Background to assignment 1.
You are the New Business Development Manager for a large UK – based DIY (“do it yourself”) company that imports and sells garden furniture through its numerous retail outlets. Your imported sales line consists of a variety of garden benches, chairs, tables, and patio heaters.
Some months ago it was decided that your overseas supplier would have to be changed as there were a variety of problems that had led to an irretrievable break – down of the relationship. A review of the partnership concluded that your personnel had insufficient knowledge of the linguistic and cultural aspects of dealing with your supplier, and this is had resulted in a variety of problems, contributing significantly to a lack of trust, and ultimately to the break- down.
Consequently, you have been tasked by the MD to seek a new supplier for your current range of products – the technical specifications (size, shape, quality, colour, price etc) will not change. Initial searches have identified a potential manufacturer in Bucharest, Romania, and you and your team are due to visit their premises in two months’ time to have an initial meeting, with a view to commissioning them to act as your new supplier. However, in view of the breakdown of the previous relationship, the MD has asked you to prepare a report in which you detail the cultural and linguistic requirements of working with Romanian companies. Based on this, you are to suggest how you might best go about ensuring that the relationship develops over the long term.
Task
1. Report (2,500 words)
Based on the instructions from the MD, you are to prepare a report that outlines the major stages and variables of Business Relationship development (BRD). Your report should ideally include the following:
1. An introduction that details the purpose of the report.
2. A review of the various stages through which a business relationship of this type is likely to progress, and your objectives at each stage.
3. A discussion of cultural dynamics and its role in facilitating a good business relationship.
4. The linguistic requirements necessary (in Romania) for the establishment and maintenance of the relationship over the long term.
5. A review of related theory associated with business development within the context of sourcing a new supplier overseas.
Your work must be correctly referenced throughout in the Harvard format. You are expected to include in your discussion relevant references from academic sources. Journalistic, public policy and publicly available commercial literature / sources may also enrich the assignment.
You must be within the designated word counts by +/-10%.
Your assignment should be word processed and produced in an appropriate business style. The font should be 12, and be double spaced. The work must be completed on an individual basis. This assignment is worth 50% of the module.
WARNING – ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
Plagiarism means passing off somebody else’s efforts as your own work.
The following are NOT permitted:
Copying somebody else’s work in whole or in part
Getting somebody else to help you with the specific content of your assignment (only general discussion with somebody else about the topics covered in the assignment is permitted – not discussion about the specific assignment contents)
Getting somebody else to correct your work
Copying (or cutting and pasting) text or web site content into your assignment without attribution of the source with full academic referencing
Quoting more than 100 words of text verbatim even with attribution to the source
Any student who assists another student to plagiarise or collude (by allowing their work to be copied or by specific assistance/checking another student’s work) or participates in any other form of misconduct is ALSO guilty of misconduct.
Deadline: 21 Jun 2020 23:59 (Zurich time).
This assignment is graded. (50% of overall grade)
4
Romanians are known internationally for their strong aptitude for speaking European languages; primarily English, followed by French, Italian, Spanish and German. In the past 10 years, around 20 multilingual major call centers and BPO – Business Process Outsourcing organizations have come to operate in Romania, finding here a large multilingual pool which they have drawn upon to serve millions of customers across Europe and the USA.
Recent statistics show that English is now spoken by 8 million Romanians, French by 4.7 million and German, Italian and Spanish by 1.5-2.5 million (sources: OIF, Goethe Institute, British Council, Cervantes Institute). These numbers are very high, given that Romania has a population of 21 million.
In the next part of the article I’m going to examine the major factors contributing to Romanians’ proficiency in foreign languages.
Education
The main contributor to Romanians’ linguistic proficiency is education. English, French, Spanish, Italian and German are all taught in schools. In secondary and high schools, foreign language classes are compulsory. As a result, before entering university, most Romanians already speak two languages fluently and they usually continue to study these languages at university.
The most prestigious universities in the country offer 100% foreign language-speaking educational tracks through to Master’s degree. For example, in Bucharest the Polytechnics University and the ASE (Academy of Economic Studies) have separate divisions in English, French and German. These universities not only offer foreign language-speaking tracks locally, but have also built strong partnerships with universities abroad and send students on Erasmus programs.
According to the Romanian Ministry of Education, roughly 50,000 Romanian students are currently studying abroad, with 5,000 new students leaving each year. Over 12,000 Romanian students choose France, Germany, the US or Italy as their alma mater destinations. Although France and Germany remain top destinations for Romanian students, universities in Spain and Italy have also become popular in the last few years.
Most Romanians studying abroad come back to their country equipped with advanced level skills in foreign languages, as well as with a very good cultural understanding of the country in which they have lived and studied. This linguistic and cultural understanding translates into a skilled workforce that can underpin the development of the BPO industry in the country.
Culture
Modern Romanian culture has been heavily influenced by Western culture and languages over the last 250 years. Historically, French was the predominant foreign language taught in Romania, although English has since superseded it. Still, Romania is one of the most important French-speaking countries in Europe. The country joined the OIF (the World Organization of French-speaking countries) in 1992. Romanian, after all, is a Latin language, belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family, and has much in common not only with French, but also Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
The large pool of foreign language speakers in Romania is one of the country’s main assets
Romania’s multilingual labor pool hasn’t gone unnoticed by multinational BPO organizations seeking to provide support to their international customers across Europe and North America. As a result, Romania is now positioned among the leading industry contact center hubs throughout Europe.
Development of the BPO industry in Romania now translates into the development of the economy and improved living standard for a large part of the Romanian population. And that’s great news for all those who, like me, love this country and believe it has a bright future!
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