an arrangement may play havoc with the future functioning of the business. Suppose that each of five children receives a 20 percent ownership share even though only one of them is active in the business. The child active in the business – the leadership successor – becomes a minority stockholder completely at the mercy of relatives on the outside.
Ideally, the founder has been able to arrange his or her personal holdings to create wealth outside the business as well as within it. In this way, he or she may bequeath comparable shares to all heirs while allowing business control to remain with the child or children active in the business.
Tax considerations are relevant, of course, and they tend to favor gradual transfer of ownership to all heirs. As noted above, however, transfer of equal ownership shares to all heirs may be inconsistent with future efficient operation of the business. Tax laws should not be allowed to blind one to possible adverse effects on management.
One creative ownership transfer plan was worked out by a warehouse distributor in the tire industry. The distributor's son and probable successor was active in the business. The distributor's daughter was married to a college professor at a small southern university. Believing the business to be their most valuable asset, the owner and his wife were concerned that both the daughter and the son receive a fair share. Initially, the parents decided to give the business real estate to their daughter and the business itself to their son, who would then pay rent to his sister. After discussing the matter with both children, however, they developed a better plan whereby both the business property and the business would go to the son.
The daughter would receive all nonbusiness assets plus an instrument of debt from her brother, intended to balance the monetary values. This plan was not only fair but also workable in terms of the operation and management of the firm.
Planning and discussing the transfer of ownership is not easy, but such action is recommended. Over a period of time, the owner must reflect seriously on family talents and interests as they relate to the future of the firm. The plan for transfer of ownership can then be firmed up and modified as necessary when it is discussed with the children or other potential heirs.
1.4.2 Exercise 2. Remember the following phraseological units
1.4.3 Exercise 3. Arrange the following words into 2 columns: synonyms and antonyms
Intensive, full-time, secondary, day-time, include, primary, evening, exclude, part-time, extensive
1.4.4 Exercise 4. Complete the following chart:
1.4.5 Exercise 5. Remember the difference in the meaning of the following words:
1.4.6 Exercise 6. Remember the following terms:
Distribution, production, profitability, customer, delivery, income, benefit, salary, dividend, consumer, subordinate, employee.
1.4.7 Exercise 7. Add prefixes in-, un-, mis-, il-, ir-, dis- to the following words
Sufficient, possible, responsible, satisfactory, advantage, formally, dependent, certainty, competent, consistent.
1.4.8 Exercise 8. Remember the difference in the meaning
1.4.9 Exercise 9.
Complete each sentence with a passive verb. You may need a negative form.
1. Somebody damaged the goods in transit. The goods __________ in transit.
2. Thousands of people see this advert every day. This advert ___________ by thousands of people every day.
3. They will not finish the project by the end of the month. The project __________ by the end of the month.
4. They have closed fifty retail outlets over the last year. Fifty retail outlets ___________ over the last year.
5. We are reviewing all of our IT systems. All of our IT systems ____________.
6. We cannot ship your order until we receive payment. Your order __________ until we receive payment.
1.4.10 Exercise 10.
Open the brackets, use the verbs in the Passive. Pay attention to the time.
1. I don’t think your proposal (to accept) at the next meeting.
2. The company (to found) by the father of the present chairman in 1950.
3. All our machines (to service) by highly trained technicians.
4. The machine isn’t working again! It (to repair) yesterday by the technician.
5. Last year the conference (to open) by someone from London Business School.
6. I (to show) round the factory by someone, and then I’ll meet the sales team.
1.4.11 Exercise 11.
Rewrite the sentences using the passive where possible. You may need a negative form.
1. Our R&D department has discovered a promising drug.
2. The inflation rate went down by 0.5 % last month.
3. One of our best young designers created this line.
4. I’m sorry, we can’t do that.
5. Something very interesting happened to me last week.
6. We’re spending more than one million dollars on advertising this year.
7. The Accounts Department may not authorise this payment.
8. I worked as a consultant for four years after my MBA.
1.4.12 Exercise 12.
A marketing manager is writing a training manual that explains how the company uses questionnaires to do market research. Complete the text by putting the verbs from the list below into the present simple passive.
First, we carefully select a sample people to ask. Then the questions ______ by a small team within the department. Next, the questions ______ into sequence and grouped together by topic. After that, we print questionnaire and it _______ to everyone in the sample. Of course, not all the forms __________ to us, but we try to collect as many as possible.
Sometimes, a small gift ________ to people who return the forms, as an incentive. Finally we enter all the results onto a spreadsheet, and the information ______ by the marketing department. If we are using a very large sample the distribution and collection _________ to an external company.
1.4.13 Exercise 13.
Complete the second sentence so it has a similar meaning to the first sentence.
1. David Gill from Marketing lent me this book.
I _________ this book by David Gill from Marketing.
2. This sample was given to me at the Trade Fair.
_______________________
