WRITING 4

PART 1: SUMMARY

UNIT 8:
(1)The author believes that Ahold forced Europe to reform its accounting and corporate governance. (2)Under authority of
Ahold's CEO, the organization overstated its profit by booking possible future income for their account to get more discounts
when buying in bulk. (3)Also, when the embarrassment was uncovered, it put Ahold under investigation by various authorities,
particularly the SEC. (4)The reason for Europe making a change in its accounting and corporate governance slowly is that
Europeans still believe this Corporate Wrong-doing is a US' issue, not theirs. (5()And they think that because their problem
occurs in Ahold’s US foodservice unit.(6) In summary, it's vital for the Government to make the law for corporate governance
stricter and the European companies to rebuild themselves to improve their corporate administration.

The article titled ‘Europe’s Enron’ is about the Ahold financial scandal. The author argues that the Ahold scandal should push for
a reform in European accounting and corporate governance as corporate wrongdoing occurs due to very bad corporate
governance, aggressive earnings management and accounting “irregularities” and questionable auditors’ role. The scandal
broke when the 436m overstatement of sales was uncovered at Ahold’s US Foodservice unit. Ahold appeared to have booked
rebate payments before they were earned. There were also issues over Ahold’s Disco subsidiary in Argentina and several other
units. This has led Europeans to think the problem is not theirs, but it is another US accounting failure. The author maintains
that such a claim absolves Ahold’s bosses of responsibility for their acquisitions and dishonesty and ignores the persistent, firm-
widely tendency to test the limits of acceptable accounting. Europeans, as the author maintains, should stop believing that
corporate wrongdoing is a US problem; instead, they should fix their own accounting and corporate governance problems to
hold companies’ bosses as well as the auditors accountable.

UNIT 9:

(1)The article is about how Arte Nathan recruited all workers at the Bellagio hotel effectively in record time and at minimum
cost by using speed hiring. (2)In 24 weeks, 9600 employees had to be recruited, which might sound unachievable, but finally
they nailed the deadline. (3)Moving everything online was the only way to hire so many so fast. (4)They had designed, built, and
implemented an online job application and HR system in 14 months. (5)The interview is the second round, applicants are asked
a series of behavioral questions, and their answers are entered into a computer database. (6)The background check is the final
round, managers would perform background checks on candidates using an electronic personnel file, eliminating thousands of
paper forms.(7) To sum up, they hired the entire staff in a very short time and saved Bellagio $1.9 million.

The article is about how Arte Nathan, and his HRs team successfully recruited the entire staff for Bellagio hotel
in Las Vegas in record time and at minimum cost by using speed hiring. Hiring 9600 workers in 24 weeks for
Bellagio hotel was a challenge that confronted Arte Nathan who was the Vice President of Human Resources.
Nathan has moved everything online which would give his managers hire-and-fire responsibility and complete
authority. In 14 months, they checked the communication skill and overall demeanor of the applicant by an
appointment where the applicant had to contact their staff. Next, applicants came to the interview where they
were asked a set of behavior questions. Applicants who passed the interview would be checked the employment
and education history and the recruiter would make the final decision after this stage and the drug test. Thinking
strategically, globally and taking yourself out of the system are ways to make you successful.

UNIT 10:

(1)The article is about counterfeiting which imitating property is copy infringement and on the get their good increase but
companies still ignore it at their own risk. (2)Counterfeiters often get their products by bribing workers of valued brands to
provide over manufacturing molds or by brand owners willingly handing over production masters to counterfeiters without
realizing it. (3)Counterfeiters have received great help from the Internet for the distribution. (4)Due to the increase of
counterfeiting, companies have to suffer many losses such as losing sales, facing long-term threat to their profitability and
bearing the cost of anti-counterfeiting measures.

UNIT 12:

(1)The article is about celebrities, charities and trade organisations lobbying the US government to do free trade with African
countries to help them to improve their economies. (2)They used celebrities like Bono to draw voters' attention to persuade
them to demand politicians of the US government to remove protectionism to Africa. (3)This tactic succeeded spectacularly
during the “Jubilee 2000" campaign for debt relief. (4)Therefore, they presented plausible arguments that benefited both Africa
and US taxpayers. (5)To Africa, lifting quotas and duties on African exports, and cutting subsidies that harm African growers
were good for them. (6)A small increase in trade would make far more difference than a proportionately similar rise in aid. (7)To
the US taxpayers, ending protection could make food prices lower because they didn't spend the largest share of their incomes
on food. (8)But being charitable people they prefer to make liberalisation sound like the sacrifice, it is not.

UNIT 13:

(1)The article is about dealing with information overload- a serious problem where business people spend more time getting
messages than acting upon them. (2)In the age of inforglut, with variety of communication means such as: emails, faxes, post,
voicemail, managers are overwhelmed by the cognitive flood which cause a new mental disorder-Information Fatigue
Syndrome. (3)This problem not only affects white collar workers but also senior executives and redefined productivity. (4)The
main cause of information overload is email- a considered less intrusive tool which is used too much nowadays and led to a
complete failure of communication called messaging meltdown when people communicate the same messages. (5)However,
some executives, CEO Bill Gates of Microsoft for example, have found email as a new and convenient way of running business.
(6)In addition, Arlen Henock- an executive at Pitney Bowes, has managed time to cope with the cognitive flow every day, but it
still script into his personal time. (7)To sum up, the overload of information has made our life busier and managers have to
develop strategies to deal with this problem.

UNIT 14:

The article is about smart tags that are

The author of the article believes that smart tags are likely to change the way companies distribute and sell almost everything
they make. Because of the many advantages, this new and super – cheap tracking technology has over the barcode. Smart tags
allow companies to cut costs and add sales. Smart shelves with tagged items that are able to signal their coming in and going
out can keep count and let store staff know when they need to be filled. Using smart tags to track products from factory to
supermarket, companies can save large amounts of costs such as labor costs and error – related costs. (Unlike the barcode,
smart tags can be scanned automatically as pallets of products pass along conveyor belts and through loading bays therefore
shipment errors and theft will be reduced. Manufacturers can also ensure that they are shipping the right quantity of goods to
the right place at the right time and afford to shrink the inventories.) The biggest concern is that smart tags will soon replace
barcode on almost all consumer goods packaging if consumer’s concerns about privacy invasion are addressed.

UNIT 15:

PART 2:

1. “Why do you think retailers may be about to replace the barcode with smart tags?”(U14)

Retailers should be replacing the barcode with smart tags because smart tags offer a number of advantages over the barcodes.
Firstly, smart tags help companies to increase sales. Using smart tags allows companies to show the problems of lost sales and
increase profits. On smart shelves, the tagged items let the shelf know when they are coming and going, and the shelf keeps
count. Then the shelf sends a message to store staff to say it needs to be filled when it is empty. Secondly, smart tags help
companies to save cost: Using barcodes can be a labor-intensive, error-prone task, which increases the costs. Companies try to
save costs by using smart tags. This tracking technology helps companies to track products as they are moved from factories to
supermarkets. Smart tags can be scanned automatically and help companies to reduce shipment errors and theft, and
manufacturers can be certain that they are shipping the right quantity of goods to the right place at the right time. They can also
afford to shrink the inventories, which can absorb an enormous amount of money. In short, smart tags are no doubt to become
the best choice for retailers and manufacturers.

2. Support the use of smart tag from the consumer’s perspective.(U14)

There is no doubt that the smart tag is a wonderful invention, which is changing the world of logistics. Customers wouldn’t
object to buying goods with smart tags. Firstly, thanks to using smart tags, companies can cut costs resulting in cheap prices
for customers. By not having to rely on a hand scanner to log information on pallets or products, these amazing cheap tags
help retailers reduce labor cost, shrink the inventories and save time also, which makes the prices of their products become
cheaper. Therefore, customers can buy goods at a cheaper price. Secondly, buying goods with smart tags helps customers
have a better experience. The shopping of customers becomes more convenient and saves time. They do not need to wait
for a long time at the checkout counter. Beside, when they want products which are not available on the shelf, instead of
asking for those products to employees to find out they are available in another site and waiting for such a long time for
 this type of process, they can easily have the information on a smart price tag on the shelf space assigned to the products.
The smart tags will let them know the products are available at the back of the store or at another location in real time. As
a result, this technology helps me to save time and effort to search for the products’ information. In short, smart tags make
customers shopping easier.

3. Support the use of smart tags from the retailer’s perspective.(U14) ~ 8.

4. Support the statement: “Counterfeiting is not a victimless crime”(U10)

It is false to believe that counterfeiting, a criminal act classified as theft, causes no harm to anybody. Firstly, come to the
legitimate businesses, they have been suffering from losing sales and the brand value due to the imitated products.
Furthermore, the genuine brands also have to bear the cost of fighting copycats by loading their vulnerable products with
anti-counterfeiting features. Secondly, fake items have a serious impact on buyers. Consumers buying and using this
product face health risks due to poor quality of counterfeit goods that do not comply with the rules and requirements of
quality required, particularly in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries, with direct consequences. To summarize,
both legitimate firms and customers are victims of counterfeiting, which should be stopped as soon as possible.

5. Support buying fake goods.(U10)

It’s undeniable that fake goods can bring a number of benefits to buyers. The very first benefit is saving money. Consumers have
the opportunity to get branded goods at a lower cost. They are able to obtain a product that looks the same like the genuine
one even if the material could be the same. The cheap price of counterfeited products is so attractive that low-income
consumers are ready to pay. Secondly, the fake products can satisfy customers’ ambition of buying famous brands to show off
their status. If before the price of branded goods cost them a fortune to own and they just could dream about it, now they can
get the same one with less money by buying the fake goods. To summarize, buyers may gain more and more benefits from
counterfeit items.

6. Argue against buying fake goods.(U10)

For a number of reasons, consumers should avoid buying fake items. Firstly, the quality of the counterfeit items is
much worse than the authentic one. If the real one comes with a huge make-up and also high materials and
ingredients so that it will last for years whereas the fake one will soon break and the materials will wear out. Secondly,
the poor quality product from the copycats causes consumers many bad impacts. For example, the usage of false
cosmetics might harm your skin because of unknown components. Finally, to buy counterfeit things means you get
things from a thief that steals the ideas and the works of another person. To summarize, consumers should only
purchase genuine products from authorized retailers in order to protect themselves, the economy, and society.

7. Suggest what companies should to do to protect themselves from counterfeiting (U10)

We can prevent the copy cats from imitating the branded goods by some following methods. Investment in counterfeit
technologies is the first method. To avoid fraud and counterfeiting, QR and RFID systems can make use of block chain
technology. For example, Chinese pharmaceuticals, alcohol and food sectors utilize QR codes and RFID tags to monitor their
products from manufacturer to customer to enhance product safety. The code or tag is a digital product ID that is scanned every
time the product is sold so that the consumer can follow its origins and history. The second way concerns us – customers should
avoid buying fake goods to help this market develop. In conclusion, legitimate businesses and consumers should join their
hands and eliminate this world-wide problem in order to eliminate counterfeiting.

We can prevent the copy cats from imitating the branded goods by some following methods.
Investment in counterfeit technologies is the first method. To avoid fraud and counterfeiting, QR and
RFID systems can make use of block chain technology. For example, Chinese pharmaceuticals,
alcohol and food sectors utilize QR codes and RFID tags to monitor their products from manufacturer
to customer to enhance product safety. The code or tag is a digital product ID that is scanned every
time the product is sold so that the consumer can follow its origins and history. The second way legal
business should closely supervise their production line when going outsourcing, as well as track their
 products through the supply chain or in certain cases, if the situation becomes too serious, they should
take the copycats to court if they can’t handle by themselves.

8. Support this statement: Retailers and manufacturers are excited about smart tags because of the advantages this
tracking technology will offer them. (U14)

There is no doubt that smart labels technology can improve the business of both manufactures as well as retailers.
Firstly, a significant reduction in costs has been found thanks to using the smart tags. By not having to rely on a hand
scanner to log information on pallets or products, these amazing cheap tags help retailers reduce labor cost and save
time also, which makes the prices of their products become more competitive hence drives further profitability.
Additionally, from the warehouse and distribution center throughout the supply chain and into the retail stores, these
high-tech tags are helping to improve productivity and accuracy as well as enhance inventory management and product
information for the producers. Secondly, those in the retail segment in particular are benefiting from this kind of label
technology. For example, large global retailers and their suppliers have already experienced better product tracking and
inventory management due to this type of label advancement. Companies like Wal-Mart are realizing the significant
savings they can reap from barcodes to these smart tags and RFID applications. Moreover, theft and counterfeiting is a
major concern among retailers, but these labels significantly reduce the risk, also saving money for retailers. In
conclusion, the benefits of smart tags to a business are so enormous that producers and retailers should apply in their
businesses

9. Analyze the cause of information overload (U13)

The reason behind information overload- a serious problem occurring when the amount of incoming information
exceeds our capacity of processing them, is the development of IT and telecommunication which have changed the way people
communicate. First of all, e-mail, which is a cheap, convenient and less intrusive means of communication, is considered as a
main culprit of the problem. Because of its advantages, nowadays, more and more people are using e-mail to exchange
information, therefore, users not only filter out unsolicited commercial messages( spam) but also have to contend with the
growing use of email attachment in the form of lengthy reports, presentations or media files. This adds hours and extra stress to
the user's working week. In addition to email, the World Wide Web (www), commonly known as the Web, has provided access
to billions of pages of information. By using search engines, users are able to find millions of searching results about an issue
just by one click that causes the enormous disproportions between the content of internet sources and the possibility of
processing them by the human brain. And the third one is Social media which is defined as different online communities with
shared content. It adds to the information overload problem because so many individuals have accessed it and share their own
views and outlooks on subject matters, so that one may have difficulty taking it all in and drawing a clear conclusion. To sum up,
they are the main factors that contribute to infoglut.

10. Analyze the benefits both Africans and Americans get when the US government ends protection. (U12)

It is undeniable that trade liberalization can bring many advantages to both Africans and Americans. On the first hand,
Africans can improve people’s living standards by eating better and putting their children through school. To Africa,
lifting quotas and duties on African exports, and cutting subsidies that harm African growers were good for them. A
small increase in trade would make far more difference than a proportionately similar rise in aid. Save money, ending
protection could make food prices lower because they didn't spend the largest share of their incomes on food. To poor
Americans, instead of spending the largest share of their income on food, ending protection helps them have money to
do other purposes. In conclusion, ending protection is a reasonable policy and it should be encouraged because of the
many benefits it could bring to both Africans and Americans.