Top executives from the electronics giant Samsung have announced their ambitious plans to make the company grow. It aims to more than double its sales by 2010. It also has its eye on becoming the world leader of 20 different products within the next five years. The South Korean firm additionally said it wants to become one of the world’s three largest consumer electronics companies. Samsung’s Chief Executive Officer Yun Jong-yong shared his plans with market analysts. Competitors are now rethinking their battle plans.

Samsung is already number one in the production of memory chips. It is second, behind Intel, in semiconductors. Further, it is a leading producer of a wide range of consumer electronics, including flat-screen TVs and liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Samsung has been very successful in the mobile phone market. It has already overtaken Sony Ericsson to reach third spot and now wants to challenge leaders Nokia and Motorola. Samsung has big business numbers to support its expansion plans. It posted record sales of US$76 billion in 2004 and has a 20 percent growth in sales in each of the past five years.

WARM-UPS

1. MY ELECTRONICS: In pairs / groups, talk about the last three electronic items you bought. Why did you buy those makers or models? If you were CEO of the manufacturing company, would you be proud of those products? Why (not)?

2. TOP DOG: Look at the goods below. With your partner(s), decide which is the world’s top company in making these goods. What should these companies do to double their sales within the next five years. Is it possible?

Mobile phones	Cameras
Laptop computers	Sportswear
Cars	Pharmaceuticals
MP3 music players	Gaming machines

3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Top executives / electronics / giants / growth / world leader / market analysts / competitors / battle plans / Intel / LCDs / record sales / Nokia / big numbers

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. MARKET LEADER: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the words “market leader”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

5. SAMSUNG EXEC.: You are now a top executive with Samsung Electronics. You are sure your company can double its sales in five years and become one of the world’s top three consumer electronics companies. Talk with other “executives” (not all with the same company) about Samsung’s plans.

6. GROWTH: What is needed to double sales within five years? Talk about the importance of the these things in doing this. Rank them in order of importance.

1. _____ Good products
2. _____ Being first in the market
3. _____ Classy advertising
4. _____ Giving presents to store electronics store owners
5. _____ A happy workforce
6. _____ Luck
7. _____ A booming Chinese economy
8. _____ The ability of senior executives to speak English
9. _____ A CEO with vision

Change partners and compare what you talked about and your rankings. Agree on new rankings with your new partner(s). What is missing from the above list?

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Samsung has big plans for a twofold increase in its sales.	T / F
b.	Samsung is looking at a doubling of sales by the end of the decade.	T / F
c.	It wants to become one of the five largest electronics companies.	T / F
d.	Competitors are now rethinking their battle plans.	T / F
e.	Samsung is trying to become the number one memory chip producer.	T / F
f.	Samsung is already top dog in the mobile phone market.	T / F
g.	Samsung posted sales figures that suggest it can meet its targets.	T / F
h.	Samsung’s sales have increased by 20 percent annually for five years.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	top	company
b.	announced	back up
c.	within	reconsidering
d.	firm	additionally
e.	rethinking	inside
f.	production	get to
g.	further	senior
h.	reach	increase
i.	support	manufacture
j.	growth	revealed

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	Top executives from the	analysts
b.	ambitious plans to	on becoming the world leader
c.	has its eye	leaders Nokia and Motorola
d.	one of the world’s three	range of consumer electronics
e.	shared his plans with market	largest consumer electronics companies
f.	already number one	the mobile phone market
g.	a leading producer of a wide	electronics giant Samsung
h.	very successful in	in the production of memory chips
i.	and now wants to challenge	sales of US$76 billion
j.	It posted record	make the company grow

WHILE READING / LISTENING

WHICH WORD? Strike through the incorrect word in each pair of italics.

Samsung Electronics aims to double sales

Top executives from the electronics dwarf / giant Samsung have announced their ambitious plans to make the company grow / growth. It aims to more than double its sales by 2010. It also has its eye / ear on becoming the world leader of 20 different products within the next five years. The South Korean farm / firm additionally said it wants to become one of the world’s three longest / largest consumer electronics companies. Samsung’s Chief Executive Officer Yun Jong-yong shared his plans with market analysts. Competitors are now rethinking their battle / beetle plans.

Samsung is already number one in the production of forgotten / memory chips. It is second, behind Intel, in semiconductors. Further, it is a leading producer / production of a wide range of consumer electronics, including flat-screen TVs and liquid / digital crystal displays (LCDs). Samsung has been very successful in the mobile phone market. It has already undertaken / overtaken Sony Ericsson to reach third spot and now wants to challenge leaders Nokia and Motorola. Samsung has big / poor business numbers to support its expansion plans. It mailed / posted record sales of US$76 billion in 2004 and has a 20 percent growth in sales in each of the past five years.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Samsung Electronics aims to double sales

Top executives from the electronics _______ Samsung have announced their ambitious plans to make the company _______. It aims to more than double its sales by 2010. It also has its _______ on becoming the world leader of 20 different products _______ the next five years. The South Korean firm additionally said it wants to become ____ ___ the world’s three largest consumer electronics companies. Samsung’s Chief Executive Officer Yun Jong-yong _________ his plans with market analysts. Competitors are now rethinking their battle _______.

Samsung is already number one in the production of memory _______. It is second, _______ Intel, in semiconductors. Further, it is a leading producer of a _______ range of consumer electronics, including flat-screen TVs and liquid _______ displays (LCDs). Samsung has been very successful in the mobile phone _______. It has already overtaken Sony Ericsson to reach third spot and now wants to __________ leaders Nokia and Motorola. Samsung has big business numbers to support its expansion plans. It _________ record sales of US$76 billion in 2004 and has a 20 percent growth in sales ___ _______ of the past five years.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘battle’ and ‘plan’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. WHICH WORD? In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT “SAMSUNG” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about Samsung, consumer electronics and doubling sales.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

top aims eye three shared battle

chips behind wide spot big 20 percent

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. What do you think of Samsung?
3. Do you think companies can double their sales within five years?
4. Where is the consumer electronics industry going?
5. Do you know of any new manufacturers who’ll be household names soon?
6. Do you think working in sales is (would be) exciting?
7. How long do you think it will be before Chinese firms are number one?
8. What do Samsung’s competitors think the plans to double sales?
9. What do you think the most profitable product will be in the future?
10. What’s your favorite consumer electronics good?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. Would you like to work in the consumer electronics industry?
4. Do you think consumer electronics is a difficult market?
5. Why do you think other consumer electronics aren’t talking about plans to double sales?
6. How has Samsung risen to become one of the world’s leading consumer electronics companies?
7. What new products will be most popular in the future?
8. What new technology are you looking forward to seeing?
9. How would your life change if you could double sales for your company?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. What did you like talking about?
5. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

GROWTH CONSULTANT: You are an expert Business Growth Consultant. Several clients have asked you how they can double their sales over the next five years. You must make a plan for each of them. In pairs / groups, choose three companies and create your ideas for growth that will make the management very happy.

CLIENTS	IDEAS FOR GROWTH
Samsung
Apple Computer
McDonald’s
Ferrari
Nike
Your company

• Change partners and show each other your ideas.
• Give each other feedback on whether these ideas will make the management of clients very happy. Give each other advice on how to improve your ideas.
• Role play the Growth Consultants giving the ideas to the very unhappy management of the clients.
• Discuss which of your plans might be most likely to succeed.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Samsung. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

3. GROWTH: Write a business plan for the growth and doubling of the sales of a company you like? Show your plan to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all have similar ideas?

4. TOP DOG: You are the top dog in your industry. Write the diary/journal entry for one day in you life of being top dog. Show what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. T

c. F

d. T

e. F

f. F

g. T

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	top	senior
b.	announced	revealed
c.	within	inside
d.	firm	company
e.	rethinking	reconsidering
f.	production	manufacture
g.	further	additionally
h.	reach	get to
i.	support	back up
j.	growth	increase

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	Top executives from the	electronics giant Samsung
b.	ambitious plans to	make the company grow
c.	has its eye	on becoming the world leader
d.	one of the world’s three	largest consumer electronics companies
e.	shared his plans with market	analysts
f.	already number one	in the production of memory chips
g.	a leading producer of a wide	range of consumer electronics
h.	very successful in	the mobile phone market
i.	and now wants to challenge	leaders Nokia and Motorola
j.	It posted record	sales of US$76 billion

WHICH WORD?

Samsung Electronics aims to double sales

Top executives from the electronics dwarf / giant Samsung have announced their ambitious plans to make the company grow / growth. It aims to more than double its sales by 2010. It also has its eye / ear on becoming the world leader of 20 different products within the next five years. The South Korean farm / firm additionally said it wants to become one of the world’s three longest / largest consumer electronics companies. Samsung’s Chief Executive Officer Yun Jong-yong shared his plans with market analysts. Competitors are now rethinking their battle / beetle plans.

Samsung is already number one in the production of forgotten / memory chips. It is second, behind Intel, in semiconductors. Further, it is a leading producer / production of a wide range of consumer electronics, including flat-screen TVs and liquid / digital crystal displays (LCDs). Samsung has been very successful in the mobile phone market. It has already undertaken / overtaken Sony Ericsson to reach third spot and now wants to challenge leaders Nokia and Motorola. Samsung has big / poor business numbers to support its expansion plans. It mailed / posted record sales of US$76 billion in 2004 and has a 20 percent growth in sales in each of the past five years.

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