节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-04-30
难易度:High
关键字:supply chain, reliant, complementary, commute
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And thank you for joining us for day two of our lesson - Location, Location,
Location.
It is important to have a good location for your business.
Maybe if your business is not in a good location, you can relocate.
That's one of the things we talked about yesterday.
Well, we've enjoyed quite a few conversations between Uncle Bob and Ben about
Ben and Sandy's business.
So what are some other things that we've learned about over the last couple of
months, Carolyn?
Well, we learned about the importance of having a good business plan.
You need to have a very clear plan of what your business is, what it is going to
do and how it's going to work.
It is important to have a good business plan.
And of course, we also learned about financing your business.
Where are you going to get the seed money to start your business?
You want to make sure you don't undercapitalize.
You want to make a profit.
And of course, in this lesson we're talking about how important it is to have a
good location.
Let's get started today with the first reading of our lesson - Location,
Location, Location.
(Music).
Location, Location, Location.
What else should I be thinking about?
You also need to think about your brand image.
You mean I should think about what the office says about my company?
Right.
You need to pick a location that is consistent with the image you want to have.
OK. That makes sense.
You can't just think about your customers though.
You also need to consider your supply chain.
But our company doesn't really have a supply chain.
We just build apps for our customers.
That doesn't mean you aren't reliant on other companies, though.
A good location can make face-to-face meetings convenient and help avoid
misunderstandings.
(Music).
We do want to avoid misunderstandings in our business and with our customers.
At the beginning, Ben has a line asking his Uncle Bob: What else should I be
thinking about?
And of course, I'll be Uncle Bob.
You also need to think about your brand image.
Wait a minute, brand image is important.
Brand image is important.
If you have a brand image, then that is what people think of when they think of
your business or your brand of product.
What kind of idea do you want people to have about the things that you make?
That's right.
You also might think of this as your brand's reputation.
What is it known for?
What do people think about when they think of your brand?
That's your brand image.
Well, please continue, Ben.
Oh, thank you. Yes.
You mean I should think about what the office says about my company?
Right.
You need to pick a location that is consistent with the image you want to have.
Oh. It needs to be consistent with the image that Ben wants to have people think
of when they think of his company.
And this phrase here "consistent with," it's a great little phrase.
It means that it doesn't change, it stays the same or it matches well.
All right.
Well, different things could be consistent with something.
So you might say uh, someone's character is this person consistent in private
and in public.
Is their character in private consistent with their character in public?
Different things should be consistent.
That's right.
And here Ben wants his company's office to be consistent with the image that
people think of when they think of his products.
So location can affect that image.
Ben responds: OK. That makes sense.
You can't just think about your customers though.
You also need to consider your supply chain.
Oh. So it's not just about customers.
There are other things that you have to think about when choosing your location.
Not just making sure that there are people there who are interested in your
products but also about the supply chain.
Yes, the supply chain.
Let's take a look at those words from our Word Bank.
Your supply chain is how you are connected to other businesses that could
benefit you, especially financially or other ways.
They can give you things and give you resources, your supply chain.
That's right.
So if you have a business that makes something, like if I were to open a bakery,
I would need a supply chain that provided me with the ingredients for my
products.
I would need flour and sugar, and all sorts of other things in order to bake
things.
And those would be my supplies.
And the businesses I purchas those supplies from would be my supply chain.
And my supply chain for my sauce shop might include different kinds of sauces or
ingredients for those sauces.
So my supply chain.
Well, it's very important to think about or consider your supply chain.
Ben, please continue.
Yes. Ben continues: But our company doesn't really have a supply chain.
We just build apps for our customers.
Hmm, you just build apps for your customers.
Or you might call those applications - "apps" for short.
And Uncle Bob continues.
That doesn't mean you aren't reliant on other companies, though.
A good location can make face-to-face meetings convenient and help avoid
misunderstandings.
Oh. So even though Ben doesn't really have a supply chain, he might still be
reliant on other companies.
And this is another great word we want to talk about: reliant.
If you rely on something, then you depend on it.
You need it to be there.
That's right.
You rely on something.
Well, I have a question for you.
How reliant on your parents are you?
Of course, children rely on their parents a lot.
But the older you get, you become less and less reliant on your parents.
That is true.
And Uncle Bob said something else in this uh, section here.
He said face-to-face meetings would be more convenient and help avoid
misunderstandings.
Now this phrase "face-to-face," if you have a face-to-face meeting, then it is
in person.
Both of you are there, and you are talking to each other.
It's not over the phone or on the computer through an email, or even through a
text message.
That's right, face-to-face.
It's important to know when to have face-to-face meetings.
Of course, something else you could do, another kind of meeting is over Skype.
Sometimes you might live in a different country, and you need to have meetings
over the phone or through Skype or something like that.
But if possible, if you are in the same city as somebody, you want to be able to
have face-to-face meetings because these can really help to avoid
misunderstandings.
That's right.
And if you have a business that is building apps or making apps for your
customers, they might have questions.
And a face-to-face meeting would be very convenient if you have a good location
that they can find you at.
Well, now it is time for us to have a meeting with Michelle in the Language Lab.