Use of English B2. Manufacturing Company

Semco, a Brazilian manufacturing company, is possibly one of … companies in the world.

… its competitors, there are no job titles, offices, bosses or secretaries.

People … their own salaries and organise their own work day, and everyone shares in the profits.

This may sound like a(n) …. for disaster.

Nonetheless, Semco has grown consistently for the last twenty years, despite … in one of the world's most volatile markets.

Ricardo Semler … the company from his father at the tender age of 21.

If there hadn't been a worldwide , such responsibility might not have fallen so early on this young man's shoulders.

However, Semler saw an … for change, since Semco had been previously run on traditional authoritarian lines.

Overnight he … 60% of the company's top management, many of whom were his father's friends.

Semler set to work … a diversification strategy.

One of his managers came up with the idea of small, self-managed teams of workers who would be entirely … all aspects of production.

Their salaries would be … the profit they made.

Not only did costs go down, but productivity and … also went up.

The new Semco … .