Holistic Marketing Overview - Understanding the Shift in AVHP2 Lesson 1

LESSON 1:
MARKETING: A holistic approach to marketing
This unit looks at a new approach to marketing.
The case for holistic marketing by Gary Silverman
A. In big companies, marketing departments are adopting ‘holistic
marketing’ – a term that expresses the growing desire of companies to use
a greater variety of marketing methods to communicate with their
customers. / The move into holistic marketing reflects two developments. /
Companies are losing confidence in television commercials/. They are also
growing more interested in the Internet and other alternative ways of advertising.
B. Technological advances are giving consumers the power to avoid
advertising. / For example, DVDs are making it easier for people to record
programmes and fast-forward past television commercials, while software
helps them block Internet pop-up advertisements and unwanted e-mails.
C. Marketers have responded in two ways. They are looking for new places
to put advertisements, such as ads on displays on bus shelters or on mobile
phone screens. And they are beginning to see any contact with a consumer
as a marketing opportunity. The idea is to engage the customer wherever
the customer happens to be – a holistic approach to marketing, in other words.
D. As a result, advertising agencies are not just thinking about television
commercials these days. They are trying to figure out ways to give a better
customer experience; for example, how staff should answer the telephone
when customers cal to ask for information or make a complaint. / They are
also looking for ways to make the shopping experience more interesting,
and bring new excitement and innovation to product packaging and store display.
E. Although many marketers see the advantages of a holistic approach to
their marketing, many may be slow to adopt it because of practical complications.
F. Money for marketing comes from marketing budgets. But in the new
world of holistic marketing, the lines between marketing and other
business activities are blurring. In addition to marketing, other departments
in a company also have a role, which makes al ocating marketing budgets
difficult. A website, for instance, could be seen as a form of Internet
advertising, but websites also function as virtual stores. So money for
building a site could equal y go to a marketing or product development department.
G. To make the situation more complicated, companies are finding it
difficult to compare the impact of new kinds of marketing activity. In
holistic marketing, advertisers are no longer interested in simply reaching
customers, but in engaging them. The chal enge is how to measure the
impact of marketing messages – how wel customers are paying attention to their marketing messages.
H. There are companies working with measurement tools that help with
this task, but until there is general acceptance of these tools, companies
may find it difficult to justify any change in how they al ocate marketing
budgets. ‘With some new media, it is much more difficult to put these
budgets together.’ says Alan Rutherford, Global Media Director at Unilever.
A. Understanding the main points
Read the article and answer these questions.
1. After reading the article, can you summarise what ‘holistic marketing’ is?
Compare your ideas with other students.
2. What two factors have made companies interested in this new approach to marketing
3. Why isn’t traditional TV and Internet advertising as effective as before?
4. Marketers have reacted to this trend in two ways. What are they?
5. How has a more holistic way of looking at advertising changed the way advertising agencies work?
6. According to the writer, many companies wil be slow to move to holistic marketing. Why is this? Choose two explanations.
a) Holistic marketing can involve several departments, which makes
managing marketing budgets very complex.
b) They see holistic marketing as a fashion that wil pass.
c) There is a lack of accepted tools for measuring the effectiveness of new marketing activities.
d) Most advertising agencies don’t yet have the right skil s and expertise.
B. Understanding details
Read the article again and answer these questions.
1. The writer gives an example of how consumers are avoiding advertising on the television. What is it?
2. The writer gives two examples of alternative places where advertisers
can put advertisements. What are they?
3. What example does the writer use to il ustrate how advertising agencies
can give customers a better experience?
4. According to the writer, holistic marketing wil make al ocating marketing
budgets more difficult. What example does he give to il ustrate this point? VOCABULARY A. Understanding expressions
Choose the best explanation for each phrase from the article.
1. ‘Companies are losing confidence in television commercials.’ (paragraph A)
a) They don’t think that TV adverts are as good as before.
b) They no longer believe that TV adverts produce good results.
2. ‘. . engage the customer …’ (paragraph C)
a) get the interest of the customer and keep it
b) have more conversations with the customer
3. ‘. . the lines between marketing and other business activities are
blurring.’ (paragraph F)
a) The differences between marketing and other business activities are less clear.
b) There is a big difference between marketing and other business activities. B. Word search
1. Find words or phrases in the article which fit these meanings.
a) starting to do something new (paragraph A) adopting
b) thinking about the whole of something, not just dealing with particular aspects (paragraph A) holistic
c) improvements (paragraph B) advances
d) try to prevent something from happening (paragraph B) avoid
e) stop something happening completely (paragraph B) block
f) possibility (paragraph C) opportunity
g) think about a problem until you have a solution (paragraph D) figure out
h) plans showing the money available (paragraph F) budgets
i) giving someone their share of the total amount (paragraph F) al ocating
j) give a good reason for something (paragraph H) justify
2. Find two other words in the article with the same meaning
as advertisements. commercials, ads C. Word partnerships
1. Match these words to make noun-noun partnerships from the article. 1. holistic b a) holistic marketing commercials
2. television a b) marketing television commercials
3. marketing d c) advertising marketing activity
4. customer f d) activity customer experience 5. Internet c e) agencies Internet advertising
6. advertising e f) experience advertising agencies
2. Find five other noun-noun partnerships starting with the
word marketing (paragraphs A, C, F and G).
3. The writer il ustrates some of his points with practical examples.
Complete the three phrases he uses to introduces them.
1. ……… For example ………, DVDs are making it easier to record programmes … (paragraph B)
2. They are looking for new places to put advertisements, ……… such as
……… ads on displays on bus shelters . . (paragraph C)
3. A website, ……… for instance ………, could be seen as a form of Internet advertising, … (paragraph F) D. Sentence completion
Use the word partnerships from Exercises C1 and C2 to complete this extract.
(1) C……… e……… Customer experience is central to a new approach to
marketing, known as (2) h……… m……… holistic marketing Marketers and
(3) a……… a……… advertising agencies are looking for exciting new ways of
engaging the customers, using a mix of new media and (4) marketing methods
m……… m……… Even companies with smal (5) marketing
budgets m……… b……… can do a lot. E. Prepositions
Use the prepositions below to complete these sentences. in in of to with
1. There is growing interest ……in… Internet advertising.
2. Companies have lost confidence … in…… television advertising.
3. More and more companies see the advantage ……of… a more holistic
approach ……to… marketing.
4. Marketers need to view any contact …with…… customers as a marketing opportunity.
Lesson 2: Human Resources E-recruitment
This unit looks at the ways in which employers are using technology in the recruitment process.
Online recruitment: Shopping for talent in a virtual world by Sarah Murray
A. Since 2007, Ernst & Young’s recruitment strategy has included a page on
Facebook. / On the site, job candidates can meet students gaining work
experience, participate in opinion pol s and join discussion groups,
whose topics cover everything from psychometric testing to working in China.
B. However, the accounting firm’s move into social networking is only
one example of the way companies can use the web to attract top
talent. Some companies have extended their use of the Internet in the
recruitment process and are using web tools very effectively. As wel
as making use of the services of companies such as Monster, the
world’s largest online recruitment group, they are using online
technology to speed up the application process. This al ows
candidates to find out details about the job they are applying for and
complete the first stages of the application.
C. One important part of this process is online testing. Taking a
practice test on a corporate website means an individual can
measure themselves against the standards of the company in areas
such as numeracy, for example. For companies, these tests can
weed out inappropriate candidates before they have even started the
application process. And for graduates, they save time and money. If
they don’t measure up, they can withdraw from the process without
having to spend time on application forms or travel ing to another city.
D. It is important for companies to fol ow up with automated feedback
on the tests, however. Candidates who do wel in practice tests and
receive instant feedback tel ing them that they’ve exceeded the
standard requirements find that very encouraging, and so tend to
stick with the company and continue their application.
E. However, the web offers more than automated form fil ing,
particularly when it comes to identifying the best talent among the
graduate community. Traditional y, companies thought about how to
find the right candidate. Today, however, they think about how the
right candidate can find them – by ‘setting up shop’ in other parts of
the Internet, outside their own web domains. Tech-savvy, younger-
generation individuals now entering the job market spend much of
their lives online and expect recruiters to be there, too.
F. For companies, this means engaging in the online social
networking that plays such an important part in the way young
recruits interact with their peers. As wel as social networking sites,
virtual worlds such as Second Life also provide opportunities to
engage prospective candidates, whose ‘avatars’ (invented online
characters) can interact with those of the company’s employees.
G. Much of the real power of the Internet in recruitment exists in
these external sites, where companies can build an employer brand
and tap into potential recruits by engaging in issues about which
these individuals are passionate. This means companies need to
establish a presence in everything from chat rooms to blogs.
H. But while some forward-thinking companies are doing this, many
recruiters have yet to tap into these audiences. ‘Organisations are a
bit unsure at the moment of how to take advantage of this,’ says
Emma Parry, Research Fel ow at Cranfield School of Management.
‘But it’s something they’l have to do in the future because, for this
generation of recruits, that’s the way they communicate.’ READING
A. Understanding the main points
Read the article and answer these questions.
1. Which modern technological resource are companies now using to
recruit the next generation of employees?
2. Besides their own website, which two other types of site are
companies using to attract and recruit graduates?
3. At which stage in the recruitment process is online testing useful?
4. In which two main ways is this general y useful to both employers and graduates?
5. Why is it important for companies to give quick automated feedback?
6. Why is it not sufficient for companies simply to use their own
website to attract young recruits?
7. What are companies trying to achieve by engaging with potential
employees outside of the company’s own website domain?
8. According to the article, are al employers proficient at using web
resources to attract and recruit employees yet B. Understanding details
Read the article again and answer these questions.
1. Which wel -known Internet site is playing a major role in Ernst and
Young’s recruitment strategy?
2. What is the world’s largest online recruitment group?
3. Give a specific example of how online testing is useful, firstly to the
company and secondly to the potential job applicant.
4. Which virtual world are some companies using in order to meet potential recruits?
5. How can potential recruits use that resource to meet and talk to company employees?
6. Which other two Internet forums do employers use to meet young people?
7. Once employers have made contact with young people, how do
they keep those young people interested in them?
C. Searching for information
1. Look at these reasons why employers participate in social
networking sites. Tick the ones mentioned in the article. 1. to attract top talent
2. to have fun playing on Second Life 3. to build an employer brand
4. to tap into potential recruits
5. to learn more about world issue
2. Look at these reasons why young people interact with
companies on social networking sites. Tick (ü) the ones mentioned in the article.
1. to develop ‘avatars’
2. to improve their computer skil s 3. to join discussion groups 4. to meet interns
5. to participate in opinion pol s VOCABULARY A. Word search
Find three words in paragraphs A and B of the article which
fol ow the word recruitment and match the resulting phrases with their meanings.
1. recruitment s……… a) a set of companies whose job it is to help employers find new employees
2. recruitment p……… b) a plan for recruiting new employees
3. recruitment g……… c) a series of steps which results in the hiring of new employees B. Word families
1. Complete the chart with words from the article. verb noun (process) noun noun (company) (individual) to recruit (1) ……… (2) ……… (3) ……… (4) ……… (5) ……… applicant
2. Complete the chart with the corresponding nouns. verb noun to attract (1) ……… to extend (2) ……… to withdraw from (3) ……… to fol ow up (4) ……… to receive (5) ……… C. Word partnerships
1. Match the verbs and verb phrases (1-8) with the noun phrases
(a-h) to form word partnerships relating to the use of online
technology in the job application process. 1. to use a) inappropriate candidates 2. to complete b) web tools very effectively 3. to fol ow up with c) a practice test 4. to find out d) time and money 5. to weed out e) details about the job 6. to take
f) the first stages of the application 7. to save
g) against the standards of the company 8. to measure h) automated feedback themselves
2. Decide which actions in Exercise 1 belong to the candidate
and which belong the company. One of them applies to both. D. Sentence completion
Use phrases from Exercises A-C to complete these sentences.
1. We have just spent a month working out our. . . . . . . . . . . . . . for the
coming year. We plan to take on 30 graduates and wil recruit them al online.
2. We are a very popular company to work for. In fact, we were voted
one of the top-ten. . . . . . . last year.
3. Some companies are using online web tools to al ow potential
recruits to. . . . . . . the first stages of their job application.
4. Practice tests enable potential applicants to. . . . . . . themselves
against the standards of the company.
5. Online tests al ow employers to weed out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . so that
they don’t waste time or money visiting the company for tests and interviews.
6. Social networking can be a great way to ……… top talent.
7. It is an important part of a company’s task of building an employer
brand to appeal to potential young ………
E. Understanding expressions
Choose the best explanation for each word or phrase from the article.
1. ‘... whose topics cover everything from psychometric testing to ...’ (paragraph A) a) mathematical tests
b) tests which measure personality and attitudes
2. ‘... in areas such as numeracy ...’ (paragraph C)
a) skil with numbers and mathematics
b) ability to read numbers accurately
3. ‘... can weed out inappropriate candidates ...’ (paragraph C) a) select suitable candidates
b) eliminate unsuitable candidates
4. ‘If they don’t measure up, ...’ (paragraph C) a) aren’t big enough b) aren’t competent enough
5. ‘Tech-savvy, younger-generation individuals ...’ (paragraph E)
a) with specialist technical skil s
b) knowledgeable about and able to use modern technology LESSON 3: ACCOUNTANCY
Developing global professionals
This unit looks at the broad range of work skil s that the modern accountant needs.
Business skil s give you the edge by Rod Newing
A. Anybody can cal themselves an accountant, but a recognised
qualification general y guarantees proper training, experience and
professional standards. Most accountants work in-house for
companies or organisations in the private, public or voluntary sectors.
Those employed by accountancy firms, on the other hand, usual y
specialise in very specific areas, such as auditing, taxation,
insolvency or forensic accounting. Natural y, each specialism has
different training requirements.
B. Despite the existence of global accounting practices serving global
clients, the accountancy bodies that oversee training are almost
entirely domestic and serve the needs of their domestic market.
C. Although the widespread adoption of international accounting
standards is making training easier, taxation is a national issue.
Therefore, accountancy training natural y tends to occur at a national
level. ‘We are not educating accountants to work anywhere in the
world, but to work in their own national environment,’ says Jim Sylph,
Executive Director of Professional Standards at the International
Federation of Accountants (IFAC).
D. IFAC describes itself as ‘the global organisation for the
accountancy profession’. It has 2.5 mil ion members from al areas of
the profession, belonging to 157 member and affiliated bodies and
accountancy associations, from al over the world.
E. But accountancy training is not just about the initial qualification.
The big chal enge is keeping accountants up to date in a changing
world. To support its members, IFAC sets very broad standards for
education programmes, including continuing professional education and lifelong learning.
F. The current trend is to emphasise strategy and management over
the purely technical subjects, because strategic and managerial skil s
can give the big global practices a competitive advantage.
G. In this way, at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the concept of the
‘business adviser’ runs right through from newly qualified accountants
to partners. This includes skil s such as managing teams, and
coaching and appraising people. Business and relationship skil s
have huge financial implications. Indeed, they often determine the
length of time that the business relationship between an accountancy firm and its customers exists.
H. Similarly, global training at KPMG concentrates on values, skil s
and behaviours. However, KPMG’s main strategic focus is the
mobility of its workforce, and it views the lack of portability of national
qualifications as the main barrier to this. ‘It presents chal enges within
the profession,’ says Michael Walby, Senior Training Manager at
KPMG. ‘We need to be able to get our resource to the opportunities,
irrespective of geographical boundaries. The profession needs to
work together across the various institutes to take advantage of future opportunities.’
I. ‘If you get training right, it can make a significant difference to
competitive advantage,’ says Ms Kilbride, Associate Partner for
Global Learning at Deloitte. This is especial y the case in smal or
emerging markets that are growing rapidly. They face chal enges to
consistency and quality because of a rapid influx of people.
J. According to Mr Blewitt, Chief Executive of the Association of
Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), increasingly employers
want people who can move around the world with a common
accounting language and set of standards and ethics. He states,
‘There is an inexhaustible demand from developing nations. With a
qualified accountancy profession, these countries wil continue to be
able to attract inward investment and aid from agencies such as the World Bank.’ READING
A. Understanding the main points
Read the article and say whether these statements are true (T) or
false (F). Identify the part of the article that gives this
information. Correct the false ones.
1. Most accountants work for accountancy firms.
2. There are a number of different specialist areas in accounting.
3. Accountancy firms only operate in their domestic market.
4. Accountancy training is mainly organised local y.
5. With a recognised accountancy qualification, you are sufficiently
trained for the rest of your working career.
6. IFAC does not expect accountants to get any further training once
they have obtained their initial accountancy qualification.
7. Giving its accountants business-skil s training can have a serious impact on a firm’s success. B. Understanding details
Read the article again and answer these questions.
1. Which phrase in paragraph F has the same meaning as the edge in the title?
2. What are the three main advantages of an employee who holds a
recognised accountancy qualification?
3. Why do accountants general y train in their own country?
4. How does IFAC describe itself?
5. Which two broad sets of skil s do large accountancy firms value as
much as the purely technical accounting skil s?
6. What does KPMG see as being the most important asset in its accountants?
7. Which major barrier to this does KPMG’s Senior Training Manager mention?
8. Which markets would currently benefit from having more
accountants trained to a high level?
9. Which attributes do employers need their international y mobile employees to share?
10. What sort of economic benefits would a stronger accountancy
profession bring to developing countries, according to ACCA’s Chief Executive? VOCABULARY A. Definitions
Paragraph A lists four accountancy specialisms. Match these
words and phrases from the article (1-4) with their meanings (a- d). 1. auditing
a) when a company’s financial records are officially
checked because illegal activity is suspected
2. tax accounting b) an accountant working in this area acts for a person or
company that is no longer able to pay their debts or a
company whose liabilities exceed its assets 3. insolvency
c) preparing a person’s or company’s financial
information in order to calculate the proportion of their
profit which they must pay to their government 4. forensic
d) checking an organisation’s activities or performance accounting
or examining a person’s or organisation’s accounts to
make sure that they are true and honest B. Word search
Read paragraphs G and H again and match each of these nouns
or noun phrases with either PwC or KPMG.
1. business adviser concept – PwC 2. mobility 3. values and behaviours 4. team-management skil s 5. coaching 6. employee appraisal 7. relationship skil s C. Sentence completion
Use words and phrases from Exercises A and B to complete these sentences.
1. Due to a sharp drop in sales, the company was not able to pay its
creditors and eventual y entered into ………
2. Accountants need to deal with clients, so it is important for them to
have ……… skil s as wel as technical ones.
3. It is important to have. . . . . . . . . . . . . . skil s if you are going to be
responsible for groups of employees.
4. Accountants involved in. . . . . . . check that their clients’ financial
statements present a true and honest picture of the company.
5. The company was suspected of being dishonest in its financial reporting, so the
……… accountants were cal ed in to investigate its dealings.
6. Accountants need to develop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . skil s in order to give
appropriate feedback to the teams they manage. D. Word partnerships
Match the sentence halves to make sentences similar to ones in the article.
1. Global accounting practices a) a wide range of education serve programmes. 2. A recognised qualification b) a significant difference to guarantees competitive advantage. 3. Accountancy bodies that c) global clients. oversee training serve 4. IFAC provides
d) chal enges to consistency and quality. 5. Good training can make e) proper training. 6. Emerging markets face f) the needs of their domestic market. E. Linking ideas
1. Find five words or phrases in the article which express contrast or
similarity. Identify the sentences in which they appear and state which idea they express.
EXAMPLE: Anybody can cal themselves an accountant, but a
recognised qualification general y guarantees proper training
experience and professional. (paragraph A)
‘But’ expresses contrast
2. Write five sentences of your own, using the linking words and
phrases you found in Exercise 1. F. Understanding expressions
Choose the best explanation for each phrase from the article.
1. ‘... not just about the initial qualification.’ (paragraph E) a) occurring at the end b) occurring at the beginning
2. ‘... have huge financial implications.’ (paragraph G) a) consequences b) difficulties
3. ‘There is an inexhaustible demand ...’ (paragraph J) a) never-ending b) enormous
Lesson 4: International Business
Overcoming cultural barriers
This unit considers the cultural issues which can arise when a
company starts working international y.
Barriers can give a competitive edge by Morgan Witzel
A. Sooner or later, the growing company wil reach market saturation
in its domestic market, and there wil be little choice but to move into overseas markets.
B. Most companies, in fact, start dipping their toes into foreign waters
long before they reach domestic saturation, to exploit other profitable
markets and give themselves experience of working abroad.
C. Whether the company is trading abroad or establishing foreign
subsidiaries, the issue of national culture assumes great importance.
It had been known for years that working across cultures poses
special problems, but the work of Geert Hofstede, the Dutch
management theorist, in the 1970s and 1980s showed just how
diverse and various cultural influences can be.
D. Working across a single global company – IBM, a business noted
for the uniformity of its corporate culture – Hofstede showed that a
huge variety of beliefs and values were present in the workplace, not
just between the US, Europe and Asia, but within regions as wel .
E. Globalisation is said to be leading to cultural convergence but, as
Hofstede and many later studies have shown, ful convergence is stil some way away.
F. Companies moving into international markets wil usual y first feel
the effects of culture on their marketing and advertising. Every
international marketer has their col ection of mistakes, where the
values of one culture fail to translate into another. Sales of the
Vauxhal Nova in Hispanic-speaking countries, for example, suffered
because in Spanish, no va means ‘won’t go’.
G. Other failures are more complex and based on deeper cultural
divides. Toyota’s luxury car, the Lexus, was an immediate hit in the
US, where the luxury-car market had been the preserve of a few
domestic companies, and the Lexus offered something appreciably
different. The Lexus has been much less successful in Europe, where
there is a stronger tradition of luxury car-making and strong loyalty to
local brands on the part of their buyers.
H. Cultural barriers in marketing can be overcome by repositioning
brands, changing advertising and product features to suit local
sensitivities and so on. Much more difficult to manage are the cultural
differences that arise when companies establish multinational
subsidiaries and then expect members of different national cultures to
work together. This is especial y the case with Western companies
establishing subsidiaries in China.
I. Chinese workers often prefer strong, directive leadership to the
more democratic model now common in the West. They also rely
much more on senior managers to sort out problems, including
problems in the workers’ private lives. Linguistic confusion is also
compounded by quite different attitudes to issues such as ethics,
reporting and control, and workers’ rights and responsibilities.
J. What appears to be a barrier, however, can actual y be a source of
competitive advantage for those companies and managers that learn
to work with cultural differences and benefit from them.
K. In terms of managing local subsidiaries, some global companies
have learnt to adopt best practices from foreign companies and
transfer these into the home market. This kind of cross-fertilisation
has been taking place between Japanese and Western car-makers
for decades, and has led to powerful innovations on both sides.
A. Understanding the main points
Read the article and say whether these statements are true (T), false
(F) or there is not enough information given (N). Identify the part of
the article that gives this information.
1. Most companies only start working international y when they have
ful y exploited their domestic market.
2. The best way to enter foreign markets is to set up subsidiaries in those countries.
3. Geert Hofstede was the first person to study the impact of culture on working international y.