商务礼仪与交际Business Etiquette and Communication

Lecture 1: Introduction to Contemporary Business 当代商务简介

What to cover today ：

1. The nature of business2. Forms of business ownership3. Franchising4. Business mission and company

profile

Exercises

1. Forms of business ownershipThree basic legal (vs. organizational) forms of busine

ss ownership ：1. sole proprietorship ( 个人 ) 独资企业 : unli

mited liability2. partnership 合伙企业 : unlimited liability3. company 公司 : limited liability limited Liability Company (LLC) 有限责任公司 publicly listed company/corporation 股份有限

公司

enterprise > company > corporation

1.1 Categorization of companies

company

publicly ownedquasi-publicly

ownedprivately

owned

profit non-profit

privately held(LLC)

publicly held(corp.)

publicly owned companies: established by the government, e.g. the U.S. Postal Service, big 4 banks in China, CNPC, Sinopec, CNOOC

quasi-publicly owned companies: established privately, but operated for public service and with high degree of government regulation and protection, e.g. private schools and hospitals

privately owned companies: established privately and operated for private interests; including the bulk of existing companies

profit private companies: established to carry out business for profit-making purposes

non-profit private companies: established for charitable or religious purposes

privately held profit private companies: LLC; do not publicly offer their stock; owned by one or a few shareholders who normally have family or other close ties and also manage the business

publicly held profit private companies: LLC by share, public company, publicly traded company, public listed company; publicly offer and freely trade their shares on stock exchanges; owned by a number of unrelated shareholders who do not actively manage the company (passive investors, cf. limited partners); go public, IPO 首次公开募股 http://tech.ifeng.com/internet/detail_2013

_08/07/28352560_0.shtml

1.2 Corporations

70%

10%

20%

Proportion of Existing Businesses under Each

Form of Ownership

Proportion of Business Revenue Generated by

Each Form of Ownership

1.2.1 Corporate structure and management

incorporators/shareholders

board of directors

president/GM/CEO/managing director

other officials

owners

managers

1.2.2 Legal documents and legal status

Corporate charter 公司章程 : a document used to incorporate a business, and filed with the state government, which describes important aspects of the corporation, e.g. the name of the firm, the stock issued, and the firm’s operations

Bylaws 公司规章 are established to provide general guidelines for managing the firm

A corporation is a legal person 法人 , meaning that it is treated like a private person in the legal sense. It can receive, own and transfer property, enter into contracts, sue and be sued.

1.2.3 Double taxation

Corporations have to pay taxes on their profits, i.e. corporate income taxes 企业所得税 , which are heavier (35% in the US, 25% in China) than those for sole proprietorships and partnerships.

If shareholders receive dividends 分红 from their companies, they have to pay personal income taxes 个人所得税 .

In the US, the tax rates for sole proprietors are often only half of those for corporations.

2. Franchising 特许经营budding period: the

early 1900s, filling stations, car dealerships

growth period: since the mid-1960s, paralleling the enormous expansion of the fast food industry

Three basic types of franchising:

product franchising: licensing for the right to sell trademarked goods purchased from the franchiser and resold by the franchisee, e.g. car dealers, gasoline stations

manufacturing franchising: licensing for the right to produce and distribute products, using supplies purchased from the franchiser, e.g. soft-drink bottling plants

business-format franchising: licensing for the right to open a business using the franchiser’s name and format for doing business, e.g. fast food chains

Advantages of franchising:

triple benefits of franchising according to the president of the International Franchise Association:

“The franchiser wins because he builds a strong foundation for his company. The franchisee wins because he can take advantage of the franchiser’s proven business system. And the general public benefits from the consistency of the product or service.”

3. Management

Planning: setting goals (i.e. ends) and fixing strategies (i.e. means)

Organizing: defining and group tasking, allocating staff and resources, and structuring chain of command 指令链

Leading: guiding and motivating; proper leadership style

Controlling: info-gathering, performance assessing, and deviation correcting

3.1 Management levels

Top managers: board of directors: executives from inside (also

managers) and outside (not managers) of a company, elected by shareholders to act as their representatives, oversee the company’s overall business dealings, can appoint, oversee, reward and fire the CEO

president/CEO/GM: ultimately responsible for the company’s success or failure, oversees the operations of the company, ensures its capital is used to create the most profit, creates a hierarchy of managers

vice presidents/senior managers: report to the president/CEO/GM, head up the company’s major functions, establish business goals and decide the models to achieve those goals, monitor the actions of middle managers

Middle managers: function or division managers: e.g. plant manager,

sales manager, accounting manager; in charge of the company’s various functions or divisions, responsible for implementation of goals and policies, make daily decisions, monitor bottom managers

Bottom-line/first-line managers: supervisors: e.g. head nurse in the emergency roo

m of a hospital, chief mechanic in the service department of a car dealership; responsible for the daily supervision of nonmanagerial employees, fulfill operational and supervisory duties

3.2 Sources of managers

from within the company: promotion or transfer

from educational institutions: through job fairs or campus recruitment; manager/management trainee (MT) 管理培训生

from other organizations: directly or through headhunters

3.3 Span of control 控制跨度 -- the number of employees managed by each manage

r, ideally five Narrow span of control: an organizational structure i

s designed so that each manager supervises just a few employees -- suitable for firms that have highly diverse tasks (Can you think of any examples? – knowledge intensive industry)

Wide span of control: each manager supervises numerous employees -- suitable for firms that numerous employees perform similar tasks (Can you think of any examples? – labor intensive industry)

Examples of narrow and wide span of control

President

Sales-person 1

Sales-person 2

Sales-person 3

Sales-Person 4

Sales-Person 5

President

Vice-Presidentof Sales

SalesSupervisor

Sales-person

3.4 Organizational height 组织结构高度

-- the number of layers from the bottom of the structure to the top

Tall organizational structure: much distance between the bottom and the top, e.g. GM’s 10 levels – narrower span of control

Short/flat organizational structure: not much distance from the bottom to the top, e.g. Toyota’s 5 levels – wider span of control

In the 1990s and early 2000s, many firms, e.g. Continental Airlines, IBM, GM, Sears, have attempted to cut expenses by eliminating job positions. This so-called downsizing 裁员 has resulted in flatter organizational structure with fewer layers of management.

3.5 Line vs. staff positions 直线 vs. 参谋职位

Line positions: job positions established to make decisions that achieve specific business goals; an organizational structure that contains only line positions and no staff positions is referred to as a line organization 直线组织

Staff positions: job positions established to support the efforts of line positions; can be outsourced; an organizational structure that contains both line and staff positions is referred to as a line-and-staff organization 直线和职能混合组织

3.6 Job specialization and departmentalization

Job specialization 工作专业化-- breaking down a firm’s overall tasks, responsibilities and resour

ces into small and specific parts or positions

Departmentalization 部门化-- grouping (mainly line) job positions into various departments in a

logical way by function by product by location by customer by manufacturing processAll these line departments can work together with staff departme

nts to form line-and-staff organizations.

Functional organization

Divisional organization

4. Business mission and company profile

4.1 Business mission/vision

-- a brief statement that tells stakeholders and the public why the firm is in business, how it intends to satisfy customer needs, and why it will satisfy their needs better than its competitors

Sample mission statements

StarbucksOur mission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.

DellDell's mission is to be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve. In doing so, Dell will meet customer expectations of: • Highest quality • Leading technology • Competitive pricing • Individual and company accountability • Best-in-class service and support • Flexible customization capability • Superior corporate citizenship • Financial stability

Sample mission statements

Nike Our mission for the Nike brand is: To bring inspiration an

d innovation to every athlete in the world. Alibaba Alibaba Group (Alibaba for short) is a global e-commerce

leader basing in China. Alibaba has 7 subsidiary companies, business involving the B2B, C2C, online payments, software service, search engine, online advertising, local living and consumption community etc. Alibaba is committed to building the world‘s leading e-commerce infrastructure and high quality online living platform.

4.2 Company profile Company history Founders and/or current top managers Major line of business Location and subsidiaries Markets Staff size Production capacity Annual turnover/sales Awards

Listening:

Listen to a presentation delivered by the PR Department Manager of Oracle China and fill in the blanks in the company profile

Word bank: headquarters 总部 headcount 员工总数 annual revenue 年收入

Oracle China Profile Status: the world’s ____ enterprise software

company, ____ global software giant in ____ Established in: ____ Headquarters: Redwood Shores, ______ Headcount: ______ Annual revenue: ____ Launched on China’s market in ____ Oracle China branches: Beijing, Shanghai,

Guangzhou, ____ Services: 9i E-Business platform, E-Business Suite,

consulting services, ______, and support services

largest

education

China

1977

California

42,000

$11 billion

1989

Chengdu

first

Sample company profileGMhttp://www.gm.com/corporate/about/company.jsp Ecolab http://www.ecolab.com/CompanyProfile/ PhilipsEnglish version:

http://www.philips.com/about/company/companyprofile.page Chinese version:

http://www.philips.com.cn/about/company/companyprofile.page

Alibaba English version:http://news.alibaba.com/specials/aboutalibaba/index.html?tracelog=24581_foot_company_info

Chinese version:http://page.china.alibaba.com/shtml/about/ali_china1.shtml

After-class assignments

1. Translation1. 个人独资企业 2. 合伙人3. 管理培训生 4. 无限责任5. 裁员 6. 法人7. 董事会 8. 分红9. 公司章程 10. 企业所得税11. 股东年会 12. 特许经营

2. Find out the business focus of the top 10 franchise brands in 2009 listed by Entrepreneur Magazine