來源于《商業》版塊
Schumpeter
熊彼特企業管理專欄
The FredEx conundrum
聯邦快遞的難題
FedEx’s visionary founder is an old-style disrupter in danger of being disrupted
聯邦快遞富有遠見的創始人是一位老派的破壞者，有被顛覆的危險
For outsiders, FedEx is synonymous with the business it pioneered: the overnight delivery of packages. For insiders, it might just as well be called FredEx. It is virtually indistinguishable from its founder, Fred Smith, who has been boss since 1971. The 75- year-old, who came up with his idea for air freighting packages at Yale University, is the stuff of folklore. Some of it is apocryphal, such as the story that he got a C at Yale for a paper outlining his idea (he can’t recall the grade). But one tale is, if anything, too good to check. In its early days, as the firm flirted with bankruptcy, he saved it with a lucky wager at a blackjack table in Las Vegas.
站在局外人的角度來看，聯邦快遞是其首創業務的同義詞：快遞隔天送達。而對于內部人士來說，不妨稱其為弗雷德快遞。該公司的創始人弗雷德•史密斯自1971年以來一直擔任該公司的老板。這位75歲的老人在耶魯大學提出了空運包裹的想法，這個故事廣為流傳。其中一些是杜撰的，比如他在耶魯大學得C的一篇論文，這篇論文概述了他的想法(他記不起分數了)。但有一個故事（若存在的話）太好了以至于不知真假。早期，當公司瀕臨破產時，他在拉斯維加斯的21點賭桌下了一個幸運的賭注，挽救了公司。
Mr Smith is an entrepreneur of the old school. The ex-marine dispatched his first 14 planes in 1973—on the first day they carried 186 packages. FedEx is now the biggest cargo airline in the world, with 681 aircraft and an average volume of 15m packages a day. He has played politics as he plays cards, be that securing deregulation of the air-cargo industry in the 1970s, winning protection from American unions or schmoozing congressmen at the FedEx Field, home to the Washington Redskins. Among American firms, FedEx has long been one of the most recognisable, admired and popular to work for. In January the board in effect gave Mr Smith tenure for life, by waiving the firm’s retirement age of 75 for executives. “Like a Supreme Court judge,” chuckles one admirer.
史密斯先生是一位老派的企業家。1973年，這位前海軍陸戰隊員派出了第一批14架飛機，第一天就運送了186個包裹。如今，聯邦快遞是全球最大的貨運航空公司，擁有681架飛機，平均每天運送1500萬件包裹。他一邊玩牌，一邊玩弄政治，比如在上世紀70年代確保放松對航空貨運行業的管制，贏得美國工會的保護，或者在聯邦快遞的地盤上（華盛頓紅皮球隊的主場）與國會議員拉關系。在美國公司中，聯邦快遞一直是最受認可、最受尊敬、最受歡迎的公司之一。今年1月，董事會通過免除公司高管75歲的退休年齡，實際上給予了史密斯終身職位。“就像最高法院的法官，”一位仰慕者笑道。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
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