《時代經(jīng)典用詞》商業(yè)篇 企業(yè)

免于在石英表業(yè)中向日本的霸權(quán)屈服。
In 1983,when he was approached for advice by a group of Swiss banks,
1983年，一群瑞士銀行家來找他咨詢。
the country had seen its share of the global watch market drop from 43% in 1974 to less than 15%.
當(dāng)時瑞士在世界手表市場占有率已自1974年的43%跌落至15%以下。
More than half the Swiss manufacturers had gone under,
超過一半的表廠已倒閉，
and creditor banks had taken over the country's two largest watchmaking groups.
而握有債權(quán)的銀行接收了國內(nèi)最大的兩個制表集團(tuán)。
"They were ready to colse them down and sell the brand names off to the Japanese,"Hayek recalls.
Hayek回憶說：“它們準(zhǔn)備把廠關(guān)了，然后將品牌賣給日本。
"I proved to the banks that we could revive the industry,
我向銀行證明我們可以讓產(chǎn)業(yè)起死回生，
then I went on national television and told to Swiss people,
然后我上全國電視網(wǎng)向瑞士民眾說
‘We can be No.1 again,’Nobody dared believe it."
我們可以重拾第一。沒有人敢相信我。”
6.Hayek put up $102 million-mostly his own money-
Hayek籌足1.02億美元，
and led a group of investors in buying the two companies from the banks.
然后帶領(lǐng)一群投資人自銀行手中買下那兩家公司。
He then merged them,effetively taking control of one-third of the Swiss watch industry,
接著他將兩者合并，有效控制了瑞士1/3的制表工業(yè)，
including such famous brands as Omega,Longines,Blancpain,Tissot,Rado and Hamilton.
包括如歐米茄、浪琴、Blancpain、天梭、雷達(dá)與漢密爾敦等名牌。
But his big coup was figuring out that a product invented before his arrival could be the high-quality,low-price,plastic quartz watch
但是他最大的收獲，在于看出來他收購公司前發(fā)展出來的某一型手表，可以成為高品質(zhì)、低單價的塑料質(zhì)石英表，
that would challenge the Japanese at the lower end of the market.
在低價市場挑戰(zhàn)日本。
The $35-to-$40 Swatch,which reduced by half the usual number of parts by building them directly into the casing on automated assembly lines,was an instant success,
在自動化的裝配線上把一半的零件直接植入表殼中、一支只賣35-40美元的Swatch一夕成名。
enabling the Swiss watchmaking industry to command 53% of the world market.
它使得瑞士制表業(yè)重新斬獲53%的世界市場。
The company has kept demand for the watches high by staying on the cutting edge of new designs,turning out some 140 new models each year plus limited-edition designer collections.
Swatch每年出品140種新款式及限量制造的設(shè)計師收藏表，以新設(shè)計保持競爭優(yōu)勢與高市場需求。
7.But the neatest trick is the company's ability to keep labor costs low in one of the world's most high-priced countries-
但是最厲害的一招，是該公司躋身全球最高生活水準(zhǔn)國家之中，卻能保持低人工成本的本領(lǐng)。
proving that moving the factory to cheap markets abroad is not always the best cost-saving solution.
這證明將工廠外移到人工低廉的市場并非絕對的節(jié)流妙方。
Thanks to an extremely high degree of automation,
歸功于極高度的自動化，
SMH keeps direct labor charges under 10% of total manufacturing expenses,
SMH讓直接人工成本保持低于生產(chǎn)總成本的10%，
in contrast to about 30% for most watchmaking operations.
而一般制表業(yè)的比例在30%左右。
8.So far,SMH has sunk about $18.9 million into the project,
到目前為止，SMH對此合作案已投下了1890萬美元，
betting that advanced microtechnologies developed in the watch industry can be translated into innovative designs for a car's propulsion and electrical systems.
并看好制表業(yè)發(fā)展的先進(jìn)微科技可以轉(zhuǎn)換應(yīng)用在汽車的推進(jìn)與電子系統(tǒng)的創(chuàng)新設(shè)計中。
"We're not trying to build some little gadget here,"Hayek said on a private tour of the garage last December.
Hayek在去年12月的一次私人參觀車廠活動中說明：“我們可不是在這里弄一些小發(fā)明。
"We want to have a consumer product that you can produce and use in the millions."