• You will hear another five recordings.• For each recording, decide what the s

Woman: My feeling is that we should leave aside VSB’s offer. It’s obviously very competitive - way below the others. But how do we know they’d complete the project on time and to the required standard? They’re a small company. Would they have the skilled labour or equipment? We could request references from former customers, I suppose. That’d mean putting off the decision and personally I have very little confidence in recommendations - they’re easily ’manufactured’. Let’s look at the other companies.

Woman: From the figures, it’s clear that our Canadian outlets are below target - approximately twenty per cent below for the third quarter, if the finance report is right. Now what should we do about it? Cut our losses and close the outlets? That’s the MD’s view. I think it’s too early to do that. We’ve invested heavily in Canada and we don’t want to lose that investment. Let’s send someone over to try to turn the position round and then make a judgement in December.