CS Foundation :: English & Business Communication : June 2005

One of your customers has defaulted on payments and yet has placed a fresh order. Write a letter to him reminding of the payments due, and firmly letting him know that as per the trade practice of the company, fresh orders would be executed only after the previous dues are cleared.

What is a curriculum vitae (CV) ? What are the purposes of CV ? What forms the content of CV ? Give a specimen CV assuming that an insurance company has advertised for the recruitment of a Company Secretary.

Make a precis of the following passage in about one-third of its length and suggest a suitable title (Use precis-sheet given at the end of the answer book) :

Ever since the liberalisation process was initiated by the government in 1991, Indian organisations are striving to put themselves on the world map of world class business. In the context of the revised economic policy, there is a great deal of realisation that even to exist in domestic business, an organisation should have a product or service comparable to the world class organisations or else they will have to leave the scene giving way to more competitive organisations. The liberalisation process which started with the private sector industries continues with the introduction of the Insurance Bill throwing open the insurance sector to MNCs and private sector investment. With the stand taken by a major political party on this issue, it is very obvious that it is going to be fait accompli that the fate of the insurance industry is like the fate of any other industry having to compete with efficient and effective organisations, both domestic and foreign. When one looks at the reality of the situation, one thing is very clear: whichever party is going to be in power, there is no other alternative for the Indian organisations but to prepare themselves to become globally competitive. In a nutshell, it is going to be an era of survival of the fittest. In the light of the above environment, organisations have realised the need for change and are initiating a lot of interventions to position themselves with products and services comparable to world class organisations. With the entry of multinational organisations, a customer has a very wide range of choice to select from and he is going to choose a product or service which is cost effective without any compromise on quality.

In the era of monopoly and control, the following formula was valid for any organisation : Cost + Profit = Selling Price. In the light of protection enjoyed by many organisations, whenever there was a cost escalation or when the profit was inadequate, the organisations were in the envious position to increase the price without any resistance for the inefficiency and ineffectiveness. It was a sellers’ market. But with the entry of competition, the formula has changed to Selling Price – Cost = Profit. This formula assumes great significance and will change the fate of many organisations. The selling price is decided by the competition and the organisations will find themselves in a buyers’ market. With the availability of cost effective products with superior quality, organisations cannot increase the price at their own option. This means that there is no other alternative but to become effective by improving the productivity parameters of quality, cost, delivery and service.