國際商務(wù)英語課文電子版lesson_1

1、Lesson 1 International Business （國際商務(wù)） International business refersto transaction between parties（當(dāng)事人、參與者） from differentcountries. Sometimes business across the borders of different customs areas（關(guān)稅區(qū)） of the same country is also regarded as import and export, such as business between Hong Kong and

2、 Taiwan.International business involves more factors and thus is more精選文庫complicated than domestic business. The followings(下列各項) are some major differencesbetween the two: 1. The countries involvedoften have different legal systems （不同的法律體系） , and one or more parties will have to adjust themselves

3、to operate in compliance with（遵照、遵從） the foreign law.2. Different countries usually use different currencies（不同的貨幣） and the parties will have-2精選文庫to decide which currency to use and do everything necessary as regards（關(guān)于） conversion（兌換） etc. Uncertainties and even risks are often involved in the use

4、 of a foreign currency.3. Cultural differences including language, customs,traditions, religion, value, behavior etc. often constitute challenges and even traps for people engaged in international business.4. Countries vary innatural-3精選文庫and economic conditions and may have different policies towar

5、ds foreign trade and investment, making international business more complex than domestic business.With the development of economic globalization（經(jīng)濟全球化） , few people or companies can completely stay away from （ 置 身 于 外 ） international business. Some knowledge in this respect（方面） is necessary both fo

6、r the benefit of enterprises and-4精選文庫personal advancement（個人進步） .International business first took the form of commodity trade（商品貿(mào)易）, i.e（.即） exporting and importing goods produced or manufactured in one country for consumption or resale(消費或轉(zhuǎn)售) in another. This form of tradeis also referred to as （

7、被稱為） visible trade（有形貿(mào)易）. Later a different kind of trade in the form of transportation, communication, banking, insurance, consulting-5精選文庫（咨詢） , information（信息業(yè)） etc. gradually became more and more important. This type of trade is called invisible trade（無形貿(mào)易）. Today, the contribution of service in

8、dustries(服務(wù)業(yè) ) ofthe developed countries constitutes over 60% of their gross domestic products（國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值） and account for(占) an increasing proportion of world trade. Another important form ofinternationalbusinessis-6精選文庫supplying capital by residents of one country to another, known as international in

9、vestment（國際投資） . Such investments can beclassified into two categories. The first kind of investments, foreign direct investments（外國直接投資） or FDI for short ismade for returns（回報） through controlling the enterprises or assets invested in in a host country( 東 道 國 ). The host country is a foreign countr

10、y where the investor operates,-7精選文庫while the country where the headquarters of investor is located is called the home country（投資國） . The second kind of investment, portfolio investment（證券投資）, refers to purchases of foreign financial assets（金融資產(chǎn)） for a purpose other than controlling. Such financial

11、assets may be stocks（股票）, bonds（債券） or certificateof deposit（大額存單） . Stocks are also called capital stocks or bonds（股本或股份） . Bonds-8精選文庫are papers issued by a government or a firm with promise to pay back the money lent or invested together with interest. The maturity period（到期時間） of a bond is at le

12、ast oneyear, oftenlonger, for examplefive,oreventenyears.Certificates ofdeposit generallyinvolvelargeamounts, say 25thousand US dollars.Besidestradeandinvestment,internationallicensing （ 國 際 許 可 ）and-9精選文庫franchising （特 許經(jīng) 營 ） are sometimes taken as a means of entering a foreign market. In licensing

13、, a firm leases（出租） the right to use its intellectual property（知識產(chǎn)權(quán)） to a firm in another country. Such intellectual property may be trademarks（商標）, brand names（品牌）, patents （專利）, copyrights（版權(quán)） ortechnology（技術(shù)）. Firms choose licensing is because they dont have to make cash payment to start business

14、, and can simply-10精選文庫receive income in the form of royalty（知識產(chǎn)權(quán) /專利使用費）. Besides, they can benefit from locational advantages of foreign operation( 當(dāng) 地 經(jīng) 營 優(yōu) 勢 ) without any obligation in ownership or management. The use of licensing is particularly encouraged by high customs duty （關(guān)稅） and non-tar

15、iff barriers （非關(guān)稅壁壘） on the part of the host country. However it is not advisable to use licensing agreement in countries with weak-11精選文庫intellectual property protection （知識產(chǎn)權(quán)保護） since the licensor（許可方） may have difficulty in enforcing licensing agreement（執(zhí)行許可協(xié)議） .Franchising can be regarded as a s

16、pecial form of licensing. Under franchising, a firm, called the franchisee（特許使用方） , is allowed to operate in the name of another, called thefranchiser（特許授予方） who provides the former with trademarks, brand names, logos（公司標志） , and-12精選文庫operating techniques（經(jīng)營技巧） for royalty （特許使用費） . In comparison w

17、ith the relation between the licenser（許可授予方） and the licensee（許可使用方） , the franchiser has more control over and provides more support for the franchisee. The franchiser can developinternationally and gain access to useful information about the local market with little risk and cost, and the franchis

18、ee can easily get into a business with-13精選文庫established（ 已 獲 認 可 的 ） products or services. Franchising is fairly popular especially in hotel and restaurant business.Other forms for participating ininternational business are management contract（管理合同）, contract manufacturing（生產(chǎn)合同） , and turnkey proje

19、ct （“交鑰匙”工程） .Under a management contract, one company offers managerial or other specialized services to another within a particular period-14精選文庫for a flat payment（固定費用） or a percentage of the relevant business volume(相關(guān)業(yè)務(wù)總價值 ). Sometimes bonuses（分紅） based on profitability orsales growth are also

20、specialized(注明 ) in management contracts.Whenagovernmentforbidsforeignownershipincertainindustries it considers to be ofstrategic importance but lacks theexpertise for operation, management contracts may be a practical（切實可行的） choices-15精選文庫enabling a foreign company to operate in the industry withou

21、t owning the assets.By contract manufacturing, a firm can concentrate on their strongest part in the value chain （價值鏈） , e. g. marketing, while contracting with foreign companies for the manufacture of their products. Such firms can reduce the amount of their resources devoted to manufacture and ben

22、efit from location advantages(當(dāng) 地 優(yōu) 勢 ) from-16精選文庫production in host counties. However, loss of control over the producing process may give rise to（產(chǎn)生） problems in respect of quality and time of delivery （交貨期） .For an international turnkey project, a firm signs a contract with a foreign purchaser and undertakes all the designing,contracting and facility equipping before handing it over to the latter upon completion. Such projects are often large and-17精選文庫complex and take a