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如果一切顺利，迈克尔•戴尔(Michael Dell )可能终将成为信息时代的亨利•福特(Henry
Ford)。
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If
things go according to plan, Michael Dell could eventually become the
Henry Ford of the information age.
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对于这位PC制造商来说，这听起来可能有些不可思议，但戴尔公司却显得雄心勃勃。20年前，迈克尔＃戴尔在德克萨斯州大学的一间宿舍里创办了自己公司，当时曾引起不小的轰动。事实证明，戴尔简单的商业理念具有很强的适应性，加上它那种令人肃然起敬的执着精神，戴尔总有办法按计划行事。
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For
a maker of desktop personal computers who founded his company, famously,
in a University of Texas dormitory 20 years ago, this may sound unlikely.
But the ambitions of Dell Inc are boundless - and thanks to a simple
business idea that has proved highly adaptable, and a fearsome
relentlessness, things at Dell have a way of going according to plan.
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电子消费产品可能使戴尔商业模式面临有史以来最严峻的一次考验。到目前为止，戴尔主要面向公司客户：在美国，个人客户只占总销售额的五分之一，在其它国家则更少。
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Consumer
electronics are about to provide what could well be the biggest test of
the Dell way of doing business. Until now, the company has sold mainly to
corporate customers: only a fifth of its sales in the US are to consumers,
and much less than that elsewhere.
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但现在，戴尔德州总部的高层管理人士正埋头制定计划，欲与电子消费市场中的巨擎们一比高低。
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Yet
executives at the Texas headquarters are now busy laying plans to take on
some of the giants of the consumer electronics world.
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戴尔总裁兼首席运营官凯文•罗林斯(Kevin Rollins)对公司
业务的蒸蒸日上贡献颇大。他表示，戴尔完全有理由相信，它的所有产品应在国际市场中占有30%到40%的份额。
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According
to Kevin Rollins, the president and chief operating officer who has had
much to do with its remorseless rise, there is no reason why Dell should
not aim for 30-40 per cent of the global market for all the products it
makes.
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现在，戴尔对总计8000亿美元的运算和电子消费市场虎视眈眈。这也就意味着，戴尔相信有朝一日能轻而易举地超越通用汽车(General
Motors)所创下的1600亿美元销售
额的佳绩。罗林斯先生说，这不是一个确定的具体目标，但他毫不回避戴尔的雄心。
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Applied
to the bn computing and consumer electronics markets that Dell now
targets, that suggests it believes it could one day easily exceed the
bn sales of General Motors. Mr Rollins says this is not a specific
target that has been "written down and pinned to the wall", but
he does not shrink from the ambition.
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一直以来，戴尔简单却有效的商业理念就是将标准化电子产品直接销售给客户，通常是在网上进行。这基本省去了正常情况下所必需的研究和开发过程，同时也免去了零售商和其他中间人环节。
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Dell's
simple but effective idea has been to sell standardised electronic
products direct to customers, usually over the internet. That removes most
of the research and development that is normally required, while also
cutting out retailers and other middlemen.
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戴尔直接从客户那里接受订单，获取相关信息，这种直销模式赋予它另外两大优势。其一，它能在订单到达时，根据订单要求生产产品，从而大幅削减了仓储成本；其二，当订单到达时，其高效灵活的市场营销机制可以根据实时业绩更新信息。
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Armed
with the information it gets from taking orders directly from customers,
Dell has gained two other powerful advantages. One is the ability to build
products to match orders as they come in, slashing its inventory costs.
The second is a highly efficient marketing machine that can adapt its
message based on real-time results as orders arrive.
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由于成本较低，戴尔的介入将降低这个市场的利润，缩小稳坐该市场竞争对手的利润率空间。
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With
its lower costs, Dell sets out to undermine profits in the markets it
enters and destroy the margins that sustain its more entrenched
competitors.
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“我们的目标是改变“利润池(profit pool)”，获取其中的最大份额，”罗林斯先生说。电子消费公司的毛利润率一般都在30%以上，在这种无情的竞争面前首当其冲。“我们的毛利润率定在18%和19%之间：我们不需要40%，”他说。
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Our
goal is to shrink the profit pool and take the biggest slice," says
Mr Rollins. Consumer electronics companies, often with gross profit
margins of more than 30 per cent, make an obvious target for this ruthless
approach. "Our gross margins are in the 18-19 per cent range: we
don't need 40 per cent," he says.
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罗林斯先生曾是贝恩(Bain)的合伙人，他把冷静的分析学和战略顾问耳熟能详的专业术语，运用在这种无情的拓展方式上：寻找最大的利润池，抢夺市场份额；挑选那些与戴尔已有业务较为“相近”的业务，降低在未知领域里迷失方向的风险；依靠“核心能力”
，征服新的领域。
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A
former partner from Bain, the Dell president applies the cool analytics
and familiar jargon of the strategy consultant to this relentless
expansion: search out the markets with the biggest "profit
pools" to be plundered; pick ones with close "adjacencies"
to those Dell already serves to reduce the risk of wanderingsintosunknown
territory; and apply its "core competences" to conquering new
ground.
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戴尔对一个公认的公式反复加以应用，堪称典范，不禁让人叫绝。它将这个公式运用于PC销售中，从公司客户转向个人客户；接着，它又追随企业客户进入服务器领域；然后，转战存储硬件市场。
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As
a textbook case of applying a proven and repeatable formula, Dell takes
some beating. It used the formula to move from selling PCs to businesses
to selling them to consumers. Next it followed its business customerssintos
servers, thensintosstorage hardware.
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现在，戴尔要跟随客户进入电子产品的其它领域。它已从与PC关系密切的产品入手，例如MP3数字音乐播放机和类似于计算机显示器的17英寸平面电视机。
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Now
it wants to follow consumerssintosother areas of electronics as well. It
has started with products closely linked to the PC, such as MP3 digital
music players and 17-inch flat-panel television sets that resemble
computer monitors.
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据戴尔竞争对手称，戴尔PC业务在美国的成功掩盖了一个事实：戴尔发现，要介入其他产品市场或进军新的地区已变得更加困难。“在戴尔的成功背后，其实是一种倒退，”惠普全球运营部负责人杰夫•克拉克(Jeff
Clarke)说。
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According
to Dell's rivals, success in the PC business in the US has disguised the
fact that the company has found it harder to breaksintosother products and
new geographic regions. "Dell's success is backward-looking,"
claims Jeff Clarke, head of global operations at Hewlett-Packard.
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美林证券(Merrill Lynch) 的技术战略专家史蒂夫•米卢诺
维奇（Steve Milunovich）称，并非所有市场都象PC业务一样能接受戴尔模式。但他补充道，戴尔选择的进军领域有所局限：其自身优势必须仍能带给它明显的经济和运营优势。在这方面，戴尔做得张弛有度。
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According
to Steve Milunovich, technology strategist at Merrill Lynch, not all
markets are as susceptible to all aspects of the Dell approach as the PC
business. Yet he adds that the company has shown great discipline in
attacking only those areasswheresits strengths still give it a clear
economic and operational advantage.
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就连大多数戴尔的竞争对手都不得不承认，电子消费产品从模拟技术到数字技术的转变与戴尔的优势相得益彰。例如，戴尔早已是液晶显示屏和计算机硬驱最大的买家，随着这些电子零部件在电视机和其它家用电器中所起的作用越来越大，这将使戴尔的地位十分稳固。
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Even
most of the company's competitors concede that the shift in consumer
electronics from analogue to digital technology plays to Dell's strengths.
It is already the biggest purchaser of liquid crystal display screens and
computer hard-drives, for instance, putting it in a strong position as
these components come to play a bigger role in television sets and other
household items.
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“当显示器和液晶电视结合在一起时，我们将横扫电子消费市场中的竞争对手，”首席市场运营官迈克•乔治(Mike
George)表示。
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"When
you combine monitors and LCD televisions, we will blow away the consumer
electronics guys," says Mike George, chief marketing officer.
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更为重要的是，标准化降低了电子零部件的成本，在技术上锐意创新的公司曾经拥有的优势不复存在，戴尔也因此从中获利。由于产品的各种功能开始越来越依赖于标准化零部件，例如微处理器和硬驱，技术创新所带来的差别已越来越不明显。
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More
importantly, Dell also benefits from the standardisation that brings down
the cost of components and removes the advantage once enjoyed by companies
that invest in their own technology. As more of a product's functions come
to reside in standardised components such as microprocessors and hard
drives, the differentiation that comes from making new versions declines.
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戴尔与其它竞争者之间的差别显而易见。例如，索尼首席执行官出井伸之(Nobuyuki
Idei) 两周前向《金融时报》透
露，这家日本公司对专利部件越来越重视，为的是要让其产品与众不同。在过去的四年中，硅片占索尼投资额的70％。
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The
contrast with others is stark. Sony chief Nobuyuki Idei, for instance,
told the FT two weeks ago that the Japanese company was putting a growing
emphasis on proprietary components to differentiate its products. In the
past four years, 70 per cent of Sony's investment has been in silicon
chips.
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虽然电子消费产品的数字化也许正中戴尔核心优势的下怀，但戴尔商业模式可能至少将面临来自该市场的三大考验。
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While
the digitisation of consumer electronics may have played to Dell's core
strengths, though, there are at least three things about the market that
are likely to test its business model.
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第一，至少现在，戴尔还将依赖其它公司的生产，这削弱了戴尔降低成本的能力。此外，电子消费业务以普通产品为基础，而不是针对不同客户进行个别配置。克拉克先生称，这样，戴尔无从体现根据订单定制产品这一模式的优越性，它为每个买家度身定制的主要优势将无用武之地。
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One
is the fact that it will rely, at least for now, on manufacturing by other
companies, reducing its ability to drive down costs. Also, the consumer
electronics business is based on common products that are not configured
individually for different customers: according to Mr Clarke, that removes
one main advantages of Dell's build-to-order model, the ability to
customise products for each buyer.
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贝恩的一位咨询顾问查理•金(Charlie Kim)说，使用公司
外部厂商也很可能意味着戴尔“将无法把库存压缩到象PC的库存那样少。”公司高层暗示，一旦产量达到足够高的水平，戴尔很可能会开始自行生产。
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Using
outside manufacturers is also likely to mean the company "will not be
able to operate on inventory that is as thin as it is in PCs," says
Charlie Kim, a consultant at Bain. Company executives suggest that once
manufacturing volumes reach a high enough level, Dell is likely to start
production itself.
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米卢诺维奇先生说，尽管成本优势在生产和采购等“后端”活动中不那么突出，但戴尔在电子消费市场的真正机遇是在“前端”的市场和销售领域。“分销将极为有利可图，”他说。
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Also,
while the cost advantages may be less in "back-end" activities
such as production and sourcing, the real opportunity for Dell in consumer
electronics lies in the "front-end" marketing and sales area,
says Mr Milunovich. "There's a big chunk of money to be taken out of
distribution," he says.
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戴尔是否能够凭借其直销模式好好把握住这次机遇，将是它所面临的第二大挑战。克拉克先生说，零售商店模式最适合消费品，因为它们能立即形成一个大众市场，并可以让顾客看看、摸摸产品。戴尔的竞争者表示，对于顾客想要瞧瞧的电视机，或是顾客想要试试的手持式设备等产品，这尤为重要。
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Whether
Dell can take advantage of this opportunity with its direct sales system
will be the second big challenge. Retail stores suit consumer products
best because they bring an instant mass market and let users test the look
and feel of products, says Mr Clarke. That is particularly important for
products such as television sets, which buyers want to see, or handheld
devices, which they want to pick up, say rivals.
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戴尔高层对这些质疑一一予以反驳。他们指出，对戴尔在网上销售PC的尝试，外界曾表示出类似的怀疑。而且，戴尔掌上电脑初期的销售佳绩显示，由于消费者熟悉戴尔PC品质和风格，也愿意在网上购买戴尔的其它产品。
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Dell
executives retort that similar doubts were once expressed about its
efforts to sell PCs online, and that its early sales of personal digital
assistants suggest that consumers familiar with the quality and style of
the company's PCs are willing to buy other items online too.
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第三大考验就是戴尔的品牌和市场营销方式是否能适应这个新的市场。虽然戴尔品牌的高知名度会有所助益，但不会让戴尔一劳永逸。“戴尔这个品牌家喻户晓，但它始终还是一个以PC为主的品牌，”贝恩的金先生表示。
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The
third test will be whether the Dell brand and marketing approach can be
adapted to suit the new market. High name-recognition helps, but will get
Dell only part of the way. "Everyone knows who Dell is - but it's
still a PC-focused brand," says Mr Kim at Bain.
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对于一个仍然极度依赖公司客户进行销售的公司而言，这无疑将是一大挑战。“事实上，没有任何公司能兼顾个人和企业客户，我们对此感到任重道远，”乔治先生说。但他又补充道，戴尔品牌蕴含了特定的价值、质量和服务水平，这一基本特质应能延伸到这两类市场中。
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For
a company that still relies heavily on selling to corporate customers,
this will pose a big challenge. "We're very humbled by the fact that
there are virtually no other companies that are both consumer and
enterprise brands," says Mr George. He adds, though, that the basic
attributes of the Dell brand - with its connotations of a certain level of
value, quality and service - should extend across both types of market.
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要克服上述障碍，戴尔将不得不史无前例地扩张其模式。“（过去），戴尔一直无需做太大改变就能推广新的产品，”金先生说，“现在，戴尔必须适应市场变化。”
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Overcoming
obstacles such as these will stretch the Dell model in ways that it has
never been stretched before. "[In the past] they've been able to push
new products through their system withoutshavingsto change it much,"
says Mr Kim. "Now, they're going to have to adapt."
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亨利•福特曾率先设计出大规模生产标准化产品的系统，从而闻名于世。他可能会对戴尔在PC业务取得的成绩表示赞许。但戴尔要在电子消费市场再铸辉煌，则必须证明，它能在不丧失其独特风格的前提下，不断重新调整自己的商业模式。
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Henry
Ford, famous for designing the first system capable of mass-producing a
standardised product, would have approved of what Dell has already done to
the PC business. To do the same in the consumer electronics world, though,
it will have to prove that it can constantly retune its business model
without losing the power that has set it apart.
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译者/夏璇
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