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题库 / GMATLA-RC-45
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 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.
The passage is primarily concerned with
examining economic factors that may have contributed to the success of certain Japanese companies
discussing the relative merits of strategic partnerships as compared with those of market-exchange relationship
challenging the validity of a widely held assumption about how Japanese firms operate
explaining why Western companies have been slow to adopt a particular practice favored by Japanese companies
pointing out certain differences between Japanese and Western supplier relationships
此讲解的内容由AI生成，还未经人工审阅，仅供参考。
正确答案是 C。因为本文主要讨论的是西方管理者和咨询师广泛认为的关于日本公司如何管理他们的供应商的称谓及其有效性的挑战。文章指出，这种普遍的假设是不合理的，因为日本公司似乎使用战略伙伴关系来处理自己的业务的比例要远小于人们普遍认为的，而且他们也广泛使用市场交易关系，其中任一方都可以转向市场并转移到不同的商业伙伴中去。
其实没太读出来，这篇文章有那么针对japanese的operation，第一段第二段的首末句都没怎么提日本的策略。所以C基本会被我pass。
定位第二段开头句：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 [unjustified].
这种开头结尾句，尤其是带转折词的常常是关键句，做题时如不确定可回头定位这些部分的句子找答案。
文章很简单 但是四个错了两个！！读文章要仔细一些，读着后面的注意和前面的对比，衔接。
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 unjustified
定位句：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 unjustified. 另外拜托对转折词敏感起来ball ball我自己了
paragraph1：提出西方专家学者以及管理人士开始推崇日本的战略伙伴关系
paragraph2：日本企业并不是主要实施这种战略伙伴关系，反而采取一些西方人经常使用market exchange策略
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 unjustified.
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 unjustified.