Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1056.
Finding Emerging Markets.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1056.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there and become a member of ESL Podcast and download the learning guide for this episode.
My voice is a little strange today.
I think might be getting a cold.
I'm not sure, but I hope you can still understand me.
Today we're going to talk about emerging markets in the business world.
Let's get started.
If our company is going to grow, We need to find emerging markets.
It makes sense to get a foothold in a few countries that may have developed markets within the next 20 years.
But there's no guarantee that rapid growth in a country's economy now will be sustainable years from now.
I think it's too much of a gamble myself.
There are certainly no guarantees.
But by the time it all shakes out and it's clear which markets are the most promising, we will have missed the boat.
So what are you suggesting?
Should we pick one or two markets to invest in, or hedge our bets and invest in several?
I still think it may be too risky, but I'm willing to consider the idea.
Work up a proposal and I'll look at it.
You will?
This is great.
I didn't think you'd be so receptive.
Short and sweet is my middle name.
Our dialogue begins with Jamie saying to Nina The verb to grow here means to get bigger to make more money.
Jamie says that in order for their company to grow, They need to find emerging E-M-E-R-G-I-N-G markets.
The word market refers in this case to a group of people or companies that you can sell things to.
Emerging comes from the verb to emerge E-M-E-R-G-E, which means emerging, to come out of or to grow out of.
But here, the term emerging really refers to countries where the economy is getting bigger.
It's getting richer.
Companies are growing.
The economy is still not as big or as rich as other countries, but it is getting bigger.
We often talk about emerging markets when we are referring to countries that have a growing economy but are still not as big as the world's largest economies.
Jamie thinks that...
Their company needs to find emerging markets.
They need to sell whatever it is they make to perhaps companies or individuals in other countries.
He says it makes sense, it's logical, it's reasonable to get a foothold in a few countries that may have developed markets within 20 years.
The expression to get a foothold, F-O-O-T-H-O-L-D means to establish a position or a place from which you can continue to do something.
You can continue to make progress.
If you are an owner of a restaurant, you may open a new restaurant in a certain neighborhood and it becomes popular.
Then you decide that you want to open more restaurants in that neighborhood.
The first restaurant is an opportunity for you to get a foothold.
You got a position.
You established a position that you could then use to do other things to, in this case, open new restaurants.
Jamie is talking about their company getting a foothold in countries where that may have developed markets within the next 20 years.
The word developed is in some ways the opposite of emerging, or at least it implies that the markets are already advanced.
They have a lot of money.
Sometimes you'll read in the news about developing countries versus developed countries, although we more often talk about developing countries than developed countries.
Developing countries are countries that are growing, that are getting bigger but are still not as rich as, don't have as much money as the more developed countries.
So a developed market would be a group of businesses or individuals who have already obtained or reached a certain level.
They have a lot of money.
They can buy things.
Jamie is talking about going into countries and setting up businesses or starting to sell things so that as that country gets richer, the company will be able to expand and get bigger in that country.
Nina says...
There's no guarantee that rapid growth in a country's economy now will be sustainable years from now.
Let's start with the word guarantee.
To guarantee means to assure or to promise that something will happen in the future.
Rapid refers to something that happens very quickly.
So rapid growth would be a situation where a company or a country is growing quickly, is getting bigger very quickly.
Nina says there's no guarantee that rapid growth in a country's economy now will be sustainable years from now.
The economy refers, of course, to the business activity within a certain country.
What she's saying basically here is that just because a country is growing quickly now doesn't mean that that growth will continue in the future.
The word sustainable...
S-U-S-T-A-I-N-A-B-L-E, means to continue for a long period of time.
For something to be sustainable, it has to be able to continue to continue at its current level, or perhaps even to continue growing to get bigger.
That's what Nina is doubting here.
She's saying just because you have...
Emerging markets that are growing rapidly doesn't mean that they will continue to grow in the future.
Nina says A gamble G-A-M-B-L-E as a noun refers to a risk, something that may or may not be successful.
Jamie says, Jamie says yes we can't promise that markets will continue to grow.
But he says, by the time it all shakes out and it's clear which markets are the most promising, we will have missed the boat.
The expression shakes S-H-A-K-E-S out refers to something that is completed when you know what the results are.
Jamie says, by the time we know which countries are going to be successful, which markets are the most promising, have the potential for being the most successful, the most favorable for us.
The expression to miss M-I-S-S the boat B-O-A-T means that you have missed an opportunity.
You have lost the possibility of taking advantage of something.
Basically, Jamie is saying here that if they wait and see which countries are the most successful, they will have lost their opportunity to be successful in those countries, to get a foothold or gain a foothold, as he mentioned earlier.
Nina says, so what are you suggesting?
What are you saying, Jamie?
Should we pick one or two markets to invest in or hedge our bets and invest in several?
Nina is asking if the company should select, should pick just one or two countries, one or two markets to invest in, to put money into, or if the company should hedge their bets.
To hedge H-A-D-G-E your bets B-E-T-S means to not put all of your money into one, in this case, particular country.
Instead, to try several different countries just in case one of them doesn't work.
Jamie says, I think we should identify the countries that have shown strong economic growth in the past 10 years and focus on those.
Jamie is saying we should pick the countries where the economy is growing and has been growing for the past 10 years, and focus or concentrate on those countries.
Nina says, I think it still may be too risky, but I'm willing to consider the idea.
Nina isn't convinced, but she's willing to think about it.
She says to Jamie, work up a proposal and I'll look at it.
To work up a Here means to prepare.
It's a phrasal verb which we use when we are talking about getting something ready.
A proposal is a plan to do something.
Jamie says you will, meaning you will consider the idea.
This is great, he says.
I didn't think you'd be so receptive.
To be receptive R-E-C-E-P-T-I-V-E means to be willing to listen to or to receive something, to be willing to consider new ideas.
Nina says, Nina says, To keep an open mind means to be willing to consider new ideas.
It's something similar to being receptive.
Nina says, The expression short and sweet, S-W-E-E-T, means with very few words. concise, direct.
Keep it short and sweet means just give me a very brief version of what you are thinking of.
Jamie says short and sweet is my middle name.
We sometimes use.
The expression is my middle name as To mean that something is an important characteristic or a good description of someone.
Short and sweet are actually two words.
So perhaps Jamie should have said short and sweet are my middle names.
But the most common way of using this expression is in the singular.
So if someone says, for example, I love doing dangerous things.
Danger is my middle name.
That means that danger is an adjective that characterizes me, that describes me very well.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
If our company is going to grow, we need to find emerging markets.
It makes sense to get a foothold in a few countries that may have developed markets within the next 20 years.
But there's no guarantee that rapid growth in the country's economy now will be sustainable years from now.
I think it's too much of a gamble myself.
There are certainly no guarantees, but by the time it all shakes out and it's clear which markets are the most promising, we will have missed the boat.
So what are you suggesting?
Should we pick one or two markets to invest in, or hedge our bets and invest in several?
I think we should identify the countries that have shown strong economic growth in the past 10 years and focus on those.
I still think it may be too risky, but I'm willing to consider the idea.
Work up a proposal, and I'll look at it.
You will?
This is great.
I didn't think you'd be so receptive.
I'm not making any promises, but I'll keep an open mind.
Just make it short and sweet.
Short and sweet is my middle name.
I'll keep this message short and sweet.
Dr. Say is the best script writer on the internet.
There, I've said it.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
