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Look at the statements below and the text on the opposite page about the export market of four countries.
Which section(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 The minority of business in this country is NOT privately-owned.
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A
The country’s economy looks on the optimistic side in general as a result of the government’s privatisation programme. Therefore, although industrial production is stilt dominated by large state-owned manufacturing enterprises, smaller private companies are starting to emerge, particularly in the service sector. The country is placing a high priority on rebuilding and modernising its infrastructure and a wide range of products and services are actively being sought.
B
Since the economy has started growing increasingly stronger, it is expected that continued growth in the gross national product of eight percent or more is likely over the next decade. The privatisation of former state industries is still in progress and major projects are being developed, especially in the steelindustry. Although this was an economy that emerged from recession, yet it showed a remarkable upward trend at the outset.
C
This country used to be disappointingly slow and difficult in developing its economy with only a small number of private businesses piaying a role. However, with its strategic position, substantial natural resources and skilled and multi-lingual workforce, the country’s transformation into a market economy seems for the time being notably optimistic. It is, therefore, likely to become a major industrial and trading power. Export success in this market requires careful research, patience and a lengthy commitment.
D
The country is still facing economic difficulties, most notably a large trade deficit, in spite of the marginal rise in the gross national product. Privatisation is well advanced, nevertheless, with an increasing number of private small firms playing an important role and up to 80 percent of wealth now created by the private sector. Moreover, its currency has remained stable against those of its major trading partners.
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Read the article below about project management.
Choose the best sentence 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).
Can Your Marketing Be Effective Without Project Management?
Are your projects flowing smoothly? Are you assigning responsibilities, deadlines and tasks, but it is just a headache to keep up? A likely problem is that tasks are not getting handed off well or at the right time to others.(0)G A project management system is not a cure-all, but it certainly is a start.
In marketing, I’m always amazed at the lack of formalised project management systems. 【P1】______They assume that the purpose of a detailed plan is the same as it would be for other repetitive activities like manufacturing. The purpose of a project plan in marketing is to coordinate many of the uncertain activities that happen. And possibly more importantly, a good project plan will coordinate the activities of your resource requirements. Not everything will be predictable, but if we can make even some of the unpredictable predictable, we will increase the likelihood of success.
Within a project plan, we can establish overall and individual process metrics. 【P2】______The value of these types of metrics is that they will allow you to take action during a project where and when you can still influence its success. Measur-ability is perhaps the most important feature of the project plan.
Project management covers all aspects of planning: coordinating activities and resources and forming a baseline from which to manage the project. 【P3】______Once a schedule is completed, it should be posted or made available to all stakeholders of the project. Constant updating should appear and be visible to all parties. A project plan is an active document, and should be used to manage the process. A schedule is the translation of the project plan into individual tasks, identifying durations, responsibilities, start and finish dates, resources, flow and milestones.
Everyone knows we cannot do enough planning, but it’s the time factor that prevents us, right? How much time does it really take to plan? From my experience you should use a baseline of around 5% of your project’s time in planning. Now, what happens if planning takes longer? You need to treat your planning process like any other process. Using a standard methodology, such as Lean Six Sigma and the toolset that it employs, will allow you the opportunity to get the most out of your planning cycle. 【P4】______I have found most companies actually enjoy planning, the collaboration and decision-making that take place during it. What everyone doesn’t like is the waste in planning, so get rid of it!
The first thing you can do is plan the planning process. Take 5% of your planning time to improve your planning. Set objectives, milestones, create key performance indicators and, most of all, create a standard work plan. 【P5】______Consider that if you significantly improve your planning process, you will stop fighting such an uphill battle and create considerable down-flow opportunities of greater savings. Try it!
Example:[*]
A This gives everyone involved the same reference point.
B We will need metrics to produce information quickly.
C It will improve your planning process, removing the waste that you have accumulated in it.
D After doing this a few times, planning will become very easy, intuitive and more productive.
E There is more to project planning than this.
F Most marketers resist the idea, misunderstanding the role of detailed planning for marketing projects.
G Another problem may be that everyone’s priorities seem all mixed up, and one or two people or departments seem to be an enormous bottleneck.
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Read the article below about ways of advertising on the opposite page.
For each question(13-18), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet.
How Companies Advertise
Advertising informs consumers about the existence and benefits of products and services, and attempts to persuade them to buy them. The best form of advertising is probably word-of-mouth advertising, which occurs when people tell their friends about the benefits of products or services that they have purchased. Yet virtually no providers of goods or services rely on this alone, but use paid advertising instead. Indeed, many organisations also use institutional or prestige advertising, which is designed to build up their reputation rather than to sell particular products.
Although large companies could easily set up their own advertising departments, write their own advertisements, and buy media space themselves, they tend to use the services of large advertising agencies. These are likely to have more resources, and more knowledge about all aspects of advertising and advertising media than a single company. The most talented advertising people generally prefer to work for agencies rather than individual companies as this gives them the chance to work on a variety of advertising accounts(contracts to advertise products or services). It is also easier for a dissatisfied company to give its account to another agency than it would be to fire its own advertising staff.
The client company generally gives the advertising agency an agreed budget: a statement of the objectives of the advertising campaign, known as a brief: and an overall advertising strategy concerning the message to be communicated to the target customers. The agency creates advertisements, and develops a media plan specifying which media-newspapers, magazines, radio, television, cinema, poster, mail, etc.—will be used and in which proportions. Agencies often produce alternative ads or commercials that are pre-tested in newspapers, television stations, etc. in different parts of a country before a final choice is made prior to a national campaign.
The agency’s media planners have to decide what percentage of the target market they want to reach and the number of times they are likely to see them. Advertising people talk about frequency or ’ OTS’(opportunities to see)and the threshold effect—the point at which advertising becomes effective. The choice of advertising media is generally strongly influenced by the comparative cost of reaching 1000 members of the target audience, the cost per thousand. The timing of advertising campaigns depends on factors such as purchasing frequency and buyer turnover.
How much to spend on advertising is always problematic. Some companies use the comparative-parity method—they simply match their competitors’ spending, thereby avoiding advertising wars. Others set their ad budget at a certain percentage of current sales revenue. But both these methods disregard the fact that increased ad spending or counter-cyclical advertising can increase current sales. On the other hand, excessive advertising is counter-productive because after too many exposures people tend to stop noticing ads, or begin to find them irritating. And once the most promising prospective customers have been reached, there are diminishing returns.
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Read the text below about personal branding.
Choose the best word or phrase to fill each gap from A, B, C or D.
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).
Personal Branding
One of the issues people are concerned about as they start to(0)B their personal brand is being【C1】______to one subject or area. They ask “Can I be an expert in more than one field or should I【C2】______one?“ You have the freedom to brand yourself as you choose, and you can always expand your offerings, 【C3】______the knowledge you gain and your new interests. When you have an assortment of interests, you need to make sure you manage them properly, both in【C4】______of the time you【C5】______to each and how they are intertwined in your lifestyle, on-line and off.
If you have multiple interests and they are【C6】______, then your brand will be much more powerful because those interests can complement each other. 【C7】______, if you are a financial analyst working at a bank during the day and a stock-trading blogger by night, you can【C8】______both, without drifting【C9】______from your current brand【C10】______of course that you don’t violate any confi-dentiality rules or insider trading laws.
If your interests aren’t related in any【C11】______, then they should be completely detached, such as having two【C12】______Websites catering exclusively to each. If you’re an accountant for a Fortune 500 company and a male model, you definitely want to separate those【C13】______and career paths from each other because【C14】______you’re perceived as a male model may impact how seriously you’re【C15】______as an accountant.
Example:
0 A display B define C decide D describe
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Read the article below about human resource assessment.
In most of the lines(34-45), there is one extra word. It is either grammatically incorrect or does not fit in with 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:[*]
Assessing Human Resource Status
0 Management begins by reviewing its current human resource status. This is
00 typically done by generating a human resource inventory. Because of the right
【M1】availability of sophisticated computer information systems, it’s not very too
【M2】difficult a task for most organizations to generate a human resource inventory
【M3】report. The input for this report is derived from forms which completed by
【M4】employees. Such reports might include the names, education, training, prior to
【M5】employment, languages spoken, special capabilities of each of employee in the
【M6】organization. This inventory allows for management to assess what talents and
【M7】skills are currently available. Another part of the current assessment is the job
【M8】analysis. Although the human resource inventory is concerned with telling
【M9】management what individual employees can do, but a job analysis is more
【M10】fundamental. It defines that the jobs within the organisation. For instance, what
【M11】are the duties of a purchasing specialist? What the minimal knowledge and
【M12】abilities are necessary to be able to adequately perform at this job? A job analysis
seeks to determine the kind of people needed to fill each job and provides information
for preparing job descriptions and job specifications.
