07:53 Jul 28, 2009 |
English language (monolingual) [PRO] Marketing - Retail | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||
| Selected response from: Noni Gilbert Riley Spain Local time: 05:59 | ||||||
Grading comment
|
Discussion entries: 6 | |
---|---|
groceries that are packaged for sale Explanation: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/packaged goods -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 11 mins (2009-07-28 08:05:08 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Packaged goods are groceries which are packaged for sale, meaning all kinds of food, from packed meat, fish, chocolate, candies, breads, etc., anything edible which are already in a package or a box. |
| ||
Notes to answerer
| |||
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) |
items for sale which are pre-wrapped Explanation: In a sense, this is just what it says - anything which is for sale in packaging, in contrast to items which are sold be weight (nowadays at the consumer level, really only fresh produce, but also items bought in bulk to be packaged before sale to the final consumer). But the implications reach further. There is a good deal of legislation associated with packaging, mainly concerning the information which must be included on the packaging (product description, ingredients, use by date if applicable, weight etc). See http://www.nmo.bis.gov.uk/content.aspx?SC_ID=258 for 2006 regulations on packaged goods in the UK. So I presume the implication is not just that the person in question has experience in sales, but also in application of legislation. I hope this takes you a little closer, although I agree that the tag is a bit throwaway, but not as self-explanatory as it should be. |
| ||
Grading comment
| |||
Notes to answerer
| |||
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) |
chalk and cheese argument Explanation: Hi Danya, the writer is making a chalk and cheese argument: becoming director of a 110 million beverage division after working 15 years in something totally unrelated (chalk and cheese) shows that despite his lack of relevant experience he is still an "insider" and that that counts for more than having more pertinent experience in beverages. Packaged goods are easy to handle - they don't spoil, barring a direct nuclear attack, and neither do toiletries. The beverages division is a huge leap up in responsibilities. Beverages have a fixed shelf life and the drive to come up with new drinks calls for a lot more creativity: "How to repackage water? Let's add one drop of a kola nut to 100 litres and call it an eco-drink!" And up to now this guy was selling Kraft dinner?... Obviously it's not what you know but who you know. That's the implication. Maybe "packaged goods" is an allusion to this guy having it all wrapped up just by virtue of having warmed a seat in the next office for the last 15 years. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 38 mins (2009-07-28 08:32:22 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- But that is just what I am saying. The writer feels that experience in packaged goods has nothing in common with selling beverages. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 8 hrs (2009-07-28 16:03:50 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- I see now what I didn't see earlier -- that we are looking at "insider" /"outsider"differently. I look at it the following way (remember Marxism?). In the US, an executive from a chalk factory can start work the next day at a cheese factory without so much as knowing the difference between cheddar and Stilton. This has come about as a resut of the proliferation of high-priced MBA colleges. The theory is (and it's sold, sold, sold by places like Harvard Business School) that an MBA doesn't have to know anything about the factory floor or what goes into the development of products. He just has to know how to maximise profit to the shareholders. His in-group are other managers, whatever firm they work for, and not the people below him in his own firm. This former packaged foods manager is an insider in this sense, and not an outsider. An outsider would be a smart young person from the factory floor or lower management who knows everything about beverages but has no MBA and does not belong to the social and business network of the MBA crowd. That's how I immediately understood it. |
| ||
Notes to answerer
| |||
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) |
liquid intoxicants (beverages) Explanation: Maybe he is referring to a "package store." -- a place where one buys alcohol. And the packaged goods is referring to vodka and other liquid intoxicants (beverages). |
| |
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) |
Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.