fromTaiwan大家加油 (This passage was excerpted from material published in 1993) Like many other industries, the travel industry is under increasing pressure to expand globally in order Line to keep pace with its corporate cus- (5) tomers, who have globalized their operations in response to market pressure, competitor actions, and changing supplier relations. But it is difficult for service organizations to (10) globalize. Global expansion through acquisition is usually expensive, and expansion through internal growth is time-consuming and sometimes impossible in markets that are not (15) actively growing. Some service indus- try companies, in fact, regard these traditional routes to global expansion as inappropriate for service industries because of their special need to pre- (20) srve local responsiveness through local presence and expertise. One travel agency has eschewed the tra- ditional route altogether. A survivor of the changes that swept the travel (25) industry as a result of the deregulation of the airlines in 1978—changes that included dramatic growth in the cor- porate demand for travel services, as well as extensive restructuring and (30) consolidation within the travel industry— this agency adopted a unique structure for globalization. Rather than expand by attempting to develop its own offices abroad, which would require the devel- (35) opment of local travel management expertise sufficient to capture foreign markets, the company solved its globalization dilemma effectively by forging alliances with the best foreign (40) partners it could find. The resulting cooperative alliance of independent agencies now comprise 32 partners spanning 37 countries.
The passage suggests that one of he effects of the deregulation of the airlines was - a decline in the services available to noncommercial traveler
- a decrease in the size of the corporate travel market
- a sharp increase in the number of cooperative alliances among travel agencies
- increased competition in a number of different service industries
- the merging of some companies within the travel industry
The author discusses a particular travel agency in the passage most likely in order to - provide evidence of the pressures on the travel industry to globalize
- provide evidence of the pressures on the travel industry to globalize
- illustrate an unusual approach to globalizing a service organization
- highlight the difficulties confronting travel agencies that attempt to globalize
- underscore the differences between the service industry and other industries
According to the passage, which of the following is true of the traditional routes to global expansion? - They have been supplanted in most service industries by alternative routes.
- They are less attractive to travel agencies since deregulation of the airlines.
- They may represent the most cost-effective means for a travel agency to globalize.
- They may be unsuitable for service agencies that are attempting to globalize.
- They are most likely to succeed in markets that are not actively growing.
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