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Business Telecom networks Two's company
商業 電信網絡 雙巨頭
In an industry with a cost leader and a price leader, is there room for others?
當一個行業里既有成本領導者又有價格領導者的時候，其它公司還有市場空間嗎？
REVOLUTIONS in technology bring benefits to millions, but the companies that make them happen do not always thrive.
技術上的革新總是給數百萬人帶來好處，但是那些實現技術革新的公司卻不一定會因此而興旺發達。
Even when demand is booming, competition to meet it can be brutal.
即便是需求迅速膨脹，其市場競爭也會非常殘酷。
Makers of telecommunications networks know this only too well.
通信網絡設備制造商非常清楚這一點。
They perform the unseen miracles that allow ever more people to talk, work and play on ever smarter devices just about anywhere, but their rewards have been mostly meagre.
它們默默地創造著奇跡，讓更多的人可以在任何地點通過更智能的終端聊天、工作和娛樂，但得到的回報卻少的可憐。
Merger and failure have thinned their ranks.
頻繁的并購和失敗的經營導致這個行業的玩家不斷減少。
In 2009 Nortel, a Canadian equipment-maker, went bankrupt.
在2009年，北電（一家加拿大的通信設備制造商）破產。
This year Motorola's wireless-network division was bought by Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a Finnish-German joint venture created in 2007.
同年，摩托羅拉的無線網絡部門被諾西(一家芬蘭和德國的合資公司，創建于2007年)收購。
France's Alcatel and America's Lucent merged in 2006.
法國阿爾卡特和美國朗訊也早在2006年合并。
None of these mergers has brought much success.
然而這些兼并案例并沒有獲得多少成功。
NSN has yet to make an annual profit.
諾西的年度收益至今還是負的。
On November 23rd it said it would shed 17,000 of its 74,000 workers and concentrate on mobile-broadband networks, for which demand is set to grow explosively, and on services (eg, managing and maintaining networks), where it is relatively strong.
在11月23日，諾西宣布將裁員17000人(現有員工數74000人)，將把經營聚焦于蓬勃發展的移動寬帶網絡業務和相對強勁的代維業務(如管理和維護網絡)。
It had already sold a microwave-technology business; and on November 29th it announced the sale of another small unit.
諾西已經出售了自己的微波業務部門；并于11月29日宣布售出了另一個小業務單元。
Alcatel-Lucent reported falling revenues and negative cashflow in the third quarter.
據報，阿朗在3季度銷售額下跌，現金流為負。
Investors are said to be impatient with its boss, Ben Verwaayen.
投資者也開始對阿朗的老板本. 韋華恩失去耐心。
Must all struggle? All but two, it seems.
難道都是在苦苦掙扎么？似乎有2家是例外。
"Telecoms equipment is a scale game," says Richard Windsor of Nomura, an investment bank.
一位來自野村證券(一家投行)的分析師理查德.溫莎稱："通信設備制造業是一個規模游戲"。
Network-builders need scale to support the hefty fixed costs of research and development.
網絡建造者需要規模效應來支撐沉重的研發固定成本支出。
"You can be either the cost leader or the technology leader.
他說："你可以是成本領先者或是技術領先者。
If you're neither of those, you're in a spot of bother."
但如果你兩頭都不搭，那你就有麻煩了。"
The technological pace is set by Ericsson, a Swedish company that scoops more than a third of global mobile-infrastructure revenues, according to Gartner, a research firm.
愛立信，這家技術研究型公司引領著技術的步伐; 據高德納調查，這家來自瑞典的公司攫取了全球三分之一的移動基礎網絡建設收入。
It boasts 27,000 patents and was part of a six-firm consortium that paid $4.5 billion for a load of Nortel's patents in July.
它聲稱擁有27000項專利，同時也是在7月份為收購北電專利支付45億美元的財團(由6家公司組成)成員之一。
"Anyone [designing] mobile phones or networks needs an agreement with us," says Hans Vestberg, its boss.
愛立信的老板漢斯. 衛翰思宣稱："任何一家設計手機或是網絡的公司都需要和我們簽訂協議。"
The cost leader is Huawei, a Chinese firm.
而成本領先者則是一家中國公司, 華為。
Its global market share went up from 4.5% in 2006 to 15.6% in 2010, reckons Gartner, despite the political obstacles it faces in America. (Some American politicians fret about Huawei's opaque ownership and possible military ties.)
盡管它在美國市場遭遇了政治障礙(一些美國政客擔心華為不透明的所有權及可能的軍方背景); 但據高德納估算，它的全球市場份額依然從2006年的4.5%增長至2010年的15.6%.
Even Ericsson feels the price pinch.
即使是愛立信也在為價格頭疼不已。
Its revenues have risen this year after falling in 2009 and 2010, but its margins have been slimmer.
雖然其收入在經歷2009, 2010兩個財年的下滑后，今年有所回升，但利潤卻變少了。
Mr Vestberg explains that Ericsson has been building new networks for mobile operators and modernising old ones.
衛翰思先生解釋道，這是因為愛立信在為移動運營商建設新網絡同時改造舊網絡。
That means winning open tenders and taking an initial hit to margins.
這就意味著它每贏得一個公開招標就開始一次對利潤的沖擊。
Mr Windsor says that the companies caught in the middle lack the margins either to invest on Ericsson's scale in R&D or to fight Huawei on price.
溫莎先生稱："這些公司都遭遇了利潤瓶頸，既無法做到像愛立信對研發的投資規模，又不能和華為打價格戰"。
NSN was loth to compete on prices before Rajeev Suri became its boss in 2009, says Bengt Nordstrom of Northstream, a consulting firm.
據北流咨詢公司的本格特?諾德斯特姆稱，在2009年拉吉夫?蘇瑞擔任諾西的老板以前，諾西根本不愿意開打價格戰。
Its market share is down to around a sixth, even with Motorola; it inherited a quarter from its parents.
它以前從母公司繼承了1/4的全球市場份額，而現在其市場份額連同摩托羅拉算在一起，已下降到了1/6。
Now Mr Suri is taking an axe to costs, though he has not said exactly what he will chop.
如今蘇立先生大刀闊斧削減成本，盡管他并沒有明確表示要砍掉哪一部分。
He thinks others will also have to narrow their ambitions.
他認為其它公司同樣將會采取收縮戰略。
Life will get no easier for those squeezed between the Swedes and the Chinese.
那些被瑞典人和中國人夾在中間的公司日子會不好過。
Ericsson's scale and technical edge are handy when, say, talking to mobile operators wanting to handle lots of data faster and without interference.
對于那些想要獲得更快處理海量數據和抗干擾技術能力的運營商，愛立信憑借所擁有的規模和技術優勢可以手到擒來。
And for those for whom cheap kit is paramount, Huawei will still be hard to beat.
而對于那些以設備價格低廉為至上原則的運營商市場里，華為則難逢敵手。
