Unit 13
Strategic Consulting
職場攻略/市場業務
Workplace English/Communication Skills
BRAIN STORM
Share your ideas with your teacher and try to make sentences.
Have you tried being in consultation?
What do you think is a strategic consultation?
VOCABULARY
Repeat these sentences after your teacher.
1. battered (adj.) 受挫的
Lou is a battered worker.
Lou是個受虐的工人。
2. margin (n.) 利潤空間
Let us not exceed from the budget margin set.
讓我們不要超出預算的保證金範圍。
3. grim (adj.) 嚴峻、黑暗
Why is your expression grim?
你的表情為什麼這麼冷酷？
4. on the up-and-up (idi.) 蒸蒸日上
He recently got a promotion and is on the up and up.
他最近獲得了晉升，並且還在不斷發展。
5. saturated (adj.) 飽和的
Can you hand me the saturated alcohol?
你能把飽和的酒精遞給我嗎？
6. niche (n.) 市場空間、市場藍海
It is important to find your niche.
重要的是要找到自己的利基。
7. to find a foothold (phr.) 尋求立足之地
My company is struggling to find a foothold.
我的公司正在努力尋找立足點。
Dialogue
Read the dialogue aloud with your teacher.
How did Quarter 2 treat you?
你們第二季度表現如何？
We were battered. It’s clear that we’re going to miss our profit projections by a big margin. It’s grim.
糟透了。很明顯我們完不成收益目標，而且離目標差距很大。形式很嚴峻。
Some key markets are still doing well, though. China is still going strong, and North America is on the up-and-up.
但是幾個關鍵的市場表現仍舊出色。中國仍然十分強勢，北美市場蒸蒸日上。
Yeah, but our operations just aren’t really centered on those markets right now.
They’re both already so saturated with the product we offer. I don’t think we could find a niche.
是的，但是我們的運營重心現在不在那些市場裡。我們提供的產品在那兩部分市場已經飽和了，我不認為我們還有拓展空間。
There’s always the option of hiring a consulting firm to help you create that niche.
其實我們可以選擇找諮詢公司幫我們拓展市場。
You think?
你是這麼認為的？
It’s worth a try. In 2009 my company was really struggling to find a foothold after the financial crisis. It was clear we needed to restructure our business model and product portfolio, but I had no idea how to go about it when I was spending all of my energy just trying to keep our heads above water.
值得一試。 2009年經濟危機後我的公司費了很大力氣尋找立足點。很顯然我們需要重新架構我們的業務模式和產品系列，但是我根本不知道怎樣解決這問題，那時我正投入全部精力解決企業生存問題呢。
I had no idea. But your business is so healthy now.
我完全不知道。但是你的公司現在運作得很好啊。
Yeah, thanks to a consulting firm. We brought one in that had helped some companies during the Asian Financial Crisis. They crunched the numbers and legitimized some of the hard decisions that I thought we might have to make but didn’t know how to approach.
是的，多虧了一家諮詢公司。我們跟一家在亞洲金融危機時幫許多公司脫離困境的諮詢公司合作。他們做了大量計算，闡明了做出一些艱難決定的必要性，這些決定我之前也想做但是不知道該怎麼做。
Like what?
比如說？
Well, we ended up shedding half of our workforce. It wasn’t an easy decision, but there were some gross inefficiencies in the company that had built up over the years that really weren’t helping our bottom line.
呃，我們最後裁了一半的員。這可不是容易的決定，但是公司裡很明顯有糟糕的低效現象，多年累計起來極大造成了我們的財金問題。
Is that all they helped you with?
他們就幫你做了這一件事？
Not at all. They were able to bring in some fresh opinions about the market segment we were going after. They were the first ones to suggest that we de-emphasize the BRIC countries and start looking towards the CIVETS.
可不止。他們帶來了一些關於我們在關注的細分市場的新觀點。他們第一個建議我們停止強調金磚四國，要我們開始重視靈貓六國。
That’s how you guys ended up with cornering the Indonesian and Vietnamese markets? But I’m sure hiring a consultancy must’ve cost you a fortune.
這就是你們最後搶占了印度尼西亞市場和越南市場的原因？但是我肯定僱傭諮詢團隊肯定花了不少錢吧。
It wasn’t cheap, but ultimately it was worth it. Of course hiring one of the Big Four will near-bankrupt you, but there are plenty of smaller firms that have the expertise to get the job done.
不便宜，但是從結果來看很值得。當然從四大諮詢公司裡僱一個的話幾乎能讓你破產，但是有很多小公司也有能力完成任務。
Maybe this sort of strategic guidance is exactly what I need to make my way through this fog. Thanks for imparting your business wisdom.
或許這種策略指導正是我需要的，靠它我就能走出困境。謝謝你傳授給我這些商業智慧。
Of course, best of luck.
應該的，祝你好運。
Grammar
near
“Near-” is a prefix that can be added to a verb or the past participle of a verb to mean that something “almost” happened. Generally this is reserved for actions that have greater gravity, such as becoming “bankrupt”, as opposed to simple actions such as “to eat” and signifies a slightly higher register of language. That said, it is still grammatically correct to use it in these different situations.
1. She near-starved herself to death when she was dealing with an eating disorder.
2. I think I’m going to near-run out of money before my next paycheck. It’s going to be tight.
3. My friend near-fell off a cliff the other day while we were hiking! It was completely terrifying.
4. Oh my god! That car over there near-hit that pedestrian walking across the street. Did you see that?
5. ______________________________________________________________________.
DISCUSSION
Make a conversation with your teacher.
1.How do you think does a “strategic consulting” differ from a “normal consulting”?
