新发展研究生英语一Unit2.text Book 1
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好奇心害死人-英雄烈士的故事
Unit 2
Economic Society
The consumer
isn’
t
a moron: she is your wife. You insult her
intelligence
if
you
assume
that
a
mere
slogan
and
a
few
vapid adjectives will persuade her to by anything..
消费者不是傻瓜
,
她是你的妻子
.
如果你认为仅凭一句
口号
,
几个乏味的形容词就能使她掏腰包买任何东西的
话
,
那么你就亵渎了她的智。
----David Ogilvy, American advertisement manager
There is no resting place for an enterprise in a competitive
economy.
在竞争的经济中
,
没有企业休息的地方。
---Alfred P. Sloan, American businessman
Pre-reading Activities
Fill in the blanks with words you hear.
Decide how the business will operate. You should describe how the business will be managed,
and the _____
(1) and organization structure that will be in place. There are three further parts
that go together to make a ______________ (2)
business plan:
A __________ (3) plan: it includes location, method of selling, _____________ (4), pricing
and so on. You must be aware of consumer _______ (5) to make sure that your business does not
become outdated or irrelevant.
An operation plan: it describes the day-to-day running of business, You should include supply
sources,
cost
and
quantities
of
material,
_____________(6),equipment
and
methods
of
_________ (7)
the service or products offered.
A financial plan, which is a master budget for the operation and includes cash flow forecast,
balance
_________
(8),
profit
and
lost
statement,
_____________
(9)
of
finance
and
sales
forecast and target.
The
financial
aspects
of
the
plan
are
the
most
important
and
you
should
develop
or
________
(10) financial skill to make sure this part of your plan is accurate and realistic, Don
’
t
forget set-up costs and the money needed to see you through and initial period of low cash flow
1
when calculating your first year
’
s budget.
Good Things Come to Those Who Actively Wait
Donald
Sull
is
a
professor
of
management
Practice
in
Strategic
and
International
Management and Faculty Director of Executive Education at London business School where he
designed, directs and teaches
an intensive week-long
“
boot-camp
”
to help senior executives
thrive in turbulent markets.
1
In
Highly
volatile
markets,
a
company
’
s
success
or
failure
is
often
attributed
to
luck.
Turbulent
markets
throw
out
opportunities
whose
timing,
nature
and
magnitude
managers
can
neither
predict
nor
control.
The
same
holds
true
for
threats.
In
such
a
competitive
casino
,
you
place your bets and hope for the best. It is better to be lucky than good.
2
For
the
past
six
years
I
have
studied
more
than
20
pairs
of
comparable
companies
in
unpredictable industries such as telecommunications, airlines and enterprise software in countries
such as China and Brazil. By pairing similar companies, I showed how they responded differently
to the some unforeseen threats and opportunities.
3
I found the more successful companies were luckier, in the sense that time and again they
responded
more
effectively
to
unexpected
shifts
in
regulation,
technology,
competition,
macroeconomics
or other volatile factors. Such luck is too important to leave to chance. The most
successful
companies
exemplified
“
active
waiting
”
,
an
approach
to
strategy
in
highly
unpredictable markets that consists of anticipating and preparing for opportunities and threats that
executives can neither fully
predict nor control.
4
A chief executive is sometimes
likened
to a ship
’
s captain, peering into the distant horizon
and
setting
a
course.
In
many
markets
that
future
is
foggy
and
finding
a
clear
view
nearly
impossible.
In
the
telecommunications
industry,
for
example,
shifting
regulations,
continuous
technological
change,
entry
by
non-traditional
rivals
such
as
Skype
and
shifts
in
consumer
preferences throw out a steady stream of unforeseen opportunities and threats. Demands for cars
in
China,
for
example,
arose
from
the
confluence
of
increased
disposable
income,
government
investment
in
infrastructure,
rising
middle-class
aspirations,
easy
credit
and
the
demise
of
employer-provided housing near the workplace
5
But all opportunities are not equal. In volatile markets, companies face countless small and
mid-sized
opportunities
and
the
periodic
golden
opportunity---
a
chance
to
create
value
disproportionate
to
resources
invested
in
a
short
period
of
time.
Typical
golden
opportunities
include acquisition of NatWest; explosive demand in an emerging market such as China or India;
or pioneering a new product or service such as the iPod.
2
6
Golden opportunities occur only when external circumstances throw open several windows
of opportunity at the same time. Consider the opportunity for
middleware
—
software that links a
company
’
s
applications---which
IBM
and
BEA
converted
into
billion-dollar
businesses.
Several
developments
occurred
at
once:
the
Internet
created
demand
for
software
that
could
get
applications to talk to one another; available technology was up to the task; early leaders such as
NCR
and
Novell
were
distracted
by
other
markets
and
the
paucity
of
venture
capital
funding
prevented many start- ups chasing the same market.
7
Timing is everything in these circumstances. Had IBM and BEA entered the market a year
or two earlier, customers
’
pain would have been less acute and the technology fix less developed,
A few years later, new
entrants flush
with venture capital cash might have established a lead.
8
Managers can neither predict nor control golden opportunities. But they can prepare their
companies to
capitalize
on one when it arrives. The trick lies not in heroic efforts in the middle of
a golden opportunity, but in the quiet actions taken during periods of relative calm between the
storms.
9
Keep the priorities clear:
In unpredictable markets,
managers often try to
hedge against
every
possible
contingency
.
by
running
countless
experiments
and
launching
a
flurry
of
new
initiatives.
This
is
a
big
mistake. Employees
and
managers
are overwhelmed
by
multiple,
often
conflicting,
priorities.
In
attempting
to
pursue
too
many
priorities
simultaneously,
executives
dissipate
resources
and
hinder
co-ordination
across
units.
Managers
must
exercise
ruthless
discipline in choosing a small number of objectives to pursue first, putting other valid concern to
one side for the time being. Equally important, they must decide what to stop doing to free up time,
attention and resources to make sure the truly critical objectives are met.
10
Conduct
reconnaissance
into the future:
Prudent
executives will consciously take steps
to investigate a foggy future. First, they should send out probes in a few directions to broaden the
search
for
opportunities
rather
than
staking
everything
on
a
single
way
forward.
Exploratory
forays
include investing in or partnering with start-ups, or running small-scale experiments to test
the
market.
Second,
when
conducting
reconnaissance,
managers
must
remain
alert
to
anomalies---new
information
that
surprises
them
or
conflicts
with
expectations.
In
turbulent
markets, a manager
’
s mental map quickly becomes outdated, and
anomalies
provide clues as to
where the map is wrong.
11
Reconnaissance can be pictured as a process of probing along a wall of resistance looking
for gaps. Most of the time, a company encounters hard surfaces: competitors who won
’
t get out of
3
the
way,
customers
who
don
’
t
want
to
buy
or
technologies
that
won
’
t
work.
Executives
should
probe for gaps in the market when they find one, they should swarm it, pulling other resources in
their wake.
12
Keep a reserve: During periods of relative calm, executives should build a war chest of
cash to
deploy
quickly when a golden opportunity emerges. This requires restraint. Spreading a
company
’
s
chips
across
too
many
probes
or doubling
down
on
too
many
bets
at
the
same
time
leave
little
cash
in
reserve
when
a
big
opportunity
comes
along,
To
avoid
this
risk,
senior
executives should
scrutinize
the company
’
s resource
allocation
process, cap the number of probes,
and increase investment only after explicit evaluation.
13
Keep
the
troops
battle
ready:
During
periods
of
active
waiting
executives
must
push
through operational improvements
—
cutting costs, strengthening distribution, improving products.
More
efficient
rivals
can
survive
storms
that
drown
rivals.
Operation
improvements
during
the
lulls
contribute
to
the
war
chest,
but
also
build
the
credibility
required
to
seize
the
golden
opportunity.
The
Royal
Bank
of
Scotland,
for
example,
won
NatWest
because the Scottish bank
’
s track record of execution convinced the capital markets that it was the
buyer most likely to make the deal work..
14
Declare the main effort: One of the greatest challenges in active waiting is deciding when
to commit reserves and go for broke.
15
Periodically, executives encounter an opportunity or threat so important that it demands
the
company
’
s
full
focus.
Declaring
it
the
main
effort
creates
a
sense
of
urgency,
focuses
the
organization,
priorities
resource
allocation
and
lays
the
groundwork
for
coordinated
effort.
Yet
many executives say that this was the most difficult decision they ever made. Playing it safe in the
short
term
can
prove
hazardous
in
the
long
term.
Companies
that
pass
on
every
golden
opportunity will eventually find themselves
eclipse
by player that can both wait actively and strike
decisively.
16
Leading a company into the fog of the future remains risky. By waiting actively during
periods of relative calm. However, executives can increase their chances of success.
17
Fortune favors the well-prepared: In unpredictable markets, good luck is too important to
leave
to
chance.
By
actively
waiting
in
the
lulls
between
major
opportunities
and
threats,
managers can increase their odds of seizing the moment.
18
Keep your priorities clear to avoid dissipating energy and resources.
4
19
Conduct reconnaissance into the future to identify gaps in the market.
20
Keep a reserve of cash to fund major opportunities when they emerge.
21
Keep the troops battle-ready during lulls in the storm.
22
Declare that an opportunity is your company
’
s main effort in order to seize it faster than
rivals.
Notes
1.
Skype:
The
software
that
allows
users
to
make
telephone
calls
over
the
Internet.
The Skype Group has its headquarters in Luxembourge, with offices in London, Tallinn,
Tartu,
Stockholm,
Prague,
and
San
Jose.
Skype
is
the
most
popular
voice
communication serve in the world.
2.
NatWest
:
Short for National Westminster Bank, which was a personal banking and
was established in 1968, but was acquired by The Royal Bank of Scotland in 2000.
3.
IBM:
Short
for
International
Business
Machines
Corporation,
the
largest
computer
company
in
the
world.
IBM
started
in
1911
as
a
producer
of
punch
card
tabulating
machines . In 1953, it produced its first computer, During the 1960
’
s and 1970
’
s, IBM
came
to
dominate
the
new
field
of
mainframe
and
minicomputers.
In
1981,
IBM
launched
its
first
personal
computer,
called
the
IBM
PC,
which
quickly
became
the
standard.
4.
BEA:
A
leading
provider
of
enterprise
application
infrastructure
software.
BEA
provides
a
complementary
best-in-class
middleware
portfolio
that
spans
Java
Application Servers.
5.
NCR:
A
technology
company
specializing
in
products
for
the
retail
and
financial
sectors. Its man products are point-of-sale terminals, automatic teller machines, check
processing
systems,
barcode
scanner,
and
business
consumables.
It
is
also
one
of
the
largest provides of IT maintenance
support services.
6.
Novell:
A company that offers enterprise infrastructure software and services. Novell
Data systems began life in 1979 as a computer operating system manufacturer and was
later incorporated in 1983 as Novell Inc. Today Novell is one of the leading providers
of networking operating systems and networking solutions.
New Words
5