OG-42-258

A company that decides to make rather than buy important parts can lock itself into an outdated technology. Independent suppliers may be unwilling to share innovations with assemblers with whom they are competing. Moreover, when an assembler sets out to master the technology of producing advanced components, the resulting demands on its resources may compromise its ability to assemble these components successfully into end products. Long-term contracts with suppliers can achieve many of the same cost benefits as backward integration without compromising a company’s ability to innovate.

258. According to passage, when an assembler buys a firm that makes some important component of the end product that the assembler produces, independent suppliers of the same component may

(A) withhold technological innovations from the assembler
(B) experience improved profit margins on sales of their products
(C) lower their prices to protect themselves from competition
(D) suffer financial difficulties and go out of business（A）
(E) stop developing new versions of the component

想不通为什么选A？

文中说的是A company that decides to make rather than buy 的时候，Independent suppliers may be unwilling to share innovations with..., 而问题问地是when an assembler buys a firm 刚好相反，所以为什么是选A呢？不懂！

另外上面引文中说，backward integration的时候那些indepedent suppliers需要withold innovation，因为两者之间是竞争关系；而下面这段内容是说公司向独立供应商购买产品，这样本来的竞争关系就不存在了，而且变成依赖关系。

However, moving away from backward integration is not a complete solution either. Developing innovative technologies requires independent suppliers of components to invest huge sums in research and development. The resulting low profit margins on the sale of components threaten the long-term financial stability of these firms. Because the ability of end-product assemblers to respond to market opportunities depends heavily on suppliers of components, assemblers are often forced to integrate by purchasing the suppliers of components just to keep their suppliers in business.

综上所述，偶不能理解这题为什么选A，而非D?

when an assembler buys a firm that makes = the assembler decides to make

我买了个会造产品的公司，不就等于我会造了嘛。呵呵，LES怎么会想不通...

rhod，谢谢你！我想我明白了。

原来是偶对问题的理解错误！

其实这里when an assembler buys a firm...就是文中说的backward integration!

再次谢谢rhod！你的解释真是简明扼要，让偶豁然开朗。

Is there any information in the passage to show "go out of business", as indicated in D? I think the answer is no. So, D is incorrect.