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Учебно-методический комплекс по дисциплине «английский язык» Для студентов заочной формы обучения специальностей

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Positive and normative economics
Тексты для специальности “Менеджмент организации” Вариант 1
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Вариант 3


^ POSITIVE AND NORMATIVE ECONOMICS

In studying economics it is important to distinguish two branches of the subject. The first is known as positive economics, the second as normative economics.

Positive economics deals with objective or scientific plantations of the working of the economy. The aim of positive economics is to explain how society makes decisions about consumption, production, and exchange of goods. The purpose of this investigation is twofold: to satisfy our curiosity about why the economy works as it does, and to have some basis for predicting how the economy will respond to changes in circumstances.

Normative economics is very different. Normative economics offers prescriptions or recommendations based on personal value judgments.

In positive economics, we hope to act as detached scientists. Whatever our political persuasion, whatever our view about what we would like to happen or what we would regard as a good thing, in the first instance we have to be concerned with how the world actually works. At this stage, there is no scope for personal value judger nets. We are concerned with propositions of the form: if this is changed then that will happen. In regard, positive economics is similar to the natural sciences such as physics, geology or astronomy.

Here are some examples of positive economics in action. Economists of widely differing political persuasions would agree that, when the government imposes a fax on a good, the price of that good will rise. The normative question of whether this piffle rise is desirable is emir Ely distinct. Many propositions in positive economics would command widespread agreement among professional economists.

Of course, as in any other science, there are unresolved questions where disagreement remains. These disagreements are at the frontiers of economics. Research in progress will resolve some of the issues but new issues will arrive and provide scope for further research.

Although competent and comprehensive research can in principle resolve many of the outstanding issues in positive economics, no corresponding claim can be made about the resolution of disagreement in normative economics.

Normative economics is based on subjective value judgments, not on the normative economics: The first part of the proposition- the claim that the aged have relatively high medical bills- is a statement in positive economics, it is a statement about how the world works, and we can imagine a research programmed that could determine whether or not it is correct. Broadly speaking, this assertion happens to be correct.

The second part of the proposition- the recommendation about what the government should do- could never be proved to correct or false by any scientific research investigation. It is simply a subjective value judgment based on the feelings of the person making the statement. Many people might happen to share this subjective judgment, for example those people who believe that all citizens alive today should be able to purchase roughly equal amounts of luxury and recreational goods after paying for the necessities of life. But other people might reasonably disagree. You might believe that it is more important to devote society’s scarce resources to improving the environment.

There is no way that economics can be used to show that one of these normative judgments is correct and the other is wrong. It all depends on the preferences or priorities of the individual or the society that has to make this choice. But that does not mean that economics can throw no light on normative issues. We can use positive economics to spell our the detailed implications of making the choice one way or the other. For example, we might be able to show that failure to subsidize the medical bills of the elderly leads middle- aged people to seek a lot of unnecessary medical check –ups in an attempt to detect diseases before their treatment becomes expensive. Positive economics can be used to clarify the menu of options from which society must eventually make its normative choice.

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Тексты для специальности “Менеджмент организации”

Вариант 1


ON MANAGEMENT AND MANAGERS

Management, by definition, is a function of planning, organizing, coordinating, directing and controlling. Any managerial system, at any managerial level, is characterized in terms of these functions.

Management is revealed in a variety of specific activities. Marketing management refers to a broad concept covering organization of production and sales of products, which is based on consumer requirements research. All companies must look beyond present situation and develop a long – term strategy to meet changing conditions in their industry. Marketing management, therefore, consists of evaluating market opportunities, selecting markets, developing market strategies, planning marketing tactics and controlling marketing results.

Strategic planning includes defining the company’s long – term as well as specific objectives, such as sales volume, market share, profitability and innovation, and deciding on financial, material and other resources necessary to achieve these objectives.

In problems of market selection and product planning one of the key concepts is that of the PRODUCT LIFE CIRCLE. The fact that products pass through various stages between life and death (introduction – growth – maturity – decline) is hard to deny. Equally accepted is the understanding that a company should have a mix of products with representation in each of these stages. Companies can make far more effective marketing decisions if they take time to find out where each of their products stands in its life cycle.

However, the concept of the product life cycle seems frequently forgotten in marketing planning, which leads to wrong decision – making. This may well be seen in the following story: A supplier of some light industrial equipment felt that the decline in the sales of his major product was due to the fact that it was not receiving the sales support it deserved. In order to give extra sales support to this problem case a special advertising campaign was run. This required cutting into marketing budget of several products, which were still in their “young” growth phase. In fact, the major product has long since passed the zenith of its potential sales, and no amount of additional sales support could have extended its growth. This became quite clear in the end-of-year sales, which showed no improvement. The promising products, however, went into gradual sales decline. In short, management has failed to consider each product’s position in its life cycle.

A number of different terms are used for “manager”, including “director”, “administrator ” and “president”. The term “manage” is used more frequently in profit – making organizations, while the others are used more widely in government and non-profit organizations such as universities, hospitals and social work agencies.

What, then, is a manager?

When used collectively the term “management” refers to those people who are responsible for making and carrying out decisions within the system.

An individual manager is a person who directly supervises people in an organization.

Some basic characteristics seem to apply to managers in all types of organizations: they include hard work on a variety of activities, preference for active tasks, direct personal relationships. Almost everything a manager does involve decisions. The reason for making a decision is that a problem exists. In decision – making there is always some uncertainty and risk.

Managing is a hard job. There is a lot to be done and relatively little time to do it. The engineer can finish a design on a particular day; and the lawyer can win or lose a case at a certain time. But the manager’s job is like “OLD MAN RIVER”* – it just keeps going.

“OLD MAN RIVER” – the name of a song