Английский язык. Практический курс для решения бизнес-задач - Нина Пусенкова

30.literacy n – грамотность

literate a – грамотный

31. think tank – «мозговой танк»

Exercise 1. Answer the following questions.

1. What does globalization mean in general? 2. What aspeсts does the economic globalization include? 3. What does globalization mean in management terms? 4. What are the key milestones in the history of globalization? 5. What economic trends are connected with globalization? 6. What initiatives contributed to the partial removal of barriers to international trade? 7. What are the arguments of the opponents to globalization? 8. What statistical data do advocates of globalization use to support their views? 9. How is globalization measured?

Exercise 2*. Find terms in the text that match definitions given below and make sentences of your own with each term.

1. international trade that is not regulated by tariffs, duties or quotas

2. zone of duty-free foreign trade within the territory of a given state

3. international organization fostering international monetary cooperation through the stabilization of exchange rates, the removal of foreign exchange restrictions and the facilitation of international payments and of international liquidity

4. a treaty signed in 1992 by the member states of the then European Community intended to inaugurate a new stage in the process of European integration

5. a company having production and other facilities in a number of countries outside the nation of origin

6. an agreement for a tariff-free area established between the USA, Canada and Mexico

7. the use of customs tariff and non-tariff policy to protect national economy or ensure unilateral competitive advantages

8. a market in which securities are bought and sold

9. organization set up in 1995 following the conclusion of the Uruguay round of trade negotiations that replaced GATT

Exercise 3. You are a journalist writing for The New York Times and you are to interview an expert from A.T. Kearney who calculated globalization indices for the U.S. and Russia. Make a dialogue between these two individuals using the following briefing materials.

The Schizophrenic United States. The world superpower became a bit more global in 2003, climbing three spots in the globalization index to the 4th position. But a quick glance at the U.S. report card reveals a hit-or-miss performance. The U.S. put up stratospheric numbers in the technology basket, ranking first in the number of Internet hosts and the number of secure servers. But the U.S. lagged far behind in categories including trade, FDI, and treaty commitments. In part, the U.S. lackluster perfomance in economic areas is due to its vibrant domestic market. Because many U.S. producers can focus exclusively on satisfying U.S. consumers, the United States is a less trade-dependent nation than small exporting countries such as Singapore and Ireland. In some ways, the U.S. economy is a world unto itself. The Bush administration often acted similarly aloof in political and diplomatic terms. Consider the United States’ skepticism of international treaty regimes. In 2003, the Bush administration continued to turn up its nose at a variety of international agreements. The White House’s opposition to the Kyoto Protocol and the International Criminal Court is well known. But the Bush administration didn’t even want to sign on to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes. The U.S. looks suspiciously at many of the new legal and institutional arrangements that are binding world together, at least on paper.

Russia Falls Behind. Russia’s globalization score tumbled eight places in this year’s index to the 52nd position. The Russian economy has become dependent on oil and gas investments, and the country’s partial transformation into a «petrostate» means that its economy is becoming vulnerable to the vicissitudes of those markets. By some accounts, the energy sector’s contribution to industrial output is about 25% of GDP and 50% of the country’s export earnings. The Kremlin’s legal assault on oil giant YUKOS and the bloody terrorist attacks by Chechen forces have deterred many foreign investors. Corruption and inefficiency are also sapping Russian economic strength. By some estimates, the black market was between 20 and 40% of the Russian economy. Privatization and deregulation, meanwhile, have stalled. Russia still has not made the reforms necessary to join the WTO, and trade as a share of Russia’s GDP fell sharply between 1999 and 2003.

Source: Measuring Globalization. A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Global Index, 2005

Exercise 4*. Fill in the blanks using terms given below.

Globalization

Globalization has altered the economic frameworks of both advanced and……. in ways that are difficult to fully comprehend. Nonetheless, the largely unregulated……., with some notable exceptions, appear to move smoothly from one state of equilibrium to another. Adam Smith’s………. remains at work on a global scale.

Because of………, increased innovation, and lower…….. to trade and investment……… trade in recent decades has been expanding at a far faster pace than GDP. As a result, many economies are increasingly…….. to the rigors of international competition and…….. advantage. In the process, lower prices for some goods and services produced by our……. have competitively suppressed domestic price pressures.

Production of traded goods and services has expanded rapidly in economies with large……. labor forces. Most prominent are China and India, which over the past decade have partly opened up to……… and the economies of central and eastern Europe, which were freed from…….. by the fall of the Soviet empire. The consequent significant additions to world production and trade have clearly put…….. pressure on prices in the United States and in the economies of our trading partners.

Over the past two decades…….. has fallen notably, virtually worldwide, as has economic……… Although a complete understanding of the reasons remains elusive, globalization and………. would appear to be essential elements of any paradigm capable of explaining the events of the past ten years. If this is indeed the case, because the extent of globalization and the speed of innovation are limited, the current apparent rapid pace of……… cannot continue indefinitely. The…….. for the latter part of this decade remains opaque because it is uncertain whether this……… paradigm, if that is what it is, is already far advanced and about to slow, or whether it remains in an early, still-vibrant stage of evolution.

Globalization – the extension of the……… and…….. beyond national borders – is patently a key to understanding much of our recent economic history. With a deepening of specialization and a growing capacity to conduct……… and take risks throughout the world, production has become increasingly international.

The pronounced structural shift over the past decade to a far more vigorous and competitive……… than that which existed in earlier post-World War II decades apparently has been adding significant…….. to world economic activity. This……… like that which resulted from similar structural changes in the past, is likely a…….. of the rate of increase of globalization and not its level. If so, such…….. would tend to peter out as we approach the practical limits of globalization. Full globalization, in which production, trade, and finance are driven solely by……… and in which risk is indifferent to distance and national……… will likely never be achieved.

Source: Remarks by Chairman Alan Greenspan Globalization at the Council on Foreign Relations, New York, March 10, 2005

Terms:

transactions, world economy, stimulus, borders, developing nations, central planning, inflation, division of labor, trading partners, innovation, structural shift, global markets, market forces, «invisible hand», specialization, deregulation, exposed, comparative, low wage, downward, outlook, transitional, incentive, function, risk-adjusted rates of return, volatility, impetus, barriers, cross-border

Exercise 5. Translate into English.

Глобалист: Мир закрывается

Не только в России с опаской относятся к иностранным инвесторам. Деловой мир сотрясают скандалы вокруг протекционистских действий властей разных стран мира в отношении зарубежных инвесторов. Президент Франции Жак Ширак и премьер Доминик де Вильпен выступили с призывами оградить национальные компании от поглощений иностранцами после появления слухов о намерении американской PepsiCo установить контроль над французской Danone. Председатель Центробанка Италии Антонио Фацио подозревается в содействии итальянскому Banca Popolare Italiana с целью обойти голландский ABN-Amro в стремлении купить банк Antonveneta. В начале этого года международные инвесторы ополчились на власти Южной Кореи, развернувшие кампанию по ужесточению правил деятельности для иностранных инвесторов. И даже – подумать только! – власти США, как считается, оказали сопротивление попыткам китайской CNOOC купить американскую нефтегазовую компанию Unocal.

Если экономический национализм действительно развивается, то это был бы отличный козырь для российских властей, стремящихся ввести особый режим для иностранных инвестиций в «стратегических сферах». Дескать, все так делают, а чем мы хуже?

Международный рынок прямых трансграничных инвестиций в последние годы сжимался. В 2003 г. объем трансграничных слияний и поглощений, по данным ЮНКТАД, упал с рекордных $866 млрд в 2000 г. до $141 млрд, а в целом объем прямых иностранных инвестиций в глобальной экономике снизился с $1,4 трлн в 2000 г. до $560 млрд. Однако это объяснялось скорее замедлением темпов роста, а также окончанием активной фазы приватизации в странах с переходной экономикой, которая была существенной причиной трансграничного перетока капитала в прежние годы.

Теперь глобальный инвестиционный процесс получил новое мощное препятствие для развития в виде экономического национализма властей. Только несостоявшиеся сделки ABN Amro – Antonveneta и CNOOC – Unocal потянули бы в совокупности на десятки миллиардов. Прямым следствием «инвестиционного протекционизма» российских властей в течение последних лет стали сорвавшиеся сделки в объеме почти $20 млрд (CNPC – «Славнефть», ExxonMobil – «ЮКОС-Сибнефть», Total – «НОВАТЭК», Siemens – «Силовые машины»).

ВТО демонстрирует свою неспособность вмешаться в этот процесс – соглашение по связанным с торговлей инвестиционным мерам регулирует лишь возможности стран навязывать иностранным инвесторам определенные ограничения торгового характера.

Подчеркнутые заботы о преимущественных правах национальных инвесторов часто мотивируются геополитическими факторами, и не без причины. Китайские нефтегазовые госкомпании являются явными носителями геополитических амбиций руководства КНР. В Восточной Европе многим кажется, что в такой роли выступают российские компании. Но настоящая причина все-таки в другом. Национальными инвесторами удобнее рулить – обращаться к ним от имени власти с просьбами, пользоваться благами «дружбы» с крупными национальными бизнесменами (то яхту подарят, то свадьбу дочери оплатят). А с международным бизнесом все это значительно сложнее: общение приходится вести в четких правовых рамках. Для России именно такие мотивации очень актуальны. И, видимо, не только для России. Тем хуже для перспектив роста глобальной экономики.

Источник: Владимир Милов,

президент Института энергетической политики,

Ведомости, 25.08.05

Lesson 25

Multinational Companies

Read and translate the texts and learn terms from the Essential Vocabulary.

Are You Ready to Go Global?

Once you understand how global your industry is, you need to define globalization’s full potential for your company. Although every company is different, most are affected by the same internal and external forces. The challenge is to figure out how these forces will strengthen or weaken over time – and how to capitalize on that evolution. Three types of factors determine the course of globalization in a company: production, regulatory, and organizational.