剑桥BEC高级真题第三辑TEST3完整资料doc.docx

1、剑桥BEC高级真题第三辑TEST3完整资料doc【最新整理，下载后即可编辑】READING 1 hourPART ONE Questions 1-8BEC 第三辑高级 Test 3 Look at the statements below and at the five extracts on the opposite page from the annual reports of five mobile phone companies. Which company (A, B, C, D or E) does each statement (1-8) refer to? For each s

2、tatement (1-8), mark one letter (A, B, C, D or E) on your Answer Sheet. You will need to use some of these letters more than once. There is an example at the beginning, (0).Example:0 This company has no direct competition.A B C D E1 This company is still making a financial loss.2 This company is hav

3、ing part of its business handled by an outside agency.3 This company has grown without undue expense.4 This company is trying to find out what the market response will be to a new product.5 This company continues to lose customers.6 This company aims to target a specific group of consumers.7 This co

4、mpany is finding it less expensive than before to attract new customers.8 This company has rationalised its outlets.AOur management team is dedicated to delivering operational excellence and improved profitability. In the coming year, we will focus our marketing on professional young adults, who rep

5、resent the high value segment of the market and who according to independent research are most likely to adopt our more advanced mobile data products. Customer retention is central to our strategy, and we have been successful in reversing the customer loss of recent years by loyalty and upgrade sche

6、mes. A restructuring programme, resulting from changingmarketing conditions, has seen our workforce scaled down to 6,100 people.BAs the only network operator in the country, our marketing is aimed at expanding the size of the market. In the business sector, we have targeted small and medium-sized bu

7、sinesses by offering standardised services, and large customers by offering tailored telecommunications solutions. We have been at the forefront of introducing new telecommunications technology and services and have recently distributed 150 of our most advanced handsets to customers to assess the li

8、kely demand for advanced data services. Last year, the industry recognised our achievement when we won a national award for technological progress.CA new management team has driven our improved performance here. It is committed to bringing the business into profitability within three years after rea

9、ching break-even point in the next financial year. We are focused on delivering rising levels of customer service and an improvement in the quality and utilisation of our network. Good progress has been made on all these fronts. The cost of acquiring new subscribers has been reduced and new tariffs

10、have been introduced to encourage greater use of the phone in the late evening.DWe have continued to expand our network in a cost-efficient manner and have consolidated our retail section by combining our four whollyowned retail businesses into a single operating unit. We expect this to enhance our

11、operational effectiveness and the consistency of our service. Our ambition is to give customers the best retail experience possible. We were, therefore, delighted earlier this year when we won a major European award for customer service. This was particularly pleasing to us as we have always given h

12、igh priority to customer satisfaction and operational excellence.EHere, we are focused on continuously realising cost efficiencies as well as improving the level of customer satisfaction and retention. We have already taken effective measures to reduce customer loss and to strengthen our delivery of

13、 customer service. The quality of our network has improved significantly over the past year and an increase in the utilisation of our network is now a priority. The operation of our customer service centre has been outsourced to a call centre specialist and this has led to a substantial increase in

14、the level ofservice.PART TW0Questions 9-14 Read this text taken from an article about theimportance to companies of not losing their employees knowledge. Choose the best sentence from the opposite page to fill each of the gaps. For each gap (9-14), mark one letter (A-H) on your Answer Sheet. Do not

15、use any letter more than once. There is an example at the beginning, (0).Protectrhg the corporate memoryMany companies risk losing expertise through job cuts. But by analysing how staff interact, they may be able to minimise the damage.Many staff have knowledge which is essential to their company. S

16、o what can businesses do to avoid losing that expertise when staff leave, and to dis- suade employees from keeping their knowledge to themselves in the face of possible job cuts?First, they need to recognise the problem. A downturn in the economy exposes many companies lack of commitment to understa

17、nding and using their peoples knowledge. (0).H.Unless, that is, theyve made it a routine or suffered because of losing knowledge in the past.Next, any attempt to stop knowledge walking out of the door must be handled sensitively. (9) . Employees would be extremely cynical and see it as an attempt to

18、 extract their unique knowledge, which they believe gives them job security.Strong incentives are needed to coax people into divulging their expertise when being dismissed. (10) . At first sight, this might seem excessive, but the disadvantages should be weighed against the benetits.Of course, not a

19、ll knowledge can be captured by the organisation and tumed into a process. (11) . To ind out who these knowledge hotspots are, companies need to question their staff and analyse their social networks. Companies shouldnt ask employees what they know, but who they would ask if they wanted to know abou

20、t different subjects. (12) . And, more importantly, the process reveals the others who always know somebody who knows.The latter can be high on the list for redundancy because managers are unsure what they do, or because they appear to be weak performers. (13) . People like this are often not ambiti

21、ous but they can hold a company together. The most valuable knowledge is often not possessed by the people who seem to be star performers.If those at the centre of knowledge networks come to be seen as the most valuable people, those who keep their knowledge to themselves will look vulnerable when d

22、ownsizing is deemed necessary. (14) . In such companies, the incentive to share knowledge should be even greater when jobs are under threat.For some companies, it may be too late to salvage important knowledge. Building a culture where knowledge is understood, valued and shared can take a long time.

23、 Nowmay be the time to prepare for the next downturn.Example:A B C D E F G HA Organisations that reward people for sharing knowledge will know who falls into each of these two opposing categories.B This approach enables them to identify those with a limited number of network relationships.C Launchin

24、g a knowledge-sharing initiative at a time when people are expecting redundancies would not be a good idea.D This provides evidence of the risk that such a policy will meet resistance.E Because of the difficulty of achieving this, it is far better not to lose the valuable sources of knowledge at all

25、.F But a knowledge mapping exercise might reveal that they play a critical role as mentors to the rest of the team.G The price may be an increase in theirredundancy package, provision of career counselling, or an agreement to hire them back as consultants.H When companies feel theyre in a crisis, it

26、 is one of the things that goes by theboard.PART THREE Questions 15-20 Read the following article about Go-Fast, a cost-saving programme introduced by the car manufacturer General Motors, and the questions on the opposite page. For each question (15-20), mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer

27、 Sheet.Somewhere today, a group of staff from General Motors will meet as part of the Go-Fast programme, and hammer out a new initiative to cut costs and bureaucracy. They may focus only on wiper-blades, or staff appraisal, or showroom design. But by this aftemoon, there should be an outline savings

28、 plan, which will, when implemented, be measured carefully for signs of success. The aim is to transform GM from a lumbering leviathan into the corporate equivalent of a sports car. The intention is not just to be big GM is one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world but to be fast, particular

29、ly in its responsiveness to the market. The success of the programme is reflected in the large number of suggestions being introduced far more than in the old days, when every change had to come from senior , managers focusing on the big picture.The progress made has transformed investor perceptions

30、 of GM. Before the Go-Fast programrne was introduced, the conventional wisdom was that GMs market share was in permanent l free fall and its organisation incapable of doing anything about it. Now, the decline has been turned around, and the senior managers change of approach has led to the company b

31、eing energised with a winning spirit that has unlocked long-dormant capabilities. That it took a firm of consultants to help devise the programme is perhaps a sad reflection of the danger of corporate thinking becoming inflexible.The shareholders support of GMs strategy to become more outward-lookin

32、g and innovative is something of a luxury, though in the long run success would convince even the most sceptical shareholders. The strategy includes bearing down on costs and extracting maximum synergies from GMs numerous alliance partners, such as its tooling suppliers, and exchanging ideas and management tools with other corporations of widely differing siz