External influences on business activity
IGCSE Business Studies Topic 6 8:24 English narration · English + 中文 subtitles burned in
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Transcript
This building is not a business.
这座建筑不是企业。
Nobody inside it sells anything.
里面没有人卖东西。
But the people in there can raise a tax, change a law, or push interest rates up — and every shop, every factory, every farm in the country has to live with it.
但里面的人可以提高税收、修改法律， 或者推高利率——全国的每一家商店、每一家工厂、每一个农场都得承受。
Nobody asked the businesses first.
没有人事先问过这些企业。
A business controls a lot.
企业能控制很多东西。
It sets its price, it hires its staff, it designs its product.
它自己定价格、自己招员工、自己设计产品。
But look at the other side. The economy, the law, the environment, the wider world — the business chose none of them, and cannot switch them off.
但看另一边： 经济、法律、环境、外面的世界——这些都不是企业选的，它也关不掉。
We call these external influences: things outside the business that it cannot control.
我们把这些叫做外部影响：企业无法控制的外部因素。
It cannot stop them. It watches them, and it plans.
它阻止不了它们，但它会观察它们，并提前做好计划。
So let's meet them, one at a time.
那我们就一个一个来认识它们。
Here is the plan.
这是本节的安排。
First the business cycle, the up and down path of the economy.
首先是经济周期，也就是经济上上下下的路径。
Then the economic factors a government uses.
然后是政府使用的经济因素。
Then the costs and benefits a business gives to other people.
接着是企业给别人带来的成本和收益。
Then the wider world and the giant firms in it.
然后是更大的世界，以及世界里的那些巨型公司。
And last, exchange rates.
最后是汇率。
The economy does not grow at a steady pace.
经济并不是稳步增长的。
It moves in a repeating pattern called the business cycle, and this curve is it.
它按一个不断重复的形态运动，这个形态叫经济周期， 这条曲线就是它。
Output climbs through growth to a boom, the highest point.
产出经过增长上升到繁荣，也就是最高点。
Then it falls through a recession down to a slump, the lowest point.
然后经过衰退跌到萧条， 也就是最低点。
Then recovery begins, and it all starts again.
接着复苏开始，一切重新来过。
The strip under the curve gives you all five words in order — learn them in that order.
曲线下面那一条把五个词按顺序都给了你——请按这个顺序记住它们。
But what does each stage do to a real business?
那么每个阶段对一家真实的企业意味着什么？
In growth and boom, people spend more, so sales and profit rise, and firms expand and hire.
在增长和繁荣时期，人们花钱更多， 所以销售和利润上升，企业扩张并招人。
But wages and prices rise too, and workers get hard to find.
但工资和物价也会上涨，工人变得难找。
In recession and slump, spending falls, so sales and profit fall, firms cut jobs, and in a slump many firms close.
在衰退和萧条时期，人们花钱变少，销售和利润下降，企业裁员， 在萧条中还有很多企业倒闭。
In hard times a business fights back: it cuts costs, lowers prices, or sells cheaper products.
在困难时期，企业会反击：削减成本、降低价格， 或者卖更便宜的产品。
A government wants stable prices, plenty of jobs and steady growth.
政府希望物价稳定、就业充足、增长平稳。
To manage the economy it uses these factors, and every one reaches your business.
为了管理经济，它会用到这些因素， 而每一个都会传到你的企业。
Higher taxation leaves customers with less to spend, and takes a bite out of profit.
税收提高，顾客可花的钱变少，利润也被咬掉一块。
Higher interest rates make loans dearer.
利率提高，贷款更贵。
Inflation, a general rise in prices, pushes costs up.
通货膨胀，也就是物价普遍上涨，会推高成本。
High unemployment lowers sales, though it makes workers easier to hire.
失业率高会让销售下降，不过也让企业更容易招到工人。
Now follow one factor all the way through, because that is what earns the marks.
现在把一个因素完整地追下去，因为这才是拿分的地方。
Interest rates rise.
利率上升。
First, the business side: a loan costs more, so the firm borrows less and puts off new machines.
第一条，企业这一边：贷款更贵，所以企业少借钱，推迟购买新机器。
Second, the customer side: a family buying furniture on credit now pays more each month, so they wait, and sales fall.
第二条，顾客这一边：用分期付款买家具的家庭每个月要还更多， 于是他们再等一等，销售就下降了。
One change, two chains, and both end at the business.
一个变化，两条链条，最后都落到企业身上。
Now turn outward.
现在把目光转向外面。
When a business acts, other people gain or lose.
企业做事的时候，别人会得益，也会受损。
External costs are costs paid by other people, or by society, and not by the business — pollution, noise, heavy traffic.
外部成本是由别人、由社会承担、而不是由企业承担的成本——污染、噪音、拥堵的交通。
External benefits are gains for other people — new jobs, better roads.
外部收益是别人得到的好处——新的工作岗位、更好的道路。
And if a question says define, that whole sentence is the answer.
如果题目让你下定义，答案就是完整的那一句话。
Business activity can damage the environment — waste, pollution, using up resources — or protect it, through recycling, clean energy and less packaging.
企业活动会破坏环境——废弃物、污染、耗尽资源——也可以保护环境， 通过回收、清洁能源和更少的包装。
Sustainable development means meeting today's needs without harming the ability of future people to meet their own.
可持续发展的意思是：满足今天的需要， 同时不损害未来的人满足他们自己需要的能力。
And people push firms to change: a pressure group uses the media, protests, customer boycotts and letters to the government.
人们也会推动企业改变： 压力团体会利用媒体、抗议、顾客抵制，以及写信给政府。
Now the environmental and ethical issues. Ethical behaviour means doing what is morally right, even when no law forces it: fair pay, safe products, no child labour.
道德行为是指做道德上正确的事，即使没有法律强迫：公平的工资、安全的产品、 不使用童工。
It usually costs more now — ethical materials are dearer, fair wages are higher — so in the short term it can conflict with profit.
它通常眼下要花更多钱——有道德的原材料更贵，公平的工资更高—— 所以短期内利润会下降。
That is the tension between ethics and profit — but it also wins loyal customers and a good name, and those raise profit later.
但它也能赢得忠实的顾客和好名声， 而这些会在以后提高利润。 所以绝不要只用一个词回答。
So never answer with one word. Give both sides, then decide — that is where the evaluation marks are.
两边都写，然后做出判断——评价分就在这里。
Now business and the international economy.
现在看更大的世界。
Globalisation is the growing trade and movement of goods, money and people between countries, so the world acts more and more like one market.
全球化是指商品、资金和人员在国家之间的贸易和流动不断增加， 于是整个世界越来越像一个市场。
Why has it grown?
它为什么发展起来？
Cheaper transport, better communication, the internet, and fewer trade barriers — fewer tariffs, which are taxes on imports.
更便宜的运输、 更好的通信、互联网，以及更少的贸易壁垒——更少的关税，也就是对进口商品征的税。
For a business that means more customers, cheaper supplies, and far more competition.
对企业来说，这意味着更多顾客、更便宜的供应，以及多得多的竞争。
A multinational company has operations — factories, branches or offices — in more than one country.
跨国公司是指在一个以上国家拥有经营活动的公司——工厂、分店或办事处。
Only exporting is not enough; the firm must really operate there.
只是出口还不够，企业必须真的在当地经营。
For the host country there are gains: new jobs and training, investment and new technology, more choice, more tax.
对东道国来说，有好处： 新的工作和培训、投资和新技术、更多选择、更多税收。
And there are drawbacks: profits sent out of the country, local firms forced to close, and one firm with too much power.
也有坏处： 利润被汇出国外、本地企业被迫倒闭，以及一家公司权力过大。
An exchange rate is the price of one currency in another.
汇率是一种货币用另一种货币表示的价格。
Watch this one move.
看这个汇率的变化。
More people want pounds, so one pound now buys one dollar fifty instead of one dollar twenty.
想要英镑的人变多了，所以一英镑现在能换一点五美元，而不是一点二美元。 英镑变强了。
The pound has become stronger. And a stronger pound changes two prices at the same time. British exports become dearer for foreign buyers, and imports into Britain become cheaper.
而更强的英镑会同时改变两个价格： 英国的出口对外国买家来说变贵了，进口到英国的商品变便宜了。
Here are both directions in one picture.
这张图把两个方向放在了一起。
On the left, a stronger currency: imports cheaper, exports dearer.
左边是货币变强：进口更便宜，出口更贵。
On the right, a weaker currency: exports cheaper, imports dearer.
右边是货币变弱：出口更便宜，进口更贵。
The memory aid underneath is SPICED — strong pound, imports cheaper, exports dearer.
下面的记忆口诀是 SPICED—— 强势英镑，进口更便宜，出口更贵。
A weak pound is simply the opposite.
弱势英镑正好相反。
Now a real calculation.
现在做一道真正的计算。
A British firm sells a machine for twenty thousand pounds.
一家英国公司卖一台机器，价格是两万英镑。
The rate moves from one pound equals one dollar fifty, to one pound equals one dollar twenty.
汇率从一英镑等于一点五美元，变成一英镑等于一点二美元。
At the old rate, twenty thousand times one point five is thirty thousand dollars.
按旧汇率，两万乘以一点五等于三万美元。
At the new rate it is twenty-four thousand dollars.
按新汇率是两万四千美元。
The machine is six thousand dollars cheaper abroad.
这台机器在国外便宜了六千美元。
The pound has weakened, so exports got cheaper — good for this exporter.
英镑变弱了，所以出口变便宜了—— 对这家出口商是好事。
And the exam skill here: convert the actual figures rather than only reciting the mnemonic, and notice the British price never changed.
还要注意，英国这边的价格从来没有变过。
Now the marks.
现在说分数。
Here is a real exam question.
这是一道真实的考题。
Brendan runs a flower shop.
布伦丹开了一家花店。
Outline two ways an economic boom might affect his business.
请说明经济繁荣可能对他的企业产生的两个影响。
Four marks, given like this.
四分，是这样给的。
One mark for each way — say, demand rises.
每写出一个影响得一分——比如需求上升。
One mark for each link to this business — say, demand rises for his flowers.
每把它和这家企业联系起来再得一分—— 比如对他的鲜花的需求上升。
Two ways, each tied to the shop, and all four marks are yours.
两个影响，每个都联系到这家花店，四分就都是你的了。
Outline means the point plus the business, every time.
说明的意思就是：要点加上企业，每一次都是。
Three marks students lose every year.
学生每年都会丢的三个分。
First, define external costs properly: costs paid by other people or by society, not by the business.
第一，把外部成本定义清楚： 由别人或社会承担、而不是由企业承担的成本。
An example is not a definition.
举例子不等于定义。
Second, trace the chain.
第二，把链条写出来。
Do not just write that interest rates rise — write that loans cost more, so the firm invests less.
不要只写利率上升——要写贷款更贵，所以企业减少投资。
Third, with exchange rates, answer only the side the question asks.
第三，讲汇率的时候，题目问哪一边，就只答哪一边。
Do those three, and this topic is yours.
做到这三点，这个专题就是你的了。
Five leftover facts.
还剩五件事实。
First, governments also want a stable currency, not only stable prices, jobs and growth.
第一，政府还要货币稳定，不只是物价稳、就业足、增长平。
Second, in a boom shortages appear, and in recovery sales slowly improve.
第二，繁荣时会出现短缺，复苏时销售只是慢慢好转。
Third, if wages chase inflation, the country's goods can become too dear abroad.
第三，如果工资跟着通胀涨，本国货在国外会变得太贵。
Fourth, a pressure group tries to influence firms and governments to cut pollution, and a firm may change to avoid bad publicity.
第四，压力团体会推动企业和政府减污染，企业也可能为了避免坏名声而改变。
Fifth, a host country may get lower prices, but resources can be used up or the area polluted.
第五，东道国可能得到更低的价格，但资源会被耗尽，当地也可能被污染。