Read the following passages and finish the exercises of each one.

　　A. Mark the following statements true (T) or false (F) according to the passage.

　　Passage One

　　If sustainable competitive advantage depends on work-force skills, American firms have a problem. Human-resource management is not traditionally seen as central to the competitive survival of the firm in United States. Skill acquisition is considered an individual responsibility. Labour is simply another factor of production to be hired-rented at the lowest possible cost-much as one buys raw materials or equipment.

　　The lack of importance attached to human-resource management can be seen in the corporate hierarchy. In an American firm the chief financial officer is almost always second in command. The post of head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job, off at the edge of the corporate hierarchy. The executive who holds it is never consulted on major strategic decisions and has no chance to move up to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). By way of contrast, in Japan the head of human-resource management is central-usually the second most important executive, after the CEO, in the firm's hierarchy.

　　While American firms often talk about the vast amounts spent on training their work forces, in fact they invest less in the skills of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms. The money they do invest is also more highly concentrated on professional and managerial employees. And the limited investments that are made in training workers are also much more narrowly focused on the specific skills necessary to do the next job rather than on the basic background skills that make it possible to absorb new technologies.

　　As a result, problems emerge when new breakthrough technologies arrive. If American workers, for example, take much longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stations than workers in Germany (as they do), the effective cost of those stations is lower in Germany than it is in the United States. More time is required before equipment is up and running at capacity, and the need for extensive retraining generates costs and creates bottlenecks that limit the speed with which new equipment can be employed. The result is as lower pace of technological change. And in the end the skills of the population affect the wages of the top half. If the bottom half can't effectively staff the processes that have to be operated, the management and professional jobs that go with these processes will disappear.

　　( T ) 1. The management of human resources in American companies sees the gaining of skills as their employees' own business.

　　( F) 2. The head of human-resource management in an American firm is directly under the chief financial executives in the firms.

　　( F ) 3. The money most American firms put in training mainly goes to workers who lack basic background skills

　　( F ) 4. According to the passages, the decisive factor in maintaining a firm's competitive advantage is the rational composition of professional and managerial employees

　　( T ) 5. According to the passage, the human-resource management strategies of American firms affect their competitive capacity.

　　Passage Two

　　The object of market research is to “mange” sales: first to make possible, then to make them practicable, and, finally, to ensure they are profitable.

　　Many people make fun of market research. To begin with, it often seems to reveal the obvious, such as the case where a bakery chain spent 5,000 pounds discovering that people prefer fresh to stale bread. At other times, it comes up with information which is probably not true. On one occasion, the British Market Research Bureau discovered that one in five rugby players were female. Such investigations can, meanwhile, be very expensive; it is not unusual for an enquiry to cost tens of thousands of pounds.

　　How is market research done? Why is it often unreliable and expensive?

　　At the beginning, any piece of market research must be carefully planned. The first stage is to define the problem. For example, is it the customer who is not buying, or the shopkeeper? Are low sales used by a firm’s inefficiency rather than by faulty product design? At this point, it is important to get as many views as possible, and to examine all sales records thoroughly. Simply going through all the paperwork at this stage could trace(追踪;查出)the source of the problem.

　　After this has been done—and assuming that the source of the problem has not been revealed—the organization can move to “external” research: looking at various materials published by government bodies, trade associations and so on, to see what these reveal about consumer habits and trends.

　　However, most people associate the term “market research” with survey(调查) work, and this is where the major expenses lie. Why is this kind of research so time consuming and expensive? Basically, because it involves several stages, each of which can take quite a while.

　　The first stage is to decide on a sample, since it is obviously not practicable to survey all possible consumers of a particular product or service. This is the business of statisticians (统计学家). There are a number of different kinds of sample: random, area, quota.

　　Following this, a questionnaire (调查表) must be devised and there are many problems in making sure that this is clear and that the questions are likely to elicit (引出) helpful responses. Before the questionnaire is given to all the sample, it tried out on a small group. This is called a “pilot” survey. The responses are used to revise the questionnaire.

　　( T ) 6. Market research aims to bring about and promote sales.

　　( F ) 7. The discovery made by the British Market Research Bureau is trust-worthy.

　　( F ) 8. Market research is carried out in the form of survey work only.

　　( F ) 9. The questions in questionnaires should be so designed as to elicit expected responses.

　　( T ) 10. Enquiring sample customers is the last stage in market research.

　　Passage Three

　　The rise of multinational corporations(跨国公司), global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled(空前的)increase in global public relations or PR.

　　Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the U.S. leader ship in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years ago, for example, the world's top five public relations agencies were American owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate(公司的) planning activities, compared to about one-third of U.S. companies. It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.

　　Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts(对手)in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson Marshall's U.S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal. Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, Publications not often read in this country.

　　Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the word "foreign" would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such thing as foreign.

　　( T ) 11. According to the passage, U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened because of increased efforts of other countries in public relations.

　　(F ) 12. London could soon replace New York as the center of PR because four of the world's top public relations agencies are British owned.

　　(F ) 13. Comparatively, there are more U.S. employees know two languages.

　　( T ) 14. We learn from the third paragraph that employees in the American PR industry are not as sophisticated as their European counterparts.

　　( F ) 15. The PR industry might take the lesson from Ted Turner of CNN that People working in PR should be more fluent in foreign languages.

　　Passage Four

　　In recent years, Israeli consumers have grown more demanding as they’ve become wealthier and more worldly-wise. Foreign travel is a national passion; this summer alone, one in 10 citizens will go abroad. Exposed to higher standards of service elsewhere, Israelis are returning home expecting the same. American firms have also begun arriving in large numbers. Chains such as KFC, McDonald’s and Pizza Hut are setting a new standard of customer service, using strict employee training and constant monitoring to ensure the friendliness of frontline staff. Even the American habit of telling departing customers to “Have a nice day” has caught on all over Israel. “Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, ‘Let’s be nicer,” says Itsik Cohen, director of a consulting firm. “Nothing happens without competition.”

　　Privatization(私有化), or the threat of it, is a motivation as well. Monopolies(垄断者)that until recently have been free to take their customers for granted now fear what Michael Perry, a marketing professor, calls “the revengeful(报复的)consumer”. When the government opened up competition with Bezaq, the phone company, its international branch lost 40% of its market share, even while offering competitive rates. Says Perry, “People wanted revenge for all the years of bad service.” The electric company, whose monopoly may be short-lived, has suddenly stopped requiring users to wait half a day for a repairman. Now, appointments are scheduled to the half-hour. The graceless El Al Airlines, which is already at auction(拍卖)，has retrained its employees to emphasize service and is boasting about the results in an ad campaign with the slogan, “You can feel the change in the air.” For the first time, praise outnumbers complaints on customer survey sheets.

　　( T) 16. It may be inferred from the passage that customer service in Israel is now improving.

　　( T) 17. In the author’s view, higher service standards are impossible in Israel if there’s no competition among companies.

　　( F) 18. If someone in Israel today needs a repairman in case of a power failure, the appointment takes only half a day to make.

　　( F) 19. The service offered by its competitors was much better is the reason why Bezaq’s international branch lost 40% of its market share.

　　( F ) 20. The example of El Al Airlines shows that a good slogan has the greatest potential for improving service.