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 extract from an article about Over-Capacity in the Car Business. For each question 15—20, mark one letter(A,
Read the following extract from an article about Over-Capacity in the Car Business. For each question 15—20, mark one letter(A,
admin
2013-08-22
17
问题
Read the following extract from an article about Over-Capacity in the Car Business.
For each question 15—20, mark one letter(A, B. C, or D)on your Answer Sheet for the answer you choose.
Since the days of Henry Ford’s dominance of the car market in the 1920s up to the present day, the car industry has continued to grow. Some companies, such as British Leyland, failed to survive the turbulent business world of the 1970s despite being government-owned. During the 1960s and 1970s, as growth in profit became more difficult to achieve due to increased competition, mainly from the Japanese, the industry turned to efficient production methods in order to create a competitive advantage. However, once all the major players in the industry had become as efficient as possible, developing a cost advantage was more difficult to achieve. In addition, car companies from Asia, such as Daewoo, Samsung and Kia, have developed cheaper, more affordable alternatives for the discerning western buyers. Such car companies are part-funded by their respective governments but enjoy considerably lower labor costs.
Increasing productive capacity has led to car companies aiming to use economies of scale as the main way of reducing cost, although this has unfortunately led to businesses having surplus capacity. This spare capacity occurs when the industry as a whole expands ahead of, or in anticipation of, a growth in customer demand. Such growth in capacity has meant that supply outstrips demand by some 30% , i.e. , car companies could cut back on their capacity levels by 30%, and still meet all customer demands.
The result has been a series of joint agreements and mergers between car companies, with a view to either using capacity, or losing capacity altogether by selling off parts of a business. The other problem is the high cost of developing new vehicles: the standard response to the high cost is to either rejuvenate or re-launch old vehicles with new technology. But there are enough companies developing new models that any business, which does not, stands to lose out. The main fear in the car industry is over-capacity—experts predict that by 2001, the industry may produce 23 million cars more than it can sell!
In 1998 there was a spate of company mergers—e.g. In January 1999, Ford paid £4 billion for Volvo’s car division(Volvo claimed that it needed economies of scale, allowing it to focus on buses, engines and aerospace and to acquire shares in two major truck-making businesses. Ford intended to distribute Volvos with its own cars and hoped to use Volvo’s reputation for technological excellence to develop new cars, using common research platforms to save money.
Renault, on the other hand, announced a joint agreement with Nissan, the debt-ridden Japanese company, to purchase a 37% stake. For Renault, the problem was not over-capacity, but rather the lack of product range. Renault was 44% owned by the French government, which obviously wanted to protect one of its major companies and wealth creators. However, Renault had concentrated its major marketing effort on domestic demand in Francejas the domestic market fell, profit tumbled. The expiry in 1999 of the "gentlemen’s agreement" which limited car sales from Japan was probably the main reason for teaming up with Nissan. Nissan, however, had borrowed approximately £ 15 billion in order to expand its productive capacity and had lost money in six of the last seven years. One estimate put 1998’s losses at nearly £ 1 billion. The cost savings for both companies are not likely to occur until 2002, resulting mainly from purchasing economies of scale. Renault seems to have got caught between the large manufacturers who achieve economies of scale and the smaller specialist manufacturers.
What was the problem for Renault?
选项
A、It had the problem of over-capacity.
B、It had the problem of the lack of product range.
C、It was debt-ridden.
D、As domestic market fell, profit tumbled.
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/SC7d777K
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
Inthispartofthetest,youareaskedtogiveashorttalkonabusinesstopic.Youhavetochooseoneofthetopicsfromthe
Canyoutellmewhyyouchooseyourparticularcareer?(Whatsparkedyourinterestinyourmajor?Howdidyoufirstgetinvolved
Answer回答
Theinterlocutorasksyouquestionsonanumberofwork-relatedandnonwork-relatedsubjects.
•Youwillhearadiscussionbetweentwoseniormanagers,JohnandDeborah,aboutanassistantmanager,Colin,whohasappliedf
TaskOne-Job•Forquestions13-17,matchtheextractswiththepeople,listedA-H.•Foreachextract,choosethejobeachsp
TaskOne-Job•Forquestions13-17,matchtheextractswiththepeople,listedA-H.•Foreachextract,choosethejobeachsp
•Readthetextbelowabouttelevisionnetwork.•Inmostofthelines41—52thereistoneextraword.Itiseithergrammatically
•Readthetextbelowabouttelevisionnetwork.•Inmostofthelines41—52thereistoneextraword.Itiseithergrammatically
随机试题
活塞式压缩机的活塞杆由法兰连接件固定在十字头上。
A.肾病综合征B.肾结石C.肾动脉硬化D.肾盂肾炎E.慢性肾炎高血压型尿常规:尿蛋白(+++),尿沉渣:RBC4~6个/HP,WBC0~1个/HP,脂肪管型0~1个/HP,应诊断为
卫生行政部门工作人员依法执行职务时,应当不少于()人。
按照我国关于检验批验收的规定,关于检验批的说法,正确的是()。
根据《消防给水及消火栓系统技术规范》(GB50974-2014)的规定,下列关于室内消火栓系统日常维护管理说法中,正确的是()。
某期货公司因风险控制不力导致保证金出现缺口,中国证监会按照《期货投资者保障基金管理暂行办法》规定决定使用保障基金,对不能清偿的投资者保证金损失予以补偿。甲投资者的保证金遭受损失。根据材料,回答下列问题:如果甲因参与非法期货交易而遭受保证金损失的,则(
小丹新买了一双鞋子。她的朋友们都没有见过,于是大家就猜,小丽说:“你买的鞋不会是红色的。”小华说:“你买的鞋子不是黄的就是黑的。”小玲说:“你买的鞋子一定是黑的。”这三个人的看法至少有一种是正确的,至少有一种是错误的。请问,小丹的鞋子到底足什么颜色的
已知a=b2+1,且以的算术平方根为3,则6的值是()。
TheidentityoftheAmericanwriterswhoestablishthemselvesafterWorldWarⅡiscollectivelyaswellasindividually________.
为了使电子邮件能够传输二进制信息,对RFC822进行扩充后的标准为()。
最新回复
(
0
)