Reading Comprehension
试题详情
文章：
| Line | In an effort to explain why business acquisitions |
| often fail, scholars have begun to focus on the role | |
| of top executives of acquired companies. Acquired | |
| companies that retain their top executives tend to | |
| (5) | have more successful outcomes than those that do |
| not. Furthermore, existing research suggests that | |
| retaining the highest-level top executives, such as the | |
| CEO (chief executive officer) and COO (chief operating | |
| officer), is related more positively to postacquisition | |
| (10) | success than retaining lower-ranked top executives. |
| However, this explanation, while insightful, suffers from | |
| two limitations. First, the focus on positional rank does | |
| not recognize the variation in length of service that | |
| may exist in top executive posts across companies, | |
| (15) | nor does it address which particular top executives |
| (with respect to length of service) should be retained | |
| to achieve a successful acquisition outcome. Second, | |
| the relationship between retained top executives and | |
| acquisition outcomes offered by existing research | |
| (20) | is subject to opposing theoretical explanations |
| related to length of service. The resource-based view | |
| (RBV) suggests that keeping acquired company top | |
| executives with longer organizational tenure would lead | |
| to more successful outcomes, as those executives | |
| (25) | have idiosyncratic and nontransferable knowledge |
| of the acquired company that would be valuable for | |
| the effective implementation of the acquisition. The | |
| opposing position, offered by the upper echelons | |
| perspective (UEP), suggests that retaining top | |
| (30) | executives having short organizational tenure would |
| lead to more successful outcomes, as they would have | |
| the adaptability to manage most effectively during the | |
| uncertainty of the acquisition process. | |
| Responding to these limitations, Bergh conducted | |
| (35) | a study of executive retention and acquisition |
| outcome that focused on the organizational tenure of | |
| retained company top executives in 104 acquisitions, | |
| followed over 5 years. Bergh considered the | |
| acquisition successful if the acquired company was | |
| (40) | retained and unsuccessful if it was divested. Bergh’s |
| findings support the RBV position. Apparently, the | |
| benefits of long organizational tenure lead to more | |
| successful outcomes than the benefits of short | |
| organizational tenure. While longer tenured top | |
| (45) | executives may have trouble adapting to change, it |
| appears that their perspectives and knowledge bases | |
| offer unique value after the acquisition. Although | |
| from the UEP position it seems sensible to retain | |
| less tenured executives and allow more tenured | |
| (50) | ones to leave, such a strategy appears to lower the |
| probability of acquisition success. |
题目：
The passage suggests that Bergh and a proponent of the upper echelons perspective would be most likely to disagree over which of the following?
选项:
A、Whether there is a positive correlation between short organizational tenure and managerial adaptability
B、Whether there is a positive correlation between long organizational tenure and the acquisition of idiosyncratic and nontransferable knowledge
C、Whether adaptability is a useful trait for an executive who is managing an acquisition process
D、Whether retaining less-tenured top executives of an acquired company is an optimal strategy for achieving postacquisition success
E、Whether retaining highest-level top executives of acquired companies is more important than retaining lower-ranked top executives
答案:
D
