财富精英励志演讲57：信息技术的力量(12)

 　　Now all of us must realize this is not a spectator's sport, when I was just sitting here watching "amazon.com". Every institution and every entity¹ must grab with this issue at the highest level as management. S&Base, Cacherdeck is one of the largest department stores in Europe. But they are making their first foreway into online sales. That is not an easy decision for an enterprise with huge investments and retail² space, not to mention their economic model, their coop culture, rooted and traditional retail sales. Who made the decision for Cacherdeck to jump into online sales? I can assure you it was not their Web master. Increasingly, CEOs of companies, university presidents, government officials are stepping up to these issues. They are testing pilot sites, they are setting strategy, and they are answering questions like "How will this network world affect my organization?" "How are we threatened?" but more importantly, "How can I leverage³ this new medium for competitive advantage?" The toughest, most jocular decisions that need to be made are which browser⁴ or which server their core management and policy issues.

　　当我坐在这儿浏览 amazon.com 时，我们大家或许都已意识到这决不是观众在看体育比赛。每一家机构和实体都应该象抓企业管理的一样抓住这个问题。......是欧洲最大的百货公司之一。它们是第一次走向网络销售。这不是一个轻松的决定，这家企业已经有巨大的投资规模和零售空间，更不要说它的经济模式、企业文化和它传统的零售业务了。是谁作出在线销售的决定的呢？我相信决不是它们的网络主管。逐渐地，公司的 CEO 们，大学校长们，政府官员们都在走近这个问题。他们测试试验网站，制定战略，而且对诸如"这个网络世界会对我们的组织产生何种影响？""我们会受到何种威胁？"以及更重要的"我们如何利用这种新的媒体获得竞争优势？"等问题做出回答。最为为难的、最滑稽的是要决定采用何种浏览器或服务器用于核心管理和政策问题。

　　知识点：

　　1. at the highest level 最高水平

　　eg In fact, at the highest level of integration⁵, they can become a business-wide data warehouse⁶.

　　实际上，在最高的集成层次上，它们可以成为业务范围的数据仓库。

　　2. step up 提高；增加；走近

　　eg He urged donors⁷ to step up their efforts to send aid to Somalia.

　　他敦促捐赠者再接再厉，将救援物资送往索马里。

　　3. more importantly 更重要的是

　　eg More importantly than all of that, she sings in tune⁸.

　　比所有这些更重要的是，她唱得全合调子。

　　人物背景

　　路易斯·郭士纳曾经是君临天下的企业霸主——IBM公司总裁。 路易斯·郭士纳郭士纳从小生长在纽约长岛的一个贫穷家庭里，在一所教会中学渡过全部的少年时光。毕业于哈佛大学商业学院。13年的麦肯锡咨询公司实践磨炼，使他成为一名光芒夺目的商界奇才。郭士纳其璀璨、罕见的管理与经营才干，是这个时代的先锋和佼佼者。美国《时代》周刊这样评价郭士纳——“IBM公司董事长兼首席执行官，被称为电子商务巨子”。

1 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

2 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

3 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

4 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

5 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

6 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

7 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。