Business Report Writing by email 2 Warm Up

Business Report Writing by email (2)

Warm Up Think about the question below and discuss with your teacher. How many sections does a typical business report have? Can you name the section titles? What kind of information would you put under each title?

Lesson Goals In today's lesson, you will learn to: • identify the key expressions used in report writing. • practice to writing a short report.

For your reference Key expressions in business reports (1) ü Introduction/Background The aim/purpose of this report is to consider/analyze/review… This report sets out to… The report aims to… The report is based on research done/figures collected/interviews made… ü Findings According to the recent market research/investigation/survey undertaken, … According to the above chart/graph/table, . . The recent visit/investigation/survey showed that… It was found that… The following points summarize our key findings. The key findings are outlined below.

For your reference Key expressions in business reports(2) ü Conclusion It was concluded/decided/agreed/felt that… No conclusions were reached regarding… In conclusion, … It is clear that… The findings/figures/results/investigation show that… ü Recommendation It is recommended/proposed/suggested that… It is essential to… It would be advisable to… My specific recommendations are as follows.

Did you know…? More suggestions about Reports With a genuine Report, you would add a covering letter with a few niceties such as “if more information is required, please do not hesitate to contact me”, but this is not required within the actual report. Always put your name and the date of completion at the end of the report.

More Practice Rearrange the sentence order and make it into an email. 1. In relation to the long term, we are optimistic. Our forecast is that economic growth in the whole region will begin to rise steadily from the start of next year. This will be due to labor market and other structural reforms. This growth in the economy will create many new opportunities for us. 2. Here is the summary of the market report for South East Asia that I promised you. 3. More details please see in the report, which is enclosed as a word document. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me. 4. As we all know, last year was a difficult one. However, since January things have been getting better. Sales have risen by 4% in China, our biggest market, and we are likely to see continuing growth there. Although the situation in Japan and Korea is not quite so promising, we are still likely to see an improvement in South East Asia overall, with Indonesia performing strongly.

More Practice Rearrange the sentence order and make it into an email. Hiroshi, Here is the summary of the market report for South East Asia that I promised you. As we all know, last year was a difficult one. However, since January things have been getting better. Sales have risen by 4% in China, our biggest market, and we are likely to see continuing growth there. Although the situation in Japan and Korea is not quite so promising, we are still likely to see an improvement in South East Asia overall, with Indonesia performing strongly. In relation to the long term, we are optimistic. Our forecast is that economic growth in the whole region will begin to rise steadily from the start of next year. This will be due to labor market and other structural reforms. This growth in the economy will create many new opportunities for us. More details please see in the report, which is enclosed as a word document. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me. Best regards, Olivia Song

Writing practice Write a small report based on the following information. Your company or organization is becoming more successful. In order for this success to continue, you want to expand increase the budget of your department. The Directors have asked you to write a report saying why your department needs extra money. Write the report, explaining why your department needs more money, and include the following points: ü ü Whether extra staff is needed (and, if so, why). Whether changes to the office space and equipment should be made. What plans you have for future development. How the investment would generate extra business.

For your Reference: Report on the additional budget for the coming year for PR Dept. Introduction The aim of this report is to consider additional budget for the public relations department for the coming year. Findings The Public Relations Department is now having three interpreters and one receptionist. They can hardly deal with the increasing number of visitors and clients. It is impossible for them to cover the upcoming busy seasons. Due to rapid business increase, the Public Relations Department urgently needs additional staff members: one interpreter and two receptionists. The department needs to recruit five new employees to cover the loss of staff through retirement later in the year. What's more, the existing office space and equipment is inadequate a busy department of public relations.

For your Reference Conclusion We have assessed the current staffing levels, and come to a conclusion: the Public Relations Department is short staffed/shorthanded. It is clear that the Public Relations Department have to recruit new employees to tackle the possible problems occur in booming business of the company. Therefore, it needs badly extra money for business expansion. Recommendations It is recommended that the Department start to recruit the new employees immediately by advertising in national newspapers and trade magazines. Temporary positions should also be advertised in local newspapers for four production workers and two receptionists. If the successful candidates prove reliable, they can be offered full-time contracts to replace employees retiring or not returning from maternity leave.

Now you can: • understand key expressions used in report writing. • practice writing a short report.