Nti Automotive Schools That Are Really Good but Costs Less

Part 1

Questions 1 -8

Look at the statements below and the five news items on various companies. Which report (А, В, C, D or E) does each statement (1-8) refer to?

For each statement (1-8), mark one letter (А, В, C, D or E). You will need to use some of these letters more than once. There is an example at the beginning (0).

Example:

(0) Some new premises are going to be opened. A

1. This company reports not being able to pass on higher costs to its customers.

2. The sale of part of a company has had an adverse affect on profits.

3. This company's response to fluctuations in sales has not had the desired effect.

4. Jobs have been lost because a company has ended one of its activities.

5. There are fears about the impact of internal competition within the company.

6. This company has reported contrasting results from different parts of its operations.

7. This company has spent money on moving part of its operation.

8. Efforts are to be made to turn around sales at a store

А

New Store

Parkin's search for a site for its next store has been ended by Marsden's misfortunes, with Parkin agreeing to buy half of the latter's Birmingham store for Ј40m. Parkin's main store is in London, but it opened its second, in Birmingham, three years ago, and has been seeking sites in other large cities. There was surprise that the new store, likely to open next year, is so close to the existing one, where profits have so far beaten Parkin's sales targets, in case it draws customers away from the existing outlet.

В

Capacity Cut

The packaging industry has typically suffered from a vicious cycle, with rising prices leading to excess capacity, which in turn leads to a collapse in prices, and Johnson Keithley is no exception. The company has been attempting to smooth the boom/bust cycle by better capacity management, but it admitted yesterday that it has been forced to make significant cuts to capacity because of a surprisingly sharp downturn in demand. The group now expects its second-half results to fall below expectations, and warned of further problems on the horizon.

E

Modest Improvement

Dorcas Foods has posted a modest rise in interim profits. However, the company says it has had to absorb increased costs at its Quality Sugar subsidiary and the impact of a margin squeeze at its Australian baking operations. In sugar, the continued strength of sterling has capped profits, and with Dorcas's move out of sugar-beet refining, expenditure on redundancy is having a serious impact. At the same time, floods in Australia have led to higher wheat prices, which in turn have reduced margins in the company's baking operations

С

Hit by Higher Costs

Higher raw-material costs have reduced full-year profits at Bonner's, the plastics manufacturer, with prices of polyethylene, the main component of its business, rising 8% since last year. Profits were also held back by the disposal of its packaging division, which accounted for over half of turnover the previous year. Additional costs were incurred by relocating the head office from Wrexham to Cardiff, and from reorganisation and redundancy in its plastics business. Bonner's said that trading in the current year has started slowly, particularly in its European markets.

D

Surprise Fall

Shares in regional supermarket chain Couldson fell steeply yesterday after the retailer warned of losses at its biggest outlet, in Bristol. The warning was in stark contrast to its trading statement three months ago, which reported a rise in like-for-like sales of 5% in the preceding month. However, trading across the rest of the chain, including seven outlets bought last year from Luxona, showed a healthy improvement. The company has promised to do all it can to stem the decline of the last four weeks at the Bristol outlet.

1. E
2. C
3. B
4. E
5. A
6. D
7. C
8. D

Part 2

Questions 9–14

● Read this text taken from an article about future developments in advertising.

● Choose the best sentence o fill each of the gaps. For each gap (9–14), mark one letter (A–H).

● Do not mark any letter more than once.

Future Developments in Advertising

The explosion of new media, ranging from the internet to digital television, means that people working in advertising will have to devise more cunning ways to catch the public's attention in the future. The traditional TV advertising campaign will not reach the whole family any more. The advertising industry will have to work 'harder and smarter' to cut through the 'clutter and noise' of the future with this vast array of new media, all competing to catch the consumer's eye.

 People have become more individual in their consumption of advertising. (9) ………… New technology has made experimenting with new forms of advertising a possibility. The monologue where the advert tells housewives that this is the washing powder they should buy is just a cliché now. The internet, for example, has made such ads look old-fashioned. (10) ………… A much closer relationship with the consumer is gradually being forged.

The definition of what constitutes advertising will expand well beyond the conventional mass media. Shopping environments will themselves become a part of the advertising process. (11) ………… The aim will be to 'warm' people towards these places so that they will return to purchase goods there again.

In spite of these and other changes, it is highly unlikely that TV, print and radio will disappear altogether as advertising media. (12) ………… But other marketing disciplines, such as public relations and direct marketing, will become as important as advertising. Advertising agencies will have to reinvent themselves. They will no longer be able simply to produce advertisements and then support these through PR, direct marketing or the internet. (13) …………

Thus, creativity will be the most valuable commodity in the future. (14) ………… It will continue to be so in the future. But there will be an increasing premium on the advertiser's ability to be imaginative, and to think laterally about engaging the consumer in a broader variety of media.

A On the contrary, there is almost certain to be an increase in every form of advertising in future years.

B Increasingly, they will exist not simply to sell goods, but also to entertain people and to make sure that they enjoy their time there.

C Originality of thinking has always been in short supply.

D There is, consequently, little hope of them surviving for more than another 20 years.

E This fragmentation has already shown the need for a more sophisticated understanding of where and how to reach people in the most effective way.

F Instead, they will have to change the whole way they look at communication and start thinking about ideas which are not specific to one discipline.

G It has made possible a situation in which customers can tell advertisers what they think, and the advertisers can supply information.

H No longer will all members be watching the same programme: some will be watching different channels on their own TVs, surfing the net or doing both at the same time.

1. E
2. G
3. B
4. A
5. F
6. C

Part 3

Questions 15–20

● Read the following article about Grasmere, a small British company that manufactures steel components, and the questions below.

● For each question (15–20), mark one letter (A, B, C or D).

In a tough climate for UK manufacturers, Malcolm Drake thinks he has hit on a way for his company, Grasmere, to succeed: by becoming a bespoke manufacturer. This involves working very closely with customers to produce precisely what they want. As a result, Grasmere has become indispensable to its big customers, which are based around Europe. Grasmere makes a range of small metal items that are tailored to fit into much larger products, and its customers include big electronics and electrical goods manufacturers. 'When we start talking to customers about an order, they often have only a rough idea what they want,' says Drake. 'We assist them in identifying and specifying their needs, and we advise them on the best way to manufacture the product. Then we fulfil the order, which could involve making anything between 40 and one billion parts in a year.'

Grasmere's main tools are press machines that stamp out metal items in its Birmingham premises. The company was started by Drake's great-grandfather in 1903, when its best-selling products were pen nibs, and the company prides itself on never having fallen below the exacting standards which it set then.

While today's range has moved a long way from those pen nibs, some of the original machinery stands in the reception area, as a memento of the company's roots. Only in the last year has the company relocated from the cramped and grimy workshop it moved to in 1910, to a more modern and open-plan building on the outskirts of Birmingham, an operation that involved a major logistical exercise to move the machinery. The new site has allowed Grasmere to make itself more efficient. The company has cut staff from 150 to 125 by shedding low skilled employees without reducing turnover.

Malcolm Drake says that 18 of Grasmere's customers each contribute revenues of more than £100,000 a year, with half of all turnover coming from three of them. 'It isn't the usual supplier–customer relationship,' he explains. 'We are very open with them and provide them with a lot of internal information about costs. But we select them as much as they select us. If we are  asked to do something that is too difficult or expensive, we say "no". We educate the customer as to what is possible. If you allow yourself to be dictated to, that's not a partnership – it's grovelling.'

Grasmere's business has spread more widely to other parts of Europe in the past few years, though not because of any deliberate strategy to push up exports. As Drake points out, if a company such as his is keen to yoke itself to successful companies that think strategically, inevitably this will mean more overseas sales to relatively farflung divisions of these businesses, to meet their own demand for the components Grasmere can produce.

The company depends on having technically literate people who can talk intelligently to customers. Hence 90 of Grasmere's employees are engineers  employed in a range of jobs including making products, sales, marketing and purchasing. While about 100 of the staff are directly involved in shop-floor production work, they frequently also have an outward-facing role, such as talking to customers about design or manufacturing.

Malcolm Drake sums up his company's strengths as offering five attributes that customers want: quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and low costs. As a result, the company is flourishing.

15 What do we learn about Grasmere in the first paragraph?

A It concentrates on working in a particular sector.

B It helps customers to formulate their own requirements.

C It makes a range of products for a small number of applications.

D It designs products then looks for suitable customers for them.

16 What links Grasmere now with when it was founded?

A The company has always operated in the same premises.

B Some of the original machines are still used for manufacturing.

C The present range of products includes the original lines.

D The company has always had the same attitude to quality.

17 Grasmere's workforce has fallen because

A productivity has improved.

Bit is difficult to recruit skilled staff.

Cnew machinery has been introduced.

Dsome staff chose to leave the company.

18What does Malcolm Drake say about the company's relationship with its customers?

AGrasmere works on equal terms with its customers.

B Grasmere has a better relationship with some customers than others.

C Grasmere can learn a great deal from its customers.

D Grasmere is expected by some customers to provide too much

information.

19 The company's exports are rising because

A it is following a strategy of promoting its products abroad.

B there is a growing demand abroad for the types of products it makes.

C overseas sections of its client companies are buying from Grasmere.

D it is gaining access to the overseas clients of its own customers.

20 It is part of Grasmere's policy to ensure that

 A every customer is allocated to a specific salesperson.

B many of its engineers deal directly with customers.

 C each activity is carried out by dedicated staff.

D it has a department which designs new products.

1. B
2. D
3. A
4. A
5. C
6. B

Part 4

Questions 21-30

Read the article below about customer relationship management. Choose the correct word or phrase to fill each gap from А, В, С or D. For each question (21-30), mark one letter (А, В, С or D).

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

In today's fast-moving market, it is a simple (0) ..D… that products are constantly being replaced by something new. For companies large and small, the most important real (21) …….. with measurable, long-term value is loyal, one-to-one customer relationships. However, despite their importance, they do not (22) ……. on any company's balance sheet. If a company lost 10% of its inventory to theft, it would react swiftly, but if the company loses 10% of its customers, this may not be (23) ……. In this age of product (24) ……, in which the market fails to perceive any profound difference between products or companies, effective management of customer relationships is critical in achieving a competitive (25) ……. Delivering quality service and achieving high customer satisfaction have been closely (26) ……. to  profits, and consequently the (27) ….. all companies are trying to make is to provide more internal and external customer relationship focus. By (28) ….. available information technology, leading companies have already shortened process and response times, increasing customer satisfaction.

But companies must make a profit to survive, so telling a chief executive to focus more on customers, through the use of expensive information technology, may fall on deaf ears unless it  can  be  demonstrated that such investments will be (29) …… in terms of revenue, market share and profits. Certain companies are responding to this new customer focus by completely (30) ……… their traditional financial-only measurements of corporate performance, and seeking new ways of measuring customers' perceptions and expectations.

21

А worth

В value

С asset

D property

22

А turn out

В make up

С write out

D show up

23

А detected

В regarded

С conceived

D distinguished

24

А coincidence

В similarity

С agreement

D connection

25

А authority

В command

С advantage

D preference

26

А joined

В linked

С associated

D combined

27

А shift

В fluctuation

С motion

D displacement

28

А profiting

В capitalising

С exploiting

D benefiting

29

А reinstated

В restored

С replaced

D recouped

30

А modifying

В mending

С refurbishing

D overhauling

1. C
2. D
3. A
4. B
5. C
6. B
7. A
8. C
9. D
10. D

Part 5

Questions 31–40

● Read the article below about computer printers.

● For each question (31–40), write one word in CAPITAL LETTERS.

● There is an example at the beginning (0).

PRINTING AT A PRICE

Most companies now realise that the so-called 'paperless office' is clearly an illusion – and probably always will (0) ….BE…….. . Digital technology has revolutionised working practices and methods of communication, but it has created additional media rather (31) ………… replacing existing ones. Therefore, paper is here to stay, and the printer can be sure of keeping (32) ………… place alongside the computer, fax and telephone as a basic item of office equipment, fundamental to the life of most companies.

However, like many other basic items, the printer is often seen (33) ………… peripheral, and insufficient attention is given to its selection. It is worth remembering that the equipment that you attach to your computer is just as important as the computer's technical specification. You will soon find that (34) ………… you are using a printer that jams and smudges your work, or makes getting names and addresses onto envelopes seem an impossible task, then (35) .……….. supersonic speed of your microprocessor will be no great advantage.

Printing technology has developed rapidly over the (36) ………… few years, and it seems set to continue to (37) ………… so.   Finding the best printer for your particular needs depends on many factors, not least (38) ………… which is cost. Yet even before cost comparisons come (39) ………… consideration, the questions of brand, colour, volume, speed and quality of output all need careful thought. The best motto is 'try before you buy'. That way, you will get the best printer for your company, and it will be (40) ………… the best possible price.

1. THAN
2. ITS
3. AS
4. IF / WHEN / WHENEVER
5. THE
6. PAST / LAST
7. DO
8. OF
9. INTO / UNDER
10. AT / FOR

Part 6

0 FOR

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1. YOURSELF
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Nti Automotive Schools That Are Really Good but Costs Less

Source: https://englobex.ru/blog/bec-higher-reading-practice-test-marketing/

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