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英语阅读材料:宜家倾城的秘密

作者:stephen    文章来源:方向标    点击数:    更新时间:2011-12-16 【我来说两句

宜家家居是面向99%人群的大众零售商。
Ikea is the retailer for the 99%.
至少,这是这家瑞典家具和家居用品巨头的前任CEO安德斯·达尔维格在其著作《宜家之道》(The Ikea Edge)中试图传达的讯息。他在书中开宗明义地告诉读者:“宜家家居和所有企业一样,都致力于专业和利润。但这并不是一家的终点。宜家孜孜以求的是一个社会公益性目标:为人们创造更好的日常生活。”
Or at least that's the point Anders Dahlvig, the former CEO of the Swedish furniture and home goods giant, is trying to make in The Ikea Edge. Early on in the book he tells the reader, "Like any business, Ikea strove for professionalism and profits. But this was never an end in itself. The company has a social ambition that feels genuine: to create a better everyday life for people."
如今占领华尔街运动正进行得如火如荼,在这样的日子里,我们很容易对一家大公司发出的此类讯息嗤之以鼻。但读完这本书之后,你很难不相信他的这番话。部分原因是,宜家家居的目标称不上好大喜功:它只是希望能让普通百姓能够用上价格低廉的优质家居,从而改善生活品质。我们大多数人(除非你属于1%人群)应该都亲身体验过宜家的这一承诺。
In these days of Occupy Wall Street, it's easy to scoff at that kind of message from a big company. But by the end of the book, it's hard not to believe him. In part that's because the company's objective isn't that grandiose: to improve ordinary people's lives by giving them the option of decent quality furniture at low prices. And most of us, unless you're part of the 1%, have experienced this part of the Ikea promise firsthand.
《宜家之道》这本书的相当一部分都是在诠释,该公司具体是如何设法提供价格低得离谱的家具,以至于顾客不可能不揣着一条长长的收据单离开店铺。我曾经带着一个装有100只茶蜡的袋子,从宜家驱车回家。这并不是因为我正在广泛地收集蜡烛——我没有这个癖好——而仅仅是因为这包茶蜡仅仅3.99 美元(每只茶蜡还不到4美分!)。我确信有过这种经历的绝非我一人。
Much of The Ikea Edge is spent explaining how the company manages to offer ridiculously low prices that make it impossible to leave the store without a lengthy receipt. I'm sure I'm not the only person to have driven home from Ikea with a bag of 100 tea lights not because I have an extensive candle collection -- I don't -- but simply because the price tag was $3.99. (Each one is less than 4 cents!)
达尔维格诠释了宜家保持其低成本优势的手法,就是通过批量购买货物,控制整个供应链等。这跟好市多公司(Costco)和乔氏连锁店(Trader Joe's)的经营策略并无二致。此外,宜家公司还把组装和运输货物等任务委托给顾客,让他们亲自参与分销流程。达尔维格声称,顾客自身参与的事情越多,他们获得的购物体验就越好(对于那些徘徊在宜家仓库周围,对着Grevb??ck书柜或Folldal床架这类家具束手无策的人来说,这种说法或许值得商榷)。
Dahlvig explains how Ikea keeps its costs low by buying in bulk and controlling the entire supply chain, not unlike Costco (COST) or Trader Joe's. The company also uses you, the customer, to help with distribution by delegating tasks like assembling and transporting purchases. Dahlvig claims consumers actually feel like they're getting a better experience when they're doing more themselves. (This point may be debatable for anyone who's ever wandered around an Ikea warehouse looking for the likes of a Grevb??ck bookcase or Folldal bedframe.)
但达尔维格认为,顾客遭遇的这些麻烦是值得的。他指出,顾客在供应链中承担的责任越大,家具的价格就越低。如果顾客不愿意在周六花费一下午的时间研读宜家的安装手册,他大可不必费这个事;他可以选择由宜家公司送货上门,购买不需要多少自己动手组装的货物。但这样做的结果是,他必须得支付更多的钞票。
But Dahlvig argues that customers are compensated for their troubles: The bigger the role you take on in the supply chain, he points out, the lower the price tag. If you don't want to spend your Saturday afternoon poring over an Ikea instruction manual, you don't have to; you can select to have your furniture delivered and buy items that don't require much assembly. But you have to be willing to pay more as a result.
如果你想了解宜家的故事或这家公司详尽的成长历程,这本书或许不太适合。从一开始,达尔维格就郑重地告诫读者,这并非本书的目标;相反,他只是以自己长期的老东家为例,告诉我们一家大公司如何才能做正确的事情。
If you're looking for the Ikea story or a deep Ikea timeline, this book is not for you. Dahlvig gives fair warning right from the start that this is not his goal; rather, he's using his long-time employer as an example of how a big corporation can do the right thing.
不过,达尔维格的确简单回顾了一下宜家演变为一家私人持有的零售巨头(该公司2009年的营收高达310亿美元)的简短历史。但这本书的大部分内容都讲的是管理——激励和鼓舞员工;在公司壮大以后保持创业的激情;培养忠诚和多样性;CEO扮演的角色等等。这本书对于如何让一个具有强烈地域文化色彩的品牌迈向全球这一问题发表了许多真知灼见。尽管其中的许多教益令人受益匪浅,耳目一新(达尔维格建议让尽可能多的人向你汇报,这样就没有时间从事微观管理,也没空踌躇不定了),但我想了解更多他自己在公司的故事。然而,这本书的撰写风格极富宜家家居自身的特色:实用,不花哨。
Dahlvig does give a brief history of Ikea's evolution into the privately held retail giant that generated $31 billion in 2009. But more often than not, the book is about management -- motivating and inspiring employees, keeping an entrepreneurial streak as a company grows, creating loyalty and diversity, the role of a CEO. The book is rich in ideas about how to take a brand that has a strong regional culture and make it global. While some of these lessons are helpful and refreshing (Dahlvig suggests having numerous people report to you so you don't have time to micromanage or hover), I wanted more of a personal story about his time at the company. Instead the book is written in the style of Ikea itself: practical and no-frills.
在宜家的营运方面,达尔维格列举了一些耐人寻味的例子。比如,宜家餐厅的营业收入高达15亿美元。但15个瑞典肉丸仅定价3.99 美元的主要原因并非赚取利润,而是为了凸显宜家的低价特色,延长顾客的购买时间。或者想象一下2008年的情景。当时,宜家家居拥有12.5万名员工,并创下290亿美元的销售额,但其人力资源、法律和财产等职能部门的全球雇员仅260人。类似这样的小片段让我欲罢不能。
Dahlvig does provide some telling examples about Ikea's operations. Take, for example, that its restaurants generate $1.5 billion in sales. But the main reason behind those 15 Swedish meatballs for $3.99 is not to make a profit -- it's to highlight the store's low prices and get the customer to shop longer. Or consider that in 2008, when Ikea had 125,000 employees and $29 billion in sales, its global staff functions like HR, legal, and property only had 260 members. Little snippets like these only made me want more.
读完本书之后,我有一个明显的感受,那就是只有在瑞典这样的斯堪的纳维亚国家,才有可能出现宜家这样的公司。达尔维格——他在宜家工作了26年,最初的职务是一家商场的经理——警告称,他反对设定高工资,因为这样做将招来一些只看重金钱的员工。他发表了许多类似“一家公司存在的理由应该是为改善社会尽一份力”这样的声明。很难想象这些话会出自美国的大多数CEO之口。但如果他们有兴致读一读这本书的话,这话倒像是说给他们听的。
By the end of the book it's clear that a company like Ikea could only have come out of a Scandinavian country like Sweden. Dahlvig, who spent 26 years at Ikea and started as a store manager, warns against things like setting high salaries because you'll attract people who are only in it for the money. He makes statements such as a "company's reason for existence should be to contribute to a better society." It's hard to imagine these words coming out of the mouths of most U.S. CEOs. But it might serve them well if they at least read the book.

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