Chinese fridge manufacturer Wang Guoduan, a man with only 7 years of formal education, is proving you don’t have to be a Netrepr

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问题     Chinese fridge manufacturer Wang Guoduan, a man with only 7 years of formal education, is proving you don’t have to be a Netrepreneur to take on the world. His is a more old-fashioned success story. Until Wang visited the Guangzhou trade fair in 1983, he had never even seen a fridge. At the time, he was managing a decrepit, state-owned rice-cooker factory in the Guangdong province backwater of Rongqi(pop. 60 000). But today his township enterprise is China’s largest and most successful refrigerator maker. Last year his Guangdong Kelon Electrical Holdings Co. sold $ 677 million of refrigerators, air-conditioners and other "white goods", commanding nearly a quarter of the domestic market. Already popular in the U. S. , Kelon products are breaking into Europe and Southeast Asia.
    Now, with China poised to enter the World Trade Organization, Wang has a make-or-break opportunity. WTO market liberalization could increase competitive pressures—harming firms like Kelon—experts warn. But Kelon executives counter that the firm is already competing on level terms against U. S. companies like Whirlpool, which manufactures in China, and will also benefit from falling tariffs in its export markets. "We just have to become even smarter," says Wang. Like many other non-Internet Chinese companies, Kelon will soon find out if its older model still works in a new economy.
    Until now the company has been as hot as a fridge maker can be. Kelon has repeatedly won awards as the best-run and most investor-friendly company in China, ahead of such leaders as China Telecom and computer giant Legend. Prominent analysts have declared that "Kelon is the best managed company in China. " That helps explain the company’s stellar returns: since 1994, profit attributable to shareholders has risen by more than 500%.
    Last year Kelon produced 2. 2 million, making it one of the world’s top manufacturers.
    But the boom may be approaching its end as the market for refrigerators in China’s cities nears saturation. A sluggish economy and increased competition brought about by economic reforms are squeezing profit margins. Despite record sales last year, the company reported a 1.3% fall in operating profit. It has responded by targeting China’s secondary cities and rural areas, where refrigerators are so rare that many owners proudly display them in the living room, not the kitchen. The company has also branched out into air-conditioners, which it hopes will become China’s next consumer-appliance fad. Says Rachel Tsang of Vickers Ballas Securities in Hong Kong, "What Kelon has done is revolutionary. The future may depend on whether it can start another revolution. " And there’s no reason to suppose it won’t, if Wang Guoduan and Kelon keep on humming.
Why does the author say that Kelon’s predominant output of fridge will come to its end?

选项 A、Because many other foreign fridge manufacturers will overpass Kelon.
B、Because most people in the big cities have had fridges in their family.
C、Because many people in the countryside don’t use fridges as kitchen utensils.
D、Because the author is quite pessimistic about Kelon’s future.

答案B

解析 利用查阅式阅读法,我们不难找出文章的第四段与本题有关。该段指出,去年,科龙的冰箱产量达到220万台,成为世界上最大的冰箱制造商之一。由于中国各大城市的冰箱市场接近饱和,这一供需高峰期可能即将结束。市场需求不旺,经济改革加剧了行业竞争,导致公司利润率下降。虽然科龙去年的销售额创历史最高记录,但经营利润却下降了1.3%。为此,公司将目标瞄准了中小城市及农村地区。在这些地区,冰箱很少见,许多家庭把冰箱摆在客厅中而不是厨房中,目的是向别人炫耀。此外,科龙还开始进军空调市场。它希望,空调将成为中国家电市场的下一个消费热点。香港唯高达有限公司的曾慧明说:“科龙所做的一切都是革命性的。公司未来能否成功取决于它能否发动另一场革命。”只要王国端和他的科龙公司坚持不懈,我们没有理由认为科龙做不到这一点。因此,本题的正确答案应是B。
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