告诉你什么才是日本企业的真实状况

诺基亚

正文翻译:
Corporate Japan
The good, the bad and the ugly
Ailing gadget-makers may find it hard to copy Toyota’s turnaround

日本企业：
好的，坏的，以及丑陋的
情况不佳的小玩意制造企业会发现自己很难复制丰田的转机

JUST over three years ago, Akio Toyoda, then the new boss of Toyota, said that the carmaker founded by his grandfather was on the verge of “irrelevance or death”. Buffeted by bad news ranging from the global economic crisis to product recalls and huge losses, he responded not with a massive shake-up but a simple strategy: to make cars that were fun to drive. From that, he argued, would follow sales and profits.

就在3年以前，丰田章男当时还是丰田的新掌门人，当时他说，其祖父创建的这家汽车公司正处于“落后或者死亡”的边缘。在公司面临一系列问题的情况下：包括全球经济危机，产品召回和巨大的损失，他并没有对公司进行重大的改组，而是采用了一个简单的策略：制造人们乐于驾驶的汽车。他说，只有这样做才能获得销售额和利润的双丰收。

It has not been an easy road since, but the turnaround seems to be gaining traction. On November 5th Toyota raised its net profit forecast for the current fiscal year to a five-year high of ￥780 billion ($9.8 billion). That is well short of record profits, but it contrasted with Honda and Nissan, which slashed their profit forecasts by a fifth. All three have been hurt by slumping sales in China, which is in a territorial row with Japan. But Toyota’s new hybrids as well as its Corolla and Camry models have been flying out of the showrooms.

这条路也不是一路平坦的，但是这种转变似乎正在取得成效。在11月5日的时候，丰田把今年公司净利润的预期提高到了5年来的最高水平：7800亿日元（98亿美元）。这比之前的最高记录少了很多，但是比本田和日产高多了，这两家公司都把预期利润额减少了五分之一。所有这三家公司都受到了中国市场销量下降的影响，原因是领土上的争端。但是丰田的新型混合动力汽车以及卡罗拉和凯美瑞车型都已经进入市场了。

New bosses at Sharp, Panasonic and Sony must be looking at Toyota enviously, wondering how they too can rebuild Japan’s image as a producer of snazzy high-tech goods. Jointly, their companies are expected to have lost more in the past five years than they have made profits in the past two decades (see chart).

夏普，松下以及索尼的新老板们看到丰田这么成功都会感到很嫉妒的，他们都在想要怎样才能重新确立起日本作为华丽的高科技产品生产国的形象呢。如果把这些日本公司合起来看的话，这些公司在过去五年的损失比它们在过去20年所取得的利润还要多（看图表）。



Sharp is in the ugliest mess. The maker of TVs and solar panels is so sensitive about its balance-sheet that on November 5th it revised a four-day-old announcement that had said there was “material doubt” about its future. The new version, with no apologies for murdering the English language, said: “There exist conditions which might raise uncertainties about Sharp being an assumed going concern. However, we judge that no uncertainties about Sharp’s ability to continue as a going concern will exist.”

其中夏普的情况是最为丑陋的。这家电视和太阳能板的生产商对自己的资产负债平衡表是如此的敏感，以至于在11月5号的时候，该公司重新修改了在那4天之前发表的一份公告，该公告上说公司未来的前景“非常不明朗”。而修改后的公告说：“目前公司面临着一些情况，这些情况可能会引发一些使夏普不能再继续经营下去的不稳定因素。可是，依我们的判断，使夏普无法持续经营下去的不稳定因素是不会存在的。”

The same day, Standard & Poor’s, a ratings agency, cut Sharp’s creditworthiness further into junk territory. It said two years of huge losses were straining its finances, added to which Sharp was highly dependent on short-term debt. Two banks, Mizuho Corporate and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, recently provided it with a ￥360 billion syndicated loan, but this expires next June, just before a big convertible-bond issue comes due. S&P said it might downgrade Sharp again in 90 days, if the company’s finances or its relationship with its banks worsens.

就在同一天，评级机构标准普尔进一步的降低了夏普的信用评级。该机构说，连续两年的巨大损失已经让该公司的财务面临危机，而且夏普还高度的依赖短期债务。日本的两家银行，瑞穗银行和东京三菱银行最近给该公司提供了3600亿日元的组合贷款，但是在明年六月就会到期，而几乎就在明年六月前，一项规模巨大的可交换债券也即将到期。标准普尔说，如果该公司的财务或者其与银行的关系恶化的话，那么在三个月的时间内可能会再次下调夏普的信用级别。

S&P believes Panasonic and Sony have stronger balance-sheets. But they are also suffering from chronic overinvestment in loss-making TV and other screen-related businesses that make them look too much like Sharp for comfort. Panasonic shocked its bondholders recently when it said it faced losses of over ￥700 billion for the second year in a row. It also skipped its annual dividend for the first time since 1950. Sony, meanwhile, predicted a full-year profit but said that much of its core electronics business remained in decline.

标准普尔相信松下和索尼在资产负债平衡表上的变现会更好一点。这两家公司长期对持续亏损的电视部门以及其他与屏幕相关的产品进行过剩的投资，所以才让人们觉得两家公司的下场会和夏普一样。松下最近说连续两年都在亏损，而且今年的亏损将到达7000亿日元，这让那些松下债券的持有者大为震惊。而且今年松下也没有发放红利，这是自1950年以来，松下首次没有发放红利。同时，索尼也预测了自己的全年利润额，但是该公司称其核心的电子业务的大部分都处于衰退状态。

Is there anything they can learn from Toyota? Analysts say their industry is much more commoditised than carmaking. Their empires are so thinly spread across an array of businesses that it is harder to cut costs through economies of scale. They are also too wedded to Japan to move to cheaper manufacturing locations.

这些公司可以从丰田身上学到些什么东西呢？有分析学者说和汽车制造部门相比，这些企业所在的部门更加的商品化。这些大企业没有把精力完全放在特定的领域里，涵盖的领域太多了，所以无法产生规模经济效应，所以也就没办法通过规模经济效应来削减成本了。而且这些企业也舍不得离开日本，所以也无法把生产基地转移到其他生产成本更低的国家去。

Yet Mr Toyoda has one lesson to teach: they could put more energy into making products that consumers enjoy. That’s what their competitors in South Korea and at Apple do. Sadly, they are too busy stanching the wounds of the past to give it much thought.

然而，还是可以从丰田章男身上学到一些东西的：这些日企可以花更多的资金来生产消费者乐于使用的产品。而日本的竞争者韩国和苹果就是这么干的。可惜的是，这些企业正在忙着为过去的伤口进行疗伤而无暇顾及这种想法。

转自龙腾网

诺基亚

SpongeBobNov 10th, 11:37
Steve Jobs summarised the problem for Japanese electronics firms... they have great hardware but very poor software. Sony is a great example: 8-10 years back I bought a beautiful network walkman, in hardware terms light years ahead of anything Apple could ever have produced or conceived, but the encryption software was shocking, and now even the operating software for it won't work properly on Windows. After buying one or two such products, you just stop buying anything with a Sony label on it anymore. Another Sony example: I can buy a much more advanced and cheaper camcorder in Japan with a Kanji menu, but the one with an English menu (NTSC, not even PAL) have less functionality and costs 20%+ more. Consumers are not fools, and they detest / blackball companies that treat them that way. Electronics companies that practice region controls and predatory regional pricing have completely lost their entrepreneurial religion and are destined for the scrapheap.

史蒂夫 乔布斯给日本电子企业的问题做了总结。。。说日本企业拥有很好的硬件，可是软件却很差。索尼就是一个很好的例子：在8-10年前，我买了一个很好看的随身听，就硬件来说，这种随身听在硬件上苹果公司是无法企及的，但是这里面加密的软件确实令人震惊的，而这款随身听的操作软件现在已经无法应用到微软的视窗操作系统上了。还有另外一个例子：如果是日本文字的菜单的话，我可以以更便宜的价格来买到一个更先进的便携式摄影机，但是如果该产品是以英文菜单来显示的话，那么这款产品的功能性更差而且价格还贵出了20%。消费者又不是傻瓜，他们很憎恨这些公司并且通过自己的行动来抵制这些公司。如果电子公司实行的是区域控制和掠夺性的地区价格策略的话，那么这些公司最终会完全失去他们的企业精神，并且最终注定被抛弃。

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Luis Felipe Rasmussin 回复 SpongeBobNov 17th, 20:45
I tend to agree with your views on this matter, but the characteristic you've mentioned can't be only seen as part of the Japanese firms; I myself had a Nokia cellphone which had terrible software (those old Symbians). I agree that being a costumer once does not make one to be a costumer forever (unless you're buying smth from Apple), though。

我有点同意你的这种观点，但是你所提到的特征并不不能成为日本企业的一部分特征；我自己就拥有一个诺基亚的手机，里面的软件也很烂（都是很老的操作系统）。我觉得一时的客户并不能保证永远都会成为一个公司的客户（除非你买的是苹果的smth）。

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edwardongNov 9th, 06:58
Actually, Japanese company profits or lack thereof are surely the result of the Yen rising from 100-110￥/US$ in 2008 to 80￥/USD currently. Which company can take that sort of currency change?

实际上，日本企业的亏损是由日元的升值引起的，从2008年的100-110日元的美元利率到目前的80日元的美元利率。有哪个公司能够承受得起这种货币变化呢？

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Anjin-Sanin 回复 edwardongNov 9th, 08:11
"Which company can take that sort of currency change?"
Well, Toyota did.

“有哪个公司能够承受得起这种货币变化呢？”
嗯 ，丰田做到了。

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AussieLouisNov 9th, 02:54
The biggest problem with corporate Japan is this 'ringii' or collective thinking. While this worked very well before, it's no longer an effective strategy.
The world has moved along, especially in terms of the increasing competitiveness of China and South Korea. The increasing innovativeness of industries in these two countries means that Japanese conglomerates need to change their global strategies to survive and compete.
A return to the consumer, as Toyota consistently does, and a change to individual meritocracy is the key to competitive innovation.

集体性思维或者“ringi”（这种集体主义的、整体的、和谐的决策制定过程有一个正式的表现形式，叫作轮议（ringi）制度。）是日本企业存在的一个最大的问题。但是这种思维在之前都能够发挥很好的作用，但是现在已经行不通了。
世界在继续向前推移，尤其是中国和韩国的竞争力在逐渐的增强。随着这两个国家在多领域变得越来越有创新型，所以日本的大企业们也要改变它们的全球战略来达到生存和竞争的目的。
以消费者为中心（正如丰田一直在做的）和进行英才教育是拥有竞争性创新的关键。

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BigPenin 回复 AussieLouisNov 13th, 08:43
Not convincing. Are you pretending to be a management consultant?

不够具有说服力，难道你是一名管理顾问？

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DHH5570in 回复 AussieLouisNov 13th, 09:55
I agree, in part, with your comment about the effect of ringi. Though an effective means of seeking approval/authorisation for complicated projects (the Shosha use it to great effect when reviewing large-scale project investment proposals), it is slow, involves far too many people and results in many innovative proposals and ideas being watered down and ultimately approved/rejected by senior figures who often have little or no understanding of the original proposal.
There is, though, a more fundamental problem which needs addressing in Corporate Japan: the Sempai (Senior) / Kohai (Junior) relationship. As someone who has just returned from a 3 year assignment in the Tokyo HQ of one of the larger Shosha, the single biggest impediment to change is the refusal of senior figures to listen / take on board the ideas of some surprisingly astute and internationally-minded younger employees. The Sempai orders, the Kohai obeys and that's it!
Corporate Japan needs to:
a) Flatten hierarchies - there are far too many levels of management
b) Rationalise (not remove) ringi - retain it but cut back on the number of people involved in the process thereby expediting the process and hopefully ensuring that individuals take more responsibility
c) Promote "individual" as opposed to "collective" responsibility
d) Promote staff based on merit - westerners always complain about the lack of opportunities for advancement but more important for Japan is to promote talent among their own. Length of service, university alumni networks, karaoke skills etc should not be the key criteria for promotion. HR Depts always seem to promote "safe" candidates who 'may not set the world alight but who will not rock the boat' over innovators which has resulted in the promotion of some depressingly ordinary individuals to senior level. The talent is there in Corporate Japan, they just don't seem to rise very far.
e) Finally (and this is something that at long last does seem to be improving, at least among the young), Corporate Japan really needs to get to grips with the English language!

我部分的同意你说的这个ringi制度所产生的效应观点。在复杂的公司项目上，这种制度不失为一种有效的获得授权和批准的方式（日本综合商社在评估大型项目提案时充分利用了这种制度，日本综合商社指日本一些掌控该国大部分进出口业务的特大型综合贸易公司,其中包括丸红(Marubeni)和三菱(Mitsubishi)等公司），但是这个过程很慢，牵涉到的人太多了，并且很多的创新型想法和建议在这个过程中都会被大打折扣，最终由一些高级领导人来决定来采用哪些想法或者是建议，而这些高级的领导人对那些原始的提案或建议都不怎么了解或者完全不知道。
但是，日企还有一个更加基础性的问题需要解决：高级经理人和初级经理人的关系。如果某日本综合商社的某个人之前被送到该公司在东京的总部进行3年的外派工作，等他回到原来的部门后，那些高级的经理们根本就不会听从这些拥有敏捷头脑和国际化视野的年轻人的建议，所以日企的改变才会那么的难。前辈们下命令，晚辈们遵守，这就是日企的规则。
日企需要做的事情有：
a) 消灭等级制度——日企拥有太多的管理层了
b) 对轮议制度进行合理化（而不是废除）——保持这种制度，但是在决策的时候减少参与的人数，因此才能加快决策的过程，这样子才能保证个体承担更多的责任。
c) 提高“个体”的责任感，而不是“集体”的责任。
d) 论功行赏——西方人老是抱怨缺乏晋升的机会，而对日本来说最重要的是在日本人中选拔出出色的人才。为公司服务的年限，大学校友关系网，去卡拉OK唱歌的技巧等等这些因素不应该成为晋升的标准。而人力资源部门一般倾向于晋升那些“安全的”候选人，这些“安全”的候选人没有什么杰出的才能但是也不会对创新者造成什么破坏性的影响，所以导致的一个结果是一些才华平平的人被选上了高级经理人的职位。日企中还是存在接触人才的，只不过他们还没有被足够的重视。
e) 最后，（还好，这种现象在目前渐渐得到了改进，至少在年轻人中间是如此的），日企真的得好好想办法来面对其英语问题！

tk2012

我们的中小企业马上也是成批倒下

迷失_fei

企业总有这些那些问题，不用吃惊

清淡飘渺

有一些中小企业倒台，而又会有其他的新企业成立，这本是再正常不过的事，这不正是市场经济派的经典语录吗？现在某些所谓的经济学家却拿着一些小企业倒台扇乎，不只是弱智还别有用心！

paoding

估计，在美国人普遍的思维里是无法想象倭寇能再给他们一次珍珠港的，，，

沐霜

长江后浪推前浪 前浪死在沙滩上  

金金斗斗

一鸡死，一鸡鸣！

银河WT

诺基亚 发表于 2012-11-27 10:34
SpongeBobNov 10th, 11:37
Steve Jobs summarised the problem for Japanese electronics firms... they ha ...

我觉得一切都说明材料科学真是很重要

股份赌王

很快，大日本帝国的经济就会复苏，毕竟一个垃圾民族就是临时的冲动而已。