2015年考研英语阅读精选：minority-owned businesses
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Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States
unprecedented opportunities — as well as new and significant risks. Civil rights
activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks,
Hispanics, and other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in
business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that
are generated by large companies. Now Congress, in apparent agreement, has
required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000
do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so
on forms filed with the government. Indeed, some federal and local agencies have
gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public
works contracts to minority enterprises.
Corporate response appears to have been substantial. According to figures
collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority businesses
rose from $77 million in 1972 to $1.1 billion in 1977. The projected total of
corporate contracts with minority businesses for the early 1980’s is estimated
to be over 53 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade.
Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses
dangers for them, too. First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and
overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike
large businesses, they often need to make substantial investments in new plants,
staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them.
If, thereafter, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can
face potentially crippling fixed expenses. The world of corporate purchasing can
be frustrating for small entrepreneurs who get r
equests for elaborate formal estimates and bids. Both consume valuable time
and resources, and a small company’s efforts must soon result in orders, or both
the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.
A second risk is that White-owned companies may seek to cash in on the
increasing apportionments through formation of joint ventures with
minority-owned concerns. Of course, in many instances there are legitimate
reasons for joint ventures; clearly, White and minority enterprises can team up
to acquire business that neither could acquire alone. But civil rights groups
and minority business owners have complained to Congress about minorities being
set up as “fronts” with White backing, rather than being accepted as full
partners in legitimate joint ventures.
Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large
corporate customer often run the danger of becoming- and remaining-dependent.
Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more
established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their
customer bases: when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single
corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency
arising from their current success.
1. It can be inferred
from the text that, compared with the requirements of law, the percentage
goals set by “some federal and local agencies” (line 9, paragraph 1) are
more popular with large corporations.
more concrete.
less controversial.
less expensive to enforce.
2. The text suggests that the failure of a large business to have its bids
for subcontracts result quickly in orders might causes it to
experience frustration but not serious financial harm.
face potentially crippling fixed expenses.
have to record its efforts on forms filed with the government.
increase its spending with minority subcontractors.
3. The primary purpose of the text is to
present a commonplace idea and its inaccuracies.
describe a situation and its potential drawbacks.
propose a temporary solution to a problem.
analyze a frequent source of disagreement.
4. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the author’s
assertion that, in the 1970’s, corporate response to federal requirements (line
1, paragraph 2) was substantial?
Corporate contracts with minority-owned businesses totaled $2 billion
in 1979.
Between 1970 and 1972, corporate contracts with minority-owned
businesses declined by 25 percent.
The figures collected in 1977 underrepresented the extent of corporate
contracts with minority-owned businesses.
The $1.1 billion represented the same percentage of total corporate
spending in 1977 as did $77 million in 1972.
5. The author would most likely agree with which of the following
statements about corporate response to working with minority subcontractors?
Annoyed by the proliferation of “front” organizations, corporations are
likely to reduce their efforts to work with minority-owned subcontractors in the
near future.
Although corporations showed considerable interest in working with
minority businesses in the 1970’s, their aversion to government paperwork made
them reluctant to pursue many government contracts.
The significant response of corporations in the 1970’s is likely to be
sustained and conceivably be increased throughout the 1980’s.
Although corporations are eager to cooperate with minority-owned
businesses, a shortage of capital in the 1970’s made substantial response
impossible.
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