Different kinds of companies

Ø What do you know about different kind of companies? How familiar are you with the different sectors or different sizes of companies?

Companies are a very important part of a country’s economy. They produce goods and services and they come in every shape and size. There will be many occasions when you will have to talk about the company you work for. This may be when you are actually showing someone around the place of work or premises or when you give presentations to future clients, customers or business partners. You may also need to explain to someone how your department or your company is organised or how it is run, who is responsible for different aspects of business and similar. The first step towards this is to decide or explain which sector your company belongs to.

If we compare the three sectors, we can say that primary sector grows or takes different kind of things directly from the ground or water or in general our surroundings and mainly deals with raw materials; secondary sector produces or manufactures and tertiary sector companies offer services.

Companies can be further divided according to the size (small, medium, big or large), ownership (private, public, national), type (engineering, insurance, joint-stock …) etc. They also have very different organisational structure (from only one manager to boards of managers, supervising committees …) and can have only a few or several different department (production, purchasing-sales, export-import, advertising, marketing, finance, accounting …).

Activity 1. Think of some logos of different companies. Divide them into the three sectors: if you have no idea of them or if you are not sure, check them out on the Internet:

Activity 2. Answer these questions:

1. Which are the five largest or most important companies in your region (country)?

2. Which sectors of industry or product group do they belong to?

3. Make a list of the products they make or services they supply.

4. Which sector do you (you intend to) work for?

5. Which areas of the economy are changing the most?

6. Which sectors can we not do without?

7. Has the rate of unemployment in your country increased or decreased in the past years?

8. In which economic sectors have jobs disappeared?

9. In which economic sectors have jobs been created?

 

Activity 3. Describing a company: complete the sentences with one of these expressions: famous, established, high, reliable, owner, quality ( not all of them are used ):

Ford is a long- established company.

Harrods only sells high-……… products.

Sony is ……… for their televisions.

Philips make ……… electrical goods.

ENGINEERING

Engineering is based on many other sciences, such as physics, chemistry, mathematics but also mechanics, thermodynamics and analysis. It is a science, discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or inventions. Its main focus is to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property. This broad discipline can be further divided into subdisciplines, each with a more specific emphasis on certain fields and particular areas, for example: civil, mechanical, electrical, electronic, marine, automotive, aeronautical, heating and ventilation, mining and medical engineering. One who practices engineering is called an engineer. Watch an episode on ‘How is it made?’ or ‘Mega structures’ or ‘Extreme engineering’ on Discovery or National Geographic Channel about the work the engineers do and describe it to your groupmates.

 

Activity 1. Here is an extract from a speech to a group of students who are yet to decide which programme they want to choose and study. Complete it by choosing one of the words: machines, highway, mechanical, civil, physics, electrical, develop, production, electronic, chemical:

 

Engineering students need to have an understanding of math, physics and chemistry. Working with pharmaceuticals, food, mineral processing and chemical manufacturing, a ……… engineer is trained to understand, design, control and investigate material flows. If you like problem solving and find projects for building tunnels or dams, ……… engineering is the right choice for you. This way you will produce creative designs at competitive prices and you will be actively taking care of the environment. If your interest lies in road building, then you can decide to specialise in ……… engineering. By studying ……… and ……… engineering you learn about the design of complete systems, such as computers, power or transport systems. ……… engineers plan, design and ……… a wide range of things, such as white goods (for example: washing machines) cars and even spacecrafts. ……… engineers work closely with mechanical engineers to make a new product at the reasonable price, on time and at the right quality. Besides designing and selecting ……… and materials, they are expected to organise people and finances.

 

Activity 2. Look at the text below about a company that has an office also in one of the cities and then answer the questions below:

Welcome to ABB

The ABB Group

ABB is a global leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact.

Technology

Technology plays a key role for ABB. We have activities all over the world working to develop unique technologies that make our customers more competitive, while minimizing environmental impact.

Sustainability

Sustainability is integral to all aspects of our business. We strive to balance economic, environmental and social objectives and integrate them into our daily business decisions.

Where to find us

ABB operates in more than 100 countries and has offices in 87 of those countries to give its global and local customers the support they need to develop and conduct their business successfully.

 

1. What do they produce? They are involved in power and automation technologies.

2. What is their main goal? What is the purpose of their activities?

3. What’s their attitude towards environment?

4. Where does the company operate?

COMPANY PROFILE

Ø Very often you will have to talk about your or any other company, so you need to know how to do it well. Look at this example:

CRANE engineering, Ltd. is a small, private company, employing a staff of 55 workers who are all fully and highly qualified. We are located in the industrial zone of Manchester and we employ mostly local workforce. It all started in 1980 when Mr. Jack Crane decided to start his own company after he had been made redundant at his previous company. It was rather difficult at the beginning as the company that employed only 10 people had to face the competition of large companies that dominated the market and could offer, if necessary, more competitive prices of different machines used in the industry. The turning point came in 1985 when the company concluded a big contract with British Railways. The success of the company has continued ever since and the company personnel and their products have earned good reputation. The company is run by Mr. Graham Crane, the son of the founder, who is the managing director. He gets help from the finance, design, production and marketing department. Their main plan is to maintain the same market share also in the future and to get more involved in the environmentally friendly production.

 

Activity 3. Read this short company description and complete it with the missing expressions: name, promote, solar, burgundy, Ltd., exotic, ranges, built-in, promotional, items, plastic, conference.

Promotions in Plastic, Ltd. (better known as P.I.P.) is a small company, specialising in producing personalised ……… for companies wishing to ……… themselves or their products. One of their most popular ……… is promotional pens, but they also produce ……… desk organisers, golf balls with your company ……… printed on them, personalised computer discs, ……… folders and ……… calculators. One of their fastest-growing ranges is the ……… mousepads. They come in four different colours: black, grey, ……… and green. There is also a version with a ……… calculator. They can also be made in unusual or ……… shapes (for example: a car or a fruit).