商业 星巴克对决卡夫 不合引发连环炮

　　The kings of coffee brawl with the monarchs of macaroni

　　咖啡之王对决通心粉之霸

　　STARBUCKS once seemed so unstoppable that the Onion, a satirical paper, joked about a new Starbucks opening in the restroom of an existing Starbucks.

　　星巴克曾经势不可挡，以至于以嘲讽著称的onion报开玩笑称星巴克的新店会开在老店的厕所内。

　　Yet by January 2008, when Howard Schultz, the coffee chain's most effective boss, returned as chief executive, it was rapidly declining.

　　但是在2008年前，他的业绩款速下降。直至最为卓著的领导人Howard Schultz返回公司担任董事长。

　　Mr Schultz closed stores, shed staff, slimmed the supply chain and arrested Starbucks's slide.

　　Schultz先生关闭门店，裁减雇员，简化供应链。力挽了星巴克的颓势。

　　In fiscal 2010 the firm's operating margins rebounded to 13.8%, the highest in its 40-year history.

　　2010财政年度，星巴克的运营利润率反弹至13.8%，为星巴克40年历史的最高。

　　One of the problems Mr Schultz found, after a review of the business, was in the way Starbucks-brand coffee was sold in supermarkets.

　　重新审视业务之后，Schultz发现其中一个问题-星巴克品牌在超市里售卖。

　　The so-called consumer-packaged goods (CPG) business is handled by Kraft, America's biggest food company, which is best known for having mastered the art of mixing macaroni with cheese.

　　号称快消品业务是由美国最大的食品公司卡夫经营的，卡夫由于其搅拌芝士通心粉而被人熟知。

　　Following an agreement in 1998, Kraft sells, markets and distributes bags of Starbucks coffee.

　　按照1998年达成的协议，卡夫分销袋装星巴克咖啡。

　　Mr Schultz told Kraft he was dissatisfied.

　　Schultz先生告知卡夫他对此感到不满意。

　　Kraft acknowledged the complaint, but, according to Starbucks, failed to act because it was focused on the takeover of Cadbury, a maker of superior British sweets such as Creme Eggs.

　　卡夫证实了Schultz的抱怨，但是按照星巴克的说法，他之所以不采取行动是由于卡夫把业务重心放在收购吉百利上面，吉百利是英国优质糖果制造商，其代表商品有糖心巧克力。

　　By the spring of last year, both sides realised that their partnership was broken.

　　去年春天，双方都意识到他们的合作关系已经破裂。

　　Starbucks says it offered Kraft $500m to give back the CPG business.

　　星巴克声称他将出价5亿美元买回其快消业余。

　　As part of the proposed deal, it still wanted to supply capsules for Tassimo, Kraft's single-portion coffee machines.

　　作为意向交易的一部分，星巴克依然使用卡夫的全自动Tassimo咖啡机。

　　Kraft initially agreed to the buy-out offer, but then changed its mind and demanded another $200m, according to Starbucks.

　　星巴克声称：卡夫同意了此项收购，但是接着就改变了主意并要求追加2亿。

　　Kraft disputes this account.

　　卡夫对否认了此种说法。

　　It claims that Starbucks offered $750m to buy out the business in August. It adds that it rejected the offer. A fair price would be $1.5 billion, Kraft says.

　　卡夫声称星巴在八月克出价7.5亿美元来买下了业务，卡夫补充到其拒绝了此项收购，合适的价格应该为15亿美元。

　　In October Starbucks told Kraft that it was in material breach of their agreement.

　　十月，星巴克告知卡夫他严重违约。

　　Unless the matter was resolved within 30 days, Starbucks said, all their agreements (including the one on Tassimo) would end by March 1st and Kraft would get nothing.

　　除非30日内得到解决，否则所有协议（包括Tassimo咖啡机的协议）最迟将于3月1日作废届时卡夫将一无所获。

　　The alleged breaches include Kraft's failure to involve Starbucks in sales planning, to provide detailed budgets and to obtain approval for advertising.

　　所谓的违约包括卡夫未能将星巴克纳入到其销售计划中，未能提供详尽的经费以及未能获得广告推广的批准。

　　Starbucks says Kraft also violated an exclusivity deal by promoting its own premium coffee.

　　星巴克说卡夫还通过推广自己的优质咖啡而违反了了排他协议。

　　Kraft says all these alleged breaches are baseless. It says Starbucks brewed them up to give itself a pretext for grabbing back the best part of its business (its coffee shops are still sluggish) without paying for it.

　　卡夫方面宣称这些所谓的违约时无依据的，星巴克制造了这些说辞来作为重夺优质市场而不花一分钱的借口，星巴克的咖啡店业务进展缓慢。

　　Mr Schultz declared war. In November he announced that Starbucks was ending its relationship with Kraft unilaterally.

　　Schul提起开始仲裁希望改变这种情况。

　　On November 29th Kraft initiated an arbitration proceeding to challenge this move. Ignoring the arbitration, Starbucks said a couple of days later that from March onwards it would distribute its packaged coffee through Acosta, a marketing firm.

　　星巴克方面宣称将不理会仲裁并于数十天后的3月开始通过行销机构Acosta来销售包装咖啡。

　　In 2009 Acosta helped Starbucks to launch Via, a popular brand of instant coffee.

　　2009年Acosta帮助星巴克开创了Via-大受欢迎的速溶咖啡。

　　On December 6th Kraft sought a preliminary injunction against Starbucks in a District Court of New York, for allegedly violating the terms of their agreement.

　　据宣称12月6日卡夫以违反协议条款为理由向纽约地区地区法院申请一项初步禁令，听证会将暂定于于1月27日举行。

　　The hearing of the injunction is tentatively scheduled for January 27th. Kraft says that it played a central role in the success of Starbucks's packaged-coffee business, which grew tenfold during the course of their partnership.

　　卡夫方面称其在星巴克的包装咖啡业务从双方开始合作到现今增长十倍上发挥着核心作用。

　　Starbucks retorts that it could have grown faster if someone else had handled it.

　　星巴克方面则反驳若是其他人经营业务本该增长的更快。

　　Even so, it will be tricky to prove material breaches of the agreement, so Starbucks will probably have to pay to end it.

　　即便这样，证明重大违约行为将变得非常棘手，星巴克极有可能以收购了事。

　　Kraft stands to lose not only a lucrative business but also some "category captaincies".

　　卡夫不仅失去了获利颇丰的业务而且部分领军地位。

　　Each large American retailer elects a product-category captain who is closely involved in how its sales are managed.

　　每个美国大型零售商都会选择一家积极处理与之相关业务的领军企业。

　　Kraft is category captain in more than 60% of the supermarkets in which it distributes coffee. Acosta will soon be vying for this profitable honour.

　　卡夫占据了超市咖啡分销市场60%以上的份额，Acosta也将紧盯这快大肥肉。