2020-01-14
129
At the turn of the 19th century, Peter Faberge, the grandfather of the celebrated jeweler, moved from Schwedt-on-Oder to Rarnu. Here, in 1814, was born his son Gustav, founder of the famous company and father of Peter Carl Faberge.
Destined to become the most famous of the Faberge's, Carl studied in Germany, Britain, Italy, and France. In 1870, at the age of 24, Carl came to St. Petersburg, Russia, to take over his father's business.
Faberge was soon to enjoy his first taste of success. He won a gold medal at an all-Russian exhibition, praise from Alexander III, and the title of Jeweler to His Imperial Majesty and to the Royal Hermitage. Four years later, in 1885, he won international recognition in the form of a gold medal.
Faberge's greatest successes both at exhibitions and with the closely related royal families of Europe were his famous Easter eggs containing jeweled gifts. The first golden Easter egg was seen at the Nurnberg Exhibition. The idea of jeweled Easter eggs was itself nothing new. The tradition of presenting Easter eggs which were generously decorated by court jewelers, dates back to the time of Louis XV.
Yet Faberge didn't just imitate established styles nor did he copy his predecessors. His clients were struck: not only by the abundance of precious stones and thecarefully considered combinations of materials that were previously regarded as incompatible. He blended multicolored gold, silver, platinum, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds with semiprecious stones (agates, jasper, and chalcedony) and mineral gems (jade, lapis, rhodonites, and obsidians).
Carl Faberge was not only bursting with new ideas, he was also an outstanding production manager. At its prime, the Faberge firm employed more than 500 craftsmen. Faberge encouraged each of them to develop his own distinctive style. Yet, despite the diversity of style and the range of Faberge products, the firm's goods are always recognizable and are always of a high quality.
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II. Ответьте на вопросы:
1. When did Carl Faberge take over his father's business?
2. What was Faberge's greatest success?
3. How did Faberge achieve and maintain a reputation for high quality products?
4. What were his clients struck by?
5. Why are Faberge products always recognizable?
Вариант 4
Nestle Expands Globally
The Switzerland-based Nestle corporation, once a Swiss chocolate maker, now is the world's biggest food company and the largest producer of coffee, powdered milk, and frozen dinners. The company also became number 1 in candy after passing Mars. And with the purchase of Perrier for $2.7 billion, Nestle became the world's largest producer of mineral water with a 20 per cent share of the world market. Nestle achieved its success through intensive global expansion. Nestle does only 2 per cent of its business in Switzerland: the remaining 98 per cent is in other countries.
One of the first multinational corporation, Nestle now has production facilities in more than 60 countries. Its products can be found almost everywhere around the globe. In Europe, where Nestle's success is greatest, sales of instant coffee, mineral water, yogurt, frozen foods, cold cuts, candy, and cereal bars total roughly $ 10.2 billion.
One secret to Nestle's success is that many of its products - especially instant coffee, chocolates, and frozen foods - appeal to consumers all over the world. For example, coffee is closing in on tea as the favourite drink in Japan. Frozen dinners, long a hit in the United States, are catching on in Europe. And of course chocolate tastes the same in any language. Although these products have to be adapted slightly to local tastes, they generally can be sold worldwide. Because of high research and development costs as well as high costs of marketing,Nestle benefits greatly by offering products with globalappeal. After making large investments in its products, the company has been to move brands from one country toanother with relative ease.
Now Nestle is looking to what Maucher thinks is themarket of the future, the Third World. Currently, 20 per cent of the world's population consumes 80 per cent of Nestle' s products. They would be satisfied if the company's products were seen in more parts of the world. The company also will look to what Maucher considers the food of the future-pasta. As he puts it, “We can't feed the world on beefsteak. So noodles will conquer the world”.
Most industry experts agree that Nestle is in the best position of any food company to expand internationally. Most of its competitors, which have been concentrating on their domestic markets, would be happy if they were involved in the profitable international trade.
I. Прочитайте и переведите текст.
II. Ответьте на вопросы:
1. Would you classify Nestle as a global corporation? Why or why not?
2. What is one secret to Nestle's success?
3. Which environmental considerations are most important as Nestle expands into Third World nations?
4. What does the company produce?
5. Why does the company move brands from one country to another with relative ease?
Вариант 5
