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  3. Read the magazine article below about Andy Seymour, the Chief Executive of a

Read the magazine article below about Andy Seymour, the Chief Executive of a

游客2025-05-17  9
问题     Read the magazine article below about Andy Seymour, the Chief Executive of a chain of book stores called Bookroom, and the questions on the opposite page.
    For each question(13-18), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet.
                CHALLENGING TIMES AT BOOKROOM
Bookroom isn’t a very successful company at the moment. It’s heavily in debt, and it’s rumoured that its owner, P&K, wouldn’t turn down a suitable offer. Even its own store managers are said to be unhappy - those who haven’t left, that is. A recent change in strategy is proving too much for many of them: they’ve been told to concentrate on giving more space to a limited number of bestsellers, advertised nationally by the company, and not to titles which sit on the shelves for weeks.
The challenge of taking Bookroom back into profit falls to the Chief Executive, Andy Seymour, who was moved a year ago from P&K’s music chain, MusicWorld, with an impressive record of efficiency improvements. He increased the floor space of the more successful MusicWorld stores and closed down the loss-making ones. New computer systems gave him better stock control, and allowed him to produce up-to-date charts of the top CDs for display in the stores, with a positive impact on turnover and profits. In addition, he negotiated a pay and productivity deal with the employees. All in all, it was a period which saw the chain reach its peak.
Seymour, though, doesn’t take any credit for MusicWorld’s success. ’Even before I became Chief Executive, all the stores were run by top quality people doing everything they could, at a time when the public weren’t spending much on leisure,’ he says. ’They all stayed on, and that was the decisive factor. The only things I did were to change the advertising agency - they weren’t keeping up with developments in the music industry - and make some minor innovations in the stores. Customers were coming into the shops, and it was up to us to make the most of this.’
Luck had been against him in his previous job, though, as operations director of Clarkson’s, the do-it-yourself retailer which P&K had just acquired. Soon after his move to the company, there was a recession, which meant that the market for home improvement products collapsed. Seymour was involved in endless consultations with the board, discussing ways to turn the company round. They were in a high-risk situation and, despite his efforts, Clarkson’s lost millions. But even when things were at their worst, Seymour didn’t resign, as most would have done, and he was highly thought of for that.
He has a reasonable track record, certainly, but some would say not brilliant. And will he succeed at Bookroom? His first year has been disappointing, but there are signs of improvement. He’s continued the strategy of opening new shops, and although many store managers have gone, their replacements have been picked carefully. He’s also done something about one of the main reasons for the present difficulties, reducing targets to allow for the fact that the book market is still flat.
Seymour is an experienced retail manager. At MusicWorld he proved himself a good manager of people with a particular gift for motivating his staff. But he’s also strong on detail, and has already improved Bookroom’s financial control. It looks as though his strategy will pay off in the long term. The only thing you could blame him for is not being strong enough in opposing all the negative talk about Bookroom, because that is what is damaging the company. And unless Seymour does something about that, he may find himself looking for a new job. [br] According to the writer, Bookroom had problems during Seymour’s first year because
选项 A、he had been too cautious about the location of new stores.
B、he failed to recognise what consumers were looking for.
C、there was a shortage of suitable staff to take over managers’ jobs.
D、the expected volume of book sales had been unrealistic.
答案 D
解析
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