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
You will hear Craig Barksdale, a consultant at Jefferson Watson, talking about different types of supplier relationship. For eac
You will hear Craig Barksdale, a consultant at Jefferson Watson, talking about different types of supplier relationship. For eac
admin
2012-10-17
61
问题
You will hear Craig Barksdale, a consultant at Jefferson Watson, talking about different types of
supplier relationship.
For each question 23-30, mark one letter A, B or C for the correct answer.
You will hear the recording twice.
PART THREE
(I = Interviewer , C = Craig)
I: We keep hearing all about the globalisation of markets and supply chains and so on, but why has global sourcing suddenly become so widespread?
C: Well, I think there are several factors, really. I mean, as companies expand internationally, their outlook becomes increasingly global. What’s more, hyper-competitive domestic markets have driven companies to look further afield in their search for competitive advantage. Although I think the process has really been accelerated by rapid advances in IT and telecoms. That’s been the real catalyst for change.
I: And what’s the great attraction? Why are companies so keen to source abroad?
C: It depends on the circumstances of the company in question. It could be anything from better access to overseas markets, lower taxes, lower labour costs, quicker delivery or a combination of any of these.
I: But it would be fair to say the financial benefits are the main incentive, wouldn’t it?
C: In most cases it probably would, yes. Without them, I suppose few companies would be that interested. But there are risks involved as well, you know.
I: And what are those risks?
C: Well, the most common mistake companies make is they only see the savings and don’t bother to think about the effect on other key criteria like quality and delivery. A clothing company that only buy from Asian suppliers at low cost, for instance, will find that as labour rates increase over time, it’ll have to island-hop to find new low cost sites. And this, of course, introduces uncertainty about quality, and that’s critical for a clothing company . There are other possible risks as well.
I: Such as?
C: Well, such as negative publicity as a result of poor working conditions in the supplier’s country and, of course, there’s always currency exchange risk.
I: So how do you go about weighing up all these factors and choosing a supplier?
C: It’s crucial that companies know precisely what they’re after from a supplier and that they fully understand their key selection criteria . They need to be careful to define them and make sure they’re measurable and then rank them. It’s dangerous selecting a particular supplier just because they happen to deliver outstanding performance in one objective such as cost or flexibility.
I: So, having selected a prospective partner, what then?
C: Well, then you have to negotiate how closely the two parties need to work together. If it’s going to be a long-term relationship, you need to discuss how much sharing of information and resources will be necessary to extract maximum value from the collaboration. The prospective partners need to sit down and decide on the best form for the relationship to take.
I: And what’s the most common form of this relationship?
C: Well, once again it depends on individual circumstances. The relationship can be anything, I suppose, from complete ownership through strategic alliances to buying the market.
I: Buying the market? What’s that?
C: That’s when companies just publish their specifications and ask prequalified vendors to bid for the contract. General Electric is currently doing $ 1 bn of business this way over the Internet. It’s a short-term deal with almost no interaction with the supplier and the length of the bidding process is cut by half. But most importantly for companies like GE, order processing is $ 5 an order as opposed to $ 50 when it’s done on paper.
I: You mentioned strategic alliances. When do they make sense?
C: Well, for an aircraft manufacturer like Boeing, for example, an alliance with its engine manufacturers is logical because of the complex interaction between the body of the aircraft and its engines. And this complexity means everything has to be developed together. The arrangement also has the added bonus of reducing the financial risk of long-term development programmes.
I: And how about actually owning the supplier, then? When is that preferable?
C: Well, companies take over suppliers when they’re vulnerable to fluctuations in the availability of key supplies. Take Du Pont, for example, the chemicals giant. Since oil is a primary ingredient of many of its products, Du Pont is very much affected by the availability, and therefore cost, of oil. Du Pont reduced these uncertainties by purchasing Conoco, its main oil supplier.
I: Thus keeping its costs down.
C: Possibly. Owning the supplier definitely increases financial control of the supply chain. But when you take the cost of acquisition into account, there are no short-term savings.
I: So, all in all, does global sourcing make sense?
C: Well, there are lots of very powerful benefits but managers have to consider all the main operational factors very carefully first.
选项
A、competitiveness of domestic markets
B、lower cost of foreign markets
C、number of international mergers
答案
A
解析
关键信息:hyper-competitive domesticmarkets have driven companies to look fur-ther afield in their search for competitive ad—vantage.全球性的寻求原料生产地的竞争越来越激烈,这是由诸多因素组成的,但是Craig认为国内市场的激烈竞争是主因。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/x0Od777K
本试题收录于:
BEC高级听力题库BEC商务英语分类
0
BEC高级听力
BEC商务英语
相关试题推荐
Whatisthespeakermainlydescribing?
Wheredoesthisconversationtakeplace?
Whatshouldemployeesdoifabadgeislost?
Whataretherelationsbetweenthetwopersons?
A、 B、 C、 ABecauseusuallystatesareasonthatanswersawhyquestion.Choice(B)confusesthesimilarsoun
A、 B、 C、 D、 C图中办公室里有一个人正在工作。(A)的wipeoff是用来描述用抹布之类擦桌子的动作的词组。通过noman可以判定(B)是错误的。如果题中写Thecomputershave
Whatdepartmentdothespeakersmostlikelyworkin?
Whatdidthewomanlearnaboutduringthetraining?
Whichdepartmentdoesthespeakerspecificallythank?
(Thecandidatechoosesonetopicandspeaksaboutitforoneminute.)A.Careerdevelopment:theimportanceofacquiringarange
随机试题
阅读案例并回答下列问题。解决外部性需要明晰产权科斯定理是经济学家科斯提出通过产权制度的调整,将商品有害的外部性市场化和内部化。例如,一条河的上游和下游各有一个企业,上游企业有排污权,下游企业有河水不被污染权利,下游企业要想使河水不受污染
下列操作中___________不是剪贴板的基本操作。
以下关于钢筋混凝土柱构造要求的叙述中,哪一条是不正确的?
项目组织计划通常包括四方面的内容,下列表述中错误的一项为()。
政府采购要通过公平竞争选择最优的供应商,所有参加竞争的供应商机会均等并受到同等待遇,不得有歧视条件和行为,同时应在程序上保证有利于合同相对方权利的实现。体现了()。
分批法适用于()。
周某从3号公寓楼下经过,被楼上突然掉下的烟灰缸砸成重伤。经过现场司法鉴定,排除了烟灰缸来自其他楼房的可能性,但同时又无法认定烟灰缸究竟是从3号楼哪里掉下的。本案应该如何处理?()
中国共产党领导的革命统一战线最基本的联盟是()。
下列选项体现的是封建社会法律基本特征的有()
Wedon’tdenythatyourproductsaresuperiorinqualityto______ofJapanesemake.
最新回复
(
0
)