[求助]OG42 文章结构, 疑惑中...

Passage 42

Modern manufacturers, who need reliable sources of materials and technologically advanced components to operate profitably, face an increasingly difficult choice between owning the producers of these items (a practice known as backward integration) and buying from independent producers. Manufacturers who integrate may reap short-term rewards, but they often restrict their future capacity for innovative product development.

提出manufacturers面临自建还是购买的选择, 并指出自建虽然短期有利, 但长期不利.

Backward integration removes the need for some purchasing and marketing functions, centralizers overhead, and permits manufacturers to eliminate duplicated efforts in research and development. Where components are commodities (ferrous metals or petroleum, for example), backward integration almost certainly boosts profits. Nevertheless, because product innovation means adopting the most technologically advanced and cost-effective ways of making components, backward integration may entail a serious risk for a technologically active company-for example, a producer of sophisticated consumer electronics.

前面讲backward integration的好处, Nevertheless转折后, 又说其不好.

A company that decides to make rather than buy important parts can lock itself into an outdated technology.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.

此段前面说了2个backward integration的不好; 最后一句引出Long-term contracts with independent suppliers 的优点.

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.

此段又说完全脱离backward integration也不是很好. 算是作者对前面观点的qualify. 而OG的解释: "In the last paragraph, however, the author indicates that contracting with independent suppliers can itself presen problems." 不是很清楚这里指的problems到底是什么?

我最想知道的是这篇文章的结构如何? 是评价两种方法各自的优缺点(结论解释型), 还是帮助manufactures解决文章第一段提出的问题(到底是自建还是购买)---作者在第三段最后一句引出了购买好? 作者到底要表达怎样一种文章结构?

请XDJM帮忙看看, 谢谢!

我的理解：就是对两种模式的evaluation，BI(backward integration) and IP(buying from independent producers )

first paragrah:作者提出一个背景，引出两种模式，并且提出自己的主态度，明显是对BI不看好的，从最后一句话可看出

second:对BI正反两方面的评价，感觉作者还是强化了对BI不看好的态度

third:对IP的正面评价

fourth:尽管上面说BI不足，IP怎么好，但是舍弃BI转向IP不是解决办法，类似作者态度的一个小让步