Useful terms and expressions

• to undergo downsizing – претерпеть, пройти через, осуществить сокращение штатов

• to take smth with a pinch of salt – не доверять, сомневаться, не принимать на веру

• to purport – свидетельствовать, означать, подразумевать

TEXT 7

Please interpret the article and provide your comment on the reasons for Huawei’s sudden disinterest in the US market. How does that affect the company’s general standing? Will the American and global competitors benefit from Huawei’s exodus?

Telecoms

You can't fire me, I quit

"We are not interested in the US market anymore." So declared Eric Xu, a senior Huawei executive, on April 23rd at the company's annual analyst conference. That seems to be a striking and definitive U-turn for the Chinese telecoms giant, which has tried arduously to sell its networking kit to American telecoms operators. The snag has been an ugly xenophobic backlash that has blocked the firm, and its compatriot ZTE, from making headway. American politicians have engaged in techno-nationalism of the worst kind, bashing the firms regularly with allegations of spying for the Chinese government - without producing any public evidence of bad behaviour. Sprint Nextel, a big American mobile-telephony operator, was forced to give Congress assurances that it would not buy Huawei products.

So that's the end of the road for China's aspiring national champion in the land of the free and the home of the brave, is it? Not necessarily. Though the firm is backing off from its incredibly clumsy charm offensive and hopelessly bungled lobbying efforts in America, it seems willing to return if politicians open the door.

"Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to get into the US market…it’s a high-value market,” said Li Sanqi, the chief technology officer for the firm's carrier networking group, this week. He added wistfully, "We today face reality. We will focus on the rest of the world."

The Economist

Useful terms and expressions

1. snag – загвоздка, препятствие(я), трудности

2. xenophobic – ксенофобский, ненавидящий иностранцев

3. backlash – ответный удар, ответная критика, отрицательная реакция, негативные последствия

4. bashing – критика, нападки, клевета

5. assurances – гарантия(и), заверения, обещания

6. charm offensive – наступление через очарование, наступление очарованием, чарующее завоевание

7. bungled – напортачить, испортить, завалить работу

8. Chief Technology Officer (CTO) – технический директор, главный инженер

TEXT 8

Please interpret the article orally.

How important it is for a company or a product to have a history?

Comment on the Guinness’ strategy and the possible; reasons for it. Can you think of any other companies who would use the same tactics in the highly competitive markets?

Why Guinness is less Irish than you think

March 17th is St Patrick's Day, a celebration of all things Irish - and of one thing in particular. Around Ireland and all over the world people will celebrate with a pint or two (or three, or four) of Guinness, Ireland's unofficial national intoxicant.Publicans love St Patrick's Day, so much so that it can sometimes feel like less a celebration of Irish culture than a marketing event for Guinness’s owner, Diageo. Now exported to more than 120 countries, the black stuff has become a powerful symbol of Ireland. But how Irish is it really?

Arthur Guinness, who founded the brewery in Dublin in 1759, might have been surprised that his drink would one day become such a potent national symbol. He was a committed unionist and opponent of Irish nationalism, who before the Irish Rebellion of 1798 was even accused of spying for the British authorities. His descendants continued passionately to support unionism - one giving the Ulster Volunteer Force £10,000 in 1913 (about £1m, or $1.7m, in today’s money) to fund a paramilitary campaign to resist Ireland being given legislative independence. The company was alleged to have lent men and equipment to the British army to help crush Irish rebels during the Easter Rising of 1916, afterwards firing members of staff whom it believed to have Irish-nationalist sympathies.

The beer the company has become most famous for - porter stout - was based on a London ale, a favourite of the street porters of Covent Garden and Billingsgate markets. Since 1886 the firm has floated on the London Stock Exchange, and the company moved its headquarters to London in 1932, where it has been based ever since (it merged with Grand Metropolitan and renamed itself Diageo in 1997). Even in terms of branding, the company was considering disassociating itself from its Irish reputation as recently as the 1980s. Worried about the impact on sales of the IRA’s terrorist campaign during the Troubles, Guinness came close in 1982 to re-launching the brand as an English beer brewed in west London. But as Northern Ireland’s situation improved in the 1990s, the company’s marketing strategy changed again towards marketing the beer as Irish, aiming its product at tourists in Ireland and the estimated 70m people of Irish descent living around the world. Now the Guinness Storehouse, part of the original Dublin factory which was reopened as a tourist attraction in 2000, promotes Guinness to tourists as an Irish beer once again.

Guinness is not the only company to play up or hide its national origins to try and boost sales. Jacob’s biscuits have been marketed by some shops as being British, in spite of the company’s origins as an Irish company from Waterford. And Lipton now markets its black teas on the strength of the company’s British origins, in over 100 countries - except Britain, where it is not commonly sold. In a world where multinational companies control a large chunk of the global food supply chain, national identity - at least in branding - matters as much as ever.

The Economist