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BEP 273 – English Collocations for Discussing Business Strategy (2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, English for Meetings /

BEP 273 - Discussing Business Strategy 2

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on business English collocations for talking about strategy.

Think about the future of your company. How will it remain competitive? What are the long-term goals of your company? What does your company want to achieve? And how will it do that? These are just some of the questions that you might consider when you discuss business strategy. You need to think about what your business does well, how you can use your resources wisely, and what you need to do to grow the company. And when you discuss these ideas, you can use some common expressions, or combinations, which we call “collocations.”

But what is a collocation? A collocation is a group of words that sound natural together. They sound natural because native speakers commonly use them. And you can sound natural too if you learn these collocations. For example, you can say “implement a plan.” That sounds natural. But how about “do a plan?” Well, that’s not a common collocation and so it doesn’t sound natural.

As you listen to the conversation in this lesson, try to pick out some of these collocations and we’ll discuss them later in the debrief.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Anne, Jenny, and Max, three executives at a food company called Healthy Organics. They are discussing their strategy for developing the company into the future. They’ll talk about some important strategic decisions, and they’ll use lots of useful expressions.

Listening Questions

1. According to Anne, why do they need to broaden their product offerings?
2. What does Jenny think they need to build on?
3. What specifically does Anne want to figure out for the next three to five years?

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BEP 272 – English Collocations for Discussing Business Strategy (1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, English for Meetings /

BEP 272 - English for Discussing Strategy 1

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English collocations for discussing business strategy.

Look behind any successful business and what will you find? Good strategy and wise planning. Good strategy involves understanding the environment, the market, the customers, and the competition. And good planning means taking all that knowledge and deciding how to compete now and into the future.

In this lesson, we’ll hear how the executives in a food company discuss business strategy. And as they strategize, the speakers will use some useful expressions that we call “collocations.” Learning English collocations will help you improve your vocabulary and sound more natural. So what exactly is a collocation? Well, it’s just a group of words that we commonly use together. For example, we often say “reach a goal.” It sounds natural, because that’s what people say. But what about: “grasp a goal” or “arrive at a goal?” Well, those don’t sound natural because they’re not common combinations or collocations.

As you listen to the discussion, try to pick out some of these collocations and we’ll discuss them later in the debrief.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Anne, Jenny, and Max, executives at a food company called Healthy Organics. The speakers have gone on a weekend retreat to try to create a good strategy for moving their company into the future. They’ll talk about their vision and a strategic plan for growth.

Listening Questions

1. What does Anne say they have managed to accomplish so far during the retreat?
2. What does Max say is the goal over the next two days?
3. What does Jenny want to figure out first?

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Business English News 33 – Employment Practices

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business News, Human Resources /

emplyment-practices-header

In today’s Business English News lesson, we look at developments in employment practices and how these effect job stability and opportunities for career development.

The world quietly passed a significant milestone recently – the global jobless total surpassed 200 million people, according to a study by the UN. To put that into perspective, that’s 30 million more without work than at the height of the recession in 2008. As CBC News reports, these figures could have grave implications for the future.

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BEP 271 – Brainstorming Meetings (Part 2)

Business English, Communication, English for Meetings /

Business English for Brainstorming Meetings 2

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on running an effective brainstorming session.

The basic idea of brainstorming is quite simple: you have a problem to solve and you bring together a group of people to generate ideas. You don’t evaluate those ideas immediately, you just want to generate as many ideas as possible. And with the right focus, a good facilitator, and respect for the process, brainstorming can bring out some great ideas.

Today we’ll look at some useful language and techniques for group brainstorming sessions. For facilitators, we’ll look at encouraging more ideas and resisting evaluation. For participants, we’ll cover qualifying your own ideas, introducing an unusual idea, and praising other people’s suggestions.

In the dialog, we’ll rejoin Sally, Melissa, Noah, and Eric, who work for a coffee shop faced with increasing competition. The group is trying to come up with ways of attracting more customers to the shop. Sally is the store manager, and she’s facilitating the session.

Listening Questions

1. Melissa introduces an idea that she says might be “a small thing.” What is it?
2. Noah questions Eric’s suggestion about being more creative with product names. How does Sally deal with Noah’s reaction?
3. How does Noah respond to Melissa’s idea about a delivery service?

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BEP 270 – Brainstorming Meetings (Part 1)

Business English, Communication, English for Meetings /

Business English for Brainstorming Meetings 1

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on running a brainstorming meeting.

Brainstorming sessions can be a great way to generate new ideas, whether you’re naming a new product, thinking of ways to cut costs, or figuring out ways of solving tricky business problems. But running – and participating in – a brainstorming session can be a challenge. Groups need to feel comfortable and open, but still maintain focus. And everyone involved needs be diplomatic about how they suggest and respond to ideas.

Fortunately, there are techniques and language that you can use to make brainstorming more effective. Today we’ll look at some of this language. We’ll cover language the facilitator can use to invite new ideas, ask for clarification, and qualify ideas. And we’ll also look at useful techniques for participating, such as building on someone else’s idea and introducing new ones.

In the dialog, we’ll hear several people who work at a coffee shop in a busy commercial area. The shop is facing increased competition and they want to brainstorm ways of attracting new customers and keeping their current customers coming back. The brainstorming session is being led by Sally, who’s the manager of the shop. We’ll also hear Melissa, Noah, and Eric, who are employees.

Listening Questions

1. Noah mentions an loyalty program. Melissa uses this idea to introduce another one. What is it?
2. What new idea does Eric introduce that relates to “relationships and such?”
3. How does Sally respond to Eric’s new idea?

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