English Teaching and Learning: English Business and Entrepreneurship

English for Business and Entrepreneurship

https://www.coursera.org/learn/business

Welcome to English for Business and Entrepreneurship, a course created by the University of Pennsylvania, and funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of English Language Programs.

This course is designed for non-native English speakers who are interested in learning more about the global business economy. In this course, you will learn about topics and language necessary to succeed in the international workplace. You will explore business English through authentic readings and video lectures, while learning about business vocabulary, concepts, and issues.

Unit 1 will provide an introduction to entrepreneurship by examining ideas, products, and opportunities.
In unit 2, you will learn about the basics of market research, including how to identify an opportunity,
The next unit in the course will focus on business plans, why these plans are important, and will give you a chance to practice composing a business plan.
In the final unit of the course, we will present basics for funding a business and will help you create a persuasive presentation, or pitch, based on a business plan.

Week 1: Becoming an Entrepreneur
Week 2: Identifying an Opportunity
Weeks 3 & 4: Creating a Business Plan
Week 5: Attracting Investors and Obtaining Financial Support

Unit 1, Becoming an Entrepreneur.

Economic development is the effort that improves people's quality of life, by creating and maintaining jobs, and supporting or growing incomes. Jobs and incomes, it provides people with money to spend.

A feature is a noticeable or important part.
A function is how something works.

Let’s take shoes as an example, the size of the shoe and the amount of foot or leg that the shoe covers are example of features. Functions would be to protect the bottom of the foot, or keep it warm.

an idea is presented as a product, it should be one of three types. The first is a good. This is something tangible, something that can be touched. Often, people will mistakenly say the word product when they mean good 物品. Examples of a good would be a book, a car, a shirt.The second type is a service. This is intangible. It cannot be touched, examples would be a taxi service, a medical procedure, a travel booking.The third is a hybrid product that combines a good and a service. Examples would be a bed and breakfast hotel, a restaurant meal, a flight. Both goods and services are provided in these types of products.

market research, write a business plan, a persuasive pitch.

collateral 抵押物

red tape 〈贬〉繁文缛节；原指扎文件的红带 , bureaucracy.

Titles, subtitles, pictures and captions (the descriptions under each of the pictures.) often include words and ideas that are important to the main point or argument.

First, who needs what the product can do?

This question, helps entrepreneurs think about the target market, more clearly.

Second, what other products can do the same thing, as this new product?

This question helps entrepreneurs think about competitors.

Third, who produces or sells products that may be related to this new product, and therefore, may be interested in supporting the new business either financially or operationally?

This question helps entrepreneurs think about where he or she might find investors.

Three types of business organizations, for-profit, non-profit, and hybrid.

The term for-profit can be a noun or an adjective. That means we can say that a business is a for-profit, where for-profit is used as a noun. Or we can say, that is a for-profit business, where for-profit is used as an adjective. The primary or most important goal of a for-profit business is making money.

The term non-profit can be also be a noun or an adjective. The primary goal of a non-profit is helping the community.Making money is also important for non-profits, because money is needed to support the operation and employees. But the goal of making money is secondary, or less important, than the primary goal.

Not for profit is a newer term that is sometimes used to describe non-profit organizations. Not for profit has a more general meaning than non-profit. The term not for profit includes three types of organizations. Non-profits, charities, and NGO's which are Non Governmental Organizations.

Another common term for a hybrid organization, is a social enterprise. And entrepreneurs, who start hybrid organizations, or social enterprises, are often called, social entrepreneurs.

Company vs. corporation

A company is any kind of business organization. Whereas a corporation is a specific kind of business organization or company.Corporation means a legal entity separate from its investors.

A legal entity is a company or organization that has legal rights and responsibilities. Separate is an adjective that means existing or happening independently or without connection.Therefore a corporation has legal rights and responsibilities that are independent from its investors.

The risks

The economy
Customer loyalty
competition

Steps to decrease risks

do market research. It is the collection and study of information about what products people prefer to buy.
write a business plan
attract investors. get financial support

Unit 2, Identifying an Opportunity.

What are their demographic profiles?
Demographic profiles include things like sex, age, and income.
What are their past and current preferences? What are their future needs? What features and benefits from product do they want?
Would they be willing to buy this product? How much would they be willing to spend?

Formal research is usually done by a survey or through a focus group.

A Survey is a set of questions that people are asked to gather data, data is information, or to find out their opinions. Surveys are way to collect quantitative data. Quantitative data can be measured in amount or number. A survey question might ask how many times somebody uses a product each month. This is Quantitative information because it can be measured.

A Focus group is a group of people who are brought together to discuss a particular subject. They do this in order to solve a problem or suggest ideas. Focus groups are a way to collect Qualitative data. Qualitative data is about opinions feelings and experience. Unlike facts, it can't be measured.

A survey is usually divided into three parts. Part one is the demographic profile to understand basic information about the respondent.（尤指）调查对象. This can include gender, age, professional work status, income, family or living situation.

Part two is information about past or current experience. This can include habits, things that people do regularly such as brushing their teeth and preferences related to a new product. Let's imagine that we're writing a survey for a new toothbrush, a new type of toothbrush while we look at question types for habits and preferences.

Questions about habits could include some of the following.

do you ever brush your teeth?
what do you use to brush your teeth?
how long does it take you to brush your teeth?
where do you brush your teeth?

Under habits, there could also be questions about frequency,

how often do you brush your teeth?
how many times a day do you brush your teeth?

Questions about preferences could include

what do you like best about your toothbrush?
what do you like least about your toothbrush?
do you like your toothbrush? if no, why not?

Part three is information about future needs. Here the researcher is interested in the respondent's reactions to the new product's specific features and benefits. In this section the researcher will also be trying to understand the perceived value of the new product. In other words, how much the respondent would be willing to pay for the product.These are probably the hardest questions to write in the survey and could include some of the following questions forms. would you like to try New Toothbrush?