Business English- Describing Companies

Describing companies from different countries

Choose a company below that you know quite well and describe it until your partner guesses which one you are talking about. Then discuss if they agree with your description.

Amazon.com Avon Boeing Caterpillar Citigroup Coca Cola Costco Dell DuPont Estee Lauder ExxonMobil FedEx Gap GE Gillette GM Goodyear Google Hallmark Harley-Davidson Hershey’s Hertz HJ Heinz IBM Intel Kellogg’s Kodak MAN Mattel Microsoft Motorola Nike Northwest Pfizer Procter and Gamble Samsonite Starbucks Subway Tiffany Wal-Mart Xerox

Ajinomoto Asahi Shimbun Bridgestone Canon Citizen Dentsu Fast Retailing (Uniqlo etc) Fujitsu Hitachi JAL Kao Kenwood Kikkoman Kirin Komatsu Muji NEC Nintendo Nissan Nissin Nomura NTT Pentax Pentel Ricoh Roland Sekisui Sharp Shimano Shiseido Softbank Sony Subaru Suzuki Tomy Toray Toshiba Wacoal YKK Yamaha

AXA Alcatel BNP Paribas BNP Parisbas Bic Canal + Carrefour Cartier Chanel Christian Dior Danone Lafarge LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moey Hennesey) L’Oreal Michelin Paul Printemps Renault Total Vivendi

Adidas Allianz BASF Bayer BMW Continental DHL Grundig Hugo Boss Leica Lufthansa Mercedes Benz Nivea Porsche SAP Siemans Stabilo T-Mobile Triumph VW/ Audi Wella Zeiss

 

 

BAE Systems BP Burberry Dunlop Dyson Foster and Partners GlaxoSmithKline Harrods JCB Land Rover Parker Pearson Raleigh Reuters Tesco Virgin Atlantic Vodafone Wedgewood	Diadora Caritas Olivetti Beretta Pirelli Fiat/ Ferrari Gucci Bulgari Pirelli Vespa Iveco Benetton	Adecco Bally Credit Suisse Logitech Nestle Novartis Roche Schindler Swarovski Swatch Vitorinox	Astra Zeneca Electrolux Ericsson H&M Husqvarna IKEA Saab Securitas Skanska Tetra Pak Volvo
Daewoo Hite Hyundai Kia Kumho- Asiana LG Lotte NHN Orion Samsung	DAF Heineken ING KLM Phillips Royal Dutch Shell Shell TNT Unilever	Hutchinson -Whampoa Hang Seng Golden Harvest HSBC South China-Morning Post Cathy Pacific Amoy	Four Seasons IMAX Labatt’s Sun Life Research in Motion Thomson-Reuters
Andersen Carlsberg Bang and Olufsen LEGO Maersk	Camper Zara Seat Telefonica Banco Santander	Wipro Hindustan Times Infosys Kingfisher Tata	BHP Billiton Macquarie Quantas Foster’s Group
Gazprom Tupolev Rosneft Aeroflot	Efes Arcelik Cumhuriyet	Guinness AIB Ryan Air	Lenovo Tsingtao Cosco
Mr Minit Godiva Agfa	Singha Jim Thompson	Acer Eva Airways	Varig Petrobras
Petronas Proton	Finnair Nokia	De Beers SAB Miller	Manila Times San Miguel

 

Do the same, but using the phrases on the next page to help you.

 

Useful phrases to talk about companies

• Its HQ/ headquarters/ head office is in…
• It has an office/ a branch/ a factory/ a plant in…
• It produces/ manufactures/ makes…
• It a/ an … company (but it is owned by a/ an …. company)
• It sells/ distributes…
• It provides/ offers…
• In this country, it…
• It’s a multinational company
• It does most/ a lot of business in…
• Its main business is…
• It has a subsidiary which…
• Its (main) competitors (in this country) are…
• It’s a market leader
• It was in the news (recently) because…
• It’s the largest/ second largest company in…
• It was set up/ founded…
• It operates in…
• It has … employees (in…)
• It has … subsidiaries (which…)
• It is owned by…
• It’s a privately-owned company (= limited company)/ publically-owned company (= PLC/ public corporation)/ government-owned company/ partnership
• It exports/ imports/ distributes…
• It’s a wholesaler/ retailer/ manufacturer/ miner/ distributor/ technology company/ telecommunications company/ conglomerate
• Its most famous product (in this country) is…
• The CEO/ Managing Director/ Chairman/ founder/ owner is…

 

Vocabulary and discussion questions

• What countries do the firms above come from? (Each box is one country)
• What are the nationality adjectives for those countries (so that you can say “It is a/ an ____________ company”)?
• Are there any companies which are too unimportant to be included on the list?
• Are there any other companies which should be included, e.g. from your sector or country?
• Were you surprised by the number of companies or lack of companies from any of the countries?
• Use the phrases above to describe companies which are not on the list. Can your partner guess which you are talking about?
• Use the phrases above to describe your own company, then ask questions from your partner.