GMAT GWD阅读改版综合解析四十二

2022-05-29 19:05:27

  GMAT阅读部分的备考离不开大量的练习,本文小编为大家带来了GMAT GWD阅读改版综合解析四十,大家可以对以下题目进行练习,了解一般GMAT阅读文章的结构和阅读题目的解题思路,希望能够对大家有帮助。

  In recent years, Western business managers have been heeding the exhortations of business journalists and academics to move their companies toward long-term, collaborative “strategic partnerships” with their external business partners (e.g., suppliers). The experts’ advice comes as 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. 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 unquestioning belief within Western management circles in the value of strategic partnerships. Indeed, in the automobile sector all three United States manufacturers and most of their European competitors have launched programs to reduce their total number of suppliers and move toward having strategic partnerships with a few.

  However, new research concerning supplier relationships in various industries demonstrates that the widespread assumption of Western managers and business consultants that Japanese firms manage their suppliers primarily through strategic partnerships is (38) unjustified. Not only do Japanese firms appear to conduct a far smaller proportion of their business through strategic partnerships than is commonly believed, but they also make extensive use of “market-exchange” relationships, in which either party can turn to the marketplace and shift to different business partners at will, a practice usually associated with Western manufacturers. (49)

  T-3-Q9 N-6-Q7

  The passage is primarily concerned with

  A. examining economic factors that may have contributed to the success of certain Japanese companies

  B. discussing the relative merits of strategic partnerships as compared with those of market-exchange relationship

  C. challenging the validity of a widely held assumption about how Japanese firms operate

  D. explaining why Western companies have been slow to adopt a particular practice favored by Japanese companies

  E. pointing out certain differences between Japanese and Western supplier relationships

  T-3-Q10 N-6-Q8

  According to the passage, the advice referred to in line 9 was a response to which of the following?

  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 manufactures 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

  T-3-Q11 N-6-Q9

  The author mentions “the success of a certain well-known Japanese automaker” (lines 15-17) most probably in order to

  A. demonstrate some of the possible reasons for the success of a certain business practice

  B. cite a specific case that has convinced Western business experts of the value of a certain business practice

  C. describe specific steps taken by Western automakers that have enabled them to compete more successfully in a global market

  D. introduce a paradox about the effect of a certain business practice in Japan

  E. indicate the need for Western managers to change their relationships with their external business partners

  T-3-Q12 N-6-Q10

  Which of the following is most clearly an example of the practice referred to in lines 38-49 of the passage?

  A. A department store chain that employs a single buyer to procure all the small appliances to be sold in its stores.

  B. An automobile manufacture that has used the same supplier of a particular axle component for several years in a row.

  C. A hospital that contracts only with union personnel to staff its nonmedical positions.

  D. A municipal government that decides to cancel its contract with a waste disposal company and instead hire its own staff to perform that function.

  E. A corporation that changes the food-service supplier for its corporate headquarters several times over a five-year period as part of a cost-cutting campaign.