首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Corporate Ambitions: Amazon, the World’s Most Remarkable Firm, Is Just Getting Started A) Amazon is an extraordinary company. Th
Corporate Ambitions: Amazon, the World’s Most Remarkable Firm, Is Just Getting Started A) Amazon is an extraordinary company. Th
admin
2018-03-26
38
问题
Corporate Ambitions: Amazon, the World’s Most Remarkable Firm, Is Just Getting Started
A) Amazon is an extraordinary company. The former bookseller accounts for more than half of every new dollar spent online in America. It is the world’s leading provider of cloud computing. This year Amazon will probably spend twice as much on television as HBO, a cable channel. Its own-brand physical products include batteries, almonds, suits and speakers linked to a virtual voice-activated assistant that can control, among other things, your lamps and sprinkler.
B) Yet Amazon’s shareholders are working on the premise that it is just getting started. Since the beginning of 2015 its share price has jumped by 173%, seven times quicker than in the two previous years (and 12 times faster than the S&P 500 index). With a market capitalisation (市值) of some $400bn, it is the fifth-most-valuable firm in the world. Never before has a company been worth so much for so long while making so little money: 92% of its value is due to profits expected after 2020.
C) That is because investors anticipate both an extraordinary rise in revenue, from sales of $ 136bn last year to half a trillion over the next decade, and a jump in profits. The hopes invested in it imply that it will probably become more profitable than any other firm in America. Ground for scepticism does not come much more fertile than this: Amazon will have to grow faster than almost any big company in modem history to justify its valuation. Can it possibly do so?
D) It is easy to tick off some of the pitfalls (隐患). Rivals will not stand still. Microsoft has cloud-computing ambitions; Walmart already has revenues nudging $ 500bn and is beefing up online. If anything happened to Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and boss, the gap would be exceptionally hard to fill. But the striking thing about the company is how much of a chance it has of achieving such unprecedented goals.
E) This is largely due to the firm’s unusual approach to two dimensions of corporate life. The first of these is time. In an era when executives routinely whinge about (发牢骚) pressure to produce short-term results, Amazon is resolutely focused on the distant horizon. Mr. Bezos emphasises continual investment to propel (推动) its two principal businesses, e-commerce and Amazon Web Services (AWS), its cloud-computing arm.
F) In e-commerce, the more shoppers Amazon lures, the more retailers and manufacturers want to sell their goods on Amazon. That gives Amazon more cash for new services—such as two-hour shipping and streaming video and music—which entice more shoppers. Similarly, the more customers use AWS, the more Amazon can invest in new services, which attract more customers. A third virtuous circle is starting to whirl (迅速旋转) around Alexa, the firm’s voice-activated assistant: as developers build services for Alexa, it becomes more useful to consumers, giving developers reason to create yet more services.
G) So long as shareholders retain their faith in this model, Amazon’s heady valuation resembles a self-fulfilling prophecy. The company will be able to keep spending, and its spending will keep making it more powerful. Their faith is sustained by Amazon’s record. It has had its failures—its attempt to make a smartphone was a debacle. But the business is starting to crank out (快速大量地制造) cash. Last year cashflow (before investment) was $ 16bn, more than quadruple the level five years ago.
H) If Amazon’s approach to time-frames is unusual, so too is the sheer breadth of its activities. The company’s list of current and possible competitors, as described in its annual filings, includes logistics firms, search engines, social networks, food manufacturers and producers of "physical, digital and interactive media of all types". A wingspan this large is more reminiscent of a conglomerate (大型联合企业) than a retailer, which makes Amazon’s share price seem even more bloated: stockmarkets typically apply a " conglomerate discount" to reflect their inefficiencies.
I) Many of these services support Amazon’s own expansion and that of other companies. The obvious example is AWS, which powers Amazon’s operations as well as those of other firms. But Amazon also rents warehouse space to other sellers. It is building a $ 1. 5bn air-freight hub (中心) in Kentucky. It is testing technology in stores to let consumers skip the cash register altogether, and experimenting with drone deliveries to the home. Such tools could presumably serve other customers, too. Some think that Amazon could become a new kind of utility: one that provides the infrastructure of commerce, from computing power to payments to logistics.
J) And here lies the real problem with the expectations surrounding Amazon. If it gets anywhere close to fulfilling them, it will attract the attention of regulators. For now, Amazon is unlikely to trigger antitrust (反垄断的) action. It is not yet the biggest retailer in America, its most mature market. America’s antitrust enforcers look mainly at a firm’s effect on consumers and pricing. Seen through this lens, Amazon appears pristine (处于原始状态的). Consumers applaud it; it is the most well-regarded company in America, according to a Harris poll. (AWS is a boon to startups, too.)
K) But as it grows, so will concerns about its power. Even on standard antitrust grounds, that may pose a problem: if it makes as much money as investors hope, a rough calculation suggests its earnings could be worth the equivalent of 25% of the combined profits of listed Western retail and media firms. But regulators are also changing the way they think about technology. In Europe, Google stands accused of using its clout as a search engine to extend its power to adjacent businesses. The comparative immunity from legal liability of digital platforms—for the posting of inflammatory content on Facebook, say, or the vetting of drivers on Uber—is being chipped away.
L) Amazon’s business model will also encourage regulators to think differently. Investors value Amazon’s growth over profits; that makes predatory pricing more tempting. In future, firms could increasingly depend on tools provided by their biggest rival. If Amazon does become a utility for commerce, the calls will grow for it to be regulated as one. Shareholders are right to believe in Amazon’s potential. But success will bring it into conflict with an even stronger beast: government.
Amazon used to sell books online, but now the company has expanded its business scope into providing cloud computing and manufacturing its own physical products.
选项
答案
A
解析
A段第二句指出亚马逊以前在网上售书。第三句和末句则表明亚马逊如今还是云计算供应商和自有品牌的实体产品生产商。由此可知,亚马逊的业务范围由原来的卖书扩大到提供云计算和生产自有品牌的实体产品。题干中的used to sell books和providing cloud computing分别对应定位句中的The former bookseller和provider of cloud computing,故A)为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Cqa7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
BritishpsychologistshavefoundevidenceofalinkbetweenexcessiveInternetuseanddepression,aresearchhasshown.Lee
Low-carbonFuture:WeCanAffordtoGoGreen[A]Tacklingclimatechangewillcostconsumerstheearth.Thosewhocampaignfora
A、Cleaningthewashroom.B、Carryingshoppingbags.C、Takingouttherubbish.D、Changingthebedsheets.B短文说男人干的家庭杂活中第二普遍的是拎购物包,
A、Itchargesatareducedrate.B、Itisavailableeveryday.C、Itisopentoallpeople.D、Itisprovidedonlyintheevening.D
WhyMinorityStudentsDon’tGraduatefromCollege[A]BarryMills,thepresidentofBowdoinCollege,wasjustifiablyproudofBow
Menaremuch"smarter"thanwomenwhenitcomestoshopping,accordingtoasurveyof1,000peoplewhichfoundthat42%ofmena
A、Inshoppingcentersorchurches.B、Incommunityorparkinglots.C、Onplaygroundsorcountrygrounds.D、Inpublicparksoron
Inbringingupchildren,everyparentwatcheseagerlythechild’sacquisitionofeachnewskill—thefirstspokenwords,thefirs
A、Theywanttokeeptheirpetshealthy.B、MedicalservicesforpetsaregoodinAmerica.C、Theirpetsusuallyfallsick.D、They
A、Convenient.B、Clean.C、Crowded.D、Lovely.C短文开头即提到在Tokyo,“我”想去的地方总是有太多的人,故C很好地概括了说话者对Tokyo的感觉。
随机试题
回购协议
格栅图
细菌生物学性状最典型的时期是()
主要依靠科技进步及提高劳动者素质来增加和提高社会产品的数量和质量的经济增长方式属于()经济增长方式。
甲公司上年度财务报表主要数据如下:要求:假设本年销售净利率提高到12%,收益留存率降低到0.4,不增发新股或回购股票,保持其他财务比率不变,计算本年的销售收入、销售增长率、可持续增长率和股东权益增长率;
某企业债务资本和权益资本的比例为1:1,则该企业()。
位于城市市区的一家电视机生产企业(以上简称甲企业)和一家百货商场(以下简称乙商场)均为增值税一般纳税人。2015年3月份发生以下业务:(1)甲企业销售给乙商场一批电视机,不含税销售额为70万元,采用托收承付方式结算,货物已经发出,托收手续已经办妥,但
下列情形中不属于消费者知悉真情权的是()。
有些中学生在学习抽象概念和规则时,仍需具体经验支持,从认知发展阶段理论来看这是因为()。
新中国成立后,中国共产党和中国政府根据当时的国际国内形势,对香港、澳¨这两个地区采取的立场是
最新回复
(
0
)