— You will hear another five recordings. — For each recording, decide what reason each speaker gives for the problem they mentio

I used to work for an employment agency which supplied staff to civil engineering companies. We were growing fast, opening branches in more countries every year Well, that was great. But instead of investing properly to get a good location for each branch, the company preferred to rent cheap premises and to pour resources into the head office, which of course very few of the customers ever saw. It made most of the staff in the branches very unhappy.

Customers are much less loyal these days, so companies have to work hard to get repeat sales. And that means having staff who really understand customer care, and identifying what will sell. But of course demand changes. My first job was with an electronics firm that just didn’t keep up with technical developments. They assumed there would always be a demand for their goods, and let their competitors get ahead of them. As a result they went out of business.