【每日阅读训练第四期——速度越障16系列】【16-19】经管

风随心动01

大家反映我上次发的经管文章难度较大，这次我就挑了对我来说难词比较少的速度文章，希望大家喜欢。

[Speed]
Article 1

Dear Annie:
I read your column about finding a job in a different industry, but I'm looking for a new position in the same business I'm in now, and I have two main concerns. First, you mentioned that candidates should be prepared with intelligent questions. I wish I had asked more probing questions before I took my current job (I'd probably have turned it down.), and I don't want to make the same mistake again, so what do you suggest?
I'm also wondering what kind of pay increase to ask for, when I get to that stage in the process. Years ago, the rule of thumb was that companies were willing to offer starting pay that was at least 10% higher than a new hire was already making. Is that still generally true? — Moving On

[Time 1]
Dear M.O.:
To take your second question first, you're right. A 10% bump in compensation used to be considered the bare minimum for new hires, and candidates whose skills were in particular demand often commanded twice that much or more, especially when the economy was booming. But alas, those days are gone, even for senior executives.
"The financial meltdown quashed the boosts in pay that managers moving into new roles had come to expect," says John Touey, a principal at recruiters Salveson Stetson. "As the demand for talent dried up in 2008 and 2009, so did the premiums companies were willing to pay."

An analysis by Salveson Stetson of compensation data from the past six years found that job-switching senior managers' starting pay plummeted by 56% during the downturn. It's edging back up, but on average, managers are getting offers 34% lower than in 2006 and 2007.

You don't say what field you're in, but it can make a big difference. Executives in general management took the biggest hit during the downturn, according to the study, with starting pay dropping by 70% between 2006 and 2009. These days, newly hired general managers are offered premiums averaging about 14%, which the Salveson Stateson report notes "is still 50% lower than before the recession."
[210 words]

[Time 2]
By contrast, sales and marketing executives were least affected by hard times. Their offers took a very slight recessionary dip, from an average 17% jump in pay in 2006 to 16% three years later. Today, the average pay hike for these execs when they start a new gig is 19%. Salveson Stetson also studied human resources and finance pay jumps, which are seeing average increases of 16% and 26% respectively.

Good to know, but none of this changes the basic drill for any job seeker: Use sites like Salary.com and PayScale.com, as well as job boards with postings that provide salary ranges, to get an idea of what kind of salary you can reasonably negotiate for. And don't forget that salary isn't everything. Perks and benefits can sometimes make up for so-so base pay.
Of course, before you get to the stage where you're talking money, you need to make sure you even want the job. Executive recruiters at global headhunting firm MRINetwork recently came up with this list of 10 queries they wish more candidates would pose:

1. If, on my one-year anniversary in this role, you were giving me an excellent review, what specifically would I have accomplished?
2. What do you see as the biggest opportunities or challenges facing this position (or department)?
3. What particular skill set would be most valuable in performing this job?
4. What are the current critical issues that need to be addressed by the person you hire for this position? Within what time frame?
5. Assuming I do an exceptional job in this role, what would be my next step within the company?
6. I noticed in my research on your company that [insert interesting fact, like a major new product launch]. How will that affect this position and the company as a whole?
7. Can you tell me why the last person who held this job left it?
8. Could you give me an example of something that person did very well?
9. Could you give me an idea of the organizational structure of your company, so I can see where this position fits in?
10. What attracted you (the interviewer) to this company?
[364 words]

[The rest]
You may not get candid answers to some of these (No. 7, for instance, may be especially fraught). But even if you only cover half of them, you'll be showing more forethought than most of your competition.
"Many of these questions might not have been put to the employer before," notes Gary Miller, president of MRINetwork's Oak Brook, Ill., affiliate Miller Resource Group. "You may even be perceived as helping the employer define what top performance in this role would look like, which adds value -- and adding value is usually rewarded." Here's hoping.
Talkback: What was the most enlightening question you ever asked a job interviewer? If you're a hiring manager, what are the best (or worst) question candidates ask you? Leave a comment below.（126）

Article 2  (Check the title later)
Around the block
How Iranian companies manage to keep trading with foreigners
[Time 3]
“IT’S all about the documents,” says Sajad, a manager of an Iranian shipping firm. “Iran is in the printing business now.” He is referring to the lengths to which Iranian companies go to circumvent sanctions. In this case, the documents are faked to make Iranian oil look as if it came from Iraq. Iraq exports a lot of oil through Iran by lorry. Iranians who handle Iraqi documents can easily copy and reuse them.

The past 15 months have been grim for Iranian businesses which trade with the outside world. America has tightened sanctions against Iran’s financial system; the European Union has put an embargo on its oil; and international traders are wary of dealing with the country.

But Iranian businesses are used to fighting for survival. The Islamic Republic has faced sanctions of one sort or another since its creation in 1979. Parts for Iran’s ageing civilian airliners trickle in from the black market. A host of sanctioned products, from industrial chemicals to anti-aircraft missiles, come from China. Almost any good can be found in Iran, at a price.

Amir, a manager in a mining business, says he regularly meets British and German suppliers in Turkey, to obtain the most advanced equipment to tap Iran’s mineral wealth. “Foreign firms are terrified of doing something illegal, but in the end they are businessmen,” he says. “The Europeans send our cargoes to Dubai, documented as the final destination. From there we are in charge.” Amir uses Gulf middlemen to change the documents, for a fee of 3-5%, before the goods are shipped to Bandar Abbas, Iran’s largest port.
[267 words]

[Time 4]
Because few international banks deal with sanctioned Iranian institutions, Iranian importers have to find roundabout ways of paying suppliers. Amir uses a network of Iranian go-betweens who own companies in South Africa and Malaysia to pay his suppliers’ Western banks. He says 30% of his revenues are spent on avoiding sanctions—not counting the time involved.

The sanctions have hit Iran’s oil industry the hardest. Iran’s government depends on oil for more than half of its revenue, but exports have fallen and grown more volatile. The country’s total production is a quarter less than the 3.6m barrels per day it pumped in 2011.

One way of keeping sales going is to dress up Iranian oil as Iraqi. Another trick is to move Iranian oil onto foreign tankers on the open sea. Once crews have switched off their ships’ tracking beacons, this is all but undetectable. The oil is sold at a discount. Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is a big market for Iranian oil. Business is down, says Sajad, but European firms still trade with Iran, using Swiss subsidiaries which broker deals with the Iranians and collect the crude using tankers under the flag of a third country.

The sanctions have been a fillip for the few institutions still handling Iranian money. One foreign bank charges 5% on cash moving in or out of Iran, says an Iranian shipping source. Normal business rates are a fraction of a percent, but Iranian firms have little choice.

Sometimes the fear of sanctions is more effective than the sanctions themselves. A customer in the UAE owed $1.3m to Sajad’s shipping firm but would only send it in costly small instalments. Sajad flew to the Gulf to pick up the balance in cash. “I was nervous about what I would say to customs from either country if they checked my suitcase,” he says. “I decided I would tell the truth. I am not a criminal.” But no one did
[330 words]

Article 3 (Check the title later)
You’ll never work at home: Yahoo buys a teenager’s start-up


[Time 5]
BIG companies swallow little ones every day. So the purchase on March 25th by Yahoo (annual revenue, $5 billion) of Summly, a British start-up (annual revenue, nil), for a reported $30m would normally merit merely a shrug of the shoulders and some muttering about the curious economics of the internet.

The deal is worth noting, though, for two reasons. One is that Summly’ s founder, Nick d’ Aloisio, is only 17: this summer he will be sitting his exams like other teenagers. He created an iPhone app to summarise articles in 300-400 words, ideal for the smartphone-user wondering what he should bother reading.

Li Ka-shing, a Hong Kong telecoms tycoon, invested money in the venture, having got wind of an early version of the app after tech blogs wrote about it, Mr d’Aloisio says. Actors (Ashton Kutcher, Stephen Fry), artists (Yoko Ono) and entrepreneurs (Mark Pincus, co-founder and boss of Zynga, a maker of games) have also chipped in, taking the sum outsiders invested in Summly to $1.5m. Mr d’Aloisio says that he remained the largest shareholder.

The second reason is that Summly is just the latest of half a dozen start-ups snapped up by Yahoo in as many months. The internet company has also bought Stamped, Alike and Jybe, which built apps for personalised recommendations of, among other things, books, food and music; On The Air, a video-chat company; and Snip.it, which created an app for curating and sharing articles.

Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s boss since July, says she is determined to make the company a stronger force on smartphones and tablets. Yahoo was born on the desktop, but unlike Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook, points out Thomas Husson of Forrester, a research firm, it lacks a mobile platform, such as an operating system or social network, through which to provide its content. Yahoo, says Mr. Husson, “will have to go through the various platforms to maximise reach”.

On mobile devices, thinks Mr. Husson, personalised content will be especially attractive. The companies bought by Yahoo have all been trying to provide exactly that. Ms. Mayer, who has also spruced up Yahoo’s news and e-mail apps in recent months, has neither time nor money to spare. Had she waited until Mr. d’Aloisio left school, it might have been too late.
[375 words]

[Obstacle]
Article 4 (Check the title later)
The real Disney
The wonderful world of ESPN, the sports network which outmints Mickey Mouse

IN 1996 Warner Brothers released “Space Jam”, a film starring Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan, a basketball star. It drew sniffy reviews from curmudgeonly critics but made pots of money. The plot was wildly implausible: Mr Jordan and Mr Bunny beat a team of evil aliens at basketball, thus saving everyone from having to work at an alien theme park called Moron Mountain. But that’s fiction. In real life, sports stars and cartoon characters would never work well together.

Or would they? In fact, at Warner Brothers’ great rival, they do. Disney is best known for cartoons that enchant children, from “Snow White” to “The Lion King”. But its most valuable asset is ESPN, a cable sports network beloved by beer-guzzling grown-ups. Disney owns 80%; Hearst, a privately-held media firm, controls the rest. Disney does not disclose the numbers, and estimates vary,but ESPN is probably responsible for 40% of Disney’s operating income,60% of its free cashflow and as much as half of its share price.

When the story began, it was not obvious that it would have a happy ending. In 1979, when cable TV was in its infancy, ESPN’s founders had the idea to launch a 24-hour cable network that would focus on university sports in Connecticut, where they lived. No one thought a network could survive showing only sports, but it took off. In the beginning it was bootstrapping and rowdy. In “Those Guys Have All The Fun”, a history of ESPN, James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales write about how staff bet on the games they covered, and a couple of secretaries were involved in a prostitution ring organised by a mailroom employee.

ESPN has cycled through nearly as many owners as Cruella de Vil had Dalmatians. It started life with the backing of Getty Oil, which listed ESPN in its “other” category of investments, along with almond groves. Later it was majority-bought by ABC/Capital Cities, which Disney  acquired in 1995 for $19.5 billion. Disney really wanted the broadcast network ABC, not ESPN.

The two firms’ cultures are as different as Lady and the Tramp. Disney has been around for 90 years, has 166,000 employees and is headquartered in California. ESPN is still based in Connecticut and is lean, with 7,000 workers globally. As one might expect of a clan of sports-lovers, ESPN is hyper-competitive. It has a “can-do mentality”, says Bob Iger, the boss of Disney. Being in suburbia has helped it shun the trappings and groupthink of Hollywood.

Disney smartly gives its subsidiaries autonomy. The boss of ESPN, John Skipper (a former Disney executive), and Mr Iger (a former ABC sports producer) both love sports and speak often, but are 2,900 miles apart. Disney’s biggest contribution to ESPN has probably been its fat wallet, which paid for new sports rights and technology. ESPN was one of the first firms to offer live video on its website, and it has launched an application so cable subscribers can stream ESPN on mobile devices.

At Disney’s coaxing, ESPN experimented with brand extensions such as restaurants and mobile phones that pinged match results to subscribers, but both flopped. Not all brands, it transpires, can be trotted out to theme parks and toy shops. Disney learned this, and focused instead on new content and platforms. ESPN has a fleet of channels and websites aimed at specific audiences, such as Hispanics and women, as well as a magazine, and is savvy when it comes to mobile and online viewing.

ESPN’s muscular profits depend on three things. First, fans watch sports live: no one wants to see Monday Night Football on Wednesday. Because viewers cannot fast-forward through the adverts, advertisers pay more for slots on ESPN.

Second, ESPN offers spectacles you cannot see elsewhere. Rights to broadcast games are often exclusive. ESPN shows more sports, including baseball, car-racing and poker, than any other network. SportsCenter features some of America’s sparkiest sports commentators,whose banter is as irreverent as an English football chant, minus the swearing. (Keith Olbermann, an over-the-top political pundit, used to be one of them.)

Third, ESPN pioneered “affiliate fees”, which cable operators pay for the right to carry each network. In 2013 ESPN will probably earn $6.6 billion from them, more than three times what it makes from ads, according to SNL Kagan, a research firm. Because it has so many exclusive sports rights, ESPN has been able to haggle its fee up to $5 per subscriber, per month: far higher than any other network’s. These fees are more predictable than ad sales, which is why investors are such fans of cable networks.

In the long run, however, affiliate fees are vulnerable. They are one reason why Americans’ cable-TV bills are so high—even for those who do not watch sports. Some viewers may cancel their cable subscriptions, or press cable operators  and networks to “unbundle” channels, so that they pay only for the channels they actually want. This process could accelerate if Congress weighs in on the side of couch potatoes who feel gouged.

ESPN’s success attracts imitators. BT recently outbid ESPN for three-year rights to televise England’s Premier League football (soccer) for £738m ($1.1 billion), far more than it cost last time. Without football, it is not worth doing business in Britain, so ESPN decided to sell its British assets to BT. In March Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation announced plans to launch Fox Sports 1, a national cable network, in America. Such rivals will bid up the price of sports rights when they are auctioned.

ESPN should not try to win at any cost. Auctions, unlike football games, carry a winner’s curse. ESPN must learn to play defensively. It has the advantage that most of its contracts are locked in for years. And it has Disney, a backer with proven skill at making brands live happily ever after.
[970 words]

杀G给猴看

1 - 01:08
2 - 01:49
3 - 01:42
4 - 01:51
5 - 02:15
obstacle - 05:21

imfishy

127
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鞋鞋鞋

1_01:16

The author expressed the two concerns-intelligent questions and pay increase when he looks for a new position in the same business and asked for advices.

The author replied the man indicating that the time of pay increase has gone away, and the premiums managers could get are lower than before based on the data from past six years.

2_01:49

The sales and marketing executives were slightly influenced by the hard time.

There is a list of 10 questions the most candidates would pose.

3_01:51

Phenomenon:Iran is in the printing business now.

Process: suffer a hard time of 15 months about its trade

Result: Iran survived

4_01:48

Reason: few international banks deal with the sanctioned Iranian institutions.The sanction effect the oil industry hard.

Solve: dress up Iranian oil as Iraqi. Move oil to open sea.

Effect: the fear of sanctions is more effective

5_02:19

That Yahoo purchased the firm S worths nothing for two reasons:1,S’s founder is only 17.2,S is the latest firm purchased by Y.

The boss of Y determined make the stronger force on smartphones and tablets.

Obstacle_06:48

Disney’s most income is attributed to ESPN.

ESPN and ABC has different company cultures.

There are three reasons for E’s majority profits: fans of sport; spectacles;affiliate fees(vulnerable in the long term)

ESPN should not win at any cost and it should learn to defend in the competition.

今天的obstacle又不会记笔记了，看完一遍，再看纸上自己写的零零散散的单词，艾玛，说起来都是泪。。。

xysowlly

1  210  1min 52   two concern 1 intellengent question 2 salary  the second letter ansewers the 2nd question
2  264 1min 52   after first year   several questions
  the rest 120  34s
3  267  1min 42   the sanction to IRAQ  and the Iraq how to deal with this sanction
4  1min 42  330    the influence of sanction
5  375  2min 23   two reasons for a deal     
  
obstacle   
  970  5min 27   ESPN/DISNEY/ ABC   

vividlai

1-1'06
the starting pay company offered is decreased, and the industry of different company was differently affected.

2-1'54
the salary of CEO is not affected that much, it only dip a little. Before negotiaing the pay, make sure you want this job
there are 10 questions interviewor likes to ask

3-1'14
Iran's business have suffered a hard time, the US put more resticitons on them, the EU stop trading with them, but the smart businessmen can always find way to survive, they meet the EU businessmen in Turkey

4-1'39
the sanction has badly influence the oil market in Iran

5-1'54
the Yahoo will swallow Summly, since Yahoo focuses more on smartphone now, the Summly is owned by a teenager who is 17

obstacle
4'34
ESPN make the sports and cartoon match, and let people enjoy cartoon as well as sports race

nsnxy

1:11 It was true that people asked at least 10% premium of salary when they found a new job.But now the economy is really bad, the financial meldown makes managers' slaries lower than before. The field that you work in is an important factor.
1:39 Sales and marketing managers are least affected by hard times and their salaries stay constantly increasing. And the number of salary is not everything when you fing a new job. Yo
And there are ten questions for candidates.
1:41 Iran is in a difficult business situation. It circumvents sanctions through faked documents and deals with businessman from other countries.
1:52 The sanctions make Iran in bad conditions. They spend a lot of money and time avoiding the saction. And they do not have much choices to fight back.
2:16 Yahoo bought a small company to intend its smartphone business.
6:00 A movie is cooperated by carton and sport stars. And in reallity, the cooperation between carton and sport exists in Disney and ESPN. ESPN has three reasons to be successful.

carolxxchen

0.31"
1.10"
1.55"
0.36"
1.27"
1.48"
1.58"
6.08" how ESPN sucessfully thrive under the support and control of Disney.ESPN first started as a 24hour sport live show, and then was acquired by the ABC,which was then acquired by the Disney. Disney gave autonomy to ESPN and helped it improved with the content and aim at specific targrt audiences. ESPN earned its profits mainly through three ways:the live show,the unique spectacles and the large amount of fees support from Disney.

kimwang53

Zhan...

zcdzheng

01:06
01:51
01:30
01:50
01:50

05:45