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lingua house
Innovation in Learning

BUSINESS VOCABULARY

Competition
Lesson code: A6CN-V759-TT9I UPPER INTERMEDIATE +

1 Key words
Match the words below to their definitions.

1. a consumer a. a company producing and selling products in several different

countries
2. supply b. a person or a group that competes with others for the same
thing
3. a rival c. a person who buys goods or services for themselves
4. overtake d. complete control of something by an organization or person
5. a multinational e. to be as good as somebody or something else
6. regain f. to get something back that you lost
7. a monopoly g. to go past something by being better
8. match h. to provide something that people want or need, often in large
¢uantities

Now put the words fron the exercise into the sentences below in the correct forn.

1. If customers are not with a certain product, they will go elsewhere.

2. Having a in business is not always a bad thing. It forces you to improve things.
3. have a lot of choice these days. That's why businesses have to give them added value.
4. We need to the customers that we lost to a company that was offering big discounts.
5. If you are a company, you have access to many more customers.
6. We will soon have a in the market. No one is able to challenge us.
7. They were able to their competition this year. Both businesses reported similar sales.
8. This year we have our competitors. We are now the market leader.

You can review this worksheet online at www.linguahouse.con/ex 1/4

Review your flashcards at least 3-5 times a week for 20 minutes to keep the material fresh in your memory.
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Competition lingua house
Innovation in Learning

BUSINESS VOCABULARY

2 Conpetition verbs, nouns and adjectives

Conplete the table below.

Verb Noun Adjective

attract attraction attractive
improve 1. improvable
innovate innovation 2.
compete competition 3.
dominate 4. dominating
produce 5. productive

3 Conpetition collocations
Read the text about conpetition and fill in the gaps with the nissing words to create collocations.

advantage brand custoners edge narket product profits share

1 , retain
Competition between businesses is natural. Each has to win market
2 and increase their 3 , while keeping one eye on what their competitors

are doing. Some people view competition as a bad thing, but it is often essential for businesses to grow
4 in a particular field gives a
and improve their customer service. Becoming the leading
business a clear 5 . But when companies are in this position they can't afford to be
complacent, as the competition will be right behind them. Knowing their target 6 is crucial
7
for continued success, and creating an innovative can give a company that all important
8 .
competitive
Now, fill in the gaps with the correct words to nake collocations with the word 'conpetition'.
between donestic face fight off intense

1. There isn't a big market outside the country for our product, but there is a lot of
competition.
2. The competition our companies this year became very fierce.
3. We will competition from another company next year, as they are expanding into our
market.
4. Airlines that offer cheap flights have to be prepared for competition.
5. The company was able to competition from their rival, as they had a better product.

You can review this worksheet online at www.linguahouse.con/ex 2/4

Review your flashcards at least 3-5 times a week for 20 minutes to keep the material fresh in your memory.
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 TM
Competition lingua house
Innovation in Learning

BUSINESS VOCABULARY

4 Conpetition idions
Match the underlined idionatic expressions with their correct neaning below.

1. 0ur business has always been ahead of the curve. We are always planning for the future.
2. We think we can corner the market. No one can compete with us on price.
3. We have great staff who always go the extra mile. That is why we have so many loyal customers.
4. You need to keep your eye on the ball at all times. You never know what the competition will do.
5. We have to raise the bar because the market is very crowded right now.
6. 0ur manager encourages us to think outside the box. He wants us to be creative.
7. We will blow the competition out of the water this year. We are going to invest more in our
services.

a. become so successful at selling a particular product that no other company can sell it
b. better than average, more advanced
c. destroy (something) completely
d. do more and make a lot of effort
e. increase expected standards
f. keep your attention on something
g. think in an imaginative and innovative way

5 Staying ahead of the curve

With a partner or in a snall group, brainstorn ideas about how you can stay ahead of your conpetition
in business. Use the lines below to write down your ideas.

...........................................................................................
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You can review this worksheet online at www.linguahouse.con/ex 3/4

Review your flashcards at least 3-5 times a week for 20 minutes to keep the material fresh in your memory.
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 TM
Competition lingua house
Innovation in Learning

BUSINESS VOCABULARY

6 Great business rivalries: McDonald's vs. Burger King

PART 1: Listen to the descriptions of McDonald's and Burger King. Fill in the nissing infornation in
the tables.

Conpany McDonald's
Head¢uarters 0ak Brook, Illinois
Founder(s) 1. Richard and Maurice
Year founded 2.
Employees (2015) 420,000
Number of locations (2016) 3.
Turnover (2015) US$ 25 billion

Conpany Burger King (fornerly Insta-Burger King)

Head¢uarters 4.
Founder(s) David Edgerton and James McLamore
Year founded 1954
Employees (2015) 5.
Number of locations (2016) 15,243
Turnover (2015) 6. US$
Source: Wikipedia
PART 2: Now, listen to the infornation about their business rivalry, and then answer the Questions.
1. How long have McDonald's and Burger King been rivals for?
2. Why did Burger King sell a bigger burger than McDonald's?
3. Why did the ‘burger wars' start?
4. Which other fast food chain has been involved in the ‘burger wars'?
5. Why did the ‘burger wars' make a comeback?
6. What was the joint McDonald's/Burger King burger going to be called?

7 Talking Point
Discuss any of the Questions below.

1. Do you agree that competition is good for business? Why/why not?

2. What do you think your company does to give them a competitive advantage?
3. Do you think competition at work between people is a positive thing? Why/why not?

You can review this worksheet online at www.linguahouse.con/ex 4/4

Review your flashcards at least 3-5 times a week for 20 minutes to keep the material fresh in your memory.
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