Alcatel-Lucent
阿尔卡特朗讯
Goodbye and adieu
互道再见
Jul 31st 2008
From The Economist print edition
The architects of a big telecoms-equipment merger decide to hang up
一家大型电信设备合并企业的缔造者决定中止合作
WHEN Alcatel, a French maker of telecoms equipment, announced its plan in 2006 to merge with Lucent, an American rival, reactions were mixed. There was general agreement that bigger was better and that the combined firm would benefit from greater geographical reach. But there was also scepticism that its French and American managers would be able to get along. With good reason, it seems: on July 29th Alcatel-Lucent announced its sixth consecutive quarterly loss and the resignations of Serge Tchuruk, its French chairman, and Patricia Russo, its American chief executive. Their firm’s troubles stem in large part from its internal clash of cultures.
法国电信设备制造商阿尔卡特（Alcatel）2006年宣布打算与其美国的竞争对手朗讯（Lucent）合并的时候，人们对此反应各异。普遍的看法是，公司规模越大越好，合并后公司能从其更广的地理延伸中获益。但是，也有人质疑该公司的法国管理者和美国管理者是否能和睦相处。7月29日，阿尔卡特朗讯（Alcatel-Lucent）公布了其连续6个季度的亏损。它的董事长，法国人赛格·谢瑞克（Serge Tchuruk），以及首席执行官，美国人陆思博（Patricia Russo）也相继辞职。这一切的发生似乎都有其缘由。该公司的麻烦主要源自内部的文化冲突。
This clash was an unhelpful distraction, given that the entire telecoms-equipment industry is suffering. The bonanza of 2000-05, when European operators upgraded their mobile-phone networks to new “third-generation” (3G) technology, is winding down. Sales growth is slowing, and even Ericsson, the industry leader, has seen its share price fall by 50% in the past year. Margins have also been squeezed by the rise of Huawei and ZTE, two Chinese firms. Their prices are sometimes 40-50% lower than those of Western vendors.
鉴于整个电信设备产业正遭受的困境，这一文化冲突造成的不安毫无益处。2000到2005年，欧洲的运营商将手机网络升级到新的3G(第三代）技术，而其所带来的收益正日渐减少。销售量增长速度减缓。即便是该行业的领头羊爱立信公司，去年的股票价格也下跌了50%。随着两大中国公司–华为和中兴–的崛起，市场利润也缩水了。有时，这两家公司的产品价格比西方卖家的低了40%-50%。
The merger was supposed to make Alcatel-Lucent more competitive, but cost savings have been hard to realise, despite 16,500 job losses from a workforce of 88,000. The combined company was also weak in W-CDMA, the dominant 3G technology, and relied too much on CDMA, a rival standard that is less popular. This made Alcatel-Lucent unusually dependent on a few key customers, such as Sprint, an ailing American operator. Alcatel-Lucent should have focused its research spending in a handful of carefully chosen areas, says Sylvain Fabre of Gartner, a consultancy, instead of maintaining a sprawling product portfolio.
本来，合并是想让阿尔卡特朗讯更具竞争力。但是，尽管已经从88000名员工中裁员了16500，公司还是难以实现成本的节省。它在主导的3G技术W- CDMA（宽带分码多工存取）方面实力薄弱，却过多地依靠相对的CDMA（码分多址）技术，这一技术标准不及前者受欢迎。这使得阿尔卡特朗讯对几个重要的客户非常依赖。如，美国一家式微的运营商Sprint公司。Garter咨询公司的Sylvain Fabre称，它本应该将其研究经费放在几个精选的领域，而不是维持一个杂乱的产品包。
And then there were the cultural problems. Key positions were divided between French and American executives, as was the board. When deciding which factories to close and which projects to fund, national allegiances quickly came to the fore. Both Mr Tchuruk and Ms Russo alluded to this when announcing their resignations this week. “It is now time that the company acquires a personality of its own, independent from its two predecessors,” said Mr Tchuruk. Ms Russo said the company would “benefit from new leadership aligned with a newly composed board.” Alcatel-Lucent plans to reduce the number of seats on its board and appoint some new faces.
接着是文化冲突问题。正如其董事会的人员组成，公司里一些关键的职位也由法国和美国的主管人员分占。在决定关闭哪些工厂，支持哪些项目的时候，对国家的忠贞就表现出来了。这周谢瑞克先生和陆思博女士宣布辞职的时候，都间接提到了这个问题。谢瑞克说：”现在，公司应该拥有自己的个性，不受（我们）两个前任时期的羁绊。”而陆思博女生则表示公司会”从与新组建的董事会一条心的新领导中受益。”公司计划缩减董事会成员，并任命一些新的面孔。
Things might run more smoothly with a few new directors who are neither American nor French. The same goes for the new chief executive. One name being touted is Ben Verwaayen, the former boss of BT. He is respected in the industry, used to work at Lucent-and is Dutch.
董事会里有几个既非美派也非法派的新成员，事情或许会进展得更加顺利。这一点也适用于新的首席执行官人选。被人们提到的一个人是BT（英国电信公司）的前任老总本·韦华恩（Ben Verywaayen）。他在电信行业中备受尊敬，曾经也在朗讯工作过。并且，他是荷兰人。
译者：joyce_z http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=13051&extra=page%3D1