Prova Intermedia (orale) 1 LM-38, Schemi e mappe concettuali di Lingua Inglese

Scarica Prova Intermedia (orale) 1 LM-38 e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! Cryptocurrencies -> Bitcoin Cryptocurrency is any form of currency that exists digitally and doesn’t rely on banks. This kind of money isn’t exchanged in the real world and exist purely in an online database. The first cryptocurrency was Bitcoin, invented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 and it is the best known today. Unlike physical money, bitcoins can finish, so their value is extremely unstable: in 2011 one bitcoin cost around 9$, and now the price is extremely higher. But as in the case of physical money, bitcoins have a symbol and a currency code which is BTC. To purchase bitcoins, users rely on a traditional broker or go to an online exchange service where they can convert their local currency into virtual money. But bitcoins can also be converted back into local currencies thanks to these platforms. Some people sit on bitcoins and wait for the market to rise, other use them to buy real things from people or, for example, companies who accept them like Rolex of Microsoft; but you can also buy cars or something else. Bitcoins are legal and anonymous, and for this reason they are used on the dark web to buy drugs, since they guarantee anonymity. Moreover, cryptocurrencies use blockchain technology, so stealing information is hard for hackers. Trade Trade protection is the will to limit imports or promote exports by putting up barriers to trade. Some specialists think that limit imports would protect sunrise industries because would give them the chance to develop, grow and become globally competitive. It is therefore necessary to state that the most common strategy is to impose tariffs on imported goods; in this way they are less competitive than local products (U.S.A. for example uses this method). But on the other hand, it is important to say that in the long term, protectionism will destroy industry because there is no competition and without competition companies cannot innovate. An example of protectionism is that made by Trump who wanted to protect American goods by taxing overseas products sold in the U.S.A. . But the American economy today is a global one and U.S. companies have to expand their production across the world to keep growing. Instead, other specialists think that free trade is more efficient to import goods from a country which can produce them less. Moreover, global companies may help local ones to grow because they may teach them new methods and new strategies. If local economy grows, so do job opportunities. This trade, however, could lead to poor working conditions or increased job outsourcing, so it is important to achieve the right balance between free trade and protectionism, so that local companies may grow and expand themselves, but also may learn something from another culture and imports their goods and may import goods that they themselves cannot produce. The supermarket industry The grocery sector is an extremely competitive market. Grocer retailers have to face different issues like the freshness and availability of products. Moreover, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 1 Giulia Di Modica supermarkets started home delivery in order to help those people who could not go to supermarkets. Superstores are losing their power because of discounters and internet. Carrefour is an example of superstore which has to rethink his businesses since discounters like Aldi or Lidl, or internet stores like Amazon grocery are continuously becoming more popular. It is happening because people’s habits are changing: people are buying more products online and less in store, and go where prices are lower. Discounters like Lidl and Aldi have a low-cost business model, so they guarantee high quality at a competitive price. They may do this because use ton of ways for cutting costs: - They open only in peak shopping hours -> it reduces staff costs; - Just the essential -> not too many different types of the same product -> limited stock of products; - Products are bought only when they are truly needed - Products are inside boxes and so it will be easier for the employees to restock them. Budget airlines Many years ago, flying was a luxury experience until airfares went against inflation and airlines started to offer more cheap flights. Low-cost airlines spread between 1990 and 2020 and differ from legacy airlines. Low-cost airlines like Ryanair or Blueair - Do not have lunch service included; - Do not offer pillows; - Do not allow you to carry any luggage unless you bought it, and allow only a small backpack or handbag; - Do not have business class but have premium seats in the front rows at an additional charge. You cannot buy tickets at the airport because low-cost airlines sell exclusively online and sometimes only on the company’s website. Instead, legacy airlines sell their tickets both through travel agency and online. Low-cost airlines use small airports which are usually located far from cities because this allows them to save parking costs than a more central airport. Another important difference between low-cost airlines and legacy ones is the airplane size: the first one has only one aircraft model for their entire fleet, so the company may reduce maintenance costs. While the second one use different planes depending on the length of the flight. Low-cost airlines offer big discounts but adds costs during the booking process, from luggage to lunch, transport from the airport to the city center, luggage, sits and so on. While legacy companies include all these services in one price, and in the last year they are also trying to reduce the final cost in order to offer competitive prices to customers. Moreover, legacy airlines operate in different hubs and in doing so they offer several choices in flights for passenger. 2 Giulia Di Modica puppets. Smith denounced the actions of the company in a letter published in the New York Times and it was a scandal. Companies do not have to consider employees as money-making machines, but they have to consider them as long-term value. If managers want to have a profitable company they have to change their corporate culture and to make employees feel part of the company. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) CSR is a business model that helps a company to be social accountable to itself, its stakeholders, and the public. By practicing CSR companies can be conscious of the kind of the effects their operations have on society. The main task of CSR is to support the welfare of society through initiatives that improve the environment, the economy and social issues. In the last two decades CSR has become very important due to a new phenomenon known as ethical consumerism. Today consumers pay attention to quality products and buy only things that are made ethically. So, consequently, companies adopted CSR strategies: young people choose brands based on their philosophy because if company cares about environmental and social issues, is more likely to be chosen by consumers. CSR is important because encourages customer loyalty, gives companies a competitive edge (if other companies serve the same product, companies which are making CSR are more appealing to consumers), employees are happy and more fulfilled (employees that work in companies that prioritize CSR are happier when they believe that their work make a difference in the world), it can help the world become a healthier, happier place. Levi’s is a successful brand and also an ethical and sustainable company. It believes that employees should work in a safe working-place and believe that a company should have an eco- friendly production process. An example of bad CSR is Volkswagen because in 2015 produced diesel motor vehicles with computer devices that cheated on federal emissions tests. This is an example of greenwashing which is a practice used by companies in order to appear more environmentally friendly or more ecological in order to attract customers. Affirmative actions Affirmative action is the use of legislations and programs that may improve the opportunities of members of certain groups, such as women, older people and minority groups. Affirmative action is important because it creates a colorful society where nobody is discriminated for his skin color, for his gender, his sexual orientation, and their age. In every workplace, affirmative action has its advantages and disadvantages. It can create a balanced workplace, but can also create an atmosphere of resentment and suspicion, so 5 Giulia Di Modica companies need to be careful of how they implement affirmative action’s so they can achieve the greatest effect. Affirmative action is necessary to create a homogeneous society with equal possibilities, because despite the fact that today the word “equality” is very popular, in everyday life is not always possible to see it: racism still exists today and we must try to fight it through the laws, trying to get to a colorful society. Equality is important too but it is something that you have to learn when you are still at school, because if we educate children and teenagers when they are at school, we will have a better society in the future. Affirmative action is also important for those people with linguistic and economic difficulties like refugees who must have the opportunity to receive incentives in order to educate themselves, fin a house, a job and more. Affirmative action is also important in theme of female entrepreneurship: a woman must have equal opportunities to hold managerial positions: it is unbelievable that there are some companies led by women that engage only women over 40. That’s the case of Elisabetta Franchi who hire women over 40 because they already had children and if they want to get married or divorce, they have already done it. She also believes that a woman, holding an important role in the company, is pregnant that is a great loss for the company. That is the demonstration of how deeply patriarchal system is rooted in Italian society. The gig economy The gig economy is characterized by short-term jobs that companies offer to freelancers instead of traditional, full-time employees. In the gig economy, businesses can save money on recruiting and benefits. The gig economy covers many industries, but in each of them gig workers complete small assignments for pay which could include developing a website, delivering food, walking a dog and so on, and once the project is completed, the gig worker moves on to the next assignment. Workers who are interested in participating in the gig economy typically need to sign up to their platforms of choice by completing an application. Once accepted, they can choose work shifts or projects to complete. There are many types of gig economy, but the most common are: - Virtual assistant; - Ridesharing (uber); - Delivery services. The gig economy has, like everything else, advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages are for example: flexibility (because you are free to choose how, when and for how long work), independence (you are your own boss and you have the ability to complete tasks on your own), variety of work. On the other hand, disadvantages are: gig workers have no health care, and if you get hurt on the job you won’t receive workers’ compensation or disability insurance; you could be stressed 6 Giulia Di Modica because of the variety of work; you are also responsible for purchasing and maintaining your tools like smartphone, computers, vehicles ecc. Gender and the workplace According to recent studies, the future work will be completely digital. In the recent years, companies were forced to transform and digitalize their business process. Moreover, some experts believe that the world of work will never be the same. The coronavirus has changed every aspect of business: remote work has become the normal way of working. In the past many companies thought that remote work was impossible for them to handle, but now a lot of companies have adopted this new way of working and many of them are considering to keep remote work even after pandemic. 2020 has been the year of digital transformation, so companies have to digitalize both internal and external processes. This is essential in order to keep informed about company updates. Employees want to stay connected, want to be able to engage in daily company conversations, and want to be heard and share their own ideas with others. Diversity and inclusion in the workplace are not just a trend and now companies are engaging a wide range of people to add value to businesses. Now employees want to be sure that the participation of these individuals is equal. There are some benefits linked to a diverse workplace: - Employees can better understand each other’s differences which helps to reduce conflicts between the team members and unite them instead of divide them; - Helps to increase confidence and performance: employees may be able to express their ideas; - Employees perform better in an environment where diversity and inclusion are top priority; - Diversity in the workplace will help to build a great reputation for the company. It is important to talk about the women conditions in the workplaces. They face barriers and obstacles in them: - Pregnancy discrimination; - Sexism and harassment are frequent in the workplaces. These can manifest in multiple forms, from sexual remarks about a person’s body, appearance or clothing, to physical advancements and other actions that can create an offensive or intimidating environment; - Gender pay gap: women earn a lower salary than man, even if they perform the same position; - Female workers have to work harder than men in order to recognition; - Women must take care of their appearance because this plays a key role in career advancement. Despite now women situation is different than few decades ago, it is premature to say that there is equality in the workplace. I think it is important to talk about women condition in the workplaces because people must be aware of this situation. The truth is that we still live in a male-dominated society without really realizing it. In recent year we have made great strides, but it is still not enough. A woman must have the same chances of success, and she should not think that she is less capable than a man, especially in business. 7 Giulia Di Modica There are a lot of natural causes that also contribute to the climate change but they are not the primary cause, for examples volcanic eruptions release large quantities of carbon dioxide. We can do something to stop global warming like: - Avoid meat and use a plant-based diet which is better for our health or eat fewer portions of red meat which has the largest environmental impact. Try to choose fish or seasonal products that grow locally to help reduce the carbon emissions from transportation; - Reduce flights; - Walk or cycle instead of use the car, or use electric cars or scooter; The music industry Everyone listens to music. There are different apps that we can use to listen to music but the most popular are Apple Music and Spotify. If you want to use the first you have to pay monthly and you can listen to all the songs in the catalogue. Moreover, it does not allow any users to download any song and this App works only on Apple devices. On the other hand, Spotify allows to listen to music and podcasts for free and provides two different business model: that one free where the basic services are free, but there are ads between songs, and the premium one where you can listen to all the songs that you want with a better quality and without any ads. Moreover, Spotify is also a place for contemporary artists because it provides opportunities o new artists. Nowadays a large number of people illegally download music and this is a great damage to the music industry. People download music illegally because, for example, they like only a particular song and do not want to buy the entire album. Sometimes some songs are not available in some countries, so people download them. But the biggest problem is that when you speak with these people and ask them why they do that, they answer that other people do the same so why they should not do that? This situation includes not only the music industry but movies studios and content creators too. He piracy is an illegal act but brought especially to films and Tv series such benefits: people illegally downloaded them and they became popular around the world, for example Game of Thrones. Global luxury goods market Despite the advent of the pandemic in the world and the fact that people did not work and have less money or that much stores closed because people could not go there, the luxury sector resisted. During the pandemic, most luxury brands decided to open an online shop to compensate the closure of physical stores or limited shopping experience due to lockdown. Luxury goods differ from other types of goods because of the excellent quality and the high durability, affordable only by a small group of the global population. The low-income group of the population usually avoids spending money in these luxury items because can’t afford it or prefer spending money in more important things like food, clothes, home and family. 10 Giulia Di Modica Being non-essential products, luxury good had a negative demand during the pandemic because people bought essential goods. In order to increase demand, many luxury brands are combining fashion and innovation. They are mainly: - Combining luxury products with technology and sustainability. It is also important to say that luxury market is based on two sale channels: online and offline channel. The offline allows the customers to physically see and touch the product and compare it with something else at the store; the online channel instead is more faster and convenient than that one in the physical stores, because you can receive your purchases directly at home, and do not be full of bags outside the store. The future of cars Transport has changed over the years. The sales of electric cars is increasing more and more and in the future diesel and petrol will be forbidden, while renewable energy will continue to be implemented. There will be self-driving public vehicles (it was implemented in Turin in 2020, inside the Campus university), transport capsule that will bring us everywhere, and there will be autonomous ships that will cross seas because thanks to the artificial intelligence they can calculate optimized routes and maximize speed by using weather. In the next decade cars will evolve taking full control of the entire vehicle in most driving conditions. There won’t be anymore wing mirrors because they will be replaced by cameras and sensors, and windows will be larger in order to allow passengers to enjoy the view. An example of future cars is that of Tesla and Apple which are collaborating to create an completely autonomous electric car linked to the Cupertino’s voice recognition known as Siri. 11 Giulia Di Modica