I Well,that does indeed sound like a very exclusive hotel.Thank you for coming to talk to us.
7.2 Making an order
SA Good morning ,Office Design.How can I help you?
C Hello. I want to buy a filing cabinet that will fit under my desk. SA I see.And how high is your desk? C It?s 74 centimetres.
SA That?s very good.We?ve got two filing cabinets,the FC12W and the FC12M,which are both 74 centimentres high.
C No,no,they?re too big.You see,it?s 74 centimentres to the top of the desk,.The filing cabinet can?t be more than 69 centimentres high.
SA I?m sorry,we don?t have anything that small. C I see.Well how big is the FC12W? SA I?m sorry?
C The FC12W.What are the dimensions?
SA Oh,yes.Er…well,as I said,it?s 74 centimentres high,50 centimentres wide,and 65 centimentres deep.
C That?s 74 by 50 by 65. I see.And what about the FC12M?
SA It?s the same size.The difference is that the FC12W is made of wood,and the FC12M is made of metal.W for wood,M for metal.
C I see.So you haven?t got one in plastic? SA Er…no.Only wood and metal.
C How many drawers have these cabinets got? SA They?ve both got two drawers. C I see. I wanted three drawers.
SA Well,these filing cabinets have only got two. C I see.And how much do they cost? SA The wooden cabinet costs￡140.The metal one is cheaper at ￡90. C And what colours do they come in?
SA The FC12W comes in a red wood finish,the FC12M in blue,black or grey paint. C I see.No green, I suppose?
SA No,no green.You can always paint it if you want.
C Well,if I bought one FC12M,would you give me a discount because of the colour? SA No,I?m afraid not.So do you want to buy one of the cabinets?
C Well,74 centimetres is still too high ,so they won?t fit under my desk.
7.3 Changing ISP
RM Welcome to Maroon Communications,If you are an existing customer,press 1.For information about mobile phones,press 2.For information about our Internet services,press 3 .For information about our small business packages,press 4.For all other services,please hold. D Good morning.Business services department,Dana speaking.
C Hello,I?d like some information about the small business packages you have. D Certainly,Sir.Can I just ask you some questions? C Yes,of course.
D Are you self-employed or do you have a business? C I run a small company.
D Does your company have fewer than ten employees? C Yes,it does.
D And which services are you intereted in?
C Well, I need mobiles for my staff of six and an Internet connection for the office,basically.
D We have a special offer at the moment for small businesses. It?s called MaroonBusinessOne and it gives you unlimited national calls on both mobiles and landlines,a 24-hour broadband connection,and no charge for connecting calls. C And how many mobiles does that cover?
D The cost of the phones themselves is separate,but the MaroonBusinessOne service covers up to ten mobile phone lines.
C What about support and maintenance?
D With the MaroonBusinessOne package,all calls to the technical support line are free. C No,sorry. I mean if there are problems with the phones themselves.
D The package is a service contract ,so the equipment itself is not covered.We do guarantee the broadband connection 24 hours a day,however.
C And can I have more than one computer connected?
D The broadband connection is to your computer network or to a single computer.It doesn?t matter which you have.
C OK,that?s good.And how much does this package cost?
D The monthly charge is 75 euros for the first three months,on special offer,and then 120 euros after that.
C Right.And how long does the contract last?
D There is a penalty charge if you cancel the contract before two years. C Well,I want to think about this.
D Certainly,Sir.And don?t forget that you can find all of these details on our website. C Yes,good idea.OK,thanks very much.
D Thank you for calling.Please stay on the line to answer our customer services feedback…
7.4 Exam spotlight,Listening Test Part Two
R Good morning,Webster Training.Can I help you?
C Yes,hello. I?d like to make a booking for one of your computer skills courses. R Certainly,Sir.Which one are you interested in? C Well,from your brochure,it?s Course ECDL12M.
R Parts 1 and 2 of the European Computer Driving Licence,right? C Yes,that?s right.
R And when would you like to do the course? C At the beginning of September,if that?s possible.
R I?m afraid the first week of September is already booked.But I have spaces available on the course starting on Tuesday the 9th. C That would be fine.
R And how many people are hoping to attend the course? C There?ll be eight in total.
R I?m afraid we can take a maximum of only six people per group. C I see.Well,six then.We might have another group later on. R That?s fine.And what?s the name of the company? C Coxten Ltd.That?s C-O-X-T-E-N.
R And are you the person I should call if I have any information or questions? C Yes.My name?s Charles Goff. R G-O-U-G-H?
C No,it?s G-O-doubleF.And my telephone number is 01536 848497 R All right,Mr Goff.Thank you for your booking…
7.5 Exam spotlight,Listening Test Part Three
All right.Hello everyone.It?s nice to see so many people. I?d like to welcome you this morning to this presentation of the company,Platt&Sons Ltd.My name is Barbara Platt,and I?m the managing director.Now ,as most of you will know,we manufacture exercise equipment.We have a full range,all made to the highest standards. I?d like to say a little about how we began.The company was started in 1958,by my grandfather,Eugene Platt,who used to cycle competitively .Unfortunately,an accident put an end to his cycling career.That?s when he started this company .He started off by producing bikes.The bikes he made in 1958 were competition models,but he soon started producing bicycles for recreational use.In the early 1970s we brought out our first cycling machine,which was very popular with the general public ,and a bit later on, we developed a range of these machines.
In the 1980s,we started producing other equipment ,such as rowing machines and multi-gyms.With these,we saw our clients change from mainly private individuals ,who wanted equipment for home fitness,to organisations like sports centres,which now account for about 60 per cent of our sales .We also sell to a lot of hotels.
We?ve recently started working with a sports doctor to design some machines specifically for use in hospitals.We expect to bring these new products out in the early spring.
So far,we?ve focused on the domestic market ,here in Britain,but we intend to start exporting,first to other countries in the European Union.France and Germanny are possible candidates.
And last,but certainly not least ,you might have seen the recent reports in the local press .You might have read that Platt&Sons is suffering financial difficulties,because we lost an important contract to one of our competitors. I can assure you that there is no truth in the reports .Of course ,we were sorry to lose the contract,but we are heathier than we have ever been.
Module 8
8.1 Solving problems
Good morning.We?re continuing the theme of Total Quality Management this morning , and in this lecture I?m going to look at the concept of the Poka-yoke mechanism.
Let?s think firstly about things going wrong-about mistakes ,in other words.Mistakes happen in organisations for many reasons ,but we need to realise that almost all of them can be prevented.The secret ,really ,is people making the effort to identify when problems happen and to do something about them.This is where the use of poka-yoke mechanisms can prevent a mistake from becoming a catastrophe.
Let me illustrate with some everybody examples that you probably haven?t thought about before .How many of you have ever filled up your car with diesel instead of petrol? I can see you shaking your heads ,of course .You are thinking that the tube for the diesel is too big to fit into your petrol tank.which is correct. The tube is designed so that it only fits the right tank.So that?s an example of poka-yoke,and it?s a very simple idea.But what about putting the narrow petrol tube into your diesel car?Another poka-yoke mechanism ,which actually measures the diameter of the tube,keeps the opening to the diesel tank closed in this case.
Staying with transport…A friend of mine once had a terrible experience when she tried to get off a crowded bus.The driver closed the doors without checking ,and drove off!These days ,modern buses use optical cells ,like the ones you see in lift doors.These optical cells stop the doors from closing when people are getting off the bus.
Poka-yoke devices don?t have to be high-tech though .What about those big stones you see on a rope on gates in the countryside?You don?t need to worry about closing the gate behind you :the stone is used to make the gate close automatically.
Now ,let?s move back to organisations and the kinds of mistakes that can be prevented in the production process…
8.2
A Hi,David.Is something wrong?
D Yes ,I think we?ve got a problem with our Txoko-cake line . A Is it serious?
D Yes ,I?m afraid it is.
A Oh,what?s wrong exactly?
D Some kind of bacteria has been found in one of the machines. A Oh no!Have you stopped production?
D Yes,of course.We?re trying to find the cause of the problem right now. A OK. I?ll contact the Head Office immediately.
D Could you tell the laboratory as well,please?They could help us. A Yes,I?ll do that too.
Module 9
9.1 A strategy meeting
S1 OK,so now that we?ve looked at the political,economic,social and technological analyses, I?d like to briefly complete the analysis by looking at the legal and environmental aspects. S2 Yes,I imagine the legal situation is very complex.
S1 Well,you know,the legal factors were not so complicated until recently.The problem is that things are changing all the time in China. You know they recently changed the law on private property,and nobody can really predict what those changes are going to mean.So the whole thing is very difficult to comment on. It?s a very unpredictable situation.
S2 I see.Well,I think we will need to look at that in more detail. I?m a bit worried about the implications there . And what about the environmental considerations?
S1 Well,obviously we need to do an Environmental Impact Assessment.The Chinese government are strict about corporate social responsibility,especially for joint ventures.So we will need to give
them assurances and guarantees that we will stay within the emission targets.On the other hand,the areas where we could build plants are not environmentally protected ,so that isn?t going to be a problem initially.
S2 Great,something positive at last.By the way ,what?s the Chinese position with regard to the Kyoto protocol?
9.2 Crisis meeting
L This is the fourth emergency meeting today.Is there anything that?s not an emergency in this company?
D Look ,I?m sorry about this ,but it?s a real problem . I just got a call from Marek,and … M Who is Marek?
L He?s our Polish plant manager.
D ..and they?ve been hit by a hurricane .
M In Poland? I didn?t know they had hurricanes in Poland!
D No,I know.Anyway ,the roof has blown off,and the electricity and telephones are down.Marek was calling from his mobile,but he said it took hours to get through and the communications was pretty bad!
M Was anybody hurt?
D Apparently not.But the workers on the night shift were evacuated. L Any damage to the machinery?
D I have no idea.Marek sounded pretty worried.It will take some time to assess the damage. M No electricity or phones-so ,no Internet.They?re completely cut off. L They do have a generator.If it works ,we can at least turn the system on.
D Wait,let?s set priorities :the first thing we have to do is to limit the loss of production.Can we move production to one of our other plants? L I?ll check with the planning department.
D Good!Then they?ll need somebody to help them with damage assessment-they don?t have the experience for this .Ludovica,I?m afraid you?ll have to help them.Call Marek on his mobile .Then send Jonathan over there as soon as possible .
L When we know what happened exactly ,I?ll send a small team to start the repair work and to coordinate the local maintenance people.
D Excellent!Now ,the Internet …Mirko,what can we do until the electrity and telephone lines are repaired?
M Well,if they have a couple of mobile phones with computer connections ,they will be able to connect up to the Internet.
L Then they can send us the production data we haven?t got yet.and we can send them a couple of emails.
D Great!Let?s get started.
9.3 Crisis strategy
A Welcome to our Monday podcast for 5 March.Today our guest speaker is Ellis Whims,a PR expert,and she?s going to talk about crisis management .Ellis over to you.
E A business crisis can take many forms .Unhappy customers can ,unfortunately ,give a lot of trouble .Do you remember the recent headlines about the woman who said she found a human