您現在的位置：首頁 > 英語聽力 > 國外媒體資訊 > 經濟學人 > 經濟學人商業系列 > 正文

經濟學人:熊彼特企業管理專欄--聯邦快遞的難題(3)

時間:2019-08-26 18:06:00 編輯:Magi ? 可可英語APP下載 | 可可官方微信:ikekenet

字號：大 | 中 | 小

評論

打印

收藏本文

掃描二維碼進行跟讀打分訓練

Its second big challenge is overseas. Besides having to fix TNT, FedEx has found itself in the awkward position of being on the wrong side of both adversaries in the trans-Pacific trade war. In recent months it was forced to apologise to China for diverting packages belonging to Huawei. FedEx said that this was owing to an error. Nonetheless the Chinese government is reportedly threatening to put FedEx on its own blacklist. And the company has also sued its own government, saying it should not be deputised to “police the contents” of any packages it sends to check that they do not violate export bans.

聯邦快遞面臨的第二大挑戰是海外市場。除了必須解決TNT的問題，聯邦快遞還發現自己處于一個尷尬的境地，即在跨太平洋貿易戰爭中站錯了雙方的對立面。最近幾個月，聯邦被迫就轉移屬于華為的包裹向中國道歉。聯邦快遞表示這是錯誤操作所致。盡管如此，據報道，中國威脅要把聯邦快遞列入黑名單。該公司還起訴了美國政府，稱其不應被委托“監督”其發送的任何包裹的內容，以確保這些包裹沒有違反出口禁令。

Besides the ugly geopolitics, global competition is also rising for FedEx. One of the biggest threats comes from Cainiao, a Chinese rival backed by Alibaba that in 2017 pledged to invest $15bn in cross-border logistics. FedEx claims that its own vast network, extending to 220 countries, safeguards it from such incursions. But it is not used to having tanks the size of Amazon’s and Alibaba’s on its lawn; their troves of data on customers may give them an edge in the delivery wars.

除了丑陋的地緣政治，聯邦快遞的全球競爭也在加劇。最大的威脅之一來自菜鳥，菜鳥是阿里巴巴支持的中國競爭對手，2017年承諾向跨境物流投資150億美元。聯邦快遞聲稱，其覆蓋220個國家的龐大網絡可以幫助保持上風。但聯邦快遞不習慣自家草坪上有亞馬遜和阿里巴巴這么大的坦克；他們對客戶的海量數據可能會讓他們在快遞大戰中占據優勢。

In response, both FedEx and UPS are investing large sums to modernise their fleets and expand their delivery hubs. But though FedEx’s revenues of almost $18bn in the last quarter have nearly caught up with UPS’s, its profit margins are weaker and it is generating less cash. That worries investors. It could seek to reassure them by reducing purchases of costly items like aircraft, or combining two of its independent businesses in America, FedEx Express and FedEx Ground, to cut costs. But it has rejected both ideas, insisting it is best to invest in growth.

作為應對，聯邦快遞和聯合包裹都在大舉投資，以實現機群的現代化，并擴大投遞中心。不過，盡管聯邦快遞上季度近180億美元的營收幾乎趕上了聯合包裹，但其利潤率較低，產生的現金也較少。這引起了投資者的擔心。聯邦可以通過減少飛機等昂貴物品的采購，或者合并其在美國的兩項獨立業務——聯邦快遞和聯邦陸運——來降低成本，以消除消費者的疑慮。但聯邦拒絕了這兩種想法，堅持認為投資于增長是最好的。

譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。

查看《經濟學人商業系列》更多內容>>

保存到QQ日志登錄QQ空間

重點單詞		查看全部解釋
expand	[iks'pænd]	想一想再看 v. 增加，詳述，擴展，使 ... 膨脹， v	聯想記憶 X 單詞expand 聯想記憶： ex出，pand展開－展開出去－擴大
aircraft	['ɛəkrɑ:ft]	想一想再看 n. 飛機
competition	[kɔmpi'tiʃən]	想一想再看 n. 比賽，競爭，競賽
challenge	['tʃælindʒ]	想一想再看 n. 挑戰 v. 向 ... 挑戰
awkward	['ɔ:kwəd]	想一想再看 adj. 笨拙的，尷尬的，（設計）別扭的
network	['netwə:k]	想一想再看 n. 網絡，網狀物，網狀系統 vt. (
vast	[vɑ:st]	想一想再看 adj. 巨大的，廣闊的 n. 浩瀚的太
lawn	[lɔ:n]	想一想再看 n. 草地，草坪 n. 上等細麻布
check	[tʃek]	想一想再看 n. 檢查，支票，賬單，制止，阻止物，檢驗標準，方格圖案	聯想記憶 X 單詞check 聯想記憶： check原是檢查的意思，后來有這么一幫人喜歡突然阻止你，檢查你的暫住證，所以就有了突然阻止的意思。
threatening	['θretniŋ]	想一想再看 adj. 威脅(性)的，兇兆的動詞threaten的現