Love, lust, joy, wildness, and a touch of the zany (小丑) — why is it that at many companies these are frowned on? Still, we know that the best (and worst) things in life are associated with strong feelings. The company that desires to be competitive in the future cannot deprive itself of the strengths associated with what we would like to call “economies of soul”. Scale and skill economies will still matter. But as Professor Manfred Kets de Vries at INSEAD (欧洲商学院) puts it, unless the resources that make people mad, sad, and glad, can be put to good use, knowledge is not used, it is abused. This is one of the main reasons why so many executives admit that as little as 10-15 percent of the intellectual capital at their companies is used properly. Most seem a bit embarrassed when admitting it, but somehow the average manager has gotten used to it and accepted that this is and should be. To survive in a surplus society, we believe it is vital to escape from a situation in which employment actually means “competence castration (删割).” Henry Ford once said: “Why is it that I always get a whole person, when what I really want is just a pair of hands?” Today, we need whole persons — head and heart, body and soul. Feelings and fantasy go hand in hand. Without soul, there can be only limited skill.
In relation to our customers the new trend means focusing on the extended experience, trying to look and think beyond the actual parts. As a Hewlett-Packard executive once remarked, sushi is cold, dead fish, but that isn’t how it should be marketed. So why, then, do so many companies persisting in selling cold, dead fish to consumers so much more interested in sushi? Think about when you last bought a PC. What were the sales arguments — price, performance, or power? We claim that in a true excess economy, all those are given. From a strict price/performance view it will not really matter which vacuum cleaner, TV set, VCR, or microwave you buy. They are all more or less equally good. Getting that stuff right only buys you a ticket to take part in the game. In the future, your company will win by appealing to the feelings and fantasies of the customer. Otherwise, you will have to deal with the demanding customers on a purely economic basis, which will without doubt result in zero profits as you will compete globally with an infinite number of other similar firms. In the age of affection, the way to create real profit is to attract the emotional rather than the purely rational consumers.
1．
According to the passage, many companies may _______ people’s feelings like lust, wideness etc.| A．be unhappy about | B．be terrified of |
| C．be concerned with | D．be curious about |
2．
The following things except _______ should be taken into account if a company wants to succeed in competition| A．soul economy | B．scale economy |
| C．skill economy | D．classic economy |
3．
Why can’t intellectual capital be put into good use?| A．The employees have no motivation to work. |
| B．The employees’ emotions are often ignored. |
| C．The managers lack proper managing skills. |
| D．The managers find it too costly to do so. |
4．
When it comes to the employees, people find _______.| A．today many employees are not so skillful as before |
| B．many employees just work with their hands |
| C．employees’ skills and emotions are of great importance nowadays |
| D．Henry Ford put “soul economy” into practice when choosing employees |
5．
From the example in the second paragraph, we can conclude that _______.| A．high quality products can ensure a company’s success in competition |
| B．price, performance and power are equally important for a company |
| C．companies are facing more and more highly demanding consumers |
| D．companies have to take consumers’ emotions into account to succeed |
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