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
In the go-go years of the late 1990s, no economic theorist looked better than Joseph Schumpeter, the Austrian champion of capita
In the go-go years of the late 1990s, no economic theorist looked better than Joseph Schumpeter, the Austrian champion of capita
admin
2015-10-21
41
问题
In the go-go years of the late 1990s, no economic theorist looked better than Joseph Schumpeter, the Austrian champion of capitalism who died in 1950. His distinction? A theory he called "creative destruction". The idea was straight-forward: in with the new, out with the old. Companies had life cycles, just as people do. They were born, they grew up. And when a better competitor came along, they died due to capital starvation. It was the way things were, and the way they should be. The markets had no sentiment. Capitalism was relentless, unforgiving.
In their book Creative Destruction(367 pages. Doubleday. $27. 50), Richard N. Foster and Sarah Kaplan of the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. apply Schumpeter’s logic in the context of a technology-driven economy. They want their corporate readers to understand the implications of one basic idea-, there is an inescapable conflict between the internal needs of a corporation and the total indifference capital markets have for those needs. Managers care desperately about the survival of their companies. Investors don’t give a hoot. This was always true, the authors say, but until recently nobody really noticed because of the relatively languid pace of economic change. No more. In the 1920s,when the first Standard & Poor’s index was compiled, a listed company had a life expectancy of more than 65 years. In 1998 the annual turnover rate of S&P firms was nearly 10 percent, implying a corporate lifetime of only 10 years.
How does anyone manage in this environment? Foster and Kaplan argue that companies today must embrace" discontinuity" , the idea that everything they have always done is now irrelevant. Consider Intel: by its top executives’ own accounts, the company had to kill its ground-breaking memory-chip business once it became clear that Japanese companies could deliver essentially the same product at a lower price. Intel then moved into the much more lucrative microprocessor business. It was an obvious decision, but one that was hard to make. Memory chips were Intel’s core competence. They were at the heart of the company’s self-image. The transition was wrenching, said Intel chief Andrew Grove. But as a result, the company survived and prospered.
From now forgotten automobile companies like Studebaker to early technology leaders like Wang, the corporate landscape is littered with the bones of companies that couldn’t adapt to change. At bottom, say Foster and Kaplan, corporations are managed for survival. "They presume continuity in the business environment. They fail to introduce new products for fear of cannibalizing current product lines. They turn down acquisition opportunities to keep from diluting earnings. They prize rational decision making and internal control systems. They resist contrary information, and often punish managers who voice it. And all the while, capital markets are dedicated to finding and funding new competitors. Incumbents ignore this fact to their peril; if they don’t cannibalize their product lines, someone else will do it for them. Eiven the greatest of brand names are not immune. " As the authors ask rhetorically, would IBM even exist today had it stuck to its core business in mainframe computers? "Unless the corporation can learn to overcome the natural bias for denial," they write,"it will, in the long term, fail, or at best underperform."
The successful company, Foster and Kaplan conclude, is one that manages for discontinuity. It presumes change. It is comfortable with fluid and even vague decision making. It has relatively flat hierarchies. In short, it adopts the fearlessness of capital markets themselves. And it doesn’t have to be a start-up, or even a young company. Typical success stories include Coming, which shifted its business from glass to optical fiber just in time to capture a growing market, and General Electric, which dumped one fifth of its asset base in the first four years of Jack Welch’s tenure as CEO.
Not long ago, it was fashionable to liken business to warfare. Executives were reading Sun-tm, Machiavelli and Clausewitz for guidance on how to overcome the competition. But business differs from war in one vital respect. In war the advantage lies with the defense. In the New Economy, as Foster and Kaplan make clear, it belongs to the attacker.
We can conclude from the passage that companies should______to surpass others.
选项
A、rack their brains
B、overcome difficulties
C、take the initiative
D、fortify their confidence
答案
C
解析
推断题。文章末段首句指出,不久之前,将商业比喻成战争的说法流行一时。最后两句指出,在战争中,优势是在防御的一方。而在新经济中,优势是在进攻的一方。由此可知,公司应该采取主动,这样才能超过竞争对手,故[C]为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/NGKO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Accordingtothenews,theicefromGreenlandprovidesinformationabout
Whitman’spoemsarecharacterizedbyallthefollowingfeaturesEXCEPT______.
Morepeopledieoftuberculosis(结核病)thanofanyotherdiseasecausedbyasingleagent.Thishasprobablybeenthecaseinquit
Morepeopledieoftuberculosis(结核病)thanofanyotherdiseasecausedbyasingleagent.Thishasprobablybeenthecaseinquit
It’seasytoseewhythepriceofgasolineissoupsettingtosomanypeople.Gaspricesaretheoneeconomicindicatoryousee
A、havehighersalariesB、workunderbetterconditionsC、keepindependentminingjobsD、workforshorterhoursC
TheNewYorkpolicedepartmentsaystherehasbeenno【N1】______againstthecity’ssubwaysystem,butadditionalsecurityhasbe
随机试题
胆郁痰扰证可见下列哪些症状
确诊前列腺癌最可靠的方法是
患儿,男,3岁,因发热、咳嗽、痰较多以“支气管肺炎”收入院,为改善呼吸道分泌物黏稠所致的缺氧症状最好采取
按照《国务院有关部门实施招标投标活动行政监督的职责分工意见的通知》规定,项目审批部门对必须招标的项目核准的内容包括()。
某分部工程双代号时标网络计划如下图所示,其中工作A的总时差和自由时差()天。
城市轨道交通车站结构形式分为()。
某工程合同总额为500万元,工程预付款为其合同总额的25%,主要材料、构件所占比重为60%。则起扣点为______万元。()
背景资料:A机电工程公司总承包了一新建机械厂的通风与空调工程,总工期为6个月。主辅材料均由A机电工程公司供应。其中分部分项工程量清单计价合计为536万元;措施项目清单计价合计60万元;其他项目清单计价合计15万元。取费费率为:规费费率4.85%;税率3.
六角车床与普通车床的区别主要在哪里?为什么它的生产效率高?
按下键盘上的F1功能键将产生的事件是
最新回复
(
0
)