阅读理解。
In business, there's a speed difference: It's the difference between how important a firms leaders say
speed is to their competitive (竞争的) strategy (策略) and how fast the company actually moves. The
difference is important regardless of industry and company size. Companies fear of losing their competitive
advantage spend much time and money looking for ways to pick up the speed.
In our study of 343 businesses, the companies that chose to go, go, go to try to gain an edge ended
with lower sales and operating incomes than those that paused at key moments to make sure they were on
the right track, What's more, the firms that "slowed down to speed up" improved their top and bottom lines,
averaging 40% higher sales and 52% higher operating incomes over a three-years period.
How did they disobey the laws of business physics, taking more time than competitors yet performing
better? They thought differently about what "slower "and "faster" mean. Firms sometimes fail to understand
the difference between operation speed (moving quickly) and strategic speed (reducing the time it takes to
deliver value). Simply increasing the speed of production, for example, may be one way to try to reduce the
speed difference. But that often leads to reduced value over time, in the form of lower-quality products and
services.
In our study, high performing companies with strategic speed always made changes when necessary.
They became more open to idea and discussion. They encouraged new ways of thinking. And they allowed
time to look and learn. By contrast (相比而言). Performance suffered at firms that moved felt all the among
their employer, and had little time thinking about changes.
Strategic speed serves as a kind of leadership. Teams that regularly take time to get things right, rather
than plough ahead full bore, are more successful in meeting their business goals. That kind of strategy must
come from the top.
1. What does the underlined part "gain an edge" in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Increase the speed.
B. Get an advantage.
C. Reach the limit.
D. Set a goal
2. The underlined part "the laws of business physics" in Paragraph 3 means _____.
A. spending more time and performing worse.
B. spending more time and performing better
C. spending less time and performing worse
D. spending less time and performing better
3. What can we learn from the text?
A. How fast a firm moves depends on how big it is.
B. How competitive a firm is depends on what it produces.
C. Firms guided by strategic speed take time to make necessary changes.
D. Firms guided by operational speed take time to develop necessary team spirit.
4. Where could be the last title for the text?
A. Improve quality? Serve better.
B. Deliver value? Plough ahead.
C. Reduce time? Move faster.
D. Need speed? Slow down.
