UNIT 20 MARKET STRUCTURE

AND COMPETTION
Listening 1: Early stage companies

Listen to Charles Cotton and answer the questions

1-How does he describes the perspective of an early stage company?

As something that can be very disruptive with a possible fabulous and successful outcome.

2-Which companies does he mention?

Cisco, Google, EBay, and Microsoft.

3-What does he mean when he says some industries are defined by the new entrants?

Companies that are successful now.

Listening 2: Sine waves and bell curves

Listen to Charles Cotton talking about how industries evolve, and answer the questions

1- What was Google´s problem at the time the recording was made?
That they were not really attractive to the times at that time, that they needed to improve to go with
the flow of the era

2- Fill in the gaps below.

… You know, a _disrupter___ Moves in to being a __dominant__ player, potentially with other strong
play, but over time their position is, becomes more _vulnerable__, and they are, they find themselves
being ____competed_ by younger, newer, fresher, more exciting new ideas.

So, ___entrepreneurs__, new ideas, __disrupt__, address, tackle, __compete with__ existing __well-
established__ industries and structures, but it´s an __evolution__.

Listening 3: Clustering

1-what are the two well-established examples ‘of clusters that Charles Cotton cites?

Route 128 and Silicon Valley

Tel Aviv, Cambridge, Oxford, and London

3-What is the reason for clusters having evolved in these particular places?

Because they were all university full with students and people with new ideas, pushing the boundaries of
science and technology, seeing and seeking for opportunities for the development of the companies of the
cluster.

4-What do peoples moving into a business environment need?

Influence, experience and connections.

5- Fill in the gaps below

So some of the other factors that make clusters successful are all of the supporting services like the
lawyers, the accountants, the __pattern attorneys_____, the __headhunters______, the recruiters, the
peoples who provide catering services for the companies that come along, the __lanlords____ and so on,
so you get this vast circle of activity around, around a cluster, which then builds into something more
than what starts as a _technology___ cluster into a, into an __economic__ cluster itself.

Listening 4: Software – based clusters.

Now listen, and answer these questions

1-Who does Charles Cotton describe as the most creative people on the planet?

Software programmers.

2-Why did they need to become so good at what they did?

Because of the demand and the opportunities.

3-What is their advantage over competitors from the other country he mentions

That they offer great deals with low levels of resource and the amounts they charge.
Listening 5: Clusters of the future

1-which three large countries does Charles Cotton talk about?

China, India and Brazil.

2-What factors do they have in common that will make them successful

That they have large population and that they are rich in resources.

UNIT 21: TAKEOVERS

Listening 1: The role of the Competition. Commission WM You will hear Rory Taylor of the
Competition Commission in London talking about its work

What do you think a Competition Commission does? Listen to Rory Taylor and answer the questions.

5 What do you think Rory Taylor means by these phrases?

a) A free market attitude

An open market

B) A competition regime

Fair competition

c) A necessary check and balance

Regulations on prices

D) Over-interventionist

A regimen over the invests

Listen to Rory Taylor talking about market investigations.

1 Fill in the gaps.

You won´t, generally come across too many markers where there's one dominant _player_ outside the,
sort of _natural monopolies__, and the _utilities__ we used to do under the previous legislation, what
were called monopoly investigations, but now they're known as _market investigations___, as to some
extent that reflects that you're not usually looking at one player dominating one particular market but
maybe a small _handful__ That's not necessarily a bad thing, it all depends on the structure of that
market and to what degree they're competing with each other. We've just been looking at the
_groceries___ market, that's ... I would say using, using the term advisedly, dominated by big four
supermarkets, certainly got the _lion’s share_ of the ... people's shopping, but at the same time they´re
competing very vigorously with each other, so that{s not necessarily anything we´d look to intervene in.

2 Give synonyms for , 5 and 7

5-some 7- majority

3 Give explanations o, definitions for.

2___ownership of everything, for example the market.

3___things that are useful.

6___places where you buy food.

Listening 3: Breaking the law and abusing a dominant position

Listen to Rory Taylor talking about ways in which companies can break competition law, and answer
the questions.

1 Which of the following things does Rory Laylor say? Sometimes there not much competition in a
market because:

A. there We large companies which have done nothing wrong, but just acted in the ways
successful companies do
B. Companies abuse their dominant position.
C. Companies are collaborating and working on projects together.
D. Rival companies agree to charge the same prices.

2 Which two official bodies does he mention?

Office of Fair and the European Competition Commission

3 What can companies be fined 10% of their turnover for?

The ones that commit certain abuse, like the dominant position one.
UNIT 22 GOVERNMENTS AND
TAXATION
1, . Listening: Government intervention
Michael Kittson is Senior Lecturer in international macroeconornics, and Director of the
Management Studies Tripos, at Cambridge University. Listen to him talking about the role of
government.
Listen again and answer the questions below.
1-Fill in the gaps
The second effect is whether we think unfettered ' __free markets____ alone can ensure the
long-term ____optimal___ allocation of resources and long-term __economic-growth_
Markets are very important, I’m not denying that, but so is the role of government to actually
help markets works better. Often economists talk about notions of __market failure_ or the
fact that markets are not working properly.
2 What reasons does Michael Kittson give for government spending on education and health?
Because people themselves don’t invest in that.

3 Why don't firms Invest, in very early-stage technologies?

4 What other areas or activities does Kittson mention?