第四輯? TEST 4

PART ONE

Ladies and gentlemen, it has been, in general, a good year for the company. Although overall profits 總利潤(rùn) are down compared with last year, they are, I am pleased to be able to announce, higher than we expected at this time last year: this year's figure is 354 million pounds compared with last year's figure of 451 million pounds. The Board is recommending a final dividend 股息 of 7 pence per share, which makes a total dividend 總股息 for the year of 10 p per share, identical to last year. The profit is mainly thanks to the company's UK plants, which again put in very strong performances, setting a significant number of production records. 創(chuàng)下生產(chǎn)記錄

Deliveries to markets outside Europe were twelve percent up on the previous year, largely due to economic conditions outside our control. Operating costs 運(yùn)營(yíng)成本, we are pleased to report, were two per cent lower than in the previous year, due mainly to reduced employment costs, as the workforce was cut from 52,000 to 50,000.

Now to the less good news: there have been difficulties with our export trade over the last year.The main culprit 罪魁禍?zhǔn)?here has been the strong pound, which has reduced profits by approximately 500 million pounds. Secondly, S. B. Steel, our 51% owned German stainless-steel subsidiary 不銹鋼子公司, continued to be badly affected by depressed selling prices 低迷的銷售價(jià)格. Then Huntingdon's, our 25% owned joint venture in the USA, encountered technical problems during the year, which mean that it is unlikely to resume operating at capacity 最大程度，滿功率 again until late this year.

Now, faced with these problems, your Board has taken a number of measures, which we believe will be effective within a short time-frame: firstly, we have established a target for all our businesses of achieving 15% return on assets 資產(chǎn)收益率 . We are streamlining 精簡(jiǎn)the organisation structures to make them flatter and more responsive to changing needs.
We have also established a team to look at our working practices with the aim of improving productivity. We are creating a considerably more reliable supplier base; and lastly, we are using information technology more creatively.

To turn now to the general outlook in the UK and abroad: the situation is complex. The UK economy is forecast to slow down next year. For the economy as a whole, a recession is not expected but, for the manufacturing sectors, there are predictions of, shall we say, unfavourable conditions. Globally, however, demand for steel may well strengthen over the next year, because of improving business confidence. In the US, for instance, analysts think that consumer spending will be maintained at high levels. Although we can never be 100% sure how the markets will develop, we do feel confident that the Middle East offers profitable prospects and we expect some growth opportunities in steel or steel-related businesses in this region.

PART TWO

1. We're a small firm that manufactures machine parts, and we wanted to expand.There was no space on our old site, so we realised we'd have to move to a different town. We had well-qualified staff who would have no difficulty getting other jobs without having to move home, and we needed to keep nearly all of them. So that meant looking for premises in towns that were within easy reach for most of the workforce.

We found somewhere suitable, but within a very short time, several major employers moved to the area, and, as a result, rents rocketed. This was before we'd signed the lease, and suddenly the place we wanted was almost beyond our means. In the end, we managed to get it, but it was a struggle.

2. The company I work for does contract work for the government, and we moved here from London. In fact, the original designs were for a much bigger building, but that caused a major furore, with a local newspaper running a campaign against it, so it had to be scaled down. London was great, but the high overheads and the difficulties of travelling meant we had to move almost anywhere.

It was important to retain as many of the staff as possible, so the bosses did a survey to find out what would make people agree to relocate. The majority were fairly mobile, as their children had grown up, and what emerged as their priority was that house prices should be within their reach. This place is ideal in that respect.

3. The original plan was to construct a new manufacturing plant here. Because we use 'just in time' methods, we didn't want to have components and raw materials coming great distances, so we picked this town because we could get most of these from local sources.

But soon after we started building, we realised we didn't require additional manufacturing capacity 額外生產(chǎn)能力 after all, and decided to use the site for a big distribution centre, serving the whole of Europe, and to close several smaller centres. So construction of the plant was halted, new plans were drawn up, and we went through 徹查，審查 the whole procedure of getting planning permission 建筑許可 again. But it all went very smoothly, and we were still able to open on the original date.

4. I work for a foreign company which moved a factory here from another country fairly recently. The size of the available site 可用地址?was important, but it was the package of state aid 一攬子國(guó)家援助 which determined where the factory ended up. There was a lot of competition to construct it, and in the end, the contract went to a consortium 財(cái)團(tuán)，聯(lián)合企業(yè), but they had all sorts of problems, financial ones mostly, and there was a lot of bickering 爭(zhēng)執(zhí) between the companies involved.

The upshot 結(jié)果 of it all was that the move was terribly overdue. Luckily, there was a penalty clause 違約罰金條款 in the contract, so we didn't lose as much money as we would have done otherwise, but a lot of the people we'd offered jobs to went elsewhere.

5. In my sector, there are lots of small companies, with frequent mergers and acquisitions, and high staff turnover. Of course, that can be a disadvantage, but on the other hand, ideas for new products tend to grow, not just from internal research and development, but through the informal contacts that staff have with people at other firms. We really couldn't create those links where we were, because we were geographically isolated, so to get close to a cluster of similar companies meant we had to move.?

Rents were so high that the boss decided to invest in having something built. Initially, he hired a small building firm, which went under 倒閉了 just after they'd started the work. Apparently they'd overstretched themselves 超負(fù)荷，超能力范圍 by taking on too many jobs, had serious cashflow problems, and couldn't pay their creditors 債權(quán)人, but he found another firm straightaway, who managed to meet the original deadline.

PART THREE

Woman: David, this issue of staff turnover has been brewing 醞釀 for a while. I assume you've had time to read the report from the consultants we called in to look at the problem? And I was horrified to see that turnover of staff is now up to 45 percent a year. Can we put our heads together and see what we can come up with?
Man: Yes, I've read the report and I agree we need to deal with this fairly urgently.
Woman: Now, I'm aware that our pay rates have not been competitive for a while, but we still seem to be able to recruit, so we need to look at what happens when people actually start here. They seem to become unhappy when they realise how much we require of them and in fairly difficult circumstances as well. I think most staff are conscious of how essential they are to our success, but that's clearly not enough.., what's your view?
Man: Well, reading through the consultants' report, it seems there are serious issues affecting all grades of staff for example, they mentioned the fact that, although new recruits are well catered for, there's no real ongoing training 持續(xù)的. Then it noted that, once sales staff reach a certain level, there's nowhere for them to go. And also it found that the higher levels of management would like a more clearly defined role 定義明確 in the organisation. It seems there are a range of problems.
Woman: Yes, and it's not been helped by that newspaper article about our expansion.
It was so critical that I think it will start affecting our ability to attract new staff. We've already got too many skilled staff leaving, and having a shortage in other areas will just compound 惡化，加劇 the problem. Certainly the article didn't present a very confident view of our future but people on the inside have more faith in us, thank goodness.
Man: Well, we've got a range of options, haven't we? I think we've got a good communication system in place now most of the managers feel that's working fairly well. But we need to make sure we're all working towards the same recognisable end. We need a system in place so everyone knows what they're doing and why. Other alternatives, like offering rewards for achieving performance targets, don't really address the underlying problem. 解決根本問(wèn)題
Woman: Hmmm... I know that our closest competitor, Harston's, had a similar problem a few years ago, and they seem to have addressed it successfully by deciding to get all the staff together every year, somewhere different like a hotel, and getting them to talk about what's bothering them. But I think you get the same result by using an appraisal system. I think Harston's also tried to prevent problems arising in the first place by setting up a system where all new staff were assigned a mentor, but, er, I'm not sure how effective it's been.
Man: Umm... and what about this issue of training that the consultants raised?
Woman: Well, I think we'll have to consider a bigger programme, but to save costs, perhaps we should only send our more motivated staff on courses? That may work better.
Man: I'm not sure that we do need more. And I actually think it's the courses that need careful planning rather than focusing on who attends. If the programme is appropriately directed at particular topics, then it will be relevant to all the staff involved in that area.
Woman: Mmm suppose so.
Man: We've also got to look at how we can compensate people better when we're not in a position to raise our basic salaries.
Woman: Yes, well, for the moment 目前, we could perhaps increase staff loyalty by offering stock options 股票期權(quán) as a carrot 誘餌 say when people have been here for a year. If we go down the route of offering bonus payments, then it looks attractive initially, but I'm not sure it's effective in the long run, because it depends on reaching targets. You know, considering what those consultants charged, they haven't really come up with any useful solutions, have they?
Man: No, you're right. Look, let's go away and get this down on paper and then we can draw up a detailed proposal of what we think should be done in the next year. We'll give that to the MD and, if he agrees, he can take it to the Board next month.
Woman: OK, I'll email you something, and we can meet next week...