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  3. If sustainable competitive advantage depends on work-force skills.American firms have a problem． Human-resource management is no

If sustainable competitive advantage depends on work-force skills.American firms have a problem． Human-resource management is no

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问题 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 thefirm in the United States．Skill acquisition is considered an individual responsibility．Labor issimply another factor of production to be hired-rented at the lowest possible cost-much as onebuys raw materials or equipment．
The lack of importance attached to human-resource management can be seen in the corporatehierarchy．In an American firm the chief financial officer is almost always second in comman@D@Thepost of head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job，off at the edge of thecorporate hierarchy．The executive who holds it is never consulted on major strategic decisions andhas no chance to move up to Chief Executive Officer(CEO)．By way of contrast，in Japan the head ofhuman-resource management is central-usually the second most important executive，after theCEO，in the firm’s hierarchy．
While American firms often talk about the vast amounts spent on training their work forces，infact they invest less in the skills of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms．Themoney 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 focusedon the specific skills necessary to do the next job rather than on the basic background skills thatmake it possible to absorb new technologies．
As a result，problems emerge when new breakthrough technologies arrive．If Americanworkers，for example，take much longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stationsthan workers in Germany(as they do)，the effective cost of those stations is lower in Germany thanit 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 speedwith which new equipment can be employe@D@The result is a slower 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’teffectively staff the processes that have to be operated，the management and professional jobs thatgo with these processes will disappear．
According to the passage，the decisive factor in maintaining a firm’s competitive advantageis______．
选项 A、the introduction of new technologies
B、the improvement of worker’s basic skills
C、the rational composition of professional and managerial employees
D、the attachment of importance to the bottom half of the employees
答案B
解析 细节题。本题问保持公司的竞争优势的决定性因素是什么。关键词是decisive factors，competitive advantage，根据文章首句：如果可持续的竞争优势取决于工人的技术的话，美国公司就面临着问题了。反过来说，工人的技术对公司保持竞争优势很重要。第三段最后一句和第四段第一句说：培训工人的有限资金也仅仅用于完成新的工作必须的具体技术的培训上，而不是用在可以使工人适应未来新的生产工艺的基本技术的培训上。这样的做法结果是，新的突破性的工艺出现时，就会有许多问题出现(接着作者在下文举例说明到底是什么样的问题)。综上所述，正确答案应为B。文章虽然提到新工艺，但并没有说这对公司的竞争优势很重要，所以A错；C项本文未提到；文章最后提到了bottom half，但是只是说bottom half的技术水平会影响公司上层人员的利益，但D项的意思太宽泛，没有提到技术因素，而这是文章中反复强调的内容，所以D项不对。
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