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Business Starbucks v Kraft A double shot of discord
商業 星巴克對決卡夫 不合引發連環炮
The kings of coffee brawl with the monarchs of macaroni
咖啡之王對決通心粉之霸
STARBUCKS once seemed so unstoppable that the Onion, a satirical paper, joked about a new Starbucks opening in the restroom of an existing Starbucks.
星巴克曾經勢不可擋，以至于以嘲諷著稱的onion報開玩笑稱星巴克的新店會開在老店的廁所內。
Yet by January 2008, when Howard Schultz, the coffee chain's most effective boss, returned as chief executive, it was rapidly declining.
但是在2008年前，他的業績款速下降。直至最為卓著的領導人Howard Schultz返回公司擔任董事長。
Mr Schultz closed stores, shed staff, slimmed the supply chain and arrested Starbucks's slide.
Schultz先生關閉門店，裁減雇員，簡化供應鏈。力挽了星巴克的頹勢。
In fiscal 2010 the firm's operating margins rebounded to 13.8%, the highest in its 40-year history.
2010財政年度，星巴克的運營利潤率反彈至13.8%，為星巴克40年歷史的最高。
One of the problems Mr Schultz found, after a review of the business, was in the way Starbucks-brand coffee was sold in supermarkets.
重新審視業務之后，Schultz發現其中一個問題-星巴克品牌在超市里售賣。
The so-called consumer-packaged goods (CPG) business is handled by Kraft, America's biggest food company, which is best known for having mastered the art of mixing macaroni with cheese.
號稱快消品業務是由美國最大的食品公司卡夫經營的，卡夫由于其攪拌芝士通心粉而被人熟知。
Following an agreement in 1998, Kraft sells, markets and distributes bags of Starbucks coffee.
按照1998年達成的協議，卡夫分銷袋裝星巴克咖啡。
Mr Schultz told Kraft he was dissatisfied.
Schultz先生告知卡夫他對此感到不滿意。
Kraft acknowledged the complaint, but, according to Starbucks, failed to act because it was focused on the takeover of Cadbury, a maker of superior British sweets such as Creme Eggs.
卡夫證實了Schultz的抱怨，但是按照星巴克的說法，他之所以不采取行動是由于卡夫把業務重心放在收購吉百利上面，吉百利是英國優質糖果制造商，其代表商品有糖心巧克力。
By the spring of last year, both sides realised that their partnership was broken.
去年春天，雙方都意識到他們的合作關系已經破裂。
Starbucks says it offered Kraft $500m to give back the CPG business.
星巴克聲稱他將出價5億美元買回其快消業余。
As part of the proposed deal, it still wanted to supply capsules for Tassimo, Kraft's single-portion coffee machines.
作為意向交易的一部分，星巴克依然使用卡夫的全自動Tassimo咖啡機。
Kraft initially agreed to the buy-out offer, but then changed its mind and demanded another $200m, according to Starbucks.
星巴克聲稱：卡夫同意了此項收購，但是接著就改變了主意并要求追加2億。
Kraft disputes this account.
卡夫對否認了此種說法。
It claims that Starbucks offered $750m to buy out the business in August. It adds that it rejected the offer. A fair price would be $1.5 billion, Kraft says.
卡夫聲稱星巴在八月克出價7.5億美元來買下了業務，卡夫補充到其拒絕了此項收購，合適的價格應該為15億美元。
In October Starbucks told Kraft that it was in material breach of their agreement.
十月，星巴克告知卡夫他嚴重違約。
Unless the matter was resolved within 30 days, Starbucks said, all their agreements (including the one on Tassimo) would end by March 1st and Kraft would get nothing.
除非30日內得到解決，否則所有協議（包括Tassimo咖啡機的協議）最遲將于3月1日作廢屆時卡夫將一無所獲。
The alleged breaches include Kraft's failure to involve Starbucks in sales planning, to provide detailed budgets and to obtain approval for advertising.
所謂的違約包括卡夫未能將星巴克納入到其銷售計劃中，未能提供詳盡的經費以及未能獲得廣告推廣的批準。
Starbucks says Kraft also violated an exclusivity deal by promoting its own premium coffee.
星巴克說卡夫還通過推廣自己的優質咖啡而違反了了排他協議。
Kraft says all these alleged breaches are baseless. It says Starbucks brewed them up to give itself a pretext for grabbing back the best part of its business (its coffee shops are still sluggish) without paying for it.
卡夫方面宣稱這些所謂的違約時無依據的，星巴克制造了這些說辭來作為重奪優質市場而不花一分錢的借口，星巴克的咖啡店業務進展緩慢。
Mr Schultz declared war. In November he announced that Starbucks was ending its relationship with Kraft unilaterally.
Schul提起開始仲裁希望改變這種情況。
On November 29th Kraft initiated an arbitration proceeding to challenge this move. Ignoring the arbitration, Starbucks said a couple of days later that from March onwards it would distribute its packaged coffee through Acosta, a marketing firm.
星巴克方面宣稱將不理會仲裁并于數十天后的3月開始通過行銷機構Acosta來銷售包裝咖啡。
In 2009 Acosta helped Starbucks to launch Via, a popular brand of instant coffee.
2009年Acosta幫助星巴克開創了Via-大受歡迎的速溶咖啡。
On December 6th Kraft sought a preliminary injunction against Starbucks in a District Court of New York, for allegedly violating the terms of their agreement.
據宣稱12月6日卡夫以違反協議條款為理由向紐約地區地區法院申請一項初步禁令，聽證會將暫定于于1月27日舉行。
The hearing of the injunction is tentatively scheduled for January 27th. Kraft says that it played a central role in the success of Starbucks's packaged-coffee business, which grew tenfold during the course of their partnership.
卡夫方面稱其在星巴克的包裝咖啡業務從雙方開始合作到現今增長十倍上發揮著核心作用。
Starbucks retorts that it could have grown faster if someone else had handled it.
星巴克方面則反駁若是其他人經營業務本該增長的更快。
Even so, it will be tricky to prove material breaches of the agreement, so Starbucks will probably have to pay to end it.
即便這樣，證明重大違約行為將變得非常棘手，星巴克極有可能以收購了事。
Kraft stands to lose not only a lucrative business but also some "category captaincies".
卡夫不僅失去了獲利頗豐的業務而且部分領軍地位。
Each large American retailer elects a product-category captain who is closely involved in how its sales are managed.
每個美國大型零售商都會選擇一家積極處理與之相關業務的領軍企業。
Kraft is category captain in more than 60% of the supermarkets in which it distributes coffee. Acosta will soon be vying for this profitable honour.
卡夫占據了超市咖啡分銷市場60%以上的份額，Acosta也將緊盯這快大肥肉。
