Read the article below about being first to market, and the questions on the opposite page. For each question(13-18), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet. Think Twice About Being First to Market New research offers fresh insight on when to launch a product or service, and shows that being first to market isn’t always a competitive advantage. In 2004, David Cohen had an idea for a social network for mobile phones that would connect users in the real world. His Boulder(Colo.)-based company, called iContact, raised $600,000 from investors and the founders’ contributions, launched a beta version, and seemed poised to tap the much hyped mobile software market. Cohen, then 36, had already founded a successful software company. But after 18 months, he was unable to get phone carriers to distribute his software, and he shuttered the company, returning 80% of his investors’ money. “Everybody was saying mobile was coming, it was going to be open: GPS was coming, it was going to be great,“ says Cohen. “That didn’t really happen for another four years. “ Bets on mobile applications didn’t begin to pay off until Apple’s(AAPL)iPhone app store opened the market in 2008. Conventional wisdom says being first to market creates a competitive advantage. Reality is more complicated. Market opportunities are constantly opening and closing, and a hit idea at one point could be a dud a year earlier or a yawning “me too“ business a year later. It’s tough—likely impossible— to pinpoint the best moment to enter a market, but common sense dictates new entrepreneurs can improve their odds if they weigh how much they stand to gain or lose by waiting. New academic research suggests one way entrepreneurs can evaluate whether they should enter a market first or wait on the sidelines. The decision depends on how hostile the learning environment is: that is, how much entrepreneurs can learn by observing other players before they launch compared to what they learn from participating after they enter, according to Moren Levesque, an entrepreneur-ship researcher at the University of Waterloo. The core findings on timing is this: in a hostile learning environment, entrepreneurs gain relatively little benefit by watching others. For example, if the relevant knowledge is protected intellectual property, studying the market before entering wouldn’t yield much advantage. In these situations, the trade-off favours entering early. But in less hostile learning environments, where entrepreneurs gain valuable information likely to increase their success just by watching other companies, companies benefit from waiting and learning lessons from earlier players. IContact’s successors, for example, may have learned from watching the company’s trouble getting mobile networks to distribute their software, a barrier that was removed by the iPhone’s app store. However, deciding when to enter a market solely on the advantages of learning is not enough. Entrepreneurs also need to launch before an opportunity closes. In the summer of 2007, Sunny Gupta, a serial entrepreneur in Seattle, began exploring an idea for on-demand software to help large companies track their IT spending and reduce costs, after a contact at Wall Street firm casually mentioned the issue. He spent that summer and early fall talking to chief information officers at Fortune 500 companies about the type of software they needed. Gupta originally planned to spend about a year building the product. But on a trip to New York in October 2007 to meet with ClOs at financial companies, he saw they were under intense pressure to cut costs and justify their IT spending—precisely what his product would do. Gupta realized he needed to speed up his launch to take advantage of the market opportunity before other companies got there. He and his co-founders started working around the clock and by November, Apptio(as they dubbed the firm)raised $7 million in venture capital. By March 2008, Apptio had four paying customers using a beta version of the product. A full launch followed in June, and Gupta had already demonstrated Apptio’s ability to reduce costs by the time the financial crisis erupted in September. Apptio now has nearly three dozen clients and 30 employees. “ I believe the window of opportunity was within those six months: from March to September 2008,“ Gupta says now. There is, of course, some element of luck. Cohen believed he was positioning iContact at a similar sweet spot in the market. But entrepreneurs who ignore timing, or assume that being first is always better, do so at their peril. Deciding when to enter a market is an irreversible and important decision.

Read the article below about managing across cultures. Choose the best word or phrase to fill each gap from A, B, C or D on the opposite page. For each question(19-33), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet. There is an example at the beginning(0). The International Manager In recent years, many companies have(0)A globally. They have done this【C1】______mergers, joint ventures and co-operation with foreign companies. Because of this globalization trend, many more employees are working abroad in managerial positions or as part of a multicultural team. Although it is common nowadays for staff to work abroad to gain experience, many people have difficulty【C2】______the new culture. The failure rate in US multinationals is estimated to be as high as 30% and it【C3】______US business $3 billion a year. Two typical failures have been【C4】______in the journal Management Today. The first example【C5】______a German manager with IBM who took【C6】______a position as production manager in England. He found that at most lunchtimes and especially on Fridays, many members of staff went to the pub. “I stopped that right away,“ he says. “ Now they are not allowed off the premises. It didn’ t make me very popular at the time but it is not good for【C7】______. There is no way we would do that in Germany. No way.“ The second example is about an American manager who came to France on a management assignment. He was unable to win the【C8】______of his staff although he tried all kinds of ways to do so. He set clear goals, worked longer hours than everybody, participated in all the projects, visited people’s offices and even took employees out to lunch one by one. But nothing seemed to work. This was because the staff believed strongly that the management were trying to【C9】______them. The German manager’s mistake was that he hadn’t【C10】______the cultural differences. IBM had a firm rule about drinking during working hours. It was not allowed. He didn’t understand that staff in other countries might be more【C11】______in applying the rule. The American manager used the ways he was familiar【C12】______to gain the staff’s trust. To them, he seemed more interested in getting the job done than【C13】______personal relationships. By walking around and visiting everyone in their offices, perhaps he gave the【C14】______that he was “checking up“ on staff. His managerial approach strengthened their feeling of exploitation. When managers work in foreign countries, they may find it difficult to understand the behavior of their employees. Moreover, they may find that the【C15】______which worked at home are not effective in their new workplace. Example: A expanded B extended C prolonged D explored [*]

Look at the statements below and the article about the workplace stress management on the opposite page. Which section of the article(A, B, C or D)does each statement(1-7)refer to? For each statement(1-7), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet. You will need to use some of these letters more than once. Example 0 Company leaders will be inspired if they find out the power to push the company forward. [*] Workplace Stress Management A One of the important ways of minimizing stress in the workplace is by learning how to provide inspiration for the staff. An inspired staff of employees are more productive, efficient as well as happier than one that’s not. An inspired employee usually finds work more of a joy than just a means to pay the bills. Inspired employees feel more fulfilled and empowered for what they do for the company. An inspired personnel usually also translates into fewer employee problems, less knowledge worker shortage as well as less overall workplace stress. B In order for inspiration to find its way to the company front lines, it should start from the company leaders themselves. It would be hard to convince or to inspire people below if the people at the top do not feel inspired. A business owner for example should find inspiration for himself in order to try and convince others. This might require a thorough review of the reasons of what drives the company to be successful and strive in the first place. A business owner finding inspiration and be motivated enough to stay successful may have an easier time in trying to convince and inspire others. C It takes different things to inspire employees. In order for you to know what they are, you may need to ask questions. Try to inquire what motivates and inspires your employees. Try to know what is important to them. If the business owner is sincere enough in this task, employees would feel privileged enough that an employer would like to know what makes them happy. By doing such a gesture, employees may feet that an employer tries to look after their best welfare, enough to inquire what interests them and makes them happy. And happy employees are more inspired to work and may feel less stress while doing it. D Making work enjoyable can be enough to inspire employees. It also does well for effective workplace stress management. One of the ways to do it is by trying to recognise their achievements, no matter how small. Commending employees for doing tasks as simple as clearing the pantry of trash or by helping show a visitor around at the office without being told so can be enough to keep employee spirits up. Rewarding employees for small but beneficial tasks also works very well on the same aspect. A lunch treat for an employee who has prepared an excellent report would mean a lot to inspire and motivate one to do even better.

Read the text below about businesses who profit from hiring freelance writers. In most of the lines(34-45)there is one extra word. It is either grammatically incorrect or does not fit in the meaning of the text. Some lines, however are correct. If a line is correct, write CORRECT on your Answer Sheet. If there is an extra word in the line, write the extra word in CAPITAL LETTERS on your Answer Sheet. The exercise begins with two examples,(0)and(00) Example:[*] Businesses Who Profit From Hiring Freelance Writers 0 Millions of businesses worldwide are reaping the rewards of hiring competent 00 freelance writers. Some of these companies which have never even met the freel- 【M1】ancers to whom they outsource for projects and yet the relationship works ex- 【M2】tremely well. While the companies concerned are happy with the results and are 【M3】not only saving money in the process, but are increasing their sales too. A freel- 【M4】ance writer with a fresh perspective may have more innovative ways of promo- 【M5】ting your business. A writer who without knowledge of your industry may offer 【M6】with the advantage of viewing your products and services from a buyer’s per- 【M7】spective and will ask questions and raise up issues that you may not have previ- 【M8】ously being considered. An experienced writer will be competent at research and 【M9】will grasp new concepts quickly, which compares to taking on hiring a new full- 【M10】time employee who has to learn about your business. Alternatively, some com- 【M11】panies may well wish to bring in a freelance writer who has experience in a parti- 【M12】cular field and could assist in areas where the business could benefit from spe cialist help.

Read the text taken from an article about the expert of dental care—Colgate. Choose the best answer from the opposite page to fill each of the gaps. For each gap(8-12)mark one letter(A-G)on your Answer Sheet. Do not use any letter more than once. There is an example at the beginning(0). Colgate Consumers have sworn off many things in this recession. Brushing their teeth is not one of them.(0)C . The results: world-beating market shares for Colgate’s toothpastes(45%)and manual toothbrushes(30%)and a Top 10 position in Business Week’s list of best-performing companies. Thus far at least, the economic slowdown has not crimped that performance. Sales, excluding the impact of foreign currency exchanged acquisitions, rose 9% in the fourth quarter and JCEO Ian Cook expects similar growth in 2009. 【P1】______. Latin America delivers 27% of revenues, and the company’s toothpastes dominate in Brazil, with a 70% share. But not everything is bright for the New York consumer-goods giant. 【P2】______. And the global economic crisis isn’t sparing Latin America or Eastern Europe these days. Another concern: Colgate has suffered from innovation inertia. Not since 1992, when it launched Colgate Total toothpaste, has it scored a break through. 【P3】______.In the past year, Colgate launched 17 new o-ral-care products in the US, half P&G ’s output, according to consultant Mintel International, which tracks new-product launches. “What Colgate has been lacking is a home run,“ says Mark Baum, who heads the consumer packaged-goods practice at Diamond Management &Technology Consultants in Chicago. Colgate thinks it could score with the Wisp, set to debut on Apr. 6. Several years in development, it’s a disposable mini-toothbrush with a “breath-freshening bead“ in the bristles. 【P4】______. The Wisp is part of a new push by Colgate to ramp up innovation and improve its product pipeline. The goal: a series of novel personal-care and household items that would expand Colgate’s customer base and business in mature markets such as the US and Europe. “There are many things over the last 18 months that are different...and one is a greater focus on innovation,“ Cook told analysts in February. 【P5】______ Example:[*] A Analysts worry that overseas returns will gradually diminish as developing markets become mature. B The bead dissolves during brushing, eliminating the need for toothpaste. C That’s good news for Colgate-Palmolive, which for the past five years has slashed costs, raised prices, and flooded developing markets. D To achieve this, the company has opened three innovation centres in the U. S. E In 2008, Colgate was granted a total of 181 U. S. patents, down by 68% from 2002. F Similar products, such as the Fuzzy Brush, made by a British company of the same name, have been around for years but remain niche items. G Colgate is still performing overseas, too.

Why did Cohen shutter the company after just 18 months?

What does the author suggest by saying “a hit idea at one point could be a dud a year earlier or a yawning ’ me too’ business a year later“?

What does “improve their odds“ in the second paragraph mean?

Which of the following statements is not true according to Moren Levesque?

How did Sunny Gupta succeed in the market as a pioneer?

Which of the following factors does the article suggest that David Cohen is lack of compared with Sunny Gupta?