HBO have made a film portraying the banking crisis of 2008.
Follow the link for a review of the film and then check you tube's trailers.
Media Life Magazine - 'Too Big to Fail,' a big story, well told
For background vocabulary check back to the posting on Nov 8th 2010.
Friday, 20 May 2011
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Business English Metaphors from Macmillan
Please follow the link to the Macmillan blog and then check their Business English links.
The bottom line on trickle-down Macmillan
The bottom line on trickle-down Macmillan
Friday, 6 May 2011
Niche market Luxury Coffee
From tutor2u-
How much would you as a customer pay for coffee roasted from beans passed by a civet?
In Venice an expresso in coffee bars close to Piazza San Marco may cost the customer €1.50, if you like to drink coffee standing up, should you want to sit down, you have added another €1.00 to the bill.
On the other hand, sitting in St Mark’s Square at Florian, or one of its rivals will mean the expresso is €10.50. You would be paying for the pressed linen table cloth, the seat, the attention of a waiter in a smart white jacketed uniform, and a wonderful view across a world heritiage site. Should the band, play more consumer surplus is extracted, there is a surcharge of €6.00.
However, how much would you pay for coffee made with beans excreted by a civet.
“It looks different, it smells different, and most importantly it tastes different. Coffee connoisseurs usually give two reasons for civet coffee’s unique taste - the fact that the civets self-select the juiciest coffee cherries, which in turn give the best beans, and the fact that - once inside the civet - these beans are fermented by enzymes in the stomach.After being thoroughly washed and roasted, the end product lacks the bitterness of some ordinary coffees and has a soft, chocolaty flavour.”
Somehow the firm’s owners had found out that coffee roasted from beans excreted from civets commanded high prices and switched to output of this high end coffee. “Bags of coffee beans can fetch up to $800 (£500) per kilogramme in Japan or the US, and coffee shops in New York sell just one cup for about $50.”
Needless to say the market has a number of niches, civet coffee made from beans excreted by wild civies may command a higher price than the beans passed by farmed civets - are they fed with all natural ingedients? is there a fairtrade civet coffee brand?
Ask yourself would you order Café Alamid, or at those prices would you have someone order it for you?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12959381
How much would you as a customer pay for coffee roasted from beans passed by a civet?
In Venice an expresso in coffee bars close to Piazza San Marco may cost the customer €1.50, if you like to drink coffee standing up, should you want to sit down, you have added another €1.00 to the bill.
On the other hand, sitting in St Mark’s Square at Florian, or one of its rivals will mean the expresso is €10.50. You would be paying for the pressed linen table cloth, the seat, the attention of a waiter in a smart white jacketed uniform, and a wonderful view across a world heritiage site. Should the band, play more consumer surplus is extracted, there is a surcharge of €6.00.
However, how much would you pay for coffee made with beans excreted by a civet.
“It looks different, it smells different, and most importantly it tastes different. Coffee connoisseurs usually give two reasons for civet coffee’s unique taste - the fact that the civets self-select the juiciest coffee cherries, which in turn give the best beans, and the fact that - once inside the civet - these beans are fermented by enzymes in the stomach.After being thoroughly washed and roasted, the end product lacks the bitterness of some ordinary coffees and has a soft, chocolaty flavour.”
Somehow the firm’s owners had found out that coffee roasted from beans excreted from civets commanded high prices and switched to output of this high end coffee. “Bags of coffee beans can fetch up to $800 (£500) per kilogramme in Japan or the US, and coffee shops in New York sell just one cup for about $50.”
Needless to say the market has a number of niches, civet coffee made from beans excreted by wild civies may command a higher price than the beans passed by farmed civets - are they fed with all natural ingedients? is there a fairtrade civet coffee brand?
Ask yourself would you order Café Alamid, or at those prices would you have someone order it for you?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12959381
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Costa Rica and Language proficiency
Business English students might be interested in this letter
Language Proficiency Key to Labor Development / Letters to the Editor / Opinion / Costa Rica Newspaper, The Tico Times
Language Proficiency Key to Labor Development / Letters to the Editor / Opinion / Costa Rica Newspaper, The Tico Times
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