Real-Life Communication
You are a chief operating officer at a financial institution. You
think that the company should acquire one of North America's biggest,
but financially troubled, discount brokerage firms.
You need to convince
the company president of the value of such a deal. "We read a lot of reports,
memos and do research," says Viola Darrington. She is a chief operating and
financial officer in Atlanta. "We have to have highly developed reading, writing
and communication skills."
You speak with the president of the company:
Last
month I recommended that our company, DB Banking, sell 13 percent of its convenience
banking services in an initial public offering. This sale generated approximately
$1 billion in new capital for DB Banking. Now, with this money, we are free
to pounce into the discount brokerage market.
With this capital, I
propose that we take over one of North America's biggest discount brokerage
firms, Chambers Inc. As you know, discount brokerages charge
reduced commission fees for their brokering services. Discount brokering has
become the way of the future, and we should be in on this tide.
We
will rename the company, the DB discount brokerage firm. With this takeover,
we could become the world's second-largest discount brokerage.
The
president nods her head as you speak, and then asks a few questions:
- Refresh my memory. What is a discount brokerage firm?
- How much money was freed by the sale of the convenience banking services?
- Will we be the world's largest discount brokerage?
How do you answer her?