Nestlé：A life less sweet
雀巢：略显苦涩的发展之路
As rivals nibble at its business, Nestlé’s new boss must find a formula for growth.
对于雀巢新任老总来说，为应对生意上的激烈竞争，寻求切实可行的发展方案迫在眉睫。
① 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.
长久以来，大型食品公司总是以磐石之坚的特质著称于世界。即便当陷入困境之时，其仍旧可以取得稳定可观的收益。而在此其中，雀巢可以算得上是最为稳定的食品公司，其总部位于雪峰之旁、日内瓦湖畔的瑞士韦威镇。
For its 150th anniversary in 2016 it opened a new museum filled with corporate heirlooms: the first written notes about a new product called milk chocolate, laid out in black cursive; 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.
2016年，迎来了雀巢150周年纪念日。为此，雀巢公司全新打造了一个博物馆，馆内收藏了公司历史上所保留下来的老物件：比如牛奶巧克力的新产品说明，而这份说明则是第一份以黑草字体设计的手写说明；还有老旧的雀巢咖啡罐，二战期间士兵们曾饮用罐里的咖啡以保持亢奋的精神状态；以及用以盛放亨利·内斯特所研制的婴儿配方奶粉的陈旧奶粉罐，1867年也因这奶粉挽救了一个早产儿的生命。
② It has come a long way since then. It sold goods worth nearly $90bn in 189 countries in 2015. Of the 30,000 cups of coffee sipped around the world each second, Nestlé estimates, one-fifth are cups of Nescafé.
从此，雀巢走过了漫漫长路，取得了长足的进步和发展。2015年，雀巢在189个国家内共计售出价值约合900亿美元的商品。根据雀巢公司的估算，在全世界范围内人们每秒饮用掉的3万杯咖啡之中，五分之一的咖啡来自雀巢。
But the industry it presides over is in upheaval.
然而，雀巢所负责经营的产业最近正面临着巨大的变动。
On January1st 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.
1月1日，公司新任总裁阿尔夫·马克·施耐德（如图所示）正式接管雀巢。而曾经营过保健公司的施耐德是自1922年以来第一个担任此职位的非本行业人士，也就是所谓的“门外汉”，不管巧克力棒亦或冷冻披萨都未曾接触过。正因如此，外界会对其能否胜任此工作有所担忧。
③ More and more consumers are snubbing packaged food’s sugar, salt and unpronounceable preservatives. Meanwhile, swarms of smaller firms, emboldened by the ease of peddling goods online, are touting supposedly healthier options.
现如今，包装食品中所含糖、盐以及不知所谓的防腐剂引起了人们越来越多的反对。与此同时，由于线上商品售卖的便利促使人们更愿意选择那些规模更小的公司，因为在他们看来选择那些商品更加健康。
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.
据波士顿咨询公司和IRI数据供应商提供的一项有关食品饮料行业背景的研究表明，2011年到2015年这五年间，一些主要的大型食品和饮料公司在美国损失了三个百分点的市场份额。
④ As super-sized companies swat 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.
正当超大型的食品公司试图对那些规模小的竞争者予以有力回击之时，来自巴西的私募股权投资公司，3G，作为异军突起的另一竞争对手实现了很大发展。3G公司倾向于以低廉的成本收购那些规模较大、发展缓慢的食品饮料公司，例如两大巨头，卡夫食品公司和亨氏食品公司，在3G的有力影响下于2015年就已合并。此外，还包括几个世界上最大的制酒公司。
Other food companies are scrambling 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 accepting that robust expansion is a thing of the past and wringing out profits.
在此形势之下，其他食品公司纷纷走上精简之路，以防成为3G公司下一收购目标。由此引发了有关此做法是否会破坏公司发展前景的争论，甚至于从长远的角度来看，被视为已成过去式的强劲扩张能够榨取利润的这一观点是否真正值得这些公司所接受也倍受争议。
⑤ 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 in 11 of the past 17 quarters. In the most recent quarter, the firm registered organic sales growth of 3.2%.
面对如此巨大的竞争压力，雀巢亦难以幸免，并受到了一定的冲击和影响，就其近年来频频未能实现5-6%的销售增长便可得知。在过去的17个季度中，不包括并购部分在内，有11个季度的销售数据未达到投资者的期望。而公司最近一个季度中所登记记录的销售额显示，雀巢公司仅仅完成了3.2%的有机销售增长。
⑥ 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.
消费者不断变化的品味，以及零售业多变的形势都说明了部分预期销售量不足的原因。从奇巧巧克力、奈斯派索咖啡到迪吉奥诺冷冻披萨、普瑞纳狗粮，管理一家拥有多品牌的大型公司变得愈发困难。
Mr Schneider will have to master online ways to market and deliver its well-known brands. The firm needs to coax customers to pay more for premium products as ordinary ones get commoditised,and discounted by firms such as Germany’s Lidl and Aldi.
因此，施耐德上任后必须充分掌握并运用线上方式来营销发展旗下知名品牌。当大量商品化的普通产品在类似于利德尔和阿尔迪这样的德国大型折扣零售超市中打折出售之时，雀巢所需要做的就是引导广大消费者愿意花费更多金钱来购买高端产品。
⑦ 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.
必须要承认的是雀巢公司的耐力之持久着实值得佩服。过去十年间，雀巢所有产品在全世界范围内所占市场份额已将近20%。雀巢首席财务官弗朗索瓦-泽维尔·罗杰指出，公司2016年前9个月的销售增长速度在全球十大食品饮料公司中位居第一。
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 coffee, fared the worst. (Keurig, Nestlé’s arch-rival in coffee pods, slurped share in America.)
不过，一份来自调研公司桑福德伯恩斯坦有关雀巢公司所处态势的详细调查表明，2007年至2015年，除去凭借收购所实现的销售增长之外，雀巢在其热销的前二十个产品种类中几乎损失掉三个产品类别的份额。其中，瓶装水以及单杯咖啡等一些核心产品所受影响最为严重。（作为雀巢在纸包咖啡领域的劲敌，克里格响亮地占据了美国的市场份额。）
⑧Such results are likely to attract particular censure from investors because of Nestlé’s past heavy emphasis on growth and market share, which sometimes came at the expense of the firm’s profits.
由于雀巢以往十分注重销售额的增长以及市场所占份额的比例，有时为此甚至要以牺牲公司的礼仪为代价。如此一来所造成的结果很有可能引起广大投资者的苛责。
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. 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.
2015年雀巢的营业收益率为15%，高于竞争对手法国达能集团的13%，却远远低于卡夫-亨氏公司的21%。因此公司的股东们都在翘首以待，为的是看看新任CEO施耐德是否会大刀阔斧地进行改革。由于消费者们更倾向于新鲜的食物，因此有些人希望施耐德能够卖掉像冷冻食品这样似乎长期走危险下坡路的业务。
Food for life? 用以维持生命的食物？
⑨ 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 chief executive. He and his colleagues say that investment in health and related innovation will produce strong growth at the company for years to come. Mr Schneider, who used to run Fresenius, a big German firm that offers kidney-dialysis products and other medical 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.”
当下，雀巢面临着巨大挑战。“150年前，我们开始拥有自己的产品——事实上那更像是一个象征——拯救了一个孩子的生命，“即将卸任的首席执行官保罗·巴尔克说到。他和同事都认为有关健康以及相关创新发明的投资会在未来的几年里促使公司迅猛发展。就此信息，曾管理德国一家生产肾透析产品的大型医疗服务公司费森尤斯集团的施耐德先生当然会十分重视。相对于3G公司来说，雀巢因其对于市场份额的敏锐关注而显得有很大区别。罗杰先生说：“对于3G公司所做之事，我表示尊重，但‘他们的战略同我们的相比有很大不同’。”
⑩ 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 vitaminpacked drinks for the elderly and for cancer patients. It contributes less than 5% of revenue.
然而，很少有观察者会认为雀巢是一家健康的公司。雀巢旗下有很多健康的产品，包括瓶装水和咖啡。也有许多不健康的产品—— 牛奶巧克力和冰淇淋，叫得上名字的只有这两个。目前，雀巢以最直接的形式展现出对于健康问题的关注，而这样的一种方式在销售量的增长上并没有什么效果。一个名为雀巢健康科学的业务部门，他们销售满足医疗需求的营养产品，比如专门为老年人及癌症患者研制的维生素饮品。而此类产品所贡献的收益比却不及5%。
⑪The firm has a research institute devoted to studying food’s role in the managementand prevention of disease—for example, better understanding nutrition’s ability to promote brain health. It may bring growth but probably only in the long term. Nestlé has also partnered with young drugs firms, including one that is testing a treatment for ulcerative colitis.
雀巢公司成立了一个调查研究机构，致力于研究食物在疾病管理和预防中的主要作用——例如，对于营养物质提高大脑健康的功能有更好的了解。这也许可以使疾病有所缓解和改善，但可能仅在长时间内有所效果。与此同时，雀巢也同一些新的药品公司合作，包括测试溃疡性结肠炎治疗方法的公司。
⑫ More immediately rewarding may be its efforts to make best-selling but unhealthy foods a bit more wholesome. In November the company said it had created hollow 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.
把更多心思放在那些销量好但不健康的食物上，使其变得更加益于健康，这也许是最快获益之法。十一月份，雀巢宣布公司最近研发了一款名叫空心糖晶的食物配料。相比以往同类食品配料，这款产品尝起来虽然甜但却含有更少的卡路里。2018年雀巢将开始在巧克力中应用新的食物配料。
⑬ 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. Nestlé first tried discounts, and then in 2015 introduced new versions of its Lean Cuisine products, stripping out unpalatable ingredients and replacing them with organic ones. At Stouffer’s, another frozen brand, Nestlé decided to target men with easy, proteinpacked 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 again.
在美国每周售卖的数百万冷冻餐食也因此发生了令人赞叹不已的变化。顾客们过去一直避免走近冷冻食品通道。对此雀巢最开始采取打折销售的方法，之后在2015年首次推行新形式瘦身餐产品，利用有机食材替换掉食物中不可口的食材。雀巢打算通过旗下另一冷冻食物品牌斯托福所生产的富含蛋白质营养价值的简餐来吸引顾客。这样的做法的确行之有效——美国市场的食品销售量有了快速增长。2015年11月，相比去年同期销售额超过了6%。但是伯恩斯坦公司的分析师安德鲁·伍德指出，复兴冷冻食物看起来又一次受到了挑战，摇摆不定。
⑭ 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 saving about SFr 1.5bn ($1.5bn) a year. Last year Nestlé announced organisational changes, such as consolidating procurement, which will save about SFr 2bn each year from 2020.
雀巢并没有完全忽视3G公司的战略，而是尝试削减开支以此应对外界竞争。“我们所做的其实是一种投资行为，而非削减成本，”罗格先生说，“但这并不代表着我们不希望所付出的努力得到高的效益回报。”在包括减少工厂浪费在内的努力下，雀巢相信一年可以节省大概1.5亿瑞士法郎。去年雀巢宣布公司组织内部机构整改，比如整合采购相关，从2020年起每一年大概节省2亿瑞士法郎。
⑮ 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 the company into what it is now are sticking around. Mr Bulcke is expected to become its 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 strong emphasis on the long term. He taps his hand on the table, rattling some Nespresso cups, as he insists that growth is still the key.
无论施耐德先生在有关雀巢的整改策划案上有何其他计划，很多根本性变革促成现如今雀巢公司形式的建立，这一事实在某种程度上会限制实现此次所期望发生的变化。此外，布尔克先生有望成为雀巢主席。即将卸任主席，前雀巢首席执行官皮特·布拉贝克·雷特马斯有可能成为荣誉主席 。举例来说，布尔克先生似乎十分确定公司应该将眼光放长远，更加重视长期的一个稳健发展。正当他坚定地认为发展才是硬道理之时，轻轻拍了下桌子，奈斯派索的杯子发出嘎嘎的声音。
本文英文部分选自 The Economist 2017-01-07，P46 Business
本文中文部分是由作者逐字逐句翻译而来，水平有限，还望同广大翻译爱好者给予一些意见和建议，大家一起讨论一起进步。
