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  3. The Finance Instability Causes a Huge Hazard Since the Great Recession began in December 2007, Deere, the world’s largest ma

The Finance Instability Causes a Huge Hazard Since the Great Recession began in December 2007, Deere, the world’s largest ma

admin2013-06-05  91
问题                   The Finance Instability Causes a Huge Hazard
    Since the Great Recession began in December 2007, Deere, the world’s largest maker of farm equipment and a major builder of construction machinery, has watched earnings plummet by hall Construction sales worldwide fell by 45% last year alone, and agricultural sales sank more than 15%.
    It is no small feat, then, that Deere earned $ 873 million in 2009 on sales of $ 23 billion. That’s because the manufacturer today is more focused on making profits than on just making tractors. "Deere’s competitive advantage has always been a superior product and tremendous brand loyalty," says Morgan Joseph & Co. analyst Charles Rentschler. "But it performed better this down cycle than ever before because of the tight cost controls and excellent execution it already had in place."
    Deere operates in two of the most cyclic industries. The $ 87 billion agribusiness sector, is about as predictable as the weather. Still, Deere can count on the fact that people need to eat. Construction remains troubled. Volumes shrank as much as 80 % during the downturn’s lowest point. Still, housing starts showing some signs of life in January, and after such a prolonged drop, the $30 billion construction-machinery business can "expect a bounce people simply need to replace equipment again", says Morgan Stanley analyst Robert Wertheimer. "So we do think there is a recovery at hand, though it could be in 2011, not 2010."
    Yet Deere’s strong performance in the most recent downturn is hitched to CEO Bob Lane, who stepped down in June. Lane diligently cut costs and unprofitable businesses. He also added a novel profit driver; a capital charge of about 1 % a month that managers must "pay" before they can report any gain internally—in other words, 12% annual profit before break-even. During Lane’s tenure, Deere saw record earnings, soaring free cash flow and a quintupling of its stock price.
    When the housing bubble burst, an efficient and effective Deere was ready. Despite collapsing sales, it was able, to avoid major staff reductions—most of the 1,500 workers Deere laid off or on holiday are already back on the job. "Deere was ahead of the curve when it came to cost controls and data collection, so as soon as demand started to drop, it could shut down production and keep inventories low," says Alex Blanton, an analyst at Ingalls & Snyder. "That also means there will be little lag time in its recovery."
Why does Robert Wertheimer say "we do think there is a recovery at hand. . ."?
选项 A、Housing has recovered from rescission in January.
B、People need new equipment to resume production.
C、Deere has abundant resources and experiences.
D、CEO Bob Lane will put new measures into practice.
答案B
解析 根据题干提示定位到文章第3段最后两句：Still，housing starts showing some signs of life in January，and．．．construction-machinery business can“expect a bounce as people simply need to replace equipment again，”says Morgan Stanly．．．“So we do think there is a recovery at hand…”可知，Robert Wertheimer认为经济会回暖是因为房地产开始有复苏的迹象，而在建筑机械业人们也需要更新设备。
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