商务英语

我们要记住商业计划书的初审是一个淘汰的过程而不是一个选拔的过程。写商业计划书的一大挑战是吸引读者兴趣以及想方设法使它更容易阅读。风险投资公司不得不看很多份计划书，因为许多人为了这同样一份投资而竞争。若你漏掉了重要细节，后果自负。写商业计划书是为了获得邀请去做一个详细的描述，那才是真正的选拔的过程。

Draw the organization chart as it should be at maturity, not to fit the current team. Highlight the team’s capabilities and don’t hesitate to identify gaps. This shows awareness of future needs. Mention the strategy for recruiting other key people and the top executives who are willing to join the team once financing is found. (However, this may not be taken seriously because it doesn’t show commitment.)

画出发展完善的组织结构图,而不是仅限于满足现有的团队。强调团队的能力,要毫不犹豫地指明目前状况与未来目标的差距。这表明对未来需求的认识。一旦募集到资金一定要注意招募愿意加入这个团队的其他核心人员和顶级执行者们的策略。(然而,这可能不会被认真对待/相信,因为它显示不出任何保障。）

An advisory board adds credibility, in particular if it is composed of

well-known experts. Nevertheless, be careful with name dropping: the world is small and serious investors are diligent. In summary, show the competencies you already have, but stay realistic, humble, and credible.

顾问委员会可以增加可信度,尤其是如果它是由知名专家组成的。然而,小心借别人之名哄抬身价:世界很小,严肃的投资者很务实。总而言之,显示你拥有的竞争力,但始终保持现实，谦虚和有可信度。

No matter what the valuation is, think of the business as a way of creating assets. The assets can be anything that contributes to value of the company. Influence the choice of valuation method by defining some measurable assets that can be used. Assets are always a mix of tangible and intangible, such as goodwill or brand name, or human capital and intellectual property. A customer (or supplier) base can also represent a measurable asset. In choosing a particular asset, make sure your implementation gives absolute priority to maximizing this asset’s value and how to measure it.

不管你用什么评估方式，必须要把企业看成是创造资产的一种途径。我们对资产的理解要宽泛，只要未来能为公司创造价值的都是资产。通过定义一些可衡量的资产来影响评估方法的选择。资产是有形与无形的组成，例如商誉，商标名称，人力资源，知识产权。客户基础（或供货商基础）都代表可衡量资产。通过选择一种特定资产，确保你的实施具有绝对优先权，从而使资产价值最大化，并且确保如何衡量资产。

Every company must spend money to survive: according to the simplest formula, funds that are spent on materials, wages, and buildings eventually lead to

the creation of products, revenues, and profits. In planning for funding requirements, financial managers must distinguish between two different kinds of expenditures: short-term (operating) and long-term (capital) expenditures.

每个公司都必须花钱生存:根据最简单准则，花费在材料、工资和建筑上的钱最终将导致产品、收入和利润的产生。在规划资金需求方面，财务经理必须区分两种不同的支出：短期开支和长期开支。

Predicting payment schedules is a function of credit policy: the rules governing a firm’s extension of credit to customers. This policy sets standards as to which buyers are eligible for what type of credit. Typically, credit is extended to customers who have the ability to pay and who honor their obligations. Credit is denied to firms with poor payment histories. Information about such histories is available from many sources, including the Credit Interchange developed by the National Association of Credit Management.

预测支付时间表是信贷的一项功能：管理公司对客户发放信贷的条例。这项给买家设定标准，哪类客户适合哪类信贷。通常,信贷发放给那些能力支付且承兑债务的客户。信贷不得给予付款记录不良的公司。这样的记录信息可以从许多来源得到,包括由国家信用管理协会制定的信用交换。

Some background: one of the IMF’s primary missions is to be an emergency lender to countries suffering from economic shocks, such as sudden currency devaluation. During the Asian crisis, the IMF loaned billions of dollars to countries including Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea, where years of excessive

borrowing and frenzied investment by a financially overstretched private sector (abetted by errant government policies) led to sharp economic reversals. While IMF intervention helped put those countries on the road to recovery, it was not without controversy. For example, the IMF initially urged governments to cut spending, but quickly reversed itself when it saw this would further slow damaged economies. The prevailing Asian view then was that as a condition for receiving assistance, the IMF pushed Asian governments to adopt policies that furthered the interests of industrialized nations. The IMF’s largest shareholders.

知识背景：国际货币基金组织的首要任务是成为经历经济震荡的国家的紧急放贷者。例如突如其来的货币贬值。亚洲发生经融危机的时候，国际货币基金组织向诸如泰国、印尼和南朝鲜之类的国家借款数十亿美金。这些国家由于多年向财务吃紧的私人部门（在错误的诱导下）过度借款和疯狂投资，导致经济大幅倒退。。然而IMF的介入帮助那些国家走上复兴之路是充满争议的。譬如，IMF一开始要求削减开支，但当他发现这样会使经济发展更慢，很快又改正他自己的决定。在亚洲的公认看法：IMF敦促亚洲接受增加IMF最大股东发达国家的利益是作为接受帮助的条件。

AIM offers companies seeking capital a chance to dip into London’s deep investor pool under lighter regulation than those on competing markets. That’s got US rivals in a spin. As overseas firms bypass New York to trade on AIM--which now lists more than 300 foreign companies, one-fifth of them from the US--it has faced accusations of lax standards. In January, NYSE CEO John Thain claimed AIM “did not have any standards at all, and anyone could list.” A month later, Roel Campos,a commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the stock-market regulator, branded AIM a “casino”, with 30%of new firms “gone in

a year”. (He later said his remarks had been taken out of context.) To the LSE, such talk is just sour grapes. US markets should accept that “the flow of capital is global and will seek out the most efficient and effective market places,” Clara Furse, the exchange’s chief, wrote in the Financial Times in later March.

另类投资市场为寻求资本的公司提供了一个动用伦敦巨大的投资者的资金的机会，和竞争市场里的公司相比，另类投资市场的公司管理规则更宽松。这使美国的竞争对手们手忙脚乱。海外公司（非英公司）绕过纽约去另类投资市场上市，它现在上市了300多家外资企业，其中五分之一是美国公司--它因标准太低而面临指控。一月，纽约证券交易所的首席执行官约翰·桑顿声称AIM“根本没有任何标准，任何人都可以上市。”一个月之后，罗尔·坎伯斯，作为美国股票交易委员会的委员和证券市场的调整者，将AIM取名为一个“赌场”，而30%的新公司破产。（后来他说他的言论被断章取义了。）对于伦敦证券交易所来说，这样的谈话只是酸葡萄心理。美国市场应接受这个事实，“资本的流通是全球的，要寻求最有效的市场，”该交易所的首席执行长，克劳拉·芙尔丝在三月下旬的金融时报上写道。

Many reasons have been proffered to explain Toshiba’s fall from glory, including its complicated web of sales channels and networks throughout China. But one thing that cannot be ignored is a crisis of consumer trust that has contributed to the current lackluster performance, at least to a significant extent.

提出来解释东芝的从荣耀到衰落的原因有很多，包括其复杂的网络销售渠道和遍及中国的网络。但有一点不容忽视的是消费者信任危机，至少一个显著的程度，这导致了目前平庸的业绩。

This kind of corporate indifference could be ignored in the early days when multinationals were first starting to pour into the Chinese market. But local consumer awareness is much higher now. The times have changed, and Chinese shoppers now have higher expectations for quality and service.

这类企业的冷漠在早期，也就是公司刚开始进入中国市场时，可能会被忽视。但现在当地的消费者意识很高。时代变了，中国消费者现在对质量和服务有更高的期望。

This is why relatively expensive foreign products have become obvious targets for criticism. Unfortunately, a lot of multinationals have yet to come to terms with this harsh reality. Many foreign firms have been aggressively expanding their operations in China over the past several years,due to deregulation and wider access to the local market than in the past.Despite these developments, however, general levels of service have yet to improve accordingly.

这就是为什么相对昂贵的外国产品已成为批评的明显目标。不幸的是，许多企业还没有向这个残酷的现实妥协。在过去几年里，许多外国公司一直在积极扩大在中国的业务，这是因为解除管制和与过去相比更广泛地进入当地市场。尽管有这些发展，但是，一般的服务水平还没有相应地提高。

Countering the critics, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao insisted that Beijing “will ensure the freedom and the rights of foreign news media and foreign financial information agencies”. But alarm bells are nonetheless sounding in foreign boardrooms. In the past few months, Beijing has issued several regulations and is drafting more that appear to be aimed at limiting the ability of oversea firms to do

business in China. Last week, China’s stock-market regulator temporarily banned investment by foreign brokerages in domestic securities firms, citing the need to allow the local industry to consolidate so that Chinese firms would be large enough to compete with global with global giants. And in late August, the Ministry of Commerce issued new rules on mergers and acquisitions, including a number of vague provisions that appear to give the ministry wide power to review and half mergers. Bob Poole, who heads the Beijing office for the US-China Business Council, says there are good aspects to the changes--for example, they spell out previously unclear procedures for foreign purchases of Chinese companies. But he says some parts of the regulations are “not clear and might be used in a protectionist way”.

中国对批评进行反击，他认为北京会保证外媒和外国金融信息机构的自由和权利。尽管如此，警钟还是在外国董事会里响起。在过去的数月里，北京颁布了几个条例，仍在起草更多的管理措施，似乎旨在海外公司在中国进行贸易的能力。上周，中国股票市场暂时禁止外国经济人在国内证券公司投资，指出当地产业联合的必要性，那样中国公司才能足够强大到与国外公司竞争。8月下旬，商务部颁布了新的关于合并与收购的规定，其中一些模棱两可的规定似乎给部门广泛的权利进行审查和终止合并。负责美中贸易委员会北京办事处的鲍勃.普尔表示，对于上述变化有很多积极影响。比如，它们详细说明了先前中国公司外资采购的模糊程序。但是他还说规定中有一部分内容 “不够清晰，有可能被用来进行贸易保护主义”。

Big companies don’t seem to endure all that well. Despite all the advantages available to them (economies of scale, marketing savvy, strong channels of distribution),large corporations typically don’t get bigger and stronger over time.

Instead, they often become increasingly irrelevant and out of touch with the marketplace until eventually they are forced to close their doors. What’s needed is a workable way to implant entrepreneurial thinking inside the corporate walls in such a way that wealth can be created on an ongoing basis.

大公司好像看上去发展的并不那么好，尽管它们有很多优势（比如规模经济效益，营销知识，强大的销售渠道），大公司通常并未随着时间的流逝而更大更强壮。它们反而变得无关紧要，与市场脱节，知道最终被迫关门大吉。向公司内部员工灌输主人翁的意识，是一个可行有效的方式。通过这个方法，才能使大公司连续不断的创造财富。

Middle managers often focus on finding ways to spread their sphere of influence. Therefore, when a new growth initiative comes along, the criteria by which many middle managers will judge it is whether or not it will extend their sphere of influence. Or alternatively, a middle manager may view a new growth venture as a dumping ground to allocate costs so as to make their own department budgets look better. Either of these approaches can place a huge burden on a new business venture and point to the fact that often the best approach to generating new growth is to do so through independent business units rather than trying to overcome the resistance offered by middle managers.

中层管理人员费尽心思寻找扩大他们影响力范围的方法。因此，当一个新的增长计划出现时，很多中层管理人员用来评判这个计划的标准是能否扩大他们的势力范围。或者中层人员很可能把新计划看成可以分配成本的场所，以使他们自己部门的预算好看点。这些方法中的任何一个都会给新的商业投资带来巨大的负担，所以促进新增长的最好方法是通过的商业机构来扩大势力范围，而不是尝试战胜来自中层管理者的阻力。

Controlling is the process of monitoring a firm’s performance to make sure that the firm is meeting its goals. All CEOs must pay close attention to costs and performance. Indeed, skillful controlling, like innovative directing, is one reason that Gordon Bethune has been so successful at Continental. For example, the firm focuses almost relentlessly on numerous indicators of performance that can be constantly measured and adjusted. Everything from on-time arrivals to baggage-handing errors to the number of empty seats on an airplane to surveys of employee and customer satisfaction are regularly and routinely monitored. If on-time arrivals start to slip, Bethune focuses on the problem and gets it fixed.. I f a manager’s subordinates provide less-than-glowing reviews, that manager losses part of his or her onus. As a result, no single element of the firm’s performance can slip too far before its noticed and fixed.

控制是随时关注公司业绩的过程，以确保公司朝达到目标的路线前进。所有总裁必须密切关注公司的成本和业绩。事实上，戈登·贝休恩把航空公司经营的如此成功就得益于他有技巧的控制，如有创意的领导。例如，公司先要建立业绩指针，坚持不懈地关注各种指标，不断衡量和调整业绩指针。从准时到达率，到行李准确率，到飞机上的空座率，再到员工和乘客满意度的调查这些都是定期常规来检查的。如果准时到达率下滑，贝休恩就会找出问题同时解决好问题。如果下级给经理评估不那么好，那个经理的奖金就丢了。因此，如果公司业绩因任何因素下滑，都能及时解决。

That attack is now under way. China’s campaign of policy restraint was initiated last fall, with an increase in reserve requirements on bank deposits from 6% to 7% announced in late August and made effective in late September. That measure apparently didn’t work in arresting the rapid growth of the real

economy. And so Premier Wen has been quite direct in warning that further forceful measures were being prepared to stem the excesses of bank lending. True to his word, the People’s Bank of China unveiled a second tightening in late March and then a third action in early April. A failure to arrest the excesses of an overheated economy is perceived to be a recipe for the dreaded hard landing. China cannot afford such a dire outcome. It would have serious implications for unemployment and nonperforming bank loans, thereby undermining the very reforms that are at the heart of the China miracle. The verdict is clear: the Chinese leadership now senses a new urgency in bringing its economy under control. The latest monetary tightening measures should be viewed as warning signs of more such initiatives to come.

反击正在展开。中国的控制出台于去年秋天，八月底宣布银行存款准备金要求从6%提高至7%，这一在九月底生效。这一明显没有控制住经济的加速增长，所以温直接警告将会采取更多的强制性措施来控制过度的银行贷款。正如他所说，中国人民银行在三月底公布了第二次紧缩，接着在8月初开展了第三次紧缩。如果未能阻止经济过热发展，会导致其为令人畏惧的硬着陆提供条件。中国承担不了这个可怕的后果。这会严重影响失业率和不良银行贷款，由此会破坏关乎中国核心利益的改革。这一决策是明确的：中国领导人目前已经感到控制经济发展的新的紧迫感。最近的货币紧缩措施预警着更多新议案将会出台。

When pricing a new product, a company or business unit can follow 1 of 2 strategies. For new-product pioneers, skin pricing offers the opportunity to “skim the cream”from the top of the demand curve with a high price while the product is novel and competitors are few. Penetration pricing, in contrast, attempts to

hasten market development and offers the pioneer the opportunity to use the experience curve to gain market share with a low price and dominate the industry. Depending on corporate and business unit objectives and strategies, either of these choices may be desirable to a particular company or unit. Penetration pricing is, however, more likely than skim pricing to raise a unit’s operating profit in the long term.

当给一个新产品定价是，公司或商务单位可以采用两个战略中的一个。对于新产品的先行者，取脂定价提供了这样的机会：即可以以高价从需求曲线的顶部“撇油”，此时产品新颖而且竞争对手极少。相对而言，渗透定价试图加速市场开发，并为先行者提供机会利用经验曲线，以低价格获取市场份额、进而主导这个行业。根据公司或商务单位的目标和策略，任一选择都可能适用于特定的公司或单位。从长远来看，渗透定价法要比取脂定价法更能提高一个单位的营运利润。