经济学人杂志双语版

LARGE food companies have long been among the world’s most solid, with reassuringly consistent returns even in hard times. None would seem steadier than Nestlé, based in the Swiss town of Vevey, on a lake near snowy peaks. For its 150th anniversary in 2016 it opened a new museum filled with corporate heirlooms （传家宝，祖传遗物）: the first written notes about a new product called milk chocolate, laid out in black cursive （草书，手写体）; an old tin of Nescafé, used by soldiers as a stimulant in the second world war; and an early can of Henri Nestlé’s infant formula, which in 1867 saved the life of a premature baby.大型食品公司长期以来都属于世界上最坚实的企业之列，即使在艰难时期也有令人安心的稳定回报。似乎没有哪家企业比总部位于瑞士雪山湖畔韦威镇(Vevey)的雀巢公司更稳固了。2016年雀巢成立150周年之际，其新揭幕的博物馆展示了众多“传家宝”：有关新产品“牛奶巧克力”的首份书面记录，用黑色草体书写；一罐陈年的雀巢咖啡，在二战时士兵们曾用它来提神；还有一罐早期的亨利雀巢婴儿配方奶粉一一它在1867年挽救了一名早产儿的生命。 It has come a long way （取得很大进展） since then. It sold goods worth nearly $90bn in 189 countries in 2015. Of the 30,000 cups of coffee sipped （抿，小口喝，中文里说的“品茶”的“品”，也可以用这个动词） around the world each second, Nestlé estimates, one-fifth are cups of Nescafé. But the industry it presides over is in upheaval （剧变）. On January 1st a new chief executive, Ulf Mark Schneider (pictured), took over. He is the first outsider to get the top job since 1922, and his background—running a health-care firm, not selling chocolate bars or frozen pizza—suggests the main source of worry for the business. 自那以后，雀巢已有长足发展。2015年，该公司在189个国家的销售额近900亿美元。雀巢估计，全球每秒有三万杯咖啡被人们捧到嘴边，其中五分之一是雀巢咖啡。但是，其主导的行业正经历巨变。1月1日，雀巢新首席执行官乌尔夫·马克·施奈德（Ulf Mark Schneider，见图）上任。他是自1922年以来首位担任这一最高职位的外部人士，而他之前管理医疗保健企业（而不是卖巧克力棒或冷冻披萨）的工作背景是导致人们忧虑雀巢前景的主要原因。 More and more consumers are snubbing （冷落） packaged food’s sugar, salt and unpronounceable （难以正确发音的 ） preservatives （防腐剂）. Meanwhile, swarms of （大群） smaller firms, emboldened （使大胆） by the ease of peddling （沿街叫卖） goods online, are touting （招徕顾客） supposedly healthier options. From 2011 to 2015 big sellers of consumer-packaged goods, mainly food and drink companies, lost three percentage points of market share in America—a lot in the industry’s context—according to a study by the Boston Consulting Group, a consultancy, and IRI, a data provider. 包装食品中的糖、盐以及各种名称拗口的防腐剂正受到越来越多消费者的冷落。同时，大批小公司借助网络销售之便，推广据称更为健康的食品。据波士顿咨询公司及数据提供商IRI的一份研究，从2011年到2015年，包装消费品的销售大户（主要为食品及饮料公司）在美国的市场份额损失了三个百分点，这对该行业来说相当可观。 As super-sized companies swat （重拍，猛击，比如She swatted him over the head with a rolled-up magazine. 她用一本卷起来的杂志猛敲他的头。） at such tiny attackers, another foe is gaining ground. 3G, a Brazilian private-equity firm, likes to buy big, slow-growing food and drinks companies and slash their costs. Targets have included Kraft and Heinz, two giants which 3G helped merge into one group in 2015, as well as several of the world’s biggest brewers. Other food companies are scrambling （仓促行动） to make cuts of their own, lest they become 3G’s next meal. That has prompted a debate over whether such cuts wreck firms’ growth prospects even further, or whether, in fact, they are best off （最好做某事） wringing out （绞出，扭干） profits and accepting that robust expansion is a thing of the past. 巨头企业在大力回击这些小型袭击者之时，另一个敌人也开始抢占地盘。巴西私募股权公司3G喜欢购入增长缓慢的大型食品及饮料企业，并削减它们的经营成本。其目标包括卡夫及亨氏量大巨头（2015年，3G促成这两家企业合并为一个集团），还有几家全球最大的啤酒公司。其他食品公司正在争相自行削减成本，以免成为3G的下一个猎物。这引发了一个争论：这样的成本削减会不会进一步破坏公司的增长前景，还是说，强劲扩张已经过时，企业最好能接受这一点并挤出利润。 Nestlé is not immune to such pressures. In recent years it has often missed its goal of 5-6% sales growth. Excluding acquisitions, its numbers have not met investors’ expectations for 11 of the past 17 quarters. In the most recent quarter, the firm registered organic sales growth of . 面对这些压力，雀巢也未能幸免。近年来，该公司经常达不到销售增长5%至6%的目标。不包括收购，在过去17个季度中，该公司有11个季度的增速没有达资者预期。最近一个季度，雀巢的有机销售增长率为。 Changing consumer tastes explain some of these shortfalls. So does a shifting retail landscape. Managing a giant portfolio of brands, from KitKat and Nespresso to DiGiorno pizza and Purina dog food, has become harder. Mr Schneider will have to master online ways to market and deliver its well-known brands. The firm needs to coax （哄诱） customers to pay more for premium products as ordinary ones get commoditised, and discounted by firms such as Germany’s Lidl and Aldi. 之所以增长乏力，消费者口味改变是部分因素，零售业大环境的转变也是原因之一。要管理包含KitKat巧克力、Nespresso咖啡、DiGiorno比萨、普瑞纳狗粮在内的庞大品牌组合已变得愈加艰难。施奈德必须掌握线上手段来营销和传达公司的知名品牌。在普通产品被德国连锁超市Lidl及Aldi等公司变成日常商品又折价销售的情况下，雀巢公司需要劝诱客户为高端产品支付更高的价格。 The firm can still boast impressive staying power—its global market share across its entire range of products has remained near 20% for the past decade. François-Xavier Roger, Nestlé’s chief financial officer, points out that the group’s sales growth in the first nine months of 2016 was among the fastest of the top ten biggest food and drink companies. Yet a detailed examination of its position by Sanford C. Bernstein, a research firm, shows that when growth from acquisitions is excluded, it lost share in all but three of its top 20 product categories between 2007 and 2015. Some of its core offerings, such as bottled water and single-serve （单杯式） coffee, fared （vi. 经营） the worst. 雀巢仍能以其持久的实力为傲一一过去十年间，其全线产品的全球市场份额一直保持在接近20%。首席财务官弗朗索瓦-泽维尔·罗杰(Francois-Xavier Roger)指出，雀巢集团在2016年前九个月的销售增长是全球十大食品饮料企业中最快的。但市场研究公司盛博(Sanford C．Bernstein)对该公司的详细研究表明，除去收购带来的增长，2007年至2015年间，集团最大的20个产品品类中仅有3类的市场份额未下跌。瓶装水和单标咖啡等一些核心产品表现最差。雀巢咖啡包产品的劲敌Keurig在美国抢占了份额。 Such results are likely to attract particular censure （责难） from investors because of Nestlé’s past heavy emphasis on growth and market share which sometimes came at the expense of （以……为代价）lower profits. In 2015 its operating-profit margin was 15%, better than the 13% at Danone, a French competitor, but far below the 21% at Kraft-Heinz. Shareholders in the firm are waiting to see whether Mr Schneider will shake things up （使振作，shake up其他含义见注释）. Some want him to sell off businesses that seem most at risk of long-term decline, such as frozen food, as shoppers look for fresher fare （食物，这篇文章之前也出现了一个fare，那个是做不及物动词，表示经营）. 这种业绩很可能会惹来投资者的指责，毕竟雀巢过去强调增长和市场占有率，有时还不惜为此牺牲利润。2015年，它的营业利润率为15%，优于其法国对手达能公司的13%，但远低于卡夫亨氏的21%。雀巢的股东们正在观望施奈德能否改变现状。有人希望他卖掉业绩最有可能长期下滑的业务，例如冷冻食品，因为消费者如今偏好更新鲜的食品。 shake up 1.摇动；混合；摇匀： Shake up before drinking. 服用前摇匀[药瓶说明用语] 2.使感到震动；使震惊(或慌乱)： What you said has shaken me up! 你刚才说的话令我十分震惊! 3.改组，使重新组合： I have to shake the Sales Department up. 我得对销售部进行改组。 4.抖摇(靠垫、枕头等)使之恢复原形： She shook up the pillows, and then lay down in bed. 她把枕头抖摇膨松后，躺在了床上。 5.[口语]把…摇醒；使振作： What could shake him up? 什么才能使他振作起来呢? 6.[常作 shake it up][口语]赶快,快点： Shake it up, we'll be late. 快点儿，咱们快晚了。 7.[废语]责备；申斥： The student was shaken up by his mother. 那个学生被他母亲申斥了一顿。 Food for life? 生命之食？ For now, Nestlé is defiant. “We started 150 years ago having a product that actually—there’s symbolism there—saved the life of a child,” says Paul Bulcke, the outgoing （即将离职的） chief executive and likely new chairman. He and his colleagues say that investment in health and related innovation will produce strong growth for years to come. Mr Schneider, who used to run Fresenius, a German firm that offers kidney-dialysis products and services, will certainly emphasise that message. Nestlé differentiates itself from 3G, with its keen focus on cuts. Mr Roger says he respects what 3G does, but that “they have a strategy which is very different from ours.” 目前来看，雀巢并不服气。“我们始创于150年前，当时的一款产品实际上救了一个孩子的命，这是有象征意义的。”即将离任的首席执行官保罗·薄凯(Paul Bulcke)说道。他和同事们表示，投资于健康及相关创新会为公司未来带来强劲增长。施奈德曾掌管提供肾透析产品及其他医疗服务的大型德国企业费森尤斯(Fresenius)，他肯定会强调这一点。雀巢将自己与专注削减成本的3G区别开来。罗杰表示，他尊重3G的做法，但“他们的战略和我们的相去甚远”。 Still, few observers would call Nestlé a health company. Many of its products are perfectly healthy, including bottled water and coffee. Many are not—milk chocolate and ice cream, to name but two. And for now, the purest forms of Nestlé’s focus on health contribute relatively little to its sales. A business unit called Nestlé Health Science, for example, sells nutritional products for medical needs, such as vitamin-packed drinks for the elderly and for cancer patients. It contributes less than 5% of revenue. 然而，少有观察者会认为雀巢是一家保健公司。它有很多非常健康的产品，包括瓶装水和咖啡。但也有许多产品并不健康，在此只举两例：比如牛奶巧克力和冰激淋。而现在，雀巢最纯粹专注健康的业务对销售额的贡献相对很少。例如，名为“雀巢健康科学”的业务部门销售面向医疗需求的营养产品，比如供老年人和癌症患者饮用的富含维生素饮料，而该部门贡献的收入还不到5%。 The firm has a research institute devoted to studying food’s role in the management and prevention of disease—for example, better understanding nutrition’s ability to promote brain health. It may deliver growth but probably only in the long term. Nestlé has also invested in young drugs firms, including one that is testing a treatment for ulcerative colitis （溃疡性结肠炎）. 雀巢设有一家研究所．专门研究食物在管理和预防疾病中的作用，例如要更好地了解营养物质如何能够促进大脑的健康。这也许会带来增长，但可能要许久才能见效。雀巢也与一些新兴制药公司合作，包括一家正在测试某种溃疡性结肠炎疗法的公司。 More immediately rewarding may be its efforts to make best-selling but unhealthy foods a bit more wholesome （有益健康的）. In November the company said it had created hollow （空心的） sugar crystals that taste sweet but contain fewer calories than the usual stuff. It will begin to put the new ingredient in its chocolate in 2018. 雀巢还努力将旗下畅销但不健康的食品改良得相对健康一些，这也许更有可能带来立竿见影的回报。去年11月，该公司表示已创制出一种空心的糖晶体，味道甜但含卡路里较常规糖晶体低。公司将在2018年采用这一新原料制作巧克力。 It is also proud of changes to the millions of frozen dinners it sells every week in America. Shoppers had been avoiding the frozen-food aisle （走廊，通道）. Nestlé first tried discounts, and then in 2015 introduced new versions of its Lean Cuisine products, stripping out （去掉） unpalatable （难吃的） ingredients and replacing them with organic ones. At Stouffer’s, another frozen brand, Nestlé decided to target men with easy, protein-packed meals that are more nutritionally valuable. It worked—its frozen-food sales in America grew faster. In November 2015, they were 6% above what they had been a year earlier. But Bernstein’s Andrew Wood points out that the revival of frozen food now looks wobbly （不稳定的） again. 雀巢另一项引以为豪的改变是冷冻快餐（在美国每周卖出数百万份）。之前，冷冻食品受到消费者冷落。雀巢先是尝试折价促销，然后又在2015年推出新版的“瘦身特餐”(Lean Cuisine)系列，以有机食材替换掉之前难吃的成分。对于旗下另一个冷冻食品品牌Stouffer，雀巢决定针对男性消费者推出富含蛋白质、更具营养价值的速食简餐。这些努力取得了成效一一其冷冻食品的销售在美国增长加快。2015年11月的销售额同比增长6%。但盛博的安德鲁·伍德(Andrew Wood)指出，冷冻食品的复兴如今似乎又变得摇摆不定。 Nor is Nestlé ignoring 3G’s strategy entirely: it is trying to trim expenses. “We are very much in an investment position, not in a cost-cutting exercise,” says Mr Roger, “but that doesn’t mean that we don’t want to be cost-efficient in what we do.” One effort, which includes trimming waste at factories, is credited with （credit相关词组见注释） saving about ($) a year. Last year Nestlé announced organisational changes, such as consolidating procurement, which will save about SFr2bn each year from 2020. 雀巢也没有完全忽视3G的战略：公司正努力缩减支出。“我们的战略是投资，而非削减成本。”罗杰说，“但那不惠昧着我们不想在经营中实现成本效益。”一项包括工厂减少浪费在内的改革一年为公司节省了约15亿瑞士法郎(15亿美元)。去年，雀巢公布了一系列组织变革，如采购整合，将从2020年起每年为公司节省约20亿瑞士法郎。 1、Get the credit for sth. 因某事受到褒扬，比如： We don't mind who gets the credit so long as we don't get the blame. 只要我们不挨批评，谁受到表扬我们都不在乎。 2、A credit B with sth. A把某事归功于B，也可以说：sth. is credited to B 某事归功于B，比如： The staff are crediting him with having saved Hythe's life. 海斯能得救全体人员都归功于他。 3、Be credit to sth./sb. 给……增光，比如： He is one of the greatest players of recent times and is a credit to his profession. 他是近年来最棒的选手之一，是为他的职业增光的人。 4、Give sb. Credit for sth. 相信某人有……，比如： Bratbakk had more ability than the media gave him credit for. 布拉特巴克有比媒体所宣传的还要强的能力。 5、To one’s credit 值得赞扬，比如： She had managed to pull herself together and, to her credit, continued to look upon life as a positive experience. 她努力使自己振作起来，并且值得称赞的是，她一如既往地积极面对人生。 Whatever else Mr Schneider has on the menu for Nestlé, radical changes may be somewhat limited by the fact that so many of those who built it into what it is now are sticking around （逗留，在附近徘徊。此处意译为“留在公司内”）. Mr Bulcke is expected to become the firm’s chairman. The outgoing chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, a former Nestlé chief executive, may become honorary chairman. Mr Bulcke, for one, seems sure that the company should maintain its emphasis on the long term. He taps his hand on the table, rattling （使发出嘎嘎声） some Nespresso cups, as he insists that growth is still the key. 无论施耐德还将为雀巢准备怎样的菜单，彻底变革也许多少都会受到限制，因为令雀巢发展到如今这模样的人大多还留在公司内。薄凯预计会成为集团的董事长。即将离任的董事长、雀巢前首席执行官包必达 (Peter Brabeck-Letmathe) 则可能成为名誉董事长。薄凯似乎确信雀巢应保持着力于长远发展。他手敲着桌子，震得一些Nespresso杯子当当作响，坚称增长仍是关键。