Corporate Identity: the Executive Uniform. An expensive advertising campaign can attract you a company, its

An expensive advertising campaign can attract you … a company, its

impressive building will make you glad you came, but if the first person

you deal … is wearing a purple tank top and flared trousers, are you really

going to take them seriously? A uniform is the most personal manifes-

tation … a company’s corporate identity, so companies specializing …

“executive careerwear” are putting white collar workers and profession-

als … “corporate suits”.

There is often a certain amount … choice available … terms … style

and color, so not everyone ends up dressed identically. But together, the

effect remains co-ordinated. … the Abbey National not only are cor-

porate suits provided, but the corporate identity is carried … maternity

wear and … the special requirements … ethnic groups. The majority …

people who wear corporate clothing are those who deal directly … the

public, and the response … customers has been very positive.

But who … the professionals would wear company colors, and how

are they persuaded to do so? The most recent newcomers … corporate

dressing are financial services such as banks, and building societies and

the challenge is to find a look that pleases everyone.

There will always be those who consider that being asked to wear a

uniform is a dubious privilege. A senior employee … a leading estate

agency says: “When the clothes were introduced, we were all … the

phone … our lawyers because we just didn’t want to wear them. Some

people even left their jobs”.

8. Match the halves.

1. Business history books are full

of entrepreneurial

a) culture would be strangled by

GM’s bureaucracy.

2. EDS has turned its relationships b) firms that failed to survive for

with General Motors to advantage long after their founders’ departure.

despite initial concerns that its

entrepreneurial Initial concerns

that its entrepreneurial

3. His company, Soria Natural SA, c) flair of the founder of the orga-

has become an entrepreneurial

4. It was his entrepreneurial

5. Most governments now believe

self-employment is something

nization Michael Wood.

d) role in which he had a big finan-

cial stake in his own efforts. “I’d ra-

ther build a company than run one”.

e) skills and is a vital source of new

jobs, they claim.

to be promoted and encouraged

with tax-payers’ money. It releases

people’s entrepreneurial

6. Mr. Azoff was eager to return to f) spirit which took him from being

a more entrepreneurial

a waiter at the Savoy to riches be-

yond most people’s dreams.

7. The nature of the company and g) success story and one of the

its success since its start-up were

closely influenced by the entre-

preneurial

area’s leading employers.

9. Match the items in A with their synonyms in B.

A B

1. effort

2. amount of

3. shareholders

4. goal

5. affiliated company

6. liability

7. proprietor

8. holding company

9. income

10. ownership

11. aid

a) purpose/aim

b) revenue/profit

c) stockholders

d) controlling company

e) subsidiary company

f) sum

g) property

h) attempt

i) responsibility

j) owner

k) assistance

10. Complete the following table.

11. Match the definitions to the words given below.

a franchise; entrepreneur; board of directors; private corporation;

a conglomerate; a holding company; property; multinationals; partner-