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  3. Who to believe? Nokia or Ericsson? IBM or Sun Microsystems? Microsoft or Siebel? Rarely have the fortunes of technology companie

Who to believe? Nokia or Ericsson? IBM or Sun Microsystems? Microsoft or Siebel? Rarely have the fortunes of technology companie

admin2014-03-22  7
问题     Who to believe? Nokia or Ericsson? IBM or Sun Microsystems? Microsoft or Siebel? Rarely have the fortunes of technology companies appeared to differ so widely. Nokia, the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, this week reported better-than-expected sales for the latest quarter, holding out the prospect that its market share would soon reach new highs. By contrast, Ericsson, a rival, was full of gloom. Reporting bigger losses than expected, the company said that sales of its mobile phones were likely to tumble by 20% this year.
    Motorola, another maker of mobile phones, is in a similar boat. On October 15th, the company reported a return to profit in its most recent period after a run of losses, but lowered its forecasts for the rest of the year and for 2003. Demand in wireless, broadband and semiconductors continued to slow, said the company. Unimpressed, investors marked down Motorola’s shares to a ten-year low.
    The pattern of haves and have-nots is repeated in software too. While Microsoft was in chipper mood this week—revelling in a 26% increase in sales and a doubling of its profits after tax for the quarter to the end of September—Siebel Systems and PeopleSoft, two of America’s leading suppliers of business software, were down in the dumps. While PeopleSoft managed a modest profit, Siebel reported a loss for the last quarter and said it expected the present quarter to be equally tough. Despite (or because of) their contrasting fortunes, Microsoft and Siebel announced a joint marketing deal on October 21st: Microsoft is to sell Siebel’s customer-manage-merit software through . NET, its web-services product.
    Why are some companies doing better than others? One reason is that, now more than ever, those that are competitive seem to be punishing those that are not. Nokia has stretched its lead over Ericsson which, in addition to lower sales of mobile phones, has suffered from the severe fall in demand for telecoms infrastructure, its biggest business. There was, however, some good news for Ericsson’s shares on October 18th, when the company said that the infrastructure unit came close to breaking even in the most recent quarter.
    Cost-cutting has also helped SAP, Europe’s largest developer of business software, has reduced its expenses by 8%. As a result, its margins have improved a lot compared with those of its competitors. Microsoft has employed different tactics. It has capitalized on customers’ fears that the cost of upgrading their software, such as the company’s Windows XP operating system, could climb. Many have rushed to buy now in case prices rise. In tune with the times, Microsoft is also keen to demonstrate how its products can save its customers money. Understandably, this is winning its sales.
The phrase "capitalize on" (Line 3, Para. 5) most probably means______.
选项 A、supply funds to
B、give birth to
C、take advantage of
D、put up with
答案C
解析 词汇题。最后一段讲到微软取得的业绩是采用了某种策略。从上下文可知，顾客担心软件升级会增加成本，因此许多人现在前来购买唯恐价格上涨。由此可知，微软是利用了顾客的这种担心的心理，热心地向顾客展示自己的产品如何帮助他们省钱，使销售额增加了。所以C的take advantage of(充分利用)符合这个意思。capitalize本身有“字母大写；资本化”等意思，在这里capitalize on是“利用”的意思。
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