Company profile - IBM

Hello everybody!

Due to the fact that our A-level exams are coming closer and closer I have prepared a press review about a potential topic for our exam which is about a company profile.

I was reading an article the other day in the online edition of “The Guardian” and it talks about the company profile of the International Business Machines Corporation, called IBM.

I thought you might be interested because IBM is the worldwide leading technology company for hardware, software and IT services.

First question is, what is a company profile and what does it consist of?

A company profile is a short description of a company which includes the main data on the company, the company’s history, its key figures on past, current and anticipated financial performance, the number of its employees and members of the board of directors.

Now to the overview.

IBM is a computer, technology and IT consulting corporation which was founded in 1911 and is now conducted by CEO Virginia Rometty. The headquarters are located in Armonk, New York. The company manufactures and sells computer hardware, software and infrastructure services, ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.

Basically, the article says that the revenue of IBM amounts to 81.8 billion US Dollars and that 380,000 people are employed worldwide.

It also says that IBM originally started in the United States but nowadays the corporation is present globally. Even in Austria there are seven subsidiaries, one of them is in Blumau Tower in Linz.

IBM’s company profile also includes „environmental risks and impacts”. IBM mentions that their environmental focus is on:

- energy conservation

- climate protection

- supply chain requirements

- material use

Other aspects which are stated in IBM’s company profile are performance indicators like

-net income

-cash flow

-operating margin (Gewinnspanne)

-equity ratio (Eigenkapitalrate)

Regards,

Julian

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/profile-ibm

Businesses allowing remote work

Hello everybody!

In our last English lesson we talked about a new trend in society – working from home. So everyone of us got the exercise to interpret a chart.

My graph is about „Businesses allowing remote work”. It’s a bar chart, which shows the percentage on its vertical axis. The numbers on the horizontal axis stand for the number of employees in different companies.

On an average 62% of the Austrian companies allow remote work. As you can see in the graph, three out of seven charts are under the average of 62 %. Companies employing 20 to 99 people are right at the average. Among the companies employing 5 to 9 people almost 50 % allow remote work. Nearly three out of four companies employing 500 to 2500 people allow remote work.

I personally think that allowing remote work is a good idea. But I don’t think that this chart represents the situation in Austria. I guess that there is much less remote work in Austria.

It’s a win-win-situation for the company and the employee because the company save labour costs and the employee don’t need to go to work.

Regards, 

Julian

Burning Man Festival

Hi everybody!

Since we were talking about festivals, especially about the Holi festival and about the Burning Man festival, in our last English lesson, I decided to inform you now about the Burning Man festival.

I thought you might be interested because Burning Man is one of the biggest festivals in the world.

Every year the art event takes place in the Black Rock Desert. The week-long event attracts about 50,000 people who live in temporary tent cities. At the festival the people are encouraged to perform and to organise activities.

The highlight of the festival is the burning of a 40-foot-tall wooden man.

What interested me most was that there are a lot of "own rules" for the event. For example the use of money is forbidden, everyone has to bring his own food and automobiles are forbidden. (except they have been transformed into "art cars".

What do you think about the festival? Let me know!

Regards, Julian

Trip to France!

Hi everybody!

My classmates and I made a language trip to France in June. Let me tell you something about it.

We started our trip in Linz where we unfortunately got to know that our teacher and guide for this week became ill. Nevertheless we went to Vienna by train to get our flight to Paris. But our goal was to get to St. Malo. So we went by bus for about 7 hours. We arrived completely exhausted in St. Malo where our host families collected us. Gregor and I got a very nice family. They were very friendly, our rooms were big and the eating was delicious. In the first two days we did some sightseeing with our excellent guide Serge. We went by ship to Dinard, investigated St. Malo, Cancale and "Le Mont Saint Michel". We also went to a tidal power station and to an aquarium. Stefan, Jakob Gregor and I rented a bicycle. So we were very fast and could also visit some other sights. In the evenings we went to bars to watch the matches of the European championship. We had a lot of fun there.

After five days in St. Malo we went back to Paris but not only to visit the city. On Wednesday we watched the football match Austria against Iceland in Saint-Denis. It was an amazing event but unfortunately Austria lost the match. The next two days we did some sightseeing with our guide Jacque. We went to Louvre, Notre-Dame, l'Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysée and so on.

It was a wonderful trip which I will never forget.

Regards,

Julian

The battle of Chernobyl

Hi everybody!

Since the Ukraine is marking the 30^th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster I want to write an article about a video that we watched in our last English lesson. The video is called “The battle of Chernobyl”.

Basically the video says that on 26^th April 1986 the most serious nuclear accident ever in history has taken place.

An explosion and fire occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant which is located only three kilometres away from the city Pripyat. The explosion released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere which spread all over the USSR and Europe. The radioactive fallout was 100 times greater than the combined power of the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It is also said that two men died in this night and 28 in the following months. This were the first victims of Chernobyl.

The first day the inhabitants only were told that they should close the windows and stay inside. The children got iodine tablets at school.

After 30 hours over 1000 buses came to Pripyat to evacuate all the persons concerned. The 43000 inhabitants only had two hours to get all their belongings.

They were told that they will come back home in some days but in reality they could never go home again.

After some days the responsible still didn’t say a word. At the 28^th April radioactive dust of Chernobyl rained down on Stockholm. That’s how the other countries experienced what has happened.

But the fire still burned. So a lot of helicopter flew to the Nuclear Power Plant to extinguish the flames. They threw tons of sandbags to stop the fire and neutralise radiation.

The radiation victims were sent to Moscow. The initial symptoms of radiation sickness are vomiting, and nausea.

It is unbelievable what has happened on the 26th April in Ukraine. We still see the consequences today. Numerous persons fall ill and die.

What shocked me most was that nothing has happened more than 30 hours. The inhabitants of the obvious cities, especially the inhabitants of Pripyat, neither were warned nor evacuated from the city.

Regards,

Julian

Public health care

Hi everybody!

Since there has been a permanent debate on Austrian health care, I want to write an article on three different health care services.

The first service is the removal of a tattoo which causes mental distress according to the patient.

I am definitely against this service. In this case it would be a disaster if the Austrian government would have to pay for it. Such a step must be considered well. Everyone who gets inked must be aware of tattoos’ risks and consequences for health. Otherwise the government will, one day, have no more money for relevant services.

The second service is a cosmetic surgery on an actor’s large nose which she claims has a negative impact on her career.

In this case it concerns a cosmetic operation. This is the reason why I am against the government’s support. The problem is if government's support this, everyone could come and say “I want a cosmetic operation because I am not satisfied with my appearance.” The government would then have to pay for those operations.

If a big nose compromised one’s health, I would be for a governmental support.

The third service is a breast reduction on a 13-year old who is being teased at school because of her breast size. She is also overweight

In this case it’s very difficult. I am not absolutely sure but I rather think that the government should support her. It is very sad if she is teased in school. That’s why I am in favour of governmental support.

What do you think about it?

Regards, 

Julian

Business week

Hi everybody!

From Monday 4th April to Friday 8th April I worked at PETSCHL Transporte GmbH & Co KG.

PETSCHL Transporte is a freight forwarding company with the main office in Weinzierl, a small village in Perg.

I have already worked for the company in summer for four weeks, so I have already known the chief executive and the employees. But I didn’t know the new head office. Every department is furnished nicely and very modern.

My contact person for this week was Mrs. Sabine Forsthuber-Döberl. She is a member of the Human Resources Department.

I started work at half past eight until twelve o’clock. Then I had break until one o’clock. Since it just took me 5 minutes to get home, I decided to spend my break at home. I worked until half past five, every day.

I did a lot of interesting things.

I changed within the accounting department, the purchasing department, the secretary's office, the information technology department and the receiving. 

Some of my tasks:

• enterring incoming invoices
• assistance and design of the new homepage
• input tax refund
• evaluation of tyre consumption

What interested me most was the insight in the new petrol station.

I really liked my practical training at Petschl Transporte and I would be glad if I might work there in the near future.

Regards, 

Julian

St. Patrick's Day

Hello everybody!

Today St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in Ireland and that's why I will give you some information about how it's celebrated.

But what is St. Patrick's Day?
Nowadays St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in the Republic of Ireland as well as in Northern Ireland, the Canadian province and in many other countries.

It takes place on the 17th March which is the traditional death date of St. Patrick, of the foremost patron saint of Ireland.

On St Patrick's Day it is customary for the Irish to wear green suits, shamrocks and other accessories.

The Irish celebrate St. Patricks Day at parades, festivals and in pubs, they drink green beer and eat bacon and cabbage. 

In Austria we do not celebrate St. Patricks Day, such a pitty. Wouldn't it be nice to have such parades in Austria? I think it would be.

Regards,
Julian

Donald Trump has nothing to apologize for

Today in school, we were talking about a late night show in the US.
Donald Trump was invited on the 1st of february to a late night show.

At first the reporter apologies for things he said to Trump. Trump was also asked if he wants to apologise, but he didn't.

Then they talked about the immigrants, especially about the illegial immigrants.

Trump wants to build a "wall" like the Great Wall of China with a "big fat door" for immigrants, who can come in legally.

It also said that the wall will cost about 5-7 billion dollars.

Then the reporter makes a joke and asked Trump if it wouldn't be a good idea to build two walls one behind the other. In between there will be a moat with fire and crocodiles :D

What interested me most was that Trumps idea is that Mexico will pay for the wall.

Trumps goals are to reduce government expenses, illegal immigrants, crime and drugs.

It's interesting how political conversations in the United States are performed.


Here is the link to the video. Enjoy it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns7ocpRhDD8

Tips for customer service

In our last English lesson we were talking about customer service and these are my tips which are supposed to make sure to have satisfied customers. 

At first you always have to think about what you want to say and how you answer.

Using phrases starting with “you” may sound like an attack.

The most important thing is to listen to the customer attentively. You also have to be patient and friendly.

It is essentiel to focus your full attention on the customer and not to interrupt the customer.

Since there once be a situation when a customer is very dissatisfied you then have to reach a win-win situation.

If you always behave to your customer’s liking it will help you to keep them and sometimes even cause them to recommend your company to others.

Regards,

Julian