华为

　　Seeking its own path

　　走自己的路

　　A Chinese technology company that is steering clear of the stockmarket

　　一个不愿上市的中国电信企业

　　ONE thing about Huawei is easy to understand: its ambition. In Paris on May 7th the Chinese telecoms company showed off the Ascend P7, a sleek smartphone compatible with the speedy fourth-generation mobile-phone networks being built in many countries. Huawei started pushing its own brand of smartphones only in 2011, but by last year it was the world's third-biggest vendor. Though it is still far behind the leaders, Apple and Samsung, it hopes that phones like the P7 will help it close the gap. In its main business, supplying network equipment and services to telecoms operators, it is already a close rival of Ericsson of Sweden. Last year this part of its operations brought in about 70% of its revenue of 239 billion yuan.

　　关于华为，有一点是显而易见的：这是一个有野心的公司。5月7日，华为在巴黎发布了旗舰机Ascend P7，该机兼容现已在多国通行的4G网络。华为从2011年才开始力推其自己的手机品牌，但到2013年，它就成为了全球的第三大手机厂商;虽然与手机行业的领袖苹果和三星还有很大的差距，但它希望通过P7这样的旗舰机缩小这个差距。华为的主营业务是为电信运营商提供网络设备与服务，现在已经是瑞典爱立信的有力竞争对手。2013年，华为的营业额约为2390亿人民币的营收，其中电信业务占70%。

　　华为.jpg

　　Huawei's ownership and management are less well understood. Some American politicians and competitors regard the company as little better than a front for the Chinese state, partly because Ren Zhengfei, its chief executive, was an engineer in the People's Liberation Army before he founded Huawei in 1987. Its network equipment has in effect been shut out of the American market. Huawei has always denied being under the state's thumb. It says that 84,000 Chinese employees own almost all its shares. Mr Ren has a personal stake of only 1.4%.

　　华为的所有权和管理问题就不是那么显而易见了。一些美国政客和华为的竞争者认为华为几乎就是一个中国政府的从事间谍活动的掩护场所，他们会这么想，部分也是由于华为的总裁，于1987年创立华为的任正非之前曾是中国人民解放军的一员。实际上，华为的网络设备已被美国市场拒之门外。华为一直声称其未受中国政府的控制；它表示八万四千名员工几乎持有其全部股份。任正非仅持有华为1.4%的股份。

　　Unlike Alibaba and other Chinese technology companies that have sought stockmarket listings, Huawei has no such plans. Mr Ren made this plain when he spoke to journalists in London on May 2nd. “In reality,” he said through an interpreter, “shareholders are greedy, and they want to squeeze every bit out of the company as soon as possible.” Huawei's system, he believes, fosters a longer-term view that has helped it overtake listed competitors. Nor does he think that going public would alleviate Huawei's difficulties in America. “It might take ten or 20 years for the United States to know that Huawei is a company with integrity,” he said. Meanwhile, Huawei will put its energy into more welcoming markets.

　　不像阿里巴巴和其他中国科技公司，华为并没有上市的打算。5月2日，任正非在伦敦接受采访时明确了这一点，他通过翻译对记者说：“实际上，股东们都很贪婪，他们就是想尽快把一家公司榨取得一干二净。”他还认为，华为的股权机制会帮助其建立长远的目光，从而使其能够战胜那些上市的竞争对手。他同样觉得上市并不能解决其在美国的窘境。他说：“也许需要20年的时间才能使美国明白华为是一家正直的企业。“，而在这之前，华为会在欢迎它的市场上施展拳脚。

　　Much less clear is who will succeed Mr Ren or how the next boss might be chosen. Huawei has a half-formed plan: as well as the founder it has three “rotating and acting” chief executives, who serve six-month terms. Mr Ren insists that they have a free rein. He has never used his right of veto over their decisions. “Ultimately we want to find a mechanism for succession,” he said. “But now we don't know what this mechanism should look like.” As long as Huawei is growing quickly and Mr Ren, who is only 69 years old, remains hale and hearty, this may not matter, but eventually it will. Huawei's peculiar form of capitalism retains much of its mystery.

　　更加至于谁会接任任正非担任下一任总裁，则是一个更加扑朔迷离的问题。华为现在有一个半成型的计划：那就是包括其他三位创始人在内的总裁，与任正非轮流坐庄执掌帅印，每半年轮换一次。任正非坚称他们完全拥有自主权，他也从未利用他手中的否决权来干预他们的决定。任正非说：“最终，我们会探索出一套继任的机制，但现在它的轮廓还不是很清晰。”这要华为仍快速发展，同时今年69岁的任正非能够继续保持这样良好的健康状态，这个机制到底是什么样其实在当前并不重要。华为特殊的资本形式使其企业的很多情况依旧不为外人所知。