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That still represents a big change.
盡管如此，全球政局還是發生了不小的變化。
For the past 30 years multinationals in developed markets have mostly operated in a benign environment.
過去三十年里，成熟市場的跨國企業大多都在有利環境下經營。
Political parties worked within relatively narrow parameters, and pro-business policies, such as the liberalisation of trade and of rules on immigration, rolled forward.
有限的政治黨派干預以及持續實施的親商政策，例如貿易和移民規則自由化等。
Shocks were few. No longer.
然而，這種風平浪靜的日子算是到頭了。
The political spectrum is widening.
政治影響范圍正在擴大。
In Britain, Jeremy Corbyn, an old-fashioned leftist, controls the Labour Party, which was once the apogee of pro-business leftism.
一度站在親商政策頂峰的英國左派政黨——工黨，如今由傳統左翼分子杰里米·科爾賓領導。
In France, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, who boasts that she wants to add “Frexit” to “Brexit”, is almost certain to be one of the final two candidates for the French presidency next year.
而在法國，國民陣線領導人馬琳·勒龐，幾乎能肯定會成為明年競選總統的兩名候選人之一，她吹噓要追隨英國的腳步，帶領法國脫歐。
Unprecedented shocks are almost routine.
這些前所未見的驚訝幾乎已經變得司空見慣了。
In 2011 Standard & Poor’s downgraded America’s sovereign-debt rating for the first time.
2011年，標準普爾首次降低了美國主權債評級。
Greece’s default in 2015 to the International Monetary Fund was the first by a rich-world country.
2015年希臘對國際貨幣基金組織的債務違約成為發達國家首例。
Donald Trump upends political convention on a daily basis.
而唐納德川普更是每天都在顛覆政治慣例。
Companies need to recognise that many developed countries are becoming high-risk markets that do not compensate for those risks by delivering higher returns.
企業需要認識到許多發達國家正在轉變成高風險市場，但高風險并沒有帶來高收益。
They may need to import risk-management practices that they already apply to emerging markets: making sure not to concentrate their investments in too few countries; developing “emergency response plans” in the event of a sudden crisis; and planning how they will cut their losses and move, or slim, their businesses if a populist seizes power.
這些企業們可能需要引進運用在新興市場的風險管理機制：比如確保不把雞蛋放在一個簍子里；針對突發危機制定 “緊急應對方案”；以及規劃如果民粹主義者掌權，如何止損，如何轉移或裁減企業資產等方案。
Firms are already wary of long-term investments given slow growth.
在慢增長的局勢下，眾多企業已經對長期投資慎之又慎。
Political risk could reinforce such hesitancy.
政治風險可能使企業持觀望態度。
For the time being they may prefer shorter-term bets.
暫時選擇短期投資項目。
There is evidence that companies are stashing cash in safe securities as they wait to see what “Brexit means Brexit” actually means.
有跡象表明企業正在把錢投到安全的證券里，看看 “脫歐是玩兒真的” 到底會帶來什么樣的影響。
In August sterling-denominated money-market funds held ￡180 billion ($240 billion) in assets, up by almost a fifth since the start of the year.
八月，英鎊貨幣市場基金持有1800億英鎊 (2400億美元) 資產，較今年年初增長近20%.
Yet if businesses pull back on long-term investments, they may only encourage more instability.
然而，如果企業退出長期投資市場，只會導致更加不穩定的局面。
A vicious cycle, of low corporate spending that encourages stagnation that in turn produces popular discontent and more political turmoil, may spin faster.
企業縮減開銷促使經濟停滯，而經濟停滯引起群眾不滿，導致政治更加動亂，最終加快整個惡性循環。
Companies need to supplement prudence with something more proactive.
企業不應抱著小心駛得萬年船心態，而應采取更加積極的措施。
Defusing popular anger at corporate excesses is a business priority as well as a political one.
緩解公眾對企業財富過剩產生的憤怒是企業經營的頭等大事，同時也是其首要政治策略。
Over the past 30 years companies got into the habit of thinking about things like executive pay in purely market terms.
過去30年間，企業習慣性地純粹從市場角度考慮，諸如高管薪資的問題。
For example, they devoted a great deal of thought to making managers behave like owners rather than employees, by granting stock options.
他們潛心研究如何通過給予管理者股權而使他們對企業懷有主人翁意識。
But public perception matters as much as complex calculations.
然而公眾的看法跟這般深思熟慮的盤算同等重要。
Firms’ efforts to grapple with such issues can easily backfire.
企業在這些問題上付出了心血，結果卻很有可能事與愿違。
Conclaves of the super-rich meeting together to talk about the ills of inequality reek of aristocrats debating whether to share some crumbs from their tables.
富豪們秘密聚首討論不平等的弊病，儼然像自命不凡的貴族探討是否向窮人施舍桌邊的殘羹剩飯。
The World Economic Forum’s decision to make “responsive leadership” the theme of its next annual meeting in Davos is almost an invitation for ridicule.
世界經濟論壇決定以“積極響應型領導” 作為明年達沃斯峰會的主題，這一舉措毫無懸念的淪為笑柄。
But that is an argument for thinking harder rather than giving up.
其實這正說明企業們應該更努力反思，而不是撂下擔子一走了之。
By-invitation chinwags do not cut it.
僅靠組織會談并不能解決問題。
Companies need to be conscious of political—indeed, populist—considerations in their day-to-day operations, from how they set the pay of their executives to who they appoint to their boards to how much they spend on corporate entertainment.
企業要有意識的把政治因素尤其是民粹主義考慮到日常運營中，上到設定董事會管理層的薪資，下到計算企業娛樂的開銷等。
The price of freedom to do business in the rich world today is eternal vigilance.
當下，想在發達國家自由經營企業，必須保持時刻警惕的狀態。
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