为什么说公司并非越大越好

 　　Growth has long been the imperative¹ in economics and business. As the world’s population tops 7 billion, and soon 8 and 9, it’s becoming clear that the best performing organizations, and perhaps countries, will be less defined by absolute size and more defined by the speed and agility² that comes from clarity of purpose, strategic insight and decisive action. As the scale of human organizing expands to unprecedented³ levels, the winners will be those people, organizations, and countries that can: focus on what matters most to their core stakeholders; rapidly process new information, learn from it, and then thoughtfully and deliberately⁴ act amid the complexity⁵.

　　长久以来，在经济和商业领域，发展壮大都是第一要务。在世界人口突破70亿大关，并且很快将会超过80亿甚至90亿的大背景下，一个越来越清晰的趋势是，最优秀的公司和国家将不再以绝对规模取胜，而是以清晰的目标、战略眼光和果断行动所带来的速度与敏捷性著称。随着人类组织的规模达到前所未有的程度，未来的人、公司和国家要想成为赢家，必须要做到：专注于对其核心利益相关者最为重要的事情；快速处理新信息，并从中学习，然后在错综复杂的形势中采取周全、慎重的行动。

　　Think Airbnb. They’ve experienced explosive growth – and not by the traditional means of buying or building more properties. They did it by understanding what really mattered to those booking hotel rooms. They did it by studying the emergence⁶ of the “sharing economy.” And, absent a vast footprint of physical assets, they did it by acting⁷ decisively to create a whole new model for meeting this traditional need – a model that delivers competitive advantage through scale but not in a traditional sense of physically⁸ controlled properties. Indeed, Airbnb not only created a new model, it created a new market.

　　就以房屋租赁社区Airbnb为例。这家公司经历了爆炸式增长——而且并非通过收购或建设更多物业这类传统方式。该公司之所以能够实现快速增长，是因为他们清楚对预定酒店房间的人来说真正重要的是什么，还因为他们认真研究了“分享经济”的崛起。虽然没有大量有形资产，但他们果断地创建了一种新模式来满足传统需求——这种模式也是通过规模化来实现竞争优势，但并非传统意义上的实际控制物业。事实上，Airbnb不仅创建了一种新模式，也创造了一个新市场。

　　为什么说公司并非越大越好

　　In today’s global marketplace that operates 24/7, the traditional barriers to entry are falling, and traditional conceptualizations of growth as increasing in size and span of control are losing their potency⁹. Market and customer access have become easier; product and idea life cycles are shrinking as ideas, data, and knowledge travel fast and openly across the Internet. Competitive advantage gained from expensive product innovations is shorter-lived. And brands are losing their stickiness amid an onslaught of data, ideas and emotional triggers that compete for human attention, loyalty¹⁰ and spending.

　　在如今这样一个全天候运转的全球化市场上，传统的准入壁垒正在消失，传统的增长观念，即扩大规模和控制范围，正在失去其效能。市场进入和客户接触变得越来越简单；产品与创意的生命周期正在缩短，因为各种理念、数据和知识可以通过互联网迅速而公开地传播。通过昂贵的产品创新获得的竞争优势无法持久。数据、理念和情感触发器(emotional trigger)正在激烈争夺人类的关注、忠诚度和支出，其结果是，品牌正在丧失客户黏性。

　　In light of these changes, it’s not surprising that we’re seeing new approaches to driving growth throughout the Fortune 500. One example is the recent spate¹¹ of mammoth¹² splits at traditional powerhouse firms including Motorola , Kraft and Abbott. In each case, powerful CEOs chose to divide the size of their companies (and spans of control) in half in order to increase focus and speed growth. For the same reasons, portfolio¹³ rationalizations are now commonplace; e.g., Procter & Gamble, ITW and Unilever . And even more recently, expensive inversions¹⁴ have become in vogue¹⁵, including firms like Eaton and Abbvie.

　　鉴于这些变化，《财富》500强公司（Fortune 500）纷纷采取新方法来推动增长，这并不意外。例如，一些传统的强势公司最近纷纷选择瘦身，其中包括摩托罗拉（Motorola）、卡夫食品（Kraft）和雅培（Abbott）。这些公司的CEO之所以选择将公司规模（与控制范围）缩小一半，就是为了提高专注度，加快增长。出于同样的理由，产品组合合理化也变得非常普遍，这样做的公司包括宝洁（Procter & Gamble）、ITW集团和联合利华（Unilever）。就在最近，包括伊顿（Eaton）和艾伯维（Abbvie）在内的一些公司甚至开始频频采用昂贵的税收倒置策略。

　　CEOs of traditional mega-conglomerates are literally¹⁶ slicing up and uprooting¹⁷ their organizations in order to fuel growth. And they have to because the successes of companies like Airbnb and Uber have shown that smaller firms with simpler and more nimble infrastructures¹⁸ can win – just look at the market caps being attached to these asset-lite firms. This is not to suggest that building scale and pursuing acquisitions are no longer important drivers of growth. It does mean however that these strategies will be held to greater scrutiny¹⁹ as the idea that “bigger is always better” becomes quaint²⁰.

　　实际上，这些巨无霸公司的CEO们正在将分割和彻底变革各自的组织，以推动这些公司的发展。他们不得不这么做，因为Airbnb和租车公司Uber的成功证明，规模更小、基础设施更简单、更灵活的公司，可以取得成功——看看这些资产几乎可忽略不计的公司的市值，你就会恍然大悟。当然，这并不意味着扩大规模和并购不再是推动增长的重要因素。随着“更大总是更好”这种理念不再是主流意识，公司必须更加慎重地考虑规模化和并购这些传统策略。

　　And who is going to lead these firms of the future? We’ll need leaders with deep insight into their organizations’ markets, customers and capabilities²¹; leaders who create and leverage²² more flexible architectures for connecting and collaborating²³; leaders who foster cultures based on constant self-scrutiny, innovation and an ability to forge unexpected partnerships²⁴; leaders who can keep pace with new market opportunities and ever-more-aggressive investor²⁵ herds²⁶; leaders who can inspire new kinds of growth.

　　那么，谁将领导未来的公司？我们需要的领导人，必须对公司的市场、客户和能力有深刻见解；能够创建和利用更加灵活的架构，进行联合和合作；能够基于自省、创新和建立意料之外的合作关系的能力，培养公司文化；能够抓住新的市场机遇，跟上更激进的投资者的步伐；能够启发新的增长模式。

1 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

2 agility   

n.敏捷，活泼

参考例句：

• The boy came upstairs with agility.那男孩敏捷地走上楼来。
• His intellect and mental agility have never been in doubt.他的才智和机敏从未受到怀疑。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

5 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

6 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

8 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

9 potency   

n. 效力，潜能

参考例句：

• Alcohol increases the drug's potency.酒精能增加这种毒品的效力。
• Sunscreen can lose its potency if left over winter in the bathroom cabinet.如果把防晒霜在盥洗室的壁橱里放一个冬天，就有可能失效。

10 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

11 spate   

n.泛滥，洪水，突然的一阵

参考例句：

• Police are investigating a spate of burglaries in the area.警察正在调查这一地区发生的大量盗窃案。
• Refugees crossed the border in full spate.难民大量地越过了边境。

12 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

13 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。

14 inversions   

倒置( inversion的名词复数 )； （尤指词序）倒装； 转化； （染色体的）倒位

参考例句：

• Chromosome breaks may also lead to inversions and translocations. 染色体破裂也可能引起倒位与易位。
• The males suspected to have induced inversions were later used to build up stocks. 疑有诱发倒位的雄性然后用于建立原种。

15 Vogue   

n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的

参考例句：

• Flowery carpets became the vogue.花卉地毯变成了时髦货。
• Short hair came back into vogue about ten years ago.大约十年前短发又开始流行起来了。

16 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

17 uprooting   

n.倒根，挖除伐根v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的现在分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园

参考例句：

• He is hard at work uprooting wild grass in the field. 他正在田里辛苦地芟夷呢。 来自互联网
• A storm raged through the village, uprooting trees and flattening crops. 暴风雨袭击了村庄，拔起了树木，吹倒了庄稼。 来自互联网

18 infrastructures   

n.基础设施( infrastructure的名词复数 )；基础结构；行政机构；秘密机构

参考例句：

• Public transportation termini and depots are important infrastructures for a city. 公交场站设施是城市重要的基础设施。 来自互联网
• The increasingly fast urbanization process requires more and more infrastructures. 我国城市化进程不断加快，对城市基础设施的需求也越来越大。 来自互联网

19 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

20 quaint   

adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的

参考例句：

• There were many small lanes in the quaint village.在这古香古色的村庄里，有很多小巷。
• They still keep some quaint old customs.他们仍然保留着一些稀奇古怪的旧风俗。

21 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

22 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。

23 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

24 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

25 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

26 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。