NAME:
DATE:
UNIVERSIDAD DEL SALVADOR
PARCIAL INGLÉS III
Mary Carol McDaniel Pumps It Up
Sometimes It's All Serendipity
Mary Carol McDaniel and her husband Frank own three
(soon to be four) Pump It Up franchises in Alabama and
Tennessee. But unlike most multiple unit franchisees,
they didn't do a lot of research or planning or interviewing
of franchisors to decide on a concept. It walked up to
them.
She is a public relations specialist by trade. "For the first
three or four years we were married I worked for
Progressive Farmer magazine," owned by a subsidiary of
Time Inc., and based in Birmingham, Ala. "Then we
moved to Knoxville and started a family, so I stayed
home for the first ten years." Her husband sold
manufacturing equipment in east Tennessee for a family-
owned business-still technically his employer. McDaniel
had not stayed idle while she was bringing up her kids.
She had done volunteer work in schools, including the
school newsletter, which meant she had to learn how to
use computers. "Then I decided I'd like to be paid for
some of this," she says, laughing, "but thought I'd like a
part-time job." Then came the serendipity part. They had
some good friends who were in turn friends of the
founder of Pump It Up, and had bought the Knoxville
franchise.
Pump It Up, with its home office in Pleasanton, Calif.,
has private party facilities with interactive inflatables.
Franchisees create parties for children and their parents,
providing organization, child supervision, party set-up,
and clean-up. It now has proprietary and branded
inflatables designed for Pump It Up use within an indoor
facility. Becoming involved was, McDaniel admits, "a real
fluke thing. I was interested in working part-time, but we
weren't looking for a franchise. These friends already
had a franchise, and they became our partners at the
beginning." Working part-time at the location turned into
full-time, and then into their own franchise after they
moved back to the Birmingham area. Then her husband
got interested, and after Birmingham came another in
Huntsville, Ala., another in Pelham-near Birmingham.
"He took a leave last January," she says, "and he's still
on a leave. But it's been great with getting our third
location." The leave may turn into a permanent one,
since Frank owns part of the family business and his
parents are thinking about buying him out. "We weren't
thinking about all these locations," says Mary Carol, "but
we're excited about it."
They were, in fact, early franchisees for Pump It Up three
years ago. "Our Pelham location was just the 7th, and
that was just two years ago, now our third location is the
50th. It's getting to be a stronger and stronger brand, and
it's so exciting to be in on the start." Although the
locations aren't that close together, the McDaniels are
directly involved in all of them (except Knoxville). "It's a
juggling act with so many locations," she says. "One of
us is at either Birmingham facility at least Monday
through Friday. We usually have something going on
every single day." Huntsville is a bit far from the two
locations near Birmingham, so they'll be hiring a full-time
manager there.
They are hands-on owners, and that helps them control
costs. "We're available to be at each facility," she says.
"We outsource payroll-you save money because we
were spending so much money going to the accountant
all the time. When we first opened Pelham we went
without a cleaning crew for six months-and it was 11,000
square feet, all carpeted." Part-time managers are the
key. She depends on younger people, although more
college age than high school, she says. "College kids
need to earn money for school. The high school kids who
aren't really serious weed themselves out. But now some
of my assistant managers who've been with us for almost
the whole time can train the new staff." And McDaniel
has found a way to bring in workers as she needs them.
"There's a college near us called Montebello, and the
counselor there has sent us a lot of good kids," she says.
"Once you find them, I ask them to bring me some more
kids."
McDaniel has not forgotten her public relations skills,
either. Her first move was to advertise in local parenting
magazines. "That was our best marketing idea," she
says. "After that, word of mouth. The word of mouth once
you have a party is really great." Then came more luck;
she had a party for the kids of one of the local talk
shows, and that started the hosts talking about Pump It
Up. "I have a lot of people say, 'I hear Rick and Bubba
talking about you all the time.'"
McDaniel doesn't know how large they'll grow, but she's
happy with the serendipity so far. "I am really glad we got
into franchising. I feel so blessed that we found it and it
found us; it's been a really neat experience."
So far, the family supports itself with just one location,
putting money back into the business for the others. The
schedule allows her to be with her kids in the afternoons
when they come home from school. But, she says, "If
you're just a mom who wants to start her own business,
my advice would be to have good support from a partner
or spouse. There's a lot more to Pump It Up than it looks
when you walk in the door. People think it's simple. I take
it as a compliment because we make it look easy."
A. Read the article and answer the following questions
1. How did Ms McDaniel start her business?
2. What is Pump It Up? How did the business develop?
3. What are they in charge of as hand-on owners?
4. What sort of advertising worked for them?
5. What does Carol do in her free time?

B. Vocabulary. Complete with words from the box

market share -- consumers – stake -- segment – price –
launch – marketing – targeting -- market -- competition
Sony Seeks _______ in Digital TV market

The Japanese electronics giant Sony is gearing up

its efforts to grab a bigger slice of the local _______by _______ a special _______: wealthy Korean _______.
Sony Korea has recently debuted a high-tech 42-inch plasma display panel (PDP) TV in the local market,
which will be followed by an expensive 32-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) TV in the second half of this
year.
Sony is also planning to _______ a 50-inch or larger size PDP TV, as well as a line of larger LCD TVs, with
all the latest display accessories.
The_______ of the 42-inch PDP TV featuring Sony's proprietary ``Vega Engine” is set at around 14 million
won (US$11,816), almost double the price of domestic products.
Sony's aggressive _______ of digital TVs will heat up the _______ with domestic companies, such as
Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, who enjoy a combined _______ of about 80 percent, industry
watchers predicted.

C. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense.

CAMPBELL SOUP

In 1869, two men — a fruit merchant named Joseph Campbell and an icebox manufacturer
named Abraham Anderson —(form) _______________a business that would one day become one of
the most recognized in the world and serve as a symbol of Americana: Campbell Soup Company.
Originally called the Joseph A. Campbell Preserve Company, the business (sell) _______________
canned tomatoes, vegetables, jellies, soups, condiments, and minced meats. In 1897, Dr. John T.
Dorrance, a chemist who had trained in Europe, (join) _______________ Campbell.

Dr. Dorrance (come up with) _______________condensed soup in 1897. By eliminating the water in
canned soup, he (lower) _______________the costs for packaging, shipping, and storage. Canned
soup (become) _______________ so hot with Americans that in 1922, the company formally (take)
_______________ "Soup" as its middle name.

Over the yeears generations of soup lovers (enjoy) _______________some of the most popular
varieties of Campbell’s Soups.: But the company (evolve) _______________to fit a changing
marketplace also. It (expand) _______________condensed line to include contemporary varieties
like Cream of Broccoli, Double Noodle, and Creamy Chicken Noodle The number of brand names
under the Campbell banner (rise_______________), and now includes such well-known products as
"Pepperidge Farm" breads, cookies, and crackers, "Franco-American" gravies and pastas, "V8"
vegetable juices, "Swanson" broths, and Godiva Chocolates.

Moreover, generations of Americans (grow up) _______________on Campbell-sponsored

programming including Lassie, Peter Pan, and the famous Campbell Playhouse radio series. In
addition to "M’m! M’m! Good!", other Campbell taglines (remain) _______________ very popular:
"Wow! I could’ve had a V8!" "Uh-oh SpaghettiOs" and "Pepperidge Farm Remembers.”

Even though the Company’s foods (find) _______________ their way into homes thousands of miles
from the Camden, New Jersey headquarters, they still bear the name of the man who (make)
(find) _______________ his mark selling soup from a horse-drawn wagon -- Joseph Campbell .

D. Use these verbs in the correct tense to fill in the blanks. manufacture - interview -
develop - intend - be (3) - visit - work - want
My name _____________ Michel Tourner and I _____________for Toronto Packaging At present I
_____________ head of the Production Department. Toronto Packaging _____________PET containers
mainly for the food and cosmetique industry. Our main custormers _____________ all over Canada and the
northern part of the USA. We _____________ to launch a major expansion program in 2005: we
_____________ to supply orher industries, so our R&D departmen _____________some new containers.
The R&D Manager _____________(presently) some prospective buyers and _____________ them to learn
more about their needs.

E. Choose rhe best conditional to complete each sentence

1. If he (find) ____________ the right partner, he (be able) ____________ to expand
2. If people (not pay) ____________ taxes, the whole system (collapse) ____________
3. If in the 1990’s they (not favour) ____________ imports, domestic industry (not disappear)
_________.
4. (we/meet) ____________ our forecast, if we (launch) ____________ the new soda next
August?
5. If I (be) ____________ you, I (draft) ____________ stricter office rules.
6. Argentine exports (not grow) ____________ , if the peso (not go down) ________________
last year.
7. If consumers (not be) ____________ disappointed with our service, we (not receice)
____________ so many complaints.
8. If Thomas Weller (be) ____________ appointed CEO, you (surely get) ____________ a
promotion.
9. (Jane/accept) ____________ the job, if she (know) ____________ how difficult it was?

F. Describe how some companies have broken traditional business rules with an appropriate Passive form.
Make all necessary changes or supply missing words
When conditions change - market growth slows, competitors become deeply
entrenched, customers seem less concerned with value and only look at price, the
technology plateaus - the rules can always be broken. They / can walk /
_________________ around, abandoned, made obsolete, or just ignored.
A business that does so - and in the process of doing it conveys some special benefits
on its customers - is in a great position to grow. But it takes a very unique kind of
company to bring this about.
1. In the early 1980s / first personal computing machines the pioneering Apple I and II
and Macintosh computers / develop / Apple Computer
2. Almost a century earlier/ first affordable car / make /Ford Motor Company
3. At about the same time / first consumer-friendly camera / launch / Kodak
4. Later / camera that eliminated the stop at the photo processor for a finished picture /
developed / Polaroid
5. Way to capture images electronically on a videotape / find / Philips
6. To reduce delivery time in the US / every overnight package / send / through
Memphis, Tennessee / Federal Express
7. Metal everybody else was throwing away / take and make / into first class steel / Nucor.

G. Write a Letter of Application for the position

Summer opportunities
Summer internship opportunities are available now. Summer interns learn how to analyze
financial statements, evaluate lending opportunities and gain practical exposure to the financial
markets. Similar to full-time analysts, summer interns work in a team environment developing
financial solutions for our clients. This is an unparalleled opportunity to develop new skills while
learning about the financial services industry, and gaining exposure to the Commercial Banking
businesses.
Qualifications
We seek candidates with a solid mix of analytical, quantitative, leadership, teamwork,
interpersonal and relationship management skills. Additionally, we look for creative individuals
with a broad business background who enjoy not only working with numbers, but also
communicating with a diverse group of business professionals. Successful candidates should
have strong written and verbal communication skills, and attention to detail is a must .

H. Describe how Sales have evolved

20

15
Interes t rates
10 forecas t in %

0
JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
NAME:
DATE:
UNIVERSIDAD DEL SALVADOR
PARCIAL INGLÉS III
A. Reading
The Top 400 Guide
Online retailing continues to be a significant merchandising channel, with e-retailing
operations growing in sales, average ticket, conversion rates and more
By Mark Brohan
Ten years ago, long before the Internet investment
bubble even began to build much less burst and
Amazon.com was just beginning to sell online, few, if
any, retailers could predict whether business-to-
consumer e-commerce would catch on with customers or
if the Internet would ever rival stores and catalogs as a
serious sales channel.
But today, with more than a third of all households
making at least one online purchase each year—a figure
Forrester Research Inc. predicts will increase to almost
40% by 2009—Internet retailing has clearly come of age
and remains the U.S. retailing industry’s fastest-growing
sales channel.
U.S. Internet retail sales totaled $87.5 billion in 2004, up
25% from $70 billion in 2003 and up 62% from $54 billion
in 2002, according to Internet Retailer estimates.
Based on statistics compiled for the Internet Retailer Top
400 Guide, the top 400 retailers in 2004 generated
combined web sales of more than $51 billion and
accounted for 58.3% of all U.S. Internet sales. In
comparison, the top 300 web retailers in 2003 generated
sales of $40 billion, 57% of all U.S. Internet sales.
Growing the average ticket
The Top 400 Guide identifies and ranks the 400 largest
retail web sites by their 2004 sales and measures other
key statistics for each e-commerce site, including
monthly visits, monthly unique visits, sales conversion
rate and average ticket.
A key metric that demonstrates web retailing’s growing
power and merchants’ growing ability to analyze, predict
and react to changes in online shopping behavior is the
increasing size of average orders. The Top 400 Guide
reveals that the average ticket across all merchandising
categories tracked in the Guide—Mass
Merchants/Department Stores, Computers/Electronics,
Office Supplies, Health/Beauty, Books/CDs/DVDs/Music,
Housewares/Home Furnishings, Apparel/Accessories,
Food/Drug, Flowers/Gifts, Sporting Goods,
Specialty/Non-Apparel, Jewelry, Hardware/Home
Improvement and Toys/Hobbies—was up about 16%
from $92 in 2003 to $107 in 2004.
To present a true picture of average orders, that statistic
eliminates sites with unusually high average orders;
some furniture sites, for instance, have average orders of
$1,000 and computer/electronics sites have average
orders of $400+. With those high-value sites factored in,
the average order shoots up to $127.
That in itself is a measure of the confidence that
consumers have in online shopping. It is also a reflection
of retailers’ increasing ability to close the sale. Today
sophisticated search engine marketing programs, site
search tools and web analytics, along with aggressive
pricing and targeted promotions, are helping retailers
move their online sales numbers up. In fact, conversion
rates generally average in the 2.5% range, but rates that
reach 8% are not uncommon and some sites report
conversion rates of 18% and higher.
In 1995, when Amazon.com, CD Universe,
1800Flowers.com and other pioneers began to
demonstrate that the web was an emerging
merchandising channel, some traditional chain retailers
and catalogers feared that Internet-only merchants could
dominate their market niches and force them to
cannibalize store and catalog sales to catch up. But in
2005, an era of multi-channel retailing, the Top 400
Guide shows that each segment of the market, which
includes retail chains, catalog/call center companies,
virtual (web-only) merchants and consumer brand
manufacturers, is well represented and experiencing
solid growth.
The Guide’s top 100 includes 40 chains, 28 catalog/call
center companies, 24 web-only merchants and eight
consumer goods manufacturers. Amazon continues as
the Internet’s largest retailer with 2004 sales of $6.9
billion, up 31% from $5.2 billion in 2003. Amazon has
more than 44 million active customers and offers more
than 10 million SKUs.
The guide’s top 10 merchants reflect the fact that office
supplies, consumer electronics and personal computer
equipment retailing and direct marketing companies
were among the first—and most aggressive—groups of
merchants to begin selling online and introduced
merchandising tactics that are now standard operating
procedure for most web retailers. Dell, for instance,
dominates the selling of personal computers online
because of its innovative and pioneering strategy of
giving customers the option of designing and
personalizing their own PCs. But a diverse number of
web retailing categories are well represented in The
Guide’s top 100, which include 20 apparel/accessories
retailers, 17 computer/electronic sites, 16 mass
merchants, nine specialty/non-apparel sites, eight
food/drug merchants and 30 other merchants in various
categories.
B. Vocabulary. Complete with words from the box
investment - headquarters - commercial banking - financial services –
brands – consumers - clients - transaction - retail - operations

The new JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was created upon completion of the holding company
merger between JPMorgan Chase and Bank One. We are a leading global ____________ firm with
assets of $1.1 trillion and ____________ in more than 50 countries. The firm is a leader in
____________ banking, financial services for ____________ and businesses, financial ____________
processing, asset and wealth management, and private equity. A component of the Dow Jones
Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has its corporate ____________ in New York and its U.S.
____________ financial services and ____________ headquarters in Chicago. Under the JPMorgan,
Chase and Bank One ____________, the firm serves millions of consumers in the United States and
many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and government ____________

C. Rewrite the sentences using Passive

Tell Me About Yourself' Doesn't Mean 'Tell It All'
To prepare for a job interview:

 You must develop a response tailored to the specific employer

 That response has to address the employer´s interests, goals, and needs.
 Make eye contact
 Experienced candidates should focus on the big picture first so that interviewers will place later
information in the proper context.
 Applicants generally provide an overview of their careers in total.
 After you sketch the big picture, talk about specific experiences that are most relevant and
interesting to an interviewer.
 Most interviewers pay attention to how you organize and present information about yourself.
 Applicants may give less emphasis to their first few jobs, if their recent experience is most relevant.

D. Use the verbs in the box in the correct tense to fill in the blanks.

Interview - export - look for – think - be (2) - need - fly - expect - try

My name _____________ Georgina Vinker.. I _____________ in the Marketing Department. We

_____________ expand our operations. We_____________ that we_____________ to find new markets for
our products. At present we _____________ to the USA and Canada, and _____________ partners in Asia
and Latin America. I _____________ to Singapore next week. Derek Phips _____________ some
candidates in Brazil this week. We_____________ a call from him

E. Put the verbs in brackets in the Past Simple or Present Perfect Tenses
Sir John Harvey-Jones _____________ (join) ICI in 1959 and _____________ (begin) his swift ascent
up the corporate ladder. Against all odds, he _____________ (make) history in 1982 by becoming the first non-
chemist Chairman of the company. It ____________ (be said) that this marked the shift of emphasis in the
United Kingdom from the importance of industry experience to the importance of management experience.
Sir John ______________(begin) his career in the Royal Navy, before moving to ICI, where he eventually
_____________ (become) chairman at a time when the giant British industrial group ______________(be) in
some difficulty. Within 30 months Sir John______________ (can) double the share value and turned a loss into
an annual profit of more than £1 billion.
He _____________(write) a number of best-selling books, including: Making It Happen, Getting It Together,
Managing to Survive and All Together Now.
John's leadership style ____________________ (always be) one of visibility and informality, strongly believing
that employees need an identifiable figure at the head of an organisation with whom they can take inspiration
and values. He once ______________ (say) that there are no 'bad troops', only 'bad leaders'.
John's skills and experience are now in great demand and are shared through his writing. He ______________
(also make) his mark on TV by fronting a series of business programs called 'Troubleshooter', helping business
management to become a popular discussion subject. He ____________ (get) a BAFTA Award (the British
Oscar) for his television work
John ____________ (win) many awards including 'Motivator of the Year', 'Award of Excellence in
Communication' and he _____________ (receive) the award to the 'Industrialist of the Year' in 1986, 1987 and
1988.

F- Choose the best conditional to complete each sentence

1. We (dramatically/incrrease) ____________ our third quarter-sales if we (come up with) ____________

the right marketing campaign.
2. She (start) ____________ a business course, if sales (not improve) ____________ this year.
3. ç(you/hire) ____________ him, if you (know) ____________ he had been in jail?
4. If Richards (not be) ____________ our best sales rep for years, we (not promote) ____________ him.
5. If we (grow) ____________ soya, we (increase) ____________ our profits.
6. I (apply) ____________ for a Coverall Cleaning franchise if I (be) ____________ you
7. If they (advertise) ____________ the post in the newspaper, they (have to) ____________interviuw lots
of candidates.
8. Our prevoous Production Manager (tell) ____________ us, if any of the machines (be) ___________
out of order
9. (you/export) ____________ your products, if you (find) ____________ a good contact broad?

G.Writing: Use the following information to write a company profile.

Nestlé
World's #1 food company, Market leader: coffee (Nescafé) bottled water (Perrier).
Purchase of Ralston Purina: pet food business. 2001 largest global brands: Buitoni, Friskies, Maggi, Nescafé,
Nestea, Nestlé. About 75% stake in Alcon Inc. (ophthalmic drugs, contact lens solutions, and equipment for
ocular surgery) Important indirect stake in cosmetic giant L'Oreal
Founded 1866 by Henri Nestlé Sales at the end of 2001 were CHF 84.7 bn, with a net profit of CHF 6.7 bn.
230,000 employees.Peter BRABECK-LETMATHE: Chief Executive Officer, Nestlé S.A
Main subsidiaries: UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Phillipines, South Africa,
Tatwan. Based in Switzerland

I. Describe Xerox performance over the last months

J.
VOCABULARY – DESCRIBING CHANGES

U.S. Leading Indicators Down 0.5%

June 21, 2005 -- The index of leading economic indicators -- a gauge of economic activity in the coming six to nine
months, fell 0.5% in May, the Conference Board said Monday. This is the fifth straight month without an increase in
the leading index of the business research group. In April, the index was revised to show no change compared with
the initial estimate of a 0.2% decline. The report was weaker than the 0.3% drop expected on Wall Street.
Two other indexes in the report were higher. The coincident index, indicative of current conditions, rose 0.2%, while
the lagging index rose 0.3%. The leading index has now declined at a 2.2% annual rate over the last six months. It
has declined by 1.9% over the last 12 months.
Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein said the U.S. is following a global cooling trend that may be linked to
surging oil prices. "The leading economic indicators are suggesting slower growth setting in during the third quarter,"
he said. "This is not just a domestic phenomenon. Declines or slower increases appear in at least six of the eight
countries for which the Conference Board calculates leading indexes. Energy prices are one factor driving this global
trend. Of more concern is the level of confidence of both consumers and chief executives, which has been choppy."

Daniel R. DiMicco
Vice Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Nucor Corporation

Daniel R. DiMicco is president and chief executive officer of Nucor Corporation. He is also vice
chairman of Nucor's board of directors.

DiMicco _____________ joined Nucor Corporation in November 1982 as plant metallurgist and
manager of quality control for Nucor Steel in Plymouth, Utah and in January 1988, he __________
became melting and casting manager at the Utah division. In March 1991, DiMicco became general
manager of the Nucor-Yamato joint venture in Blytheville, Arkansas and became vice president in
January 1992. He became executive vice president in September 1999. He was elected president
and chief executive officer in September, 2000 and vice chairman of the board of directors in June
2001.

Prior to joining Nucor Corporation, DiMicco was with Republic Steel Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio
as Research Metallurgist and Project Leader. He was with Republic Steel from March 1975 until he
joined Nucor in November 1982.

DiMicco earned a bachelor's in engineering, metallurgy and materials science from Brown
University in Providence, Rhode Island in 1972. He earned a master's of science in metallurgy and
materials science from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1975.

Nucor and affiliates are manufacturers of steel products, with operating facilities in fifteen states.
Products produced are: carbon and alloy steel -- in bars, beams, sheet and plate; steel joists and
joist girders; steel deck; cold finished steel; steel fasteners; metal building systems; and light gauge
steel framing. Nucor is the nation's largest recyclers

Larry Kingsley
President and CEO
IDEX Corporation
VOCABULARY ING 3

IDEX Corporation is a $1 billion highly diversified ____________ manufacturing company with 4,000
____________ employees and close to 60 manufacturing and sales ____________ facilities on six continents.
Through a simple, yet powerful, ____________ business strategy, IDEX has been designing and applying
advanced ____________ management and continuous improvement tools to build an integrated management
model. IDEX President and ____________ Chief Executive Officer Larry Kingsley is actively building on his
company's track record of margin expansion and global organic growth. Kingsley will share his company's
story, as well as his vision and some practical advice for establishing a management system that enables both
creativity and discipline. Learn how value is driven from the factory floor and, ultimately, how sustainable
competitive advantage is created in today's complex global market, as well as the global manufacturing and
supply chain environment

TRENDS

Ford cuts full-year profit outlook

Shares move lower as debt ratings face S&P downgrade

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Shares of Ford Motor Co. dipped in early trading
Wednesday after the automaker, faced with high costs and slumping sales,
slashed its full-year profit target.

The No. 2 U.S. automaker said Tuesday it expects to report a full-year

profit in a range of $1 to $1.25 a share, down from prior estimates of
$1.25 to $1.50 a share.

Standard & Poor's said Ford's debt ratings were unaffected for now but
added it foresees and increased likelihood of a downgrade. "Accelerating
deterioration in the North American market mix, intensifying price
competition, poor acceptance of Ford's future new products, labor strife,
and/or a weakening of the general economy could jeopardize the
ratings," S& P said Wednesday. S&P currently rates Ford BB+, the first
level of junk status.

Ford's stock (F: news, chart, profile) was lower by about 2.8% to $10.86
in early Wednesday trade.

Ford also said it would cut about 1,750 of its North American white-collar
jobs, which amount to about 5% of its 35,000 salaried workers in North
America. The cuts would take effect by Oct. 1.

At the same time, Ford indicated that it would eliminate bonuses for
management worldwide and suspend its matching payments to salaried
workers' 401(k) retirement plans, effective July 1.

As for the second quarter, which ends June 30, the company doubled its
profit range to between 30 cents and 35 cents a share from its earlier
target of 15 cents a share.
Ford cited a lower tax rate and unexpectedly strong results from its
financial unit for the improvement.

The second half of the year will be significantly weaker, with the last two
quarters generating just 7 cents a share, rather than 47 cents a share,
according to Credit Suisse First Boston. Analysts there also expect Ford
to raise its incentive program in July, in response to the success of
General Motors' widening of its employee discount program to all
buyers.

"Although the industry has made significant progress in reducing excess

inventory as Ford and GM actively cut back on production, we get the
sense that things are still tough out there," said Merrill Lynch analyst
John Casesa.

Error! Unknown switch argument.

Ford has had a rough year. Its stock hit a 52-week low of $9.07 on May 2,
down from $16.48 a year earlier. On May 5, Standard & Poor's cut the
venerable motor company's credit rating to junk, reclassifying $161
billion worth of Ford debt as non-investment grade.

Tuesday's warning also follows a steady decline in market share and

soaring employee health-care costs.

Last month, the Dearborn, Mich.-based company posted another dip in

U.S. sales, down 11% to 283,994 vehicles, as demand for Ford's flagship
truck lineup was slammed by rising fuel prices.

Earlier this month, GM (GM: news, chart, profile) , which has struggled with many of the
same problems facing Ford, said it would cut at least 25,000 jobs in the U.S. by 2008 to
generate $2.5 billion in annual savings. See full story.

READING ING3

The Top 400 Guide

Online retailing continues to be a significant merchandising channel, with e-retailing
operations growing in sales, average ticket, conversion rates and more
By Mark Brohan

Ten years ago, long before the Internet investment bubble even began to build much less burst and
Amazon.com was just beginning to sell online, few, if any, retailers could predict whether business-
to-consumer e-commerce would catch on with customers or if the Internet would ever rival stores
and catalogs as a serious sales channel.
But today, with more than a third of all households making at least one online purchase each year—
a figure Forrester Research Inc. predicts will increase to almost 40% by 2009—Internet retailing has
clearly come of age and remains the U.S. retailing industry’s fastest-growing sales channel.
U.S. Internet retail sales totaled $87.5 billion in 2004, up 25% from $70 billion in 2003 and up 62%
from $54 billion in 2002, according to Internet Retailer estimates.
Based on statistics compiled for the Internet Retailer Top 400 Guide, the top 400 retailers in 2004
generated combined web sales of more than $51 billion and accounted for 58.3% of all U.S. Internet
sales. In comparison, the top 300 web retailers in 2003 generated sales of $40 billion, 57% of all
U.S. Internet sales.
Growing the average ticket
The Top 400 Guide identifies and ranks the 400 largest retail web sites by their 2004 sales and
measures other key statistics for each e-commerce site, including monthly visits, monthly unique
visits, sales conversion rate and average ticket.
A key metric that demonstrates web retailing’s growing power and merchants’ growing ability to
analyze, predict and react to changes in online shopping behavior is the increasing size of average
orders. The Top 400 Guide reveals that the average ticket across all merchandising categories
tracked in the Guide—Mass Merchants/Department Stores, Computers/Electronics, Office Supplies,
Health/Beauty, Books/CDs/DVDs/Music, Housewares/Home Furnishings, Apparel/Accessories,
Food/Drug, Flowers/Gifts, Sporting Goods, Specialty/Non-Apparel, Jewelry, Hardware/Home
Improvement and Toys/Hobbies—was up about 16% from $92 in 2003 to $107 in 2004.
To present a true picture of average orders, that statistic eliminates sites with unusually high
average orders; some furniture sites, for instance, have average orders of $1,000 and
computer/electronics sites have average orders of $400+. With those high-value sites factored in,
the average order shoots up to $127.
That in itself is a measure of the confidence that consumers have in online shopping. It is also a
reflection of retailers’ increasing ability to close the sale. Today sophisticated search engine
marketing programs, site search tools and web analytics, along with aggressive pricing and targeted
promotions, are helping retailers move their online sales numbers up. In fact, conversion rates
generally average in the 2.5% range, but rates that reach 8% are not uncommon and some sites
report conversion rates of 18% and higher.
In 1995, when Amazon.com, CD Universe, 1800Flowers.com and other pioneers began to
demonstrate that the web was an emerging merchandising channel, some traditional chain retailers
and catalogers feared that Internet-only merchants could dominate their market niches and force
them to cannibalize store and catalog sales to catch up. But in 2005, an era of multi-channel
retailing, the Top 400 Guide shows that each segment of the market, which includes retail chains,
catalog/call center companies, virtual (web-only) merchants and consumer brand manufacturers, is
well represented and experiencing solid growth.
The Guide’s top 100 includes 40 chains, 28 catalog/call center companies, 24 web-only merchants
and eight consumer goods manufacturers. Amazon continues as the Internet’s largest retailer with
2004 sales of $6.9 billion, up 31% from $5.2 billion in 2003. Amazon has more than 44 million active
customers and offers more than 10 million SKUs.
The guide’s top 10 merchants reflect the fact that office supplies, consumer electronics and
personal computer equipment retailing and direct marketing companies were among the first—and
most aggressive—groups of merchants to begin selling online and introduced merchandising tactics
that are now standard operating procedure for most web retailers. Dell, for instance, dominates the
selling of personal computers online because of its innovative and pioneering strategy of giving
customers the option of designing and personalizing their own PCs. But a diverse number of web
retailing categories are well represented in The Guide’s top 100, which include 20
apparel/accessories retailers, 17 computer/electronic sites, 16 mass merchants, nine specialty/non-
apparel sites, eight food/drug merchants and 30 other merchants in various categories.
Catalogers jumped to the web early on, but in many merchandising niches, virtual web-only
merchants were there before them. In the late 1990s, high profile start-ups such as Pets.com,
Garden.com, Kozmo.com and WebVan poured in millions of dollars, developed complex business
models, recruited top management talent and prepared for the day when an initial public stock
offering would create a handsome return on investment. But many pure-plays were forced to fold,
victims of the dot-com bomb, a slowing economy or the failure to build a merchandising strategy
that generated visitors and sales.
Today, most virtual web-only merchants have built solid e-commerce strategies to remain
competitive, and the ranks of pure play Internet retailers are well represented in the Top 400 Guide.
Amazon.com still dominates the category. The next largest virtual merchant is No. 9 Newegg,
followed by No. 18 Netflix Inc. with 2004 web sales of $506 million, No. 19 Overstock.com Inc. with
2004 web sales of $494.6 million, and No. 28 Drugstore.com Inc. with 2004 web sales of $360.1
million.
Online shoppers frequently visit manufacturers’ web sites to research product information and view
content on the latest styles, features and colors.
The result of paying more attention to web retailing is helping consumer brand manufacturers
complete more sales. For instance, The Pfaltzgraff Co, No. 285 in the Top 400 Guide, had web
sales of $10.5 million in 2004, up 25% from $8.4 million in 2003. One reason for the growth in sales
is the addition of a line of personalized dinnerware and a new web site, pfz.com, dedicated to
promoting—and selling—the new product line.

Describe how some companies have broken traditional business rules with an appropriate
Passive form. Make all necessary changes or supply missing words

When conditions change - market growth slows, competitors become

deeply entrenched, customers seem less concerned with value and only
look at price, the technology plateaus - the rules can always be broken.
They / can walk / _________________ around, abandoned, made obsolete,
or just ignored.

A business that does so - and in the process of doing it conveys some

special benefits on its customers - is in a great position to grow. But it
takes a very unique kind of company to bring this about.

1. In the early 1980s / first personal computing machines the pioneering

Apple I and II and Macintosh computers / develop / Apple Computer

2. Almost a century earlier/ first affordable car / make /Ford Motor

Company

3. At about the same time / first consumer-friendly camera / launch /

Kodak

4. Later / camera that eliminated the stop at the photo processor for a
finished picture / developed / Polaroid

5. Way to capture images electronically on a videotape / find / Philips

6. To reduce delivery time in the US / every overnight package / send /

through Memphis, Tennessee / Federal Express

7. Metal everybody else was throwing away / take and make / into first
class steel / Nucor.
Parents Don't Always Know Best About Jobs

By Erin White

Now is the time when college kids who haven't landed jobs yet become increasingly desperate. As they
hone their résumés and cover letters, they often turn to their parents for advice.
Parents oblige, with good intentions. But they aren't always the best source of wisdom on these matters.
Often, the advice parents give is outdated, irrelevant or just plain lousy.
Even parents with successful careers aren't necessarily expert job hunters. And many parents don't have
much experience in hiring or recruiting. So they sometimes pass along the mistaken assumptions they
have made over the course of their careers. Or they suggest things that might be appropriate for their
own industry or level of seniority but that aren't right for the jobs their kids are pursuing.
"Most of these parents do not have any relevant particular background that would enable them to give
decent advice," says Brad Karsh, president of JobBound, a Chicago-based career-counseling service. "I
cannot tell you how many times I've heard, 'but my mom told me to put that on my résumé' or 'my dad
told me to include that.' "
Mr. Karsh spent 10 years as a recruiter at a big ad agency before founding JobBound. Recently he
advised a college senior hoping to land a marketing job upon graduation. Mr. Karsh helped her craft a
résumé. A few weeks later, she came back with major revisions to the version Mr. Karsh had suggested.
It turned out she had shown it to her dad, who insisted he knew better.
"Every single thing that I had done, her father questioned," Mr. Karsh said. Figuring her dad must be a
job-hunting expert to have such strong opinions, he asked, "So, your dad must work in HR or
recruiting?" Turns out he didn't. Her dad didn't have any experience in marketing, either, the woman's
intended field.
Some of the dad's advice suggested he didn't recognize how competitive the job market is for college
students today. The father, for instance, had told the woman to exclude many details of her work
experience from her résumé. His logic: This would leave her something to talk about in the interview.
Mr. Karsh disagreed. She would hurt her chances of even landing an interview if she omitted such
significant information. "Given the fact that one out of 100 people actually get the interview, I don't
know that I'd save anything for the interview," he says.
Her father also advised her to keep some of her accomplishments vague, in hopes that the hiring
manager might assume her achievements were even better than they were. The woman, for instance, had
held a summer job as a magazine-ad salesperson. She had sold 10 ads, which impressed Mr. Karsh. But
the woman's dad advised her not to write how many ads she had sold. He figured that if she simply wrote
"sold ads," the interviewer might think she had sold dozens.
Mr. Karsh warned that skeptical hiring managers were unlikely to assume the woman had been so wildly
successful. "A recruiter is going to assume the worst," he says. Listing the number of ads would reassure
interviewers that she had accomplished something.
Peg Hendershot, director of Career Vision, a Glen Ellyn, Ill., career-counseling service, says some
parents go a step further than the father of Mr. Karsh's client -- they write their kids' résumés themselves.
While this might result in impressive, professional-sounding résumés, the tactic often backfires in
interviews.
Sometimes parents exaggerate their children's responsibilities at, say, a summer job. But the kids can't
back up these boasts when they discuss their actual job duties. Other times, parents describe supposed
achievements in business-buzzword terms that their kids don't understand. When asked to explain these
achievements in an interview, the kids don't have a clue. So the interview ends up "a total flop," Ms.
Hendershot says.
Marc Karasu, vice president of marketing at Yahoo Inc.'s HotJobs career site, says proud parents
sometimes tell their children to list mountains of accomplishments on multipage résumés. Usually, this is
inappropriate: Older, more experienced job seekers -- who have longer work histories -- typically can
keep their résumés to one or two pages. Mr. Karasu recalls one young woman who was job hunting after
taking a year off to travel following college. Her mother encouraged her to list "every pit stop" she had
taken on her travels, Mr. Karasu says. The result was an inappropriately exhaustive four-page résumé.
Parents sometimes give bad advice about interviews, too. Mr. Karasu says parents often tell kids, "Just
be yourself." But recent college graduates have so little experience interviewing, they need more
concrete help. He suggests that parents stage mock interviews with their children so that they can get a
sense of what questions they might be asked and how their answers sound. "What might sound good as
you rehearse it in your head might not sound good when you say it out loud," he says.

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