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
30
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.
The writer’s attitude towards Foster and Kaplan is______.
选项
A、reserved
B、ambiguous
C、favorable
D、neutral
答案
D
解析
态度题。作者在第二段提到了Foster和Kaplan在Creative Destruction一书中的观点,接下来第三段介绍了这两个人“非连续性转变”的概念。之后以Intel,IBM,Coming和GE为例,说明非连续性转变可以让公司起死回生,取得成功。全文围绕Creative Destruction一书的内容对Foster和Kaplan的观点进行论述,文中出现了如“the authors say”“Foster and Kaplan argue”“Foster and Kaolanconclude”等客观介绍性话语,并未涉及作者个人观点,可见,作者对于Foster和Kaplan的观点持中立态度,故[D]为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/VGKO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
A、offeringatrucetoEuropeannationsB、estrangingtheEuropeannationsfromtheUSC、bolsteringal-QaedasupportersD、condemni
Morepeopledieoftuberculosis(结核病)thanofanyotherdiseasecausedbyasingleagent.Thishasprobablybeenthecaseinquit
Morepeopledieoftuberculosis(结核病)thanofanyotherdiseasecausedbyasingleagent.Thishasprobablybeenthecaseinquit
Morepeopledieoftuberculosis(结核病)thanofanyotherdiseasecausedbyasingleagent.Thishasprobablybeenthecaseinquit
It’seasytoseewhythepriceofgasolineissoupsettingtosomanypeople.Gaspricesaretheoneeconomicindicatoryousee
A、Happinessmeansgoodluckinmanylanguages.B、Happinessasakindoffeelingissomethinglikehavingagoodlife.C、People’s
______isoftenusedtorefertotheUSDepartmentofDefense.
ThecapitalofScotlandis______.
Itisatruthuniversallyacknowledged,thatasinglemaninpossessionofagoodfortune,mustbeinwantofawife.Howev
随机试题
下列哪一项不属于胆囊癌声像图类型
(国家司法考试真题)甲公司以乙公司为被告向法院提起诉讼,要求乙公司支付拖欠的货款100万元。在诉讼中,甲公司申请对乙公司一处价值90万元的房产采取保全措施,并提供担保。一审法院在做出财产保全裁定之后发现,乙公司在向丙银行贷款100万时已将该房产和一辆小轿车
背景资料:某二级公路全长28km,路面结构形式为:级配碎石底基层、水泥稳定碎石基层、C30水泥混凝土面层。该公路通车三年左右,全线较多路段的水泥混凝土路面均出现裂缝,裂缝以横向裂缝为主,部分水泥混凝土面板发生了断板现象。建设单位注意到,挖方路段比
某工程发生一起质量事故,导致3人死亡,直接经济损失2000万元,则该起质量事故属于()。
关于税负向后转嫁的说法,正确的是()。
早在原始社会,我国的最高统治者就被称为“天子”。()
歌曲《大海啊,故乡》的基本指挥图示是()
人民警察的(),是指人民警察所具备的政治思想、业务能力、文化水平、心理特征、身体状况诸方面条件的总和。
A、扰乱了正常的市场秩序B、阻碍了经营者间的正当竞争C、损害了消费者的合法权益D、规范了方便面的价格 A,B,C国家经贸委在《选择若干城市进行协会试点的方案》中,明确规定行业协会有六大职能,却没有一条说行业协会可以自己主张涨价。方便面统一涨价是一种
批处理系统中,周转时间是指()。
最新回复
(
0
)