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
• Read the following article about ’Go-Fast’, a cost-saying programme introduced by the car manufacturer General Motors, and the
• Read the following article about ’Go-Fast’, a cost-saying programme introduced by the car manufacturer General Motors, and the
admin
2010-01-28
73
问题
• Read the following article about ’Go-Fast’, a cost-saying programme introduced by the car manufacturer General Motors, and the questions on the opposite page.
• For each question (15-20), mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet.
Somewhere today, a group of staff from General Motors will meet as part of the ’Go-Fast’ programme, and hammer out a new initiative to cut costs and bureaucracy. They may focus only on wiper-blades, or staff appraisal, or showroom design. But by this afternoon, there should be an outline savings plan, which will, when implemented, be measured carefully for signs of success. The aim is to transform GM from a lumbering leviathan into the corporate equivalent of a sports car. The intention is not just to be big - GM is one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world - but to be fast, particularly in its responsiveness to the market. The success of the programme is reflected in the large number of suggestions being introduced - far more than in the old days, when every change had to come from senior managers focusing on the ’big picture’.
The progress made has trans- formed investor perceptions of GM. Before the Go-Fast programme was introduced, the conventional wisdom was that GM’s market share was in permanent free fall and its organisation incapable of doing anything about it. Now, the decline has been turned around, and the senior managers’ change of approach has led to the company being energised with a winning spirit that has unlocked long-dormant capabilities. That it took a firm of consultants to help devise the programme is perhaps a sad reflection of the danger of corporate thinking becoming inflexible.
The shareholders’ support of GM’s strategy to become more outward-looking and innovative is some- thing of a luxury, though in the long run success would convince even the most sceptical shareholders. The strategy includes beating down on costs and extracting maximum synergies from GM’s numerous alliance partners, such as its tooling suppliers, and exchanging ideas and management tools with other corporations of widely differing sizes, sectors and nationalities. Having such input is one thing, but its value would be undermined without a coherent mechanism to put ideas into practice, and this is where the consultants proved invaluable.
In the car industry, however, there was plenty of scepticism about the programme when it was first announced, with many convinced that only much smaller organisations stood a reasonable chance of making such a transformation, particularly when it involved changes to the company culture. Surprisingly, perhaps, this fear was not shared by the consultants who helped senior management to design the programme and, crucially, effect a change in leader- ship skills; rather, they were more concerned about the impact that pockets of opposition within GM might have.
The results of the scheme so far give rise to cautious optimism. No aspect of GM’s work can hide from scrutiny, and initial fears of a lack of ’joined-up thinking’ about the impact of one change on other areas soon dissipated, as the ’leadership panels’ responsible for approving and implementing changes took a broader view. But while internal management has improved dramatically, many analysts are sceptical that the initiatives can outweigh GM’s mountainous pension obligations. The company is still suffering the effects of poor decisions in the past, such as the choice of certain alliance partnerships, and a major change of strategy might be necessary to recover from these. If this were to take place, the company’s core car manufacturing would need to be much more firmly rooted than it is at present, to ensure it didn’t suffer from lack of focus. However, the architects of the scheme are confident that GM will be far more outward-looking and innovative in the near future.
What concern is expressed in the last paragraph about the ’Go-Fast’ programme?
选项
A、It may not save enough to meet the company’s financial demands.
B、Management is being distracted from the company’s core activities.
C、It has led the company to make unwise strategic decisions.
D、The company is focusing on changes in the wrong areas.
答案
A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/GdKd777K
本试题收录于:
BEC高级阅读题库BEC商务英语分类
0
BEC高级阅读
BEC商务英语
相关试题推荐
Whatarethewomenmainlydiscussing?
Whatarethespeakersmainlydiscussing?
WhattypeofbusinessisViaAmor?
WhattypeofbusinessisFindersBuyers?
Whatdidthecustomersrecommend?
Inthispartofthetest,youareaskedtogiveashorttalkonabusinesstopic.Youhavetochooseoneofthetopicsfromthe
Askingquestions征询
Task6IncreaseinOrdersThemanufacturingcompanyyouworkforhasexperiencedasuddenincreaseincustomerordersandiscon
Answeringreceptionist’squestions回答接待员询问
随机试题
是故天子统三公,三公率诸侯,诸侯制卿大夫,卿大夫治士庶人。贵以临贱,贱以承贵。上之使下犹心腹之运手足,根本之制支叶,下之事上犹手足之卫心腹,支叶之庇本根,然后能上下相保而国家治安。故曰天子之职莫大于礼也。
选派监理人员时要考虑的因素是()。
吹填工程量计算时应考虑()。
行业中某一个占支配地位的企业率先确定价格,其他企业则参照这个价格来制定和调整本企业产品的价格,与其保持一致,这种价格模型称为()。
格式塔心理学家苛勒用“小鸡啄米实验”证明了()学习迁移理论。
中同著名的旅游胜地杭州两湖以其秀丽的湖光山色和众多的名胜古迹而闻名中外,被誉为“人间天堂”。2011年6月,杭州西湖正式列入《世界遗产名录》,这是我国第41处世界遗产,也是我国连续第九年成功申报世界遗产。下列关于世界遗产的说法,正确的是()。
目前各种形式的大量的文艺作品,没内涵、缺生活,缺少社会意识,缺失人文关怀、时代精神,这几乎成了一种通病。过度娱乐化、远离心灵的文艺创作占据了主流文艺,文艺娱乐化倾向严重,高雅文化已不再被向往和尊重。一些文艺创作人士,希望把人民币以正当稿费的形式尽快装进自己
以下能从材料中摊出的是:
用______语言编写的程序可由计算机直接执行。
Whichofthefollowingsentencesexpressesapassivemeaning?
最新回复
(
0
)