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  3. Read the following article about creative teams and management and the questions

Read the following article about creative teams and management and the questions

游客2025-05-18  48
问题 Read the following article about creative teams and management and the questions on the opposite page.
For each question(13-18), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet.
                    Creative Teams and Management
When Colgate launched its then revolutionary Colgate Gum Protection toothpaste in 1990, company executives were confident they had a hit on their hands. The toothpaste incorporated a groundbreaking antibacterial technology they thought was the biggest innovation since fluoride. But in the months after the toothpaste’s six-country rollout, the product’s market share reached a meager 1%)— one-fifth of the company’s projections.
What went wrong? A new round of market research found that the original launch strategy muted the "breakthrough" message; the ads positioned the new toothpaste as a line extension instead of a revolutionary advance, and the public just didn’t buy the product’s broad claims. Up to this point, Colgate’s president, Bill Shanahan, had attended only quarterly review meetings; now he rolled up his sleeves to rescue the product, establishing a worldwide marketing team and meeting regularly with global business vice president Kathleen Thornhill and CEO Reuben Mark to follow the team’s progress.
Shanahan and others at the very top sifted through the research and took part in the advertising development meetings, working elbow to elbow with the marketing team renamed Colgate Total, and promoted with a retooled ad campaign that stressed the toothpaste’s 12-hour protection, the product was a hit in most of the 103 counties outside the United States.
Shanahan continued to lavish personal attention on the product, putting Colgate Total under the direct supervision of Jack Haber, the worldwide director of consumer oral care products, and committing $ 35 million and a team of 200 employees to the project. With that kind of senior-level backing, Harber pulled out the stops, spending $20 million to promote Colgate Total to U. S. dentists alone. Within two months of its domestic launch in 1997, the product captured 10. 5% of the U. S. toothpaste market and within six months muscled perennial champ, Procter & Gamble’s Crest, out of first place. Colgate Total has remained number one ever since.
What transforms a good product idea like Colgate Total into a blockbuster? We spent ten years studying more than 700 new product development teams and interviewed over 400 project leaders, team members, senior executives, and CEOs intimately involved in product development and launch. Of the hundreds of teams we studied, just 7% of them — 49 in all — created products that scored a perfect ten on our measure of blockbuster success. To achieve that score, products had to reach or exceed company goals, customer expectations, profit and sales targets, garner company and industry awards, and attract national attention.
Products don’t become blockbusters without the intense , personal involvement of senior management usually a CEO or division head. In every case studied, top management played an intimate, active, often daily role. This approach has been out of favor for decades, creative teams, as the thinking goes, should be empowered by management and then left alone. Too much attention stifles innovation. To that we say " Baloney". Our work shows that, in the best case, management involvement should start on day one. Ideally, senior managers work closely with product team to establish must-have features and then help clear a path for the team. Top managers control resources, rules and cut through red tape. And, crucially, senior managers serve as cheerleaders and visionaries, broadcasting a message of organizational commitment that attracts buy-in at all levels of the company. [br] In paragraph five, the writer uses the figures to indicate
选项 A、quite a few companies meet the standards.
B、most companies realize the key to success.
C、not many companies have outperformed the criteria.
D、a few companies have done better than others.
答案 C
解析 从文中第五段：“To achieve that score，products had to reach or exceed company goals．customer expectations，profit and sales targets，garner company and industry awards，and attractnational attention．”可知，为了取得这一成绩，产品必须达到或超过公司目标、消费者期望、利润和销售目标……，可见能够取得这一目标绝非易事。数据中的“just 7％”也表明这一点。选项C符合题意。
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