The Success of Wal-Mart & Mc Donald’s(I)

The Success of Wal-Mart &

Mc Donald’s(I)

Pre Reading Activity

A. Look at the text at glance, and predict what the text discusses.

B. Study the following words

goods                     household        hardware          available          franchising      

invent                    spending          storage             enlarge             purchase

Text I

The Success of Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart has been one of America's most successful businesses. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is a chain of department stores that sells a wide selection of goods at reduced prices. The first Wal-Mart store, located in Rogers, Arkansas, was started by Sam Walton and his brother James "Bud" Walton in 1962. Now there are Wal-Mart stores in every part of the United States and in many countries around the world.

Wal-Mart stores have been successful in part because of the wide variety of goods they sell. Wal-Mart stores are very large. A typical store has electronics, furniture, clothing, household and garden items, hardware, and food and drug items. At Wal-Mart Super centers, a person can also expect to find all the goods and services available in a large supermarket and a discount drugstore.

The other part of Wal-Mart's business strategy is to keep its prices as low as possible. Wal-Mart has been able to cut costs by spending little on advertising and by locating its stores in small towns where land is cheaper. It has also saved by building its own warehouses near its stores and by making use of new technologies. In the technology area, Wal-Mart introduced an innovative system that allows the company to ship goods from its warehouses to its stores as soon as they are needed, thus saving on shipping and storage costs.

Recently, Wal-Mart has greatly enlarged its business by purchasing other, similar companies, both in and outside the United States. In the 1990s, Wal-Mart opened stores in Mexico and Canada, as well as in several other countries.

Post Reading Activity

Comprehension check

C. Answer the following questions based on the text above

1. Why is Wal-Mart considered successful in business?
2. What are the business strategies employed by Wal-Mart?
3. Does Wal-Mart acquire other similar business companies? If yes, in what countries?
4. Mention other companies of department stores!

D. State whether the following statements true or false based on the text above

1. T   F Wal-Mart started as an international company.

2. T   F You can't buy things like furniture or food at a typical Wal-Mart store.

3. T   F Wal-Mart has been successful because it spends a lot on advertising.

4. T   F Most Wal-Mart stores are located outside large cities.

5. T   F Wal-Mart owns its own warehouses.

6. T   F Wal-Mart expanded into Canada and Mexico in the 1980s.

E. Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb.

1. Many people in the world don't have a decent place to live. To help solve this problem, more low-cost housing needs ____________ (build).

2. Illiteracy is still a problem in some countries. More teachers should ____________ (hire) so that all children can learn how to read and write.

3. Child care is expensive and sometimes difficult to find. Free child care ought ____________ (provide) by all companies for their employees.

4. We have a lot of street crime in our city. More police officers have ____________ (train) to patrol the community on foot.

The Success of Wal-Mart &

Mc Donald’s(II)

McDonald's

McDonald's Corporation is one of today's most successful businesses. McDonald's restaurants, which sell hamburgers, cheeseburgers, French fries, milkshakes, soft drinks, and other foods to customers around the world, practically invented the fast-food industry.

The first McDonald's was a hamburger restaurant in San Bernardino, California, named after its owners, Dick and Mac McDonald. The McDonald brothers developed the limited menu, the efficient system of production, and the self-service format that made it possible for the restaurant to deliver food quickly and cheaply. But it was another person, Ray Kroc, who took the concept of the restaurant to the rest of the country and the world. Kroc developed the franchising system that allowed other owners to build their own McDonald's restaurants and sell its food.

McDonald's became so popular because of its highly successful advertising and its innovations in food and services, which allowed the company to expand at an ever-increasing rate. In the 1960s, McDonald's introduced the golden arches, which made the restaurants easy to recognize, and began putting up huge signs to advertise the number of hamburgers sold. In the 1970s and 1980s, McDonald's introduced drive-through service, which allowed customers to order food without leaving their cars. The restaurants also began serving breakfast, which was very popular.

In the 1980s and 1990s, McDonald's focused on a strategy of expanding its markets internationally. Many of the overseas restaurants have been very successful. For example, the McDonald's restaurant in Beijing, China, which served over 40,000 customers on its opening day in 1992, is still the company's largest.

A. State whether the following statements true or false based on the text above

1.T  F McDonald's started as a hamburger restaurant in San Bernardino, California.

2. T  F The MacDonald brothers established the concept of the restaurant.

3. T   F Ray Kroc bought and ran one of the company's restaurants.

4. T   F The golden arches helped advertise McDonald's restaurants.

5. T   F McDonald's served breakfast from the beginning.

6. T   F The McDonald's restaurant in Beijing opened in the 1980s.

B. Answer the following questions based on the text

1. Why was Mc Donald’s Corporation named so?
2. What makes the Mc Donald’s restaurant quick and cheap?
3. Why was Mc Donald’s so famous?
4. Is drive-through service introduced in this decade?
5. What are the competitors of Mc Donald’s?

C. Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb.

1. Homelessness is a real problem in our community. Families should not __________ (force) to leave their homes because of the high cost of housing.

2. We need better gun control. People ought ____________ (require) to take a difficult test before they can buy a gun.

3. Health care is too expensive for working families. Free health care should ____________ (give) to all people who can't afford insurance.

4. Taxes on businesses and individuals are too high. Taxes have to ___________ (reduce) in order to improve the economy.