Cherry picking?_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Cherry picking?

A bunch of new airlines set about cherry-picking when deregulation of the skies in Europe and the United States allowed them into the market. Within limits, they were able to choose which routes to operate on. They were unencumbered with the obligations that the traditional national carriers had had to bear in the interests of government policies on transport and/or regional development.

In banking and insurance, cherry-picking newcomers were able to undermine the business of old-timers in just a few years at the end of the 20th century. Firms such as Direct Line, a British telesales insurance business, rapidly won market share by focusing on a narrow (profitable) segment of the market and avoiding costly traditional distribution channels.

The success of cherry-picking emphasizes something known as the survivorship bias: the tendency of business analysts to judge the past by the record of relatively long-term survivors, ignoring those who drowned or came and went in the meantime.

- Idea, Economist.com, July 21, 2008.

2. The wait to be seated at a restaurant usually depends on the time of day you visit as well as the size of your party. But one study suggests it’s not that simple: Restaurant personnel may cherry-pick who to serve first, especially if given the choice between small parties and larger groups.

After surveying 263 individuals who worked in restaurants around the world, Cornell University researcher Gary Thompson found that 17 percent of respondents admitted to restricting or discouraging parties of six or more people from dining at their restaurant. He also conducted a simulation using 384 restaurant environments to look at when cherry-picking works as a business tactic.