AUDIO SCRIPTS
E That's good news. So how much money is needed to put it 011 the
market, and what's the timescale?
Well, that's the problem. It'll cost about 100 million dollars to develop
the e1mg, and it'll probably take 10 years or so to bring it to the market.
E M.mm, that's a lot of money to invest. Is it worth it?
Well, that's the question. Should we spend that amount on a drug
which will certainly help our image but may not make LIS much
money? I mean, most of the people suffering from the disease probably
won't have enough money to pay a realistic price for the drug.
E 1 sec. So the question is ... should we spend time, money and
resources on a drug which may not make us much money? or
course, we'll probably get some financial help in the beginning -a
subsidy of some kind - but de\'eloping the drug is bound to require a
huge investment on our part.
Yes, that's the problem. And remember, we're not a charity. -nle
bottom line is, we're in business to make money.
E Exactly. Anyway, we'll be hearing more about this one, because ( see
it's the first item on the agenda for next week's management meeting.
Let's sec what the others have to say about it.
UNIT 11 LEADERSHIP
C02 TRACK 32 (I = INTERVIEWER, EJ = ELIZABETH JACKSON)
I What arc the qualities of a good business leader?
EJ I'm going to highlight five, um, areas which I think arc important,
and I don't think that they are as complicated as many people
believe. 'TI,e first that I would highlight is, crill, a sense of direction.
A business leader needs to know where they're planning to go to and
how they're planning to get there. The second point I would want
to highlight is courage. Vou need to have the courage to understand,
um, when to make the right decision and how to, to push yourself
forward -otherwise indecisiveness floods in.
Thirdly, communication, um, because without that, you have no ability
to take people with you, um, and there's no point at all in plotting a
course, arriving there and finding that you've left the troops behind.
The next point that I would highlight is respect. The communication
with the people that you are, Ulll, working with and the respect that
you have, whether those arc people within the top level of individuals
or indeed other people lower down within the organisation, is very
important in order to take people with you and to carry everything
through.
The last point that I would highlight is emotional intelligence,
and that's the sensitivity that you have with the people around
you. So that you arc able to, um, understand where they arc in the
organisation, how they behave in the way that they do within the
organisation, and yet have the, lim, the coldness of head to be able to
bring the shutters down if you need to.
C02 TRACK 33 (I = INTERVIEWER, EJ = ELIZABETH JACKSON)
I
EI
Do YOll think great business leaders arc born or made?
Well, there's a, um, ... It's a very big question, that. Er, there is plenty of
evidence to suggest that there arc natural born leaders in life. And yet
equally, there is, UIll, there's a lot of evidence to suggest that one can learn
a great number of those skills. What [ would say is that, when um, you're
competing a!,rainst a natural born leader, the person who has acquired
the skills will, [ think, fail every time. And the things that a natural born
leader possesses, con, are things like charisma, intelligence, the ability to
influence other people -those arc very difficult skills to learn. VIll, and I
think it's perhaps interesting as an anecdote to say that I believe 20 of the
first 23 astronauts in America were all first born. Now, it may be a huge
coincidence, but Iny, um, sense is that it probably isn't a coincidence
and there is something about natural born leaders which, as I sa}) can be
learnt from, and people can improve their skill set, but they're unlikely to
compete and win against them.
C02 TRACK 34 (I = INTERVIEWER, EJ = ELIZABETH JACKSON)
I Which leaders have impressed or influenced you, and why?
EJ 111e first of them is, is actually my husband. I've been privileged, tim, to
share a business life alongside a home life, and my husband is a few years
older than me and therefore has paved the way if you like, um, in terms of
his business successes. But what I've seen in him is, um, is a tremendous
tenacit)) and the ability to fight like a cornered rat when he needs to, and
that's, that's really rare and very, very powerful when YOll sec it.
Um, I also sec in him the ability to, um, to strike a chord with people,
just by walking in the room. He possesses, um, a level of natural
leadership and, ;lIld power, if you like. He also has an innate ability
164
for inspired thinking, he works ahead of the pack, um, and I've learnt
a lot from that, so I probably am not a natural born leader, but I
have learnt an awful lot of skills from the likes of the individuals I'vc
worked with, particularly my husband. And his strategic thinking
and being able to work outside the box, I think, has been ver}', very
powerful.
CD2TRACK 35
Good morning, cveryone, thanks for coming to my presentation.
know you're all very bus}', so I'll be as brief as possible, OK, then,
"m going to talk about our new range of rackets, which we're selling
under the brand name Excel. I'll tell you about the test launch we
carried out in Croatia a few weeks ago.
I'm going to divide Illy presentation into fom parts. First, I'll give
you some background to the launch. After that, I'll teU you how
things went dming the launch. Next, I'll assess its effectiveness,
Finally, I'll outline our future plans for the product.I'U be glad to
allswer any questions at the end of my talk.
Right, let's start with some background about the launch. As you
know, it's taken almost two years to develop the Excel range. llle
rackets are targeted at enthusiastic amateur players, and thanks
to some technical innovations, Excel rackets give a player great
control over their shots and more power, So, everyone who uses
the racket should immediately improve their game, ll,e rackets
were thoroughly tested in focus groups, and modifications were
made to their design and appearance. OK, everyone? Ves, ivlanfred,
you have a question .
So, that's the background. Right, let's move on to the test launch,
How successful was it? Well, in two words, highly successful. \,Ve
think the racket will be a winner. If you look at the graph, you'll
sec the racket's actual sales compared with forecast sales. QUite a
difference, isn't there? 'rhe sales were 20% higher than we predicted
-in other words, a really impressive result. \'Vell above all our
expectations. llle results show that we got the pricing right. And it
suggests the Excel range will make a big impact nationwide.
To sum up, a very promising test launch, I believe the new range of
rackets has tremendous potential in the market. Right, where do
we go from here? ObViously, we'll move on to stage two and have a
multimedia advertiSing and marketing campaign. In a few months'
time, you'll be visiting ollr customers and taking a lot of orders, I
hope, for the new rackets.
'Nell, that's ali i ha\'e to say.lhank you for listening. Arc there an}'
questions?
UNIT 12 COMPETITION
C02 TRACK 36 (I = INTERVIEWER, RT = RORY TAYLOR)
Can you tell us about the work of tbe Competition Commission?
RT llle Competition Commission is a public body which carries out
investigations into particular mergers and markets in the UK, as well
as other matters related to what they call the regulated industries,
errn, sllch as, er, water and energy and the communications sector.
One of Ollr most high·profile investigations at the moment is aile
we're carrying oul into the ownership of airports in the United
Kingdom. Currently, seven of the UK airports are owned by a
company called BAA -that's the British Airports Authority. UIll,
we've been asked to look into that, their ownership of those airports
and whether that ownership structure is in the interests of consulllers
or whether, er, an injection of greater competition, er, would benefit
the users of those airports.
C02 TRACK 37 (I = INTERVIEWER, RT= RORYTAYlOR)
I In some business sectors, there may be very few competitors. How
can you ensure fairness in such cases?
RT [t's actually a matter of not so many, not so much looking at the
number of competitors or providers in a particular market so much
as looking at the dynamicS of that market. It's equally possible for
what you could describe as a concentrated market -one with, say,
just three or four major suppliers or proViders -um} to be very
competitive, but equally so, you can have a market with the same
level of concenlration, the same number of players, erm, which is
relatively static. lllere's little competition going on between the
players, customers aren't switching, and the companies concemed
aren't reacting with each other in, in the way that you'd like to in a
competitive market. scanned for Paul4 Jennings