7. Nintendo

Nintendo is one of the best-known brands in the world and a leader in interactive video entertainment. The company has a history which dates back to the 19^th century.

At the end of 19^th century Fusajiro Yamauchi founds a small company to manufacture traditional playing cards.

1953 The company manufactures the first mass-produced plastic playing cards in Japan.

1963 The company changes its name to Nintendo Co.Ltd. and starts to produce games in addition to cards.

1965 Boss Hiroshi Yamauchi hires Gunpei Yokoi the engineer behind many of the company’s successful products.

After that Nintendo forms a partnership with Mitsubishi Electric to take advantage of their micro-processor technology.

1983 Nintendo develops a console for use at home, the NES.

Than Nintendo launches Game Boy – the first console you can carry in your pocket. The package includes Tetris.

1994 Sony produces the Playstation which works as a CD player as well as a console.

2001 Nintendo launches the GameCube. Sales are poor but in the USA it dominates the handheld market.

2004 Nintendo decides to concentrate on the portable market and produces the Nintendo Dual Screen.

2006 Things look bad, but a brilliant idea saves them the Wii. It is a wand which allows players to physically move while they play. In a very short time the company achieves higher levels of sales than all its competitors.

8. A company’s presentation

Dear Sir or Madam,

Today I would like to introduce you my company “The World of Flowers”. Our company specializes in selling plants both potted plants and for bouquets.

I am the Managing Director of the company. I have the previous experience of working at a flower-cultivating farm and an MBA.

Now our company has a retail chain of stores in Moscow and the Moscow region. We have our own Transport Department and we purchase our plants directly from flower-cultivating farms. We do business with a lot of firms and our assortment is expanding steadily.

As we buy big lots of flowers we are able to offer or clients flowers at lower price than our competitors.

We are planning to buy several flower-cultivating farms to reduce our running costs. We hope to make profit of 60 per cent next year. We consider it real as our turnover is increasing steadily.

To realize this project we are looking for investment from 25 to 30 million dollars and we are already talking to venture capitalists.

9. A company’s business structure

This is the structure of the Biopaints International company.

There is the Board of Directors at the top of the structure with Chairman Reece Hatchitt. The Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing operations and it is the head of the company. They appoint, dismiss and supervise top managers.

Under the Board of Directors there is the Managing Director (or the CEO). His name is Robert Leaf. He is responsible for day-to-day running of the company and is supported by vice-presidents. Each vise-president heads different departments.

The first department is Finance Department. It is headed by Weimin Tan. She is responsible for the financial matters and the Accounts Manager reports to her.

The next department is the Marketing Department. It is headed by Rosemary Broom. She is responsible for market research. The Sales Manager and the Public Relations Manager report to her. The Sales Manager makes deals for selling the products and concludes contracts. The Public Relations Manager is in charge of creating a good image of the company and introducing it to the public. And the main aim of this department is to make the products successfully.

The Production Manager, George Harris, controls 2 factories in Perth and in Singapore. He deals with main organizational questions. General Managers report to the Production Manager and they are in charge of day-to-day running of the factories and deal with more detailed questions.

The Personnel Manager, Deirdre Spencer, employs and dismisses staff. The Training Manager reports to him and is responsible for training the staff.

Dr Tarcisius Chin is the Manager of the Research and Development Department. It supervises the laboratories and it also develops new technology and new products.

The Purchasing Manager is in charge of buying in raw materials and equipment for production.

The Export Manager is in charge of establishing overseas contacts.

The Planning Manager is responsible for detailed planning of the work of the company.

Such personnel as secretaries, receptionists, technicians, telephonists, clerks support the work of the whole company.