Task 5. Compose a summary of the text in 80 words. High Stake espionage in international travel

HIGH STAKE ESPIONAGE IN INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

The world of international business travel could provide the plot for the next James Bond movie. Top U.S. executives are realising that business espionage in the real world is not unlike that in the movies. Travelling executives tell tales of spies, ransacked rooms, stolen information and surveillance cameras. Reports to the American Society for Industrial security of lost information have more than tripled in the past two years. The majority of the thefts appear abroad, with the top U.S. executives as the target. According to security experts, these western executives are naïve and unaware of the ruthless nature of some of their foreign competitors. It seems that too many U.S. executives expect everyone to “play by their rules”, while their counterparts will use every opportunity to gain an advantage.

Although corporate theft has been a reality in the business world for some time, it has increased dramatically in recent years. This has been due in part to the ease industrial spies have today in extracting the desired information from the competition. Former personnel from intelligence networks and secret police agencies have found new employment helping local industries steal information. The traditional phone tap is the cliché of surveillance devices, but the fax tap is becoming the more prevalent cause of information leaks in foreign countries. Many executives who have incoming faxes in their hotels never receive them. For example, Moscow’s Metropol Hotel is fully staffed with former FBI and KGB informants who instead of discovering national secrets now intercept faxes and other forms of communication to find corporate secrets. Additionally, it is not difficult to impersonate an executive and pick up his or her fax.

The advancement of technology, with its gadgets such as penlight cameras and miniature listening devices, has made it easier and safer for spies to steal information. The risk involved with these high-tech devices is much lower because spies can only be caught if they are in the act of bugging or photographing the executives’ rooms, computers or conversations. The second reason for the increase of theft is simply that more executives travel around the world, bringing their corporate secrets along in their laptop computers. Some security specialists estimate that foreign companies will pay up to $ 10,000 for the laptop of a Fortune 500 executive.

In the past few years many companies have become victims of this type of espionage – deals have been lost, companies have been underbid and secret details of new prototypes have mysteriously been leaked to competitors. For example, The Wall Street Journal reported that a U.S. paper-product executive was having dinner in Sweden with a business acquaintance when a spy broke into his hotel room and copied all the data from his laptop, including pricing information. A few weeks later the firm was underbid by a competing company who knew of its pricing information and strategy on an important contract.

It is important to realise that the theft of corporate information affects every operation from closing a multi-million dollar deal to the extra time spent backing up personnel files. Businesses are becoming more oriented toward technology and globalisation, and this combi­nation has increased competition and travel. This causes sensitive information to go out of corporate headquarters and into the possible grasp of industrial spies. Many companies have started a proactive approach to prevent the theft of company secrets. Seminars given by security experts inform executives of precautions they can implement to deter theft. Such tips include never taking a room on the first floor of a hotel and always discussing important matters in private locations. Laptops should have privacy screens and executives should never allow their laptops out of sight while travelling.

Unfortunately, the situation looks as though it will only increase in severity in the future, and corporations need to decide how this will affect their own specific industries and take preventive measures to combat this growing trend.

Task 6. Read the text “Asset Valuation in a Changing Society” and translate it.

Task 7. Find answers to the following questions in the text and write them down:

1. What do bankers demand from anyone who wants to get a loan?

2. What does the term ‘intangible asset’ mean?

3. What did Margaret Blair’s study show?

4. How is the value of a company determined on the market?

5. What can be a solution in dealing with intangible assets?