To understand the marketing concept, it is necessary to understand the difference between marketing and selling. Not too many years ago, most industries concentrated primarily on the     1     production of goods, and then relied on “persuasive salesmanship” to move as many of these goods as possible. Such production and selling focuses on the needs of the seller to produce goods and then    2     them into money.

Marketing, on the other hand, focuses on the wants of consumers. It begins with    3     the preferences and demands of consumers and then producing goods that will satisfy them. This eye-on-the-consumer approach is known as the marketing concept, which simply means that the makers and dealers first try to find out what the consumer wants to buy and then go about making it    4     for purchase.

This concept does not mean that business is charity work or that consumer satisfaction is given priority (优先权) over     5       in a company. There are always two sides to every business    6     — he company and the customer — and each must be satisfied before trade occurs. A successful producer, however,     7     that the surest route to make money is through understanding and satisfying customers. A good example of the     8     of satisfying customers presented itself in mid-1985, when Coca-Cola changed the flavour of its drink, which proved    9     to the market and then led to a sharp decrease in sales. Fortunately, the company’s    10     the Classic Coke immediately helped to turn the situation around.

The Best Company to Work For

Every year, Fortune magazine published a list of the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’. How does the magazine choose the companies? Firstly, it uses a survey: 350 employees answer 57 questions about their company. Secondly, Fortune looks at important     1     of companies: for example, pay, benefits, and communication between workers and management. Finally, the magazine     2     the results to find its Top 100.

Wegmans Food Markets, which ranks No. 1 on the list, has a motto (座右铭), ‘Employees first, customers second’, and it is also one of the 50 largest private companies in the US, with annual sales of $3.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Apparently, being good to your employees is no     3     to making money.

How much of Wegmans’ success is due to the company’s policies? ‘Up to a point, the success is because of the freedom they give us,’ says one employee. ‘On the other hand, no company gets rich just by not being     4     to its employees. Wegmans has great marketing strategies and it’s     5     within the community. I’ve been here for 15 years. Looking back, I’d say that the company’s     6     for customers, such as the Shoppers’ Club electronic discount programme in the 1990s, have been just as important as the benefits to staff. ’

But the employee benefits are     7    . Fundamentally, Wegmans believes in     8     development. As well as scholarships, the company gives its employees business opportunities. For years, one employee made delicious cookies for her colleagues.     9    , she started selling the cookies in Wegmans. ‘I just asked the manager,’ she says. ‘While looking back, I think should have asked earlier. I could have made more money!’

The staff’s freedom to make decisions is another thing you won’t     10     everywhere. Essentially, Wegmans wants its workers to do almost anything to please the customers. Believe it or not, an employee once cooked a Thanksgiving turkey in the store for a customer because the woman’s turkey, bought in Wegmans, was too big for her oven.

Duty-free shopping in China is encouraging consumer spending and industry players are not     1     when forecasting more growth in the future.

Brands from home and     2     are gathering to introduce new products for travel retailers during the China International Consumer Products Expo in Haikou, where zero import taxes and shorter negative lists are promoting business growth.

“The event and policies to drive offshore duty-free shopping further show China’s determination of opening wider to the outside world to     3     development opportunities,” said a Japanese businessman.

The construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port represents a big     4     of China to further advance opening-up, according to another foreign businessman.

“It offers a fantastic opportunity to     5     consumers’ needs for quality products and we, as a company, are able to communicate with them     6    ,” said Megarbane, whose company has shown several Hainan — only duty-free packages under multiple brands.

Last year, China raised the     7     cap on zero import duty to 100,000 yuan ($15,548) for each traveler departing from the tropical island. This policy has encouraged travelers from Hainan to spend more when they travel.

Duty-free spending     8     in Hainan last year. In the first quarter of this year, duty-free sales in Hainan     9     15 billion yuan, and an upward trend is expected to extend into the year and beyond.

“We believe customers want     10     experiences, to see more high-end fashion brands and explore excellent customer service, so it’s about mixed factors,” a senior manager said, adding that DFS is looking to build four new duty-free stores in Hainan within the next three to five year.

The number of people from other countries — especially China — who want to invest in the United States in     1     for a permanent resident visa reached its highest level in 2015.

The program is known as EB-5 or Employment-Based Fifth Initiative. It was created in 1990 during the presidency of George W. Bush and supported by both major political parties.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services says the program gives permanent resident status to those who invest at least $1, 000, 000 in a new project “that will create or     2     at least ten full-time jobs in the United States” within about two years. The agency says a foreign citizen needs to invest just “$500, 000 if the (project) is in a     3     employment area,” which includes some rural areas and areas with high joblessness. Critics of the program say much of the investment takes place in wealthy cities like Dallas, New York and Washington.

The USCIS reported there were 17, 691 requests for EB-5 visas in 2015. In 2013 there were 6, 554 requests.

Experts say the reason for the sharp increase last year is rich people were worried that the program would be cancelled. But in December, it was     4     for 10 months.

Without the program, many of them would have to wait many years before they could     5     enter and live in the U. S. The U. S. State Department reports some Chinese citizens who have asked for visas without taking part in the program have been waiting since 2001.

Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, has supported the EB-5program since it began. But he recently     6     major changes.

In a statement, he said “fraud (欺诈) and abuse (滥用) cannot be tolerated, no matter where it occurs. Even when there is no     7     of fraud, the intentions that Congress created to     8     EB-5 investment to underserved areas are regularly abused. Given the significant problems     9     this program, I will continue to push for meaningful reform. Without reform, I believe the time has come for the program to end. ”

Carolyn Lee is an attorney and managing partner at the EB-5 group at the Miller Mayer law firm in Ithaca, New York. She told VOA “there’s no question that the program can be improved. ” She says Congress needs to watch the program more closely, and she said background investigations should be more     10    .

New York City and Shanghai

New York City is always thought of as the financial capital of the world. However, there is     1    . London has been challenging this, and there is an emerging challenger from the east, the city of Shanghai. Shanghai has become the base for many international and     2     Chinese companies. In fact, Shanghai has been called the New York of the East. One thing that is vibrant (充满活力的) in both cities is the strong sense of a     3     environment.

New York is famous for its financial market on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Index (道琼斯指数) is the measure used to record how stocks and shares in companies are rising or falling in value. It is also famous for its international business network. New York financial service companies have a huge number of     4     people who can make decisions quickly, with profit as the main focus. Shanghai, like New York, has also     5     the best of the talent, but from Asia. Many leading companies are also establishing their Asian regional headquarters in Shanghai. The main    6     of the stock market’s rise and fall in China is the Shanghai Composite Index (上证综合指数).

For people     7     in these cities, the main forms of transport are subways and bus networks. Shanghai’s subway system is much newer than New York’s, but for both cities, good transportation is the key to keeping them as financial centers. The world of finance demands that people are on time and can travel     8     from meeting to meeting.

When it comes to business culture though, there are many differences. In China,     9     are often based on long-term relationships which have grown over a period of time. However, modern trading and investment often requires quick decisions, so this is a difference that has to be    10    . In New York, business relationships are often based on similar interests and investments.

Globalization is term used to describe how     1     and technology have made the world into a more connected and interdependent place.

When did globalization begin? Many scholars say it started with Columbus’s voyage 10 the New World in 1492. People traveled to nearby and faraway places well before Columbus’s voyage,     2     their ideas, products, and customs along the way. The Silk Road, an ancient network of trade routes across China, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean used between 50 B. C. E. and 250 C. E. is perhaps the most well-known early example. As globalization     3    , new technologies played a key role in the Silk Road trade. Advances in metallurgy (冶金术) led to the creation of coins; advances in transportation led to the building of roads connecting the major empires of the day; and increased     4     production meant more food could be trafficked between locales. Along with Chinese silk, Roman glass, and Arabian spices, ideas such as Buddhist beliefs and the secrets of paper-making also     5     via these tendrils of trade.

Unquestionably, these types of exchanges were     6     in the Age of Exploration, when European explorers were     7     new sea routes to the spices and silks of Asia. Again, technology played an important role in the maritime trade routes that flourished between old and newly discovered     8     Trade and idea exchange now extended to a previously unconnected part of the world, where ships carrying plants, animals, and Spanish silver between the Old World and the New also carried Christian missionaries.

The web of globalization     9     to spread out through the Age of Revolution, when ideas about liberty and equality spread like fire from America to France to Latin America and beyond. It rode the waves of industrialization, colonization, and war through the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, powered by the invention of factories, railways, steamboats, cars, and planes.

With the Information Age, globalization went into overdrive. Advances in computer and communications technology launched a new global era and     10     what it meant to be “connected.”

This past National Day holiday saw upwards of half a billion Chinese citizens travelling. While some flew off to international destinations, the     1     majority enjoyed the many tourist sites that China has to offer. If you were one of those people who decided to explore China’s scenic spots, you probably realized that it isn’t just the mountain steps that are steep-the entrance fees are, too!

The average cost of the highest     2    5A attractions is 109 yuan. This could prove to be a little too steep for some families, who find themselves spending too large a portion of their holiday budget on admission tickets. The 32 5A locations that upped their prices in the past five years experienced an average     3     of over 40 percent. The bad news is that these prices are expected to continue to rise. So how does China’s situation compare to other parts of the world? The average fees for cultural and historical sites seem to be on par with(与…同价) international     4    . It’s quite another story, however, when you compare natural wonders. For example, the cost of a ticket to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park(张家界国家森林公园) hovers around 245 yuan for a three-day tour. This seems    5     high when you consider that a week long pass to America’s Yellowstone National Park (黄石国家公园)is a mere 74 yuan. There are     6     benefits to increased revenue(收益) from ticket sales, which support necessary     7     , maintenance and operation costs. This is especially important for sites that must keep visitor numbers down in order to protect the natural environment. However, it must also be     8     that many of China’s tourist attractions are operated by private companies who are ultimately protecting their bottomline(盈亏底线).

While the government has put some     9     in place, such as only allowing entrance fees to be raised once every three years, they have not     10     the upper limit of ticket prices and increases. Further measures to settle the dispute are being considered. In the meantime, some families are forced to re-think if some attractions are really worth the costs.