Globalization 全球化A fundamental shift is occurring in the world economy. We are moving rapidly away from a world in which national economies were relatively self-contained entities, isolated from each other by barriers to cross-border trade and investment; by distance, time zones, and language; and by national differences in government regulation, culture, and business systems. And we are moving toward a world in which barriers to cross-border trade and investment are tumbling; perceived distance is shrinking due to advances in transportation and telecommunications technology; material culture is starting to look similar the world over; and national economies are merging into an interdependent global economic system. The process by which this is occurring is commonly referred to as globalization. 世界经济正在发生着根本性的改变。
我们正迅速地远离这么一个世界，在这个世界里国家经济实体都曾经是相对自给自足，彼此孤立的， 就其原因或是设置跨境贸易和投资的壁垒所致， 或是因距离、 时差和语言的缘故所致；或是因政府监管、文化和商业体制上的的国家差异所致 与此同时，我们正在走向另外一个世界，在这个世界里，跨境贸易和投资的壁垒正在摇摇欲坠， 原来感知到的距离因为交通和电信技术上的进步而正在缩小；物质文化在全世界开始看起来都很相似；各种经济实体正融入一个彼此依赖的全球经济体制中而正在发生的这一个过程，人们通常把它称为全球化Correspondent: Globalization has been one of the most important factors to affect business over the last twenty years. How is it different from what existed before? Companies used to export to other parts of the world from a base in their home country. Many of the connections between exporting and importing countries had a historical basis. Today, to be competitive, companies are looking for bigger markets and want to export to every country. They want to move into the global market. To do this many companies have set up local bases in different countries. Two chief executives will talk about how their companies dealt with going global. Percy Barnevik, one of the world ’ s most admired business leaders when he was Chairman of the international engineering group ABB and Dick Brown of telecommunications provider Cable 第二是公司可以获得或购买其他公司 ;第三是公司可以在先有的基础上通过扩张有组织地发展。
Dick Brown : Well, as you go global, and a handful or more of companies are going to really push out, in my view, to be truly global companies, and some of them, maybe all of them, will also work to be local. They’ ll be local in chosen markets and global in their ability to carry their customers’ needs fromcontinent A to continent B. We want to be one of the companies that’ s both global and local. Alliances are one way to be global, it’ s not the only way to be global; you can acquire your way to “ globalness” , you can organically grow your way to “ globalness” , you can have alliances which help you get global quicker, so you take your pick. 迪克 · 布朗 : 嗯，当你走向全球化时，部分公司,也可能是相当一部分公司,在我看来，都准备把自己真正地推出去，使自己成为真正的全球化公司,其中 ,有些公司 ,也可能是所有公司也会尽力本地化。
这些公司，对某些既定的市场来说，将是本地化公司，对满足从此洲到彼洲的顾客需求的能力来说，将是全球化公司我们就想成为既是全球化又是本地化的公司之一联盟是全球化的一种方式，但并不是唯一的方式；你可以通过收购的方式来“ 全球化 ” 、也可以通过自我成长的方式来“ 全球化 ” ， 还可以通过联盟的方式让你更快全球化这些方式，你可以自己选择Percy Barnevik : You have to start from the top with local people who understand language, culture and so on, and I think in this global world where the East is coming up now, that’ s a winning recipe. 珀西 · 巴恩维克：你必须从本地高层人士开始，他必须懂当地语言、理解当地文化等；我认为在这个东方正在崛起的全球化的世界中，这才是成功的秘诀Correspondent: ABB already found the winning recipe. Its theory of globalization has become the company’ s working practice. So how do you make theory work in practice? Percy Barnevik believes that successful globalization involves getting people to work together, overcoming national, cultural barriers and making the organization customer-driven. 记者 : ABB 公司已经找到了成功的秘诀。
该公司的全球化理论已经付诸工作实践了那你又是怎样把理论运用到实践中去的呢？珀西· 巴恩维克认为，成功的全球化包括如何让人们协同工作，如何克服国家文化障碍，如何使组织以顾客为导向Percy Barnevik : You see the easy thing is to have the theory, but then to make the systems work, to make people really work together, to trust each other — Americans, Europeans, Asians, to get over these national cultural barriers and create a common glue, ABB, and then make them customer-driven. If you can achieve that, and create that culture deep down then I think you have an important competitive edge. 珀西 · 巴恩维克：要知道，拥有理论是件很容易的事情，但是要让各种系统运作起来，要让人们真正协同工作，彼此信任 —— 无论他是美国人，还是欧洲人， 还是亚洲人，要克服国家文化障碍，最终创建成一个共同粘合体，ABB公司，而且还要让他们以顾客为导向，这些却不那么容易。
如果你能做到这一点，实际上也能创造那种文化，那么我认为你就具有一种非常重要的竞争优势Correspondent: What Dick Brown and Percy Barnevik have shown is that there are different routes to globalization and that companies have to work hard to succeed in going global. Actually one of the disadvantages of the Global Strategy is that integrated competitive moves can lead to the sacrificing of revenues, profits, or competitive positions in individual countries — especially when the subsidiary in one country is told to attack a global competitor in order to convey a signal or divert that competitor’ s resources from another nation. The challenges managers of transnational corporations face are to identify and exploit cross-border synergies and to balance local demands with the global vision for the corporation. Building an effective transnational organization requires a corporate culture that values 。