Broken windows, broken business

The book Broken Windows, Broken Business, by Michael Levine, was inspired by an article entitled Broken Windows, by criminologists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in the March, 1982 issue of Atlantic Monthly. Wilson and Kelling suggested that when laws against minor crimes, such as graffiti and turnstile1 jumping, are enforced, and broken windows are promptly repaired, major crime rates will decline.

When Rudolph Giuliani became mayor of New York City in 1994, he worked with police commissioner William Bratton to implement a “zero tolerance” broken windows policy. Graffiti was promptly cleaned up on subway cars. Turnstile jumping wasn’t tolerated. Laws against petty crimes were enforced. Those guys who’d take advantage of traffic jams or red lights to jump in front of cars with a squeegee2, quickly cleaning the windshield and begging for money were arrested on the grounds of jaywalking316 ! A good many of them were carrying weapons. Over the following few years, the number of murders, assaults, robberies and other violent crimes went down dramatically. It was made clear that the good guys would be in charge there, not wrongdoers.

Levine says the same principle applies to businesses. Business owners and their employees must become fanatics in attending to the details of presenting outstanding customer service and in the image presented by the business to inspire customer confidence and loyalty. The broken windows theory is all about the unmistakable power of perception, about what people see and the conclusions they draw from it. In business, perception is even more critical. The way a customer (or potential customer) perceives your business is a crucial element in your success or failure. Make one mistake, have one rude employee, let that customer walk away with a negative experience one time, and you are inviting disaster. Small things make a huge difference in business. The messy condiment area at a fast food restaurant may lead consumers to believe the company as a whole doesn’t care about cleanliness, and therefore the food itself might be in question. Indifferent help at the counter in an upscale clothing store — even if just one clerk — can signal to the consumer that perhaps standards here aren’t as high as they might be (or used to be). An employee at the gas station who wears a T-shirt with an offensive slogan can certainly cause some customers to switch brands of gasoline and lose an enormous company those customers for life.

Mystery shoppers should be regularly employed to learn whether customers are having a positive experience dealing with a company. Candidates for mystery shoppers to recruit include customers who already complain about their experiences with the company.

It is critical that the right kind of people (those who enjoy dealing with people) be hired for customer contact positions. Employees exhibiting an attitude of “a smile isn’t in my job description” must be told that a smile certainly is required, and to find other employment if they can’t fulfill the required behavior.

The worst business scenario is “broken window hubris4”. Examples are Kmart and Enron. A company suffers from broken window hubris when management thinks the business is so successful that it’s no longer important to please customers.

Internet: <www.profitadvisors.com> (adapted).

¹turnstile – a narrow gate at the entrance of something, with metal bars that move in a circle so that only one person at a time can go through.

²squeegee – an object used for cleaning windows, consisting of a short handle with a rubber blade.

³jaywalking – a dangerous or illegal way of crossing a street at a place where cars do not usually stop.

⁴hubris – a very proud way of talking or behaving that offends people.

According to the text,

some employees think they do not have to be nice with customers.

Broken windows, broken business

The book Broken Windows, Broken Business, by Michael Levine, was inspired by an article entitled Broken Windows, by criminologists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in the March, 1982 issue of Atlantic Monthly. Wilson and Kelling suggested that when laws against minor crimes, such as graffiti and turnstile1 jumping, are enforced, and broken windows are promptly repaired, major crime rates will decline.

When Rudolph Giuliani became mayor of New York City in 1994, he worked with police commissioner William Bratton to implement a “zero tolerance” broken windows policy. Graffiti was promptly cleaned up on subway cars. Turnstile jumping wasn’t tolerated. Laws against petty crimes were enforced. Those guys who’d take advantage of traffic jams or red lights to jump in front of cars with a squeegee2, quickly cleaning the windshield and begging for money were arrested on the grounds of jaywalking316 ! A good many of them were carrying weapons. Over the following few years, the number of murders, assaults, robberies and other violent crimes went down dramatically. It was made clear that the good guys would be in charge there, not wrongdoers.

Levine says the same principle applies to businesses. Business owners and their employees must become fanatics in attending to the details of presenting outstanding customer service and in the image presented by the business to inspire customer confidence and loyalty. The broken windows theory is all about the unmistakable power of perception, about what people see and the conclusions they draw from it. In business, perception is even more critical. The way a customer (or potential customer) perceives your business is a crucial element in your success or failure. Make one mistake, have one rude employee, let that customer walk away with a negative experience one time, and you are inviting disaster. Small things make a huge difference in business. The messy condiment area at a fast food restaurant may lead consumers to believe the company as a whole doesn’t care about cleanliness, and therefore the food itself might be in question. Indifferent help at the counter in an upscale clothing store — even if just one clerk — can signal to the consumer that perhaps standards here aren’t as high as they might be (or used to be). An employee at the gas station who wears a T-shirt with an offensive slogan can certainly cause some customers to switch brands of gasoline and lose an enormous company those customers for life.

Mystery shoppers should be regularly employed to learn whether customers are having a positive experience dealing with a company. Candidates for mystery shoppers to recruit include customers who already complain about their experiences with the company.

It is critical that the right kind of people (those who enjoy dealing with people) be hired for customer contact positions. Employees exhibiting an attitude of “a smile isn’t in my job description” must be told that a smile certainly is required, and to find other employment if they can’t fulfill the required behavior.

The worst business scenario is “broken window hubris4”. Examples are Kmart and Enron. A company suffers from broken window hubris when management thinks the business is so successful that it’s no longer important to please customers.

Internet: <www.profitadvisors.com> (adapted).

¹turnstile – a narrow gate at the entrance of something, with metal bars that move in a circle so that only one person at a time can go through.

²squeegee – an object used for cleaning windows, consisting of a short handle with a rubber blade.

³jaywalking – a dangerous or illegal way of crossing a street at a place where cars do not usually stop.

⁴hubris – a very proud way of talking or behaving that offends people.

It can be inferred from the text that

time and money spent training employees on how to deal with people really pays off.

Broken windows, broken business

The book Broken Windows, Broken Business, by Michael Levine, was inspired by an article entitled Broken Windows, by criminologists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in the March, 1982 issue of Atlantic Monthly. Wilson and Kelling suggested that when laws against minor crimes, such as graffiti and turnstile1 jumping, are enforced, and broken windows are promptly repaired, major crime rates will decline.

When Rudolph Giuliani became mayor of New York City in 1994, he worked with police commissioner William Bratton to implement a “zero tolerance” broken windows policy. Graffiti was promptly cleaned up on subway cars. Turnstile jumping wasn’t tolerated. Laws against petty crimes were enforced. Those guys who’d take advantage of traffic jams or red lights to jump in front of cars with a squeegee2, quickly cleaning the windshield and begging for money were arrested on the grounds of jaywalking316 ! A good many of them were carrying weapons. Over the following few years, the number of murders, assaults, robberies and other violent crimes went down dramatically. It was made clear that the good guys would be in charge there, not wrongdoers.

Levine says the same principle applies to businesses. Business owners and their employees must become fanatics in attending to the details of presenting outstanding customer service and in the image presented by the business to inspire customer confidence and loyalty. The broken windows theory is all about the unmistakable power of perception, about what people see and the conclusions they draw from it. In business, perception is even more critical. The way a customer (or potential customer) perceives your business is a crucial element in your success or failure. Make one mistake, have one rude employee, let that customer walk away with a negative experience one time, and you are inviting disaster. Small things make a huge difference in business. The messy condiment area at a fast food restaurant may lead consumers to believe the company as a whole doesn’t care about cleanliness, and therefore the food itself might be in question. Indifferent help at the counter in an upscale clothing store — even if just one clerk — can signal to the consumer that perhaps standards here aren’t as high as they might be (or used to be). An employee at the gas station who wears a T-shirt with an offensive slogan can certainly cause some customers to switch brands of gasoline and lose an enormous company those customers for life.

Mystery shoppers should be regularly employed to learn whether customers are having a positive experience dealing with a company. Candidates for mystery shoppers to recruit include customers who already complain about their experiences with the company.

It is critical that the right kind of people (those who enjoy dealing with people) be hired for customer contact positions. Employees exhibiting an attitude of “a smile isn’t in my job description” must be told that a smile certainly is required, and to find other employment if they can’t fulfill the required behavior.

The worst business scenario is “broken window hubris4”. Examples are Kmart and Enron. A company suffers from broken window hubris when management thinks the business is so successful that it’s no longer important to please customers.

Internet: <www.profitadvisors.com> (adapted).

¹turnstile – a narrow gate at the entrance of something, with metal bars that move in a circle so that only one person at a time can go through.

²squeegee – an object used for cleaning windows, consisting of a short handle with a rubber blade.

³jaywalking – a dangerous or illegal way of crossing a street at a place where cars do not usually stop.

⁴hubris – a very proud way of talking or behaving that offends people.

According to the text,

for customer contact positions, the candidate’s educational background is the decisive factor.

Broken windows, broken business

The book Broken Windows, Broken Business, by Michael Levine, was inspired by an article entitled Broken Windows, by criminologists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in the March, 1982 issue of Atlantic Monthly. Wilson and Kelling suggested that when laws against minor crimes, such as graffiti and turnstile1 jumping, are enforced, and broken windows are promptly repaired, major crime rates will decline.

When Rudolph Giuliani became mayor of New York City in 1994, he worked with police commissioner William Bratton to implement a “zero tolerance” broken windows policy. Graffiti was promptly cleaned up on subway cars. Turnstile jumping wasn’t tolerated. Laws against petty crimes were enforced. Those guys who’d take advantage of traffic jams or red lights to jump in front of cars with a squeegee2, quickly cleaning the windshield and begging for money were arrested on the grounds of jaywalking316 ! A good many of them were carrying weapons. Over the following few years, the number of murders, assaults, robberies and other violent crimes went down dramatically. It was made clear that the good guys would be in charge there, not wrongdoers.

Levine says the same principle applies to businesses. Business owners and their employees must become fanatics in attending to the details of presenting outstanding customer service and in the image presented by the business to inspire customer confidence and loyalty. The broken windows theory is all about the unmistakable power of perception, about what people see and the conclusions they draw from it. In business, perception is even more critical. The way a customer (or potential customer) perceives your business is a crucial element in your success or failure. Make one mistake, have one rude employee, let that customer walk away with a negative experience one time, and you are inviting disaster. Small things make a huge difference in business. The messy condiment area at a fast food restaurant may lead consumers to believe the company as a whole doesn’t care about cleanliness, and therefore the food itself might be in question. Indifferent help at the counter in an upscale clothing store — even if just one clerk — can signal to the consumer that perhaps standards here aren’t as high as they might be (or used to be). An employee at the gas station who wears a T-shirt with an offensive slogan can certainly cause some customers to switch brands of gasoline and lose an enormous company those customers for life.

Mystery shoppers should be regularly employed to learn whether customers are having a positive experience dealing with a company. Candidates for mystery shoppers to recruit include customers who already complain about their experiences with the company.

It is critical that the right kind of people (those who enjoy dealing with people) be hired for customer contact positions. Employees exhibiting an attitude of “a smile isn’t in my job description” must be told that a smile certainly is required, and to find other employment if they can’t fulfill the required behavior.

The worst business scenario is “broken window hubris4”. Examples are Kmart and Enron. A company suffers from broken window hubris when management thinks the business is so successful that it’s no longer important to please customers.

Internet: <www.profitadvisors.com> (adapted).

¹turnstile – a narrow gate at the entrance of something, with metal bars that move in a circle so that only one person at a time can go through.

²squeegee – an object used for cleaning windows, consisting of a short handle with a rubber blade.

³jaywalking – a dangerous or illegal way of crossing a street at a place where cars do not usually stop.

⁴hubris – a very proud way of talking or behaving that offends people.

It can be inferred from the text that

quality customer service seems to be the key to loyal and confident customers.

Broken windows, broken business

The book Broken Windows, Broken Business, by Michael Levine, was inspired by an article entitled Broken Windows, by criminologists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in the March, 1982 issue of Atlantic Monthly. Wilson and Kelling suggested that when laws against minor crimes, such as graffiti and turnstile1 jumping, are enforced, and broken windows are promptly repaired, major crime rates will decline.

When Rudolph Giuliani became mayor of New York City in 1994, he worked with police commissioner William Bratton to implement a “zero tolerance” broken windows policy. Graffiti was promptly cleaned up on subway cars. Turnstile jumping wasn’t tolerated. Laws against petty crimes were enforced. Those guys who’d take advantage of traffic jams or red lights to jump in front of cars with a squeegee2, quickly cleaning the windshield and begging for money were arrested on the grounds of jaywalking316 ! A good many of them were carrying weapons. Over the following few years, the number of murders, assaults, robberies and other violent crimes went down dramatically. It was made clear that the good guys would be in charge there, not wrongdoers.

Levine says the same principle applies to businesses. Business owners and their employees must become fanatics in attending to the details of presenting outstanding customer service and in the image presented by the business to inspire customer confidence and loyalty. The broken windows theory is all about the unmistakable power of perception, about what people see and the conclusions they draw from it. In business, perception is even more critical. The way a customer (or potential customer) perceives your business is a crucial element in your success or failure. Make one mistake, have one rude employee, let that customer walk away with a negative experience one time, and you are inviting disaster. Small things make a huge difference in business. The messy condiment area at a fast food restaurant may lead consumers to believe the company as a whole doesn’t care about cleanliness, and therefore the food itself might be in question. Indifferent help at the counter in an upscale clothing store — even if just one clerk — can signal to the consumer that perhaps standards here aren’t as high as they might be (or used to be). An employee at the gas station who wears a T-shirt with an offensive slogan can certainly cause some customers to switch brands of gasoline and lose an enormous company those customers for life.

Mystery shoppers should be regularly employed to learn whether customers are having a positive experience dealing with a company. Candidates for mystery shoppers to recruit include customers who already complain about their experiences with the company.

It is critical that the right kind of people (those who enjoy dealing with people) be hired for customer contact positions. Employees exhibiting an attitude of “a smile isn’t in my job description” must be told that a smile certainly is required, and to find other employment if they can’t fulfill the required behavior.

The worst business scenario is “broken window hubris4”. Examples are Kmart and Enron. A company suffers from broken window hubris when management thinks the business is so successful that it’s no longer important to please customers.

Internet: <www.profitadvisors.com> (adapted).

¹turnstile – a narrow gate at the entrance of something, with metal bars that move in a circle so that only one person at a time can go through.

²squeegee – an object used for cleaning windows, consisting of a short handle with a rubber blade.

³jaywalking – a dangerous or illegal way of crossing a street at a place where cars do not usually stop.

⁴hubris – a very proud way of talking or behaving that offends people.

According to the text,

the more successful a company is, the more satisfied its customers are.

PETROBRAS is the world’s eighth most respected company

PETROBRAS has skyrocketed to the 8th place among the world’s most respected corporations, up from the 83rd position. The ranking was announced by the Reputation Institute (RI), a private advisory and research company headquartered in New York with representation in upwards of 20 countries.

The survey, carried out for the tenth year in a row, lists the world’s 600 biggest companies. The Reputation Institute created a research model to measure the perceptions of esteem, trust, respect, and admiration consumers have of companies. RI interviewed upwards of 60,000 people, from January to February 2007, in 29 countries. In the survey it announced in May, 2007, RI highlights PETROBRAS’ leap to 82.19 points in 2007, up from 73.99 in 2006, the biggest surge registered among the top 8. The company rose 75 positions to rank ahead of companies of the likes of Michelin, UPS, the Swatch Group, Honda, and Kraft Foods. PETROBRAS also leads the pack among energy companies. The segment’s runner-up was Russian Gazprom-neft, which was rated 28th.

The same international rating singles PETROBRAS out as the Brazilian leader. Twenty Brazilian companies participated in the survey, four of which rated among the top 50 led by PETROBRAS. In the 2006 survey, no Brazilian companies appeared amid the world’s 50 most respected corporations.

Internet: <www.petrobras.com.br> (adapted).

Based on the text above, judge the following item.

According to the Reputation Institute, in 2007 PETROBRAS has become the most respected Brazilian company as well as the most respected energy company in the world.

Broken windows, broken business

The book Broken Windows, Broken Business, by Michael Levine, was inspired by an article entitled Broken Windows, by criminologists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in the March, 1982 issue of Atlantic Monthly. Wilson and Kelling suggested that when laws against minor crimes, such as graffiti and turnstile1 jumping, are enforced, and broken windows are promptly repaired, major crime rates will decline.

When Rudolph Giuliani became mayor of New York City in 1994, he worked with police commissioner William Bratton to implement a “zero tolerance” broken windows policy. Graffiti was promptly cleaned up on subway cars. Turnstile jumping wasn’t tolerated. Laws against petty crimes were enforced. Those guys who’d take advantage of traffic jams or red lights to jump in front of cars with a squeegee2, quickly cleaning the windshield and begging for money were arrested on the grounds of jaywalking316 ! A good many of them were carrying weapons. Over the following few years, the number of murders, assaults, robberies and other violent crimes went down dramatically. It was made clear that the good guys would be in charge there, not wrongdoers.

Levine says the same principle applies to businesses. Business owners and their employees must become fanatics in attending to the details of presenting outstanding customer service and in the image presented by the business to inspire customer confidence and loyalty. The broken windows theory is all about the unmistakable power of perception, about what people see and the conclusions they draw from it. In business, perception is even more critical. The way a customer (or potential customer) perceives your business is a crucial element in your success or failure. Make one mistake, have one rude employee, let that customer walk away with a negative experience one time, and you are inviting disaster. Small things make a huge difference in business. The messy condiment area at a fast food restaurant may lead consumers to believe the company as a whole doesn’t care about cleanliness, and therefore the food itself might be in question. Indifferent help at the counter in an upscale clothing store — even if just one clerk — can signal to the consumer that perhaps standards here aren’t as high as they might be (or used to be). An employee at the gas station who wears a T-shirt with an offensive slogan can certainly cause some customers to switch brands of gasoline and lose an enormous company those customers for life.

Mystery shoppers should be regularly employed to learn whether customers are having a positive experience dealing with a company. Candidates for mystery shoppers to recruit include customers who already complain about their experiences with the company.

It is critical that the right kind of people (those who enjoy dealing with people) be hired for customer contact positions. Employees exhibiting an attitude of “a smile isn’t in my job description” must be told that a smile certainly is required, and to find other employment if they can’t fulfill the required behavior.

The worst business scenario is “broken window hubris4”. Examples are Kmart and Enron. A company suffers from broken window hubris when management thinks the business is so successful that it’s no longer important to please customers.

Internet: <www.profitadvisors.com> (adapted).

¹turnstile – a narrow gate at the entrance of something, with metal bars that move in a circle so that only one person at a time can go through.

²squeegee – an object used for cleaning windows, consisting of a short handle with a rubber blade.

³jaywalking – a dangerous or illegal way of crossing a street at a place where cars do not usually stop.

⁴hubris – a very proud way of talking or behaving that offends people.

In the text,

the use of “will” expresses a polite request.

Na figura acima, está esquematizado o projeto de construção de um oleoduto que deverá ligar uma plataforma de prospecção de petróleo, localizada em alto mar, a uma refinaria da PETROBRAS, localizada em terra firme. O ponto indicado por A na figura é o local em terra firme mais próximo da plataforma, e a distância de A à plataforma é igual a D km. A refinaria está localizada no ponto B, à distância de d km do ponto A. O segmento AB, todo em terra firme, é perpendicular ao segmento que liga a plataforma ao ponto A. Sabe-se que o custo por quilômetro de oleoduto construído no mar é igual a P reais e, em terra firme, !$ \dfrac{P}{5} !$ a reais. Assim, deseja-se determinar um ponto C, em terra firme e sobre o segmento AB, de forma que, construindo-se o oleoduto no mar, da plataforma ao ponto C, e, em terra firme, de C à refinaria, o custo total do oleoduto a ser construído seja o menor possível.

Com base nessas informações e considerando que x é a distância de A a C e y é a distância de C a B, em km, julgue o item que se segue.

Considerem-se as duas seguintes possibilidades de construção do oleoduto:

I da plataforma ao ponto A, no mar e em linha reta, seguida do trecho AB, em terra firme;

II da plataforma à refinaria, em linha reta, inteiramente no mar.

Nessa situação, independentemente das distâncias D e d, entre as duas opções, a I é a mais econômica quanto aos custos mencionados no texto.

Na figura acima, está esquematizado o projeto de construção de um oleoduto que deverá ligar uma plataforma de prospecção de petróleo, localizada em alto mar, a uma refinaria da PETROBRAS, localizada em terra firme. O ponto indicado por A na figura é o local em terra firme mais próximo da plataforma, e a distância de A à plataforma é igual a D km. A refinaria está localizada no ponto B, à distância de d km do ponto A. O segmento AB, todo em terra firme, é perpendicular ao segmento que liga a plataforma ao ponto A. Sabe-se que o custo por quilômetro de oleoduto construído no mar é igual a P reais e, em terra firme, !$ \dfrac{P}{5} !$ a reais. Assim, deseja-se determinar um ponto C, em terra firme e sobre o segmento AB, de forma que, construindo-se o oleoduto no mar, da plataforma ao ponto C, e, em terra firme, de C à refinaria, o custo total do oleoduto a ser construído seja o menor possível.

Com base nessas informações e considerando que x é a distância de A a C e y é a distância de C a B, em km, julgue o item que se segue.

A função f que descreve o custo total de construção do oleoduto, em relação a x e a y, pode ser corretamente expressa por: !$ f(x,y) = \sqrt{D^2+x^2} \times \dfrac{P}{5}+ P\times y !$

Escassez de petróleo e escassez de água — problemas que vieram para ficar na agenda mundial. O Brasil é ator importante nessa pauta. Possui, como nenhum outro, condições para produzir energia de origem vegetal e está situado sobre o maior reservatório de água doce do mundo. Tamanhas benesses não estão isentas de perigo. O maior deles é a invasão de capitais estrangeiros. Em um mundo temeroso de ficar sedento dentro de umas quantas décadas, a cobiça por essas terras é grande e maior ainda o risco de que sejam poluídas pela expansão de uma cultura dependente de altas doses de agrotóxicos.

Na metade dos anos 50 do século XX, o Brasil cedeu ao capital estrangeiro o controle de sua indústria, mas a propriedade do solo permaneceu majoritariamente nas mãos do capital nacional. A transferência desse patrimônio aos estrangeiros terá conseqüências não apenas econômicas, mas desdobramentos sociais e políticos certamente gravíssimos do ponto de vista da soberania dos brasileiros sobre o seu território.

Plínio de Arruda Sampaio. Energia, água e soberania.
In: Istoé, 11/7/2007 p. 44 (com adaptações).

A partir do texto acima, julgue o item subseqüente.

Mantém-se a correção gramatical do período e atribui-se maior formalidade ao texto ao se empregar de os brasileiros em vez da expressão “dos brasileiros”.