天山-3-12

[ping0114]

Q9 to Q12:
In recent years, Western
business managers have been
heeding the exhortations of busi-
Line ness journalists and academics
(5) to move their companies toward
long-term, collaborative “strategic
partnerships” with their external
business partners (e.g., suppliers).
The experts’ advice comes as
(10) a natural reaction to numerous
studies conducted during the past
decade that compared Japanese
production and supply practices
with those of the rest of the world.
(15) The link between the success of
a certain well-known Japanese
automaker and its effective
management of its suppliers, for
example, has led to an unques-
(20) tioning belief within Western
management circles in the value
of strategic partnerships. Indeed,
in the automobile sector all three
United States manufacturers and
(25) most of their European competitors
have launched programs to reduce
their total number of suppliers and
move toward having strategic
partnerships with a few.
(30) However, new research con-
cerning supplier relationships in
various industries demonstrates
that the widespread assumption of
Western managers and business
(35) consultants that Japanese firms
manage their suppliers primarily
through strategic partnerships is
unjustified. Not only do Japanese
firms appear to conduct a far
(40) smaller proportion of their busi-
ness through strategic partnerships
than is commonly believed, but
they also make extensive use of
“market-exchange” relationships,
(45) in which either party can turn to
the marketplace and shift to dif-
ferent business partners at will,
a practice usually associated
with Western manufacturers.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q12:
Which of the following is most clearly an example of the practice referred to in lines 38-
49 of the passage?
A. A department store chain that employs a single buyer to procure all the small
appliances to be sold in its stores
B. An automobile manufacturer that has used the same supplier of a particular axle
component for several years in a row
C. A hospital that contracts only with union personnel to staff its nonmedical
positions
D. A municipal government that decides to cancel its contract with a waste disposal
company and instead hire its own staff to perform that function
E. A corporation that changes the food-service supplier for its corporate headquarters
several times over a five-year period as part of a cost-cutting campaign.
Answer:

答案E
但是line38~49實在是看不懂
所以選不出來
求助~~

[liwuu]

整篇大意在探討所謂跟供應商策略聯盟的事情!!
西方國家認為與供應商建立長久密切的策略聯盟關係越來越重要,尤其認為日本的成功就在此...
不過,就轉到粗體部分...經過實際發現,日本採策略聯盟的比例其實沒有想像中高,而且還以商場利益考量為主!!

Q12針對粗體部分舉例!!
答案E...公司為了降低成本利益,更換數次供應商,並沒有和供應商建立長久密切的關係

[Jackson0317]

我覺得這題的文法可能有遐思,因為either.....or. 在文章中是either... and. 我第一次看到選不出答案,以文章的either.... and的結構,不過以邏輯上看應該是要說任何一方可以隨意更換商業夥伴,來反駁文章中study提出的結論.

[Arlene]

這個文法不是either ... or...的文法
是說明什麼樣的 "market-exchange" relationship
in which (在"market-exchange" relationship裡面) either party (任一方）can turn to the marketplace and shift to different business partners at will. (可以依據意願意圖在商業市場裡轉換新的伙伴）