Woman: In the first term of my MBA, I was a bit disappointed by the number of general lectures rather than smaller-scale seminars, even though I’d been warned in advance that this would be the case. I had a choice between a course specialising in law and one which offered lots of modules on finance. I opted for the latter. It was really a matter of self-discipline - I was always bad at it, so I thought I’d better do something about that. We spent far less time on personnel matters, but ironically, I’ve got a lot more out of those sessions. I suppose what I’m saying is that the course has helped me to be more realistic about where my strengths and weaknesses lie. I seldom have anything to do with the financial side of things now.</p>Speaker Four7 P/ l, `! O6 n' U( A
Man: I remember I was feeling rather under- challenged at that time - a lowly admin officer - and I was fascinated by all the opportunities opening up with internet business, you know, so I chose an MBA which was offering lots of innovative sessions in that area. And I have to say, the course did me a great deal of good all round. I’d always been something of a loner, but since coming off the course, I’ve thrived in a more co-operative environment. I don’t think I would ever have managed that without having done the course. I’m thinking of changing jobs again - moving from purchasing into customer- service management - and I’m looking forward to another challenge. The MBA has given me the confidence to do that without worrying.
5 s* l+ r( U4 i& V. oSpeaker Five6 H0 j, }* ?! n, o. ~, q) }
Woman: I decided against doing the MBA at the college down the road, because although they had an excellent reputation, they seemed to me to be too traditional for my particular needs. I plumped for a course at UCDA, even though it was such a long way away, because it had a good track record dealing with changes to the statute book. And I don’t regret it: I think the fact that I did my thesis on this - European Business Regulation - helped me to get my current job. It’s significant, though, that I haven’t actually had to apply much of my legal knowledge in the job. Instead, I’ve ended up working in product standardisation and monitoring - which, of course, my MBA studies helped with, too.# u2 k( B. z7 A: a) E
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Now listen to the recording again.
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That is the end of Part Two.
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0 ?3 V# b) C( dPart Three. Questions 23 to 30.You will hear a Business Studies tutor and a student, Martin, discussing Ralcona, a UK-based soft-drinks company.
. P. J; ~9 I2 p* [0 W: y% g! j- EFor each question, 23-30, mark one letter (A, B or C) for the correct answer.! f o5 i( c# L7 a6 ~* }
After you have listened once, replay the recording.9 C0 o+ e [" u
You now have 45 seconds to read through the questions.
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3 _8 v1 \# v0 m: Y! w* M5 MNow listen, and mark A, B or C.
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5 I. S* ?1 E8 }1 `* ]Woman: OK, Martin, I asked you to prepare the case study of Ralcona, the soft-drinks manufacturer. Let’s work through the main issues together. Now, I assume you’ve looked at the background? Can you give me a summary?
7 ?7 w" E5 v/ ~/ IMan: Erm, yeah, er - well, um, Ralcona are a UK company who had one very famous drink - Jista - which was selling well world-wide. But two years ago, when the new Chairman arrived, he decided to exploit that popularity to expand the product range. Ralcona had introduced Jista into markets in Japan, Australia and several South-East Asian countries. But there’s recently been a slide in sales, despite the fact that Jista is still holding up reasonably well against some stiff competition from other multinationals.
; ?# c% o+ Q( \2 [1 GWoman: OK, stop there, because I want to fill you in on the discussions that took place in the planning of this new product range - they were very interesting. Inevitably, the various interested parties in the company all had very different ideas - but they all advocated caution. So, for example, the finance department wanted to test the markets closer to home first, while the marketing team were worried any new drinks would dilute the image of the core brand and so were looking at new names. But across the board, the people at the top favoured launching each product separately at different times to get maximum impact for each product. So that’s what happened. All right, go on... |