STARTING U P

�� What do you think about when you plan these things?

1 a holiday

2 a special family occasion, for example a wedding

3 an ordinary working day /week

4 your career

1!1 Which of the following do you use to plan your day or week? Which do you
prefer? Why?
• desk or pocket diary • electronic organiser • writing on your hand • memory
• asking someone (e.g. your PA) to remind you • watt chart • smartphone
• notes stuck on board, desk, fridge, etc. • computer program (e.g. Google calender, iCal)

II Discuss these statements.

1 Making lists of things to do is a waste of time.
2 You should plan your retirement from an early age.

3 If you make a plan, you should stick to it.

4 There are some things you can't plan for.

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 UNIT 9 � � PLANNING

Match the verbs in the box to the nouns below (1-5). Each word partnership
describes a way to plan effectively. Use a dictionary to help you if necessary.
I collect consider do estiFMte forecast

1 g.�t!��t�. costs
2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sales
3 .... .... . ... . . research
.

4 .. . . . . . . . information
.. .. ..

5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . options
.

[I Match the verbs in Box A to the nouns i n Box B. Make as many word
partnerships as you can.
EXAMPLE: Write/implemet'lt a plat)
A

I arrange implement keep to meet prepare rearrange write

I a budget a deadline a meeting a plan a report a schedule

II A managing director talks about the planning of a new sales office in the
United States. Complete this text with nouns from Exercises A and B.
One noun is used twice.
Recently, we decided to open a new sales office in New York. First, I arranged a Y:Ige:f:i '1 9 1 .' . .

with the finance department to discuss the project. We prepared a . . . . . . . . . . _2 with details .

of the various costs involved. Then we collected . . . . . . ? about possible locations for
. . .. .

the new office. We considered two . . . . . . . . . . . .� - one in Greenwich Village and the other
near Central Park. After doing some more . . . . .s. I wrote a . . . . . . . . . .6 for the Board of
. . . . . . . . .

Directors.

Unfortunately, we made a mistake when we estimated the . . . . . . . 7, as the exchange rate . . . . .

changed, so we didn't keep within our .. . . . . . . . .8 • We overspent by almost 20 per cent.

. .

We had to rearrange the . . . . . . .9 for moving into the building because the office wasn't
.. . ..

redecorated in time. The Board of Directors was unhappy because we didn't meet the
. . . . . . . . . .10 for opening the office by December 1 5 . It finally opened in January. However,
. .

we forecast . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 of at least $1 ,000,000 in the first year.

liJ �>» CD2.29 Listen and check your answers to Exercise C.

II Choose one of these events and tell your partner how you will plan it.
Try to use some of the vocabulary from Exercises A-C above.
1 A team-building weekend for your department I sports club
2 An event to mark your company's! organisation's 100th anniversary
See the DVD-ROM 3 A party to celebrate the return of a close friend after two years abroad
for the i-Giossary.
4 The opening of a new store

83
UNIT 9 ... PLAN NING

fJ ..>» CD2.30 Jan Sanders is a business consultant and the author of Unplan your
How i m portant business. I n the first part of the i nterview, he answers the question 'How far
is planning? ahead should businesses plan?'. Listen and complete these notes.

• Depends on 1•
. . . . . . . . . . . .

• Three-year contracts should have a plan for 2•

. . . . . . . . . . . .

• Three years is a long time for 3

. . . . . . . . . . . . businesses and new businesses
entering the market in the field of 4•
. . . . . . . . . . . .

• ian likes the idea of a 5

. . . . . . . .. . . . plan, because it's very 6.
. . . . . . . . . . . .

• Problem with business planning: it can sometimes be business 7.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

lan Sanders
I] _.>» CD2.31 Listen to the second part and complete this audio script.
.
I think the best business plans are ones that are 1 and 2 enough to take ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

into account changing markets and changing situations. Any plan that is too ? . . . . . . . . . . .

or too set in � becomes very unwieldy, because it can't accommodate economic

. . . . . . . . . . . .

changes, market changes, . s changes. . . . . .......

II Which word in Exercise B refers to the ability to change easily, and which
two words or phrases refer to the opposite?

m ..>» CD2.32 Listen to the final part and answer these questions.
1 What is it important for entrepreneurs to do?
Watch the 2 ian talks about an entrepreneur he met recently. What business had the entrepreneur
interview on set up?
the DVO-ROM.
3 Why did the entrepreneur eventually succeed?

IJ What are the advantages and disadvantages of writing a business plan?

Which of these would you normally find in a business plan?

To plan or 1 business aims 3 management team 5 staff holidays
not to plan 2 opening hours 4 financial forecast 6 assessment of the competition

I] Read the article on the opposite page and complete this chart.
name job/position company type of company location
Dan Scarfe
David Hieatt
Rajeeb Dey
Paul Maron-Smith

II Read the article again and answer these questions about the four people
in Exercise B.
1 How many people did not write a business plan for their present companies?
2 Who thinks that setting fixed aims involves too much time and is not valuable?
3 Who says that some plans don't work because we don't know what will work?
4 Who thinks that planning often leads to doing nothing?
5 Who provided the finance for the companies themselves?
6 Which of the four is not against business plans?

84
 UNIT 9 .... PLANNING

When there ' s no Plan A

by Jonathan Moules

Dan Scarfe, C h i e f Executive of

Windsor-based software develop­
ment company Dot Net Solutions,
says that he has never written a busi-
5 ness plan for the company he founded
in 2004.
Now, it is one of Microsoft's five
key partners in the UK and a leading
player in the hot new area of cloud
10 computing - and to Scarfe, that is
proof that setting fixed objectives is a
complete waste of time.
"Writing software, or starting
a new business, is incredibly difficult
15 to p l a n for," he s a y s . "You're
effectively trying to second-guess
exactly what you may want down the
line, based on marketing conditions
and v a ry i n g customer demand."
20 Whilst short-term business budgeting
and strategy i s v i t a l , long-term
business plans are less so." Twitter,
Facebook and cloud computing were
not even concepts a number of years
25 ago, Scarfe notes, so there would
be no way he could have planned
for them. would pay £27 for a T-shirt ,'' he Perhaps unsurprisingly, Dey and
D a v i d 1-I ie a t t , co-founder of recalls. 70 Scarfe have e n t i rely se l f-financed
Howies, the ethical-clothing manu- so Hieatt and his colleagues managed their businesses. Venture capitalists
30 facturer based in Cardigan, claims to rescue the situation by launching a and private i nvestors do not usually
that a business plan is real l y just catalogue to sell products. It proved approve of t h i s c a s u a l a t t i tude
a guess. to be a turning point for Howies. to planning.
"There are some brilliant business ''Losing all your shop accounts in one 75 To Paul Maron-Smith, Managing
plans written, but they fail because 55 day is not great for business, but it's Director of Gresham Private Equity,
35 the customer wants to do business probably the best thing we d i d ,'' a business plan is rather like a car's
differently," he says. "The awful truth Hieatt concludes. Now, the company dashboard. guiding the entrepreneur
is we don't know what will work." s e l l s 80 per cent of i t s products along the road to success.
l-Ie claims that the secret is to be through this medium. so But even he admits that problems
flexible - although this often takes a (i(J Others argue that business planning c a n arise w h e n b u s i ness p l a n s
40 lot of courage. For example, i n 200 I . is often a reason for i na c t i o n . become t o o f i x e d . "The a i m o f
H i eatt phoned up a l l of Howies' Rajeeb Dey launched Enternships, a a b u s i ness p l a n i s t o g i ve the
retailers and said he was going to student internship matching service. stakeholders a good idea of where
i ntroduce organic cotton. The initial "I never wrote a business plan for X5 the business is heading." he says.
effect of this spur-of-the-moment act 65 Enternships, I just started it," he says ·'Sure, there arc going to be some
45 was disastrous. - although he admits that it is easier forecasts in there that are not going to
"We lost all our wholesale accounts for I n ternet -based businesses to be accurate, but they are a best guess
overnight because they said nobody do this. at the time."

liJ Discuss these questions.

1 In which sectors is it difficult to plan?

2 How far ahead should you plan?

3 How often should you review plans?
4 What reasons are given for and against having business plans?

5 What is your opinion of business plans? How useful do you think they are?
85
UNIT 9 .... PLANNING

LANGUAGE REVIEW • We can use verbs like plan, hope, expect, would like and want to talk about
Talking about future plans.
Coca-Co/a is hoping to more than double its number of bottling plants in China
future plans
over the coming decade and would like to triple the size of its sales to China's
middle class.
• We often use going to to talk about more definite plans.
We're going to open a new dealership this summer.
• We can also use the present continuous to talk about definite plans and
arrangements.
I'm meeting the accountants on Tuesday.
C) Grammar reference page 149

IJI The CEO of a large supermarket chain is talking to her managers about the
group's future plans in relation to the World Cup. Underline the plans that
she mentions.
'Well, as you all know, we are hoping that the World Cup spirit will get more customers
through our doors. We are planning a wide range of activities to capitalise on our football
links and are expecting to sell more televisions, food and drink. We are also going to sell
official merchandise before and during the tournament. We would like to get some big­
name endorsements and want to sell stickers and trading cards. Then we are going
to launch a digital site to promote our association with football legends. We are hoping
to be the supermarket of choice for our country's football fans.'

[I Match the verbs (1-3) to their meanings (a-c) .

1 hope a) believe something will happen
2 expect b) decide in detail what you are going to do

3 plan c) wish something would happen

D A salesperson is talking about the end-of-year bonus. Complete this

conversation with the verbs from Exercise B in the correct form.
I'm . . . . . . . . . . . .1 to get a bonus at the end of the year, but I haven't met all my sales targets,
so I'm a little worried. My colleague Jan has met all her targets and she is . . . . . . . . . . . .2 to get
a good bonus. She is already . . . . . . . . . . . ? to go on an expensive holiday abroad and has got
lots of travel brochures.

liJ Tell each other about your plans and expectations for 1-6 below.
EXAMPLE: A: WJ... at are yov 90it19 to do after tJ... i> leHof'l?
B: 11m J... o pit19/plat1f1if19 to . . . WJ... at abovt y ov?
A: OJ...1 f,., J... o pit19 to . . .
1 after this lesson

2 tomorrow
3 this weekend
4 on your next holiday
5 in your career
6 when you retire

86
UNIT 11 .... CONFLICT

• First conditional
if+ present simple, will + infinitive without to
Conditionals
This describes a possible situation and its probable result.
If he bullies anyone again, he'll lose his job.
If sales increase, we'll make more profit.
• Second conditional
if+ past simple, would + infinitive without to
This describes an unlikely situation and its probable result.
If he made more eye contact, he'd be a better negotiator.
• Conditionals and negotiating
Conditionals are often used when negotiating. We use conditionals for offers.
If you sign the contract today, we'll give you a 10% discount. (firm offer)
/{you ordered 100 cases, we'dgive you a larger discount. (less firm offer)

C) Grammar reference page 151

IJ Correct the grammatical mistakes i n these sentences.

1 If you pay in dollars, we would deliver next week.
2 If I would have his number, I would phone him.

3 If the goods will arrive tomorrow, I'll collect them.

4 If the cars would be more reliable, more people would buy them.

1!1 Combine phrases from Columns A and B to make conditional sentences.

More than one answer is possible in each case.
1
EXAMPLE: If you place an order today We 11 offer a lar9e difcount
1
A B
1 offer more flexible payment conditions a) offer a large discount
2 pay all the promotion costs b) give you 90 days' credit
3 place an order today c) make you an exclusive agent
4 pay in dollars d) give you a signing-on bonus
5 place firm orders in advance e) despatch immediately
6 provide good technical support f) accept the deal
7 offer us a unit price of $22 g) reduce the price by 20%
8 sign the contract now h) increase the order

II �>)) CD2.55 Listen to two people negotiating. Look at the audio script on
page 164 and underline the sentences in which the speaker makes an
offer, but is not sure it will be accepted.

Now circle the sentences in which the speaker makes a firm offer.

liJ Discuss these questions in pairs.

What would you do if:
1 your boss asked you to move abroad? I Would afk fo r a raife.
2 you saw a colleague bullying another colleague?
3 you saw a colleague stealing something?
4 your boss took credit for your ideas?

5 you saw two colleagues having an argument?

108
 GRAMMAR REFERENCE

IJ Talking about future plans

1 We use the present continuous for future arrangements.
What are you doing next weekend?
We 're visiting our suppliers next week.
2 We also use going to for arrangements, plans and intentions.
What are you going to do next weekend?
We re going to visit our suppliers next week.
'

I'm going to talk to you today about my company.

3 But we do NOT use the present continuous to make predictions for the future. Compare:
The transport strike is going to cause a real problem. (= This is anticipated for the future.)
The transport strike is causing a real problem. (= The strike has started and the effects are present.)
4 Some verbs, like anticipate, expect, look forward to, hope and plan, automatically refer to the future.
These verbs can be used in either the simple or continuous form.
/ look forward to seeing you soon.
I am looking forward to seeing you soon.
We hope to do better next year.
We are hoping to do better next year.
We plan to attract more foreign investment.
We are planning to attract more foreign investment.

Other future forms

1 Will is very often used for predictions.
The forecast says that tomorrow will be warm and sunny.
I don't think they will complain.
She won't like what you've written about her.
2 We use the contracted form 'II to make spontaneous offers.
I'll help you write the report ifyou like.
(= I'll help you now, o r when you want me to help you.)

149
 GRAMMAR REFERENCE

m Conditionals

First conditional
(if+ present simple, will + infinitive without to)
In these two examples, the speaker feels that there is a real possibility that they will increase
their order and that their visitors will be late.
If we increase our order, they'll give us a higher discount.
If our visitors are late, we won't be able to take them to the theatre.

Second conditional
(if+ past simple, would + infinitive without to)
1 When the situation is less likely to happen or be accepted, we use the second conditional.
If we had more money to spend, we would be interested. (but we don't)
2 Sometimes the condition is logically impossible to fulfil.
If he was the Queen of England, he' d sell Buckingham Palace.

Points to remember
1 The position of the if clause and the main clause can be changed.
I would lend him some money if he needed it.
Ifhe needed it, I would lend him some money.
2 We cannot use will or would in the if clause.
*If I will go to Japan, I'll probably go to a tea ceremony.
knew
*If I weuldkAew the answer, I would tell you.
3 It is possible to use If I were rather than If I was, especially when giving advice.
If I were the Minister of Finance, I'd reduce taxation.
If I were you, I'd buy those shares now.
4 Instead of would, we can use might o r could, depending on the meaning.
If he relaxed more, he might enjoy this new challenge.
If he wanted to, he could become CEO.

151