文档介绍：GMAT 1
GMAT63
Passage 1 (1/63)
(This
passage
was
written
in
1978.)
Recent
years
have
brought
minority
owned
businesses
in
the
United
States
unprecedented
opportunities—as
well
as
new
and
significant
risks.
Civil
rights
activists
have
long
argued
that
one
of
the
principal
reasons
why
Blacks,
Hispanics,
and
other
minority
groups
have
difficulty
establishing
themselves
in
business
is
that
they
lack
access
to
the
sizable
orders
and
subcontracts
that
are
generated
by
panies.
Now
Congress,
in
apparent
agreement,
has
required
by
law
that
businesses
awarded
federal
contracts
of
more
than
$500,000
do
their
best
to
find
minority
subcontractors
and
record
their
efforts
to
do
so
on
forms
filed
with
the
government.
Indeed,
some
federal
and
local
agencies
have
gone
so
far
as
to
set
specific
percentage
goals
for
apportioning
parts
of
public
works
contracts
to
minority
enterprises.
Corporate
response
appears
to
have
been
substantial.
According
to
figures
collected
in
1977,
the
total
of
corporate
contracts
with
minority
businesses
rose
from
$77
million
in
1972
to
$
billion
in
1977.
The
projected
total
of
corporate
contracts
with
minority
businesses
for
the
early
1980’s
is
estimated
to
be
over
53
billion
per
year
with
no
letup
anticipated
in
the
next
decade.
Promising
as
it
is
for
minority
businesses,
this
increased
patronage
poses
dangers
for
them,
too.
First,
minority
firms
risk
expanding
too
fast
and
overextending
themselves
financially,
since
most
are
small
concerns
and,
unlike
large
businesses,
they
often
need
to
make
substantial
investments
in
new
plants,
staff,
equipment,
and
the
like
in
order
to
perform
work
subcontracted
to
them.
If,
thereafter,
their
subcontracts
are
for
some
reason
reduced,
such
firms
can
face
potentially
crippling
fixed
expenses.
The
world
of
corporate
purchas