Updates from our discussions on 4.22

Sony and its purchases of movie companies:
Sony bought Columbia Tri-Star Pictures in 1991 and also acquired MGM (another movie studio) in 2005. It is called Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE).

Tokyo's Silicon Valley:
It started up in Shibuya in the early 2000s, I think, and was called "Bit Valley." It refers to online venture companies, which of course, are started by entrepreneurs. I couldn't really find much online about it, so maybe it has died out. The only thing I found is here. Sorry for the misinformation. There might be activity going on in other parts of Japan, such as Fukuoka and Sapporo, but again, I don't really know.

Oxford Placement Test - Tuesday April 29, 4:30pm Chuo 503

I will hold a session outside of class to let you try the Oxford Placement Test for free. It is a new online test produced by Oxford University Press. The test takes about 70 minutes and is divided into two sections - use of English and listening. It is different from the TOEIC test in at least two ways: first, it is an online test, and second, it is a computer adaptive test, which means that the difficulty of the questions changes according to your answers (the TOEFL iBT does this too). It contains a mix of American and British English accents in the listening section. Here is the download link to a Powerpoint file which will give you some information about the procedure. You can also see these slides below.
You will be able to see your scores immediately after you take the test. Though we will not use the test results for placement, they should be useful to you to understand your English level according to world standards. Besides the score, you will get a short paragraph explaining your level in English. It is based on the CEFR, (Common European Framework), which is becoming well known in Japan. You can compare it with your most recent TOEIC score and the written description of your level that comes with the test result.
Please bring your most recent TOEIC score on the test day if you are willing to share it with me. There will be a place in the test setup to input it.
You must email me with your name, class name, and student# by Sunday April 27 at 17:00 to let me know if you will take the test. I need to know in advance so I can pay for the tests. The limit will be 30 students.

Your login link is here, where you will see the screen below. Go to "Organisation login" as you can see here:

Intelligent Business Vocabulary for Chapter 1

This list is only partially complete. Add vocabulary/concepts presented in the text that you need and define them.

Multinational: a company that operates in different countries, where it manages production or delivers services, has offices, branches or manufacturing plants.

Examples: Pepsi, Coca-cola, P&G, Sony, IBM, Toyota, Nike, Apple, Microsoft, Citigroup, Intel

Who owns a corporation?

The shareholders own a corporation. This can range from a single shareholder in a closely held corporation to thousands of shareholders in a publicly traded company. Stockholders may be individuals or what are called "institutitional investors," such as mutual funds, retirement plans and insurance companies. There is a variety of types of shares that can be issued by a corporation: they can be different classes or have voting or non-voting privileges. But all shareholders have one thing in common - they represent an ownership interest in the corporation. The daily operations of a corporation are overseen by the board of directors but there must be an annual meeting of the shareholders to elect the board members and ratify actions taken by the board.

Who owns Microsoft Corporation?

The public owns Microsoft since it is a publicly traded company.

Merger: see glossary

Acquisition: A corporate action in which a company buys most, if not all, of the target company in order to assume control of the target firm. Acquisitions are often made as part of a company's growth strategy.

Entrepreneur: see glossary

Dotcom: a company that conducts most or all of its business on the internet. Examples - Amazon, Yahoo, Google, eBay

Four easy things for homework for April 22

1. Buy the textbook and bring it to class on April 22. Make sure to write your name and
 student # on the inside cover in case you lose or misplace it.

2. Paste a recent photo on the index card I will give you today and write clearly in English:

Student Number:                                   Name:                                                 

Email address:                                      

Your interests in business:                                                               

On the back of the card, write a few sentences about something you enjoyed studying for your major last year and something you would like to study this year.

**Make sure to write your email address clearly, please!

3. Send me a short email using the addresses you check regularly so I can make the class mailing list. You can send more than one address, but at least one of them must be able to receive, read, and open attached files. The subject line of your email should be "Intensive Business Today (your name). Add my address to your address book so you have it when 
you need to contact me. While you are at your computer, check the class HP and bookmark 
the URL.

4. Write one page in paragraphs in which you first introduce yourself, next, describe your
English study experience, third, explain what you want to do in this class, and finally, tell
me about your future plans for your studies or your career. Type on A4 paper and double 
space your work (set word to 1.5 or 2.0 spacing). Add a title and your name and student#,
the class name and the date like this:

Title

name  201112345

Intensive Business Today

April 22, 2014

**Check your writing, print it off, and bring it to class on April 22.

See you then!

Glossary and Glossary Test answers (textbook)

There is a glossary of business vocabulary in your textbook (p. 147~). On pp. 155-156, there is a glossary test which you can do when you like. Here are the answers to the glossary test:

Subscribe to The Economist magazine for 3 free articles/week

Our textbook, Intelligent Business, takes its readings from The Economist magazine. You can supplement your studies and do homework assignments by reading articles from the magazine online. (The law/economics library in Higashi 2 subscribes to the print version of the magazine too.)
Register on The Economist page and sign up for access to three articles per week at no charge. Here is how:
First, go to The Economist top page and click the registration button.

Then click "Register" to sign up.

Once you have registered, you can browse and view three full articles each week.