1 The main success of the economy is due to its organization of production. The average American, as a rule, is not an entrepreneur, but works for somebody else and quite often changes jobs, even his profession sometimes. Except for those who work for the government, almost all Americans work for private companies: at factories, on farms and in offices. Usually it is a small company with only 10-20 people or even less. Often it is a family. That size company is the backbone of American companies. But even large enterprises having a thousand or more employees are usually decentralized. They consist of separate, virtually independently run units which may even compete with each other in some cases. Those at the headquarters only coordinate the overall economic and technical strategy.
2 Such breaking up into smaller units works very well. At the head of a company of several thousand employees are, say, thirty odd partners who gather not more than once or twice a year. They sum up the successes and failures, come up with[24] a general plan of action and split the profits. The rest of the time the branches are on their own[25]: they themselves get their clients, orders, finances, set their employment policy and buy their own equipment. None of the daily activity is regulated by anyone.
3 In the United States, the use of consulting firms is a common practice: it is customary to invite qualified specialists to solve complex problems. This is better than having such people in the company, for there is not enough work to keep them busy 100 percent of the time. Many consulting companies are occupied with training workers on the job, for instance, to use new equipment or computers. Some firms give courses on how to earn money. The expenditures of the companies on these consultants and instructors are made up for by the higher productivity of the workers and lower labour fluidity. Moreover, it is profitable due to tax privileges: practically all these expenditures are "written off’ from the taxes, which is only natural, since the government is interested in the enterprise to flourish.
4 The first thing that impresses you in America is the huge army of middleman working in almost every sphere: trade, advertising, market studies, consulting, etc. Initially, you find it hard to understand why the rational American society needs so many parasites. For example, a factory produces windows and the builders take them to a construction site and fix them. This is all the process is about[26]. In America, however, this process also includes wholesale firms, shops, advertising companies, companies testing the quality of glass, transportation companies and construction firms, to say nothing of[27] subcontractors who serve the whole team. Each of them adds some personal value to the designing, manufacturing and delivery of goods.
5 Middlemen in America are, as a rule, very experienced people, professional sellers of windows, for instance. They are not bored girls who can't wait to have a lunch break. Middlemen are people with very good professional training. They know all the pros and cons of their product and the products the rival firms offer.
6 Middlemen operate everywhere: they run employment bureaus, rent and lease housing and office space, create real estate firms, publishing agencies, etc.
B. Give Russian equivalents to the following words and phrases:
average, except for those who…, the backbone, a unit, a branch (of a company), thirty odd partners, overall strategy, failure, headquarters, labour fluidity, to flourish, separate groups, independently run units, to come up with a plan of action, the first thing that impresses you, you find it hard to understand, they operate everywhere, they run an employment bureau, a wholesale firm, a rival firm, experienced people, construction site, all the pros and cons.
C. Find in the text English equivalents to the following phrases:
успех объясняется хорошей организацией, благодаря хорошей организации, соревноваться /конкурировать друг с другом, повседневная деятельность, обычное дело, обычно приглашают /принято приглашать, решать сложные проблемы, находить заказы, занимаются подготовкой работников по специальности, поскольку, т.к., подводить итоги, расходы компенсируются, посредник, сначала, проверять качество, устанавливать окно, фирма по продаже недвижимости, брать и сдавать в аренду, проектирование, производство, доставка, обслуживать, жилые и офисные помещения.
