Anglais corrigé 1

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like a family, and since families can be for better or worse, you can share the good and bad times, you get along

or you don’t. In the best of cases, you do, you trust each other, get along and share & delegate tasks. This can be

enriching as you learn about all aspects of the business and acquire skills. You can make arrangements too, if

necessary take a day off to care for a sick child, work from home, have flexible hours. Another advantage is that

communication with the boss, other employees and customers is usually quicker and more direct. You’re not

dealing solely with a faceless client by email or on the phone, you don’t have to go through all the formalities and

of paperwork and experience frustrating delays as in a big company, where for example the Human Resource

Department is in another building or even in another town.

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ANGLAIS – Corrigé type 1

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On the other hand, if you do not get along with the other employees of a small business, the stress can be

unbearable and the job very unpleasant. You may be stuck with one uninteresting task like photocopying

or stamping letters, and the chances for career advancement may be limited. You may be overworked and

underpaid, and as small companies discourage unions, there’s not much you can do but suffer in silence.

Finally, while today few businesses seem 100% financially secure, small businesses are usually more vulnerable

than larger ones.

Large companies have the advantage of giving you more space and the opportunity to avoid family-like clashes,

although that is far from certain as you usually work in a department where tensions also occur. The fact

that companies are organized in departments means employees have specialized tasks and this may be an

advantage if an employee prefers to focus on a particular skill and type of work. Large companies may also give

more career opportunity and provide in-house training and promotion. Likewise, they are able to offer bonuses

and perks, the policy of which is usually regulated. In most large companies, all the employees are formally

evaluated annually, but work on specific projects is also evaluated, each team member (including the manager)

is assessed by the others. Most large companies have unions and Employee Assistance programs that protect

or help the workers.

Large companies can be more competitive too, not just because of their mere size, but also because they have

Marketing and Research and Development experts so they can afford to advertize on a large scale, and spend

money on serious market studies, as well as research and development.

On the other hand, a large company can seem impersonal and being confined in one department may not suit

everyone, especially those who like being in contact with the customers.

It’s up to the individual to decide. The best way to make the decision is to get experience in both and then weigh

the pros and cons and see what suits you best.

Imagine you are going to set up a business: could you choose and briefly describe the product, the type

of business, location, size and number of employees? How do you go about setting up and running your

business?

Let’s imagine we want to open a small convenience store. Before setting up any business we should be sure we

have the motivation, energy and necessary skills to carry out our project. We should also do a formal or informal

market study to see if there is a need and niche for our product or service in the neighbourhood where we want

to set up.

If the convenience store is part of a group or a franchise we have to pay for the licence to run it, pay back a

percentage of the profit to headquarters and respect the company’s standards.

If we set up our own business, it is more complicated and risky as we have to raise capital for the premises and

equipment, finance promotion, hire employees and so on.

Once the store is opened, it has to be managed. That means making the store attractive, offering affordable

prices and products and services that create a need or cater to a demand. It also entails keeping track of stock,

finding suppliers and negotiating prices, ensuring a smooth supply chain, recruiting and managing competent

personnel and keeping careful accounts.

Setting up and running one’s own business is not simple or easy. An entrepreneur must have vision and

management skills, be willing to take risks and put in long hours.

What problems do companies have to deal with?

Companies are often criticized for being obsessed with making a profit, but nowadays keeping afloat is