A: Well, you see, our company is going to attend a trade fair in the US.B: Yeah, sounds exciting. Since we've never done that before, we need to have good advance preparations for the trip.A: You're right. The first thing to do is of course to make travel and accommodation arrangements, such as choosing an airline offering good services and the flight of the right time so that we can arrange things well and in an effective way.B: This can be done by making several phone calls. And we have to make advance reservation with a local hotel so that the people for the trade fair can have a place to stay immediately after they arrive in the country.A: With early booking, we may even enjoy some discounts. And it's better to choose a hotel near the trade fair. That can save the time traveling there.B: Or we can arrange beforehand to hire a car from a local car rental company.A: In addition, it would be useful to know about some business customs in the US, including commonly accepted business practices, ways of doing business, and laws and regulations, etc.B: Yeah, especially those different from ours. Say, different ideas about punctuality. I heard that in the United States, people tend to be very time-conscious. Being late would be considered poor etiquetteA: Also in China, business transactions are often concluded by treating business partners to lavish dinners and giving them expensive gifts, I'm afraid they seldom do it this way in the West or in the US.B: I was told that in Western countries, people attach much importance to formal agreement and contracts with detailed terms and conditions. They never feel comfortable with verbal agreements. In China, however, business is often concluded simply by verbal agreement.A: We should also learn about business customs such as the different systems of measurement. For instance, we use the day/ month/ year system for dating while the US use month/ day/ year system. And there are many other differences including topics acceptable in conversation.B: Also, Chinese businessmen tend to have business negotiations in a rather indirect manner, while American businessmen have a more direct style. Our people should be made to understand all these differences.A: But how to find out about all this?B: I think there are many ways to find out about these before the trip, say, we can go to theInternet, read some reference books or get tips from experienced colleagues and clients.A: They could be effective ways. Let's do them.Task 2A: You see, in the past year one of our clients kept losing staff and suffered a heavy loss. They worry a lot and turn to us. Have you got any constructive suggestions? B: Yes. Our client should first examine their staff recruiting. There must be something wrong with their recruiting practice.A: Why?B: You know, keeping staff turnover low begins with hiring staff members who are a good match for the practice and the position. So it can be beneficial for the client company to change its idea from "attracting and retaining the best employees" to "attracting and recruiting the suitable employees."A: Good idea! By recruiting the appropriate new staff, our client builds the employees' commitment and retention will necessarily follow.B: Exactly.A: Then how to recruit the right staff is crucial to our client.B: Yes. To recruit the appropriate new hires, it's important to advertise thejob vacancy in the newspapers and magazines targeting at the ideal candidates.A: To ensure that a candidate's skills match the job, it's also important to limit the conditions and requirements of candidates on the job advertisement.B: Yes. Besides, it's better for our client to conduct thorough reference checks and find out why a candidate left a previous job.A: Yeah, that's important. Still there are other contributable factors that our client should consider, such as providing information of the current state of their future work environment, offering staff with proper training, talking to staff members and solving problems as they emerge. All these can be important in keepingstaff turnover low.B: You are right. Furthermore, the client company should strive to provide superior leadership in their practice, such as keeping communication linesopen, periodically taking time to examine the workplace from theemployee's perspective, and continually seeking to improve it.A: Yeah, that will help to create and maintain a place where people want to work and stay. In addition, giving the employees a sense of empowerment should not be ignored.B: For example?A: Such as providing a breathing space to take risks, to use their own best judgment, and to be accountable for the decisions they've made etc.B: Yeah, that surely works.A: Our guests are arriving at weekend for a three day visit, so let’s look at our arrangement of activities for our guests. Now, first of all, what items do you think should be included here?B: Well, as we know, they are here to investigate a possible long-term cooperation with us. So, the first thing Monday morning is to take them for a tour around our company. We should show them the best part of our company, particularly the off ice computer management system.A: Yes. But perhaps we should first give them a chance to see the video profile of our company before showing them around and that would give them a better ide a of our unique way of operating our business.B: That’s great. I totally agree with you on that. What are we going to arrange for Monday evening? Theatre, concert, or restaurant?A: Oh, well. From the information we have gathered, they are people of very well c ultured background, how about giving them some taste of Peking Opera at the Ca pital Theatre?B: I do not disagree, but I am afraid it shouldn’t be too long for that. There are other things I would want to bring to our attentio n. I mean we need to take cultural differences into consideration. I don’t think we can expect them to sit out a two hours performance that they understa nd practically little.A: Maybe we can arrange for half an hour of Peking opera before we take them fo r a late night dinner.B: Alright. That’s settled. But where do you think we should take them to for the meal?A: We should choose one of the best restaurants along the busiest street in this cit y where they could experience the hustle and bustle of this city.B: But there’s something else that I want to note here. I think the British are generally rather re served people. I am afraid they would prefer not to have a too noisy and busy plac e for dinner.A: That’s a good point. In this case, we should book a room in a quite distinctive restauran t where we could have more privacy and at the same time enjoy the local food.Task 4In developing new products, I think market research is very important. By carrying out market research, a company can get such information as whether there exists a niche market for a new product, and what are customers＇needs and tastes for the new product, therefore, the new product will sell well when it is launched into market.Next, I think costs are also important. A product＇s cost determines the product＇s price. Other costs like for marketing, advertising and managing will also be involved in. So cutting down the unnessary costs is a crucial step.Finally, screening is also a significant factor, bec ause it separates ideaswith potential from those that cannot meet company objectives. Poor screening may lead to product failure.Task 5When planning health and safety training for employees, it is important to select the right and related topics. Take chemical training as an example, relevant and important topics should be included, such as the methods used to detectthe presence or release of hazardous chemicals, the physical and health problems posed by hazardous chemicals, and the ways by which employees can protect themselves from chemical dangers and so on. High topics achieve purposes.In addition to selecting topics, selecting related staff to attend is also important. If it can serve for target people and meet certain requests, the company can achieve the training purpose.Besides, the length of training and opportunity for re-training can be important as well because safety and health knowledge needs to be emphasized and reinforced from time to time, and lengthy training can be boring and have negative effects on trainees.★★★In cost management, efficiency of production is an important aspect to consider. When introducing a production line, it is important to consult an ergonomics expert and see that it＇s user-friendly and will not cause too much physical stress and strain. Meanwhile, workers should get fully-trained to work more efficiently on the line. It is also important to cut down the cost of raw materials, as to a large extent, it helps to determine the product prices.Cost-conscious companies always seek to work with good suppliers who can offer quality raw materials with reasonableTask 8In deciding packaging for a product, it＇s important to choose the colour, texture and design that provide the best image or appearance of the product. A firm can create desirable appearance by designing a package that conveys signals of tasteand food content. Many manufactures have upgraded the packaging of their food product to convey high-quality images.Next, I think the health and safety is especially important for food product. When designing the package, we should not only put emphasis on color, size,even graphics, but also the materials of the package whether it is environmentally friendly or not and whether it willcontaminate the food inside or not.Finally, I think offering consumers convenience is also important. Packaging should be designed in such as way to make it easier for consumers to open the container and enjoy the product.Task 9When aiming to improve customer service, it is very important for a company to train the staff first. By inviting some experts to train the staff, it will improve staff＇s friendliness, the speed of service and learn to deal with customer complaints.It is also important for a company to monitor the quality service. One way of monitoring the quality of service is to conduct customer satisfication surveys. By obtaining feedback from customers, the company will know how the business has met customer expectations.Another way to improve customer service is to offer timely service. We must provide the product precisely when it is promised and in the minimum amount of time.Task 10When entertaining foreign business clients, we need, first of all, to decide on the most suitable venue for the event to take place. We had better find out in our first contact with our foreign clients if they are more of art lovers or sports fans or gourmets, and then choose the type of entertainment: whether it should be in a restaurant or in the theatre or in some other appropriate venue for the event.But all I mentioned above must base on the consideration of cultural differences. When interacting with foreign business people, problems may arise in different thought patterns, different ways of seeing the world, and different ways of decision-making. These problems are the result of cultural differences and will often lead to misunderstanding.The other important aspect for us is to have a clear plan in mind when we come to the meeting. We need to work out a list of specific business objectives to achieve. Therefore while making sure our foreign business clients enjoy themselves, we quietly and smoothly direct the meeting step by step towards our goal.。