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美国运通(American
Express)首席执行官陈纳德(Ken Chenault)正春风得意。
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Ken
Chenault, chief executive of American Express, is riding high.
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这家全球最知名的金融服务公司再次取得可观的利润；它的信用卡业务在美国和海外市场都拥有激动人心的新机遇；它的股票评级在业内所有领先企业中独占鳌头，其中部分原因在于，多数其它公司都愿意买入它的股票，只要它们买得起。
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The
world's best-known financial services company is making handsome profits
again. Its card business has exciting new opportunities in the US and
overseas. And its share rating is the highest of any leading company in
the sector, partly because most of the others would love to buy it - if
only they could afford to.
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这与2001年年底的情况相比真是大不相同。那时9.11恐怖袭击事件刚过，美国运通面临的状况被陈纳德先生形容为“完美风暴”。
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How
different from the picture at the end of 2001, when, after the September
11 attacks, the group faced what Mr Chenault describes as "the
perfect storm".
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“显然，
9.11事件对全世界来说是个破坏性事件，而从小范围来看，它严重打击了我们公司，”陈纳德说。
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"Obviously,
9/11 was a devastating event for the world and on a parochial basis it hit
our company very hard," he says.
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公司因恐怖袭击遭受“创伤”，随后又眼看其信用卡业务陷入低谷，因为商务接待和旅行支出暴跌。但陈纳德先生利用这个时机加快实施一项重组计划，该计划是他在2000年接任首席执行官一职不久后启动的。
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The
organisation was "traumatised" by the attacks and then watched
the bottom drop out of its card business, as spending on business
entertainment and travel tumbled. But Mr Chenault used the opportunity to
speed up a restructuring programme he had initiated soon after taking over
as chief executive in 2000.
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他当时担心，尽管美国运通在上世纪90年代末增长强劲，但美国经济增长可能放缓，且全球经济正步入一个更加不确定的阶段。集团的重组目标之一，是加快其步调迟缓的管理层对各种事件作出反应的速度。决策体系得到了“再造”，以便先前“按序”进行的各项步骤能“同时”实施。
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His
concern then was that while American Express enjoyed strong growth in the
late 1990s, the US economy was likely to slow and the world was heading
into a period of greater uncertainty. One aim was to increase the speed
with which the group's slow-moving bureaucracy could respond to events.
Decision-making was "re-engineered" so that processes previously
done sequentially were carried out "in parallel".
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据公司首席财务官加里•克里藤登(Gary
Crittenden)称，这番改变成效显著，特别是在营销方面：“过去我们在市场上进行一次推广需要6个月，现在我们几天就能做到。”
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According
to Gary Crittenden, chief financial officer, this has had a dramatic
effect, notably in marketing: "It used to take us six months to get a
promotion in the market. Now we can do it in a matter of days."
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9.11之后，美国运通新出现的敏锐嗅觉令该集团能迅速削减支出，以应对疲软的市场形势。这也意味着它在2002年下半年发现有机会从竞争对手那里夺取份额时，能迅速展开营销攻势。美国运通一直密切监视竞争对手发送直邮广告的水平，因为陈纳德先生认为，即使经济状况开始改善，但有些对手为达到财务目标，可能还是会被迫削减开支。
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After
September 11, the new nimbleness allowed the group to cut back quickly in
response to poor market conditions. In the second half of 2002, it meant
it could turn the marketing tap on fast when it saw an opportunity to take
share from rivals. American Express had been carefully monitoring the
level of direct mail being sent out by rivals because Mr Chenault thought
some might be forced to cut back on spending to meet their targets even as
the economy started to improve.
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“我们一看到（邮件数量）下跌，就开始投入资金。”陈纳德先生说，结果在2003年，美国运通成功令其业务扩展速度超过许多同类公司。
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"As
soon as we started to see that drop [in mailings] we started to pour in
the money." As a result, Mr Chenault says American Express managed to
expand its business much faster than many in 2003.
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集团盈利在2001年减少了一半，但在2002年反弹到原有水平。而在去年，美国运通轻松达到了年均每股收益增长12%至15%、年收入增长8%的长期目标。
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Group
earnings, which halved in 2001, bounced back in 2002 and last year
American Express comfortably met its long-term target of earnings per
shares growth of 12-15 per cent and revenue growth of 8 per cent a year.
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通过增加旅游和娱乐之外领域的信用卡消费，以及在其规模相对较小的银行部门逐步停止商业借贷业务，该集团已成功降低了风险特性。
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The
group has managed to reduce its risk profile during the past few years by
increasing card spending in areas other than travel and entertainment and
by winding down the commercial lending side of its small bank.
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但是，并非一切都很美好。美国运通财务顾问(American
Express Financial Advisors)去年为集团贡献了四分之一的利润，但目前的表现仍令人失望。该集团通过一个由1.2万名经纪人组成的网络向中等收入客户销售共同基金与年金，但集团糟糕的投资业绩，包括在垃圾债券上的重大损失，令上述销售业务深受困扰。
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Not
that everything is rosy. The performance of American Express Financial
Advisors, which provided a quarter of profits last year, is still
disappointing. The selling of mutual funds and annuities to middle-income
customers through a network of 12,000 brokers has been dogged by poor
investment performance, including big losses on junk bonds.
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陈纳德先生承认，在面向更高收入客户的信用卡业务上，几乎不存在交叉销售，此外，有关美国运通将把财务顾问部门分拆出去的传闻不断。但是，去年收购英国资产管理公司斯瑞尼德(Threadneedle)的举措，突出表明陈纳德先生决心提供更多可供销售的内部产品，来建立这一业务。
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Mr
Chenault admits there is little cross-selling with the more upmarket card
business and there have been persistent rumours that American Express
would spin off the financial advisers' arm. However, last year's purchase
of UK asset manager Threadneedle underlines Mr Chenault's determination to
build the business by giving it more in-house products to sell.
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克里藤登先生说，美国运通可能会在产品领域进行更多并购交易，而且有意收购其他经纪人以扩展业务网络。
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Mr
Crittenden says it could do more deals on the product side and would like
to buy other brokers to build the network.
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公司的经纪人网络现与投资银行集团摩根士丹利(Morgan
Stanley)拥有的网络规模大致相同。摩根士丹利的信用卡业务同样表现欠佳。摩根士丹利有传闻称，其董事长兼首席执行官裴熙亮(Philip
Purcell)乐意与美国运通合并，并最终把控制权交到陈纳德先生手中。
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Its
broker network is roughly the same size as that owned by Morgan Stanley,
the investment banking group, which also has an underperforming card
business. Gossip at Morgan Stanley is that Philip Purcell, chairman and
chief executive, would love to merge with American Express and eventually
hand over the reins to Mr Chenault.
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虽然美国运通单干得似乎很不错，但一些银行家认为，这样的合并意义非同一般。过去，美国运通的“金融超市”模式已证明是灾难性的，而陈纳德先生是否想让美国运通回归这种模式，那就是另一回事了。
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Though
American Express seems to be doing well on its own some bankers think such
a merger would make a good deal of sense. Whether Mr Chenault would want
to return American Express to the "financial supermarket" model
which proved so disastrous for it in the past is another matter.
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译者/李功文
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