Entertaining
Organising a conference
Entertaining is very important in the
business world:
It makes part of successful deals, of a
positive attitude towards your partners
Different cultures have different ideas
about entertaining (some consider it very
important, some prefer to spend money
on other things)
Entertaining your business partner is a
good opportunity to know him/her
better
It is a well known fact that when two
American or European business people
meet they are there to do a deal, but in
Asia they are there to establish a
relationship
Asians will want to know more about
their business partner (their background
and their contacts) before going ahead
and doing business
Relationship building takes different forms
in different places: invitations to karaoke
evenings in Japan or the yacht on the
French Riviera are not to be refused
Corporate hospitality in Britain is very
expensive for ordinary people (grand prix
racing...) but thanks to corporate
sponsorship such socialising is possible
While entertaining a business partner one
must think of the etiquette:
The etiquette is a behaviour which is
socially acceptable
It is a certain code which must be
respected and it differs from culture to
culture
The problem is those are the unwritten
rules of behaviour and cannot be learned
from a book
The etiquette is made of norms:
Norms represent certain beliefs which are
typical of a community
Norms are rules or guidelines which say
what is acceptable in certain situations
They say what is morally correct
behaviour
There is no formal status for norms. Again,
as a part of etiquette, they are a part of
local mentality.
Two good ways to start socialising are:
Greeting someone: it is a social ritual
used to show attention or to confirm
friendship; it also shows your good will
Small talk: it is a chatter about ordinary,
everyday things (weather, politics, news...)
Greeting and small talk are good icebreakers when you feel uncomfortable in
presence of a stranger
Corporate entertaining is present in the
modern business world:
It is a well organised plan which involves
socialising with business partners as a
part of successful business deals
Some companies spend lots of money on
this in the Customer Realtionship
Management programme
This programme helps a company to keep
an old client which is cheaper than
finding new clients
The most popular forms of corporate
entertaining in England are:
The Wimbledon Tennis Championship,
Royal Ascot, the Open Golf, Henley Royal
Regatta, Chelsea Flower Show and the
Grand Prix
Music events of all sorts are becoming
more and more popular (the opera, jazz
events, rock and pop events...)
The profile of companies which spend on
corporate entertaining:
The size of the company is not important
(both small and multinational companies
spend money to keep their clients)
It is more important for small business
to invest in this (if you lose a big client you
can be ruined)
It is important to retain your customers
both in periods of economic decline and
economic boom
Corporate entertaining in Japanese
companies:
The bars in Tokyo’s high-class
entertainment area are empty
The customers now order few drinks and
go home, they talk about restructuring all
the time
Corporate entertaining there is in steep
decline, Japanese companies now spend
less than in the previous year
The latest figures show that spending on
entertainment is at low levels and the
high spending days of the 1980s are over
As the losses multiply the entertainment
budgets are being cut
Today the entertainment still goes on but
at modest establishments (cheaper
restaurants and karaoke parlours)
Companies are much stricter today
concerning money
Some of Japan’s huge conglomerates
have cut down their ritual corporate gift
giving (now the employees buy gifts
themselves)
This can be seen as a positive thing, an
example of cost control which might be
adopted by other countries
Word partnerships
Questions
The four Ps are the basis of marketing.
Match them with their definitions
 Product
 Price
 Promotion
 Place
 The cost to the buyer
of goods or services
 Informing customers
about products and
persuading them to
buy them
 Where goods or
services are available
 Goods or services
that are sold
Complete the text with the best words:
A brand can be defined as a name given
to a product by a company so that the
product can easily be recognised by its
name or its design. In our very _______
business world, a good brand is one of the
keys to the success of any company. It is
often a powerful ______ tool.
However, the name is not everything. For
a brand to be successful, marketers have
to know what the consumer ______ and
wants, so a lot of market ______ is
necessary. This gives them a consumer
________, that is to say a kind of picture
of the typical customer. It is a picture not
only of the customer’s needs and wants,
but also of their beliefs and values. If the
brand then clearly reflects those values, it
is more likely to be successful.
The customer has so much _______
nowdays that a good brand is a necessity,
so that one product is clearly different from
another in his or her mind.
A good brand of course has long-term
benefits, as it will _______ to many
different market _______ and to people
form different cultures.
Questions:
 Yes-No questions (auxiliary verb+subject):
Are you coming?
Can you drive a truck?
Do you know his name?
Open questions (question word+auxiliary verb):
What is the brand name?
Which door is it?
Who is the Chief
Executive?
Why are you putting up your prices?
We use What if there are many possible
answers: What is their policy?
If Who or What is the subject, the word
order is that of a statement: Who looks
after the travel arrangements?
The question word How can be followed
by an adjective or an adverb: How big is
the warehouse? How well do you speak
Spanish?
Complete with the following question
words:
when, how long, how many, how mush,
what, which, who, why
_______ did you launch this advertising
campaign?
________ didn’t you contact an
advertising agency?
______ money did you spend on the
campaign?
________ new products did you launch?
Was it two or three?
_______ did you target your new product
at?
________ market segments has you
product been most successful in?
________ do you expect to continue to
buy this product?
_______ is your sales forecast?