BEC Test 5
Reading 1 hour
Part one
Question 1-7
look at the statements below and the article on public relationship on the opposite
page.
Which section(A,B,C or D) does each statement (1-7) refer to?
For each statement (1-7), mark one letter (A,B,C or D) on your Answer Sheet.
You will need to use some of these letters more than once.
Example:
0 The McDonald’s public relations activities are more than sending out press
releases and various charitable activities.
1 All businesses are involved in public relations.
2 Local government believes in a company just because it operates in accordance
with public interest.
3 McDonald’s regarded social responsibility as an important part in its relations.
4 A company needs to get on well with the surrounding publics.
5 McDonald’s developed a good image of valuing cleanliness even by keeping clean
in the neighbourhood.
6 McDonald’s valued quality, service. Cleanliness and value in its daily operation.
7 No matter what kind of business a company does, it needs to pay attention to
public relations.
A
A company does not function in a vacuum, but rather as part of a society. That society
consists of the people who work for it, the people and companies that do it, these
groups are known as a company’s “publics”. In order for a company to deal with these
publics effectively a relationship of trust must exist. Employees will not cooperate
with or put forth their best efforts for a company that they do not trust or that they feel
is taking advantage of them. The public will not buy products or services from a
company that, in their view, is not responsible or trustworthy.
B
The government, as the protector of the society it governs, is especially cautions in
dealing with a company that it regards as not operating in the public interest. Given
these circumstances, every business, whether it is a giant corporation or a small
factory, a five-star hotel or a roadside tavern, needs to give some thought to the
relationship it has with all the various publics it interacts with, and the techniques that
a company uses to improve these relationships are known as “public relations”, also
called PR.
C
A classic example of public relations at work is McDonald’s. It has always been
important to McDonald’s to be known as a company that values cleanliness. Indeed,
the founder Ray Kroc emphasized cleanliness along with quality, service, and value as
being the four most important things in any McDonald’s franchisees to pick up all
litter within a two-block radius of their stores, whether it was McDonald’s litter or
not.
D
McDonald’s has always been socially responsible and extremely concerned about its
image. These two facts are part and parcel of its public relationships. To McDonald’s,
public relations activities go much deeper than simply sending out press releases and
having corporate activities go much deeper than simply sending out press releases and
having corporate officers serve on various charitable boards. The company
understands that real public relations means taking significant action first, then
announcing them to the public. Without the first step, the second would be
meaningless.
PART TWO
Questions 8-12
Read this text taken from an article about electronic commerce.
Choose the best answer from the opposite page to fill each of the gaps/
For each gap (8-12), mark one letter (A-G) on your Answer Sheet.
Do not use any letter more than once.
There is an example at the beginning (0).
Electronic Commerce
(0)___C___. Increasingly, no matter what business you are in, whether it be services,
manufacturing, or the primary sector, the capacity to access and process information,
and to interact more directly and speedily with suppliers and customers, is becoming
the central means of creating value.
Today, electronic commerce is having an effect on the way many New Zealanders do
business. (8)________. It has become clear that younger people especially are
creating their own Internet-based businesses instead of working for someone else.
Equally, a growing number of New Zealanders of all ages and from all walks of life
are grasping the opportunities the Internet offers. All these businesses are creating
exciting new products and services and are adding value and dynamism to the
economy.
(9)________. Markets are changing and customers are becoming more demanding.
Labour, products, and services flow ever more easily across international borders.
(10)_________. Just ten years later, some 360 million people around the world have
Internet access, and the number of Internet users continues to grow rapidly.
In 2000, IDC, a research company, estimates that the value of New Zealand’s
Internet-based electronic commerce will exceed 800 million. That is not counting
New Zealand’s wholesale electricity market, which in itself is worth a billion dollars
annually, and which operates the first electricity trading system in the world
accessible through the Internet.
E-commerce is available to a multinational company. (11)__________.
(12)__________. The software that makes the Internet work is in the public domain.
Anyone can install it for free. The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who sell you
Internet access are often owned by large companies, which also own the
telecommunications networks over which the Internet runs, but they don’t own the
Internet itself. Bo one does.
A Although this new environment provides opportunities, it poses risks as well.
B The Internet, on the other hand, is an open network.
C At the beginning of the 1990s, no one had heard of the Internet, apart from a few
researchers and academics.
D It means that our business can operate in the global environment, participating in
global networks and e-commerce means on-line trading, that is, buying and services
over electronic networks.
E New opportunities for exporting, for creating new businesses, and for growing
established businesses are resulting.
F In 2000, the government launched an e-commerce strategy to encourage economic
growth and innovation in New Zealand through promotion of e-commerce and
technology-based business.
G The emergence of the Internet in the 1990s has fuelled the recent rapid growth of
electronic commerce, and this in turn is changing the nature of business.
PART THREE
Questions 13-18
Read the article below about company mission statement and the questions on the
opposite page.
For each question (13-18), mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet.
Developing a Mission Statement
A company mission statement can be a powerful force to clearly define your
company’s purpose for existence. In the beginning, your company was formed to
accomplish something that did not exist in the marketplace, or to do a better job than
existing companies. What was that special purpose? Small companies seldom take the
time to discuss or write out their company mission, but they should. It will pay
measurable financial dividends over time.
The commitment to formulating a company mission can be critical to your company’s
success/ it helps keep management focused on preserving or strengthening the
company’s unique competitive niche. It can also prevent panic and unwise marketing
or spending responses to meet an indirect thrust by competitors into your market.
The most successful company missions are measurable and definable project
statements with emotional appeal that everyone knows and can act upon. For example,
a mission to “be the best healthcare provider in the world” for a multinational Health
Maintenance Organisation sounds good. But a simple mission statement from Honda
“Beat GM!” is better because it’s a project statement that can be measured every day
by every employee. Mission statements can also affect company strategies and tactics.
If Honda Motors were to change its mission to “Beat Toyota!”, different strategies
would be called for, along with different geographic tactics in sales, advertising, and
distribution of cars.
How important is it to define your company’s mission? Consider a famous U.S.
refrigerator manufacturer whose sales were growing only an the rate of new
homebuilding during the 1950s. they undertook a year-long project to define whether
they were in the business of building refrigerators to preserve food or in the business
of food preservation. They decided they were in the business areas such as artificial
atmospheres (e.g., nitrogen for fresh fruit preservation, freeze-drying technologies)
and increased their sales from hundreds of millions of dollars to several billion dollars
by the 1980s.
Mission statements can be difficult to write. Companies spend months and years
attempting to clearly define the best mission statement for current circumstances.
Companies that have a clear vision and management that can articulate it and
communicate it to all employees, have the basis for a call-to-action mission statement.
A call-to-action mission statement provides key attributes that are often missing in
other company mission statements. First, it elicits an emotional, motivational response
in company employees. Second, it is easily understood and can be transferred into
individual action every day. Third, it is a measurable, tangible goal. Last, it is firmly
rooted in the competitive environment in which the company operates.
A good mission statement provides vision and direction for the company for at least
10 to 20 years and should not have to be revised every few years with changes in the
company’s environment. But the company mission statement must be revised if it is
no longer appropriate or has lost significance or relevance.
13
What is the function of a company mission statement?
A A company mission statement is a powerful tool to help a company accomplish
something that did not exist in the marketplace.
B A company mission statement defines a company’s purpose for existence.
C A company mission statement can help a company do a better job than other
companies.
D A company mission statement can help a company make a healthy profit.
14
Which of the following is NOT the advantage of a company mission statement?
A It can be very important to the company’s success.
B It helps preserve or strengthen the company’s unique competitive niche.
C It can prevent panic and unwise marketing.
D It can help the company beat other competitors.
15
What characteristics does a successful company mission statement have?
A Employees know and act on the measurable and definable statement that appeals
to them emotionally.
B It is very simple and can be measured every day by every employee.
C It is one part of company strategies and tactics.
D It can make a company become successful.
16
How did the famous U.S. refrigerator manufacturer increase their sales by the 1980s?
A They defined their company’s mission properly.
B Their sales were growing at the rate of new home-building.
C They undertook a year-long project to define their company mission statement.
D They decided they were in the business of building refrigerators to preserve food.
17
Which of the following does NOT belong to the attributes that are often missing in
other company mission statement?
A It elicits an encouraging response in company employees.
B It is easily understood and can instruct individual action every day.
C It is a tangible goal.
D It is tooted in the economic environment.
18
When should a company revise its mission statement?
A
It should revise its mission statement constantly according to current
circumstances.
B It should not revise its mission statement.
C It should revise its mission statement every few years with changes in the
company’s environment.
D The mission statement must be revised when it is no longer appropriate or has lost
its importance.
PART FOUR
Questions 19-33
Read the article below about the introduction of market.
Choose the best word or phrase to fill each gap from A, B, C or D on the opposite
page.
For each question (19-33), mark one letter (A, B, C or D ) on your Answer Sheet.
There is an example at the beginning (0).
What Is a Market?
In the simplest terms, a market is the place where seller meets buyer to
(0)________products for money. Traditional markets still (19)________in many parts
of the world.
Even in the United States, during summer months, there are farmers’ markets where
direct selling and buying take (20)_________ between producers and consumers.
Most service industries still (21)________ at this market level.
Manufacturing industries and most agricultural enterprises are more (22)________
from the consumers their products (23)________ several hand-truckers warehouse
workers, wholesalers, and retailers before reaching the final consumers.
Products or commodities are usually divided into two types: consumer and industrial.
Consumer goods are those (24)________ are sold to final users, the customers. These
goods include food, clothing, automobiles, television sets, appliances, and all those
things people go to stores to purchase.
(25)_________ goods are those that are sold to companies or other businesses for use
in manufacturing or other purposes. Automobile makers buy many of the parts used to
(26)_________ cars. A tyre manufacturer buys rubber, synthetic or otherwise,
(27)________ which to make tyres. (28)________ these materials will end up in the
hands of final users: the owners of the cars. The (29)_______ of industrial goods
depends on the nature of the goods to be made for final users. The price of industrial
goods and raw materials will (30)______ the price of final goods, those that the
consumer buys.
Markets are for exchanging things, (31)_______ their function is to allocate and
reallocate goods and services among the members of the society including producers
as well as consumers. Since the exchange is (32) _________, it is assumed that both
sides (33)_______ what they want by exchange or it would not take place.
Example:
A exchange
B swap
19 A operate
20 A charge
21 A carry out
22 A close
23 A pass along
around
24 A what
25 A Commercial
Consumer
26 A assemble
27 A in
28 A in time
Ultimately
29 A quality
30 A determine
31 A though
32 A intentional
33 A gain
C trade
D switch
B perform
B effect
B operate
B near
B go through
C serve
C place
C manage
C distant
C pass through
D function
D out
D handle
D remote
D
go
B whichever
B Industrial
C that
C Agricultural
D whatever
D
B collect
B along
B After that
C disperse
C between
C Eventually
D gather
D with
D
B usage
B induce
B then
B voluntary
B acquire
C nature
C sway
C if
C deliberate
C earn
D type
D influence
D so
D compulsory
D benefit
PART FIVE
Questions 34-35
Reading the article below about human resource assessment.
In most of the line (34-35), there is one extra word. It either is grammatically
incorrect or does not fit in with the meaning of the text. Some line, however, are
correct.
If a line is correct, write CORRECT on your Answer Sheet.
If there is an extra word in the line, write the extra word in CAPITAL LETTERS on
your Answer Sheet.
The exercise begins with two examples (0 and 00).
Examples: 0 THE
00 CORRECT
0 Newham Bank and two major finance unions were fighting the war of words
00 yesterday over the impact of a long-running pay dispute.
34 A spokesman for BBU, that the larger of the two unions,
35 claimed that a second 24-hour strike had taken a serious impact
36 on the bank’s operations and that support for industrial actions was growing.
37 An estimated of 28,000 staff walked out on Wednesday,
38 causing what the union called a “serious disruption”.
39 While these claims, however, have been branded as “nonsense” by Newham.
40 The bank said that fewer than 100 branches banks had closed out of a total of
over 1,500
41 and that the number of people who taking part in the strike had been only about
4,000.
42 The bank also denied claims by the unions that the action had put as many as
possible
43 half its 2,000 cash machines out of service and caused delays
44 to mortgage and on loan authorizations. The dispute began when the bank
45 announced plans to implement a performance-based pay scheme, which the
unions maintain will lead to an effective pay freeze for 25,000 of their members.
However, the bank insists that the new scheme is a fairer way of rewarding
hardworking employees.
Key to Simulation Test Five
Reading
Part One
1 A
2
B
3
Part Two
8 E
9
A
10 C
11 D
12 B
Part Three
13 B
14 D
15 A
16 A
17 D
18 D
20 C
27 D
21 B
28 C
22 C
29 C
23 C
30 D
24 C
31 D
Part Four
19 D
26 A
33 A
Part Five
34 THAT
35 TAKEN
39 WHILE
40 BANKS
CORRECT
44 ON
45 CORRECT
D
4
A
5
C
6
36 CORRECT
37 OF
41 WHO
42 POSSIBLE
C
7
B
25 B
32 B
38 A
43