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Manufacturers have to do more than build large manufacturing plants to realize economies of scale.It is true that as the capacity of a manufacturing operation rises, costs per unit of output fall as plant size approaches "minimum efficient scale," where the cost per unit of output reaches a minimum, determined roughly by the state of existing technology and size of the potential market. However, minimum efficient scale cannot be fully realized unless a steady "throughput" (the flow of materials through a plant) is attained. The throughput needed to maintain the optimal scale of production requires careful coordination not only of the flow of goods through the production process, but also of the flow of input from suppliers and the flow of output to wholesalers and final consumers. If throughput falls below a critical point, unit costs rise sharply and profits disappear. A manufacturer’s fixed costs and "sunk costs" (original capital investment in the physical plant) do not decrease when production declines due to inadequate supplies of raw materials, problems on the factory floor, or inefficient sales networks. Consequently, potential economies of scale are based on the physical and engineering characteristics of the production facilities—that is, on tangible capital—but realized economies of scale are operational and organizational, and depend on knowledge, skills, experience, and teamwork—that is, on organized human capabilities, or intangible capital.
The importance of investing in intangible capital becomes obvious when one looks at what happens in new capital-intensive manufacturing industries. Such industries are quickly dominated, not by the first firms to acquire technologically sophisticated plants of theoretically optimal size, but rather by the first to exploit the full potential of such plants. Once some firms achieve this, a market becomes extremely hard to enter. Challengers must construct comparable plants and do so after the first movers have already worked out problems with suppliers or with new production processes. Challengers must create distribution networks and marketing systems in markets where first movers have all the contacts and know-how. And challengers must recruit management teams to compete with those that have already mastered these functional and strategic activities.
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第一段：说明主旨，提出问题并解释depend on intangible capital
第二段：无形资产的重要性，并解释，举例。
主旨题
A 正确
B 企业通过投资增加竞争力，与题目无关，排除
C 争论企业因为错误投资而失败，与题目无关，排除
D 暗示大多数新产业可能会由公司建立大型制造工厂，与题目无关，排除
E 文章谈的是制作业的经济规模economy of scale可以通过minimum efficient scale来实现，但是并没有谈large plants 不能帮助其实现。无关，排除
其实从第一段 however开始 后面都是无形资产的内容了。 所以通篇其实在讲无形资产的好处？
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2021-10-13 17:18:24
999+回复999+
不对 我看错了
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2021-10-13 17:19:12
The importance of investing in intangible capital becomes obvious when one looks at what happens in new capital-intensive manufacturing industries. 承上启下such industries....Once...Challengers must...Challengers must...And challengers must...
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2021-10-07 18:27:48
1. 主旨题
A. 正确，指出无形资产在实现规模经济中的重要性
B. 制造商如果可以充分开发硬件，则可以获得优势，但文章没有提经常。
C. 文章认为制造商对无形资产的投入不够，对有形资产的投入是够的
D. 文章认为行业巨头能充分开发硬件设施，而不是第一个建立。
文章主要在强调无形资产的重要性。
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2021-05-09 16:55:32
不要看第二段字数少，就觉得文章主旨就不会是关于它的。第一段常常是给出旧观点，然后反驳，提出新观点。接着第二段才开始阐述新观点（通过举例等）
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2019-07-31 10:17:01
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重新梳理文章结构：
P1:
提出M为实现经济规模会扩大工厂（M现在的做法）并解释原因是it is true that
However（真正实现经济规模做法） MES fully realize 需要 throughput
解释throughput 概念（三个并列）
解释为什么达到throughput就会达到MES（throughput影响某成本 但是不影响 固定成本和沉没成本）
consequence 达到经济规模 有形资产就可以了（总结最开头的两句话 M现在做的就是投资有形资产）
但是要实现完全的MES 还需要无形资产投资（这里只给出了论点 猜测下段会提供论据）
P2
无形资产在某行业的重要性
举例说明了 通过无形资产的手段控制市场
挑战者想要进入行业的也要通过无形资产投资的手段
全篇其实都在讲MES 而要实现MES就是要投资无形资产
个人拙见～
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2019-03-29 11:06:17
……纠结Intangible capital只有第二段着重说了……，所以第一段的作用是引出最后的intangible吗。 e理解成了开头第一句话have to do more than build large plant。第二段也说了large plant不是最重要的。 但是如果是说大工厂不能帮助实现的话，下文应该具体说的是因为别的因素balabalabala，大工厂还有哪些的缺点balabalabala，虽然两段都提到了，但是都是细枝末节。整体还是说intangible 很重要。需要重视
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2018-07-21 10:27:53
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