商务英语中级第四辑真题阅读精讲
Critical Path
When David Hayden realised his pany was heading for trouble, he took drastic measures to get it back on track
David Hayden founded his pany, Critical Path, an e ___il provider, in 1997 to take advantage of the boom in e ___il traffic. Critical Path became a public pany two years later, and Hayden took the opportunity to step down from his executive position in order to work on personal projects. At the same time, he agreed to stay with the pany as Chair ___n, but the business was put in the hands of new ___nagers by its investors. With sector-leading products and an expanding ___rket, the pany seemed to be on the up and up. However, by early xx, it was in trouble. Shares that had been worth $26 in 1999, when they were first sold, were down to a mere 24 ___nts.
Called in by a panicking board, Hayden found himself back in charge as Executive Chair ___n, trying desperately to rescue what he could. The 1,100 staff had lost confiden ___
in the pany and did not know what was going to happen to them. And, as Hayden discovered, the ___nagement team was inpetent. Those guys didn't understand the product or the sector, says Hayden. The heads of department didn't municate and they didn't lead.' But what was worse, Critical Path had lost the goodwill of its investors.
Hayden knew that bringing the figures under control would be a vital step in the pany's turnaround. 'You've got to sort out the finan ___s. For me, that meant getting back the goodwill of the investors. That was tough, after what had happened. But although they were angry with the pany, they didn't have bad feelings about me. I told them that I knew I could get the pany on its feet again.' He was authorised to ___ke whatever changes were required, and his first act was to find people within the pany he could trust and put them in charge.
The next thing Hayden had to tackle was morale. 'Everyone left the offi ___ at five on the dot - they couldn't get away quickly enough. To get the buzz back and win the staff over, I had to prove my own mitment and put in the extra
hours with them.' In return, it was assumed that nobody would ask for overtime pay until the pany was on its feet again. Contrary to nor ___l practi ___, Hayden was reluctant to lay people off, and apart from not replacing people as they reached retirement age, he left the workfor ___ largely unchanged, although he did identify key people throughout the pany who were given more responsibility.
But, as Hayden insists, before a pany reaches such a crisis, there are warning signs that any financial director or aountant should take note of. 'A business that has an unrealistic pricing policy or has to negotiate extended credit with its suppliers is in trouble,' is his message. 'Or if you often have to apply for your overdraft limit to be raised or have trouble paying tax on time, something needs to be done.'
By xx, the pany was healthy again, with reasonably stable finan ___s and a modest but steady share pri ___ of $1.60. 'One thing that helped save us was that our technology worked,' says Hayden. 'With 20 million e ___il aounts, we never lost a single ___jor client because the product kept
2024年商务英语中级第四辑真题阅读精讲
