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
考研
Since the late 1970’s in the face of a severe loss of market share in dozens of industries, manufacturers in the United States h
Since the late 1970’s in the face of a severe loss of market share in dozens of industries, manufacturers in the United States h
admin
2011-12-20
48
问题
Since the late 1970’s in the face of a severe loss of market share in dozens of industries, manufacturers in the United States have been trying to improve productivity—and therefore enhance their international competitiveness—through cost-cutting programs. (Cost-cutting here is defined as raising labor output while holding the amount of labor constant.) However, from 1978 through 1982, productivity—the value of goods manufactured divided by the amount of labor input—did not improve; and while the results were better in the business upturn of the three years following, they ran 25 percent lower than productivity improvements during earlier, post-1945 upturns. At the same time, it became clear that the harder manufactures worked to implement cost-cutting, the more they lost their competitive edge.
With this paradox in mind, I recently visited 25 companies; it became clear to me that the cost-cutting approach to increasing productivity is fundamentally flawed. Manufacturing regularly observes a "40, 40, 20" rule. Roughly 40 percent of any manufacturing-based competitive advantage derives from long-term changes in manufacturing structure (decisions about the number, size, location, and capacity of facilities) and in approaches to materials. Another 40 percent comes from major changes in equipment and process technology. The final 20 percent rests on implementing conventional cost-cutting. This rule does not imply that cost-cutting should not be tried. The well-known tools of this approach—including simplifying jobs and retraining employees to work smarter, not harder—do produce results. But the tools quickly reach the limits of what they can contribute.
Another problem is that the cost-cutting approach hinders innovation and discourages creative people. As Abernathy’s study of automobile manufacturers has shown, an industry can easily become prisoner of its own investments in cost-cutting techniques, reducing its ability to develop new products. And managers under pressure to maximize cost-cutting will resist innovation because they know that more fundamental changes in processes or systems will wreak havoc with the results on which they are measured. Production managers have always seen their job as one of minimizing costs and maximizing output. This dimension of performance has until recently sufficed as a basis of evaluation, but it has created a penny-pinching, mechanistic culture in most factories that has kept away creative managers.
Every company I know that has freed itself from the paradox has done so, in part, by developing and implementing a manufacturing strategy. Such a strategy focuses on the manufacturing structure and on equipment and process technology. In one company a manufacturing strategy that allowed different areas of the factory to specialize in different markets replaced the conventional cost-cutting approach; within three years the company regained its competitive advantage. Together with such strategies, successful companies are also encouraging managers to focus on a wider set of objectives besides cutting costs. There is hope for manufacturing, but it dearly rests oil a different way of managing.
The author refers to Abernathy’s study most probably in order to ______.
选项
A、qualify an observation about one rule governing manufacturing
B、address possible objections to a recommendation about improving manufacturing competitiveness
C、support an earlier assertion about method of increasing productivity
D、suggest the centrality in the Unit States economy of a particular manufacturing industry
答案
C
解析
“As Abernathy’s study of automobile manufacturers has shown,an industry can easily become prisoner of its own investments in cost-cutting techniques,reducing its ability to develop new products.”提到Abernathy的研究主要是否定cost-cutting,从而肯定新方法对于提高生产力的帮助。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/r3ua777K
本试题收录于:
翻译硕士(翻译硕士英语)题库专业硕士分类
0
翻译硕士(翻译硕士英语)
专业硕士
相关试题推荐
InEnglandintheearly17thcentury,theStuartmonarchy,tofinanceitsexpenditures,increasinglyresortedto"forcedloans"—
Itisaresearchthatisguaranteedtodelightmen—andinfuriatethewomenintheirlives.Acontroversialnewstudyhasclaime
Anewspaperismuchmorethanabusiness;itisaninstitution.Itreflectsandinfluencesthelifeofacommunity;itmayaffec
chronicdepression
RustbeltStates
Excusesrelievetensionbyhelping______bothsidesthatthemistakewasanaberrationthatwillnotberepeated.
Bysigningtheleasewemadea______topayarentof$150aweek.
Thevalueofheatforthepreservationoffoodhasbeenknownforthousandsofyears,butitwasnotrealizeduntilthenineteen
Inordertostrengthenboththeforearmandthegrip,manyathleteswillrepeatedlysqueezeatennisballintheirhands.
I’mafraidtheresultofthecomingelectionisa______conclusion.
随机试题
TheforestfromwhichMantakeshistimberisthetallestandmostimpressiveplantcommunityonEarth.IntermsofMan’sbrief
A.己糖激酶法B.葡萄糖氧化酶法C.尿酮体D.全血乳酸E.胰岛素抗体血糖测定的参考方法是
Pindborg瘤又名
水压机的规格是以()来表示。
对经停业整顿、托管、接管或者行政重组在规定限期内仍达不到正常经营条件的证券公司,采取的市场退出措施是()。
若二项式的展开式中的常数项为-160,则=______.
在国际会计中涉及到跨国母公司与子公司之间的财务报表合并问题,假设1家美国公司于某年年初投资1800万日元用于在日本设立一家子公司,该子公司分别在年初和年中购买了各900万日元的固定资产和存货。假设年初和年中美元兑日元的汇率分别是1美元=100日元和1美元=
管理信息系统向管理者提供信息的方式主要有【】。
下列代码实现的功能是:若在窗体中一个名为tNum的文本框中输入学号,则将"学生表"中对应的"姓名"显示在另一个名为tName文本框中,PrivateSubtNum_AfterUpdate()Me!tName=【】("姓名",
Awalkwithyourspousegivesyouachancetotalkovertheday.Butthat’snotwhyyoushould【C1】______.Here’swhy:Getting【C2
最新回复
(
0
)