nation’s political and
business leaders began to
express the need for a
centralized nancial system.
In 1908, Congress enacted the
Aldrich-Vreeland Act, which
provided national currency and
established a National Monetary
Commission.
After years of squabbling, the
Federal Reserve Act was signed
into law by President Woodrow
Wilson, just two days before
Christmas 1913.

STRUCTURE
Federal Reserve (FED)
1. The Board of Governors
Seven Members Appointed by
the President
Serve fourteen year terms
2. The Federal Open Market
Committee
The seven members of the
Board of Governors
Five representatives from the
regional Federal Reserve Banks
serve one-year terms on a
rotating basis
3. The Federal Reserve Banks
4. The member banks
GOALS
Promote stable prices
Sustainable economic growth
Maximize employment
European Central Bank (ECB)
European Central Bank
The ECB was established as the core of
the Euro-system and the ESCB. The ECB
has legal personality under public
international law.
Euro-system
The Euro-system comprises the ECB and
the NCBs of those countries that have
adopted the euro. The Euro-system and
the ESCB will co-exist as long as there are
EU Member States outside the euro area.
European System of Central Banks
The ESCB comprises the ECB and the
national central banks
(NCBs) of all EU Member States whether
they have adopted the euro or not.
Maintain price stability
Support general economic policies of EU
States
Ensure an open-market economy
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 02.05
1. Elements of answers here:
www.cer.eu/publications/archive/report/2
016/has-euro-been-failure
2. Personal answer based on the UK’s half-
hearted commitment to the creation of
the Eurozone and its recent decision to
withdraw from the EU.
The United Kingdom, an EU member State, has not replaced its currency, the
pound sterling with the common euro currency. The pound sterling does not
participate in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, a prerequisite for euro
adoption. The UK negotiated an opt-out from the part of the Maastricht Treaty
of 1992 that would have required it to adopt the common currency, and the
Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government that was elected in May
2010 pledged not to adopt the euro as its currency for the lifetime of the
parliament. Polls have shown that the majority of British people are against
adopting twhe euro. In a June 2016 referendum the UK voted to withdraw from
the European Union, which when enacted will eliminate any future discussion of
it adopting the euro.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 02.06
Banks basically make money by lending money at rates higher than the cost of
the money they lend. More speci cally, banks collect interest on loans and
interest payments from the debt securities they own, and pay interest on
deposits, CDs, and short-term borrowings. The di erence is known as the
“spread,” or the net interest income, and when that net interest income is
divided by the bank’s earning assets, it is known as the net interest margin.
The largest source by far of funds for banks is deposits; money that account
holders entrust to the bank for safekeeping and use in future transactions, as
well as modest amounts of interest. Generally referred to as “core deposits,”
these are typically the checking and savings accounts that so many people
currently have.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 16.01
bookkeepers — a. company employees who check the nancial statements
accountants — b. expert accountants working for independent rms who
review companies’ nancial statements and accounting records
internal auditors — c. people who prepare nancial statements
external auditors — d. people who prepare a company’s day-to-day accounts
chartered accountants — e. people who nished passed an examination after a
3-year training period to become a member of the accounting profession
actuaries — f. people who compile and analyze statistics and use them to
calculate insurance risks and premiums.
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 16.02
Oo oO Ooo oOo

major capital requirements

average disclosure

di erent develop

balance (noun) acquire

pro t taxation

measure require

value (noun) actually

 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 16.04
1.People often confuse internal auditors
with accountants or external auditors
(entities the organization engages to
provide an annual review of the nancial
statements). The di erences are
signi cant:
INTERNAL AUDITORS EXTERNAL
AUDITORS

Typically employed by the organization (unless the Hired by the

function is outsourced or co-sourced) though organization to
independent of the activities they audit provide a speci c
service

Broad focus: More speci c focus:

• Risk management • Accurate nancial
• Corporate governance statements
• Organizational objectives
• Operational e ciency and e ectiveness
• Compliance with laws and policies
• Accurate nancial statements
• And more!

Diverse backgrounds & skill sets: Primarily accounting

• Communication skills background & skills
• Information technology
• Data mining & analytics
• Business & industry-speci c knowledge
• Accounting skills

Backward-looking & forward-looking Backward-looking

https://global.theiia.org/about/about-internal-
auditing/Public%20Documents/All-in-a-Days-Work-Brochure.pdf
2. a. spends time getting to know the
business as well as the environment and
the industry in which it operates —
EXTERNAL AUDITOR
b. analyzes the internal business and
nancial systems used to make and
record transactions — INTERNAL
AUDITOR
c. gathers evidence on the nancial
control systems and the gures in the
nancial statements — INTERNAL
AUDITOR
d. gives advice on the business methods
and transactions of the company — BOTH
e. examines nancial statements to
determine whether they conform to
generally accepted accounting principles
— EXTERNAL AUDITOR
f. prepares the nancial statements in
accordance with the generally accepted
accounting principles of the country
where the rm operates — INTERNAL
AUDITOR
g. examines the management report and
determines whether it conforms to the
 nancial statements — EXTERNAL
AUDITOR
h. guarantees the correctness of the
gures presented in the accounts —
INTERNAL AUDITOR
i. provides consulting services —
EXTERNAL AUDITOR
j. presents a written report to the
management of the company, describing
whether the accounting records, nancial
statements and management reports
conform to legal requirements —
INTERNAL AUDITOR
k. maintains con dentiality and
independence — EXTERNAL AUDITOR
3. “Auditors have thus been described as
‘watchdogs not bloodhounds’.”
A watchdog is a person or organization responsible for making certain that
companies obey particular standards and do not act illegally. As opposed to a
bloodhound which is a large dog that has a very good ability to smell things,
and is used for hunting animals or nding people who are lost.
Both words though share a common point in so far as they are metaphors
taken from the hunting world. Only a bloodhound has a very derogatory
connotation.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 16.05
1. The main mission of an auditor is to
assess a company’s accounts to report on
it. For auditors to do their job properly,
they must remain independent. Now,
regulators feel that the bond between
auditors and their clients has grown too
tight for that mission to be accomplished
in real independence. One of the reasons
for that complicity is that the number of
auditing rms on the market is very
limited (to 4 main global networks).
2. The EU has decided that companies
would have to change auditors at least
once every two decades. The British
regulator however advises to go even
further by splitting consultancy and
auditing departments within the same
auditing rm so as to avoid confusion or
collusion.
Another solution o ered by the British regulator is for 2 di erent rms to work
together on the auditing of a third because this would help smaller audit
companies acquire the necessary expertise in the long term and would widen
the range of audit rms available on the market.
3. The Financial Reporting Council is
actually challenged by di erent
protagonists among which the chairman
of Legal & General, a life insurer who is
calling for a more powerful and
competent regulator to emerge and
legislate the auditing market. The British
government is working on changing the
rules of that market even further.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 16.06
1. Creative accounting
A primary bene t of public accounting statements is that they allow investors
to compare the nancial health of competing companies. However, when rms
indulge in creative accounting, they often distort the value of the information
that their nancials provide.
Creative accountants will always nd novel ways to tweak gures to a
company’s advantage. Their goal is to make a rm look as successful and
pro table as possible and sometimes they will go about doing this by twisting
the truth. If a gray area in accounting is found, it may be exploited, even if it
results in misleading investors.
Getting caught can ruin a company’s reputation overnight. However, some
management teams are willing to run that risk, condoning (approuver
tacitement) the use of creative accounting because failure to meet short-term
expectations of Wall Street or year-end nancial targets can have a hugely
adverse impact on share prices.
It is also worth remembering that more attractive gures may lead to higher
bonuses for directors, help convince a lender to give a rm a loan and in ate
the company’s valuation in the event of a sale.
2. Di erent types of creative accounting
Common techniques include:
Overestimating revenues: One of the most common techniques used by public
companies looking to arti cially boost their income is to prematurely recognize
revenue. Revenue recognition is an accounting method that enables companies
to recognize sales before they deliver a product or perform a service. It is open
to exploitation.
Lowering depreciation charges: Companies often spread out the cost of assets,
rather than expensing them in one hit. Methods to reduce annual charges on
these items can include extending the useful life estimate of the asset or
increasing its assumed salvage value.
Delaying expenses: Deferring the recording of current period expenses, such as
payments to suppliers and rent, to a subsequent period makes current period
earnings look better.
Masking contingent liabilities: Failure to record potential liabilities that are likely
to occur and underestimating how much they are likely to cost can boost net
income or shareholders’ equity.
Undervaluing pension liabilities: Pension obligations can easily be manipulated
because the liabilities occur in the future and company-generated estimates
need to be used to account for them.
Inventory manipulation: Inventory represents the value of goods that were
manufactured but not yet sold. Overstating the value of inventory will lead to
an understatement of cost of goods sold, and therefore an arti cially higher net
income, assuming actual inventory and sales levels remain constant.
From: www.investopedia.com/terms/c/creative-accounting.asp
3. Concrete cases of fraudulent creative accounting
You will nd 10 examples here: www.accounting-degree.org/scandals/
Here is a presentation of three of the most recent ones:
LEHMAN BROTHERS SCANDAL (2008)
Company: Global nancial services rm.
What happened: Hid over $50 billion in loans disguised as sales.
Main players: Lehman executives and the company’s auditors, Ernst & Young.
How they did it: Allegedly sold toxic assets to Cayman Island banks with the
understanding that they would be bought back eventually. Created the
impression Lehman had $50 billion more cash and $50 billion less in toxic
assets than it really did.
How they got caught: Went bankrupt.
Penalties: Forced into the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. SEC didn’t
prosecute due to lack of evidence.
Fun fact: In 2007 Lehman Brothers was ranked the #1 “Most Admired Securities
Firm” by Fortune Magazine.
BERNIE MADOFF SCANDAL (2008)
Company: Bernard L. Mado Investment Securities LLC was a Wall Street
investment rm founded by Mado .
What happened: Tricked investors out of $64.8 billion through the largest Ponzi
scheme in history.
Main players: Bernie Mado , his accountant, David Friehling, and Frank
DiPascalli.
How they did it: Investors were paid returns out of their own money or that of
other investors rather than from pro ts.
How they got caught: Mado told his sons about his scheme and they reported
him to the SEC. He was arrested the next day.
Penalties: 150 years in prison for Mado + $170 billion restitution. Prison time
for Friehling and DiPascalli.
Fun fact: Mado ’s fraud was revealed just months after the 2008 U.S. nancial
collapse.
SATYAM SCANDAL (2009)
Company: Indian IT services and back-o ce accounting rm.
What happened: Falsely boosted revenue by $1.5 billion.
Main player: Founder/Chairman Ramalinga Raju.
How he did it: Falsi ed revenues, margins and cash balances to the tune of 50
billion rupees.
How he got caught: Admitted the fraud in a letter to the company’s board of
directors.
Penalties: Raju and his brother charged with breach of trust, conspiracy,
cheating and falsi cation of records. Released after the Central Bureau of
Investigation failed to le charges on time.
Fun fact: In 2011 Ramalinga Raju’s wife published a book of his existentialist,
free-verse poetry.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 17.01
1. FSA: The Financial Services Authority
was a quasi-judicial body responsible for
the regulation of the nancial services
industry in the United Kingdom between
2001 and 2013. It was founded as the
Securities and Investments Board in 1985.
2. SSAP: Statements of Standard
Accounting Practice, are edicts by which
trading companies that are listed on the
stock market must adhere to when
constructing their nancial reports. They
form part of the Generally Accepted
Accounting Practice, or GAAP, which is
statutory in the United Kingdom through
the Taxes Acts.
3. IRS: The Internal Revenue Service is the
US tax collection agency which
administers the Internal Revenue Code
enacted by Congress. The government
agency is a bureau of the Department of
the Treasury, and is under the immediate
direction of the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue, who is appointed to a ve-year
term by the President of the United
States.
4. SEC: The Securities And Exchange
Commission is a government commission
created by Congress to regulate the
securities markets and protect investors.
In addition to regulation and protection, it
also monitors the corporate takeovers in
the U.S. The SEC is composed of ve
commissioners appointed by the U.S
president.
5. AICPA: The American Institute Of
Certi ed Public Accountants is the non-
pro t professional organization of
certi ed public accountants in the United
States. With more than 418,000 members
in 143 countries in business and industry,
public practice, government, education,
student a liates and international
associates. It sets ethical standards for
the profession and U.S. auditing standards
for audits of private companies, non-
pro t organizations, federal, state and
local governments.
6. FASB: The Financial Accounting
Standards Board is a private, non-pro t
organization standard setting body
whose primary purpose is to establish
and improve generally accepted
accounting principles within the United
States in the public’s interest.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 17.02
Cost Direct Indirect Fixed Variable

advertising expenses X X

property tax X X

insurance X X

electricity to run machines X X

rent X X

electricity for heating X X

equipment repairs X X

factory restaurant X X

overtime pay X X

raw materials X X
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 17.03
overheads: regular and necessary costs involved in operating a business
pro table: adjective meaning that an activity is actually providing income for a
company
breakeven point: the sales volume at which a company doesn’t make a loss, but
doesn’t make a pro t either
cost center: a unit of activity in an organization or company for which costs are
calculated separately
xed costs: costs that remain the same and are not dependent on the level of
activity; usually time-related
variable costs: costs that change according to the level of activity; usually
volume-related
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 17.04
Bene ts
ABC can:
– help allocate indirect costs accurately,
– save the company a lot of money.
Drawbacks
– it is not easy to introduce,
– the information essential for ABC may not be readily available,
– new measurements must be made, new data must be collected which is time
and resource-consuming.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 17.05
1. Activity-based costing (ABC) is a
method of assigning costs to products or
services based on the resources that they
consume.
2. Traditional accounting allocates a
business’s overheads (indirect costs such
as lighting, heating and marketing) in
proportion to an activity’s direct costs.
This is unsatisfactory because two
activities that absorb the same direct
costs can use very di erent amounts of
overhead.
3. ABB (ASEA Brown Boveri) is a Swedish-
Swiss multinational corporation
headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland,
operating mainly in robotics, power,
heavy electrical equipments, and
automation technology areas. ABB is one
of the largest engineering companies as
well as one of the largest conglomerates
in the world.
It is mentioned it the text because this company introduced ABC in the
organization and to do so they had to break down all their business activities
into their discrete components. They divided their purchasing activity into
things like negotiating with suppliers, updating the database, issuing purchase
orders and handling complaints. This example is mentioned in order to illustrate
the di culty in introducing ABC in an organization.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 17.06
— Correction. See article on editions-foucher.fr: “Is activity-based costing the
key to pro tability?” (performancecanvas.com).
Is activity-based costing the key to pro tability?
The increased business pressure to become customer-oriented and shareholder
value oriented has led to the increased use of activity-based costing in order to
understand the product, customer, and pro tability better.
This trend has also been felt in the early 90´s when managers aimed to develop
a balanced scorecard by looking at the drivers of corporate pro t. It was in this
period that the development of key performance indicators, key success
factors, and formulation of adaptive strategy were highlighted.
The similarity between scorecard and activity-based costing points to the
importance of an enhanced understanding of the drivers of value in the
business. Both emphasize the identi cation of the leading and lagging
indicators of performance, the connection between the two, and how exactly to
measure them.
As stated in several journals, the goal is not to improve customer satisfaction or
employee satisfaction rather it is to manage these relationships so that one can
improve the long term pro tability.
So what exactly is done when doing activity based costing? There are ve
primary steps:
– Identify activities
– Identify inputs from the consumption of resources by the activities
– Identify outputs by which costs of a process vary most directly
– Calculate the driver rate
– Trace activity costs to cost objects such as products, processes, and
customers based on usage of activities.
In many aspects, activity-based costing has evolved to a tool that provides
valuable information other than just cost data. Activity based costing can show
products, brands, customer groups, facilities, regions, distribution channels, etc.
Activity-based costing does not provide an all-in-one solution to all of the
problems but the goal is for it to provide information that together with other
management information can facilitate improved decision making.
Further, activity-based costing helps identify customer activities and track
those costs that are allocated speci cally to certain customers. Some of the
many bene ts of it include:
– Being able to spot customers that need nurturing
– Protecting existing highly pro table customers
– Being able to provide discounts to gain business with low cost to serve
customers
– Negotiating win-win relationships that lower service costs to cooperative
customers
– Being able to concede to permanent loss customers to competitors
It is through activity-based costing that analysts have often found that 20% of
the customers generate 300% of the pro ts. Through the years, developing
customer databases has improved the way decision makers make decisions
regarding the costs of keeping existing customers.
As perhaps many managers are aware of today, the success of customer
pro tability analysis depends on the information reaching those who make the
decisions.
www.performancecanvas.com/is-activity-based-costing-the-
key-to-pro tability (on May 18, 2016)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 17.07
Here is an extract from a study conducted on the question of using ABC in
hospitals.
“The health sector is one of the most important parts of the service sector due
to its impact on the protection as well as promotion of human life. Hospitals
face di culties and challenges in balancing limited resources and costs to
provide their demand for services. One of the main challenges of hospital
managers is development of cost information for decision-making and proper
pricing of services. Hospital managers must provide healthcare services needed
by the community at an acceptable level of quality and at the least possible
cost; therefore, they need information on the actual cost of the services they
provide.
Many hospitals, even those with new cost accounting systems, have di culty in
calculating actual direct and indirect costs for medical services, which
necessitates attention to the acceptable costing systems.
There are two approaches in cost determination in accounting systems:
traditional costing system (TCS) and activity-based costing system (ABC). The
ABC method was developed to compensate for the de ciency of TCS, to
allocate a cost driver suitable to any activity, and to calculate the cost price
according to the activity. The TCS allocates some costs incurred in departments
and uses a few cost drivers to allocate per capita costs. In contrast, ABC
assigns resource costs to cost objects such as products, services, or customers
based on the performed activities. It also o ers correct outcomes compared
with the TCS. Moreover, the ABC method is a two-stage process, because it
assigns total costs rst to activities and then to services.
Accurate unit cost of medical service is critical to improve e ciency and
transparency in the hospital. According to the results of our study, Hospital
managers should pay special attention to the results of ABC method. Unit cost
calculation and ABC information clearly improved understanding of hospital
managers about the di erent organizational processes and organizational
unused capacity resources.”
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4803948/
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 17.08
STUDENT A believes that the best option is to switch to ABC accounting and
gives 4 arguments.
a. You would like to extend your product range and this diversi cation accounts
for the need for ABC accounting.
b. Thanks to this method you’ll be able to point out where energy and
resources are wasted more easily.
c. Managers will be able to cut costs once they’ve a better idea of the
overheads.
d. ABC will enable the company to compare more e ciently with competitors
and industry standards.
STUDENT B on the other hand thinks that it would not be the best option for
the company and prepares 4 arguments.
a. Your products are very standard so there is no need to cost each activity.
b. Your rm produces a lot of waste and with ABC this will be brought to light
and may ruin the rm’s reputation and e orts in CSR communication.
c. The cost of enforcing ABC is too high.
d. Employees won’t be able to cope with the extra workload of ABC (e.g.: data
collection).
More (very useful) information here:
https://hbr.org/2004/11/time-driven-activity-based-costing
And for a very concrete case study:
www.pearsoned.ca/highered/divisions/virtual_tours/horngren/man_acc/Ch05
ManAcc.pdf
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 18.01
a. Assets are elements that you owN.
L’actif est composé des éléments que vous possédez.

b. Liabilities are elements that you owE.

Le passif est composé des éléments que vous devez.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 18.02
debt: an amount of money that a person or a company owes.
bonds: documents given to people who invest money in a company, promising
to pay back the principal with interest.
goodwill: a company’s reputation, relationships with customers and collective
know how.
to set aside (= to save): to keep from a larger amount in order to be used later.
mortgage: the money that you borrow from the bank to buy a property.
to pay o : to give somebody all the money you owe them.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 18.04
ROE: return on equity
P&L: pro t and loss account aka income statement
SG&A: selling, general and administrative expenses
EBITDA: earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization
COGS: cost of goods sold
CFS: cash ow statement
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 18.05
turnover = revenue
earnings = pro t (or for an individual: incomes)
overheads (frais généraux) = costs
amortization = depreciation = writing o
to su er a loss = to incur a loss
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 18.06
1.British and American balance sheets
show the same information but it is
displayed di erently.
True. American companies usually put assets on the left and capital and
liabilities on the right whereas most British companies use a vertical display
with assets at the top, and liabilities and capital at the bottom of the page.

2.The revenue of the company in the past

year is shown on the balance sheet.
False. A balance sheet does not show how much money a company has spent
or received during a year.

3. The two sides of a balance sheet

always show the same total.
True. Assets= liabilities + capital (A = L + C).

4.A current liability will be paid before

the date of the balance sheet.
False. Current liabilities will be paid within a year of the date in the balance
sheet.

5. A company’s accrued expenses are

similar to an individual’s savings to pay
future bills.
True. Accrued expenses are deducted from pro ts although the bills have not
yet been received.

6.If companies retain part of their pro ts,

this money no longer belongs to the
owners.
False. Shareholder’s equity includes retained earnings.
7.Companies can sell shares above their
face value.
True. Share premium is money made by the company when it sells shares at a
higher value than the one stated on them.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 18.09
In US nancial reporting there are four major nancial statements: the income
statement (sometimes referred to as the pro t / loss statement), the balance
sheet, the statement of cash ows, and the statement of stock holders equity.
These o er a nancial, quantitative, look at di erent elements of the business.
Income Statement: Walks from revenue to net income on an accrual basis –
valid over a given period (ex. Quarter 1).
Balance Sheet: Review of the assets, liabilities, and equity of a company at a
given moment in time (ex.  December 31st 2017). This is an overview of the
nancial position of the company.
Statement of Cash Flow: Overview of the cash generation of the business
across a period of time (ex. Quarter 1).
Statement of Stockholder’s Equity: Reviews in detail the issuance (purchase) of
stock, net income, cash and stock dividends (across a period ex. Quarter 1)
Between The Income Statement, Balance Sheet, And Statement Of Cash
Flows, Which Is The Most Important? (Interview Question)
This common interview question can have several answers if well defended;
however, the statement of cash ows is the “correct answer” in most settings.
The reason? “Cash is king.”
When compared to the income statement – the statement of cash ow is
preferred as explained by @squawkbox:
The income statement is prone to “errors” from accounting conventions. For
example, whenever Apple sells an iPhone → it can only recognize 3/24 of the
revenue for the phone in the current quarter. However they are still being paid
cash for the phones from AT&T (ignoring A/R).
So Apple’s net income on the Income Statement is grossly understated. Go look
at Apple’s Operating Cash Flow and compare it to net income. Look at “Change
in Liabilities”...this is Deferred Revenue (i.e. iPhone Sales).
When compared to the balance sheet – the statement of cash ows is
preferred:
While the balance sheet o ers a snap shot of the obligations and the assets of
the business, assuming that you only have one balance sheet you do not know
how pro table the business is each period.
However, @rrrrr01 makes the valid case that:
If a restructuring banker is asking – you should go with balance sheet. For
everyone else, you’ll be safe with cash ow.
Of The Three Statements, Which Two Are The Most Important? (Interview
Question)
When facing this question – the answer should be the balance sheet and the
income statement – because with those two lings you can create the
statement of cash ows (assuming that you have the prior period and current
period balance sheet).
Important to note – an increase in an asset is a cash draw and an increase in a
liability is a cash bonus.
Statement of Cash Flows Build Up Examples
After answering that you can build the statement of cash ows – you may be
asked to provide some of the ways you build the statement of cash ows –
some examples are provided below:
– Net income ows to the statement of cash ows
– Change in operating assets and liabilities on the balance sheet are recorded
on the SOCF
– Increase / decrease in property plant and equipment is capital expenditure in
the investing section of the SOCF
– Increase in Common Stock and APIC on the balance sheet is re ected on the
cash ows from nancing.
www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/
which- nancial-statement-is-most-important-insights-or-thoughts
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 18.10
Factors that can cause a variance in revenue
A change in sales volume + a change in the pro t margin on each item (due to
higher or lower selling prices).
Factors that cause a variance in costs
A change in sales volume, that is to say that it costs more to produce more + an
increase in costs or a decrease in productivity (you need to spend more money
to actually reach every additional $1 of sales).
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 03.01
1. Bank base rate: a basic rate of interest,
on which the actual rate a bank charges
on loans to its customers is calculated.
2. Turnover: total sales during a trading
period.
3. Depreciation: amount deducted every
year from pro ts to allow for the fact that
assets (e.g. equipment) lose their value as
they get older.
4. Creditors: people the company owes
money to, e.g. suppliers.
5. Share capital: money which
shareholders have put into the business.
6. Securities: investments, especially
stocks, shares and bonds.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 03.02
1.a deposit: a withdrawal
2. monies received: monies paid out
3. a creditor balance: a debtor balance
4. expenses: revenues
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 03.03
1. Companies need a bank that is
interested in what they do, that o ers
customized services and a dedicated
counselor. They need a bank that o ers
reasonably-priced services and that will
support their activity even if they hit a
low point. Finally companies nowadays
want a bank that is able to o er online
services that make every transaction
faster and easier.
2. Banks should try not to overcharge their
clients and should be reasonable
regarding their fees in order not to
smother (étou er) their corporate
customers in excessive expenses. The
danger if they do not keep their fees in
check is that their clients may change
banks.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 03.04
1.
– equipment leasing: obtaining the use of machinery, vehicles or other
equipment on a rental basis. This avoids the need to invest capital in
equipment. Ownership rests in the hands of the nancial institution or leasing
company, while the business has the actual use of it.
– merchant services: a broad category of nancial services intended for use by
businesses. In its most speci c use, it usually refers to merchant processing
services that enable a business to accept a transaction payment through a
secure (encrypted) channel using the customer’s credit card or debit card or
NFC/RFID enabled device.
– payroll: a payroll bank account is a separate checking account that businesses
use exclusively to pay employees their payroll checks. Payroll is such a large
component of some businesses that it’s easier and more secure to use a
separate checking account for payroll instead of the main operating account.
– retirement accounts: the retirement plan products and services business is
complex and competitive. Banks compete with other service providers for the
opportunity to provide trustee, investment management, custody, and
recordkeeping services to retirement plans. A bank may provide a full range of
retirement plan products and services for employers and individuals and may
operate in several capacities when doing so.

2. Banks should examine carefully their

banking terms and conditions so as to
make their fees as light a load as possible
for companies which may otherwise turn
to their competitors. Indeed, banking fees
are a considerable charge in businesses’
accounts and the banking market is so
competitive that it is easy for them to nd
a more accommodating establishment if
they feel the need to do so.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 03.07
banking fees — frais bancaires
a monthly fee (for a checking account) — des frais mensuels (pour un compte
chèque)
service fees — des frais de service
research fees — des frais de recherche
photocopying fees — des frais de photocopies
withdrawal fees — des frais de retrait
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 03.08
1.The Network for Greening the Financial
System is a network of 83 central banks
and nancial supervisors that aims to
accelerate the scaling up of green nance
and develop recommendations for central
banks’ role for climate change. The NGFS
was created in 2017 and its secretariat is
hosted by the Banque de France.
Supervisors and central bankers have collectively acknowledged that climate
change-related risks are a source of long-term nancial risk and are willing to
share practices and mobilize mainstream nance to support the transition
toward a sustainable economy by developing the green bond market and
directing more investments towards green projects.
More information (videos and articles) about the concrete steps taken by the
NGFS here: www.ngfs.net/en#

2. First, long-term climate-related risks

must be anticipated and assessed. To do
so, comprehensive climate stress tests
must be developed.
Second, green nance needs to evolve to reach and adapt to the EU’s energy
and climate objectives for 2030.

3. Climate change is a source of nancial

risk. FVG fears that it may lead to
stag ation, i. e. a situation in which the
in ation rate is high because of an
increased pressure on prices whereas the
economic growth rate may slow. It
presents a dilemma for economic policy,
since actions intended to lower in ation
may exacerbate unemployment.
4. Central banks can of course resort to
monetary policy to play a direct and
sector-focused role in nancing the
transition to a low-carbon economy.
But they must help set up macroeconomic models that will help anticipate the
risks and integrate the results of climate-related risks into the assessment of
collateral. This will help assess the impact of climate change on the credit risk
of eligible assets.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 03.09
1.François Villeroy de Galhau (born 24
February 1959) is a French civil servant
and banker serving as Governor of the
Bank of France succeeding Christian
Noyer in 2015. As such, he presides over
the General Council, the body responsible
for deliberating on all matters relating to
non-Eurosystem activities. He conducts
the three main missions of the Banque de
France: monetary strategy, nancial
stability and the provision of economic
service to households and small
businesses.
As Bank of France governor, Villeroy de Galhau also sits in the Governing
Council of the European Central Bank, which makes monetary policy decisions
for the whole Eurozone.
In 2017, Villeroy de Galhau took part in the launch of the Network for Greening
the Financial System. Under his leadership, the Banque de France announced
plans to exit from coal and limit exposure to gas and oil in its investment
portfolio by 2024 as part of a shift towards more environmentally friendly
assets.

2.The term corporate social responsibility

(CSR) refers to practices and policies
undertaken by corporations that are
intended to have a positive in uence on
the world. The key idea behind CSR is for
corporations to pursue other pro-social
objectives, in addition to maximizing
pro ts. Examples of common CSR
objectives include minimizing
environmental externalities, promoting
volunteerism among company employees,
and donating to charity.
Many companies view CSR as an integral part of their brand image, believing
that customers will be more likely to do business with brands that they perceive
to be more ethical. In this sense, CSR activities can be an important component
of corporate public relations. At the same time, some company founders are
also motivated to engage in CSR due to their personal convictions.

3. The European green bond standard

(EUGBS) is a voluntary standard to help
scale up and raise the environmental
ambitions of the green bond market.
Establishing this standard was an action
in the Commission’s 2018 action plan on
nancing sustainable growth and is part
of the European green deal. It is based on
the recommendations of the Technical
Expert Group on Sustainable Finance.
Once it is adopted by co-legislators, this proposed Regulation will set a gold
standard for how companies and public authorities can use green bonds to
raise funds on capital markets to nance such ambitious large-scale
investments, while meeting tough sustainability requirements and protecting
investors.
This will be useful for both issuers and investors of green bonds. For example,
issuers will have a robust tool to demonstrate that they are funding legitimate
green projects aligned with the EU taxonomy. And investors buying the bonds
will be able to more easily assess, compare and trust that their investments are
sustainable, thereby reducing the risks posed by greenwashing.
The new EUGBS will be open to any issuer of green bonds, including
companies, public authorities, and also issuers located outside of the EU.
More speci c information is available here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-
economy-euro/banking-and- nance/sustainable- nance/european-green-
bond-standard_en
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 04.03
1. to put money into your account: to
deposit
2. to ll in a form: to complete a form
3. immediately: instantaneously
4. money in your account: funds
5. free: without charge
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 04.04
1. to o er — b. interest
2. to deduct — g. tax
3. to ll in — d. a form
4. to protect — e. assets
5. to open — c. an account
6. to submit — h. an application
7. to transfer — a. funds
8. to accept — f. checks/ cheques
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 04.05
1.Mobile payments made easy: a.
2. Protect your identity: f.
3. Fast international payments: d.
4. Choose your own fees: e.
5. Works everywhere: c.
6. Security and control over your money:
b.
2. a. Three steps are necessary to pay with
bitcoins.
False. Only two steps are necessary: you scan your device or QR code and you
pay.

b. Bitcoin is a foolproof system against

fraud.
False. It is foolproof as long as “you take the required steps to protect your
wallet”. In other words, if you don’t sb may hack into your account.

c.Your access is not limited since bitcoins

are compatible with every service
provider.
True.

d.You are not charged when you spend

your bitcoins.
False. It is free of charge to receive bitcoins but there are fees to pay when you
spend them. Regardless of the amount you actually spend.
e. You can protect your money from
thieves by using a ‘lock code’.
True. “Bitcoin transactions are secured by
military grade cryptography”.
3. PIN: short for Personal Identi cation
Number. It is an identifying number
allocated to an individual by a bank or
other organization and used for validating
electronic transactions.
QR code: abbreviation of Quick Response Code. It is a machine-readable code
consisting of an array of black and white squares, typically used for storing
URLs or other information for reading by the camera on a smartphone.
NFC: abbreviation of Near Field Communication; it is a technology allowing the
short-range wireless intercommunication of mobile phones and other electronic
devices for purposes such as making payments.

4.Bitcoin is the simplest way to exchange

money (no forms to ll in, no credit card
needed, etc.) at very low cost (almost no
fees).
Bitcoin transactions are safe: no risk of a thief stealing your credit card or your
cash.
You can make your transactions from anywhere in the world with no additional
charges.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 04.06
Today, many options are available to pay for your purchases: cash, credit cards,
checks or even electronic transfers. But all of these options come with some
kind of insecurity: your banknotes, check books and credit cards may be stolen
and used unbeknownst of you. Electronic transfers may be made on your behalf
by some hacker who collected your personal information. So, is no payment
secure nowadays?
— For more information, read the following article on editions-foucher.fr: “Why
Apple Pay is our best hope to stop online fraud” by Pat Phelan.
The answer it gives may be biased but sheds some light on today’s most critical
problem.
Why Apple Pay Is Our Best Hope To Stop Online Fraud
Heists used to be so much e ort — you’d need a gang, machine guns, a
getaway car and long, meticulous planning. Nowadays, all you need is a couch,
a laptop and some stolen data. When the barrier to entry is so low, it’s no
surprise that online fraud is a huge problem. In fact, according to the
authoritative annual True Cost of Fraud report from LexisNexis/Javelin Group,
fraud losses as a percentage of revenue for retailers grew to 1.32 percent in
2015, nearly doubling from 2014.
To make matters worse, the past year has been a perfect storm for online
criminals, which will sharply escalate the rate of e-commerce fraud in the
coming years. Hacks of T-Mobile/Experian, Ashley Madison, Chase, Anthem
Blue Cross, OPM and many more released huge amounts of sensitive personal
data like names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and social security
numbers onto the dark web.
These PII (personally identi able information) leaks were compounded by
payment data leaks: millions of credit card numbers released in the Target and
Home Depot hacks, plus other data raids. Together, fraudsters have more than
enough material to paint a full picture of an individual’s nancial identity,
enabling them to apply for loans, lines of credits and other nancial products,
as well as order goods online, fraudulently, in someone else’s name.
With all these hacks, it makes sense that nancial institutions are bolstering
security. The EMV deadline is just that — now that the deadline has passed,
brick-and-mortar retailers must have chip-enabled point-of-sale terminals, or
be held liable for any fraudulent transactions that happen in their stores. The
U.S. EMV liability shift is being hailed as a rewall against fraud; in reality, it’s
nothing more than a half-measure taken by credit card companies and banks to
protect themselves while leaving retailers holding the bag.
Banks have no incentive to change the status quo for online transactions, as
retailers are responsible for any fraud that happens there.
First, most point-of-sale terminals will require chip-and-signature, which is far
less secure than chip-and-pin — a security shortcut chosen by the nancial
industry. And second, EMV will not x the big growth area in fraud: the Internet.
Past switches to EMV in countries like Australia and the U.K. show that fraud
will simply migrate online as criminals look to exploit the next weakest target —
sending a tidal wave of criminals straight toward unprepared online merchants.
When taken together, the situation for businesses looks bleak. To mitigate
losses due to fraud over the long term, merchants and consumers alike need to
move en masse to next-generation tokenized payment systems — which, like
two-factor authentication to protect passwords, adds an extra barrier to the
payment process, keeping sensitive data out of merchants’ fragile systems and
safe from hackers.
And these payment systems haven’t been doing too well. Despite big
promotion, use of Apple Pay is very low — a recent survey from the Aite Group
found that it accounts for just 1 percent of all U.S. retail transactions. That’s still
far above Android Pay (the product formerly known as “Google Wallet,” and
now on its umpteenth rebranding) and Samsung Pay, which only launched
recently.
This begs the question: What will it take to bring Apple Pay (or a similarly
secure solution) mainstream, and save online merchants and banks from huge
losses due to fraud?
From TechCrunch, Posted Oct 27, 2015 by Pat Phelan
(@patphelan)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 04.07
— Correction. See article on editions-foucher.fr: “The advantages and
disadvantages of Internet banking” by Paul Goodman.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet Banking
The number of people with Internet bank accounts has exploded in recent
years, with many people seeing it as an easier and more convenient way to
control their personal nances.
Almost all banks now have online account options for their customers, allowing
them to control such things as money transfers, and bill paying from home,
work, or on the move, Smartphone apps have made the process even more
easy to access.
There are downsides to doing your banking online too, however – customers
who are not experienced computer users, for example, may have problems
managing their account, plus there are also major issues involving internet
security.
Here, in a list format, are the advantages and disadvantages of internet
banking.
Advantages of Internet Banking
Once you are used to having 24 hour access to your account and get used to
managing your nancial a airs from home and work, it seems di cult to go
back. Waiting in line to be served, or on the phone can be frustrating and time
consuming.
Internet banking is convenient and quick compared to doing your banking in
person or over the telephone. You never have to wait to be served at a bank
counter, or work your way through the layers of questions that you often get
with an automated phone service. If you know what you are doing, you can
check your account balance, transfer money, etc. in a matter of minutes when
banking online.
Online access also gives you a sense of control over your account, as you can
perform all your everyday banking tasks yourself, rather having to go through a
bank sta member, which can sometimes be time-consuming and frustrating.
You can also get an easier overview of your account, and search archives for
older transactions.
You always have 24 hour banking with banking online. When visiting a bank in
person, and sometimes with telephone services too, there are restricted hours
of operation.
Banking can e ectively be done paperless the vast majority of the time. No
need for mountains of statements, letters, to be led and stored for future
reference. Some banks o er deals if you go paperless too.
Most banks now o er you smartphone apps, allowing customer to monitor and
manage their nances on the move, as well as via a home or work computer.
It doesn’t matter where you are when you do your banking online – you can be
in another part of the country to where your bank operates and still have
access to your account, or even access your account from abroad for no extra
cost.
Sometimes banking via the web is cheaper. This is because it costs the bank
less in terms of sta ng, property upkeep etc. You can therefore often get some
great bargains with internet accounts.
It’s often possible to get better interest rates through online banking. Some
o ers and deals are also only available online.
Disadvantages of Internet Banking
There are some cons of internet banking. The dangers of identity theft and
hacking make fraud easier in some ways, for example. You also need to have a
reasonable level of pro ciency at operating a computer to manage your
nances e ectively.
You really need to have at least a basic level of internet and computer
experience, if you wish to do your banking online. People who are used to
traditional banking will nd that the online version is completely di erent. Using
a website is not straightforward to a novice and often the help and support
from the bank is severely limited (banking websites are often more catered
towards selling customers extra banking services, rather than helping them to
use the website).
Banking online is completely impersonal. As well as making the experience less
friendly, this can create problems with more complex transactions such as
applying for a loan. The ability to convey subtle information is often lost when
banking online and it is also di cult to know if the person at the other end
grasps what you are trying to say.
Online banking also relies on you having at the very least, a working computer
and a reliable internet connection. If your computer is unreliable or old, or your
connection speed is slow, or patchy, it is a di cult service to use.
Bricks and mortar banks are gradually disappearing from town and city centers,
as nancial transactions are increasingly carried out online. Some customers
miss the personal touch that traditional banks o er, as well as the expertise of
the sta .
Paul Goodman, ToughNicke, (on March 23, 2017)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 04.08
Types of Bank Accounts
Navigating the Most Common Bank Account Options
When deciding what kind of bank account you want to put your money into,
you have options. Here’s a brief overview of ve di erent kinds of accounts,
including the bene ts and drawbacks of each one.
Savings
Savings accounts are often the rst o cial bank account held by consumers.
Children may open an account with a parent to begin a pattern of saving.
Teenagers open accounts to stash cash earned from a rst job or household
chores.
The majority of Americans use a savings account to park emergency cash.
Opening a savings account also serves as a way to establish a working
relationship with a nancial institution.
Good For: Your rst bank account, kids, adults looking for a place to park
savings or extra cash.
Drawbacks: Savings accounts typically yield a low interest rate in comparison to
money market accounts and CDs. Typically, they do not come with a debit card
for purchases, and the number of withdrawals per month is limited.
Checking
Checking accounts provide the consumer with a basic account to deposit
checks, make withdrawals, and pay bills. Paper checks, though slowly losing
popularity, are issued from checking accounts. More recently, the debit card (or
check card) has taken over as a primary form of payment from checking
accounts. Most banks now o er online bill pay services through checking
accounts, helping to streamline payments.
Good For: Anyone who needs a place to deposit a paycheck or cash and
maintains a balance under $5,000, people who enjoy convenience of a check
card.
Drawbacks: Checking accounts are subject to a variety of fees, which can
become expensive quickly. Many checking accounts charge a maintenance fee
or require a minimum balance.
Options vary widely from bank to bank.
Money Market
A money market account earns more interest than either a savings or checking
account, but combines features of both. For those who tend to carry higher
balances in checking accounts, these can be a great option to park cash. The
higher rates mean the cash is working for you and earning interest.
Good For: People who hold average balances in their account of $5,000 or
more and want to earn higher interest rates.
Drawbacks: Most money market accounts have signi cant minimum balance
requirements ranging from $5,000 to $10,000. Interest rates may be low, and
fees can still be charged on money market accounts. Withdrawals are often
limited to a certain number per month.
Certi cate of Deposit (CD)
A CD account usually allows you to earn more than any of the accounts listed
above. What’s the catch? You have to commit to keeping your money in the CD
for a certain amount of time. For example, you might use a 6 month CD or an 18
month CD, which means you have to keep your funds on deposit for 6 or 18
months. Learn more about how CDs work and how to use them.
Good For: Money that you don’t need to spend anytime soon. You’ll earn more
by locking it up for a while.
Drawbacks: If you want to pull your funds out early, you’ll have to pay a penalty.
That penalty might wipe out everything you earned, and even go into your
initial deposit. In rare cases, banks refuse to honor early withdrawal requests
and you have to wait until the term ends.
Retirement Accounts
Retirement accounts o er tax advantages. In very general terms, you get to
avoid paying income tax on interest you earn from a savings account or CD.
You may have to pay the interest at a later date, but keeping your money
sheltered from taxes may help you over the long term. Most banks o er IRAs
(both Traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs), and they may also o er retirement
accounts for small businesses.
Good For: Saving for your future. Retirement accounts can make it easier (by
easing your tax burden) to save money, and they might result in larger account
balances over the long-term.
Drawbacks: Any tax bene t you get comes with strings attached. Read up on
your account agreement and ask your banker about the rules (including rules
for eligibility). You might have to wait a while before you can access your
money. If you withdraw early, you may have to pay taxes and steep penalties.
Erin ONeil, thebalance.com (on June 11, 2016)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 05.01
1. une banque d’investissement an
investment bank
2. actifs toxiques toxic assets
3. le système bancaire bank system
4. le remboursement d’une dette
repayment of a debt
5. un dividende a dividend
6. un indice boursier an index
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 05.03
1. a mortgage crisis — crise hypothécaire
nancial turmoil — crise nancière
greed — cupidité/ avidité
interest rates — taux d’intérêt
a sure bet — un pari sûr
collateral — garantie/ caution
real estate — immobilier
homeowners — propriétaires
equity — capitaux propres
living expenses — dépenses courantes
to qualify for — remplir les conditions pour
to be eager to — être désireux de
a loan application — une demande de prêt
to a ord — se permettre ( ancièrement)
a glut of liquidity — un excédent de liquidité
to default — ne pas s’acquitter de
to rely on — compter sur
accountability — responsabilité
to foreclose — saisir
to bridge the gap — combler l’écart/ le fossé
to collect a de ciency — recouvrer la di érence
to come to a grinding halt — s’arrêter brutalement
commodity prices — prix des matières premières
to set o — déclencher
cumbersome — encombrant

2. borrowers: lenders
to nosedive: to skyrocket
dismissal: approval
accurate: inaccurate
to buy: to sell
light: hefty
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 05.04
1. The journalist de nes the American
Dream as being partly based on “owning
a home” because it is the rst step on the
long way of learning to belong to the
American society. Ownership is indeed
traditionally considered as part of the
American dream. In the 60s owning a
large house, a brand new car and all the
basic necessities were signs of
achievement and status symbols.
Still, originally the American Dream was much larger than that. In the de nition
of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, “life should be better
and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to
ability or achievement” regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.

2. He blames both the careless borrowers,

who spent the money they did not have
and all the institutions which participated
in worsening the crisis by issuing toxic
bonds.
3. The crisis brought about negative and
positive changes.
For borrowers, it’s more di cult and much longer to qualify for a mortgage
than in the past.
Lenders are asked to check that borrowers have the ability to repay a loan.
The nancial system may now be healthier than before because it is less
leveraged than before.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 05.05
You take the root which is an adjective and you add the su x –ly to turn it into
an adverb.
Ex: large (adjective) + su x – ly: largely (adverb)

2. especially — particulièrement
relatively — relativement
dramatically — spectaculairement
wisely — sagement
increasingly — de plus en plus
actually — en fait/ en réalité
quickly — rapidement
extremely — extrêmement
unfortunately — malheureusement
eventually — en n
smoothly — facilement/ sans di cultés
generally — généralement

Adverbs are words which describe or

3.
modify other verbs.
Ex: The borrowers defaulted quickly.
Adverbs also modify adjectives.
Ex: The really careless investment banks went under.
Adverbs may also modify other adverbs.
Ex: The economic situation evolved very dramatically.
Adverbs will often indicate frequency: often, never, always, usually.
Adverbs can generally be identi ed by their function and form (many are
formed from adjectives by su xing –ly). But be careful, not all words ending in
‘ly’ are adverbs (friendly, ugly, homely are adjectives).
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 05.06
Genesis of the crisis
Overcon dence of the various economic actors which generated a subprime
debt that in turn fostered the emergence of new products such as derivatives
based on the mortgage subprimes. Some of these constituted toxic assets that
were exchanged on a newly created market because they were highly pro table
as long as the housing market remained stable. Leverage became mainstream
with people and institutions borrowing money to borrow more money.
What went wrong?
But the housing bubble burst and the risky products that had been securitized
by the banks proved to be so rotten that they were all on the verge of
bankruptcy. The Federal Reserve in the US had to intervene to bail them out by
buying up their debt so as to avoid the collapse of the entire economic system.
Some other countries however did not manage to compensate the blow fully
such as Greece or Iceland and that’s when the sovereign debt crisis started.
Ways of making banks safe again:
Today banks imposed a system of checks and balances to avoid the excesses
they indulged in at the time. Regulation has come back and banks are much
more cautious and ask for more guarantees before lending. One solution that
was also considered was bank capitalization that has a larger equity bu ers and
is less dependent on debt and leverage.
More information on the issue
The nancial crisis of 2008 represented a dramatic shock to the stability of the
United States economy, and extraordinary actions by the government and
central bank to prevent even worse catastrophe. In an e ort to reduce the risk
in the system following the crisis, a massive and ongoing policymaking e ort
has taken place to reform the rules of the nancial system.
Such linked and (relatively) rapid changes to the structure and rules of the
nancial system have had material impact on the US nancial system. Nearly all
changes are related to a broad push by stability.
“Financial stability” is an umbrella term that generally refers to the ability of the
nancial system to withstand internal or external shocks, without its core
economic functions being impaired and without causing substantial negative
e ects on the broader economy. The post-crisis e orts related to nancial
stability have emphasized the need for considering the stability of the nancial
system as a whole (and not just the soundness of speci c institutions and
markets), and the requirement that nancial stability be achieved without any
extraordinary government support (Crossen, Liang, Protsyk, and Zhang 2014).
Financial stability goals are often framed in terms of addressing and managing
systemic risk. For instance, the Financial Stability Board, an international group
that has led the coordination of regulatory reform e orts across major nancial
jurisdictions, says that it “promotes global nancial stability” via “a three-stage
process for the identi cation of systemic risk in the nancial sector, for framing
the nancial sector policy actions that can address these risks, and for
overseeing implementation of those
Much academic research on nancial stability has focused on measuring
measures can be useful in illuminating overall trends in the level of risk in the
nancial system. For example, the aggregate SRISK measure of systemic risk
for US Financials peaked in late 2008, in the midst of the nancial peak.
While such systemic risk quanti cations can be useful indicators of how
systemic risk is changing over time, they provide little insight into what is
driving those changes. If systemic risk seems to have declined in recent years,
why has it fallen? What has changed about the nancial system to make it more
stable?
To help answer that question, it is useful to consider the actions of
policymakers who have been actively driving towards that outcome. Regulators
and other policymakers have devoted a great deal of time and energy to
develop and implement new policies that promote nancial stability. In
developing potential explanations for reduced systemic risk in recent years, it
makes sense to examine the changes in policy that have been introduced to
achieve exactly that goal.
Policymakers in the US, especially those overseeing banks, have been in the
vanguard of the global nancial stability e ort. Janet Yellen, Chair of the Board
of Governors of the Federal Reserve, noted in 2014, “At the Federal Reserve, we
have devoted substantially increased resources to monitoring nancial stability
and have refocused our regulatory and supervisory e orts to limit the buildup
of systemic risk.” In the same speech, Yellen describes the kind of policy tools
that “aim to make the nancial system better able to withstand unexpected
adverse developments”:
For example, requirements to hold su cient loss-absorbing capital make
nancial institutions more resilient in the face of unexpected losses. Such
requirements take on a macroprudential dimension when they are most
stringent for the larger, most systemically important rms, thereby minimizing
the risk that losses at such rms will reverberate through the nancial system.
Resilience against runs can be enhanced both by stronger capital positions and
requirements for su cient liquidity bu ers among the most interconnected
rms. An e ective resolution regime for SIFIs can also enhance resilience by
better protecting the nancial system from contagion in the event of a SIFI
collapse. Further, the stability of the nancial system can be enhanced through
measures that address interconnectedness between nancial rms, such as
margin and central clearing requirements for derivatives transactions. Finally, a
regulatory umbrella wide enough to cover previous gaps in the regulation and
supervision of systemically important rms and markets can help prevent risks
from migrating to areas where they are di cult to detect or address. (Yellen
2014)
From this and many similar statements by prominent policymakers, we can
identify some common policy levers that regulatory changes can push on to
help promote nancial stability. These include:
• Extending the reach of prudential
regulation: A regulatory framework that
ensures activities critical to the economy
and the functioning of the nancial
system itself is robust and have proper
oversight.
• example, see Tarullo (2011)
• Reducing solvency risk: Increasing the
quantity and quality of loss absorbing
capital that rms hold (relative to the
risks they are exposed to) allows for more
severe shocks to be borne by individual
rms without their failing and
transmitting distress to other parts of the
nancial system.
• Reducing the risk of runs: Increasing the
durability of rms’ funding and their
stocks of liquid assets readily available to
meet unforeseen cash needs helps rms
absorb adverse shocks without becoming
subject to a destabilizing “run” as their
creditors and counterparties drain cash in
self-protection.
• Reducing the risk of contagion:
Reducing direct linkages among major
nancial rms, creating higher prudential
standards for the most systemically
important and interconnected nancial
 rms, and promoting transparency about
the soundness of such rms all help to
keep adverse shocks localized, reducing
the likelihood that distress is transmitted
and ampli ed to a ect the broader
nancial system.
• The rst policy lever, which concerns the
reach of prudential regulation, is not
about the design of the rules themselves
but instead about their scope: which
groups of rules should be applied to
various rms, activities, and markets. As
Chair Yellen’s comment on the need for a
su ciently wide “regulatory umbrella”
makes clear, US policymakers have also
devoted considerable attention to this
nancial stability goal as well.
www.oliverwyman.com/content/dam/oliver-
wyman/global/en/2015/mar/Post_Crisis_Changes_in_the_St
ability_of_the_US_Banking_System_Final_1.pdf
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 06.02
1. In fact, the poor nd it hard to get a
loan.
2. Microcredit is particularly popular with
the young.
3. For the rst time, the disabled have not
been forgotten.
4. The unemployed are given a chance to
start their own business.

NB
Les adjectifs (et participes passés) peuvent se transformer en substantifs
(= noms).

The rich could lend money to the poor at a low rate to lift them out of poverty.
The jobless are one category of the population that can apply for a micro loan.
Dans ce cas, ils sont toujours précédés de THE, ils ont un sens collectif, ils sont
pluriels (mais sans S) et ils n’ont pas de génitif.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 06.03

Deceptive Cognates
When learning a foreign language, the most common mistakes come
from the ever-so-tricky false cognates. Cognates are words that have a
similar etymological origin and, therefore, both sound alike and have
similar meanings. Yet, false cognates – commonly called “false friends” –
are trickier, because they are words that sound (and might be spelled)
very similarly, but have completely di erent meanings.

1. housing bene t — allocation logement

(APL)
2. support — soutenir (syn: to back)
3. a volunteer — un bénévole
4. destitution — dénuement, misère
5. a charity — une association caritative,
une œuvre de charité
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 06.05
1. The European Commission (EC) has
launched several initiatives in the eld of
micro nance and is part of a dynamics to
promote micro nance as an economic
development tool.
2. The EC de nes microcredit as “the
extension of very small loans (micro
loans) to entrepreneurs, to social
economy enterprises, to employees who
wish to become self-employed, to people
working in the informal economy and to
the unemployed and others living in
poverty who are not considered bankable.
It stands at the crossroads between
economic and social preoccupations. It
contributes to economic initiative and
entrepreneurship, job creation and self-
employment, the development of skills
and active inclusion for people su ering
disadvantages.” In other words
microcredit is a kind of nancial inclusion
of the most destitute and not just a small
amount of money lent to micro-
companies.
3. According to the EC, an SME is a
company employing less than 250
employees with a turnover that doesn’t
exceed €50 million per year, or a balance
sheet that doesn’t exceed €43 million per
year whereas micro-enterprises are rms
with less than 10 employees and a
maximum annual turnover of €2 million.
The last gures concern the targets the EC wants to reach in 2020: they want
to lift at least 20 million people out of poverty and social exclusion and have
75% of the population aged 20-64 employed.

4.On top of it all is the European Union

(EU) which is made of 28 countries (2017)
and tries to develop the area
economically, nancially, politically and
socially. A certain number of institutions
were created for that very purpose,
among which the European Commission
(EC) whose speci c role is developed
here.
The European Micro nance Network (EMN) focuses on the micro nance sector
in Europe and aims at increasing communication between the various European
institutions that promote this sector.
EPAP, the European Platform Against Poverty and Social Exclusion is one of
the seven agship initiatives (initiatives phares) created within the strategic
framework.
ESF stands for the European Structural Funds: it is a coherent set of EU
programmes to promote employment, social protection and inclusion, as well
as working conditions for the period 2014-20.
EaSI is a European programme tackling Employment and Social Innovation
managed directly by the European Commission to support labor mobility
across the EU.
PROGRESS, the Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity, supports
activities with a strong Europe-wide dimension such as exchanges of practices
in the eld of employment and social policies.
An SME is a small and medium enterprise which is also sometimes abbreviated
thus: an SMB (B for business) or an SMC (C for company).
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 06.06
Missions of the EC
Role: Promotes the general interest of the EU by proposing and enforcing
legislation as well as by implementing policies and the EU budget.
Members: A team or ‘College’ of 28 Commissioners, 1 from each EU country.
President: Jean-Claude Juncker
Year established: 1958
Location: Brussels (Belgium)
The European Commission is the EU’s politically independent executive arm. It
is alone responsible for drawing up proposals for new European legislation, and
it implements the decisions of the European Parliament and the Council of the
EU.
What does the Commission do?
• Proposes new laws
The Commission is the sole EU institution tabling laws for adoption by the
Parliament and the Council that:
– protect the interests of the EU and its citizens on issues that can’t be dealt
with e ectively at national level;
– get technical details right by consulting experts and the public.
• Manages EU policies & allocates EU
funding
– Sets EU spending priorities, together with the Council and Parliament.
– Draws up annual budgets for approval by the Parliament and Council.
– Supervises how the money is spent, under scrutiny by the Court of Auditors.
• Enforces EU law
Together with the Court of Justice, ensures that EU law is properly applied in all
the member countries.
• Represents the EU internationally
– Speaks on behalf of all EU countries in international bodies, in particular in
areas of trade policy and humanitarian aid.
– Negotiates international agreements for the EU.
More information here:
http://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/institutions-bodies/european-
commission_en
2.Here is an example of how this question
could be answered.
Banks need to treat their customers better
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) have said that the major High Street banks
need to ‘get their act together’ and treat their customers better, following
claims today by ‘Consumer Focus’ that less than half of those who make a
complaint to their bank are satis ed with the response.
CAS Chief Executive Lucy McTernan said: “Last year we revealed that banks in
Scotland were failing their customers in a number of ways. e.g. by imposing
high charges, failing to explain their fee structures properly and refusing to
allow people access to basic bank account services.
“Altogether there are plenty of things for customers to complain about. The
fact that those complaints are not even being handled properly just adds insult
to injury. It’s yet another way in which banks are failing the public.
“Debt and money problems form a huge proportion of the issues people are
bringing to the CAB today. Banks should be right at the heart of helping to
solve these issues and manage their money properly. Instead it seems they are
making things worse – particularly for those most in need.
“Sadly, evidence like this comes as no surprise to Scotland’s CAB advisers, who
speak to banks every day on behalf of their clients. We surveyed our advisers
just a few weeks ago and found they had a very low opinion of how the banks
handled complaints, using words like ‘aggressive’, ‘cavalier,’ ‘in exible’ and
‘patronising’ to describe the attitude that banking sta had towards their
customers.
“The banks still owe the taxpayer for the massive bail-out they received a few
years ago. They promised at that time they would re-pay the taxpayer for that
help by acting more responsibly. They need to get their act together and make
good on that promise.”
The report published today by Consumer Focus says that three quarters of
people who have a grievance against their bank have made a complaint, but
only 47% of those are satis ed with the response they received. Similar
evidence regarding poor complaint-handling by banks was published by the
O ce of Fair Trading in January.
From www.cas.org.uk/news/banks-need-treat-their-
customers-better (on Feb 19, 2011)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 06.07
Student B
1. Introduce yourself and your company.
This is (name) Mary Lopez and am calling to apply for a small business loan to
set up my company (name of the company).
2. Prepare your questions.
– What are the conditions to apply?
– What documents would I need to show you/to provide you?
– What kind of guarantees do you need?
– How high are the instalments? How much do I need to repay every month?
– How high is the interest rate?
3. Agree on an appointment to ne-tune the agreement.
Would Monday afternoon be suitable to meet up?
4. Thank your interlocutor.
Thank you very much for your kind help./I’m very grateful for your help.
Student A
1. Introduce yourself:
Leslie Kane speaking. How can I help you?
2. Prepare your answers to the potential questions of the applicant.
– You need 2 forms of ID, and a tax return. That’s because we need to have a
general overview of your nancial situation.
– You will have to open a bank account with your local branch of our bank and
deposit $2 a week.
Since you’re a micro nance company:
– really low or no interest payable depending on the nancial pro le of the
applicant
– schedule of repayment adaptable according to the turnover of the company
3. Agree on the appointment.
4. Take your leave.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 07.01
1. Stakeholders are all the people who
have an interest in the success of a plan,
system or organization.
2. A buyer persona describes your ideal
customer. They help you make decisions
about marketing and sales processes.
Your buyer persona should be de ned
with a name, gender, income level, likes,
dislikes, and so on.
3. Positioning is how you will try and
present your company to your customers.
4. A market segment is a group of people
(or other businesses) that you could
potentially sell to.
5. A niche is a small but pro table
segment of a market suitable for focused
attention by a marketer.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 07.04
You’ll have to come up with your very own idea of an innovative product or
service. But as far as the business plan is concerned, here are some tips:
6 things to include in a business plan
Now that we have the rules of writing a business plan out of the way, let’s dive
into the details of building your plan.
The rest of this article will provide the speci cs of what you should include in
your business plan, what you should skip, the critical components of the all-
important nancial projections, and links to additional resources that can help
jump-start your plan.
Remember, your business plan is a tool to help you build a better business, not
just a homework assignment. Good business plans are living documents that
you return to on a regular basis and update as you learn more about your
customers, sales and marketing tactics that work (and don’t), and what you got
right and wrong about your budget and forecast. Your plan sets out the goals
you’d like to achieve and you should use it to track your progress and adjust
course as you go.
1. Executive summary
This is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes rst in your plan
and is ideally only one to two pages. Most people write it last, though.
2. Opportunity
This section answers these questions: What are you actually selling and how are
you solving a problem (or “need”) for your market? Who is your target market
and competition?
3. Execution
How are you going to take your opportunity and turn it into a business? This
section will cover your marketing and sales plan, operations, and how you’re
going to measure success.
4. Team and company
Investors look for great teams in addition to great ideas. Use this chapter to
describe your current team and who you need to hire. You will also provide a
quick overview of your legal structure, location, and history if you’re already up
and running.
5. Financial plan
Your business plan isn’t complete without a nancial forecast that includes
elements such as sales forecasts, projected pro ts and loss statement, etc.
6. Appendix
If you need more space for product images or additional information, use the
appendix for those details.
http://articles.bplans.com/how-to-write-a-business-plan/
More useful information will be found here:
www.esl.org/resources-tools/business-support/starting-your-
business/business-plan-basics
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 07.05
Here are some useful tips to prepare an e cient oral presentation:

a. Use the verbs that were given in

exercise 3 to talk about the choices and
options you favoured.
Ex: We decided to rule out resorting to a consultant.

Make sure you justify each decision you

b.
made.
Ex: We decided to rule out resorting to a consultant because/since/in so far as
we feel con dent we can handle the situation without one.

c. Revise the comparative form of

adjectives to improve your grammar.
Ex: After weighing up the potential advantages and the unavoidable downsides
of each option as far as sta is concerned, we nally think that it would be
more e cient and less costly to ask some help from Dan who is unemployed at
the moment.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 08.01
1. angel investor — Individual who provides a small amount of capital to a
startup for a stake in the company. Typically precedes a seed round and usually
happens when the startup is in its infancy.
2. bridge loan — Also known as a swing loan. Short-term loan to bridge the
gap between major nancing.
3. convertible debt — This is when a company borrows money with the intent
that the debt accrued will later be converted to equity in the company at a later
valuation. This allows companies to delay valuation while raising funding in its
early stages. This is typically done in the early stages of a company’s life, when
a valuation is more di cult to complete and investing carries higher risk.
4. debt nancing — This is when a company raises money by selling bond, bills,
or notes to an investor with the promise that the debt will be repaid with
interest. It is typically performed by late-stage companies.
5. due diligence — An analysis an investor makes of all the facts and gures of
a potential investment. Can include an investigation of nancial records and a
measure of potential ROI.
6. exit — This is how startup founders get rich. It’s the method by which an
investor and/or entrepreneur intends to “exit” their investment in a company.
Common options are an IPO or buyout from another company. Entrepreneurs
and VCs often develop an “exit strategy” while the company is still growing.
7. ground oor — A reference to the beginning of a venture, or the earliest
point of a startup. Generally considered as an advantage to invest at this level.
8. incubator — An organization that helps develop early stage companies,
usually in exchange for equity in the company. Companies in incubators get
help for things like building their management teams, strategizing their growth,
etc.
9. leveraged buyout — When a company is purchased with a strategic
combination of equity and borrowed money. The target company’s assets or
revenue is used as “leverage” to pay back the borrowed capital.
10. liquidation — The process of dissolving a company by selling o all of its
assets (making them liquid).
11. ROI — This is the much-talked-about “return on investment.” It’s the money
an investor gets back as a percentage of the money he or she has invested in a
venture. For example, if a VC invests $2 million for a 20 percent share in a
company and that company is bought out for $40 million, the VC’s return is $8
million.
12. seed — The seed round is the rst o cial round of nancing for a startup.
At this point a company is usually raising funds for proof of concept and/or to
build out a prototype and is referred to as a “seed stage” company.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 08.03
Statistics tend to prove that businesses
1.
headed by men are more successful.
F “He stresses data showing that companies with more senior women are more
successful”.

2. The more uniform the work

environment, the more competitive the
rm.
F “gender diversity boosts performance”.

3.Out of 10 applicants VC rms hire less

than one female applicant to be part of
their sta .
T “In the authors’ sample of 988 VC funds in 301 rms, around 8% of new hires
were women”.

4. According to the article it is a positive

sign for a rm to hire more than the
average proportion of women to take up
managing positions.
T “Managing partners who hire more women may be less hidebound by
convention – a good trait for someone investing in innovative technologies.”
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 08.04
1. A franchise is an investment in which
you pay another business for the right to
use its business model and products. A
franchisor is the party granting the right,
and the franchisee is the party buying the
right. Essentially, the franchisor acts as a
parent, guiding the franchisee through
startup procedures and providing some
degree of operations and advertising
support.
Examples of other words that work the same way:
to appraise — an appraisee (un évalué) — an appraiser (expert/évaluateur)
to employ — an employee (un salarié) — an employer (employeur)
to interview — an interviewee — (une personne interviewée) — an interviewer
(intervieweur/enquêteur)
to license — a licensee (un licencié) — a licensor (concesseur)
to train — a trainee (stagiaire) — a trainer (formateur)

2. This text deals with restaurant

franchising which is pertaining to the food
industry.
3. There are still many initial costs to
consider when starting up your own
business:
– your space: you must buy it and design it, pay insurance, permit, and licensing
fees.
– your restaurant: you must develop a menu, and gather the money for
marketing campaigns to make a name.
Whereas in order to open up a chain restaurant a franchisee must:
– meet the franchise’s initial nancial requirements (liquidity) and the
company’s minimum net worth requirements,
– secure a location for the franchise and pay an initial franchising fee,
– pay royalties and national advertising campaign fees.
But being part of a franchise can give you access to large discounts when
ordering in bulk.

4.Brand recognition is often the biggest

obstacle for new, independent restaurants
to overcome, but a strong social media
presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
FourSquare, or Yelp can help decrease
advertising costs for establishments and
even provide the business with a fast,
convenient way to communicate with
their customers on a day-to-day basis.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 08.05
a path — a way
appealing — attractive
pros and cons — upsides and downsides
intimidating — daunting
to be tied to — to be linked to
to purchase — to buy
to shell out — to spend
to be hesitant to do sthg — to be reluctant to do sthg
hefty discounts — large
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 08.06
1. Here, try to compare and contrast using
words or phrases expressing opposition
like the following: unlike, in contrast to, as
opposed to, di erent from, whereas.
Here is a short paragraph using some of these expressions to contrast:
Opening a franchise is radically di erent from setting up your own business.
Indeed, you are much freer to do what you want when you design your own
place. Unlike a franchise, your restaurant will look like you and re ect your
personality: you can choose our location, the colors of your walls and the
furniture for instance whereas when you’re a franchisee you have to comply
with the standards of the franchisor.
Use these subordinating conjunctions, connecting words and prepositions to
contrast positive and negative aspects.
though, although, even though
Although the initial cost will be high, we will eventually pro t from the time
spent. It’s essential to remember that time is money even though many believe
that money is more important.
however, nonetheless
We need to improve the local infrastructure. However, we must also respect
nature.
despite, in spite of
Despite the di culty, students will soon see the bene t of this topic of study.
The situation will improve in spite of the short term prospects.

2.Think of an example of a small business

that failed and analyze the possible
reasons for its failure.
The reasons why a new business can fail:
– Poor initial market research
– Cash ow problems and/or overspending
– Failure to meet the customers’ expectations
– Poor business location
– Ine ective marketing
– Failing customer service
– Underestimating the competition
– Failure to change and adapt to the market
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 19.01
simple bureaucratic

exible rigid
hands-o hands-on
intuitive rational
methodical careless
stressed relaxed
top-down bottom-up
transparent unclear
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 19.02
centralized — decentralized
cooperative — uncooperative
coordinated — uncoordinated
direct — indirect
honest — dishonest
organized — disorganized
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 19.03
To allocate resources — allouer des ressources
To cover costs — couvrir des coûts
To identify needs — identi er des besoins
To measure performance — évaluer la performance
To make a pro t — faire du béné ce
To meet targets — atteindre des cibles
To pay attention to detail — être attentif aux détails
To report on 19 — faire un rapport sur les résultats
To set prices — xer des prix
To spot opportunities — repérer des opportunités
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 19.05
autoritaire authoritarian NB: autorité = authority

empathique empathetic

empirique empirical

con it d’intérêt con ict of interest

recruter to recruit

responsabilité responsibility

motiver to motivate

su sant su cient (synonym: enough)

 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 19.06
1. The journalist wonders what is the most
e ective management method to get the
best out of one’s employees. He
challenges the notion that making them
compete one against the other brings
about the best results.
2. Two groups of participants were set up.
In both groups they were asked to invest
in projects and had the choice to invest
individually or collectively in projects. In
both groups, the return on investment
was higher if the investment was
collective. But in one of the groups
investing in the individual project
improved the relative ranking of the
participant, even though the returns to
both the individual and the group were
lower.
3. In the group where participants were
informed about how well the group as a
whole was performing, relative to the
maximum possible return, the feedback
mechanism led to more co-operation.
In the group where individuals were told how well they scored and how well
they were performing relative to the rest of the group, the players chose to
moving up the chart over their group’s collective returns, but also over their
material wellbeing: they were willing to sacri ce part of their nancial gains to
achieve a better “status”.

4. Ranking feedback seems to be

counterproductive since it leads people to
compete with one another rather than to
cooperate for the better good. It is
particularly detrimental in “agile”
companies whose progress relies on tight
collaboration.
5. Rank and Yank is a term used to
describe a process by which a company
ranks its employees against each other,
and terminates the employment of the
people at the lowest end of the ranking
(that’s the yank). The term came into
being to describe the process used at
General Electric (GE), and associated with
former CEO Jack Welch.
The purported purpose of rank and yank is that by ring the worst performers,
and replacing them, the company will end up with a better workforce.

6.That method is criticized in the article

because stack ranking (another name for
rank and yank) pits employees against
their coworkers in a kind of Darwinian
“survival of the ttest”, leading employees
to feel unmotivated and disengaged as
well as creating unnecessary internal
competition that can be destructive to
synergy, creativity and innovation and pull
focus from marketplace completion.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 26.01
small power distance — New Zealand
large power distance — Malaysia
more individualist — the UK
more collectivist — China
strong uncertainty avoidance — Japan
weak uncertainty avoidance — the UK
more masculine values — the USA
more feminine values — the Netherlands
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 26.02
to create synergy between/among
to seize an opportunity to
to give a chance to
to resolve a con ict between
to solve a problem with
to enhance transparency between
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 26.03
1. Long-hours culture — where people are
expected to work for a long time each
day.
2. Company or corporate culture — the
way a particular company works, and the
things it believes are important.
3. Canteen culture — the ways that people
in an organization such as the police think
and talk, not approved by the leaders of
the organization.
4. Macho culture — ideas typically
associated with men: physical strength,
aggressiveness, etc.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 26.04
Cf. exercise 26.05.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 26.05
— More insight into do’s and dont’s regarding business practices in an
international context on editions-foucher.fr. It will also help you answer some of
the questions for exercise 1.
– “International business etiquette: avoiding business faux-pas” (Status Flow).
– “Six solid and simple tips for avoiding cultural faux-pas when working abroad”
(commisceo-global.com).
International Business Etiquette: Avoiding Business Faux Pas
Travelling overseas for business or hosting international visitors can be an
exciting experience. However, cultural boundaries and di erences can
sometimes lead to extremely uncomfortable – and even o ensive – faux pas.
The following areas are the most likely to cause a cross-cultural mistake. By
researching the country or culture of those you will be doing business with, you
will be able to further avoid any embarrassment.
—Body language and gestures
What we may consider innocent gestures or facial expressions might mean
something entirely di erent in another culture. Many cultures consider pointing
to be extremely rude and o ensive; likewise, a simple thumbs up is an o ensive
gesture in many Middle Eastern countries.
Even handshakes can lost in translation; in the United States, we often view
shaking hands as a way to close a deal, but other cultures see it as a sign that
negotiations are just beginning.
—Food
It is important to understand the cultural or religious dietary restrictions in
other countries. Doing so may help prevent any major faux pas. Before o ering
an alcoholic beverage to a potential client, consider their culture. Practitioners
of the Mormon, Muslim, or Seventh Day Adventists faiths do not drink alcohol,
whereas in Russia it is considered rude to refuse an o er of vodka.
If you nd yourself at a silent business lunch, do not be worried. Many cultures
do not speak during mealtime, believing that the food should be the focus.
Likewise, not eating enough in countries like Greece or Italy may be taken as a
sign you were displeased with the food o ered.
—Personal space
How close we stand to another person or how often we touch them varies from
culture to culture. In the United States we are accustomed to having a rather
large “personal bubble” of 1-2 yards; in most Eastern countries, however,
personal space is viewed di erently with everyone, including strangers,
standing much closer together.
In Mediterranean and South American cultures, it is common to touch or hug
acquaintances, friends, and colleagues as a way of connecting. In many Eastern
cultures, however, touching is taboo and as much as a simple pat on the back
may be o ensive.
Navigating the divide between di erent cultures may seem daunting, but with
research you can hope to avoid any major faux pas. While most cultural
mistakes can be graciously accepted and forgiven if genuine e ort is shown,
understanding cultural boundaries when doing business abroad can help you
avoid any potentially embarrassing situations.
By Status Flow (on February 23, 2015)
TEXT 2
Six Solid and Simple Tips for Avoiding Cultural Faux Pas When Working
Abroad
Are you new to working abroad? Travelling to a foreign country for the rst
time for business?
Getting it right when working overseas is critical; but what do you do if you
have little or no international exposure? You run the danger of too much
exposure Borat-style!
Working internationally requires a very di erent skill-set to working
domestically. What works well for you in your home country may count against
you when working abroad.
The key to working internationally is to scrap any perception that ‘the way we
do things at home’ is the only valid norm when working elsewhere.
It’s natural to view the business approaches you’ve traditionally relied on –
indeed been trained in, as ‘the right way’ but the sooner you appreciate these
approaches may not go down well on international platforms, the more likely
you are to succeed in your new global ventures. Remember it is only the right
way in the right context! This advice is key, if not golden, – keep it at the heart
of everything you do.
To enhance this, I have pulled together some tips, so simple and solid that
anyone can apply them immediately, to further increase your chances of
international success.
—1 Open Your Eyes and Start to Observe.
Your initial overseas’ encounters will undoubtedly leave you slightly
overwhelmed.
Despite this, be sure to retain a keen eye on areas of importance; particularly,
the way in which local people communicate with each other, body language,
rules of engagement during conversation and conversation turn taking, the way
in which people dress and potential gender rules etc.
Your ability to decode situations and recognise underlying dynamics make it
more likely that your international venture will go well.
—2 Ask Lots of Questions.
In addition to observing, ask as many questions as you can.
Questions present you as someone who is willing and interested; making it
more likely that your international peers will support your e orts.
Demonstrating a commitment to creating cultural synergy between the
involved parties serves as a strong indicator that you are not operating from a
position in which you expect everyone to do it ‘your way’.
Navigating foreign cultures can be complex when you don’t understand the
local rules and etiquette. As such, it cultural blunders can and do happen;
sometimes with adverse impacts on relationships and trust.
However, if you have made every e ort to demonstrate to your peers that you
are willing to learn then it’s very likely that potential blunders will be quickly
overlooked and forgiven.
—3 Allow For More Time & Be Patient
It’s not uncommon for transactions between people of di erent international
and cultural backgrounds to take longer than usual.
This is due to di erences in both communication and meeting logistics.
As such, don’t try and hurry things. Allow things to take as long as they take
and recognise the value in this.
It is also worth being cognizant of cultural di erences in the approach to time.
Some cultures have a far more exible and uid approach to time which may
further extend events.
—4 Embrace Uncertainty
When working across cultures, the di erences in approach, values and working
etiquette create a situation in which there is always a level of the unknown and
the need for participants to act exibly.
There are cultural di erences in the degree to which individuals are direct or
indirect in their communication. This di erence also extends to the degree in
which people are ‘exact’ in the way in which they work.
Take for example Germans, who are usually both direct in their speech (ie. they
use verbal language to convey what they mean) and exact in their planning and
execution. Someone from Saudi Arabi however, may be less direct in their
speech as much of what they mean may be communicated in their body
language as opposed to in their speech. Equally they may also have a high
tolerance for uncertainty which is likely to manifest in the absence of de nitive
planning.
Your ability to navigate these di erences and to appreciate uncertainty will
certainly support you in your ventures.
—5 Be Prepared and Go Early
We always recommend that if travelling to a new international target, that you
travel at least two days before your meeting dates. Why? This allows you to
acclimatise to the potential di erences in climate, cuisine and time di erences.
It also gives you the space to start forming an understanding of the local
culture.
Ensuring that you are physically and mentally prepared will go a long way to
get the most out of your subsequent meetings.
—6 Build Your Intercultural Skills.
When working interculturally, it is important that you either engage in face to
face training with intercultural experts, or, that you do as much research as you
can on your own.
Read up on the way the target culture operates. What behaviours do they
value? What behaviours might cause o ense? How might you need to adapt
your behaviours to gain cultural synergy?
Think also about your own culture. What behaviours do you value in the
workplace? What behaviours are likely to irritate you or make you
uncomfortable?
As a consequence of these exercises, map out the areas that you might need to
be aware of and prepare for. If, for example, you are rigid in respect to
timeliness and your international peers aren’t, then think about the strategies
you might need to use to manage this situation positively.
Above all, have fun. Intercultural exchanges are exciting, eye opening
opportunities, which enable you to increase your skill base and learn from
others. The more you travel, the greater your cultural skill base; enabling you
navigate any situation – no matter how complex.
From www.commisceo-global.com/blog/six-solid-and-
simple-tips-for-avoiding-cultural-faux-pas-when-working-
abroad (on 29 November, 2016)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 26.06
1. a. Before getting on a plane to discover
the world, look around you. — Paragraph 1
b. One meaningful relationship is enough
to raise cultural awareness. — Paragraph 2
c. How to make your expatriation
successful. — Paragraph 3
2.  •  Study 1: The respondents who said
they had been romantically involved with
someone from another culture during
their studies displayed higher creative
performance.
• Study 2: The 2-step test that the
respondents had to take ( rst an essay on
their dating experiences and then a
creativity test) showed that learning
about a di erent culture strengthens
cognitive exibility, and by extension,
creativity.
• Study 3: Experts found out that the
duration of past intercultural romantic
relationships was the most signi cant
predictor of creative performance, while
the number of such relationships was not
signi cant.
• Study 4: Researchers discovered that
professionals who were still in close
contact with friends they made in the U.S.
were more likely to have started their own
business after returning home, and/or
more likely to be a force for innovative
change in their workplace.
The main di erences between that latest studies and the rst three:
• More respondents in the last study.
• The respondents are professionals unlike
the former ones who were all students.
• Researchers studied their relationship
with Americans, but not necessarily
relationships of the romantic kind.
3. This idea was actually developed in the
rst paragraph already when the author
talked about expatriates and said: “expats
who deeply engage with the local culture
by mixing with locals and learning their
language, for example, tend to become
more creative and enjoy greater
professional success after returning home
than those who stick to expat enclaves.”
The idea is that in order to take
advantage of the contact with other
cultures, individuals have to get involved.
If they don’t and shy away from any deep
commitment, the experience will be
fruitless and it will all come to nothing.
Expatriates who leave their country of
origin but don’t mix with the local
population will get nothing from the
experience, which is a pity.
4. Advice is given both to companies and
governments.
Companies should foster cross-cultural collaboration among employees
because it will generate more creativity and should encourage diversity instead
of insisting on formatting every employee.
Governments ought to underline the economic, social and cultural advantages
of diversity to avoid the temptation of modern societies to turn in on
themselves.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 26.07
cross-cultural bonds
cross-cultural bonding
cross-cultural dating experience
intercultural learning experiences
intercultural romantic relationships
intercultural friendships
cross-cultural learning
cultural comfort zone
cross-cultural collaboration
cultural di erences
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 27.02
1
vacancy: a job or position that is available.
2
template: pre-designed document formatted for a particular purpose.
3
rate: assess sb and decide that they have a particular level.
4
shortlist: a list of people who have been judged the most suitable for a job,
made from a longer list of people originally considered, and from which one
person will be chosen.
5
headhunting: nding sb who has the right skills for a senior position and
convincing them to leave their present job.
6
allocate: to decide to use a particular amount of money for a particular
purpose.
7
premises: buildings used by a company.
8
quali cation: an ability, characteristic, or experience that makes you suitable
for a particular job or activity.
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 27.03
De nition verb noun person

to make a formal request to apply application an applicant

a ght to decide who is to challenge a challenge a challenger

superior in terms of ability
or strength

a formal consultation usually to interview an interview an interviewee

to evaluate quali cations
an interviewer

to make a plan for sthg that to design a design a designer

will be built

to evaluate to assess assessment an assessor

a process by which people to communication a

exchange information communicate communicator

to choose sb for a position to appoint an an appointee

appointment

the process of nding to recruit recruitment a recruit

people to work for
a company or become a new
member of an organization
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 27.04
Student A:
The various steps that may have been involved are the following:
– looking for vacancies/reading the classi ed ads
– drafting a CV and sending it to the targeted company
– writing a cover letter and proofreading it
– calling the company to make sure they received your application
– participating in a job interview
– taking tests: IQ test, aptitude test, personality test, psychological test,
psychometric test
– undergoing a medical examination and or a background test
The questions that may be asked during a job interview are based on every
individual curriculum and can be both personal and professional to test the
applicant’s skills, abilities and capacity to respond under pressure. They may
include common questions such as:
– What can you tell me about yourself?
– Can you list your strengths?
– What weaknesses do you have?
– Why should I consider hiring you?
– Where do you see yourself ve years from now?
– Why do you want to work here?
– What is your salary expectation?
– What motivates you?
– What makes a good team player?
– Is there anything that you would like to ask me?
You may even be asked other, more unexpected ones, like ‘if you were an
animal, which would you be?’ Such questions are designed to see how good
you are at thinking on your feet so you cannot truly prepare for them. Just relax
and say something sensible.
Student B:
To express advice and make suggestions, you will need some linguistic tools.
1. you SHOULD + BV/ SHOULD NOT + BV or you OUGHT TO + BV
2. I advise you to/ I advise you NOT to (N.B.: the verb is spelt: adviSe; the noun
is spelt adviCe)
3. You HAD BETTER + BV/ HAD BETTER NOT + BV
4. I SUGGEST + subordinate clause
5. If I were you I WOULD + BV/ I WOULD NOT + BV
To express reproach or adjustment:
1. SHOULD (NOT) + HAVE + past participle
2. OUGHT TO + HAVE+ past participle
3. I WOULD (NOT) + HAVE + past participle
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 27.05
Here are some tips.
De nition of the Recruitment & Selection Process, by Ruth Mayhew
In your human resources department, several components make up the
recruitment and selection process.
Hiring for a job opening is a step-by-step process. If you take the time to follow
the steps patiently, you can narrow a stack of resumes down to that one ideal
candidate.
The recruitment and selection process is one of the most important aspects of
running new and established businesses alike. The right employees can take
your business to new heights. The wrong ones can hurt business by missing
sales, turning customers o and creating a toxic workplace environment. Follow
experts’ advice on each step of the recruitment and selection process to put
together a team that ts with and enhances your business culture, goals and
objectives.
Sourcing Candidates
This is the rst step in the recruitment and selection process. Sourcing
candidates means using a variety of methods to nd suitable candidates for job
vacancies. Sourcing can be done via online advertising on job and career sites
or professional networking and participation in trade associations. Another
creative sourcing technique employment specialists utilize is monitoring
employment changes at industry competitors to recruit applicants familiar with
the same type of business you are operating.
Tracking Applicants
The next steps in the recruitment and selection process are tracking applicants
and applications and reviewing resumes. Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are
becoming extremely helpful to employers, and this technology aids in the
management of job vacancies and applications for every open position.
Employment specialists use ATSs to review applications and resumes. You or
your employment specialist or assistant can then decide which applicants to
interview. An ATS can be developed for organizations of any size, including
small businesses. With some ATSs, applicants can track their application status,
too.
Preliminary Phone Interview
Conducting a preliminary phone interview is essential for obtaining information
about the applicant’s background, work history and experience. The objective
of this phone call is to determine whether or not the applicant has the requisite
skills and quali cations for the job vacancy. Initial discussions will reveal those
applicants who obviously do not meet the minimum requirements for the job.
After the phone interview, you’ll be able to narrow the eld of applicants to
send for consideration by the hiring manager. Or, if you will be doing the hiring,
you may ask your assistant to arrange in-person interviews with the applicants
you have selected. The advantage of having one person arrange all the
interviews is that all candidates will receive the same information.
Face-to-Face Interview and Selection
The interview is the most important step in the recruitment process. Therefore,
it’s important to prepare for the interview in advance. For each skill required for
the job, prepare one or two questions that will tell you if the applicant has this
skill. By asking the same questions of all applicants, you can compare them
more easily later. Make notes on their resumes in advance of any issues you
want to clarify. During the interview, make notes as well so you will remember
the candidates. After all interviews have been conducted, narrow the eld of
candidates by removing the resumes of those who don’t have the needed
quali cations. You may want to conduct an additional interview of the nalists,
or perhaps send them on to colleagues to interview for a second opinion.
Extending an Employment O er
Once you have decided which candidate is most suitable for the job vacancy,
it’s time to make the job o er. You’ll also inform the candidate of pre-
employment matters, such as background inquiries, drug tests, licensing
information or any other tests or information you require.
When recruiting for positions where you negotiate the terms of employment,
compensation and bene ts, and other issues, a draft employment o er may
change hands back and forth from you to the candidate until both are in
agreement. An employment o er should always be in writing to document the
terms of your agreement with your prospective employee.
From: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/de nition-recruitment-selection-process-
2526.html
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 28.02
1. holiday — vacation
2. trainee — intern
3. trade union — labor union
4. dismissal notice — pink slip
5. labour — labor
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 28.03
1. She should have received severance
pay / a redundancy payment.
2. She has been on sick leave for two
months.
3. He has obtained  / secured a contract
for a limited period of time.
4. Mr Davis is no longer on the payroll  /
employed by the company.
5. The applications were screened  /
shortlisted by the personnel director.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 28.06
1.He hints at all the new trends in terms of
human resources management in some
rms which try to lure talent such as
Google or other Silicon Valley start-ups.
These rms are ready to indulge in all
individual idiosyncrasies if it means they
get the most talented employees. That is
the case for Google for instance.
Read more here:
https://www.hcamag.com/us/news/general/these-companies-have-the-best-
workplace-cultures-according-to-employees/251860

2. In the past they expressed it at the bar,

in close circles. Opinions did not go viral
like they may do now when they are
posted on social network. Positive or
negative the feedback in the past did
rarely go beyond the family or friends
circle. Today these opinions can harm a
company’s image because tweets can be
re-tweeted, etc. The audience for such
feedback is much larger and also
generally more prone to criticism.
3. Two elements:
– that an employee who o ends should be protected (not red) whereas an
employee who harasses should be dismissed,
– that personal opinions and professional posture should not be confused:
employees outside work should be allowed to express their personal opinions
on private matters.

4.Positive fallout for companies: if they

can rely on laws that allow them to lay o
o ending employees, they will be able to
withstand any criticism that may
challenge their democratic foundations.
For politicians: it would ensure a variety of opinions and views among their
constituents and participate in more diversity to bridge ideological trenches.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 28.08
1. Si vous pouvez prouver que les salaires
des femmes sont inférieurs à ceux des
hommes, plaidez en faveur de l’égalisation
des salaires.
2. Des mesures doivent être prises
rapidement pour empêcher la maladie de
se propager.
3. Un de ces étudiants sur dix a exprimé
de l’intérêt pour un emploi
communautaire après l’obtention de leur
diplôme, même si la plupart envisageaient
aussi d’autres possibilités de carrière.
4. Il ne faut jamais user de représailles
contre un employé qui a soulevé un
problème ou formulé une plainte de
bonne foi.
5. Dans ce contexte, un cadre général a
été dé ni qui précisait les principes ainsi
que les outils nécessaires à l’implication
du secteur privé dans la prévention et la
résolution des crises nancières.
6. C’est la pauvreté ou la quasi-pauvreté
qu’ils ont connue pendant leur jeunesse
qui les a empêchés de mettre de l’argent
de côté pour leur retraite.
7. La gestion de l’Agence doit pouvoir
résister au regard critique de l’opinion
publique.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 20.01
to appraise — an appraisee — une personne évaluée
to address — an addressee — un destinataire
to evacuate — an evacuee — une personne évacuée
to employ — an employee — un salarié
to interview — an interviewee — une personne interviewée
to franchise — a franchisee — un franchisé
to license — a licensee — un licencié/le titulaire d’une licence
to train — a trainee — un stagiaire (synonym: an intern)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 20.04
compensation program — b. system of payments and rewards for employees
stretch targets — e. strategic objectives extremely di cult to achieve
comparison companies — h. competitors
annual base salary — g. yearly salary, excluding bonuses, etc.
short-term cash incentives — f. bonuses to encourage better performance
equity-based awards — c. stock given to employees as rewards
increased shareholder value — d. better returns for shareholders
customer-retention rates — a. the percentage of customers that stay loyal in
the long term
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 20.05
1. — Correction. See articles on editions-
foucher.fr:
– “7 employee motivation techniques and tools” by Taylor Cotter.
– “What people want from work: motivation” by Susan M. Heath eld.

1. TEXT 1
7 employee motivation techniques and tools
As you build your company and hire new employees, it’s important that they
stay engaged, motivated and incentivized to do well. A disengaged employee is
not only a drain on your resources, but can create a culture where no one is
motivated to succeed.
Building a culture of motivation is a great way to keep your employees happy at
work. Employees should feel motivated by their projects, compensation and
bene ts. Job performance is said to be a function of ability multiplied by
motivation.
Learning incentives
Employees who invest in themselves and their education over time not only
have a renewed sense of perspective and focus on their projects, but they can
actively increase your bottom line. A report from health insurer, Cigna, showed
every dollar they invested into their Education Reimbursement Program
generated a 129 percent return on investment. By giving employees the
opportunity to get more education, companies improve their culture and
pro tability.
Learning incentives can come in a variety of packages: tuition or student loan
reimbursements, budgets for conferences, online courses or exible schedules
for pursuing classwork. If you have a small budget, you could start building a
culture of learning by creating a library or online drive to share resources.
Perks: PTO, childcare and services
Employee bene ts and perks are part of almost all compensation packages. It
has become standard (and often mandated) for companies to o er bene ts like
health insurance, paid time o and exibility. However, employees are looking
for their bene ts to be taken to the next level. For many companies, this
translates into infusing more fun into o ces by adding game rooms and beer
fridges. However, though employees probably won’t turn up their noses at
these perks, they are more likely to appreciate bene ts that will allow them to
maintain a better work life balance.
According to a report from Glassdoor, employees are most interested in health
insurance, paid time o , performance bonuses, paid sick days and a 401(k) plan,
retirement plan or pension. These kinds of bene ts boost health, increase
motivation and incentivize people to stick around and become more invested.
Companies are nding innovative and standout ways to o er these bene ts.
Net ix o ers unlimited maternity and paternity leave. MOZ o ers “PAID paid
Vacation,” which includes a $3,000/year vacation expense reimbursement in
addition to paid time o . Adobe closes their company for one week in
December and one week over the summer. By staying competitive with
bene ts, these companies create a motivated workforce who are committed to
their work and act as ambassadors for their brands.
Appreciation, feedback, improvement
More than anything, the biggest motivating factor for employees are words of
a rmation. Showing recognition of work, encouragement and giving
employees opportunities to improve will often reap the biggest productivity
bene ts. Lack of appreciation is the number one reason people leave jobs and
appreciation is the number one thing people say causes them to do great work.
Showing this appreciation thoughtfully and consistently is the best way to
motivate your employees to commit to their jobs and create a more positive
workplace.
Employers often show their appreciation for employees through performance
bonuses, raises, promotions and career growth. However, companies can
motivate their employees even more by showing appreciation on a daily basis.
By o ering a speci c and clear compliment, trust with a new or bigger project
or another kind of growth opportunity, you can show gratitude for your
employees and encourage them to perform.
When you’re launching an employee motivation program, collecting and
measuring results and feedback from your employees is crucial. Without
employee buy-in, you risk creating a less engaged workforce.
Employee motivation tools
TINYpulse: Software that allows leaders to pinpoint workplace problems.
TinyPulse’s tools feature real-time feedback for recognition, as well as
technology for weekly check-ins, feedback and goal-setting.
Kudos: Kudos is an employee recognition system and corporate social network
that engages employees to create a strong connection to corporate culture. It
provides opportunities for employee-to-employee feedback, manager-to-
employee feedback and customizable badges and certi cates.
Culture Amp: Culture Amp provides surveys and insight for engaged
employees. Their surveys can be customized to suit your organization and they
o er an intuitive dashboard and analytics engine.
HighGround: HighGround o ers an HR cloud platform designed for employees
to help companies build highly engaged and high-performing cultures through
continuous feedback, ongoing employee development and real-time
recognition.
Taylor Cotter, http://resources.workable.com/tutorial/
employee-motivation-techniques
TEXT 2
What People Want From Work: Motivation
Motivation Is Di erent For Each of Your Employees
Every individual person has di erent motivations for working at a job. The
reasons for working are as individual as the person. But, all people work
because the workplace provides something that you need from work. The
something that you obtain from your work impacts your morale, your
motivation, and the quality of your life.
Here are thoughts about employee motivation, what people want from work,
and how you can help employees attain what they need for their work
motivation.
Work IS about the Money
Some people work for their love of the work; others work for personal and
professional ful llment. Other people like to accomplish goals and feel as if they
are contributing to something larger than themselves, something important, an
overarching vision for what they can create. Some people have personal
missions they accomplish through meaningful work.
Others truly love what they do or the clients they serve. Some like the
camaraderie and interaction with customers and coworkers. Other people like
to ll their time with activity. Some workers like change, challenge, and diverse
problems to solve. As you can see, employee motivation is individual and
diverse.
Whatever your personal reasons for working, the bottom line, however, is that
almost everyone works for money. Whatever you call it: compensation, salary,
bonuses, bene ts or remuneration, money pays the bills.
Money provides housing, gives children clothing and food, sends teens to
college, and allows leisure activities, and eventually, retirement. Unless you are
independently wealthy, you need to work to collect a paycheck.
To underplay the importance of money and bene ts as motivation for people
who work is a mistake.
It may not be their most signi cant motivator or even the motivational factor
they’d rst mention in a conversation but earning a living is a factor in any
discussion about employee motivation.
Fair bene ts and pay are the cornerstones of a successful company that
recruits and retains committed workers. If you provide a living wage for your
employees, you can then work on additional motivation issues. Without the fair,
living wage, however, you risk losing your best people to a better-paying
employer.
In fact, research from Watson Wyatt Worldwide in The Human Capital Edge: 21
People Management Practices Your Company Must Implement (or Avoid) to
Maximize Shareholder Value, recommends, that to attract the best employees,
you need to pay more than your average-paying counterparts in the
marketplace. Money provides basic motivation.
Got Money? What’s Next for Motivation?
Surveys and studies dating back to the early 1980s demonstrate that people
want more from work than money. An early study of thousands of workers and
managers by the American Psychological Association clearly demonstrated
this.
Managers predicted that the most important motivational aspect of work for
people they employed would be money.
Instead, it turned out that personal time and attention from the manager or
supervisor was cited by workers as most rewarding and motivational for them
at work.
In a Workforce article, “The Ten Ironies of Motivation,” reward and recognition
guru, Bob Nelson, says, “More than anything else, employees want to be valued
for a job well done by those they hold in high esteem.” He adds that people
want to be treated as if they are adult human beings who think, make decisions,
try to do the right thing, and don’t need a caretaker watching over their
shoulders.
While what people want from work is situational, depending on the person, his
needs and the rewards that are meaningful to him, giving people what they
want from work is really quite straight forward. People want:
•Control of their work inspires motivation:
including such components as the ability
to have an impact on decisions; setting
clear and measurable goals; clear
responsibility for a complete, or at least
de ned, task; job enrichment; tasks
performed in the work itself; and
recognition for achievement.
•To belong to the in-crowd creates
motivation: including items such as
receiving timely information and
communication; understanding
management’s formulas for decision
making; team and meeting participation
opportunities; and visual documentation
and posting of work progress and
accomplishments.
•The opportunity for growth and
development is motivational: and includes
education and training; career paths;
team participation; succession planning;
cross-training; and eld trips to successful
workplaces.
•Leadership is key in motivation. People
want clear expectations that provide a
picture of the outcomes desired with goal
setting and feedback and an appropriate
structure or framework.
Recognition for Performance Creates Motivation
In The Human Capital Edge, authors Bruce Pfau and Ira Kay say that people
want recognition for their individual performance with pay tied to their
performance.
Employees want people who don’t perform red; in fact, failure to discipline
and re non-performers is one of the most demotivating actions an
organization can take  – or fail to take. It ranks on the top of the list next to
paying poor performers the same wage as non-performers in de ating
motivation.
Additionally, the authors found that a disconnect continues to exist between
what employers think people want at work and what people say they want for
motivation. “Employers far underrate the importance to employees of such
things as exible work schedules or opportunities for advancement in their
decision to join or leave a company.
“That means that many companies are working very hard (and using scarce
resources) on the wrong tools,” say Pfau and Kay. People want employers to
pay them above market rates. They seek exible work schedules. They want
stock options, a chance to learn, and the increased sharing of the rationale
behind management decisions and direction.
What You Can Do for Motivation and Positive Morale
You have much information about what people want from work. Key to creating
a work environment that fosters motivation are the wants and needs of the
individual employees. The most signi cant recommendation for your takeaway
is that you need to start asking your employees what they want from work and
whether they are getting it.
With this information in hand, you’ll be surprised at how many simple and
inexpensive opportunities you have to create a motivational, desirable work
environment. Pay attention to what is important to the people you employ for
high motivation and positive morale. When you foster these for people, you’ll
achieve awesome business success.
Susan M. Heath eld, www.thebalance.com (on June 19, 2017)

2.The answers here will necessarily be

personal but should be organized in an
argumentative manner.
3. — Correction. See article on editions-
foucher.fr: “Theory X and theory Y”
(wikipedia.org).
Theory X is based on pessimistic assumptions regarding
It supposes that the typical
the typical worker.
employee has little to no ambition, shies
away from work or responsibilities, and is
individual-goal oriented. Generally, Theory
X style managers believe their employees
are less intelligent, lazier than the
managers, or work solely for a sustainable
income.
The ‘Theory X’ manager believes that all actions should be traced and the
responsible individual given a direct reward or a reprimand according to the
action’s outcomes. This managerial style is more e ective when used in a
workforce that is not intrinsically motivated to perform.
According to McGregor, there are two approaches to implementing Theory X:
the “hard” approach and the “soft” approach. The hard approach depends on
close supervision, intimidation, and imminent punishment. It can potentially
yield a hostile, minimally cooperative work force that could harbor resentment
towards management. The soft approach is the literal opposite, characterized
by leniency and less strictly regulated rules in hopes for high workplace morale
and therefore cooperative employees. Implementing a system that is too soft
could result in an entitled, low-output workforce. McGregor believes both ends
of the spectrum are too extreme for e cient real world application. Instead,
McGregor feels that somewhere between the two approaches would be the
most e ective implementation of Theory X.
Overall, Theory X generally proves to be most e ective in terms of consistency
of work. Although managers and supervisors are in almost complete control of
the work, this produces a more systematic and uniform product or work ow.
Theory X can also bene t a work place that is more suited towards an assembly
line or manual labor type of occupation. Utilizing theory X in these types of
work conditions allow the employee to specialize in a particular area allowing
the company to mass produce more quantity and higher quality work, which in
turns brings more pro t.
Theory Y
In contrast, Theory Y managers act on the belief that people in the workforce
are internally motivated, enjoy their labor in the company, and work to better
themselves without a direct “reward” in return. Theory Y employees are
considered to be one of the most valuable assets to the company, and truly
drive the internal workings of the corporation. Workers additionally tend to
take full responsibility for their work and do not require the need of constant
supervision in order to create a quality and higher standard product.
“Theory Y” managers gravitate towards relating to the worker on a more
personal level, as opposed to a more conductive and teaching based
relationship. As a result, Theory Y followers may have a better relationship with
their higher-ups, as well as potentially having a healthier atmosphere in the
workplace. Managers in this theory tend to use a democratic type of leadership
because workers will be working in a way that does not need supervision the
most. “Theory Y” adds more of a democratic and free feel in the workforce
allowing the employee to design, construct, and publish their works in a timely
manner in co-ordinance to their workload and projects.
While “Theory Y” may seem optimal, it does have some drawbacks. While there
is a more personal and individualistic feel, this does leave room for error in
terms of consistency and uniformity. The workplace lacks unvarying rules and
practices, and this can result in an inconsistent product which could potentially
be detrimental to the quality standards and strict guidelines of a given
company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 21.01
Responsabilité responsibility
Ressources humaines human resources
Hiérarchique hierarchical
Recherche et développement research and development
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 21.04
1. The person who heads a Board of
Directors: a chairman
2. The highest executive o cer in a
company: a president
3. The person managing the a airs of a
corporation: the CEO
4. The senior director after the chairman: a
managing director
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 21.05
chain of command: Handing decision making from the higher levels of an
organization to lower levels.
lines of responsibility: The speci cation of individual employees’ responsibilities
for particular aspects of work and of their management responsibilities and
who they report to in the organization.
spans of control: The number of people a manager can e ectively manage in a
particular situation.
Board of Management: A committee of members elected by the shareholders
to manage and oversee the company.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 21.06
1. This phrase refers to the maximum
number of sta a startup company can
actually rely on… Once a startup leader
gets up on a chair to address the sta
and someone yells out, “We can’t hear
you,” it’s time to start rethinking how
you’re communicating.
2. When the group exceeds 150 members,
it is too time-consuming to run the
network properly, which means that the
quality of the relationships between
members su ers. There might also be
problem of control and discipline. Which
would explain why the typical army unit
does not exceed that number either.
3. It is a relatively small team (about ve
to nine members maximum) that is made
up according to the needs of the
company. Its composition will evolve
depending on the project the companies
is concentrating on.
The main traits everyone on the team should possess are a desire for
collaboration and continuous improvement. An agile team is all about
communication (usually daily), teamwork, problem-solving, technical
development skills, and striving to improve the team’s velocity with each
iteration.

4.He considers it is a necessary evolution

of the labour market that went from
intensive production to service economy.
He insists that by keeping the team
smaller it will avoid con ict within the
structure. The snag is though that a
company may need to resort to outsiders
to get the work done sometimes and this
may make them feel left aside.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 21.07
1. Oxford University evolutionary
psychology professor Robin Dunbar has
theorized that humans can only really
maintain personalized relationships with
150 people. He found this seemingly
magic number ”in the typical community
size of hunter-gatherer societies, in the
average village size in county after county
in the Domesday book, as well as in 18th-
century England; it is the average parish
size among the Hutterites and the Amish.”
“There is no question that the dynamics of organizations change once they
exceed about 150 or so,” says Dunbar. “The Hutterites deliberately split their
communities at this size in order to avoid having to have both hierarchies and a
police force. Keeping things below 150 means you can manage the system by
peer pressure, whereas above 150 you need some kind of top down, discipline-
based management system.”
At a startup, once the sta exceeds 150 people, employees are no longer the
single, cohesive, culture-reinforcing unit they were during the company’s
earliest days. Sta ers become more specialized and entrenched with their
teams, which are probably sprawled across an o ce, perhaps on multiple oors
or in several locations.
https://qz.com/846530/something-weird-happens-to-companies-when-they-
hit-150-people/

2. Cf.: https://techbeacon.com/app-dev-
testing/10-companies-killing-it-scaling-
agile
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 21.08
At rst sight the document seems to be a collection of various companies’
organization charts. But a closer look reveals that the document is actually a
satirical cartoon that illustrates the cartoonist’s opinion on the organization of
di erent MNCs and aims at commenting the way these companies work, all
obviously more inspired from each company’s culture rather than by their
actual owchart.
That is how for instance Facebook’s owchart mimics a social network that
corresponds to the way the company relates to its customers. For Microsoft,
the cartoonist chose to emphasize the toxic competition that takes place within
the company by drawing guns protecting each department from one another.
Not only is the shape chosen for Apple’s ow chart reminiscent of the famous
logo of the company, but it also suggests that the CEO (formerly Steve Jobs)
holds a rm grip on his collaborators by centralizing all connections.
Thus this document not only illustrates the idea that each company actually
adopts a structure that corresponds to their strategy but that also re ects the
inner working of their management as well as their corporate culture.
185 words
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 22.01
a. A company that cares for the welfare of
its employees increases its chances of
success.
welfare = bien-être — synonym: well-being

b. Downsizing is generally a very

unpopular decision in a company.
downsizing = réduction d’e ectifs — synonym: lay-o s (licenciements)

c.Marks and Spencer decide to retrain

some of their sta after they had to leave
France in 2001.
to retrain = recycler/ former

d. Sustainable Development stands for

meeting the needs of present generations
without jeopardizing the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
sustainable development = développement durable
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 22.02
to be unemployed = to be jobless / to be on the dole
N.B.: a jobseeker — demandeur d’emploi
rich = wealthy / a uent
N.B.: the a uent society: la société d’abondance
to foster = to encourage / to promote
wage = salary / pay
N.B.: income / earnings — revenus
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 22.04
CSR = Corporate Social Responsibility — Responsabilité sociétale et
environnementale de l’entreprise (RSE)
R&D = Research and Development — Recherche et Développement
an NGO = a Non-Governmental Organization — Organisation non
gouvernementale (ONG)
M&A = Mergers and Acquisitions — Fusions et acquisitions
a PLC = a Public Limited Company — une Société anonyme (SA)
GDP = Gross Domestic Product — le Produit intérieur brut (PIB)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 22.05
1. Naomi Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a
Canadian author and social activist known
for her political analyses and criticism of
corporate globalization and of corporate
capitalism. She is best known for No
Logo, a book that went on to become an
international bestseller, and The Shock
Doctrine, a critical analysis of the history
of neoliberal economics. (Wikipedia)
She wants to draw the attention of the pubic to the fact that large corporations
take advantage of their brand image to make always more money at the
expense of the consumers and all stakeholders.
She believes that corporate partnerships are just another scam, one more
marketing tool that companies use to clear their conscience and make their
customers feel good about themselves.

2. The main positive aspects of the

partnerships between charities and
companies are the following:
– companies kill two birds with one stone since they abide by the law by
adopting greener processes for instance and they get to clear their conscience,
– they open new markets because they draw a part of the population that may
be interested in doing good while consuming,
– they improve their brand image
– they save money by cutting their waste and/or pollution,
– they attract better-quali ed (but idealistic) employees.
Charities also take advantage of the situation:
– they get to change the companies’ behaviour by raising their awareness
about their impact on their environment,
– they obtain tangible, measurable results in terms of reduction of waste and
pollution,
– they raise the funds they need to enforce their actions,
– they increase their in uence on the population by using companies as a
vehicle to convey their message.

3. The main negative aspects of the

partnerships between charities and
companies are the following:
– such alliances can prove to be costly for companies,
– companies have to streamline some of their processes to abide by the deal
they struck with the NGOs.
NGOs may also su er from these partnerships:
– they can besmirch their reputation, especially after such disasters as BP’s oil
spill or when the Rana Plaza textile building collapsed,
– the in uence of NGOs on companies is clearly limited if not completely non-
existent,
– they may lose their credibility and in uence on the population because they
may be seen as puppets in the hands of large corporations.

4.World Wide Fund (aka World Wildlife

Fund) and Greenpeace are both NGOs
dealing with the protection of the
environment and more precisely the
protection of endangered animal species.
They both aim at raising awareness about
the constant and impending extinction of
animal species and call for action to slow
down that movement.
Although their end may be similar, the means to reach it are quite di erent.
Indeed, while WWF is ready to cooperate with companies (such as Coca-Cola
for instance), Greenpeace rejects all kinds of corporate partnerships which they
consider as betrayals. Greenpeace tends to demonize companies and describes
them as the source of all evils whereas WWF sees them as potential partners in
their ght for the animal cause.

5. The journalist believes that you

shouldn’t throw the baby out with the
bathwater. Indeed, as imperfect as those
partnerships may be, he believes that
they participate in making the world a
better place.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 22.06
Jane White
30 Newbury Street,
LONDON SE6 4JJ
15th December 2017
Patricia Clayton
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Cognizant Technology Solutions
1 Kingdom Street
LONDON, W2 6BD
Dear Ms Clayton
I’m writing today to express my discontent concerning the plan you announced
at the latest General Assembly to relocate the manufacturing plant of electronic
parts to one of the Baby Tiger countries. I know Vietnam has become especially
attractive to foreign countries due to its stable political situation and its cheap
workforce. The Vietnamese government has also o ered incentives if we bring
our business there.
Even though I agree with you that this operation should considerably reduce
our overheads and increase the company’s overall pro ts, I would like to attract
your attention to the responsibility we have to this country. Not only would our
local suppliers su er but our employees would all be out of work if we relocate.
Here, we can be sure of the training, skills, motivation and commitment to our
company and rely on the quality of the products we manufacture.
In South East Asia, workers’ and women’s labour rights are not always
respected as they should be; they work extremely long hours in atrocious
conditions and the distance would be a drawback if we had to send any
products back.
To maintain consumer trust in our products, which is vital for the health of
Cognizant Technology Solutions, we need to enforce our company’s corporate
social responsibility programme even if it may cost us a little. In the long run we
will come out on top.
If you insist on relocating I would like to warn you that I will sell all my shares
and encourage other shareholders to do likewise. Looking forward to hearing
from you as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely
Jane White
Shareholder
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 23.01
Chief Executive O cer — Président directeur général (PDG)
Annual General Meeting — Assemblée générale ordinaire
Public Limited Company — Société anonyme (SA)
Limited Liability Company — Société à responsabilité limitée (SàRL)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 23.02
1. The money that a corporation owes is
debt.
2. An owner is sb who legally possesses
sthg (this sthg can be anything) whereas
a proprietor is sb who owns a business.
3. A shareholder is sb who owns part of a
business, in British English. A stockholder
is the same but in American English.
4. If you’re a shareholder in a company,
then every year you receive a dividend
paid out of the company’s pro ts.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 23.04
1. An activist investor is actually an
investor who makes large enough an
investment in a company to be able to
participate in the management and the
rm’s decision-making.
2. The Murakamis want Toshiba either to
invest its reserves more productively or to
return more to the shareholders and that
is the whole point of activist investors.
Indeed, an activist investor wants
stockholders to participate in the
management of the company to boost
pro ts. They are generally more
aggressive than regular shareholders.
They also want the board to be more
transparent about the way they manage
the company’s funds.
3. Japan’s corporate governance reforms
were the result of the government’s
e orts to boost business competitiveness.
Boards at most companies were
encouraged to
– have at least two outside and independent directors. Japan’s corporate
governance code that took e ect in 2015 requires a minimum of two
independent directors,
– to consider at least one-third independent boards and
– to boost the number of female directors.
Investors pledged to prod management to boost returns and trim protectionist
cross-shareholdings. The code that took e ect in 2015 sought to make
companies more transparent and responsive to shareholders.
More info here: https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/blog/japans-
corporate-governance-overhaul-2/

4.Japan’s governance reforms have made

some progress in diversifying corporate
boardrooms, but much more may need to
change to make companies globally
competitive.
e.g.: Nikkei 225 companies have the lowest median proportion of independent
directors (26%) and female directors (0%) and the oldest average age (63.2
years) among developed-market peers.
A homogeneous board may be less e ective at steering management to realize
opportunities in new and changing markets.
One aspect of Japan’s corporate governance reforms that companies have
resisted addressing is spreading annual meetings out to allow investors more
time to consider agenda items and to attend.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 23.05
Cf.: https://www.fsa.go.jp/en/news/2021/20210406.html
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 23.06
The following texts about Amazon may be enlightening.
Amazon wages
WHEN Amazon announced in 2010 that it would build a distribution centre in
Lexington County, South Carolina, the decision was hailed as a victory for the
Palmetto State.
Today the e-commerce giant employs thousands of workers at the centre. Just
3.5% of the local workforce is out of work. Alas, the in ux of jobs has not
boosted wages for the region’s forklift drivers and order- llers. In the years
since Amazon opened its doors in Lexington County, annual earnings for
warehouse workers in the area have fallen from $47,000 to $32,000, a decline
of over 30%. Lexington County is not alone. Since Amazon opened a warehouse
in Chester eld, Virginia, warehouse wages in the region have fallen by 17%. In
Tracy, California, they have dropped by 16%. Flat or falling industry wages are
common in the cities and towns where Amazon opens distribution centres.
Government gures show that after Amazon opens a storage depot, local
wages for warehouse workers fall by an average of 3%. In places where Amazon
operates, such workers earn about 10% less than similar workers employed
elsewhere.
About 44 cents out of every dollar spent online in America ows to Amazon,
according to eMarketer, a research rm. The rm’s success can be attributed in
part to speed and convenience. To get orders to customers as quickly as
possible, the company relies on a vast network of warehouses the size of
aircraft carriers where the company stores its products and processes orders.
Amazon operates more than 75 “ful lment centres” and 35 sorting centres in
America, manned by 125,000 full-time workers. To keep costs in check, Amazon
must not only maintain dozens of warehouses, but run them e ciently.
Whereas traditional shop workers might remain idle for hours at a time,
Amazon’s workers—the “stowers” that stock inventory, the “pickers” that pluck
items from shelves and the “packers” that box them up for shipment—are
constantly moving. Pickers are equipped with hand-held devices that show
them what each item looks like, where it may be found, and how to get there as
quickly as possible. As they navigate row after row of shelves, timers count
down the seconds needed to retrieve each item. To meet performance targets,
pickers must collect as many as 1,000 items and walk up to 15 miles in a single
shift.
According to available data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS),
warehouse workers in counties where Amazon operates a ful lment centre earn
about $41,000 per year, compared with $45,000 per year in the rest of the
country, a di erence of nearly 10%. The BLS data also show that in the ten
quarters before the opening of a new Amazon centre, local warehouse wages
increase by an average of 8%. In the ten quarters after its arrival, they fall by 3%.
 The Economist (on January 20th, 2018)
Je Bezos adds billions to his fortune as Amazon reports pro t surge
Je Bezos, the world’s richest man, added another couple of billion to his
fortune on Thursday as Amazon, the company he founded, announced it had
made close to $2bn in pro ts in the three months running up to Christmas.
The news, which came as Apple and Google’s parent Alphabet, also reported
results, sent Amazon’s share price soaring over 4%. Bezos owns about 16% of
the company and has already added $20bn to his fortune this year, bringing his
total net worth to more than $119bn.
Apple and Google were less fortunate. Apple’s shares wobbled in after hours
trading despite announcing its best ever quarterly revenues. Investors have
become spooked that sales of its agship iPhone have stalled. Amazon posted
revenues of $60.5bn for the three months to the end of December, up from
$43.74bn in the same period a year earlier.
The Seattle-based company reported net income of $1.9bn as it sold more
voice-activated Echo devices and added more Prime members. The strong
results were helped by consumers’ greater willingness to do their holiday
shopping online and by Amazon’s cloud business, Amazon Web Services, a
pro t engine for the corporation that is growing at 45% despite increasing
competition from Microsoft and Google. Bezos leapfrogged over Bill Gates and
Carlos Slim last year after Amazon’s share price rose more than 50%.
Analysts said they would look closely at the Whole Foods supermarket chain,
newly added into the company’s portfolio, as the engineers seek to marry
Amazon e-tailing tech to food distribution. Last month, the company opened
its rst checkout-free store, causing shares to jump. Apple raked in a record-
breaking $88.3bn in the last three months of 2017.
The world’s most valuable company sold 77.3m iPhones over the quarter, down
0.9% compared with last year, despite the fact that it had introduced three new
models. Its latest agship model, the $1,000 iPhone X, has not proved a hit with
consumers. Apple has slashed planned production of the pricey handset
because of weaker-than-expected demand.
The last quarter of the year is traditionally Apple’s strongest. But Apple
su ered delays to the release of the iPhone X, its HomePod smart speaker
missed the Christmas season altogether and the company’s reputation was
dented by news that it was slowing the performance of older iPhones.
Nevertheless the company made a pro t of $20bn.
Alphabet, once the hottest tech company on the block, had the worst day on
Tech Thursday. The company announced a loss after taking a $9.9bn charge
related to the new US tax law. The tax change, introduced in December by
President Donald Trump, is expected to boost the pro ts of US corporations in
the long run. Excluding the one-o tax hit, Alphabet reported a 28% increase in
pro t to $6.84bn compared with the year before.
By Dominic Rushe, The Guardian (on Feb 1th, 2018)
The median pay for Amazon employees? Less than $30,000 a year
The big numerical reveal on Wednesday was Amazon.com Inc. nally spilling
the beans on the number of Prime members (more than 100 million). It also
disclosed another number that shows how much it relies on an army of people
moving physical merchandise around the world: $28,446.
That’s the median annual compensation of Amazon employees. Amazon
reported this number for the rst time under a new requirement that
companies disclose the gap between pay for the rank-and- le and the person
in the corner o ce. (Amazon Chief Executive O cer Je Bezos, the world’s
richest person, reported total compensation of $1.68 million last year. As in prior
years, he didn’t take a stock bonus, collected a salary of $81,840 and had $1.6
million in personal security costs that Amazon covered.)
That median pay gure is skewed by the large number of Amazon’s more than
560,000 employees who work in its package warehouses, distribution centers,
Whole Foods grocery stores and other places far from the ping-pong tables,
endless free kale chips and yoga rooms of Silicon Valley’s rich tech campuses.
Compare Amazon’s median pay with Facebook Inc.’s $240,430.
Just a reminder that this means half of Amazon’s workers make more than
$28,446, and half make less. The company doesn’t have to disclose average
pay, which would probably be skewed higher by the smaller number of
Amazon’s highly paid tech workers. In a statement, Amazon said its median pay
gure includes people in more than 50 countries and part-time employees. The
company also said it o ers “highly competitive wage and bene ts.”
Amazon likes to boast about its prowess in job creation, and the company’s
workforce has exploded in recent years. Amazon is now the second-largest
private employer in the U.S. behind Walmart Inc. In Bezos’s annual letter to
shareholders, also released on Wednesday, he again highlighted Amazon’s
investment in infrastructure and its ability to create jobs both directly and
indirectly. Bezos said Amazon directly created more than 130,000 jobs in 2017,
not including people the company absorbed from acquired companies such as
Whole Foods. That means Amazon brought on board more people in one year
than the entire workforce of Google parent company Alphabet Inc., which said
it had more than 80,000 employees at the end of last year.
There’s long been a debate about the quality of jobs at Amazon and whether
cities and states should roll out the red carpet for Amazon to open package
warehouses in their backyards. Amazon’s median pay works out to about $14
an hour, assuming a full-time worker at 52 weeks a year.
That’s a solid wage in many parts of the U.S. and not so much in other parts.
For comparison, Target Corp. recently announced plans to pay at least $15 an
hour by the end of 2020. Those people questioning the quality of Amazon’s
jobs just got a new data point for their critiques.
Shira Ovide, The Boston Globe (on April 19th, 2018)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 23.07
You will nd a case here:
www.usb.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/USB-Management-Report-
Steinho -Saga.pdf
Concentrate particularly on p.15 to 23.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 24.02
PARAGRAPH 3 A Strong Social Contract
1.
Will Become a Requirement
PARAGRAPH 1 Job Flexibility Is More Appealing, and Potentially More
Necessary, Than Ever
PARAGRAPH 2 Competition for Gig Work Has Increased

2.The crisis impacted the labor force both

positively and negatively. First, a lot of
parents had to leave their 9 to 5 jobs to
care for their children, most of which had
to stay at home because schools were
closed. They swapped their regular
position for gig work.
The crisis also contributed to the increase of the number of gig positions since
the consumption habits had to change (more deliveries meant more couriers
delivering food, basics and other essential items).
Since more people had to turn to gig work, competition between those workers
skyrocketed; and workers will have to expand their skills to be as marketable as
possible (competition is tougher now).

3.Because more and more consumers will

need the services provided by the gig
economy actors, demand will increase,
which, in turn, will contribute in a rise in
the pro ts made by the companies that
will be able to best meet that rising
demand.
Traditional employers will have to o er more exibility to their employees who
will have gotten used to more exible schedules and working conditions. If they
fail to do so, they may not be able to retain the best of them.
In the longer terms they will have to o er the best conditions possible (wage,
perks, exi-time, heath care, etc.) to their workers who otherwise may sell their
skills and quali cations to the highest bidder. Indeed, competition on the
market of gig work caused workers to have higher expectations.

4.On the bright side: the fact that the

number of gig workers has grown
exponentially plays in their favor insofar
as they will be able to put more pressure
ON employers to get more rights.
On the bleak side: gig work may only survive if the collaboration between
employers, workers and governments works properly. If it fails, the situation
may deteriorate and precarious jobs will become (a) standard.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 24.03
1.Proposition 22 was a ballot initiative in
California on the November 2020 state
election which passed with 59% of the
vote and granted app-based
transportation and delivery companies an
exception to Assembly Bill 5 by
classifying their drivers as “independent
contractors”, rather than “employees”,
thereby exempting employers from
providing the full suite of mandated
employee bene ts (which include time-
and-a-half for overtime, paid sick time,
employer-provided health care,
bargaining rights, and unemployment
insurance - among others) while instead
giving drivers new protections of:
– 120 percent of the local minimum wage for each hour a driver spends driving
(with passenger or en route), but not time spent waiting,
– $0.30/mile for expenses for each mile driven with passenger or en route,
– health insurance stipend for drivers who average more than 15 hours per week
driving.
It also requires the companies to pay medical costs and some lost income for
drivers hurt while driving or waiting, and prohibits workplace discrimination
and requires that companies: develop sexual harassment policies, conduct
criminal background checks, and mandate safety training for drivers
Proposition 22 was written by Uber and Lyft and supported by DoorDash,
Postmates and Instacart to challenge the landmark labor law AB5 passed by
Democrats in 2019. It expanded a California Supreme Court ruling that limited
businesses from classifying certain workers as independent contractors.
The measure granted the delivery services an exemption from the law that
would have required providing drivers with protections like minimum wage,
overtime, health insurance and reimbursement for expenses.

2. LOS ANGELES - Drivers for app-based

ride-hailing and delivery services led a
lawsuit Tuesday to overturn a California
ballot initiative that makes them
independent contractors instead of
employees eligible for bene ts and job
protections.
The lawsuit led with the California Supreme Court said Proposition 22 is
unconstitutional because it limits the power of the Legislature to grant workers
the right to organize and excludes drivers from being eligible for workers’
compensation.
Voters approved Prop. 22 back in November. Companies like Uber, Lyft other
services poured $200 million in support of it, and Prop. 22 passed with nearly
60% of the vote.
Labor unions, who joined drivers in the lawsuit, spent about $20 million to
challenge it.
Dozens of ride-share drivers caravanned and rallied outside Los Angeles City
Hall after a coalition of drivers and a labor union led the lawsuit to overturn
Prop. 22.
“Prop. 22 is unconstitutional. It’s an attack on California’s rights that if left
unchecked will grant permission to companies like Uber and Lyft to dismantle
workers’ rights across the country,” said Bob Schoonover of the SEIU union.
The coalition behind the e ort to overturn it says they’re ling the lawsuit now
because they had to wait for Prop. 22 to become law. Now that the election is
over and the vote is certi ed, Prop. 22 can be challenged in court.
In a written statement to Eyewitness News, the Prop. 22 coalition of supporters,
which includes Uber, Lyft and some drivers says:
“Voters across the political spectrum spoke loud and clear, passing Prop 22 in a
landslide. Meritless lawsuits that seek to undermine the clear democratic will of
the people do not stand up to scrutiny in the courts.”
It will be up to the state Supreme Court to decide the fate of Prop. 22.
Drivers bringing the lawsuit have several hurdles to clear, but their arguments
are compelling, said Mary-Beth Moylan, associate dean of McGeorge Law
School in Sacramento.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 24.05
freelance workers / full-time work / gig work / gig workers / workforce /
working arrangement
/ working hours / working parents / working women / working world
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 24.06
Pros
It is a working environment that o ers exibility with regard to employment
hours: people can bene t from exible hours, with control over how much time
they can work as they juggle other priorities in their lives.
In addition, the exible nature often o ers bene ts to employers, as they only
pay when the work is available, and don’t incur sta costs when the demand is
not there.
Cons
It is a form of exploitation with very little workplace protection: workers in the
gig economy are classed as independent contractors. That means they have no
protection against unfair dismissal, no right to redundancy payments, and no
right to receive the national minimum wage, paid holiday or sickness pay.
It is these aspects that are proving contentious.
Critics – which include many of those working for the companies – argue that
not only do workers lack protection and fair pay, but the roles aren’t as exible
as they seem, as workers are incentivised or pressured to work when the
companies need them.
On top of that, workers aren’t paid bene ts such as holiday or sick pay, and
reports suggest some aren’t making minimum wage. A recent one by MP Frank
Field suggested some gig economy workers pull in less than £2.50 an hour.
That’s legally possible because gig workers aren’t seen by the companies they
work for as employees but contractors  – though a court ruling against Uber
disagreed with that claim last year
— More information about the issue on editions-foucher.fr: “The ‘gig economy’
is coming. What will it mean for work?” (theguardian.com).
The ‘gig economy’ is coming. What will it mean for work?
The new working model o ers greater freedom  – and a fresh chance for the
rich to exploit the poor
Not so long ago, the only people who looked for “gigs” were musicians. For the
rest of us, once we outgrew our school dreams of rock stardom, we found “real”
jobs that paid us a xed salary every month, allowed us to take paid holidays
and formed the basis for planning a stable future.
Today, more and more of us choose, instead, to make our living working gigs
rather than full time. To the optimists, it promises a future of empowered
entrepreneurs and boundless innovation. To the naysayers, it portends a
dystopian future of disenfranchised workers hunting for their next wedge of
piecework.
In the US, the “gig economy” is now so salient that the phrase and issues have
entered the early exchanges of the presidential race. Earlier this month, as one
frontrunner, Jeb Bush, took a well-publicised Uber ride to signal solidarity with
the company, another, Hillary Clinton, was more cautious in her support. In a
speech laying out her economic plan, she said: “This on-demand, or so-called
gig, economy is creating exciting economies and unleashing innovation. But it is
also raising hard questions about workplace protections and what a good job
will look like in the future.”
Today’s digitally enabled gig economy was preceded by marketplaces such as
ELance and oDesk, through which computer programmers and designers could
make a living competing for short-term work assignments. But the gig
economy isn’t just creating a new digital channel for freelance work. It is
spawning a host of new economic activity. More than a million “makers” sell
jewellery, clothing and accessories through the online marketplace Etsy. The
short-term accommodation platforms Airbnb, Love Home Swap and
one nestay collectively have close to a million “hosts”.
This explosion of small-scale entrepreneurship might make one wonder
whether we are returning to the economy of the 18th century, described by the
economist Adam Smith in his book An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of
the Wealth of Nations. The economy Smith described was a genuine market
economy of individuals engaging in commerce with one another.
Over the following two centuries, however, the emergence of mass production
and distribution yielded modern corporations. The entrepreneurs of Smith’s
time gave way to the salaried employees of the 20th century.
A di erent technological revolution  – the digital revolution  – is partially
responsible for the recent return to peer-to-peer exchange. Most of the new on-
demand services rely on a population equipped with computers or GPS-
enabled smartphones. Furthermore, the social capital we’ve digitised on
Facebook and LinkedIn makes it easier to trust that semi-anonymous peer.
Does this suggest a shift towards a textbook market economy? Granted, Uber,
Airbnb, Etsy and TaskRabbit are quite di erent from organisations such as
Apple, BP or Sainsbury’s. Because you aren’t actually renting a space from
Airbnb, taking a ride in a car owned by Uber or buying a product made by Etsy.
The platform simply connects you with a provider of space, a driver of a vehicle
or a seller who runs a virtual shop.
But these platforms are by no means merely the purveyors of Smith’s invisible
hand. Rather, the hand they play in facilitating exchange is decidedly visible.
Uber, not individual drivers, sets prices. Airbnb trains its hosts to be better
providers of hospitality. Etsy facilitates seller community building. All of them
provide user-generated feedback systems, creating a high-quality consumer
experience. Much like an organisation building a brand might.
So it seems like we’ve invented a new institutional form  – the peer-to-peer
platform  – a digitally powered hybrid between organising economic activity
through the market and within the organisation. And because these platforms
provide layers of trust, brand and expertise on demand, the need for
specialising before you’re quali ed to become a provider is reduced. Almost
anyone with talent can become a part-time hotelier through Airbnb or an
artisan retailer on the side through Etsy. Any reasonably competent driver can
morph into a provider of commercial transportation by plugging into Uber or
BlaBlaCar.
And providers don’t have to commit to full days of work. You can pick up your
kids from school (and then switch to being an Uber driver). In the gig economy,
the lines between personal and professional become increasingly blurred.
There’s certainly something empowering about being your own boss. With the
right mindset, you can achieve a better work-life balance. But there’s also
something empowering about a steady pay cheque, xed work hours and
company-provided bene ts. It’s harder to plan your life longer term when you
don’t know how much money you’re going to be making next year.
On the other hand, starting a new business has generally been an all-or-nothing
proposition, requiring a signi cant appetite for risk. There are bene ts to
dipping your toes into the entrepreneurial waters by experimenting with a few
gigs on the side. Perhaps this lowering of barriers to entrepreneurship will spur
innovation across the economy.
Economist Thomas Piketty tells us that the main driver of sustained economic
inequality over the past two centuries has been the concentration of wealth-
producing “capital” in the hands of a few. This seems less likely if the economy
is powered by millions of micro-entrepreneurs who own their businesses, rather
than a small number of giant corporations.
But the latest generation of specialised labour platforms also raises the spectre
of greater social inequality. We’ve now got apps through which providers will
park your car (Luxe), buy and deliver your groceries (Instacart), and get you
your drinks (Drizly). There’s a risk we might devolve into a society in which the
on-demand many end up serving the privileged few.
In many countries, key slices of the social safety net are tied to full-time
employment with a company or the government. Although the broader
socioeconomic e ects of the gig economy are as yet unclear, it is clear we must
rethink the provision of our safety net, decoupling it from salaried jobs and
making it more readily available to independent workers.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/26/will-we-get-by-gig-
economy
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 24.07
The sharing economy involves people letting out their properties, possessions
or services online in exchange for a fee. The rise of this unconventional type of
employment known as “Uberization” thanks to the popular car-sharing app, has
been embraced by consumers. Yet, at the same time, it has prompted concerns
that new tech rms are not respecting workers’ rights. Is the sharing economy
creating more sustainable, robust growth, or is it creating a desperate servant
underclass?
Main ideas
1) The on-demand economy seems to better meet the needs of demanding
consumers as well as to provide many companies with new opportunities: it
o ers people cheaper and more personal ways of exchanging goods and
services.
– Its advocates highlight the system’s exibility: it gives people exibility to
work when and where they want. People can independently look for
employment without being con ned within the structures of a company or
organization.
– New research shows that in the next 10-20 years, the number of people
working as freelancers, independent contractors (=entrepreneurs) or for
multiple employers will increase dramatically. In the US, 35% of workers are
working in this way.
– According to a new survey, it has given 5 million Britons paid work.
2) However, the phenomenon of uberization has been criticized for threatening
jobs: cf article (“the impact Uber has had on taxis, Airbnb on hotels & dating
apps on gay bars & queer culture”:
§ Uber on taxis: there have been widespread protests against Uber from taxi
drivers / accused of causing a fall in income for taxi drivers & unfair
competition / however, the e ects are more complex: while some have seen a
loss in income, Uber has created more jobs than it has destroyed as
employment has risen (in the US for instance) not just in self-employed drivers,
but also in traditional taxi services as Uber and other similar apps have
increased the size of the market.
§ Airbnb on hotels: AirBnb has quickly become a threat to hotels as travelers
choose to book with independent hosts on the website rather than with
traditional hotels.
– None of the companies that make up the sector are employer-business: what
they o er are electronic mobile platforms that connect one user to another.
Work in the sharing economy can be eeting, poorly paid and without the
safeguards and bene ts (annual leave, medical coverage, employment
protection) of normal waged labour, highly precarious. It o ers limited social
mobility.
Many low-skilled workers o ering services such as cleaning, repairs and
delivery are vulnerable.
– Uber o ers the clearest example of these problems: many of the company’s
drivers praise the exibility of the system (they can work if and when they
want), but as freelancers their lack of rights has left many in constant fear for
their jobs. Part of the way Uber maintains “standards” is by using a consumer-
driven rating system that lets each user score the driver from one to ve. Uber
argues that it helps get rid of bad drivers and empowers customers, but many
workers see it as arbitrary and unfair, at the mercy of the click of a button.
On their contracts, Uber drivers are listed as “partners” of the company, but
aside from choosing their own hours, they are e ectively powerless, unable to
challenge the fare structure and employment terms Uber sets.
– The impact of on-demand services on inner cities: increase in rents & lack of
a ordable housing in inner cities → an exodus of poorer populations to the
outskirts of cities / gentri cation of inner cities / impoverished neighborhoods.
3) While the sharing economy makes life tough, it also makes it di cult for
people to organize to improve things. Can unionizing change the fundamental
nature of freelance work in the sharing economy – where many labour laws just
don’t apply? Better access to legal advice could help to work toward a genuine
sharing economy where workers own the software platforms themselves and
set conditions according to their own needs.
– Last October, Uber drivers in the UK won the right to be considered as
workers rather than independent contractors, which means they would be
entitled to holiday pay, paid rest breaks & the national minimum wage.
In 2016, a group of food takeaway couriers working for Deliveroo said they were
taking legal steps in the UK to gain union recognition and workers’ rights.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 25.03
Item number Stage
1 Performing
2 Forming
3 Forming
4 Performing
5 Norming
6 Norming, or performing
7 Norming or performing
8 Forming
9 Storming
10 Performing
11 Storming
12 Norming
13 Performing or norming
14 Storming
15 Storming
16 Performing
17 Storming
18 Norming
19 Performing
20 Forming/ storming
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 25.04
1.A team needs to be planned, built and
maintained; it coordinates individuals’
abilities and experience to solve
problems. A group is more general, where
a number of people or companies are
considered to be a collective unit.
2. Individuals who have developed a
multicultural mind have a broader
worldview, higher levels of sensitivity,
greater empathy, and more complex ways
of thinking. These skills allow them to
work well in a number of organizational
and team roles. The roles they play in
multicultural teams can have a dramatic
e ect on team e ectiveness.
Culturally diverse teams generate more ideas and they have the potential to
nd better solutions to problems than single culture teams. Yet, the same
cultural diversity that leads to more and di erent ideas also results in culturally
di erent perceptions, expectations, and communication patterns that can have
damaging e ects on team performance.
Possible negative aspects (process losses) may include problems with
developing trust, understanding disagreements, and correctly interpreting
behaviors as well as increased performance time, higher levels of con ict, and
lower level of team member participation.
For all that, the presence of multiculturals in teams can help reduce these
process losses and improve creative performance. Multiculturals improve team
creativity by performing the three key roles of bridges, integrators and
mediators.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 29.02
market leader/ market price/ market sector/ market share/ market study
marketing agency/ marketing campaign/ marketing mix/ marketing strategy/
marketing tool
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 29.04
synonym antonym

a competitive advantage a competitive edge

an incentive a deterrent

to talk sb into doing sthg to talk sb out of sthg

a retailer a wholesaler

to buy goods from sb to purchase goods from sb to sell goods to sb

to meet the requirements to meet the demands

tailor-made products customized products

 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 29.06
Quantitative research
Surveys. With concise and straightforward questionnaires, you can analyze a
sample group that represents your target market. The larger the sample, the
more reliable your results will be.
Qualitative research
• Focus groups. In focus groups, a
moderator uses a scripted series of
questions or topics to lead a discussion
among a group of people. These sessions
take place at neutral locations, usually at
facilities with videotaping equipment and
an observation room with one-way
mirrors. A focus group usually lasts one to
two hours, and it takes at least three
groups to get balanced results.
• Personal interviews. Like focus groups,
personal interviews include unstructured,
open-ended questions. They usually last
for about an hour and are typically
recorded.
Focus groups and personal interviews provide more subjective data than
surveys. The results are not statistically reliable, which means that they usually
don’t represent a large enough segment of the population. Nevertheless, focus
groups and interviews yield valuable insights into customer attitudes and are
excellent ways to uncover issues related to new products or service
development.
• Observation. Individual responses to
surveys and focus groups are sometimes
at odds with people’s actual behavior.
When you observe consumers in action
by videotaping them in stores, at work, or
at home, you can observe how they buy
or use a product. This gives you a more
accurate picture of customers’ usage
habits and shopping patterns.
Secondary research
Data can be collected from other sources such as consulting rms, trade
associations, government statistics, etc.
Test marketing
Field trials. Placing a new product in selected stores to test customer response
under real-life selling conditions can help you make product modi cations,
adjust prices, or improve packaging. Small business owners should try to
establish rapport with local store owners and Web sites that can help them test
their products.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 29.07
— Correction. See article on editions-foucher.fr: “A real marketing case study:
4Ps vs 4Cs” by Tony Yuen.
Years ago when I worked in Hong Kong, I was given an opportunity to take on
the challenging role of marketing at Wing On Travel – an innovative Hong Kong
Based Tourism company which became a market leader in tour operations and
went to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
My story is about how I strategically turned the 4P’s marketing concept into
practical actions at the rst stage of marketing ‘Project for Wing on Travel’ and
enhanced the results by transforming the 4Cs.
As marketers, the 4P’s are cut deeply into our mind from day one of our
education in Marketing studies. However, the 4 C’s of marketing, which consist
of Consumer wants and needs, Cost, Convenience and Communication, are
arguably much more valuable to the marketing mix than the 4P’s. The 4C’s of
marketing focus not only on marketing and selling a product, but also on
communication with the target audience to maintain long term relationship.
Evidence of successful implantation of the 4P’s
Wing On Travel knew it had successfully managed to dilute the original and
now obsolete brand image when it’s increase in customers signi cantly grew
after just one television commercial. Wing On Travel invited young people and
artists to be the “face of Wing On Travel” as spoke people in a television
commercial. It was evident that the customers subconsciously connected to the
commercial slogan “Travel When You Are Young”.
Wing On Travel that implanted a strategy of o ering free round trip transfers
between home and airport in luxury Mercedes cars for customers who joined
the long haul tours. By joining forces with its’ subsidiary transportation
company who had more than 200 Mercedes cars and operating transfer
business in the city, Wing On travel took an absolute and unique advantage to
block its competitors. Feedback showed, customers appreciate the real value-
added service.
Wing On Travel then went on a further marketing strategy venture and
developed and o ered unique travel products for customers to meet their
di erent expectations. Some examples are:
– Family Travel Series (Love Your Kids).
– Rejuvenation & Beauty Dress Shopping.
– Gourmet Tour Travelling with 5 Star Chefs.
– Luxury Celebrity Cruise Series.
– Swim with the Dolphins and the like.
Enhancing the marketing strategy from 4Ps to 4Cs
The rst C stands for Customer and this means that Management has to
identify the needs and wants of its customers. To meet this objection, on a
di erent day per week, Senior Managers visited di erent branch o ces to
engage with customers and secure direct customer information.
When it came to the second C (Cost), I introduced one “Third Party
Contribution strategy” to solicit promotional funds or incentives from our
service suppliers such as airlines, hotels, tourism boards and land operators.
Their contribution had greatly reduced the burden of costs of promotional
spending and at the same time provided a chance for Wing On travel to use
‘saved up bullets’ to tackle their rivals in other areas.
In addressing the third C (Convenience), the online booking at the time was
only in a development stage. On top of that, Wing on was also in the process of
opening 38 branches so we took an innovative and untried approach and the
company introduced a 24 hours call centre to receive enquires and bookings
from customers. Wing On Travel was the rst travel agent in Hong Kong to take
the lead to launch an at-call 24-hour convenience service to its customers.
Keeping in close contact, developing and maintaining long term relationships
with the customers is always very important. In order to communicate (the
Fourth C) e ectively with customers, a social club “Wing On Travel Prestige
Club” was established. The club organised seminars, product presentation,
focus groups and a lot of travel related activities for club members.
In my opinion, regardless if 4Ps or 4Cs, a marketer needs to be open-minded.
By Tony Yuen, @ www.bridgebc.edu.au (on March 28, 2017)
 Retour à l'exercice
EXERCISE 29.08
For a general SWOT analysis example, here is one with some general entries.
You can let the factors relevant to your situation stay while removing and
adding accordingly:
Strengths
• Have an excellent sta for handling sales
with strong knowledge of current products
• Strong customer relationships
• Strong internal communications system
• A strong geographical location with high
tra c input
• Well-designed and successful marketing
strategies
• Business reputation of being innovative
Opportunities
• Products similar to yours in the market are
expensive or of poor quality
• Customers in the market are loyal
• Seasonal high demand of the product
• High demand for product or similar
merchandise
Weaknesses
• Too many missed deadlines
and a lot of work on pending
• High cost of rental for the
o ce
• Infrequent cash ow system
• Too much stock in inventory
and higher inventory costs
• An ine cient record
maintenance system in place
• Outdated market research
data
Threats
• A lot of competitors in the
market with similar products
• A new advertising campaign
launched by competitors
• A competitor opening new
shop in a nearby location
• A downturn in economy and
less spending budget of people
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 36.01
buzz marketing
discussion forum
interactive feature
online retailer
online business
physical outlet
target audience
viral marketing
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 36.03
Brands know word-of-mouth recommendations carry far more weight than
advertising and marketing or anything a brand can do. The ultimate goal is for a
video or some other digital activity to go viral; that is to be spread to hundreds
of thousands or millions of people. People pass it on because they think it is
neat, novel, unique, funny, etc. It is like a wild re out of control. While brands
strive to produce videos or interesting games that attract attention, it is rare
they go viral.
Buzz marketing is a viral marketing technique that is focused on maximizing
the word-of-mouth potential of a particular campaign or product, whether that
is through conversations among consumers’ family and friends or larger scale
discussions on social media platforms. By getting consumers to talk about their
products and services, companies that resort to buzz marketing hope to grow
their awareness through the growth of online tra c and increase sales and
pro ts. A buzz marketing example would be if a company decides to promote a
product through some type of event centered around a show or stunt of some
kind where consumers can try the product and are encouraged to share their
experiences through everyday conversation or online.
Online buzz marketing is typically driven by “in uencers,” or early adopters of
a product, that are eager to share their thoughts on the product and
proactively start conversations about it. These people typically have
established online presences and large followings on social media platforms
such as Facebook and Twitter and possess power and in uence over their
follower base. In uencers’ opinions get noticed more readily and can have a
positive e ect on the sales and awareness of the product. Marketers aim to rally
these in uencers to build buzz for their products.
Stealth marketing is any marketing strategy that advertises a product to people
without them knowing they are being marketed to. There are many techniques
in stealth marketing, the most common being product placement and
undercover marketing. The main purpose of stealth marketing is not to
generate immediate sales, but to create interest and excitement that will make
consumers more receptive to direct advertising later.
e.g.: Sony Ericsson’s T68i camera-phone marketing campaign (2002) employed
actors who secretly represented the company, giving them opportunities to
interact with strangers and promote the product in a non-obvious way. Many
companies choose this method because it is inexpensive compared to more
traditional advertising.
Product placement features a product outside of the context of an
advertisement, usually as a part of some form of mass media or entertainment.
Companies place their products in movies and TV shows, and enter
endorsement deals with celebrities to pitch products.
Regardless of what speci c approach a company takes, stealth marketing is
most e ective in raising awareness about a new product that hasn’t been
widely advertised yet.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 36.04
1. WOM marketing: Word-of-mouth
marketing di ers from naturally occurring
word of mouth, in that it is actively
in uenced or encouraged by
organizations (e.g. ‘seeding’ a message in
a network rewarding regular consumers
to engage in WOM, employing WOM
‘agents’).
2. Focal product WOM is all the seed and
non-seed WOM for a particular product.
Brand WOM is all the WOM the brand’s products other than the focal product.
Category WOM is all the WOM for the products in the focal product category
but of other brands.

3.An in uencer is a person or group that

has the ability to in uence the behavior or
opinions of others. The in uencer is the
individual whose e ect on the purchase
decision is in some way signi cant or
authoritative.
4. A seeded marketing campaign is “a
typical form of in uencer/viral campaign
in which “seed” consumers are selected
from a community, sent free products,
encouraged to use them and then share
their experiences with others by posting
online.”
5. The halo e ect is the transfer of
goodwill or positive feelings about one
characteristic of a product or person to
another, possibly unrelated,
characteristics.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 36.05
1.Two di erent reasons for this popularity
are given in the text:
– It is in part due to the growing consumer trend of avoiding advertising in its
more “traditional” forms. Ad blocking, for example, continues to be on the rise
in the digital space.
– Marketers are also looking for ways to leverage the authenticity embedded in
the connections that in uencers have with their followers and friends in social
media.

2. Running an in uencer campaign for a

focal product is associated with
subsequently less WOM during that
campaign about other products from the
same brand but in di erent categories.
The same applies for category WOM:
there was subsequently less WOM about
other products from di erent brands but
in the same category as the focal product.
3. This may happen because in uencers
tend to focus their WOM on speci c
product attributes, and by doing this, the
seed consumers inadvertently also focus
everyone else on the speci cs of the
product. This makes it less likely that non-
seed consumers will have what
psychologists call “higher-level
construals” whereby they will think about
broader concepts, such as the
overarching brand or general product
category.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 36.06
1.They are virtual personalities created by
companies. Like real in uencers, they
have one or several accounts on social
media where they post di erent types of
information.
2. They were created by rms in order to
advertise products, in order to manipulate
their viewers, who may not be able to
understand that they are creations made
up to attract and seduce them.
They were created to “engage”. Now, Customer Engagement is the emotional
connection between a customer and a brand. Highly engaged customers buy
more, promote more, and demonstrate more loyalty. Providing a high-quality
customer experience is an important component in your customer engagement
strategy.
So, fake online in uencers are just the latest marketing tool to sell more.

3.Children may not be aware that they are

being manipulated and may not be able
yet to think critically. Since, the distinction
between real and virtual is willingly
blurred (AI is used to confuse the users
even more) children may adopt as role
models persona that are picture perfect
and set very high standards.
Also, those fake smiles may actually generate real money by driving young
children to buy the products that are advertised by those virtual personalities.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 36.07
1. A lot of information can be found here:
https://medium.com/swlh/fake-smiles-real-money-the-world-of-virtual-
in uencers-ai-celebs-721e4a776289

2.Some brands have started to dip their

toe into this futuristic way of marketing.
Global automotive brand Renault have
created their very own virtual
ambassador, Liv, who was introduced to
us in their latest television advert - a
pioneering move that many are sure to
replicate themselves soon. Dior, Coach,
Balenciaga and OUAI are just a handful of
the designer names that have also
partnered with upcoming virtual stars.
https://in uencermatchmaker.co.uk/blog/virtual-in uencers-what-are-they-
how-do-they-work
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 30.02
the High Street: the shops located in city centers.
a doorbuster: a product sold at a very low price for a short period of time for
which customers are ready to “bust doors” and seize the product on sale.
an incentive: a device or scheme which will incite consumers to buy.
a mall: a shopping center, generally located in the outskirts of cities and towns.
a pure player: a retailer which sells its products exclusively online.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 30.04
1.Chris Gerbig, Co-founder, president and
Chief Operating O cer of Pink Lily, one
of the fastest-growing online retailers of
women’s clothing in the U.S
2. An expanding group of web-only
retailers is venturing into brick and
mortar, and nding enormous success in
doing so: eyewear brand Warby Parker,
menswear brand Bonobos and even
Amazon all exemplify other retailers that
started online before adding a network of
physical store locations.
3. Recent bankruptcies and closures of
these major retail chains have
demonstrated the ongoing evolution of
the old shopping landscape. Chris Gerbig
aims to prove that it may not be the most
reasonable strategy to start with a brick
and mortar shop in such a competitive
market since even the major retail chains
are struggling to survive.
4. a. Building an e-commerce site and
growing a digital following is far less risky
and you have plenty of potential for later
expansion.
b. Going online rst also allows you to
market your products on a much larger
scale.
c. Starting with an online business o ers
the opportunity to really learn about your
customers: what they like, what they want
and how they behave.
d. Financially speaking, it’s much more
cost-e ective to start digitally. There are
virtually no startup costs whatsoever.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 30.05
1.Start Safe 2. Learn Your Customer 3.
Build Revenue 4. The Final Word
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 30.06
an uphill battle — Something di cult to do because of obstacles such as
opposition from other people.
to harness sthg (e.g.: emotion) — To bring something under control and use it.
to have a hand in sthg — To be involved in doing something.
to be in tune with sb/sthg — Having a good understanding of someone or
something.
to pave the way for sthg — To make it possible or easier for something or
someone to follow.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 31.01
price skimming — 3.
price xing — 1.
price discrimination — 2.
opportunistic pricing — 4.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 31.02
costly — pricey — expensive
cheap — economical — inexpensive
to waste money on sthg — to squander money on sthg — to throw money
down the drain
a coupon — a voucher
to attract new customers — to draw new clients — to appeal to new clients
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 31.03
a deterrent — an incentive
selling price — purchase price
free of charge — overpriced
a bargain — a rip-o
to convince sb to do sthg — to deter sb from doing sthg
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 31.07
1. He mentions:
– the iPhone and all its variations/ models,
– the iPad and some of its declinations,
– Macintosh and hints at the complete product line (iMac, MacBook, etc.).
He di erentiates them by explaining that Apple’s pricing strategy varies from
one product line to the other depending on various factors such as the target
audience, the competitors’ o er and so on. He insists that their strategy with
the iPad may not have been as e cient as the others.

2. Three main competitors are mentioned:

Amazon and its Kindle Fire, Samsung, and
Google with its Chromebook. The author
of the article aims to compare their
strategies with Apple’s in order to
demonstrate that they may win the long-
term battle in pricing their products much
lower than Apple.
3. What advice is given to Apple to remain
a successful brand in the future?
“There’s no question Apple has generated tremendous wealth over the past 15
years doing exactly what it still does today. The larger question is where and
how it should change its thinking. Amazon’s bombshell announcement this past
week isn’t necessarily a disaster for Apple, but perhaps it should serve as a call
to consider this question more in earnest.” In other words, Apple has to swim
with the tide and reconsider not only its pricing strategy but also how to
penetrate today’s market more e ciently to keep up with its competitors and
generate the kind of growth and pro ts investors crave.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 31.08
1. Internal Factors include xed and
variable costs that must be more or less
covered; consistency with the company’s
objectives and strategies; market
segments, targeting and positioning
decisions.
External Factors include competitors’ o er and pricing strategy; target market
behavior and willingness to pay; industry or legal constraints; elasticity of
demand.

2.Bundle pricing: placing several products

or services together in a single package
and selling for a lower price than would
be charged if the items were sold
separately. Supermarkets often use this
method through their ‘buy one get one
free’ o ers.
Psychological pricing (aka price ending, charm pricing): a pricing/marketing
strategy based on the theory that certain prices have a psychological impact.
Retail prices are often expressed as “odd prices”: this is often seen in prices
ending in 99. For example, an item market 199 will be perceived as closer in
price to 100 than 200.
Premium pricing: a high price is set to establish an exclusive product of high
quality. Designer cars and premium brand stores are a good example of this
type of pricing.
Optional pricing: a method of determining product costs whereby a business
sets a low cost for its most basic product and then pro ts from selling more
costly accessories.
Cost based pricing: Simply, a company may determine the exact cost of
producing and selling an objective, add a markup that may be desirable for
pro ts and price accordingly. This method may be used in a changing industry
where even costs of production are unpredictable.
Cost plus pricing: a percentage is added to the costs as a pro t margin to
determine nal price.

The following steps can act as a general

3.
guideline.
1. Develop Marketing Strategy
A detailed market analysis acts as a logical starting point for pricing decisions.
A business follows up a market analysis with a division and de nition of the
market into segments each with its distinct requirements and needs. After this,
a decision needs to be made regarding the desired segments to be targeted.
The product and brand positioning is then based on these identi ed segments.
2. Make Marketing Mix Decisions
Once the segments and positioning is in place, the marketing mix planning
comes into e ect. Here the product, distribution, and promotional elements are
decisions to focus upon and to nalize.
3. Estimate Demand Curve
Another market analysis needs to be conducted at this point. In this one, there
needs to be speci c information gathered about how the price a ects the
quantity of the product demanded.
4. Calculate Costs
A company can now get an accurate assessment of the total xed and variable
costs associated with the product. These are a necessary input for pricing
decisions as the nal price needs to at least cover these costs.
5. Assess Environment
Another vital element that feeds into pricing is the environment. This means an
understanding of the competitor’s strategies, their product and its value as well
as an understanding of any industry or legal constraints.
6. Set Pricing Objectives
There are several objectives that a company can have from its pricing strategy.
This is the point in the process that those objectives need to be discussed and
agreed upon.
7. Determine Price
Using all the information collected and analyzed till this point, a company is
now in a good position to set the best price for its products. A pricing method
and structure can be formulated along with any possible sales promotions or
discounts.
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 32.01
customer demand deceptive a demand — une exigence
cognate ≠ une demande a request

to launch a new transparent to launch — lancer

product

viable idea transparent viable — viable

to be pro table deceptive pro table — rentable

cognate ≠ pro table — bene cial

customer deceptive a response — une réaction

response cognate ≠ une réponse an answer

product transparent a modi cation — une modi cation/

modi cation un changement
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 32.03
VERB PERSON NOTION ITEM/ THING

to consume a consumer consumption

to produce a producer production a product

to market a marketer marketing a market

to compete (with) a competitor competition

to innovate an innovator innovation

 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 32.04
to dot your i’s and cross your t’s — to be
1.
very careful; to pay attention to details
Example: When launching a new product, accuracy is very
important. Be sure to dot your i’s and cross
your t’s.
2. to keep something under wraps — to
keep something secret; to not let
anybody know about a new project or
plan
Example: I’m sorry I can’t tell you anything about the
project I’m working on. My boss told me to keep
it under wraps.
3. crunch time — a short period when
there’s high pressure to achieve a result
Example: It’s crunch time for stem cell researchers in
Korea.New government regulations may
soon make their work illegal.
4. to jump the gun — to start doing
something too soon or ahead of
everybody else
Example: The company jumped the gun by releasing a new product before the
results of the consumer testing were in.
Origin: A runner “jumps the gun” if he or she starts running before the starter’s
pistol has been red.

5. to fast track a project — to make a

project a high priority; to speed up the
time frame of a project
Example: Let’s fast track this project. We’ve heard
rumors that our competitors are
developing similar products.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 32.05
A phase-gate process (also referred to as a stage-gate process or waterfall
process), is a project management technique in which an initiative or project
(e.g.: new product development, software development, process improvement,
business change) is divided into distinct stages or phases, separated by
decision points (known as gates).
At each gate, continuation is decided by (typically) a manager, steering
committee, or governance board. The decision is made on forecasts and
information available at the time, including the business case, risk analysis, and
availability of necessary resources (e.g., money, people with correct
competencies).
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 32.06
The chart represents/depicts the categories of consumers at stages of
adoption as the product di uses through the market. The rst consumers who
adopt an innovative product on the market are described as innovators and
account for only 2.5% of the consumers. They are very open to new ideas and
prepared to take a risk. 13.5% of them are early adopters. This means that they
come next in the di usion of an innovation. They are often opinion leaders or
in uencers who serve as vital links to members of the early majority group. The
last to adopt a product are the laggards (retardataires): they represent a share
of 16% of the population and can be described as people that actually adopt a
product after everyone else has tested, adopted it and maybe already discard it
to the pro t of a more innovative product. They often stubbornly resist change
and adopt products only reluctantly.
The di erence between early majority and late majority is that the former is a
group of adopters who want to be sure that a new product will prove
successful before they adopt it whereas the latter are people who may be
compelled to adopt a new product for economic or social reasons.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 32.07
Vocabulary
Use these words to discuss, develop and design a new product.
functionality: describes the purpose of the product. In other words, what does
the product do?
aesthetics: refers to the values (artistic as well as functional)
intuitive: an intuitive product is easy to use it without having to read a manual.
branding: refers to how a product will be marketed to the public.
packaging: refers to the container in which the product is sold to the public.
logo: the symbol used to identify a product or company.
feature: a bene t or use of a product.
warranty: a guarantee that the product will work for a certain period of time. If
not, the customer will receive a refund or replacement.
component: a part of a product.
accessory: something extra that can be bought in order to add functionality to
a product.
materials: refers to what a product is made of such as metal, wood, plastic, etc.
New Product Questions
Answer these questions to help you develop your product.
What functionality does your product provide?
Who will use your product? Why will they use it?
What problems can your product solve?
What advantages does your product present?
Why is your product superior to other products?
How much will your product cost?
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 33.01
product life cycle — cycle de vie du produit
product line — gamme de produits
product placement — placement de produit
product launch — lancement d’un produit
product awareness — notoriété d’un produit
product type — type de produit(s)
product class — classe de produit(s)
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 33.03
white goods refrigerator, dishwasher

branded goods MacBook Air laptop, Samsung TV, iPad, Nike

sneakers

brown goods Samsung TV

perishable goods bananas, bread from the baker’s, Lidl yoghurt

staple goods bread from the baker’s, bottled water

consumer packaged bottled water, Lidl yoghurt

goods

generic goods Lidl yoghurt

 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 33.04
ROI: Return on Investment is the ratio between the net pro t and cost of
investment resulting from an investment of some resource.
BCG: Boston Consulting Group
CPG: Consumer packaged goods are products that are sold quickly and at
relatively low cost. Examples include non-durable goods such as packaged
foods, beverages, toiletries, over-the-counter drugs and many other
consumables.
FMCG: Fast Moving Consumer Goods (synonym for CPG)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 33.05
A cash cow is a product, service, or business division that generates a lot of
cash for the company, without requiring much investment. Revenue from cash
cows is used to fund Stars and x Question Marks.
Sentence: With strong sales every year and a great brand name, Mercedes is a
cash cow for Daimler Chrysler.
Dogs have low market share and a low-growth rate and thus neither generate
nor consume a large amount of cash. The options with dogs are to either
harvest (increase short-term cash return without concern for the long-run
impact, basically grab your money and run) or divest (completely scratch this
idea and move on).
Sentence: Although placed in the dog category, the premium pricing means
that it makes a nancial contribution to the company.
A question mark (also known as a “problem child”) has the potential to gain
market share and become a star but, because of their poor-pro t margins, they
end up leaving more questions than actually answering them.
Sentence: Much attention should be given to the Problem Child in hopes that,
like a real child, they will try to impress and subsequently, ourish.
Stars are leaders in the expanding industry. They generate large pro ts but
require substantial investments to sustain growth. If companies can capture
new consumers in the market, these products will be successful; however, if
they aren’t able to attract new consumers then they’re very risky to keep.
Sentence: Star products are just like a child actor that rises up to fame quickly
and gets accustomed to a certain lifestyle, but once the studios stop calling
they can’t maintain their happiness levels
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 33.06
Looking at the British retailer, Marks & Spencer we can identify every element
of the BCG matrix across their ranges:
Stars: Lingerie. M&S was known as the place for ladies underwear at a time
when choice was limited. In a multi-channel environment, M&S lingerie is still
the UK’s market leader with high growth and high market share.
Question Marks/Problem Children: Food. For years M&S refused to consider
food and today has over 400 Simply Food stores across the UK. Whilst not a
major supermarket, M&S Simply Food has a following which demonstrates high
growth and low-market share.
Cash Cows: Classic range. Low growth and high market share, the M&S Classic
range has strong supporters.
Dogs: Autograph range. A premium-priced range of men’s and women’s
clothing, with low market share and low growth. Although placed in the dog
category, the premium pricing means that it makes a nancial contribution to
the company.
You can also apply the BCG model to areas other than your product strategy.
We developed this matrix as an example of how a brand might evaluate its
investment in various marketing channels.

www.smartinsights.com/marketing-planning/marketing-models/use-bcg-
matrix/
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 33.07
Here is an example that illustrates these stages for particular markets.
3D Televisions: 3D may have been around for a few decades, but only after
considerable investment from broadcasters and technology companies are 3D
TVs available for the home, providing a good example of a product that is in the
Introduction Stage.
Blue Ray Players: With advanced technology delivering the very best viewing
experience, Blue Ray equipment is currently enjoying the steady increase in
sales that’s typical of the Growth Stage.
DVD Players: Introduced a number of years ago, manufacturers that make
DVDs, and the equipment needed to play them, have established a strong
market share. However, they still have to deal with the challenges from other
technologies that are characteristic of the Maturity Stage.
Video Recorders: While it is still possible to purchase VCRs this is a product
that is de nitely in the Decline Stage, as it’s become easier and cheaper for
consumers to switch to the other, more modern formats.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 34.01
1
premium brand: a high quality brand that is generally more expensive than its
competitors.
2
own brand: a brand that is made exclusively for the retailer that sells it. It is
also known as an own-label brand or a private label brand.
3
economy brand: a brand that is cheaper than its competitors.
4
cobranding: two brands working together to create a new product.
5
agship brand: the brand for which a business is best-known and which
represents its image most appropriately.
6
no brand: a product that doesn’t have a brand associated with it which is also
known as a generic brand.
7
brand leader: the best-selling brand in a particular market.
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 34.02
1. False — An advertising campaign is an
example of brand behavior.
2. False — The brand personality is a way
to bring to the fore the human
characteristics of a brand.
3. True.
4. False — To stretch a brand is to increase
the range of products in the brand.
5. False — Brand tone of voice, brand
values, brand mission, brand vision and
brand personality are all part of the brand
platform.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 34.03
A descriptive design alludes to the name, attributes or bene ts of a brand by
using clearly recognizable images. These logos display a visual explanation or
key factors of the business directly in the logo.
— Examples 1 (Batman) and 4 (Penguin).
An abstract design has no speci c form in the consumer’s brain. These types of
logos have a non-descriptive message using a very speci c graphic image.
— Examples 2 (Nike) and 5 (Toyota).
A typographic design does not use any symbols – just words and letters to
create an image. In most cases, these are the most a ordable types of logos as
strict limits are established very early on in the design process. They are simple
but can still be very e ective.
— Examples 3 (Ford) and 5 (Vaio).
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 34.04
1. Perceived value is the customer’s
evaluation of the bene ts and costs of
one brand compared to others.
Unboxing is when consumers record the actual process of unwrapping their
newly purchased products and then post it on the social media.

2. Apple can price their technology more

than 2x what their competitors charge
and not even break a sweat because they
have built one of the most hardcore fan
bases ever, one that will gladly pay a
premium because of the perceived value
attached to Apple products.
3. The brand does not just forge intimate
connections with its customers, but it is
adored in return. Building upon the
emotions we feel while discovering,
owning, and using Apple products, the
brand capitalizes on the lifestyle,
imagination, passion, innovation,
empowerment and aspirations of Apple
users. By engaging emotion and not just
reason, Apple forged that connection to
create a memorable identity.
4. Apple incorporates customer
experience into branding by putting the
customer at the heart of everything they
do.
Unboxing videos, for instance, o er an unvarnished and honest peek at
products, while positioning the unboxer in a central position within a brand’s
community.
Their ‘Shot on iPhone’ campaign for example showcases the versatility of the
iPhone camera, but also features utterly charming videos shot by real people.
O ering their customers the chance at being part of something huge ‘this
campaign coupled human emotion with real product bene ts. Showing how
their products t people’s lives, the campaign reinforces the brand pillars of
Apple and further solidi es the emotional connection with the audience.
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 34.05
revenue recettes deceptive un revenu an
cognate income

bene ts allocations ou béné ces partly du béné ce

ou avantages transparent pro t

to forge créer/ forger un lien transparent

connections

formidable impressionnant deceptive formidable

cognate wonderful

to pay a prime ou supplément partly une prime a

premium transparent bonus

momentous mémorable deceptive momentané

cognate momentary

to record enregistrer deceptive

cognate

the actual le véritable processus deceptive actuel current

process cognate

to deliver livrer deceptive délivrer to

cognate release/ free

to design concevoir deceptive désigner to

cognate name
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 34.06
LATIN/ FRENCH root ANGLO-SAXON root

to reinforce to strengthen

to solidify to harden

to facilitate to make sthg easy/ easier

a gamut of an array of

at the core of at the heart of

 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 34.07
unboxing — negative pre x: un-; root word: box; su x: -ing
Translation: déballage
unboxer — pre x: un-; root word: box; su x: -er
Translation: la personne qui déballe
unwrapping — pre x: un-; root word: wrap; su x: -ing
Translation: déballage
unvarnished — pre x: un-; root word: varnish; su x: -ed
Translation: sans fard
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 34.08
1.There is a general perception among
many consumers that branded products
cost more, are better quality, have a more
favorable image, o er better customer
service and leave the consumer with a
feel-good sense of well-being in
comparison to non-branded products.
Many customers are happy to pay more for these because they are buying
feelings and emotions more than a simple functional product when they choose
a brand.
Also there is a question of status symbol: people feel like they belong to a
privileged community when they display brands that are perceived as up-
market and state-of-the art because after all: “The people who line up for
Starbucks aren’t just there for the co ee.” (Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO)

2. — Correction. See article on editions-

foucher.fr: “Focus on store layout
consistency to boot your retail brand”
(dotactiv.com).
Focus On Store Layout Consistency To Boost Your Retail Brand
Have you noticed that the brands we all know and love have a consistent look
and feel? Take Apple for instance, whose stores follow the same minimalistic
look and feel – their stores are even consistent with their product design. If you
have visited an Apple store before, then you know that it is always an
experience where you’re enticed to spend your time looking at their products.
Other than their products, the consistency across store layouts has contributed
towards Apple’s cult-like following. Customers have the expectation that they
will be consistent across all stores and every interaction – an expectation Apple
has met with signi cant e ect. When a customer visits an Apple store in
London, they can expect it to look the same as the Apple store back home in
Tokyo.
Apple is certainly an exceptional example but it does support the argument
that consistency is important when it comes to how a retail brand is perceived.
For those retailers who are aspiring towards greatness we suggest starting with
a consistent store layout which is the design of a store’s oor space and the
positioning of categories and items within that store. Consistent store layouts
have a signi cant impact on how customers perceive a retailer’s brand image,
speci cally when it comes to these values:
1. Trust. A retailer with consistent store layouts, regardless of location, gives the
retailer’s brand a personality in the eyes of the customer, someone they know
they can trust and depend on.
2. Recognition. Consistency indicates clarity and purpose – there’s no confusion
as to who they are, what they do for customers and what customers can expect
them to deliver.
3. Quality. Retailers with consistent store layouts have taken the time to pay
attention to detail – customers come to know that retailers who pay attention
to detail in this way will deliver on quality.
In today’s retail market, customers will not buy from you just because you’ve
got great products, reasonable prices or because you carry their choice brands.
Customers will buy from you when your retail brand connects with them
emotionally. As a retailer, you have the ability to do so, and in this post, we’ll
cover some speci c things which will help you get started with layout
consistency.
Staple down your consumer decision tree
The consumer decision tree, which groups products according to how
customers shop them, is a vital tool for retailers and manufacturers when
designing store layouts through planograms. When browsing a category in-
store here is an example of a decision process a customer may go through:
1. Brand. Buying by brand is often the rst stop for customers in a category
because of the promise of quality and consistency.
2. Quality. The customer then segments the product into economy, premium
and super-premium.
3. Attributes. At this stage, the customer segments even further by looking for
attributes which meet their preference such as color, avor, or packaging.
The better designed and recorded a consumer decision tree is, the easier it will
be for customers to shop. Consumer decision trees also impact space planners,
the architects of store layouts. When products are classi ed according to their
logical place on the consumer decision tree, space planners are better able to
create planograms for more consistent layouts across multiple stores. If well
executed, they make the di erence between a ercely loyal customer and an
occasional shopper.
Learn more about some of the things which you can’t do without the consumer
decision tree here.
Merchandising Principles
Merchandising principles have a real impact on store layouts and in turn have a
direct in uence on the behaviour and perceptions of its customers. From a
store layout consistency perspective take a look at the example regarding
House Brands below:
In today’s market, many retailers develop their own house brands in an e ort
create connections with customers. The brand is often the rst factor which
in uences a customer’s shopping behavior, and it can be leveraged to create
perceptions. To do this successfully, you’ll need to ensure your house brand is
optimally placed. So if for example, if you made it a merchandising principle or
“rule” to always put your house brand between the brand leader and the
secondary brand on all shelves and in all stores it would contribute towards
consistency. It would also improve the perceived value of your house brand.
Base Range
Depending on your store type, when customers shop at your store they expect
there to be certain products available no matter what. These products are
referred to as the base range. Products in the base range will stay the same
across all your retail stores regardless of local preferences. The base range will
usually comprise of the most popular products and brands that your shoppers
expect to nd across all your stores. For example, grocers who have a cereal
category will almost always have Corn akes, be it Kelloggs or house brand. This
consistency puts customers at ease, letting them know that they can trust your
store to have the essentials they need.
DotActiv Team on www.dotactiv.com/blog/store-layout-consistency-retail-
brand (on Apr 11, 2017)
CONCLUSION
As retail continues on its grand evolutionary path, it’s interesting to note that
Amazon, Warby Parker, and Bonobos, leading e-commerce retailers, are all
considering brick and mortar stores as part of their ongoing strategies. Warby
Parker executives foresee a possible roster of 800 to 1,000 brick and mortar
locations, while Bonobos envisions 100 physical stores by 2020. Amazon has
already opened two bookstores and has three on the drawing board. All three
online giants recognize that brick and mortar environments will support online
sales.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 35.01
1. logo — a drawing representing the company
2. headline — a word or short sentence that conveys the main idea of the ad
3. artwork — a photo or drawing
4. body copy — words written in a smaller type that gives more info about the
product
5. slogan — a short phrase easy to remember that represents the company
6. publicity stunt — a planned event designed to attract the public’s attention
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 35.02
1. A lot of cosmetics companies give away
free samples so that customers can try
the product before they buy.
2. Advertising companies spend a lot of
money on creating clever slogans that are
short and memorable, such as the
message for Nike: ‘Just do it’.
3. Celebrity endorsement is a technique
that is very popular in advertising at the
moment.
4. If news about a product comes to you
by word of mouth, someone tells you
about it rather than you seeing an advert.
5. Many companies use post and
electronic mailshots because they can
target a particular group of consumers all
at the same time.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 35.03
1. special o er
2. sponsorship deal
3. free tour
4. brand loyalty
5. promotional gifts
6. customer needs
7. target audience
8. premium price
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 35.04
1. a producer — a consumer
2. pro t — loss
3. output — input
4. cost — revenue
5. below-the-line advertising — above-
the-line advertising
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 35.06
1.People from generations Y and Z shun
traditional brands and stores — True
Generic stores and static brands don’t quite cut it anymore with experience-
hungry millennials.

2.Malls are more and more appealing to

shoppers. — False
Dwindling foot tra c in malls (…) forced companies to rethink how they reach
consumers.

3.Pop-up shops are strategic tests for

brands. — True
Pop-up shops o er both a testing ground and a marketing tool.

4. Pop-up shops are generally very

successful with consumers because they
are ephemeral. — True
They create a sense of urgency, and lure in shoppers with exclusive items. It’s all
about the buzz. They’re usually designed for art rather than function.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 35.07
1. a. For consumers
– They have access to customized/tailor-made products, which gives them a
sense of uniqueness.
– They experience the brand rather than just consume it thanks to unique and
ephemeral settings and stagings.
– They can discover in brick and mortar shops brands that they have access to
only online.

b. For retailers
– Pop-up shops give retailers a chance to experiment with new formats.
– They gain consumer insights.

c. For digital brands

– They can study shoppers’ product preferences.
– They can also collect information like email addresses to connect with them
after the store closes.
– Pop-up shops boost sales.

2.Inside, visitors explore various settings

that match selected scents. Traditional
candles comprise just a corner of the
space instead of occupying most of the
space. Personalized jars are the
centerpiece of the store: they are
products created on the spot that
consumers will never have access to
again. Four New York-themed scents are
unique to the store. Exclusive products
are essentially an unwritten rule for pop-
up shops.
3. Brands across the spectrum have
played with the concept. Luxury out ts
Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino, Pringles
and Pop-Tart maker Kellogg, consumer
goods giant Unilever and streaming
service Net ix are among those that have
opened pop-up shops this year.
Traditional retailers are pairing up with digital brands to bring them into brick
and mortar. Calvin Klein and Amazon, Topshop and Kylie Jenner, Domino and
Home Depot are among the matchups.

4.The experience may not be pro table in

the short term. In the text, some gures
are mentioned which give an overview of
how much pop-up stores can cost to
brands: “On average, operating a space
under 1,000 square feet in Nolita, a New
York neighborhood near SoHo, can cost
between $35,000 and $40,000 a month,
according to Fan. That number varies
based on location and size, she said, with
a 10,000-square-foot space costing up to
$60,000 a month in rent alone.”
These prices seem very high and the journalist insists that: “Sales can help
o set the expenses, Fan added. The information gained from consumers can
also justify the price tag.”
This means that sales do not always compensate the investment in the event.
So, only the future will tell if this experience is going to be a lasting marketing
trend or if it is just another fad in the marketing world.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 37.01
RFI: a Request for Information is a standard business process used by
customers to collect written information regarding the capabilities of various
suppliers, which will better inform buying decisions.
RFQ: a Request for Quotation is a standard business process whose purpose is
to invite suppliers into a bidding process to bid on speci c products or services.
RFQ generally means the same thing as IFB (Invitation For Bid).
RFP: a Request for Proposal is a document that solicits proposal, often made
through a bidding process, by an agency or company interested in
procurement of a commodity, service, or valuable asset, to potential suppliers
to submit business proposals.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 37.02
1.Postponement — moves almost- nished
products into stock, and delays nal
modi cations or customization until the
last possible moment.
2. Third party operations — the use of an
outside organization to perform non-core
activities (which are outsourced).
3. Reverse logistics — brings materials
(defects, spare units, wrong deliveries,
pack- aging, materials for recycling,
containers, etc.) back from customers to
suppliers.
4. Stocktaking — periodic checks to nd
di erences between recorded and actual
stock levels.
5. Shortage — occurs when customer
demand cannot be met from stock
(resulting in backorders or lost sales).
6. Rule of 80/20 — also called Pareto
analysis or ABC analysis, is a way of
categorizing inventory items depending
on value and use.
7. Pipeline stock — stock that is currently
being moved from one location to
another.
8. Unitization — putting materials into
standard packages (typically on pallets or
in containers) to ease movement.
9. Lean strategy — a business strategy
that aims at doing every operation using
the least possible resource – people,
space, stock, equipment, time, etc.
10. Break bulk — typically done in a
warehouse, where large quantities of an
item are broken into smaller amounts for
delivery to customers.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 37.04
1.How does the retail industry cope with
the variations in demands caused by the
Covid-19 crisis?
What to do with the surplus of inventory?

2. Clothes are a non-essential product

when people have to stay at home. Thus
the fashion retail industry was hit full
force by the lockdowns imposed both in
Europe and America. The sales dropped
so much that they had to stop online
sales and close warehouses, sacri cing a
whole season’s worth of clothing.
3. Retailers in the fashion industry have
even a harder time than others dealing
with the inventory sitting in their
warehouses, which keeps growing
because of the arrival of the orders
placed before the pandemic; indeed, even
though there is no use-by date for
clothes, collections are seasonal and
quickly go out of style. This means that
whatever has not been sold (the sales
dropped by half in the fashion retail
industry in March) may never be sold and
everything that is stored will be wasted.
The crisis has endangered the entire supply chain: if retailers stop ordering
products from their usual suppliers (in order to curb their inventory), they
threaten their survival. This threat is real even if retailers try to be reasonable in
terms of reduction. This, in turn may prove lethal to the very same retailers who
may nd it hard to ll their shelves when the crisis is over because of the
shortage of suppliers (who will have gone bankrupt because of the lack of
orders).

4.Retailers sell as much as they can online

at discounted prices (H&M, GAP, Uniqlo)
Another tactic: retailers cancel or suspend deliveries (Marks and Spencer, Ross
Dress for Less) from their suppliers in emerging countries invoking force
majeure.
A third solution: retailers ask their suppliers to ship the good more slowly.
Positive consequences: lower carbon emissions, no glutted warehouses, saving
fees on land warehouses. Shipping companies even o er deals to store
shipments at cheaper locations so as to reduce the fees of the retailers even
further.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 37.05
1.
The human cost
Fast fashion is literally killing people: all those workers in developing countries
that will manufacture the clothes that are so fashionable in the developed
world.
It contributes to modern slavery: people are used and discarded as if they were
any kind of mechanical tools regardless of the detrimental consequences it may
have on their and their families’ lives.
The environmental footprint
The garment industry generated 1.2bn tons of CO2 in 2015. It uses a huge
amount of non-renewable resources (among which, oil to make synthetic
bres)which will keep increasing.
It is responsible for 20% of the world’s industrial water pollution.
CCL: What can be done: hashtags (e.g.: #WhoMadeMy Clothes?) to rally people
around the cause and put pressure on brands to become more transparent
about their suppliers and subcontractors + participate in world events in favor
of fairer working conditions and better environment protection.

2. — Buy less but better quality and wear

longer (minimalism): How much more
would you be willing to pay to know your
clothes were being produced in an ethical
manner?
— Buy second hand (Vinted + thrift shops)
— Share / swap / resell / reuse
“Shwopped” is a mot valise: it is a mix between shop + swap. You hand over an
unwanted item of clothes when you buy a new one.
Retailer Marks & Spencer, in partnership with Oxfam, wants customers to hand
over an old item of clothing every time they buy a new one
Britain’s biggest clothing retailer is launching a campaign to stop one in four
items of clothing bought in the UK ending up in the bin.
https://www.wikipreneurship.eu/index.php/Shwopping
http://www.dynamique-mag.com/article/shwopping-nouvelle-tendance.5536
H&M in 2013 was convinced that shwopping was something to try and that
would bring back customers to its outlets. The above link will give you more
details about the trend. But on the whole retailers did not copy the partnership
that M&S and Oxfam negotiated.
— Recycling should be encouraged; and everything can be recycled not only
clothes but china, books, CDs, etc. Recycling enables customers to keep on
consuming with a clear conscience. They might be addicted to shopping and
might feel ashamed at times to have so many garments in their wardrobe.
Giving away or donating is a good deed that does not cost anything and might
help somebody. Recycling is to give a second life to old clothes among other
items.
Cf.: https://landor.com/work/ms-shwopping
— Buy responsible brands or sustainable ones
— Donate to charity shops/ thrift stores.

3.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-
5443217/Fast-fashion-fabric-centre-
pollution-scandal.html
https://www.euronews.com/green/2020/07/09/inside-the-leicester-
sweatshops-accused-of-modern-slavery
https://www.web24.news/u/2020/12/the-textile-industry-ravaged-by-the-
uyghur-scandal.html
Why Chaotic Storage Is Perhaps the Best Inventory Management System
When people think of an organized warehouse, they likely imagine rows and
rows of meticulously managed shelves, featuring groupings of similar items in
alphabetical or price order. Yet thanks to an automated inventory management
system powered by barcodes and barcode scanners, one of the biggest
retailers in the history of the world runs its warehouses with a system called
“chaotic storage.” This method, wherein items are placed seemingly at random
on any available shelf space, appears to y in the face of everything we expect
from Amazon, a monster online retailer that ships billions of items every year.
There are some companies that could never dream of utilizing warehouse space
in this way, because they continue to use manual processes (such as Excel
spreadsheets) to record inventory movement, or don’t use any inventory
management system at all. The pitfalls of not moving to an automated system
in this day and age are numerous, and include issues with order accuracy,
in ated tax bills and customer service fails.
Yet even those that have made the switch to inventory management software
can nd themselves stuck executing their receiving, shipping, returns and more
in traditional ways that limit productivity and e ciency without realizing it.
While not every company is Amazon, which broke Black Friday sales records in
2015 by reportedly selling over 5 million products in one day, their model may
be the one to replicate going forward, considering their outstanding success.
Chaotic storage isn’t as simple as leaving products strewn around the
warehouse and searching blindly when it’s time to send them out. It all starts
with a quality inventory management system, powered by automated software.
This software is a collection of business applications that track product sales,
the purchases of raw materials and other processes along the supply chain.
Businesses no longer need to use a pencil and paper to perform basic actions
like re-ordering, and can instead move their employees’ focus to analyzing data
and reducing ine ciencies.
Why is automated software better than manual processing? Spreadsheets are
notoriously error-prone, and inaccurate records are the source of longer lead
times, which in turn create a slower response to changes in demand. Your
business could suddenly nd itself out of a hot seller just as demand is surging,
forcing you to turn away customers, killing pro ts in both the short-term (that’s
a sale you could have made) and long-term (you’re less likely to get a customer
back once you lose them, and it’s expensive to “buy” new customers compared
to getting old ones to return).
Businesses usually see a return on investment for inventory management
software in ve main areas: managing inventory, saving space, maximizing
labor, satisfying customers and reducing wear and tear. All of these areas are
based on the premise of a more organized warehouse, but the word
“organized” can mean many things. In reality, anytime a product has a barcode
label, it can be organized. That’s where chaotic storage comes in.
Barcodes, both traditional, linear barcodes and more complex 2D barcodes, are
translated into alphanumeric codes by a barcode scanner, mobile computer or
even smartphone app, which correspond to information in the company
database such as price, available inventory and sometimes photos or
instructions (those latter two are often found in 2D codes, which can hold
signi cantly more information than traditional codes). Amazon doubled the
power of barcodes by placing them not only their products, but on their
shelves as well.
At Amazon, employees armed with barcode scanners take incoming products
and place them in unoccupied shelf positions, regardless of what other
products are around them. Since each product and shelf have unique barcodes,
the sta is able to record where each product was placed, so when the time to
ship out comes another employee just reads o the computer’s picking list. By
scanning every item every time they are moved, the database stays current.
The bene ts of chaotic storage for Amazon may not be obvious, but they are
numerous. They include:
Flexibility: Empty storage space is lled up immediately, which means the
warehouse becomes pliable to the needs and demands of the market.
Space: According to a “60 Minutes” piece on Amazon, the company says that
using chaotic storage allows them to store twice as many goods at their
warehouses than they did ve years prior.
Accuracy: While it may seem counterintuitive to keep items stored next to (and
on top of, and under) markedly di erent products, this helps employees avoid
mix-ups, i.e., the wrong size or color item, that would doom an order and
possibly harm the company’s reputation. So keeping the make-up next to the
sports equipment is actually an added layer of protection against errors.
Simplicity: For new employees, there is no learning where the “toys section” of
the warehouse is, nor is there a need to worry about keeping certain book
genres, authors or even titles together. As Twisted Sifter writes: “You don’t need
to know what the product is, just where it is.”
Optimization: Amazon warehouses are enormous, some are more than a million
square feet. Rather than having employees trek back and forth to ful ll an order
with varied contents, the system can compute an optimized ful llment route.
Human element: If you’re a business owner who values being a job creator,
there’s no need to worry about a technology upgrade leading to a more
impersonal work environment. Amazon nds that using human employees
armed with barcode scanners is actually more pro table than relying on robots
to store, sort and ship products.
There are exceptions to the chaotic storage system, including items that need
to be refrigerated, kept at di erent humidities, or are bulky slow-sellers that
can’t be stored normally. There is also room for error, such as when the
computer system goes down and no items can be located. However, the
possibility for a computer crash pales in comparison to the numerous, common
errors that are spawned by using Excel spreadsheets. Large, successful retailers
don’t have to worry about lots of small mistakes adding up, and take great care
to ensure their systems are always up and running.
Chaotic storage may not be for everyone. It’s certainly a marvel of innovation,
and one that should inspire other companies, whether they are rivals to
Amazon or businesses in di erent industries altogether, to examine the way
they conduct inventory management and ask what they can do di erently. This
system shows, innovation doesn’t have to come at a high cost or be overly
complex. As Jim Bumbulsky wrote on Medium: “What fascinates me so much
about this 2x increase in storage was the simplicity of the practice. Of course
there is sophisticated software infrastructure running the operation, but the
essence of the solution was basic. What other solutions exist for companies
that are so obvious, nobody thinks about them?”
Indeed, the humble barcode and its related technologies are more powerful
than we give it credit for, just ask Amazon.
Jay Scho eld, www.systemid.com/learn/why-chaotic-
storage-is-perhaps-the-best/(on May 3, 2016)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 38.02
1. logistics provider — logisticien
2. nal customer — client nal
3. supply chain — chaîne
d’approvisionnement
4. forwarding agent — transitaire
5. nished goods — produits nis
6. distribution channel — canal de
distribution
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 38.03
1. just-in-time — an approach that
organizes operations to occur at exactly
the time they are needed.
2. cross-docking — co-ordinates supply
and delivery, typically at a warehouse, so
that goods arriving are moved straight
away to a loading area ready to be sent to
customers
3. kanban — card (either physical or
electronic) that passes a message
backwards through the supply chain to
trigger JIT operations
4. lot sizing — combining several small
orders into larger ones for Material
Requirements Planning (MRP).
5. pull — system used by JIT, where
operations are triggered by customer
demand and materials are pulled through
the supply chain.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 38.05
[Paragraph 1]— Core Concept
[Paragraph 2] — The Five Focusing Steps
[Paragraph 3] — The Thinking Processes
[Paragraph 4] — Throughput Accounting
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 38.06
What? Theory of Constraints Lean Manufacturing

Objective Increase throughput. Eliminate waste.

Focus Singular focus on the Broad focus on the elimination

constraint (until it is no of waste from the manufacturing
longer the constraint). process.

Result Increased manufacturing Reduced manufacturing cost.

capacity.

Inventory Maintain su cient inventory to Eliminate virtually all inventory.

maximize throughput at the
constraint.

Line Create imbalance to maximize Create balance to eliminate

Balancing throughput at the constraint. waste (excess capacity).

Pacing Constraint sets the pace Customer sets the pace (Takt
(Drum-Buffer-Rope). Time).
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 38.07
1. Christopher Priest currently serves as
the interim Deputy Assistant Director
(DAD) for Healthcare Operations (HCO),
Defense Health Agency (DHA). He is
responsible for the policy, procedures,
and direction of healthcare administration
in the military medical treatment facilities.
More info about him here:
https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/ les/Christopher%20Priest%20Bio.pdf
Peter Kent Navarro (born July 15, 1949) is an American economist and author.
He served in the Trump administration as the Assistant to the President,
Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, and the national Defense
Production Act policy coordinator.
From 2001 to 2004 Mr. Wuttke was the Chairman of the German Chamber of
Commerce in China. In May 2019, he was elected for a third term as the
President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Since 2019,
Wuttke is Vice Chairman of the CPCIF International Cooperation Committee, a
group representing multinational companies in China’s Chemical Association.
James L. McGregor is an American author, journalist and businessman who has
lived in China for more than 25 years. He is one of the most recognized analysts
and writers on business in China. McGregor is chairman of APCO Worldwide,
Greater China and a member of the rm’s international advisory council.

2.They realized that for some essential

products they actually depended on one
country (namely China), which means
that if this country fails to provide what
they need, their industry and industrial
balance are jeopardized.
3. It is believed that covid-19 will
accelerate trends in America and other
Western countries to disengage from
China but this is most likely to be a long-
term trend. in the short term, those
countries will rst try to diversify their
sources in order to gain some control
back on certain forms of production.
4. This trend started a while ago. di erent
factors played in favor of a diversi cation:
– rising labour costs in China,
– trade tensions,
– and now the virus.

5. Western companies nd it di cult to

nd countries with China’s infrastructure
and adaptable work force. Plus, the most
capable high-tech companies see China
as “the market of the future” and can’t
leave it altogether, lest they sacri ce
future pro ts.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 39.03
1.Standards use to assess performance or
level of quality. — benchmarks
2. A detailed description of what is
required. — customer’s speci cation
3. Suitable for intended use. — t for
purpose
4. The stages through which a product or
service moves before it is delivered to the
customer. — internal supply chain
5. A system to monitor that processes,
goods and services meet the
requirements. — quality assurance
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 39.05
Total quality management is often thought of as something done in the
manufacturing sector. It is attracting growing attention in the public sector
though where governments nd it must do more with less. Citizens are
demanding more social services while many government agencies are facing
cutbacks in their scal budget allocation. If the government tries to raise scal
revenues through taxes, politicians face the wrath of the voters. If it tries to
reduce public services, civil servants face harassment and social unrest from
citizens. Caught between these con icting demands, TQM has become one
option for improving the quality of service delivery, at a reasonable cost, and in
as short a period as possible. Quality proponents will unconditionally argue that
TQM can be implemented in the public sector; however, civil servants have not
been quick to adopt this concept. In principle, civil servants clearly see its
merits but they still want to see concrete cases of its implementation in the
public sector. Admittedly, compared with the manufacturing sector, the number
of TQM cases in the public sector are few however there are enough to create a
critical mass of experience of the way forward.
A concrete example and a presentation of some barriers can be found here:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.467.9841&rep=rep1&type=pdf
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 40.03
1. Possible characteristics are:
Linear or non-linear: This characteristic describes whether the data items are
arranged in chronological sequence, such as with an array, or in an unordered
sequence, such as with a graph.
Homogeneous or non-homogeneous: This characteristic describes whether all
data items in a given repository are of the same type or of various types.
Static or dynamic: This characteristic describes how the data structures are
compiled. Static data structures have xed sizes, structures and memory
locations at compile time. Dynamic data structures have sizes, structures and
memory locations that can shrink or expand depending on the use.
From: https://searchsqlserver.techtarget.com/de nition/data-structure

2. These types include:

Arrays- An array stores a collection of items at adjoining memory locations.
Items that are the same type get stored together so that the position of each
element can be calculated or retrieved easily. Arrays can be xed or exible in
length.
Stacks- A stack stores a collection of items in the linear order that operations
are applied. This order could be last in rst out (LIFO) or rst in rst out (FIFO).
Queues- A queue stores a collection of items similar to a stack; however, the
operation order can only be rst in rst out.
Linked lists- A linked list stores a collection of items in a linear order. Each
element, or node, in a linked list contains a data item as well as a reference, or
link, to the next item in the list.
Trees- A tree stores a collection of items in an abstract, hierarchical way. Each
node is linked to other nodes and can have multiple sub-values, also known as
children.
Graphs- A graph stores a collection of items in a non-linear fashion. Graphs are
made up of a nite set of nodes, also known as vertices, and lines that connect
them, also known as edges. These are useful for representing real-life systems
such as computer networks.
Tries- A trie, or keyword tree, is a data structure that stores strings as data
items that can be organized in a visual graph.
Hash tables- A hash table, or a hash map, stores a collection of items in an
associative array that plots keys to values. A hash table uses a hash function to
convert an index into an array of buckets that contain the desired data item.
From: https://searchsqlserver.techtarget.com/de nition/data-structure
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 41.01
RFID — Radio Frequency Identi cation
UID — Unique Identi cation Number
IP — Internet Protocol
NFC — Near-Field Communication
URL — Uniform Resource Locator
SQL — Structured Query Language

More acronyms you may nd when dealing

with IT
ARPANET Advanced Research Projects OCR Optical
Agency NETwork Character
Recognition
B to B Business to Business PaaS Platform As A
Service
BPR Business Process Re-engineering PPL Pay Per
Licence
CMMI Capability Maturity Model PPU Pay Per Use
Integration
COBIT Control Objectives for QoS Quality of
Information and related Service
Technology
EDI Electronic Data Interchange RAD Rapid
Application
Development
EDM Engineering Data Management. SaaS Software As A
Service
ERP Enterprise Resource Planning SLA Service Level
Agreement
IaaS Infrastructure As A Service TCO Total Cost of
Ownership
ISO International Organization for VPN Virtual Private
Standardization Network
ITIL Information Technology VM Virtual
Infrastructure Library Machine
KM Knowledge Management XML eXtensible
Markup
Language
LAN Local Area Network
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 41.04
un algorithme — an algorithm
un serveur (informatique) — a server
un code barre — a bar code/ barcode
l’automatisation — automation
une adresse IP — IP address
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 41.06
1. It is a tool developed for work meetings
like Zoom but it is enhanced since it
o ers more features and an AR/ VR
experience on top of it all.
2. Gamers have already adopted the
product. FB is now targeting the working
world…. to make their product go from a
niche market to the mainstream market.
3. No. The journalist even suggests that it
is a copy of an existing product launched
by a less well-known competitor.
(copyright infringement/ theft)
4. Maybe in the long term but not right
away: too expensive, not user-friendly
enough + employees are a bit tired of the
virtual and remote work.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 41.07
1. While there’s a lot of promise for
Facebook’s workrooms app, there are also
signi cant hurdles.
Facebook’s biggest hurdle with Workrooms is a simple logistical one: Most
people don’t have an Oculus Quest 2 headset. The cost of the $300 hardware
will undoubtedly be a barrier for many potential users to access the full
experience.
Aside from that, there are also potentially major privacy concerns about people
giving Facebook more data. Facebook has said that it will not use the
conversations you have in Workrooms to inform ads on Facebook, and that the
technology will only process images of your home environment locally. But
given the company’s controversial track record on protecting user privacy, it
may be hard to convince people to let Facebook into their lives more than they
already have.
Facebook has also struggled so far to get people invested in metaverse-ready
products. Spaces, the company’s previous attempt at a virtual environment,
was geared toward social conversations, but it never took o and is now
defunct. Facebook has, however, seen some success with its messaging app for
work, Workplace Messenger. And virtual reality technology has become much
more accessible since then, with the price of headsets dropping from a price
point of a few thousand dollars to a few hundred.
Facebook’s Workrooms app is a foundational step in the company’s grand
“metaverse” vision. And whether or not people actually want to participate in
this new world, Facebook’s CEO is extremely excited about it.

2. Although the term Metaverse is not new

(it’s almost 20 years old) we decided to
talk about it since the web mentions it a
lot lately. It’s a term from English
literature which appeared in the 90s with
the novel “Snow Crash” by Neal
Stephenson. Is this a new social network?
A new Facebook acquisition? A platform
to build? One that already exists?
Fictional? Real? Virtual?...
The de nitions agree on the fact that the Metaverse is rst of all a fusion
between two worlds: virtual and real. It is a virtual space that comes in addition
to the real world (similar to augmented reality), but that also exists by itself
(similar to virtual reality). This space is shared by all users who also continue to
build it and make it grow. Thus, in the Metaverse, it is possible to own virtual
goods, objects or “real estate”, which can be acquired and sold either through a
virtual currency speci c to this Metaverse, or through real money.
A characteristic of the Metaverse that is not unanimously accepted, although it
accompanied the original idea in Snow Crash, is the immersion (no more need
for a screen or keyboard) to navigate or “live” in it. Indeed, with the use of a
helmet (or glasses) and gesture control, users should move and explore it as
easily as they would in the real world.
So we can see that all the accepted characteristics of the Metaverse are
ful lled, but unfortunately by separate experiences. Thus, we have the
participatory e ect through video games, the immersion through virtual reality
headsets and the possibility to own virtual goods introduced by the NFT1. The
real challenge is to combine all this to really establish the Metaverse.
1
A non-fungible token is a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored
on a digital ledger. NFTs can be used to represent easily-reproducible items
such as photos, videos, audio, and other types of digital les as unique items,
and use blockchain technology to establish a veri ed and public proof of
ownership.
https:// amingo lter.co/blog/the-metaverse-for-dummies (on September 23rd,
2021)

3. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented

reality (AR) have exciting potential in the
future of gaming, marketing, e-commerce,
education, and many other elds. Both
technologies are known for their enriched
experience that brings together a virtual
world and the real one with enhanced, 3-
D visuals. Although it can be easy to mix
up the two, there are some signi cant
di erences.
What Is AR?
Almost any person with a smartphone can get access to augmented reality,
making it more e cient than VR as a branding and gaming tool. AR morphs the
mundane, physical world into a colorful, visual one by projecting virtual pictures
and characters through a phone’s camera or video viewer. Augmented reality is
merely adding to the user’s real-life experience.
What Is VR?
Virtual reality takes these same components to another level by producing an
entirely computer-generated simulation of an alternate world. These immersive
simulations can create almost any visual or place imaginable for the player
using special equipment such as computers, sensors, headsets, and gloves.
What’s the Di erence Between the Two?
The distinctions between VR and AR come down to the devices they require
and the experience itself:
– AR uses a real-world setting while VR is completely virtual
– AR users can control their presence in the real world; VR users are controlled
by the system
– VR requires a headset device, but AR can be accessed with a smartphone
– AR enhances both the virtual and real world while VR only enhances a
ctional reality
https://sopa.tulane.edu/blog/whats-di erence-between-ar-and-vr
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 41.08
1. Stitch Fix is a company where an expert
stylist along with an algorithm do the
shopping for the customers who
subscribed to their service and send them
clothing and accessories they think they’ll
like; customers keep the items they want
and send the others back.
2. Stitch Fix is an apparel retailer. But
while others try to di erentiate
themselves through the lowest price or
the fastest shipping, they do it through
personalization/ customization. Indeed,
each shipment is a box containing ve
clothing and accessory items tailored to
each customer’s tastes.
3. Stitch Fix’s choices are based on the
information they collected from their
subscribers in an extensive questionnaire
they ll out when they sign up, and then
in feedback they provide after each
shipment. Stitch Fix combine data and
machine learning with expert human
judgment: the human stylist can alter or
override the product assortment the
styling algorithm has delivered.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 41.09
1.Personal answers are expected here.
Maybe in the medical eld with AI being
able to diagnose diseases before doctors
can but having humans doing any
procedures or psychological follow-up.
Or the necessary combined use of human brains and GPS to avoid accidents.

2. Have a look at: https://lookiero.co.uk

 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 42.01
digital divide — fossé/ fracture numérique
search engine — moteur de recherche
identity theft — vol d’identité
service provider — fournisseur d’accès
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 42.04
1. The main stakeholders mentioned in the
document are: federal, state and industry
regulators, business partners and
customers.
2. It must:
– evaluate the threats to the system and its vulnerability,
– inventory the information assets of the organization,
– opt for a comprehensive set of information security and privacy controls that
addresses the threat-vulnerability pairs that are pointed out in the process,
– be cost-e ective.

3.It is di cult for companies to assess the

probability a threat-source will
successfully exploit one or more
vulnerabilities. Plus, if the threat is posed
by a human actor, the probability of the
threat will depend on the motivation of
the source and the di culty or cost
associated with exploiting one or more
vulnerabilities to achieve the threat actor’s
objectives. That is why it is not easy to
develop a valid business case for a
speci c risk response.
4. Step 1 — Identify risks and de ne
protection requirements
Step 2 — Specify controls
Step 3 — Implement and manage controls
Step 4 — Assess and report

For more info on RMFs:

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/risk-management-collection
https://www.enisa.europa.eu/
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 42.05
In 2009 Amazon remotely deleted some
1.
digital editions of 1984 and The Animal
Farm by G. Orwell from the Kindle devices
of readers who had bought them.
An Amazon spokesman, Drew Herdener, said in an e-mail message that the
books were added to the Kindle store by a company that did not have rights to
them, using a self-service function. “When we were noti ed of this by the rights
holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’
devices.”

2.It is ironic because in George Orwell’s

1984, government censors erase all traces
of news articles embarrassing to Big
Brother by sending them down an
incineration chute called the “memory
hole.”
On that occasion, it was 1984 itself that was dropped down the memory hole —
by Amazon.com.

3. Some customers sued Amazon for

damage. The company o ered customers
a refund, gift certi cate, or to restore the
deleted books. They also had to alter their
systems so that in the future they would
not remove books from customers’
devices in these circumstances.
4. It illustrates how few rights you have
when you buy an e-book from Amazon
and also raises the question of the
reliability of digital content over the years.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 43.01
ressources logicielles — software resources
initier une action — to initiate action
des éléments interdépendants — interdependent éléments
l’automatisation — automation
des périphériques — peripherals
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 43.02
1. to rely — reliable — able
to avoid — avoidable — évitable
to accept — acceptable — acceptable
to value — valuable — précieux
to use — usable — utilisable
to sustain — sustainable — durable

2. Verb + su x –able = adjective

-able (meaning of the su x):
• able to be: calculable.
• subject to: taxable.
• to be: payable.
• relevant to or in accordance with: fashionable.
• having the quality to: suitable; comfortable.

3. remplaçable — replaceable
responsable — responsible
discutable — debatable
négligeable — negligible

4. unreliable, irreplaceable
unavoidable, irresponsible
unacceptable, undebatable
unusable, unsustainable
The antonyms for:
valuable: unimportant, insigni cant, inexpensive
negligible: signi cant
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 43.03
1.MIS is a concept, which is a matter of
degree rather than an absolute one. The
classi cation of information systems is as
follows:
Transaction processing system.
Management information system.
Decision support system.
Executive support system.
O ce automation system.
Business expert system.

2. Data may be de ned as raw facts,

gures, objects, etc. Information is used
to make decisions. To transform data into
information, processing is needed and it
must be done while considering the
context of a decision. We are often awash
in data but lacking good information.
However, the success achieved in
supplying information to decision makers
is highly variable.
Management information systems attempt to convert data into information for
the decision maker. Every aspect of management in the modern age relies
heavily on information to thrive. Nothing moves without information and it is
generally believed that information is power and that he who has it has power.

3.An organization’s output performance is

directly related to the motivation and
performance of its human resources. A
high sta turnover rate which is
monitored by the management
information system and identi ed as
occurring in a particular department or in
a particular category of sta can indicate
poor performance on the part of the
employer. Also, a high turnover rate of
clerical sta may indicate that
management practices do not assist in
providing for career progression, personal
development or training opportunities.
Through the identi cation of poor human
resource management, corrective
measures may be taken which will in turn
improve the organization’s output
performance.
For more on the topic, check out the following document:
http://www.vra.com/kmportal/online_resources/mis/The%20importance%20of
%20MIS.pdf
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 43.04
1. Change management (sometimes
abbreviated as CM) is a collective term for
all approaches to prepare, support, and
help individuals, teams, and organizations
in making organizational change. It
includes methods that redirect or rede ne
the use of resources, business process,
budget allocations, or other modes of
operation that signi cantly change a
company or organization.
Organizational change management (OCM) considers the full organization and
what needs to change, while change management may be used solely to refer
to how people and teams are a ected by such organizational transition. It deals
with many di erent disciplines, from behavioral and social sciences to
information technology and business solutions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_management

2.
– The development of the internet: emails replaced memos and faxes.
– The covid-19 crisis which encouraged employees to work from home.
– The rollout of 5G networks because this will make it even easier to work
remotely (at any time).

3.
Advantages
It creates exibility and can help people t work in around family and leisure
activities.
Disadvantages
Teams are spread out across the world which makes it harder for HRM to
coordinate work.
The line between work and personal time has become blurred. which make it
hard to nd the right work-life balance.
Employees may experience loneliness and di culties with communication.
Greater risk of breaches in the privacy and security of personal data.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 44.01
To hinder trade talks — gêner/ entraver des négociations commerciales
to swamp the market — inonder le marché
to retaliate with trade barriers — riposter en mettant en place des barrières
commerciales
to raise funds — lever des fonds
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 44.03
to support — to back/ to endorse
to march — to demonstrate/ to protest
a developing country — an emerging country
outsourcing — o shoring
workforce — labor force/ manpower
competitive edge — competitive advantage
to hinder — to hamper — to thwart
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 44.04
1.Tax havens are notoriously known for
o ering low or zero taxes, secrecy and lax
regulation.
Les paradis scaux sont connus pour o rir di érents avantages: peu ou pas
d’impôts, la con dentialité et une réglementation très souple.

2.Deregulation often serves the economic

interests of the largest multinationals.
La déréglementation sert souvent les intérêts économiques des plus grosses
multinationales.

3.Most LDCs are excluded from the real

advantages of globalization because of
the political instability, diseases, and ight
of capital that plague them.
La plupart des PMAs ne pro tent pas des véritables avantages de la
mondialisation à cause des éaux que sont l’instabilité politique, les maladies et
la fuite des capitaux.

4.Canada is considered as a developed

country in the Northern Hemisphere.
Le Canada est considéré comme un pays développé dans l’hémisphère nord.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 44.05
protectionnism protectionism
mondialisation globalization (US)/ globalisation (UK)
compétitivité competitiveness
pays développé developed country
aide internationale international aid
ONG NGO (non-governmental organization)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 44.06
1. At rst globalization was seen as an
evolution that would improve the world,
but with time and more particularly with
the spread of many viruses, its image
worsened.
2. The Covid-19 crisis triggered a series of
restrictions and attacks on globalization.
– On the left, politicians and analysts saw an opportunity to slow down climate
change.
– On the right, it accelerated the rise of populism and border restrictions.

3. All major players are doing business as

usual  : trade deals are struck throughout
the world, and most of them refrained
from taking any life-changing steps.
4. Science and technology cannot work
properly on a national scale: they both
need global cooperation to be successful.
Although competition is necessary to be
as innovative as possible, cooperation
remains a key word in terms of research
and development.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 44.07
1. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or
B&R), formerly known as One Belt One
Road or OBOR for short, is a global
infrastructure development strategy
adopted by the Chinese government in
2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries and
international organizations. It is
considered a centerpiece of the Chinese
leader Xi Jinping’s foreign policy The BRI
forms a central component of Xi Jinping’s
“Major Country Diplomacy” strategy,
which calls for China to assume a greater
leadership role for global a airs in
accordance with its rising power and
status.
The initiative was incorporated into the Constitution of China in 2017. The
Chinese government calls the initiative “a bid to enhance regional connectivity
and embrace a brighter future.” The project has a target completion date of
2049.

2.In 2019, Paris approved a levy on up to

3% of revenues earned by technology
companies in France, as part of
international e orts to nd a scal model
for tech companies that often pay little
tax in countries in which they earn
revenue via online sales and advertising.
Washington said the tax singled out US companies such as Google, Apple,
Facebook, Amazon and Net ix, and threatened duties of up to 100 percent of
the value of French imports of emblematic products, including Champagne and
Camembert cheese.
On January 2020, the presidents of France and the United States said they
agreed to extend negotiations over a French tax on digital companies including
Google and Facebook, postponing Washington’s threat of sanctions against
Paris.
France nally decided it would drop its tax after an international agreement
was reached.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 45.01
Négocier to negotiate
Diplomatie diplomacy
Indépendance independence
Investissement investment
Gouvernement government
Barrières commerciales trade barriers
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 45.02
to reach a stalemate — to work out a solution
an importer — an exporter
to weaken — to strengthen
to wind up a company — to set up a company
developing countries — developed countries
to go under (faire faillite) — to stay a oat
to bring talks to a halt — to resume talks
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 45.05
1. FDI= Foreign Direct Investment is an
investment made by a rm or individual in
one country into business interests
located in another country. Generally, FDI
takes place when an investor establishes
foreign business operations or acquires
foreign business assets, including
establishing ownership or controlling
interest in a foreign company.
2. The World Trade Organization (WTO)
o cially replaced the GATT in 1995 to
take into account the major economic
changes that were shaping the
international stage and to take in the new
countries that were applying for
membership (164 members in 2016).
Its main missions are to:
– regulate the international trade by issuing new rules,
– settle the possible con icts that arise between countries,
– ensure a certain economic harmony in the international orchestra.

3.GVCs are Global Value Chains which

comprise the full range of activities that
are required to bring a product from its
conception, through its design, its
sourced raw materials and intermediate
inputs, its marketing, its distribution and
its support to the nal consumer. When
these activities must be coordinated
across geographies, the term global value
chain (GVC) is used.
4. PROs of GVCs
• Value chains can lower the bar for entry
into the global economy by linking
developing countries to established trade
networks, thus lowering the costs of
economic integration, and allowing them
to focus on the products or sectors where
they have a comparative advantage,
without the need for a comprehensive
industrial base.
• Developing economies are becoming
important sources and recipients of
foreign direct investment (FDI).
CONs of GVCs
• Not all countries manage to join GVCs;
only those su ciently close to being able
to produce at world standard quality and
e ciency levels are able to participate.
• Developing countries initially join GVCs
in low-skill tasks that can be easily shifted
to competing countries, and thus their
value capture can remain limited.
• Upgrading within GVCs can be hard to
achieve.
• GVC participation heightens
vulnerability to global business cycles and
supply disruptions. Also, it may adversely
a ect income inequality within countries
and the risks increase when rms quickly
relocate, which can cause social
displacement.
• Further risks relate to labor and the
environment and a narrow eld of
learning, which is the outcome when the
capabilities that are acquired cannot be
easily transferred to other, higher value-
added activities.
5. Not all countries manage to join GVCs;
only those su ciently close to being able
to produce at world standard quality and
e ciency levels are able to participate.
6. The added value to a product remains a
characteristic and a strong point of
developed countries.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 45.06
“Specializing in mass market products, our European network manufactures
and markets small household appliances for sale to the general public.
You will be responsible for the development of the new products needed for
the growth of our European business and will report to the European
Development Manager. Starting from market data and from your own feasibility
studies, you will de ne priorities and manage technical innovation projects
suited to speci c commercial and nancial targets.
This basically international position, embracing the European market as a whole
involves all the industrial and development resources of our production units.
For this top position on which depend both the evolution of our technical
processes and our performance, we are seeking a rst rate applicant with
strong interpersonal skills and natural leadership.
We invite distinguished management school graduates, aged 35, with at least
5 years of experience in the development of mass consumption goods to apply
for the appointment. They must be prepared to travel frequently. English is their
working language.
Apply by email to lkkysjoinus@nus.eu with attached resume, photograph and
salary claims under reference Z36TH8. Deadline for application is July 1, 2018.”
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 46.01
ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) is a regional association set
up in 1967 by six developing countries in South East Asia including Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand headquartered in
Jakarta, Indonesia. Its aim is to improve cooperation among its members in
political, economic and social matters. It has helped achieve joint industrial
projects in the elds of petrochemicals, fertilizers, steel and rubber. It has set up
tari concession for intra-ASEAN trade in several basic commodities. The
association also developed an emergency oil-sharing scheme to provide
assistance to any of its members whose oil supplies become dangerously low.
EFTA (European Free Trade Association (French: AELE)) is a regional
association established in 1960 by the Stockholm Convention. It is
headquartered in Geneva and comprises Switzerland, Iceland, Norway,
Liechtenstein: these countries decided to be part of a group in order to improve
their commercial exchanges with the EU of which they are not part. EFTA
members have gradually eliminated tari s on manufactured goods originated
from and traded within EFTA.
EU (European Union) is an international organization comprising 28 European
countries (as of 2018) and governing common economic, social, and security
policies. Originally con ned to Western Europe, the EU undertook a robust
expansion into central and eastern Europe in the early 21st century. The EU was
created by the Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force on November 1, 1993.
The treaty was designed to enhance European political and economic
integration by creating a single currency (the euro), a uni ed foreign and
security policy, and common citizenship rights and by advancing cooperation in
the areas of immigration, asylum, and judicial a airs. The EU was awarded the
Nobel Prize for Peace in 2012, in recognition of the organization’s e orts to
promote peace and democracy in Europe.
MERCOSUR is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of
Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Venezuela is a full member but has
been suspended since December 1, 2016.
Mercosur’s purpose is to promote free trade and the uid movement of goods,
people, and currency. Since its foundation, Mercosur’s functions have been
updated, amended, and changed many times: it is now a full customs union and
a trading bloc. Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations are customs
unions that are components of a continuing process of South American
integration connected to the Union of South American Nations (USAN).
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 46.02
1. When I go to Australia, I’ll buy duty free
perfume in the airport shops.
2. The newcomers in the EU will ratify the
joint constitution as soon as they agree
on the conditions.
3. He will dispatch the boxes as soon as he
has cleared the goods through the
customs.
4. Donald Trump announced that he’d
keep out European steel and aluminium.
5. China and Europa took retaliatory steps
against the US.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 46.03
1.World trade relations seem to have gone
from healthy rivalry and competition to a
new kind of war where there is no clear
winner but de nite losers.
In this new form of con ict two main actors are at play: China that reproaches
the US for preventing them from developing properly and the US that accuses
China of being a cheat. This lack of cooperation between the two main world
power may cause global disruption.
If trust is not restored between the two major superpowers, China may su er
from exclusion from the global market of which it is an active player, which
would come at a very high price for all participants in the world economy. So
although they can’t let things stand as they are, the US should rethink their
strategy and nd an alternative to the mere exclusion of China. Several leads
can be explored: the US should rely more heavily on the bene ts of immigration
and the skills of the would-be American citizens. The country should give
science the place it deserves in the development of the American competitive
edge. And nally, the US should reinforce the diplomatic ties born from WWII.
In other words, the US should focus on its strengths and reinforce its defense:
two aspects which Donald Trump unfortunately is seriously overlooking.
China’s clout on the world economy has gradually increased. So much so that
nowadays it is impossible to fathom the scope of their in uence. Indeed, the
Chinese have nancial stakes in many more ventures than the West may have
assessed. That is one reason why it is essential not to antagonize the country
entirely and necessary to strike a balance between retaliation and collaboration.
One of the options to explore may be to concentrate on common issues so as
to encourage cooperation rather than stoking rivalry. This may not happen with
the two proud heads of states that are now managing the US and China, but
may occur in the future and is worth considering. New rules will have to emerge
that t both countries since the existing one are alternately broken by the two
competing leading superpowers. 355 words

2.
World War I
Until the early 1900s, Britain was more concerned about Russia and France
than Germany. Relations between Britain and Germany were very good. This
began to change, however. When Kaiser Wilhelm II took control of Germany, he
was anxious for Germany to be a great power. He felt that Russia to the east
and France to the west were encircling Germany. As a result, he built up his
armed forces. France and Russia feared Germany and did the same. During the
1900s, all of the great powers in Europe began to build up their armies and
navies.
British policy in Europe intended that no country in Europe should become
completely dominant. If Russia, France, Germany and Austria-Hungary worried
about each other, then they would be less of a threat to Britain. By about 1907
it was becoming clear to Britain that the greatest potential threat to Britain was
going to be Germany. The strong economy, large population and powerful
armed forces of Germany seemed to be capable of dominating Europe. As a
result, Britain began to support Russia and France. Britain joined the Triple
Entente.
Despite being part of the Triple Entente, Britain was not committed to going to
war in 1914. The Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, spent much of the summer
of 1914 furiously trying to reassure Russia and Germany and prevent a war
happening. Even when German troops invaded France and Belgium as part of
the Schlie en Plan, Britain did not have to go to war.
Germany hoped Britain would stay out of the war altogether. However, the
Germans knew that Britain had promised to defend Belgium under the Treaty of
London of 1839. The Germans wanted the British government to ignore the
Treaty of London and let the German army pass through Belgium. The British
government made much of their duty to protect Belgium. Belgium’s ports were
close to the British coast and German control of Belgium would have been seen
as a serious threat to Britain. In the end, Britain refused to ignore the events of
4 August 1914, when Germany attacked France through Belgium. Within hours,
Britain declared war on Germany. The Kaiser said how foolish he thought the
British were. He said that Britain had gone to war for the sake of a “scrap of
paper”.
Within a few more days, Britain, France and Russia (the Allies) were all o cially
at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary (the Central Powers). What had
started as a small, local problem in the Balkans was turning into the biggest and
most brutal war the world had ever seen.
Balance of Terror
The phrase “balance of terror” is usually, but not invariably, used in reference to
the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union during
the Cold War.
It describes the tenuous peace that existed between the two countries as a
result of both governments being terri ed at the prospect of a world-
destroying nuclear war. The term is usually used for rhetorical purposes, and
was probably coined by Lester Pearson in June 1955 at the 10th anniversary of
the signing of the UN Charter: “the balance of terror has succeeded the balance
of power”.
Some political scientists use this phrase as a means of di erentiating the world
situation that followed World War II from that which preceded it. Previously,
empires had prevented war between each other by maintaining a relative
balance of their ability (economic, military, and political) to wage war against
each other—the phrase “balance of power” was often used to describe this kind
of tentative peace.
The atomic bomb created a new political reality, in which two superpowers had
the ability to destroy each other and at least gravely damage all of human
civilization. The obstacle to war between the communists and capitalists was
no longer the fear that the other side was more powerful, but rather the
realization that nuclear arsenals were now large enough and deadly enough
that winning would still likely result in the destruction of one’s own country and
perhaps the rest of the world as well.
In this counterintuitive way, the existence of the most powerful weapons ever
created actually supported a kind of peace: while many wars were fought
around the world during the Cold War, the superpowers never fought each
other directly, nor have atomic bombs been dropped in war since the atomic
bombing of Nagasaki in 1945.

3. Lawrence Summers, after the nancial

meltdown of 2008, adopted the term
‘balance of terror’ as appropriate for the
situation of a ‘ nancial balance of terror’
in global markets.
Here the article suggests that there is a new menace with superpowers
threatening each other with tari s. The turf may not be the same: it is economic
rather than military but the method is similar and the result may also be the
same with the economic war turning into an armed con ict.
to ex one’s muscles: jouer des muscles.
to play hardball: montrer les dents/ employer la manière forte
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 46.05
Verbes latins et synonymes prépositionnels anglo-saxons:
to cause — to bring about
to reinforce — to shore up
to ostracize/ to exclude — to shut out
to mock — to sco at/ to sneer at
Autre forme de synonymie:
a lack — a shortage
to lack — to be in short supply of
to stand by — to sit back
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 46.06
a defeat TW, temptation TW, to supply
1.
DC, an agenda DC, an attempt DC, a
balance DC+TW, sensible DC, to suppress
DC+TW, to ban TW, to demand DC
The right translation into English for the words
supplier  : to beg, un agenda  : a textbook, un attentat  : an attack, une balance
(objet)  : scales/ une balance (personne)  : a snitch, sensible  : sensitive,
supprimer: to delete/ to cancel/ to remove, demander : to ask

2.
a. L’engagement pris par le gouvernement de fournir à nos
troupes des véhicules aériens sans pilote, autrement dit des
drones, est également encourageant.
b. Certains n’ont pas su à résister à la tentation de
répondre/ rétorquer que cette question n’est pas à l’ordre
du jour.
c.  Le gouvernement tente d’étou er la contestation, chose
qu’aucun gouvernement démocratique ne devrait faire.
d. Les militants exigent l’abrogation de plusieurs lois.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 46.07
Root word Derived word (pre x) Derived word (su x)

to escalate escalation

a threat to threaten

a defeat self-defeat self-defeating

an ally an alliance

a rival

defense defensive

to win a winner

to invade an invasion

to collide a collision

to destroy destruction

war cyberwar

War and peace - other words from the text: arms reduction/ to arm oneself, a
superpower, relations have soured, cold war, fear, to attack, to ght back.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 46.09
Regional trade agreements: Blessing or burden?
Regional trade agreements have spread rapidly throughout the world since the
early 1990s. This column surveys the latest theoretical and empirical research on
regionalism, asking whether we should celebrate or be concerned about this
trend. It concludes that although countries should approach regionalism with
care, such agreements have been more of a blessing than a burden.
The lack of progress in multilateral trade negotiations does not imply that
global integration is stagnant. In fact, governments across the globe are as
active as ever in negotiating new regional trade agreements (RTAs). For
example, in the year to October 2009, as the global nancial crisis raged, 25
new RTAs were noti ed to the WTO. The new agreements bring the total
number of RTAs in force to nearly 300. This has led many economists to worry
that regionalism could be undermining the multilateral trading system. In recent
research, we ask whether the expansion of regionalism should be celebrated or
a cause for concern.
Assessing the impact of RTAs
Regional trade agreements imply both trade liberalisation and trade
discrimination. While there is a near-consensus among economists that trade
liberalisation is desirable, the same cannot be said of trade discrimination. Such
discriminatory trade liberalisation is bene cial when it promotes a shift of
resources from ine cient domestic suppliers to more e cient producers within
the region, i.e. when there is so-called “trade creation”. In contrast, a trading
bloc is likely to be harmful if it generates a shift of resources from e cient
external producers to ine cient producers within the region, i.e. when there is
so-called “trade diversion”.
There are theoretical arguments that support the primacy of trade creation and
trade diversion under similar circumstances. Thus, which e ect dominates is an
empirical matter. Unfortunately, estimating trade creation and trade diversion is
no easy task – it requires knowledge of the counterfactual, i.e. what would have
happened to trade if there were no trade agreement. As this is unknown,
assumptions must be made.
A variety of approaches have been employed. While results inevitably vary, two
general messages arise from the large set of studies investigating trade
creation and trade diversion in RTAs around the world:
• First, trade creation tends to be the
norm in RTAs – and trade diversion is the
exception.
• Second, when trade diversion is
observed, its magnitude is normally
relatively small.
Trade creation vs. trade diversion
Why is there such a dominance of trade creation? It seems that governments
are choosing their partners well. For example, variables that suggest greater
gains from a bilateral deal (such as proximity between the members, a similarity
in their GDPs and a large di erence in their factor endowments) are also sharp
predictors of whether the two countries actually have a common RTA.
Moreover, when countries form an RTA, their governments not only lower tari s
vis-à-vis their RTA partners; they also tend to reduce tari s on imports from
countries outside the bloc. Governments liberalise externally because they
choose to – there is no reciprocity from the non-members. Such external trade
liberalisation following an RTA appears especially important in developing
countries. The lower external tari s provide a double blessing. They imply that
RTAs are responsible for more trade liberalisation than they mandate –
amplifying trade creation – and for less trade discrimination than might be
expected – limiting trade diversion.
Why voluntarily lower tari s?
Given the political pressures, it may seem counterintuitive that governments
would voluntarily lower their external tari s. But it makes sense. Suppose for
political reasons the government sets relatively high tari s, which bene t the
domestic import-competing industry. If subsequently the country enters in an
RTA, export-oriented rms bene t because of the better access to foreign
markets, whereas purely domestic rms su er from the tougher competition
from the RTA partners. This weakens the import-competing rms’ stance on
protection against non-members. The reason is that the free access to the
domestic market enjoyed by the partners’ exporters lowers the market share of
the domestic industry. As a result, the RTA makes any price increase generated
by a higher external tari less valuable for the domestic industry. Now
whenever the government attempts to help domestic producers through higher
external tari s, the partners’ producers absorb part of that surplus.
In other words, the RTA creates “leakage” in the trade-policy redistributive
channel. External protection also becomes more costly, because of the costly
trade diversion that accompanies the RTA. As a result, external tari s tend to
fall after the formation of an RTA, both because the economic marginal cost of
external protection rises and because the political-economy marginal gain from
external protection falls.
Empirical research supports this rationale for developing countries. But results
for the US and the EU indicate that they are less likely to reduce external tari s
on goods where preferences are o ered. But since the tari s of both the US
and the EU are very low to start with, and cannot be raised because of their
WTO commitments, there is little room for change anyway.
Are regional trade agreements welcome?
The benign view that trade creation dominates trade diversion does not imply
that regional trade agreements are necessarily welcome. Some commentators
argue that the reason multilateral negotiations at the WTO are stuck is because
RTAs are spreading. One concern is that if o cials are busy negotiating
bilateral agreements, they will be unable to focus on more evolving multilateral
negotiations. Another concern is that RTAs may create interest groups that
block further liberalisation initiatives.
There are also arguments indicating that the opposite may be true. A simple
argument is that negotiating RTAs helps o cials develop the expertise to
implement international trade agreements, which could be useful at subsequent
WTO negotiations. Moreover, RTAs also destroy rents in parts of the economy.
If the rent-holders who lose with RTAs were the ones slowing down multilateral
talks, then RTAs can actually provide a boost to multilateral negotiations.
Liberalisation (regional or multilateral) begets more liberalisation.
When faced with opposing theoretical results, the solution is typically to
scrutinise the divergent predictions empirically. The problem here is that the
nature of the question – whether regionalism helps or hinders multilateralism –
does not lend itself easily to testing. Simply put, at any point in time we
observe a single realisation of WTO negotiations. Would they have been any
faster, or easier, had there been fewer (or more) RTAs? This is a very di cult
question. As a result, to date empirical scrutiny has not been able to help us
distinguish good (that is, empirically relevant) from bad (empirically
inconsequential) theories.
Conclusion
To the extent that we can measure it, the increasing wave of regionalism has
been largely bene cial to the world trading system. Most empirical analyses
indicate that trade creation, not trade diversion, is the norm, both because
governments choose well when forming RTAs and because they adjust other
trade policies to moderate the distortions from discrimination.
Although it is possible that regionalism could endanger multilateralism, at the
moment we just do not know. Since regionalism has become, and will probably
remain, the preferred form of reciprocal liberalisation for most countries – no
matter what we economists say – we should therefore focus on ways to
integrate regionalism with multilateralism more e ectively.
By C. Freund, E. Ornelas, www.voxeu.org/article/
regional-trade-agreements-blessing-or-burden (on June 2, 2010)
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 47.01
Noun Verb Translation

prohibition to prohibit interdire

agreement to agree accepter

competition to compete concurrencer

prosecution to prosecute poursuivre en justice

monopoly to monopolize monopoliser

breach to breach/ to break rompre

 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 47.02
to sue = to prosecute — poursuivre en justice
to violate = to infringe — enfreindre
an imitator = a copycat — un imitateur
a shop = an outlet — un magasin
similar = identical/ alike — similaire
to safeguard = to protect — protéger
creativity = inventiveness — créativité
dispute = con ict — con it
a lawyer = a barrister — un avocat
a trial = a lawsuit — un procès
Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 47.03
1. to pro t — pro table ≠ unpro table
2. to a ord — a ordable ≠ una ordable
3. to distinguish —
distinguishable ≠ indistinguishable
4. to compare —
comparable ≠ incomparable
5. to accept — acceptable ≠ unacceptable
6. to reason — reasonable ≠ unreasonable
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 47.04
1a. OFT: O ce of Fair Trading which
enforces anti-trust laws in the UK.
2c. FTC: Federal Trade Commission is an
anti-trust agency that focuses its
enforcement responsibility in the oil and
gas, pharmaceutical and health care
industries in the US. It protects.
3d. IP: Intellectual property refers to
creations of the mind such as inventions,
literary and artistic works, symbols,
names, images, designs used in
commerce.
There 2 categories:
– industrial property (trademarks and patents, etc.),
– copyright: literary and artistic works.

4a. FDA: The Food and Drug

Administration is a federal agency of the
United States Department of Health and
Human Service. It is responsible for
protecting and promoting public health
through the control and supervision of
food safety, tobacco products, dietary
supplements, prescription and over-the-
counter pharmaceutical drugs
(medications), vaccines,
biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions,
medical devices, electromagnetic
radiation emitting devices (ERED),
cosmetics, animal foods & feed and
veterinary products.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 47.05
1. Price Fixing: an agreement between
competitors to raise, lower or otherwise
stabilize the price range. (illegal practice)
2. Trust: vertical combination of
companies whose purpose is to regulate
supply and restrict competition. They may
be combinations on a vertical or
horizontal basis.
3. Copyright: a legal concept giving the
creator of an original work exclusive
rights to it, usually for a limited period of
time.
4. Monopoly: the exclusive possession or
control of the supply of or trade in a
commodity or service.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 47.06
1. The registration fee is usually not
included but lodging is. — droits
d’inscription
2. The author had not appealed against his
conviction for forgery. — condamnation/
plagiat
3. The price of commodities like copper
and cotton can uctuate dramatically
over a year. — matières premières
4. In order to be patented a product must
show some kind of novelty compared to
what is to be found on the market. —
nouveauté
5. Some counterfeits can deceive the
consumers easily. — tromper
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 47.08
1.Cette innovation est une véritable mine
d’or !
This innovation is a real money-spinner.
2.Cette jeune lle a été témoin du
meurtre.
This young lady witnessed the murder.
3. Le juge a révoqué cette décision.
The judge overturned the decision.
4.Il ne faut pas hésiter à saisir cette belle
occasion.
Don’t hesitate to take that beautiful opportunity.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 47.09
1. Haribo prosecuted Lindt & Spruengli in
2012 because they found Lindt’s Gold
Bear was too similar to their Gummi
Bärchen and they argued it would cause
confusion among consumers. Haribo
actually feared they may lose market
shares to Lindt because of the too close
likeness of the two products.
2. A German court initially ruled in favour
of Haribo but an appeal court later threw
out the verdict. In the end, the Swiss
chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli
defeated their rival confectioner Haribo
and can thus continue to manufacture
and distribute their chocolate Teddy
bears.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 47.10
1. Haribo’s arguments:
– Haribo claimed the Lindt version of the chocolate Teddy bear was a violation
of its “Gold Bear” logo that was registered in 1960.
– Haribo argued the products were too similar and it would cause confusion
among consumers.
Lindt’s arguments: Lindt argued that its gold bear was styled on its Easter
bunnies, which are wrapped in gold foil with a ribbon and small bell around
their necks. The bunnies were rst produced in 1952, so before the gummy
bears even existed.

2.It means that the lawsuit was conducted

in two steps. There was a rst (regional)
ruling that declared Haribo’s claim was
founded. But Lindt appealed to a higher
(federal) court that repealed the regional
court’s decision and declared Lindt was
allowed to continue the production of
their chocolate bears.
More info here:
www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/23/haribo-legal-battle-lindt-gummy-
bears-chocolate
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 47.11
1. Haribo is a German confectionery
company, founded in 1920 by Johannes
“Hans” Riegel, Sr. It is headquartered in
Bonn and the name is an acronym formed
from Hans Riegel, Bonn. Haribo made the
rst gummi candy in 1922 when Hans
Riegel, Sr. invented the rst
Gummibärchen (little gummy bears).
Lindt & Sprüngli AG, more commonly known as Lindt, is a Swiss chocolatier and
confectionery company founded in 1845 and known for its chocolate tru es
and chocolate bars, among other sweets.

2.It all depends on what rms want. They

can either litigate (go to court and thus
lose time and money) or arbitrate (which
means that they forego the possibility to
go to court). If they want to sue one
another, they may resort to regional or
national courts knowing that their
decision may be repealed by higher
courts (here for instance the European
Court of Justice could have issued a
decision in the Haribo-Lindt case if the
case had been brought to them) but if
they’d rather arbitrate they have to resort
to an international institution that will try
to nd a fair compromise.
http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2010/08/litigate-or-arbitrate/
3. The federal trade Commission which is
an American agency in charge of ensuring
fair competition in the US, de nes
monopolization as “a conduct by a single
rm with a leading market position that
unreasonably restrains competition by
creating or maintaining monopoly power.”
It is considered as an o ense.
So ‘product design monopolization’ could be de ned as the fact of
trademarking the shape of a product so as to prevent competitors from using it
without paying a fee or a compensation for its use. It is here considered as an
illegal practice because it would ensure a kind of monopoly on some shapes
(three dimensional objects) and lead to a de facto exclusion of competitors
from the market.
 Retour à l'exercice

EXERCISE 47.12
a legal battle — a legal challenge
to beat — to defeat
infringement — violation
candy — sweets
to prosecute — to take to court
to overturn a verdict — to throw out a verdict
a sentence — a ruling