Wirtschaftskommunikation, Recap of Thursday's Make-up Session

To start, we had a look at idioms that derive from the domain of sports that are used in business, like "the ball is in their court" and "level the playing field". Other expressions can be found here (you might consider incorporating them into your essays): http://www.businessenglishresources.com/learn-english-for-business/student-section/business-vocabulary/most-common-business-idioms/

We then brainstormed compounds, expressions and collocations from the words "market" (like "market share", "free market", "market leader"), "competition" ("fierce competition", "stiff competition"), and "brand" (like "brand recognition" and "brand identity"). I encourage you to use websites like http://www.freecollocation.com to get other business vocabulary and collocations when you are writing.

We reviewed the homework from the last post (video and Economist article on HEYTEA). Please know what "economies of scale" are (explained in the Economist video). Sample answers to the HEYTEA article include:

1.       What are "scalpers"?

Suppliers who purchase a (often larger quantity) of a limited commodity and sell it at a (dramatically)marked up price. Examples include ticket scalpers who stand outside of sold-out events to sell these seats to last-Minute customers.

2. Why didn't HEYTEA cooperate with apps when they were just starting out?

Not being featured in app services contributed to a selective brand image. Founder Yunchen also wanted to invest in the quality of the product.

3. Why is the Starbucks model not relevant for HEYTEA?

The third space for consumption of the product has, according to HEYTEA's founder, lost relevancy as online spaces become more important to the consumer. HEYTEA founder is focused on making his company “social media-worthy” in order to promote his brand.

4. What is a "defend strategy"?

 

A decision taken by company or business to maintain its (leading) position on the market. In the case of Starbucks in the article, it consisted of opening more branches acrossChina.


We had a look at an infographic from Graphic Detail and analysed the data together. I'll have copies of this for Monday's class.

Finally, we did an in-class reading comprehension exercise: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-14/here-s-a-way-around-facebook-and-google-s-marketing-dominance

The questions included:

1.       What does it mean to “put a dent in something”?

2.       What is Thin Film providing its clients that Facebook and Google aren’t?

3.       How is Thin Film working with economies of scale?

4.       Why is Thin Film optimistic about its market performance in the future?