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The Life Cycle of Innovation

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What are the main topics that the class discusses?
Click on 2 answers
  • A. New and innovative ways to market jazz recordings

  • B. The successful introduction of a major product change

  • C. An organizational model for managers to consider

  • D. Appropriate standards for evaluating a musical performance

显示答案 正确答案: B C

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    NARRATOR:Listen to part of a discussion in a business management class.

    FEMALE PROFESSOR:Last week we were talking about innovation in business. Remember the graph I showed you?

    FEMALE STUDENT:The curve that looked sorta like the letter S?

    FEMALE PROFESSOR:Right, Kathy. Let's take another look. Do you recall, Kathy, how this S-curve represents the life cycle of innovation?

    FEMALE STUDENT:Sure. Starting on the left, the new innovation … let’s say it’s a new product … almost nobody has heard of it—or at least nobody takes it seriously.Then its popularity increases, slowly at first, till sales really start accelerating quickly—there where the line goes up steeply in the middle—as more and more people get excited about the product and they go out and buy it.But eventually, moving over to the right side there, interest begins to fade and the growth in sales levels off.

    FEMALE PROFESSOR:At which point, the market has matured for that product.We can still sell it, and even marginally improve it. But it’s not new anymore—it no longer offers exciting growth opportunities.So a business leader might face a choice—Either stick with this old, safe, proven idea … or move on to the next big idea, a fresh innovation.But innovations are risky—they may succeed, or they may not.[Pivoting to take a new angle] OK, a case study—George, I’ve heard your Thursday night program on the campus radio station. You like jazz, right?

    MALE STUDENT:[Startled] Huh? Uh,yeah, sure.But what — [interrupted]

    FEMALE PROFESSOR:[interrupting] OK, stay with me here. On your program last week, I heard an old Miles Davis album. Tell us about that.

    MALE STUDENT:Uh ­ Miles Davis, trumpet. I played a CD of a jazz classic he recorded in the 1950s, called Kind of Blue.It's my all-time favorite jazz recording.

    FEMALE PROFESSOR:Mine too. Would you call that recording innovative -for its time?

    MALE STUDENT:Absolutely. Nothing at all like what he’d recorded up till then—I mean, before that, Miles Davis played things so complex that … well, nobody could touch him.But this was something totally new.Suddenly his playing sounded so ­amazingly simple.

    FEMALE PROFESSOR:And how did people react to this new sound of Miles Davis?

    MALE STUDENT:Well, some were disappointed...­ even angry ...­ that he'd abandoned his old style.But soon, most of his fans came around, and this new style appealed to a whole new group of jazz listeners.

    FEMALE PROFESSOR:I guess so!Kind of Blue became the most commercially successful album in the history of jazz.So is there a lesson here, anyone? Think of that S-curve I showed you.

    FEMALE STUDENT:Oh, so his old style of jazz was actually a kind of product, one that’d been developed pretty thoroughly… and he’d taken it about as far as he could.So he decided to take a big risk and try something totally new.

    FEMALE PROFESSOR:Exactly. Something completely fresh and "cool" ...­ and people couldn't get enough of it.It was a brand new beginning that left lots of room for further development, artistically.And, as a market analyst, you could say that with Kind of Blue, he was jumping to the beginning of a brand new S-curve, with all that potential for profitable development still ahead of him.But let me ask you something else.This isn't just the music of a single performer,[downspeak] is it, George?

    MALE STUDENT:Hardly. More like a group of all-stars.Along with Miles Davis on trumpet, there's Bill Evans on piano, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone。

    FEMALE PROFESSOR:[Interrupting] Individually, perhaps the best in the business.But thinking of Miles Davis as the leader of this group, how did he organize and manage all this incredible talent?

    MALE STUDENT:Well, he’d lay out the general outline, the theme, and then give each of these star performers, one by one, the creative freedom to really show what they could do with it on their own instrument … to improvise and add something new, but always within the same general theme.

    FEMALE PROFESSOR:So Miles Davis gets credit for recruiting the best jazz talent anywhere....and getting them to collaborate on a fantastic musical product.Everyone see the business parallels here?And give each of these musicians credit for seizing the opportunity and creating great individual performances.But good jazz is more than just outstanding individual performances, isn't it?

    MALE STUDENT:Definitely. Jazz musicians need to listen to each other and go with the flow.Like, one time, somebody goofed and came in a little early.But everyone else adjusted and went right along with it, as if nothing were wrong, and this mistake came out like just another … unexpected creative interpretation.

    FEMALE PROFESSOR:Thanks, George. Great insights... ones that would certainly apply to what we're studying here.

  • 旁白:听一段商业管理课的讨论。

    教授:上周我们讲了商业中的创新。还记得我给你们看的图表吗?

    学生:那条看起来有点像字母S的曲线?

    教授:对的,凯蒂。我们再来看一看。凯蒂。你还记得这条S曲线是怎么代表创新的生命周期吗?

    学生:当然了。从左端开始,新型创新,就说这是个新产品吧,几乎没人听说过,或至少没人把它当真。接着它受欢迎程度开始缓慢增长,一开始不明显,直到该产品的销售额开始迅速上涨,在中间部分上涨非常地迅猛,随着越来越多的人对该产品感到兴奋,人们走出家门购买产品,这也就是在中间曲线陡直往上的地方。但最终,移到右边,利润开始下降,增幅和销售额开始趋于平稳。

    教授:这一点就表示该产品的市场已经成熟。我们仍旧可以销售该产品,甚至稍微改良一下,但这已经不是新产品了,它再也不能带来令人兴奋的增长机会。所以,一个企业领导可能会面临一次抉择:要么安守着这个过时的,安全的,已经被证实了的理念,或继续(开发)下一个构想,一个新的创意。但创新有风险,它们可能会成功,也可能不会。案例研究。乔治,我听说了你在学校广播站的周四晚间节目。你喜欢爵士对吧?

    学生:对,当然!但……

    教授:好,留心听我说这里。上周你的节目里,我听到了一张迈尔斯·戴维斯的旧唱片,跟我们说说这个吧。

    学生:迈尔斯·戴维斯。小号。我播了一张爵士乐唱片,是他在20世纪50年代录的,叫《Kind of Blue》。这是我一直最爱的爵士唱片。

    教授:我也是。你认为在那个时候来说,这个唱片是创新性的吗?

    学生:绝对是!在那之前,没有和他的唱片一样的音乐。我是说,在那之前,迈尔斯·戴维斯弹奏的曲子都太复杂了, 没人听得懂。但这个(唱片)是全新的。突然间,他演奏的音乐听起来是如此惊人地简单。

    教授:人们当时对迈尔斯·戴维斯的新作有什么反应?

    学生:一些人很失望,甚至很生气,因为他抛弃了过去了风格。但很快大多数粉丝改变了态度,这个新风格还吸引了一大批新的爵士乐听众。

    教授:我想也是。《Kind of Blue》变成了爵士乐史上最成功的专辑(从商业角度来说)。大家能学到些什么吗?想想我展示给你们看的S曲线。

    学生:哦!所以迈尔斯旧的爵士风格其实是某种产品,已经开发得很彻底了,他也将之发展到力所能及的极致了。所以他决定冒个大风险,尝试些全新的东西。

    教授:对!完全新鲜的,酷毙了的事物。人们怎么听都听不够。这是一个全新的开始,从艺术角度来说,还有很多进一步发展的空间。作为市场分析师,你可以说,有了《Kind of Blue》,他跳到了一个全新S曲线的开端, 以后还有巨大的利润增长潜力。让我问些别的问题。这不仅仅是一位演奏家的音乐,对吧,乔治?

    学生:不算是。更像全明星团体。迈尔斯·戴维斯的小号之外,还有比尔·埃文斯弹钢琴, 约翰·柯川吹次中音萨克斯…

    教授:就他们个人来说,都是业内最顶尖的。但把迈尔斯·戴维斯当作这个团队的领导者来看,他是怎么组织和管理这些顶尖人才的?

    学生:他列出总体大纲和主题, 然后给每一位明星演奏家(每一个)创作的自由, 让他们展示他们能用自己的乐器表演出什么,来即兴创作和增加新元素,但总是要保持同一个总主题。

    教授:所以,迈尔斯·戴维斯因招募到了最棒的爵士音乐人才而受到广泛好评,他让他们合作做出了一个极佳的音乐产品。大家都能看见商业中的相似之处了吗?这些音乐家也因自己把握住了机会,创造了精彩的个人表演而受到表扬。但好的爵士乐不仅仅是杰出的个人表演,对吗?

    学生:当然。爵士音乐家需要互相聆听,顺势而弹。比如,有一次某人出错了,(加入演奏时)弹早了一些。但其他人都随之调整,顺着错误来弹奏,仿佛没有出任何差错。这个错误就变成了另一种...出乎意料的创新演绎了。

    教授:谢谢,乔治。你的见解很棒,这个可以适用到我们这里所学的。

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    题型分类:主旨题

    原文定位:

    P:Do you recall, Kathy, how this S-curve represents the life cycle of innovation?

    S:Sure. Starting on the left, the new innovation … let’s say it’s a new product … almost nobody has heard of it—or at least nobody takes it seriously. Then its popularity increases, slowly at first, till sales really start accelerating quickly—there where the line goes up steeply in the middle—as more and more people get excited about the product and they go out and buy it. But eventually, moving over to the right side there, interest begins to fade and the growth in sales levels off.

    P:At which point, the market has matured for that product. We can still sell it, and even marginally improve it. But it’s not new anymore—it no longer offers exciting growth opportunities. So a business leader might face a choice—Either stick with this old, safe, proven idea … or move on to the next big idea, a fresh innovation. But innovations are risky—they may succeed, or they may not.(B)

    P:But thinking of Miles Davis as the leader of this group, how did he organize and manage all this incredible talent?(C)

    选项分析:

    文章前半部分用例子说明一个产品的成功转变,后半部分借着这个例子说了下如何去组织其他人一起来做这个事。对应BC

    其他项不是主要讨论内容。

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