经济学人233:赞成分家的理由 The case for smaller portions

 　　The case for smaller portions

　　赞成分家的理由

　　Should Pepsi break up?

　　百事应该拆分吗？

　　“IFIRMLY believe that Pepsico’s value is maximised as one company,” said IndraNooyi, the boss of PepsiCo, during the announcement of the company’sthird-quarter results on October 12th. What followed was an impassioned pleafor the “Power of One”. That is how Pepsi describes its clout¹ with suppliers,retailers and customers, thanks to its ability to market and distribute severalof its brands together.

　　百事公司老板Indra Nooyi 在10月12日发布公司第三季度业绩报告时说：“我坚信百事公司作为一个整体的价值是最大化的。”随后，她为“整体的力量”做了热情洋溢的辩护。百事公司以这种方式向供应商、零售商和消费者描述了其影响力，这是由于它有能力将其旗下的诸多品牌共同销售及分销。

　　Fuelledby growth in emerging markets, Pepsi’s results were better than expected. Netrevenue increased by 9%, excluding the impact of the company’s recent takeoverof Wimm-Bill-Dann, a Russian food firm. Pepsi’s operating profit was up by 4%compared with the same period last year.

　　受新兴市场增长的推动，百事的业绩较预期的出色。包括近来收购俄罗斯食品公司Wimm-Bill-Dann所带来的巨大影响，百事公司的净收入增长了9%，营业利润较去年同期上涨了4个百分点。

　　Yetperhaps Ms Nooyi protests too much. She has been under fire from investors³ whosay that, in her quest to transform Pepsi into a maker⁴ of healthier wares⁵, shehas taken her eyes off its core business of pushing tasty stuff that’s bad foryou. Its drinks business has lost market share and is dragging down the valueof its snacks operation. The carpers suggest a solution: Pepsi should splitinto two smaller portions, a drinks firm and a snack peddler. That way,Frito-Lay (Doritos, Tostitos and Walkers) would no longer subsidise Pepsi,Gatorade (a sports drink) and Tropicana (a maker of fruit juice).

　　然而，Nooyi女士的辩护也许太过激烈。在她寻求将百事转变成为一个健康饮品制造商的过程中，她已饱受投资者们的批评。投资者们抱怨她不再关注公司的核心业务，那就是推出可口的但不利于健康的食物或饮品。百事公司饮料业务的市场份额已经减少，同时还拖累了其快餐食品业务的价值。一些吹毛求疵的批评家给出了一个可行之道: 百事应该拆分为两个小公司，一家饮料公司和一家食品小商贩。那样，Frito-Lay (Doritos, Tostitos and Walkers)就不会再拖累百事，嘉德乐（一种运动饮料）和Tropicana (一家果汁饮料制造商).

　　In herformer role as Pepsi’s chief strategist, Ms Nooyi set the company on ahealthier course even before becoming its boss, by engineering the takeovers ofTropicana and Quaker Oats, which makes breakfast cereals. She is now makingPepsi’s fizzy drinks less sugary and its snacks as much as 25% less salty and15% less fatty. Her goal is to increase Pepsi’s portfolio⁶ of “good for you”products (nuts, oats, fruit juice) from about $10 billion, or one-fifth ofrevenue, to $30 billion.

　　当Nooyi女士担当百事首席战略官一职时，她甚至在掌管公司之前就已开始实施健康食品生产公司的计划，这通过精心安排收购Tropicana和Quaker Oats公司，这是两家生产早餐麦片的公司。现在，她正在致力于减少百事充气饮料25%的含糖量及食品15%的含脂肪量。她的目标是将百事“健康”产品组合占10亿美元的收入，总收入的1/5，增加至300亿美元。

　　Virtuousthis may be, but it has not been good for the bottom line. Since Ms Nooyi tookover in October 2006 Pepsi’s shares have declined by 7%, while those ofCoca-Cola, its great rival, have risen by 50%. This failure has perhaps beenexacerbated by unhappiness within the company’s American drinks business, whichhas lost three marketing⁷ bosses in just over three years. In the same period itsuffered several marketing flubs, including a botched Tropicana makeover and aconfusing relaunch of Gatorade.

　　这一举措也许有些好高骛远。自2006年10月Nooyi女士担任高管以来，百事的股价下降了7%；与此同时，百事最大的竞争对手可口可乐的股价上升了50%。百事公司美国的饮料业务部中的种种不快使这一失误雪上加霜，在过去的三个多月中已有三位市场营销高管下课。同时，百事还遭受了市场营销策略失误带来的恶果，这包括对Tropicana糟糕的再包装及将Gatorade令人疑惑的重新推入市场。

　　Would asplit help? Pepsi would certainly be following a trend. In January Sara Lee, ahawker of cakes and sausages, said it would split into an American retail² andfood-service business and a meats business. In August, Kraft announced that itwould split its international snack brands (Trident gum, Cadbury’s chocolate)from its North American grocery business, including Maxwell House coffee,Jell-O and Oscar Mayer meats. And earlier this month the shares of twocompanies formed by splitting a wildly diversified⁸ group, Fortune Brands, begantrading on the New York Stock Exchange. Investors could choose between FortuneBrands Home & Security (locks, windows) and Beam (which makes Jim Beam whiskey).

　　公司的拆分能助一臂之力吗？百事必定会追随这一趋势。今年二月，蛋糕和香肠售卖商萨拉·李说百事将会分成一个美国零售业务部和一个食物服务业务部，以及一个肉类食品业部。今年8月，克拉夫特宣称百事会将国际化的食品品牌从北美杂货业务中分离出去，其北美杂货业务包括麦克斯韦尔家庭咖啡，Jell-O 和 Oscar Mayer meats。本月早些时候，通过拆分一家大型多元化公司Fortune Brands而形成的两家公司开始在纽约证券交易所上市交易。投资者们可以在Fortune Brands Home & Security (locks, windows)和Beam (whichmakes Jim Beam whiskey)的股票之间做出选择。

　　Not allthese splits will work out. One or two had a whiff of desperation, says AswathDamodaran of the Stern School of Business. It was as if, having ruthlessly cutcosts and still not improved their performance, the mother companies had simplyrun out of other ideas. Pepsi, by contrast, seems ripe for bisection.

　　并非所有诸如此类的公司拆分都行之有效。由拆分而形成的一家或是两家公司都会有一段绝望的经历，斯登商学院的Aswath Damodaran如是说。这就像，母公司坚决的削减成本，但是却一直没有提升业绩，然后就完全无计可施了。对比起来，百事分家的时机似乎成熟了。

　　MsNooyi seems determined⁹ to keep it in one piece. But the opportunity costs aremounting. She has herself admitted that as a stand-alone company, Frito-Lay,the star in her portfolio, might be the best consumer-goods maker in America.So far activist¹⁰ investors such as, who have successfully pushed for the splitof several consumer-goods companies, have left Pepsi alone. But they may not doso for much longer. It may be time to crack open Pepsi.

　　Nooyi女士似乎决意要维持现状，但是边际成本过高了。她自己已承认，Frito-Lay作为一个独立的企业在百事系列产品中是明星公司，它可能成为美国最好的消费品生产商。到目前为止，一些投资积极分子已经对百事置之不理，诸如成功地推动了几家消费品公司拆分的Nelson Peltz 和 William Ackman公司。但是他们不会长时间袖手旁观。有可能是时候肢解百事公司了。

1 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

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 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

4 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

5 wares   

n. 货物, 商品

参考例句：

• They sold their wares at half-price. 他们的货品是半价出售的。
• The peddler was crying up his wares. 小贩极力夸耀自己的货物。

6 portfolio   

n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位

参考例句：

• He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
• He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。

7 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

8 diversified   

adj.多样化的，多种经营的v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的过去式和过去分词 )；进入新的商业领域

参考例句：

• The college biology department has diversified by adding new courses in biotechnology. 该学院生物系通过增加生物技术方面的新课程而变得多样化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Take grain as the key link, develop a diversified economy and ensure an all-round development. 以粮为纲，多种经营，全面发展。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。