| In recent years, Westernbusiness managers have been
 heeding the exhortations of busi16
 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 concerning
 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 business
 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 different
 business partners at will,
 a practice usually associated
 with Western manufacturers
 
 
 According to the passage, the advice referred to in line 9 was a response to which of thefollowing?
 A. A recent decrease in the number of available suppliers within the United States
 automobile industry
 B. A debate within Western management circles during the past decade regarding the
 value of strategic partnerships
 C. The success of certain European automobile manufacturers that have adopted
 strategic partnerships
 D. An increase in demand over the past decade for automobiles made by Western
 manufacturers
 E. Research comparing Japanese business practices with those of other nations
 
 MINE C 
 ANS E 
 盼讨论 
 谢谢! |