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  3. If you think Japan’s hard-drinking business culture is as dead as the Sony Betamax, think again. After more than a decade of eco

If you think Japan’s hard-drinking business culture is as dead as the Sony Betamax, think again. After more than a decade of eco

admin2022-11-25  70
问题     If you think Japan’s hard-drinking business culture is as dead as the Sony Betamax, think again. After more than a decade of economy during Japan’s lengthy economic recession, many Japanese companies are thriving today—and they’re reviving some of the business customs that were hallmarks of Japan Inc. during the booming 1980s. Not only are company-sponsored drinking marathons back, so too are subsidized dorms for single employees as well as corporate outings such as hot-spring retreats and annual visits to the company founder’s ancestral grave. "We realized that workplace communication was becoming nonexistent," explains human-resources manager Shinji Matsuyama, whose company, Alps Electric, spent several million dollars last year to bring together about 3,000 workers for its first company-wide undokai, or mini-Olympics, in 14 years. According to Matsuyama, the shared experience of playing dodge ball and skipping rope "helped unite people under a common goal."
    It’s that sense of team spirit and togetherness that many Japanese corporations are trying to revive. A generation ago, college graduates entered companies together, lived together, drank together, quite often married each other, and retired together. This close-knit corporate culture all ended when the country went into economic recession in the 1990s. Threatened by cheap labor and more efficient business models, Japanese companies began adopting American management concepts such as merit-based pay and competition among employees. "The Japanese equated globalism with not just the American way of business, but with rejecting their past," says Jun Ishida, CEO of Tokyo-based business consultancy Will PM. "No more drinking sessions, no more company events. Suddenly it was about the individual out for himself and only himself."
    But as the economy became better in the past several years, many executives began to wonder if they had gone too far. Trying to rebuild company loyalty and decrease turnover, major companies including Canon, Kintetsu and Fujitsu have in recent years altered or scrapped their performance-based pay and restored seniority as a determinant of salaries. Meanwhile, trading house Mitsui last year reopened five dorms for single employees—a program that costs the company nearly $1 million a year. Employees have responded enthusiastically. Despite the crowded space and shared bathrooms, 24-year-old Miki Masegi moved from her parents’ house in central Tokyo to live with 105 female co-workers. Though her commuting time doubled, she says the move was worth it. "It really helps to have people around that you can talk to about your problems," Masegi says.
    Companies are trying to foster friendship and loyalty in other ways as well. Every new employee of Tokyo PR firm Bilcom, for example, must spend a weekend making a three-minute digital slide show sharing their most moving personal experiences. Company president Shigeru Ota says the presentations are designed to "create a new type of family company by sharing life history… delight, anger, sorrow and pleasure."
    Despite such experiments, Japanese companies may find it hard to restore the glory days of Japan Inc. That’s because today, one in three Japanese works part-time; younger employees in particular tend to value mobility over the security of lifetime employment. Indeed, during Noboru Koyama’s Saturday-night drinking session, employee Eri Shimoda acknowledges that his co-workers "feel like family." Yet most of those who attended the party also say that, warm sentiment aside, they plan to leave the cleaning company within a few years. "Work is just work," says one of them.
    A. requested every new employee to share his/her most impressive personal experiences through a presentation.
    B. tended to value employees’ mobility over the their lifetime loyalty.
    C. held a corporate sport meeting in order to unite its staff.
    D. gave up its merit-pay system so as to keep down the turnover rate.
    E. spent $1 million a year providing single employees with five dorms.
    F. introduced some American management concepts into Japanese corporate cultures.
    G. may find it hard to keep its employees’ loyalty.
Canon
选项
答案D
解析 Canon出现在第三段。第三段第二句提到一些主流公司为了重建忠诚度及降低员工流动率(decrease turnover)，改变原来以工作表现来决定工资的制度(performance-based pay)。D项中的keep down the turnover rate与前者对应，merit-pay system与后者对应，故确定D为答案。原文说的是佳能放弃了“以工作表现来决定工资的制度”，而“以工作表现来决定工资的制度”是美国管理上的观念，由此可知F项与Canon的做法刚好相反。
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