© Nathan 2020 – 92 avenue de France – 75013 Paris

ISBN numérique : 978-2-09-167153-6

Référence papier : 978-2-09-812849-1

Programme : UE 12

Anglais appliqué aux affaires

Programme du diplôme de comptabilité et gestion (DCG)

BO n° 25 du 20 juin 2019.

Niveau L : 150 heures – 14 ECTS

LES COMPÉTENCES ATTENDUES :

– Comprendre et commenter, en anglais, des documents de la vie des affaires tels que des textes, graphiques, et tableaux tirés de revues ou d’un rapport annuel d’entreprise ;

– Rédiger une note de synthèse en français ou en anglais, à partir de documents en anglais concernant les thèmes ci-dessous ;

– Rédiger en anglais un document de travail.

LES THÈMES :

1. L’entreprise

L’organisation d’une entreprise

La révolution numérique

L’entreprise citoyenne

Stratégie et compétitivité d’une entreprise

L’économie sociale et solidaire

Conditions de travail et dialogue social

Communication et culture d’entreprise

2. Questions d’économie

Les énergies

La concurrence et la loi

La mondialisation

Les principaux espaces économiques régionaux

Les pays émergents

La protection sociale, l’évolution de la démographie

CHAPITRE 1

Company organisation

L’organisation de l’entreprise

The great secret of success

In an increasingly complex and volatile world, the key to a company’s success is a high-performance organisation: this brings it an enormous competitive advantage.

What makes for1 a high-performance organisation?

A company should normally have a clear, well-adapted organisation chart, or flow chart2 showing who does what and who reports to whom. Organisation charts graphically show the firm’s formal structure concerning authority, functions and relations. There are several types or organisations: the most common ones are hierarchical, but there are also matrix and linear structures (see page 8), etc. Organisational structures define staff members’ positions, tasks and duties, so as to avoid overlapping3.

The best organisation will be efficient only if it has the right person in the right place. The quality of the workforce is essential: in addition to4 being motivated, competent and hard-working at all levels of the hierarchy, they must also be dynamic and able to work well with other people, possibly in teams.

Coordination and integration

The real power of any organisation arises from its capacity to coordinate and integrate people, activities and systems. The various departments or business units should communicate and work closely5 with one another: for example, Sales with Accountancy, Manufacturing with Information Technology, Marketing with R&D (Research and Development), not to mention Human Resources, which plays an essential role. They have to work together in order to achieve the company’s goals and values. The organisation should also help to encourage and integrate innovations which are essential to growth, and combine them with a global approach in the case of multinationals. The hierarchy must therefore be flexible and open to new, creative and even revolutionary ideas. Moreover, nowadays firms must take into account new laws imposing gender parity and try to provide a sensible work-life balance, especially for young parents and ageing workers.

Agility

This new concept for organisations is spreading: it means the ability to adapt quickly to innovations and market changes in an increasingly fast-changing environment.

Management’s role

Managers should encourage coordination, integration, and innovation, which are essential in today’s highly competitive world. They therefore must develop a strategy, encourage feedback, and conduct an analysis of the major activities (selling, marketing and advertising, order taking, invoicing6, product development and manufacturing, project management, purchasing7, maintenance, customer service, shipping8) in order to identify ways to make them more efficient and creative, cheaper and faster. They also have to define functions and responsibilities, supervise recruitment, decide on lay-offs9 when necessary (even if they often do so reluctantly10), improve the company’s social policy to motivate the staff, and control quality and prices to keep customers happy. They should also be charismatic leaders.

Making decisions

Leadership consists of making decisions, which is a difficult art: designing the organisation and the strategy, assigning the right tasks11 to the right people clearly, making them accountable12, as well as checking and tracking13 the impact of the decisions made. As seen above, agility can also be helpful to good leadership.

Research shows that only 15% of companies have an organisation good enough to help them outperform14 others. That is why many firms seek help from business organisation consultants, such as the well-known American (and international) ones, McKinsey, Bain or the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Various types of organisation charts

– The hierarchical chart (left) is the most classical and widespread one.

– The matrix pattern15 (right) combines functional and product areas within16 the organisation to obtain the advantages of each. Teams of functional personnel (e.g.17 research, finance, technology, sales and marketing) report to a manager with project responsibility. Functional personnel also report to their functional bosses, who are responsible for maintaining the quality of functional performance. Within17 the matrix, functional personnel report to two bosses, which requires on their part a lot of understanding and cooperation.

– Linear or flat organisation has few or no middle managers between employees and top management, because well-trained workers are supposed to be more productive when they are involved in the decision-making process, rather than supervised by several layers18 of management. This is possible essentially in small firms or in units within big ones. Feedback is often quicker than in other organisations.

– Other structures can also be found, depending on schools of management, fashions, organisational specialists and consultants, etc.

1.to make for: contribuer à.

2.organisation / flow chart: organigramme.

3.overlapping: chevauchement.

4.in addition to: en plus de.

5.closely: étroitement.

6.invoicing: facturation.

7.purchasing : service achats.

8.shipping: transport de fret.

9.lay-off: licenciement.

10.reluctantly: avec reticence.

11.to assign a task: assigner une tâche.

12.to make sb accountable: rendre qqn responsable (de ses actes).

13.to track: suivre à la trace.

14.to outperform: faire mieux que.

15.matrix pattern: modèle matriciel.

16.within: à l’intérieur de.

17.eg: par ex.

18.layer: couche, niveau.

aRepérer les notions essentielles

Answer the following questions.

a.Why is a good organisation essential?

b.Name six different company departments mentioned above.

c.What is an organisation or flow chart and what are the three main types?

d.What role does the manager play in the organisation of a company?

e.Describe the qualities of a good organisation.

aRésumer le texte en français.

Résumez ce texte en français, en 150 mots environ.

aApprofondir

Using the Internet, find information about the organisation of a successful company you know. Then give an oral report about it.

Lexical work

•accountancy

comptabilité, expertise comptable

•accounting control

contrôle de la comptabilité

•accounts department

service comptabilité

•to acquire / buy out / purchase

acheter, acquérir

•to appoint / assign to a position

nommer à un poste

•appointment

nomination; rendez-vous

•to be on the payroll / staff

faire partie du personnel salarié

•board of directors

conseil d’administration

•brainstorming session

réunion de réflexion informelle

•buyout / acquisition

rachat d’entreprise

•CEO (chief executive officer) /
managing director

directeur général

•CFO (chief financial officer)

directeur financier

•to chair a committee / meeting

présider un comité / une réunion

•deputy manager / assistant-manager

directeur adjoint

•divestment

scission

•downsizing

réduction d’effectifs

•effective / successful / efficient

performant

•efficiency / competitiveness

efficacité, compétitivité

•facilities

outils de production

•head office

siège social

•to headquarter a company

établir le siège social d’une société

•human resources (HR) department

direction des ressources humaines (DRH)

•lean structure

structure allégée

•management accountant

contrôleur de gestion

•management audit

contrôle de gestion

•management operating system

système intégré de gestion

•to manufacture / to produce

fabriquer, produire

•marketing (department/unit) manager

chef du service marketing

•to merge

fusionner

•mergers and acquisitions / M&A

fusions-acquisitions

•middle / junior manager

cadre moyen / débutant

•non-executive director

membre du conseil d’administration

•PR (Public Relations) department

service de la communication

•premises

locaux (de la société)

•to promote

promouvoir

•purchasing manager

directeur du service achats

•rank and file

personnel de base

•to resign, resignation

démissionner, démission

•restructuring

restructuration, réorganisation

•rules and regulations

règles, règlement

•to sell out

revendre, vendre en totalité

•senior / executive manager

cadre supérieur

•senior staff

ensemble des cadres supérieurs

•society

association, société philanthropique

•subsidiary

filiale

•team leader / spirit

chef / esprit d’équipe

•to temp

travailler en intérim

•temporary worker

travailleur intérimaire

•top management / manager

cadre(s) dirigeant(s)

•trainee

stagiaire

•turnover of capital / staff

rotation des capitaux / du personnel

•to upgrade

revaloriser, améliorer

•vice-president (US)

chef / directeur d’un service

•warehouse

entrepôt

•workshop

atelier

•to write off an operation

passer une opération par pertes et profits

aUse the list

1.Complete the lists below with the corresponding verb or noun.

Verb

Noun

Verb

Noun

a.to acquire

b.to …

c.to resign







acquisition

appointment

…

d.to …

e.to train

f.to merge







temporary worker

…

…

2.Complete these sentences, making the necessary changes, and translate them.

subsidiary – facilities – efficient – mergers and acquisitions – vice-president –
appoint – temporary worker – Human Resources – resign – trainee – position (x2)

a.Companies can grow externally thanks to … .

b.Mrs Watson has just been … to the … of … manager.

c.Finn and Co Ltd has just opened a … in Singapore.

d.Bill Graves, one of the …, has just … because he completely disagrees with the manager’s reoorganisation of the firm.

e.Our … really need to be modernised.

f.Jane, our …, is so … that we should offer her a permanent … .

g.… do not always want permanent jobs because they wish to remain free.

Grammar work

❯ Aide-mémoire grammatical, p. 163

Analysez, puis traduisez ces exemples en mettant (ou pas) l’article qui convient en français :

1.Ms Fox works as a manager at MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, an American
media group.

2.She must find Ø new ways of doing Ø things.

3.This chain of shops sells some expensive clothes, and Ø others that are quite cheap.

4.That company knows how to save Ø time and Ø money.

5.A firm cannot operate without an accountant.

6.Can I ask you some questions?

7.Have you designed any marketable innovations?

a Remarque

Some et any dans une phrase interrogative sont des déterminants qui peuvent correspondre à des indéfinis en français.

1.Ajoutez a, an, some ou Ø selon le cas, puis traduisez. Vous avez parfois
le choix, mais la traduction sera différente.

a.B&A, … well-known company, is … tough competitor for us.

b.It sells … top quality material.

c.They have … excellent international strategy and even … bilingual managers.

d.… people do all their shopping there.

e.Our firm flies … goods to America, and ships … others by boat.

f.As … accountant he is very efficient, but as … colleague he is … very unpleasant man.

g.You cannot enter the USA without … passport and … visa.

h.This shop sells … new designs twice … month.

i.We made … big profit last year.

j.Have you got … change, please?

k.Are there still … workers in this factory?

2.Traduisez les phrases suivantes en anglais.

a.Nous avons des clients très fidèles.

b.Et nous avons aussi quelques clients très riches.

c.Mais certains clients ne sont jamais contents.

d.On ne peut pas gérer une entreprise sans stratégie.

e.Avez-vous une idée sur la façon d’améliorer l’organisation de notre service ?

f.Cette entreprise a des salariés très efficaces, mais certains veulent partir.

g.Une cliente est venue sans carte de crédit et sans argent, et n’a évidemment pas pu acheter les articles qu’elle avait sélectionnés avant.

❯ Aide-mémoire grammatical, p. 185

Analysez et traduisez les exemples suivants :

1.This company makes a lot of profit while keeping prices low.

2.That firm fell behind despite launching innovations.

3.We look forward to meeting the new manager.

4.The Chairman was exhausted after chairing the committee for four hours.

5.The CEO may have a lot of difficulty (in) restructuring the firm.

6.It is not worth restructuring it in fact.

7.In addition to being motivated the staff must be good at speaking foreign languages.

a Remarque

To have a lot of difficulty (in) doing peut être remplacé par to find it difficult to, ou to struggle to, moins lourds, et suivis d’une base verbale.

3.Complétez les phrases ci-dessous avec les verbes mis à la forme voulue :

resign – work – understand – start – take – make – spend – be – listen – renovate.

a.We will outperform our competitors by … better organised than them.

b.The employee put an end to his troubles by … .

c.They find it difficult … the whole issue.

d.How can they … while … to music?

e.Is it worth … a lot of money on … our premises?

f.I look forward to … work soon with that company.

g.One can rarely earn a lot of money without … risks.

h.He often has difficulty … decisions, which is bad for leadership.

4.Traduisez les phrases suivantes en anglais.

a.En plus de rénover les bureaux, cela vaut la peine de restructurer notre service Recherche et Développement.

b.Il faut prendre un rendez-vous avant de venir voir le directeur du marketing.

c.Vous ne pouvez pas entrer dans nos locaux sans porter de badge.

d.Dans les entreprises, les salariés qui n’ont pas l’esprit d’équipe ont bien du mal à être performants.

e.En plus de fabriquer des produits de qualité, notre société doit être agile.

f. La direction de cette unité de fabrication a eu du mal à la réorganiser.

g. Notre stagiaire aimerait continuer à travailler dans notre service.

Exam work

Document 1

How Telecom New Zealand, a small declining state-owned monopoly, was turned around1

The Human Resources Director Joe McCollum and the Customer Director Jolie Hodson explain how their company became agile.

Joe McCollum: In our pre-agile world, we would have had seven or eight layers between the top and bottom of the company. Now, across2 much of the company, we have three. The result is that things are massively faster. When you talk to people, you hear things like, “We’re getting stuff3 done now in two weeks that used to take us three months.” Emails have dropped off significantly, because when the developers lived in one part of the building, and the marketing people lived over there, and the product people were in another part of the building, just to organise a meeting was 27 emails. All of that has gone. Now, there’s ten of us sitting around a table. In fact—and not surprisingly—there’s been a big drop-off in the use of our designated meeting rooms because of this. When you have a multidisciplinary team already working together around a table, why bother4 getting up and decamping to a meeting room in another part of the building when they could simply stay where they are and solve the problem in real time?

The decision making is also a lot
richer now, and transparency improved immeasurably. I can’t stress this enough. Otherwise, you’re in a world where people come in to work, they do their little bit, they go home, but they may have no idea where that fits into the big scheme of things. Agile puts direct ownership and real-time accountability5 with the squad6 so that they have absolute clarity about where it all fits now. That’s where the engagement
comes from—employee engagement goes

off the chart because people have richer jobs, they’ve got a broader7 perspective, and they’re focused on solving problems.( ... )

Jolie Hodson: If you think about getting a product to market the old way, it could be quite slow, involving an idea working its way through multiple groups. In an agile setting, you’re starting with having all the people in the squad who can largely give you an end-to-end8 capability. We even have customers work with us on some of these squads, too, which exponentially speeds up the time from idea to design to commercialization.

For example, we’ve partnered with Network for Learning to provide the fiber broadband9 and security layers to 2,500 New Zealand schools. In the past, the design process alone would take many
months with lots of documents flowing back and forth10 before testing or any migration of schools even started. Whereas in an agile model, we’ve already designed the new solution, rolled out the proofs of concept11 for different-sized schools, and migrated half of the schools in eight months. This would never have happened at that pace12 in the past. (...).

www.mackinsey.com

1. to turn around: remettre à flot, redresser.

2. across: à travers.

3. stuff: des trucs.

4. to bother: se donner la peine de.

5. accountability: responsabilité financière.

6. squad: équipe, groupe.

7. broad: large.

8. end-to-end: de bout en bout.

9. broadband: à large bande.

10. to flow back and forth: faire des allées et venues.

11. proof of concept: démonstration de faisabilité.

12. pace: rythme.

1.Compréhension. Présentez les moyens utilisés pour rendre cette entreprise « agile », et le résultat de cette réorganisation. (Environ 150 mots, en français.)

Document 2

“Brainwriting”

According to decades of research, you get more and better ideas if people are working alone in separate rooms than if they’re brainstorming in a group. When people generate ideas together, many of the best ones never get shared. Some members dominate the conversation, others hold back1 to avoid looking foolish, and the whole group tends to conform to the majority’s taste.

Evidence2 shows that these problems can be managed through “brainwriting.” All that’s required is asking individuals to think up ideas on their own before the group evaluates them, to get all the possibilities on the table. For instance, at the eyewear retailer3 Warby Parker, named the world’s most innovative company by Fast Company in 2015, employees spend a few minutes a week writing down innovation ideas for colleagues to read and comment on. The company also maintains a Google doc where employees can submit requests for new technology to be built, which yields4 about 400 new ideas in a typical quarter5. One major innovation was a revamped6 retail point of sale, which grew out of an app that allowed customers to bookmark7 their favorite frames8 in the store and receive an e-mail about them later.

(…) Suggestion boxes can be quite useful, precisely because they provide a large number of ideas. In one study, psychologist Michael Frese and his colleagues visited a Dutch steel company (now part of Tata Steel) that had been using a suggestion program for 70 years. The company had 11,000 employees and collected between 7,000 and 12,000 suggestions a year. (…) For the Dutch steelmaker (…) the suggestion box regularly led to improvements—saving more than $750,000 in one year alone.

The major benefit of suggestion boxes is that they multiply and diversify the ideas on the horizon, opening up new avenues for innovation. The biggest hurdle9 is that they create a larger haystack10 of ideas, making it more difficult to find the needle. You need a system for culling11 contributions—and rewarding12 and pursuing the best ones—so that people don’t feel their suggestions are falling on deaf ears.

Adam Grant, Harvard Business Review, March 2016.

1. to hold back: se retenir.

2. evidence: signes.

3. eyewear retailer: opticien.

4. to yield: rapporter, produire.

5. quarter: trimestre.

6. to revamp: réaménager.

7. to bookmark: noter, consigner.

8. frame: monture.

9. hurdle: obstacle.

10. haystack: botte de foin.

11. to cull: éliminer.

12. to reward: récompenser.

2.Compréhension. Explain the title. What are the three ways in which the organisation of a company can stimulate innovation, according to this text? (About 150 words in English.)

3.Expression. Do you think the organisation described here contradicts the one described in document 1? (About 150 words in English.)

Document 3

Is Google’s model of the creative workplace the future of the office?

When it comes to keeping employees happy and productive, companies such as Google lead the way. The brand is as famous for its staff perks1 – pool tables2 and bowling alleys, free food and gym memberships – as it is for its technology, and even employs a chief happiness officer whose sole job is to keep employees happy and maintain productivity.

Now other companies are catching on fast, boosting engagement and motivation by involving employees in creative activities and offering incentives that help them enjoy their jobs and feel good about themselves.

Workplaces all over the UK are creating breakout3 zones and gaming areas, where staff can chill out4, chat, and stimulate their creative juices, or offering classes that equip staff with creative skills, such as languages, painting and drawing, and learning musical instruments.

Why? Because organisations that foster5 a workplace culture of creativity are likely to6 have happy, motivated employees who are more loyal and more productive.

Mark Rhodes, director of marketing at recruitment firm Reed, says: “All employers stand to6 gain by promoting creativity at work. The most successful businesses are those that engender creative thinking and develop environments where everyone generates ideas, has a voice, asks questions and challenges the norm. Some ideas will stick7, some won’t, but what’s certain is you’ll learn a lot from the process along the way.”

Lateral thinking8 and the ability to communicate are crucial skills in any organisation. Some employers are actively encouraging creative collaborations between teams. Every year, Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) runs an event called Engage Week, where staff host9 events for other members of staff who want to learn something new. These range from10 sporting events to craft11 activities, such as metalwork, sausage making, chocolate making, picture framing12, and learning basic sign language.

Alison Coleman, The Guardian,
11 February 2016.

1. perk: avantage en nature.

2. pool table: table de billard.

3. breakout: recréation.

4. to chill out: décompresser.

5. to foster: encourager.

6. to be likely to / to stand to: avoir des chances de.

7. to stick: perdurer.

8. lateral thinking: pensée latérale (technique pour encourager la créativité).

9. to host: accueillir.

10. to range from... to: aller de … à.

11. craft: artisanat.

12. picture framing: encadrement.

4.Compréhension. What firms are described here? Analyse how and why their organisation enables them to maximise the core qualities of their businesses: employees’ innovation and creativity. (About 100 words, in English.)

5.Expression. You work in one of these high-tech Californian companies or corporations. Send an email to a friend who works in a more traditional organisation, giving him/her your opinion about yours. (About 150 words, in English.)

Document 4

Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle,
© United Feature Syndicate Inc, p. 56.

*bottleneck: goulot d’étranglement.

6Compréhension. Quelle conclusion peut-on tirer de cette caricature ?
(Environ 100 mots, en français.)

7Synthèse. Montrez comment l’idée exprimée par cette caricature peut s’appliquer
à l’ensemble des documents précédents sur l’organisation des entreprises. En conclusion, quel est à votre avis le meilleur type d’organisation ?

 (Environ 250 mots, en français.)

8Expression. Travail professionnel. Rédaction de courriel en anglais.

Vous êtes Peter Taylor, directeur commercial de M&D, chaîne de magasins de vêtements en Grande-Bretagne.

Vous envoyez un e-mail de réclamation en anglais à votre fournisseur chinois Han Jun car vous n’avez reçue votre livraison prévue pour le 15 septembre que le 15 octobre, soit avec un mois de retard.

De plus, il manquait à l’arrivée les 10 manteaux de femmes (réf : AX 256 à 266) que vous attendiez.

Vous lui demandez de résoudre tous ces problèmes d’urgence et éventuellement de réorganiser son service production et/ou son service expédition, afin que cela ne se reproduise pas. Vous attendez ses explications.

Date et salutations d’usage.

CHAPITRE 2

The Digital Revolution

La révolution numérique

Everyone, from companies to states to individuals, is concerned by the Digital Revolution. The upheavals1 due to the transition of modern technology from mechanical or analog electronic computers to digital tools and computers (based on digits or figures, 0 or 1) are countless. This Fourth Revolution follows the First Industrial Revolution caused by the steam machine, the Second by oil, and the Third by computers.

The Fourth Revolution

Digital systems revolutionise the way billions of people work, live, and relate. They carry out extremely fast calculations combining physical, digital, and biological technologies. The digital shift2 is accelerating and disrupts3 almost every human activity, thanks to breakthroughs4 that bring in almost limitless communication, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3-D printing, biotechnologies, medical treatments, software that translates or invests, etc. Computers are becoming ever smaller and more powerful. There is more technology and computing capacity in an ordinary smartphone today than there was in NASA’s giant computers that helped put the first man on the moon in 1969.

The World Wide Web and the Internet

Created in the 1990s, and at the heart of the Digital Revolution, the acronym “www” (World Wide Web) refers to a worldwide network that links all kinds of data sets5. Being often free, open and universally accessible, the Web and the Net are egalitarian and unrivalled. They have boosted exchanges and activities in trade, manufacturing, healthcare, transport, financial transactions, offices, education, leisure and culture for all. By abolishing frontiers they have stimulated globalisation and cooperation (people can have instantaneous access to nearly all the knowledge, products and services they want), but the Web and the Net have also enabled illegal activities.

Big Data

More efficient than traditional data processing software, digital systems combine many huge data sets from mobile devices6, cameras, connected objects, social networks in parallel computers to find new correlations. By combining volume, velocity and variety, they detect patterns7 and process data through analytics and algorithms in order to detect meaningful information. This created value can be used in business (through better aimed advertising and marketing), healthcare, etc. It is also a tool for machine learning. “Cookies” are for transferring users’ data to the services, companies, etc. they deal with. However, the question remains: who does this data belong to? A highly controversial issue...

Artificial Intelligence

All the above is facilitated by complex algorithms, so people are now talking about Artificial Intelligence. However, supercomputers and digital machines cannot entirely rival human intelligence or replace people. The self-driving cars that were recently announced are still far off. The Head of R&D at Google called AI just “augmented intelligence”.

Positive consequences

Other advantages of digital technology are that consumers can now buy goods simply by clicking on their home computer or smartphone. Competition is therefore increasing, which is good for their purchasing power8 (but difficult at times for companies). Poorer countries with lower labour costs9 are developing faster as jobs are created to produce goods for the whole world. The Digital Revolution also helps people to be better educated and possibly better paid. It thus contributes to decreasing extreme poverty worldwide, and people can protect themselves more efficiently from exploitation. Social networks created by interconnected tools help people communicate, get more information, find or offer jobs and services, create communities, circulate new ideas, etc. Despite growing automation, the new services and equipments conceived by R&D create new jobs and opportunities.

Negative consequences

Existing jobs are destroyed, so that people have to retrain10 for new skills11. Not everyone can rise to this challenge. In addition to job displacement, a lot of expensive appliances or machines quickly become obsolete. The spreading of information, now out of control, can lead to fake news, shady dealings12, the surveillance state, and even terrorism. Human relations are both dwindling13 and exploding. The high-tech world and markets tend to be dominated by a few American Internet giants—called Big Tech in the US or GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple) in Europe—and Chinese networks such as Alibaba. Big Data threatens people’s privacy. It is difficult to keep up with14 all innovations, to manage all the information we get and use all these technologies efficiently.

New developments

The Digital “Revolution” is now practically behind us, except for a continuous flow15 of practical innovations that are just improvements on and for Big Data. But another revolution is looming16: quantum computing based on quantum physics17 where qubits replace bits. Its even more fantastic calculating speed is highly promising and already attracting investments. Today, it is still “a distant dream”. But in the long term, who knows?

1.upheaval: bouleversement.

2.shift: changement.

3.to disrupt: transformer.

4.breakthrough: percée technologique.

5.data set: base de données.

6.device: appareil, système.

7.pattern: schéma, tendance.

8.purchasing power: pouvoir d’achat.

9.labour costs: coûts de main-d’œuvre.

10.to retrain: se recycler.

11.skill: métier, compétence.

12.shady dealings: trafics suspects/illégaux.

13.to dwindle: diminuer.

14.to keep up with: se tenir au courant de.

15.flow: flux.

16.to loom: s’annoncer.

17.quantum physics: physique quantique.

aRepérer les notions essentielles

Answer the following questions.

a.Explain what the Digital Revolution consists of.

b.Why is the Digital Revolution an upheaval and for whom?

c.Name four objects that have been digitalised.

d.What is the Word Wide Web and to what extent has it contributed to digitalising
the world?

e.How does Big Data work?

f.Can Artificial Intelligence replace the human brain? Why or why not?

g.Name three positive consequences of the Digital Revolution.

h.Does the Digital Revolution create unemployment?

i.What advice is given at the end about this revolution?

aRésumer le texte en français

Résumez ce texte en dégageant les principales caractéristiques économiques et
sociales de la révolution numérique. (150 mots environ, en français.)

aApprofondir

a.Which “digital” object plays an important role in your life and why? What do you think of it? You can answer in writing (about 150 words) or orally.

b.Quantum computing: perhaps the next revolution? It is extremely complicated and totally different from today’s digital computers and technology: if you are interested, browse the Net to find some information about it.

Lexical work

• to access a site

accéder à un site

• analytics

analyse de données

• app / application

appli / application

• attachment

pièce jointe

• B2B / Business-to-Business trade

commerce interentreprises

• Big Data

données de masse, mégadonnées

• blockchain

stockage et transmission de données

• to browse the Net

surfer / naviguer sur Internet

• broadband

haut débit

• C2C / Consumer-to-Consumer trade

transaction(s) entre particuliers

• computer chip

puce électronique

• cut and paste

copier-coller

• cyberthief

pirate de données

• cybertheft

vol/piratage de données

• cyber security

cybersecurité

• data capture/processing

saisie/traitement de données

• data flow

flux de données

• digital divide

fracture numérique

• disclaimer

décharge de responsabilité

• disposable

jetable

• to download/upload to/from

télécharger vers/depuis (un ordinateur)

• e-bill / e-business

facture/commerce électronique

• to email sb

envoyer un email/courriel à qqn

• to encrypt

crypter

• file/data-sharing

partage de dossiers/ données

• hacker

pirate (informatique)

• to hack

pirater

• to hold a conference call

avoir une conférence téléphonique

• Internet / file server

serveur sur Internet

• Internet provider

fournisseur d’accès à Internet

• junk mail / spam

courrier indésirable, pourriel

• to key in / to capture data

saisir des données

• keyboard

clavier

• to mine data

extraire des données

• online auction site

site d’enchères en ligne

• to operate / to power

activer, faire fonctionner

• to order online

commander en ligne

• password

mot de passe

• piracy / hacking

piratage

• to power

faire marcher

• to process

traiter

• to program (in computing)

programmer (Informatique)

• search engine

moteur de recherche

• secured transaction

transaction sécurisée

• skill

compétence, métier

• software

logiciel(s)

• to subscribe

s’abonner

• switch off

se déconnecter

• touch screen

écran tactile

• upgrade

nouvelle version

• to upgrade

améliorer

• to update

mettre à jour

• up-to-date

le plus récent, moderne

• username

identifiant

• voice mail, mail box

boîte vocale, messagerie Internet

• widget

petit gadget, truc

• wired

branché, câblé

aUse the list

Fill in the gaps with words from the list, making the necessary changes, then translate the sentences.

data mining – voice mail – to power – wired – to process – cybersecurity – to hold a conference call – chips – to upgrade – chip

a.How much would it cost to … my computer?

b.“Please record your message on my … .”

c.Some … simply store information, others can perform certain elaborate tasks.

d.To … Artificial Intelligence, an American start-up has created a giant
computer … .

e.The data we have gathered will be … by their computers.

f.Our whole society is now … .

g.Don’t disturb the boss: he is … .

h.… has now become a major issue for companies.

i.Our … methods will help you make good decisions more quickly.

Grammar work

❯ Aide-mémoire grammatical, p. 174

Analysez et traduisez les exemples suivants :

1.The deadline for sending our order is getting closer.

2.There are fewer computing bugs now than there were in the past.

3.Up-to-date printers use less ink than the old ones.

4.Children play more videogames than they should.

5.This new chip is as big as a dinner plate.

6.My mobile is not as up-to-date as yours.

7.This computer is less expensive than that one.

a Quels éléments faut-il utiliser après un comparatif de supériorité, d’infériorité ou d’égalité ?

a Quels sont les trois exemples de comparatif exprimant l’infériorité présentés ici ? Quelles en sont les différences ?

1.Employez chacun de ces adjectifs au comparatif de supériorité, d’égalité ou d’infériorité dans des phrases de votre choix .

 Attention à la différence entre adjectifs longs et courts !

a.difficult

b.cheap

c.expensive

d.intelligent

e.slow

f.profitable

g.useful

h.efficient

i.reliable

j.fast

k.easy

l.convenient

m.high

n.bad

o.good

2.Traduisez les phrases suivantes en anglais.

a.Ce nouveau smartphone est plus cher que mon précédent, mais il peut être connecté à beaucoup plus d’applis et de jeux en ligne.

b.Notre nouveau logiciel est plus rapide mais plus difficile à utiliser que l’ancien.

c.Je ne suis pas d’accord : je l’utilise aussi facilement que l’ancien, qui était effectivement bien plus lent.

d.Les gens ont plus d’ordinateurs et de téléphones que jamais, et consomment moins de papier.

e.Les ordinateurs d’aujourd’hui consomment moins d’énergie que les anciens.

f.Votre fournisseur d’accès à Internet est-il aussi efficace et fiable que le mien ?

g.De nos jours, les gens passent moins de temps devant leur télévision, mais beaucoup plus sur les réseaux sociaux.

h.L’intelligence artificielle peut-elle réagir aussi vite qu’un cerveau humain ?

❯ Aide-mémoire grammatical

Analysez et traduisez les exemples suivants.

1.Many people still need to talk with someone when they call a public service.

2.I can no longer access the Internet on my computer. What’s going on?

3.I cannot access the Internet (yet) again!

4.I still cannot access the Web, this is maddening.

5.I have no more e-mails to answer, at last!

6.This client does not email orders any more / any longer. I wonder why.

3.Complétez les phrases ci-dessous en ajoutant une des expressions
de continuité ci-dessus et en effectuant les changements nécessaires ; puis, traduisez-les.

Ex. : I do not have a cell phone because mine has been stolen.

 Æ I no longer have a cell phone because mine has been stolen.

a.Are you using this outdated software?

b.Even though Bill has a mobile phone, he uses his fixed-line telephone.

c.I have not received the order I made online. What’s going on?

d.She has not decided to change her Internet provider.

e.We have not subscribed to this service, there is no hurry.

f.We do not receive any bills from your accounting department. Why?

g.Our office computer network does not work and has not been repaired.

h.Our technician has not arrived.

i.Do you use paper in your firm?

j.I cannot find my mobile. Where on earth did I put it?

k.We do not have their phone number. Do you have it?

l.Boris does not use this email address because it gets too many spams.

Exam work

Document 1

Accounting in the fourth industrial revolution

(…) We are currently living in an age referred to as the “fourth industrial revolution.” (…) The tax and accounting industry is no longer in the business of preparing more tax returns1 at a faster rate, since technology does this for us and it will continue to get better at it. In fact, it’s likely that how tax and accounting professionals serve their clients isn’t really going to change. There will still be compliance2 work to do, but the paradigm3 flips4 in how we think about it. Once you adopt that mindset5, you can rebuild your business around it. At that point, you’re ready to build your skills differently.

The skills you build should be focused on communication and client relationship management, sales, managing different kinds of talent in your firm, and most importantly, translating real-time data into insights6 while tapping into7 your vast experience working across many different kinds of businesses. This affords you the opportunity and unique capability of advising clients on their current and future financial health and growth. (...) This lowers prices for consumers, since the suppliers create it faster and cheaper, which then frees the supplier to add more services or focus on a niche in the market.
(...) Technology simply allows you to produce these things faster and at greater scale so that you can focus on the next most important thing to serve your customers and clients: advice.

So when new intelligent technology comes along, will I still even be needed or relevant8? Of course I will; it’s simply what I will focus on that will be different. I’ll be able to spend time feeding new technology my ideas, testing creative approaches that AI couldn’t know, and focus my energy on building relationships to increase my market penetration.

That’s because technology is an augmentation of me, my skills and my ability to advance. Not to mention the time technology saves me will be time back in my pocket for relaxing, spending time with family or investing in my business. And this is what technology really affords us—options and the flexibility to choose how we spend our time and energy.

Jasen Stine, www.accountingtoday,
6 August 2019.

1. tax return: déclaration fiscale.

2. compliance: conformité aux règles comptables.

3. paradigm: paradigme, modèle.

4. to flip: connaître une révolution.

5. mindset: façon de penser.

6. insight(s): idées claires et en profondeur.

7. to tap into: faire appel à.

8. relevant: à la hauteur, adapté.

1.Compréhension. Summarise the text, analysing the positive and negative changes brought about by the fourth industrial revolution in accounting,
and the advice given to accountants on how to adapt to them. (About 100 words, in English.)

Document 2

Silicon Valley siphons our data like oil. But the deepest drilling has just begun.

Silicon Valley is an extractive industry. Its resource isn’t oil or copper, but data. Companies harvest1 this data by observing as much of our online activity as they can. This activity might take the form of a Facebook like, a Google search, or even how long your mouse hovers2 in a particular part of your screen. Alone, these traces may not be particularly meaningful. By pairing them with those of millions of others, however, companies can discover patterns3 that help determine what kind of person you are – and what kind of things you might buy. These patterns are highly profitable. Silicon Valley uses them to sell you products or to sell you to advertisers. But feeding the algorithms that produce these patterns requires a steady4 stream of data. And while that data is certainly abundant, it is not infinite. (…) Together, Facebook and Google receive a staggering 76% of online advertising revenue in the United States.

Putting a listening device in your living room is an excellent way for Amazon to learn more about you. Another is conducting aerial surveillance of your house. In late July, Amazon obtained a patent for drones that spy on people’s homes as they make deliveries5. An example included in Amazon’s patent filing6 is roof repair: the drone that drops a package on your doorstep might notice your roof is falling apart, and that observation could result in a recommendation for a repair service. Amazon is still testing its delivery drones. But if and when they start flying, it is safe to assume7 they’ll be scraping8 data from the outside of our homes as diligently as the Echo9 does from the inside.

Ben Tarnoff, The Guardian, 23 August 2017.

1. to harvest: moissonner.

2. to hover: planer, rester en l’air.

3. pattern: schéma.

4. steady: constant.

5. delivery: livraison.

6. to file: déposer une demande.

7. to assume: supposer.

8. to scrape: récolter laborieusement.

9. Echo: enceinte nomade vendue par Amazon.

2.Compréhension. Résumez ce texte en français en expliquant quelles données
personnelles sont récoltées, comment, par qui, et à quoi elles servent. (150 mots environ.)

Document 3

The Domino’s ‘pizza checker’1 is just the beginning – workplace surveillance

is coming for you

(...) Earlier this year, Domino’s, the worldwide purveyor2 of mediocre pizza, introduced a snazzy3 tool called the Dom Pizza Checker to its Australia and New Zealand locations. According to its website, in-store cameras “use advanced machine learning, artificial intelligence and sensor technology to identify pizza type, even topping4 distribution and correct toppings”. If your food doesn’t match your order, or internal quality standards, workers are ordered to make it again. Basically, Big Brother is watching your pizza. (...)

At first glance5, this may sound benign. The tech ensures customers receive consistent quality; what could be wrong with that? The answer, dear reader, is that it is 2019: everything is problematic – even pizza. Nick Knight, who runs Domino’s in the region, provided more details about the tool at a recent investor day, revealing that it will be incorporated into a “‘scorecard’6 bonus system” for franchises and used to identify underperforming stores. In short, it is a workplace surveillance tool. (...)

But (...) Domino’s, after all, is far from the only company tracking7 workers: workplace surveillance is becoming increasingly pervasive8 and
worryingly sophisticated. (…) According to the research firm Gartner, 50% of businesses monitor employees, a figure it expects to rise to 80% by 2020. This monitoring takes a variety of forms. Your employer may be taking remote screenshots9 of your computer. It may be logging your keystrokes or recording your Google searches. It may be tracking the time you are spending reading this, so it can plug10 that data into an algorithm to analyse your behaviour and predict whether you are likely to quit. (...)

(...) We are entering a new
world of workplace surveillance in which we are watched 24/7 and every move is scrutinised. And things are only going to get more intrusive11 as corporations treat us less like human beings and more like machines. (...). But, hey, while the future may look bleak, at least there is consistently prepared pizza to look forward to12.

Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian,
15 October 2019.

1. checker: vérificateur.

2. purveyor: fournisseur.