English for Business

ASE2041

Level 2

Monday 18 November 2013

Time allowed: 2 hours 30 minutes

Information

There are 3 questions in this examination.

Total marks available: 100

There is credit for correct spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Instructions

Do not open this paper until you are told to do so by the supervisor.

Answer all questions. Candidates should note that they are required to answer only one option in
Question 1.

Write your answers in blue or black ink/ballpoint.

Begin your answer to each question on a new page.

Please ensure your answers are written clearly.

All answers must be correctly numbered but need not be in numerical order.

If you need more space, use the additional sheets provided.

Write your name, candidate number and question number on each additional sheet and attach
them to the inside of the booklet.

You need to communicate appropriately and well.

When you finish, check your work carefully and cross out any rough work.

You may use an English or bilingual dictionary.

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Question 1

Answer only ONE of options (a), (b) or (c):

Option (a)

Situation

You live in Mortonsbury, a village in England. A few years ago, the village shop closed because of
competition from a large supermarket in a nearby town. The shop had sold groceries, fruit, vegetables
and stationery.

Two months ago, a group of villagers met and decided to reopen the shop. (The reopening is planned
nd
for the beginning of the New Year, on January 2 ). A committee has been formed and has appointed
you as the paid manager of the shop. You talk to George Smith, the Chairman of the Committee, and
you tell him that you need help to make the shop successful.

The following conversation takes place:

You: Im going to need at least 3 volunteers each day to help me. I shall need them to help to
stack the shelves and to serve customers, especially at the pay till.

George: You will also need help with ordering groceries and fresh produce and someone will
have to be in charge of the shop for part of each day. I suggest 3 hours each morning,
from 9 am to 12 noon, Monday to Saturday and a similar period each afternoon.

You: We agreed that the shop would be open for 7 hours each day, from 9 am to 4 pm,
Monday to Saturday. I think the volunteers can agree amongst themselves how many
hours they work.

I shall write a leaflet informing people about the shop reopening, asking for voluntary
help. It will be put up in the shop window and copies will be posted through everyones
letter box in the village. Volunteers will be asked to contact me with their name, contact
telephone number or email address. I shall then get back in touch with them to arrange
a time to talk about what hours they can offer and what sort of work they would be willing
to do in the shop.

George: Good idea. I suggest we offer an incentive to encourage people to volunteer. How
about a 3 discount off anything they buy in the shop, for every 3 hours voluntary work
they do?

You: Excellent. I shall write the leaflet straight away.

George: Dont forget to include the phone number and email address. By the way, what are they
again?

You: Im glad you reminded me ... they are 01843 727272 and
manager@mortonsburyvillageshop.org.uk

Task

Write the leaflet.

(Total 40 marks)

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Question 1 continued

Option (b)

Situation

You are the recently appointed manager of BusyBees, a very popular childrens day nursery, which looks
after young children between the ages of 6 months and 4 years. 60 children attend the nursery: 30 every
morning and 30 every afternoon. There are 10 members of staff.

While you are away at a training course, you receive the following email from your deputy manager,
Helena:

Hi

We are having problems which I need to tell you about. Some parents are very late bringing their
children to the nursery for the beginning of the morning and afternoon sessions. This disrupts the start of
each session, and upsets the children who have arrived on time. A few parents are late nearly every
day.

Also, in a few cases, different people grandparents, friends, neighbours are trying to collect the
children at the end of a session, without the parents telling us. Obviously, we shouldnt let this happen
and it has caused some unpleasantness when we ask for proof of identity.

We have asked all parents to make sure their children come to BusyBees with a spare set of clothing.
Some parents forget and quite a few children are going home in dirty clothes. We have loaned spare
items of clothing to some children, but a few parents forget to return them.

Please can you advise us on how to deal with these problems?

Many thanks

Helena

You decide that the best way to deal with the problems is to write a memo to all the staff, telling them
that you are fully aware of the difficulties they are having. They have your authority to talk to any parents
who are late, or who dont let the nursery know if someone else is picking up a child. Staff need to
remind parents who are often late that they might be fined a days fees, if it happens more than twice in a
week. The staff also need to put a notice up in their classrooms, reminding parents to provide spare
clothes for their children.

You want the staff to be supportive of parents, whenever they can, and for parents to realise their
obligations to BusyBees.

Task

Write the memo.

(Total 40 marks)

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Question 1 continued

Option (c)

Situation

You are the owner and proprietor of Books For All People (BFAP), a long-established and independent
bookshop in your home city of Easthampton. Over the past 10 years, although your business has been
suffering because of increased competition from a nationwide chain of bookshops, you had managed to
survive. However, the recent increase in online book sales means that you can no longer compete in
terms of cost or choice.

You talk to your staff and decide that the time has come to close the business down. You are all very
sad about this decision and some of your staff are in tears; they have all worked for you for many years
and are very loyal to you and to the company. Unfortunately, there is no alternative. You have tried to
sell the business, by advertising in the Booksellers Gazette, but so far, no one has shown an interest in
buying your bookshop.

You decide to write a notice to be published in the citys main daily newspaper. This notice will inform
the general public, but particularly all your past and present customers, of your decision.

You write some notes to help you. The notes will be the basis of what you write and you may add or omit
some information. You know that what you write must be in connected, accurate English and that the
message must be very clear.

Notes: Books For All People, 25 Caxton Street

Business has been in existence for over 100 years my grandfather founded it.

Great sadness, but it is no longer possible to keep trading. Result of enormous

competition from nationwide chain of bookshops, and from book sales on the internet.

Like many other small businesses, cannot make a profit when large companies are
always able to sell books more cheaply.

Have tried to sell BFAP, but no success so far. Unless buyer found by the end of
December, BFAP will cease trading.

All the wonderful, long-serving staff will be given all possible help to find other
employment.

Thanks to all our customers, who have been loyal book purchasers at BFAP over
many years.

If you come across other small, independent booksellers buy from them. They need
all the support they can get!

Task

Write the notice.

(Total 40 marks)

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Question 2

Situation

You are the Director of Personnel and Recruitment for CostLow Supermarkets, a nationwide
supermarket chain. Your company has a well-advertised policy of recruiting people, whenever possible,
who have a physical disability. You receive the following letter:

25 Lettsby Avenue
Windlesham
Shropshire
RY56 1BP

17 November 2013

Director of Personnel and Recruitment

CostLow Supermarkets Head Office
Europa Way
Sheffield
S67 4DP

Dear Sir or Madam

who has received
Employment an with
of staff unsolicited offer of a business loan from your headquarters. The client is
disability
complaining that he has never asked for a loan, is angry that the bank even considers that he needs a
loan, and says
Last week that
I read anhe is confident
article that paper,
in our local his business
which is doing
said thatvery well. He
CostLow also says that,
Supermarkets has even if he were
just opened a
to
new branch in Windlesham. I note that you are looking to appoint new members of staff and areyour
take out such a loan, he would have to pay back far more than he would if he was with one of keen
rival banks!should
that there If he receives any moretounsolicited
be opportunities employ some letters,
newhe willwho
staff takehave
his business
a physicalelsewhere.
disability.

I would like to tell you, very briefly, about my situation. I was involved in an accident about 3 years ago,
and now I have to use a wheelchair to get about. I have been off work for the past 3 years, but I am now
very keen to seek full-time employment once again. I have a specially-adapted car and would be able to
drive to the Windlesham branch in just 10 minutes from my home.

I used to be a supermarket manager in a large branch of TopValue supermarkets, in Birmingham. I

worked there for 10 years and have a great deal of knowledge of the retail world, especially in the
management and training of supermarket staff.

I would like to know more about how I can apply to become a staff member at your new CostLow
branch. Please would you send me an application form and some details about what jobs would be
available for someone such as me. I realise that there are some jobs I would not be able to do, but I
would be very happy to work on a cash till and could help other staff/colleagues, both disabled and able-
bodied, with such things as training, stock ordering, etc.

I would like to finish by telling you that a friend of mine, who also uses a wheelchair, has just visited your
new CostLow branch. He tells me that the access into the building for disabled people is really
excellent. It is so good to know that you are aware of the needs of all your customers, as well as the
needs of potential staff who have a disability.

Yours faithfully

Graham Edwards

Graham Edwards

Question 2 continued on the next page

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Question 2 continued

You are delighted to receive the letter and immediately have the following conversation with your Deputy
Head of Personnel and Recruitment, Jason Davidson:

You: This is a wonderful letter, Jason. Mr Edwards seems to be exactly the sort of person we should
be appointing. I am sure he will have a lot of experience that he will be able to bring to the new
Windlesham branch. What do you think?

Jason: Im sure youre right. It is good to see that he is willing to take on various roles in the branch. I
expect that he will find that there are different working practices from those he was used to when
he worked for TopValue. And there will have been changes in the retail world over the past 3
years, which he would have to learn about. But his management and training experience in his
last employment would be of benefit to our Windlesham branch.

You: I agree with you. The first thing we need to do is invite Mr Edwards for an interview and talk to
him about his previous experience. We should arrange to meet him at the Windlesham branch
and show him all the facilities that are available in the building. I shall write a letter to Mr
th
Edwards. I shall invite him to come for an interview on Friday, 29 November. I shall suggest
meeting at 10.30 am and the interview will probably take about an hour.

Task

Write the letter.

(Total 30 marks)

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Question 3

(In answering Question 3, remember that it is very important to use your own words whenever
possible and to organise the list of main points in a logical way.)

Situation

You are a lecturer in business studies at a university business school. You have been asked to deliver a
series of lectures on the subject of business networking to a group of new students. You read the
following article in a professional business journal and decide to write a list of the main points from the
article to use in your first lecture.

Business Networking: Tips and Techniques

Business networking is an effective marketing method for developing contacts and sales opportunities. It is
based on recommendations and introductions. To develop a network you recommend people whom you
know and receive recommendations and introductions from others in the network. These referrals can be at
face-to-face meetings. Nowadays, however, networking often uses other contact methods, such as email,
phone and even business and social networking websites.

Through trust and the building of good business relationships, networking develops into an excellent
advertisement for you and your contacts. Building these relationships is about finding people with whom you
have things in common. You have to meet and get to know people to decide whether they are good referral
partners or clients. If you focus on really getting to know people well you will build productive and valuable
relationships that will work for you and your business over and over again. Remember that networking is a
way to make the saying: Its not what you know; its who you know, work for you!

When you are building relationships, your contacts may or may not need what you have to sell. So
remember: its not always about selling to them. Its about making the connections and building your contact
base.

Here are three suggestions which will help you to develop new business contacts and improve those that you
already have. The following suggestions deal with the initial preparation for your attendance at a business
event:
Task
Write a list
Identify of theyou
where main pointsgo.
should fromNot
theall
article.
venues are right for all businesses. Do your research (30
and find the
marks)
business events that make sense for your business. Make a decision about which organisations you should
join and which you dont have to join, in order to gain value from the events. For example, should you join a
local chamber of commerce, or just go to events that sound interesting?

Determine how often you should be networking in a given week, month, year. This will help you narrow
down which events you should attend. Attend those events with a plan to learn something new. This will
keep you from talking too much about yourself and your business.

Prepare yourself physically and mentally for the event. Dress appropriately, take your business cards with
you and make sure you turn off your mobile phone (or set it to vibrate only). Being interrupted by the ring of a
mobile phone is a way to put people off people who might be potential clients for your business.

Task

Write a list of the main points from the article.

(Total 30 marks)

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