Part I　Lead-in Activities

Directions:You will hear a passage about supply chain in business.The words or phrases listed below will be of some help to you.

irioncally adv.used when talking about a situation in which the opposite of what you expected happens or is true具有讽刺意味的是

banish v.get rid of消除

abide by:be faithful to；obey；keep to；adhere to严守；遵守；坚持

Wal-Mart沃尔玛

Ford Motor福特汽车（美国汽车公司）

Dell Computer戴尔计算机

performance indicators性能指标

best-in-class adj.first-class，top-ranking一流的，顶尖的

payback n.financial return or reward（especially returns equal to the initial investment）收益；收效

align v.（～oneself with sb）join sb as an ally；come into agreement with sb与某人结盟；与某人一致

line manager:the person in charge of a department，a group，or project in a company or organization部门经理

merchandising n.the way in which shops and businesses try to sell their products and other functions推销，销售规划

stockout n.a situation of being out-of-stock（OOS），an event that causes inventory to be exhausted

streamline v.make（sth）more efficient and effective，eg by improving or simplifying working methods使（某事物）效率更高、作用更大（如藉改进或简化工作方法）

robust adj.vigorous；healthy and strong有活力的；强健的

glitch n.a small fault in a machine or piece of equipment，that stops it working小故障，失灵

Hershey n.好时公司（the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America，headquartered in Hershey，Pennsylvania）

Halloween n.the evening before All Saints'Day，often devoted to pranks played by young people万圣节前夕（十月三十一日夜晚）

fine-tune v.to make very small changes to something such as a machine，system，or plan，so that it works as well as possible调整，微调

iron out v.eliminate；resolve sth and put it to an end消除，解决

Complete the following paragraphs according to the recording you have just heard.

Independent research____1__that the average company spends nearly 10% on its supply chain—the sequence of activities that bring materials to manufacturers，take finished goods to retailers，and move____2__onto shelves.Ironically，this is more than____3__what top supply chain performers spend.

According to a Bain ＆ Company survey of 300 global companies，____4__of managers think they have failed to____5__their supply chain savings.

Top supply chain managers____6__the benefits of what they are doing in order to encourage their employees，build____7__，and attract top talent to the supply chain cause.

Cross-functional alignment:by aligning many departments，finance and marketing included.At one leading electronics____8__，line managers interact daily across____9__，merchandising and other functions.

Barely 25% of managers surveyed link___10___for supply chain personnel to supply chain performance.Of those，only a few offer rewards linked to performance outside the company，such as on-time delivery from suppliers.

Businesses regularly___11___10 cents of every IT dollar to supply chain management software__12__，hoping to___13___their warehouses，streamline logistics，sharpen forecasts，and___14___costs.

Instead of relying on an intuitive approach to allocate product space，retailers can，for example，use___15___tools that reveal what items move and move profitably，and set inventory based on product attractiveness.

Judge whether the following statements are true or false according to the listening material you have just heard.

1.Dell keeps less than 5 days of inventory，compared to almost 5 times that of Compaq Computer，and enjoys a 10% cost advantage from buying parts later，since prices of these parts fall steadily as technology improves.

2.For line managers，individual results are more important，but rewards for collaborating across functions are important，too.

3.Interestingly，research proves that 80% of a company's supply chain challenges cannot be met without new IT investments.

4.In 1999，technology errors at Hershey kept candy off supermarket shelves at the worst possible time:Halloween.

5.Within the industry sectors Bain surveyed over half the companies felt the need to collaborate outside their organization on areas as critical as production planning.