2014_01_Session_A_Sample answers

●２０１４年第１回Aカード●

One day, a man was in the office at his book store.

picture1: One day, a man was in the office at his bookstore. There were no customers looking around the store. A woman staff member had nothing to do and was just standing there. The man was working on his PC looking at a chart of books sales which showed a year by year decline.

picture2: There were three staff members at a staff meeting. They discussed how to increase the sales. There were three ideas written on a white board. They agreed to start an "In-store cafe" to enhance the sales.

picture3: A few months later, the In-store cafe had many customers.

They looked to be enjoying reading books while having coffee or tea at a very cheap price. It seemed the sales were doing well.

picture4: Several weeks later, one woman staff member told the man holding several books that had stains on them that they were not able to sold because they were dirty. The man looked confused and therefore they had another problem to resolve.

Q1: I would be thinking that it was a great idea to have the In-store cafe but the customers spilt coffee and tea on the books. Because the books could not be sold we should re-evaluate the idea of the in-store café.

Q2: I think it depends. I see some companies that spend a lot of money for ridiculous adverts on TV for which there is no point. However, quality advertising is needed to create product awareness and increase sales.

Q3: Yes, since digital devices such as smart phones and tablets have become popular, people will read digital books in many ways. It certainly becomes easier to read.

Q4: Yes, I think so because the Japanese government is likely to spend less money for the education compared to other developed countries. Otherwise the competiveness of the country would be reduced in the future.