MAN, VW and Scania
男子汉,大众和斯堪尼亚

MAN overboard
被边缘化的男子汉公司

Nov 26th 2009
From The Economist print edition


An abrupt departure may pave the way for the fusion of three truckmakers
哈坎的突然离开促成三大卡车巨头的合并

HAKAN SAMUELSSON had been an exemplary boss of MAN, Europe’s third-biggest truckmaker. After taking charge in 2005, he transformed it from a clunky conglomerate with interests from printing presses to spaceflight into a business focused on building trucks, turbines and the house-sized diesel engines that power more than three-quarters of the world’s big ships. He also put in place a vigorous international expansion plan that included the purchase last year of Volkswagen’s Brazilian heavy-truck business and this year of a 25% stake in Sinotruk, China’s biggest maker of heavy trucks. Within five years, analysts expected MAN to be earning almost half its revenues in emerging markets. So when Mr Samuelsson abruptly stepped down on November 23rd it came as a shock to nearly everyone. Even his spokesman was on holiday.
哈坎-萨缪尔森一直是欧洲第三大卡车生产商男子汉公司的模范老板。自从2005年接受男子汉卡车公司以来,哈坎将男子汉公司从一个下制印刷机,上制宇宙飞船的杂七杂八大制造工厂,变为一个专注于制造卡车,涡轮以及可给世界上四分之三的超大型船只供能的,体积堪比房屋大小的柴油机。同时,哈坎积极的实施其国际扩张计划,这个计划包括去年对大众巴西重卡的收购,以及今年针对中国最大的重型卡车制造商中国重汽25%股权的收购案。分析家预测,五年内,男子汉集团有将近一半的收入将来自发展中国家新兴市场。所以在今年11月23日哈坎提出辞职的消息时,众人皆表示震惊。甚至于他的发言人也没有任何准备,正在逍遥度假中。
继续阅读“”

Retail v e-tail in America
传统零售与网络零售 美国对决

Bleak Friday
阴暗星期五

Nov 26th 2009 | NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition

Bricks-and-mortar shops struggle to win customers back from virtual ones
实体商场从网络商家手中极力挽回消费者

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A special report on business and finance in Brazil

Survival of the quickest
最速者生存

Nov 12th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Frequent crises have made for strong banks and nimble financiers
频繁发生危机已使银行更健全,金融业者思惟更敏捷

继续阅读“”

After Dubai
迪拜过后

A financial sandstorm
金融沙尘暴

Nov 30th 2009 | DELHI
From Economist.com

The global consequences of Dubai’s debt problems
迪拜债务问题波及全球


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Barack Obama in Asia
奥巴马总统的亚洲之行

Scaling the Asian wall
小马哥的长城游记

Nov 19th 2009 | BEIJING AND TOKYO
From The Economist print edition

The president pays Asia the compliment of courtesy; rewards are not immediate
[小马哥访华,收获驴粪蛋一枚。]

IT TOOK Barack Obama nearly a year in office to get to East Asia. When he did, it was for an intensive nine-day obstacle course, which he tried to negotiate with the placatory charm and openness to dialogue that have marked his diplomacy. Unsurprisingly, it went down well, but produced little of substance.
[小马哥上台一年,终于秀到东亚来了。行程九天,有拉拢有谈判,任重道远,且看小马哥外交手段如何。这事吧,大面上挺漂亮,其实样子货。]
继续阅读“”

Business
商业

Big SIS is watching you(注1)
环视皆“SIS”也

Nov 13th 2009
From The World in 2010 print edition

By Ludwig Siegele
路德维格•西格勒

Ubiquitous technology will make the world smarter
技术无所不在,世界愈加智能

Reuters
路透社
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The end of the Labour government
工党政府之末

Last, do no harm
以至最后,勿造伤害

Nov 19th 2009
From The Economist print edition

How Gordon Brown and the Labour Party should use their last months in power
戈登布朗及工党应如何利用掌权的最后几个月

Reuters

TWO syndromes often beset governments whose time is almost up. One is listlessness and drift, as discipline crumbles, morale plummets and ideas dry up. Conversely, some moribund administrations embrace desperate hyperactivity to stave off their doom. Gordon Brown and his Labour government, facing probable defeat in the general election that must be held in Britain by next June, have alternately exhibited both these contradictory tendencies. But there is a course between them, and a respectable way for Labour to spend what are likely to be the last six months of a 13-year stint in office: confront the fiscal predicament it has helped to create, and pursue those worthwhile policies it has already got.
任期即将结束的政府常常会被两种状况所困扰。其一是由于纪律瓦解、士气下降、思想枯竭而引起的迟缓低迷。相反,另一些即将离任的政府则具有回光返照的活力可以延迟劫数的到来。可能会在明年一月的英国大选中面对失败的布朗及工党政府交替展现出了这两种矛盾的倾向。但是在这两者之间有一段过程,工党可以以一种体面的方式度过可能是其十三年执政期的最后六个月:直面自己促成的财政困境,实行现行的有价值的政策。
继续阅读“”

Google
谷歌


Facing the frenemy
面对友敌

Nov 12th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Googled: The End of the World as We Know It.
Google一下:我们所能知道的世界尽头

By Ken Auletta. Penguin Press; 384 pages; $27.95. Buy from Amazon.com

SOMETIMES it seems as if Google has never come across an industry it doesn’t want to disrupt. Best known for its hugely popular search engine, the internet giant has spread its tentacles into an ever-growing array of businesses, including advertising, telecoms and, most recently, digital-navigation software. The company’s habit of selling services cheaply or giving them away for free has endeared it to consumers. But its tactics have enraged competitors, who complain their new rival is out to destroy the economics of entire industries.

有时候看起来Google好像对任何行业都想插上一脚。因其广受欢迎的搜索引擎而广为人知,这家网络巨头把触角伸向了越来越多领域,包括广告、电信以及最近涉及的电子导航软件。该公司一惯的低价甚至免费服务的做法深得客户欢心。但这种战略惹恼了竞争者,他们抱怨这个新来的对手根本就是存心来搞垮整个行业。
继续阅读“”

本帖最后由 lilywizardry 于 2009-11-19 08:34 编辑

The DNA database
英国DNA数据库

Slightly less big brother

Nov 12th 2009
From The Economist print edition

The vast police directory is trimmed, but only a little
整理了庞大的警查目录,但这只是九牛一毛

AT THE start of the 20th century, Scotland Yard’s fingerprint bureau began a quiet revolution in policing. A hundred years on, detectives have a new tool at their disposal in the form of DNA matching. In 1995 the government set up a national database recording the DNA of everyone who was convicted of a crime, hoping that it would make future cases easier to crack. Since then the England and Wales database has swollen to 5.5m entries, covering 4.8m citizens (some profiles are duplicates), or some 9% of the population. It is thought to be the biggest DNA database in the world. Despite plans announced this week to limit its growth, it looks likely to stay that way.
20世纪初,伦敦警察厅指纹局悄无声息地开始了一场警界革命。一百年以来,侦探们一直拥有可以随意使用的DNA匹配工具。1995年,英国政府建立了国家数据库,记录每一位犯人的DNA,希望将来可以更轻易地查案。自那以后,英国和威尔士的数据库有550万个条目,涵盖480万公民,或9%的人口的资料(有一些资料重复)。人们认为,这是世界上最大的数据库。尽管本周有计划宣布限制其增长,但该数据库似乎只能那样。
继续阅读“”

America and China
中美关系

Pleased to meet you
很高兴见到你

Nov 16th 2009 | BEIJING
From Economist.com

Barack Obama’s trip to China may encourage a warming of relations
奥巴马访华或将促进双边关系

                                                          AP

MUTUAL suspicion and mutual attraction are powerful and competing forces in the relationship between China and America. President Barack Obama hopes his first visit to China, which began on Sunday November 15th, will enable the two countries to work more closely on global problems, from climate change to the economy. His hosts appear to agree, but misgivings are still abundant.

在中美关系中,互相猜疑与互相吸引是两股斗争着的强大力量。奥巴马总统希望自己的初次访华(于11月15日星期天展开)能够促成双方在气候变化以及经济等国际问题上更加密切的合作。中国人民似乎也是有意愿的,但疑虑依旧很多。
继续阅读“”