1. dime a dozen: easy to get and therefore of little value
EXAMPLE:Used computers are a dime a dozen and have very little value.
2. down and out: have no money
EXAMPLE:My friend was down and out for several years before he got a job and started making money.
3. Dutch treat: something where each person pays their own share
EXAMPLE:We went to the movie as a Dutch treat so it didn't cost me much money.
4. face value: the worth or price printed on a stamp, bond, note or paper money etc.
EXAMPLE:The face value of the stamp was very low but in reality it was worth a lot of money.
5. fast buck: money earned quickly and easily (and sometimes dishonestly)
EXAMPLE:The company tried to make a fast buck on the property but they actually lost a lot of money.
6. feel like a million dollars/bucks: feel wonderful
EXAMPLE:Although I have been sick for a few weeks I feel like a million dollars today.
7. flat broke: having no money, penniless
EXAMPLE:I am flat broke and don't even have enough money to pay my rent.
Ex.5. Harper is an international chemical company. Read the company CEO's report on corporate responsibility and use the correct multiword verbs from the box to replace the underlined expressions.
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Carried out fall into follow suit hold us to account
Phase out set out shy away from
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Our director of corporate citizenship was appointed five years ago. Her first task was to formally establish a team that would co-ordinate our efforts. Our aim is complete transparency, allowing our stakholders to ensure we do what we've promised. We are not going to avoid doing anything about difficult issues. It is our policy to explain in a clear way what we are doing to be a more responsible company. Our approach canbe classified as two phases: firstly, to identify the products which are harmful to the environment, and secondly to gradually stop using these chemicals. All our work is done, as expected, in accordance with safety standards. We hope this initiative will motivate others in the industry to do the same thing.
Unit 8.
Text. Disscuss the following text.
Blue Ocean Strategy
Blue Ocean Strategy is a book published in 2005 and written by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, Professors and Co-Directors of the INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute. Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than a hundred years and thirty industries, Kim & Mauborgne argue that companies can succeed not by battling competitors, but rather by creating ″blue oceans″ of uncontested market space. They assert that these strategic moves create a leap in value for the company, its buyers, and its employees, while unlocking new demand and making the competition irrelevant. The book presents analytical frameworks and tools to foster an organization's ability to systematically create and capture blue oceans
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The metaphor of red and blue oceans describes the market universe.
Red oceans represent all the industries in existence today the known market space. In the red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of product or service demand. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities or niche, and cutthroat competition turns the ocean bloody; hence, the term red oceans.
Blue oceans, in contrast, denote all the industries not in existence today the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. Blue ocean is an analogy to describe the wider, deeper potential of market space that is not yet explored.
Some examples of companies that may have created new market spaces in the opinion of Kim and Mauborgne include;
Cirque du Soleil: Blending of opera and ballet with circus format while eliminating star performer and animals;
Southwest Airlines: offering flexibility of bus travel at the speed of air travel using secondary airports;
China Mobile: China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou talked about China's hinterland as a classic "blue-ocean market," where the company is casting its net widely without worrying about getting tangled up with the nets of rivals.
Ex.1. Complete the beginnings of sentences 1-5 with words from the box. Then finish each sentence using the sentence endings a)-e).
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