2023年经济学人 家族企业的诱惑（在线收听）

商业版块

Bartleby

巴托比专栏

The lure of the family business

家族企业的诱惑

The pros and cons of following in your parents’ footsteps.

追随父母脚步的利与弊。

Family business makes for compelling drama.

家族企业造就扣人心弦的戏剧故事。

Just ask anyone tuning in to the final season of “Succession”, which has recently begun airing on HBO.

只要问问任何一个在看《继承之战》最后一季的人就知道了，这部剧最近开始在HBO播出。

This Bartleby prefers “Buddenbrooks”, Thomas Mann’s chronicle of the decline and collapse of a German merchant family over the course of four generations.

本文的巴托比专栏作者更喜欢托马斯·曼的《布登勃洛克一家》，一部关于一个德国商人家族历经四代而衰落崩溃的编年史。

That novel, first published in 1901, drew heavily on the author’s personal experience.

这部小说于1901年首次出版，在很大程度上借鉴了作者的个人经历。

The dilemmas of working for an organisation which an immediate family member runs or in which they own the majority sound alarming enough in fiction, never mind real life.

在一个由直系亲属管理或直系亲属拥有多数股权的组织里工作，这种两难境地在虚构小说中听起来就够令人担忧的了，更不用说在现实生活中。

And nepotism can be plenty dramatic even without the plot twists.

即使没有曲折情节，裙带关系也可以相当有戏剧性。

These days it is frowned upon—most publicly listed companies and professional firms ban it.

如今，人们不赞成裙带关系--大多数上市公司和专业公司都禁止这一行为。

Still, family businesses make up more than 90% of the world’s enterprises.

尽管如此，家族企业仍占全球企业的90%以上。

Many of them, quite literally, are mom-and-pop shops.

其中许多都是名副其实的夫妻店。

Some are large-ish businesses in smallish economies, like the one in Athens where this guest Bartleby, straight out of university, was put in charge of managing relations with institutional investors.

有一些是小型经济体中比较大的企业，比如雅典的一家公司，笔者刚从大学毕业就在这家公司负责管理与机构投资者的关系。

A handful are giant global corporations: think of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire (which allegedly inspired “Succession”) or Bernard Arnault’s $460bn luxury conglomerate, LVMH (which, as it happens, has grown by acquiring other family firms, such as Bulgari and Fendi).

还有几家是大型全球性企业：想想鲁伯特·默多克的传媒帝国(据说为《继承之战》提供了灵感)，或者贝尔纳·阿尔诺价值4600亿美元的奢侈品集团酩悦·轩尼诗-路易·威登集团(LVMH)(该集团碰巧通过收购宝格丽和芬迪等其他家族企业而逐渐壮大)。

Regardless of size, all family companies face common challenges.

无论规模大小，所有家族企业都面临着共同的挑战。

Filial loyalty and multi-generational thinking can morph into resistance to change, and if a firm has outside shareholders, clash with their interests.

孝顺忠心和多代思维可能会演变成不思变革，如果公司里有家族以外的股东，那么就会出现利益冲突。

The process of generational transition can be particularly draining and frustrating to the staff members who are not family, raising uncomfortable questions about social mobility, or the lack thereof.

对于家族以外的员工来说，代际过渡的过程可能尤其令人感到精疲力竭和沮丧，并引发关于社会流动性或缺乏社会流动性的令人不安的问题。

For the corporate heir, meeting family expectations and continuing a legacy while achieving personal fulfilment can generate a mass of contradictions, as Mann splendidly illuminated.

对于企业继承人来说，在实现个人成就的同时满足家族期望和延续遗产可能会引发大量矛盾，正如托马斯·曼精彩描述的那样。

Even in companies that insist they are meritocratic, no amount of skill will convince all your colleagues that you have actually earned your job.

即使在坚称任人唯贤的公司里，有再多的技能也无法让你的所有同事相信，你是靠努力赢得了这份工作。

Any pre-existing domestic frictions might make their way into the business.

任何先前存在的家庭内部摩擦都可能进入公司里。

And vice versa: disagreements over the business can breed feuds, often between siblings.

反之亦然：在公司业务上的分歧也可能会滋生世仇，通常是在兄弟姐妹之间。

In India, the bitter dispute between Mukesh and Anil Ambani over their inherited empire, Reliance Industries, lasted for years after their father died without leaving a will.

在印度，穆凯什和阿尼尔·安巴尼对他们继承的商业帝国"信实工业"产生了激烈争执，他们的父亲没有留下遗嘱就去世了，争执在父亲去世多年后仍然继续。

No wonder some heirs decide to hold on to their shareholdings, perhaps a board seat, but pursue a career elsewhere.

难怪一些继承人决定保留他们的股份或董事会席位，但在其他地方追求事业。

Not all Waltons work for Walmart; it is hard to find Hoffmanns among executives at Roche, the Swiss drugmaking giant founded by their forebear in 1896.

并不是所有的沃尔顿家成员都在沃尔玛工作，在罗氏的高管中也很难找到霍夫曼家的人，罗氏是一家瑞士制药巨头，由霍夫曼家的祖辈于1896年创立。

They thus avoided being accused of belonging to the “lucky sperm club”, as Warren Buffett calls those who might well possess the managerial skills to lead a large organisation but never had to jump through the same hoops as everyone else.

这些人因此免于被指责属于“幸运精子俱乐部”，沃伦·巴菲特称这些人可能完全具备领导一个大型组织的管理技能，但不必像其他人那样吃同样的苦头。

Hilton and Marriott, two of the world’s biggest hotel chains, as well as Lego, a toymaking giant, are examples of companies which did not produce a strong successor and eventually ended up in the hands of professional managers.

希尔顿和万豪这两家世界上最大的连锁酒店，以及玩具制造巨头乐高，都是没有培养出强有力的继承者，最终公司由职业经理人掌管的例子。

For those who nevertheless decide to take an active role in the family business, it does not have to be a poison.

对于那些仍然决定在家族企业中发挥积极作用的人来说，家族企业不一定是毒药。

Some of the logic that historically made family firms de rigueur continues to stand.

过去曾让家族企业符合社会习俗的一些逻辑如今依然成立。

For example, designated heirs—like Mr Arnault’s five children, all of whom now run parts of LVMH—are groomed early on, so by the time they are ready to take over they have already acquired some industry knowledge by osmosis.

例如，指定的继承人--就像阿尔诺的五个子女，现在都管理LVMH的部分业务--很早就要培养好，这样当他们准备接手时，他们已经耳濡目染地获得了一些行业知识。

At the personal level, work is not solely about money but also about empowerment and prestige.

在个人层面，工作不仅仅关乎金钱，还关乎赋权和声望。

Your name on the door may bestow a sense of purpose.

门上印着你的名字，这可能会给人一种使命感。

Preserving the legacy of an empire can be rewarding, so long as the heir displays passion and persistence.

只要继承人表现出激情和坚持不懈，保护帝国的遗产就会带来回报。

They can probably forget being one of the gang when it comes to office gossip, but they can earn their colleagues’ and subordinates’ respect with modesty and hard work.

当谈论办公室八卦时，他们可能会忘记自己是家族的一员，但他们可以通过谦虚和努力工作来赢得同事和下属的尊重。

The serious heir knows that showing up simply because it is easier than venturing out on their own doesn’t cut it.

严肃的继承人知道，仅仅因为出现在自家公司比外出打拼容易就留在自家公司，这并没有想象中的美好。

Ultimately, being entrusted with a business by people who share your DNA is something you ought to earn, not expect.

归根结底，受到和你有共同基因的人的委托，而去经营一家企业，这应该是你努力赢得的，而不是凭空期望的。

As the adage goes, “A family business is not a business you inherit from your parents, it is a business you borrow from your children.”

正如谚语所说："家族企业不是你从父母那里继承来的企业，而是你从子女那里借来的企业。"

Disregard for this nugget of wisdom is what makes “Succession” such riveting television—and Waystar Royco so dysfunctional.

《继承之战》如此精彩以及剧中的威士达传媒集团如此崩坏的原因就在于对这一智慧的漠视。