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Business English- Describing Companies

A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Firms in different countries cultural knowledge and describing companies

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Lesson Plan Content:


Describing companies from different countries

Choose a company below that you know quite well and describe it until your partner guesses which one you are talking about. Then discuss if they agree with your description.

Amazon.com

Avon

Boeing

Caterpillar

Citigroup

Coca Cola

Costco

Dell

DuPont

Estee Lauder

ExxonMobil

FedEx

Gap

GE

Gillette

GM

Goodyear

Google

Hallmark

Harley-Davidson

Hershey’s

Hertz

HJ Heinz

IBM

Intel

Kellogg’s

Kodak

MAN

Mattel

Microsoft

Motorola

Nike

Northwest

Pfizer

Procter and Gamble

Samsonite

Starbucks

Subway

Tiffany

Wal-Mart

Xerox

Ajinomoto

Asahi Shimbun

Bridgestone

Canon

Citizen

Dentsu

Fast Retailing (Uniqlo etc)

Fujitsu

Hitachi

JAL

Kao

Kenwood

Kikkoman

Kirin

Komatsu

Muji

NEC

Nintendo

Nissan

Nissin

Nomura

NTT

Pentax

Pentel

Ricoh

Roland

Sekisui

Sharp

Shimano

Shiseido

Softbank

Sony

Subaru

Suzuki

Tomy

Toray

Toshiba

Wacoal

YKK

Yamaha

AXA

Alcatel

BNP Paribas

BNP Parisbas

Bic

Canal +

Carrefour

Cartier

Chanel

Christian Dior

Danone

Lafarge

LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moey Hennesey)

L’Oreal

Michelin

Paul

Printemps

Renault

Total

Vivendi

 

Adidas

Allianz

BASF

Bayer

BMW

Continental

DHL

Grundig

Hugo Boss

Leica

Lufthansa

Mercedes Benz

Nivea

Porsche

SAP

Siemans

Stabilo

T-Mobile

Triumph

VW/ Audi

Wella

Zeiss

 

 

 

BAE Systems

BP

Burberry

Dunlop

Dyson

Foster and Partners

GlaxoSmithKline

Harrods

JCB
Land Rover

Parker

Pearson

Raleigh

Reuters

Tesco

Virgin Atlantic

Vodafone

Wedgewood

Diadora

Caritas

Olivetti

Beretta

Pirelli

Fiat/ Ferrari

Gucci

Bulgari

Pirelli

Vespa

Iveco

Benetton

 

Adecco

Bally

Credit Suisse

Logitech

Nestle

Novartis

Roche

Schindler

Swarovski

Swatch

Vitorinox

 

Astra Zeneca

Electrolux

Ericsson

H&M

Husqvarna

IKEA

Saab

Securitas

Skanska

Tetra Pak

Volvo

 

Daewoo

Hite

Hyundai

Kia

Kumho- Asiana

LG

Lotte

NHN

Orion

Samsung

DAF

Heineken

ING

KLM

Phillips

Royal Dutch Shell

Shell

TNT

Unilever

Hutchinson -Whampoa

Hang Seng

Golden Harvest

HSBC

South China-Morning Post

Cathy Pacific

Amoy

 

Four Seasons

IMAX

Labatt’s

Sun Life

Research in Motion

Thomson-Reuters

Andersen

Carlsberg

Bang and Olufsen

LEGO

Maersk

Camper

Zara

Seat

Telefonica

Banco Santander

Wipro

Hindustan Times

Infosys

Kingfisher

Tata

BHP Billiton

Macquarie

Quantas

Foster’s Group

Gazprom

Tupolev

Rosneft

Aeroflot

Efes

Arcelik

Cumhuriyet

Guinness

AIB

Ryan Air

Lenovo

Tsingtao

Cosco

 

Mr Minit

Godiva

Agfa

Singha

Jim Thompson

Acer

Eva Airways

Varig

Petrobras

Petronas

Proton

Finnair

Nokia

De Beers

SAB Miller

Manila Times

San Miguel

 

Do the same, but using the phrases on the next page to help you.

 

Useful phrases to talk about companies

  • Its HQ/ headquarters/ head office is in…
  • It has an office/ a branch/ a factory/ a plant in…
  • It produces/ manufactures/ makes…
  • It a/ an … company (but it is owned by a/ an …. company)
  • It sells/ distributes…
  • It provides/ offers…
  • In this country, it…
  • It’s a multinational company
  • It does most/ a lot of business in…
  • Its main business is…
  • It has a subsidiary which…
  • Its (main) competitors (in this country) are…
  • It’s a market leader
  • It was in the news (recently) because…
  • It’s the largest/ second largest company in…
  • It was set up/ founded…
  • It operates in…
  • It has … employees (in…)
  • It has … subsidiaries (which…)
  • It is owned by…
  • It’s a privately-owned company (= limited company)/ publically-owned company (= PLC/ public corporation)/ government-owned company/ partnership
  • It exports/ imports/ distributes…
  • It’s a wholesaler/ retailer/ manufacturer/ miner/ distributor/ technology company/ telecommunications company/ conglomerate
  • Its most famous product (in this country) is…
  • The CEO/ Managing Director/ Chairman/ founder/ owner is…

 

Vocabulary and discussion questions

  • What countries do the firms above come from? (Each box is one country)
  • What are the nationality adjectives for those countries (so that you can say “It is a/ an ____________ company”)?
  • Are there any companies which are too unimportant to be included on the list?
  • Are there any other companies which should be included, e.g. from your sector or country?
  • Were you surprised by the number of companies or lack of companies from any of the countries?
  • Use the phrases above to describe companies which are not on the list. Can your partner guess which you are talking about?
  • Use the phrases above to describe your own company, then ask questions from your partner.

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