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General Electric -- Not so general
通用電氣——不那么通用
An iconic conglomerate breaks up
一家標志性的企業集團解體
Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of General Electric (GE) over its 129-year history has been how thoroughly it reflected the dominant characteristics of big American business.
通用電氣（GE）在其129年的歷史中最顯著的特點或許是，它充分反映了美國大企業的主導特征。
Most of its history was a chronicle of boisterous expansion, then globalisation -- followed by painful restructuring away from the now-unloved conglomerate model.
它的大部分歷史都是有關狂熱擴張的大事紀，然后是全球化——之后就是艱難的重組，擺脫如今不受歡迎的企業集團模式。
On November 9th Lawrence Culp, its chief executive, announced that ge would split its remaining operations into three public companies.
11月9日，通用電氣首席執行官勞倫斯·卡爾普宣布，通用電氣將把剩余的業務拆分成三家上市公司。
Each of these entities will be large, essential and very modern.
這些企業中的每一個都將是龐大的、必不可少的、非常現代化的。
One will make jet engines, which GE reckons already power two-thirds of all commercial flights.
其中一家公司將生產噴氣發動機，通用電氣估計已經為三分之二的商業航班提供動力。
Its power business will provide the systems and turbines generating one-third of the world’s electricity.
其電力業務公司將提供系統和渦輪機，它們所產生的電力占全球的三分之一。
The health-care division will continue to be the backbone of modern hospitals.
醫療健康部分將繼續作為現代醫院的支柱。
Yet it speaks to GE’s remarkable role that this is a modest reach given its past sprawl.
然而，考慮到通用電氣過去的擴張，這只是一次保守的延伸，這說明了通用電氣的非凡作用。
From the late-19th to the late-20th century its products lit dark streets; provided the toasters, fans, refrigerators, and televisions (along with the stations beamed to them), which transformed homes; delivered the locomotives that hauled trains; and then built a huge business financing all that and more.
從19世紀末到20世紀末，它的產品照亮了黑暗的街道；提供了烤面包機、風扇、冰箱和電視（以及向它們發送信號的電視臺），改變了居住環境；交付了牽引火車的火車頭；然后建立了一個龐大的企業，為所有這些以及更多的產品提供資金。
The ambition to be everything was enabled by the perception that it could manage anything.
想要涉及一切領域的野心來自于它認為自己能夠搞定任何事情的想法。
The 21st century punctured that perception.
21世紀打破了這種認知。
Jack Welch, an acquisitive chief executive reputed to be a managerial genius, retired in 2001 after receiving a mind-boggling $417m severance package.
杰克·韋爾奇是一位占有欲極強的首席執行官，被譽為管理天才。2001年，他在收到令人難以置信的4.17億美元遣散費后退休。
Ever-better results during his tenure beguiled investors and sent the share price soaring.
在他任職期間，公司業績持續向好，吸引了投資者，并推動股價飆升。
But problems soon arose.
但問題很快就出現了。
The structure Welch left behind was in effect bailed out during the financial crisis.
韋爾奇留下的結構實際上在面對金融危機時毫無作用。
Losses at GE Capital, the sprawling financial unit he fostered, were blamed, though the company’s industrial core turned out to have plenty of problems, too.
他一手培育的龐大的金融部門通用金融的虧損被歸咎于此，盡管最后發現公司的工業核心也出現了很多問題。
Recent years have been spent spitting out one notable business after another.
近些年來，成功企業層出不窮。
The timing of the break-up announcement was determined by the sale of a large aircraft-financing unit.
一家大型飛機融資部門的出售決定了此次拆分宣布的時機。
The transaction reduced debt by enough to provide the three soon-to-be independent companies with an investment-grade credit rating.
這筆交易減少的債務足以使這三家即將獨立的公司獲得投資級信用評級。
Mr Culp, the firm’s boss since 2018, speaks of the “illusory benefits of synergy” to be traded for the certain benefits of focus.
卡爾普自2018年以來一直是該公司的老板，他談到了用“協同效應的虛幻好處”來換取專注的某些好處。
“A sharper purpose attracts and motivates people,” he says.
“一個更明確的目標能夠吸引和激勵人們，”他說。
Having boasted of its management nous, it now seems that poor management is what did it for a unified GE.
通用電氣曾吹噓自己的管理智慧，但現在看來，正是糟糕的管理成就了統一的通用電氣。
The contest to replace Welch was widely seen as pitting the best global executives against one another, with the losers hired to run other big firms.
人們普遍認為，韋爾奇的繼任者之爭是全球最優秀的高管之間的較量，而失敗者則受雇去管理其他大公司。
But his successors struggled.
但他的繼任者卻步履維艱。
Jeffrey Immelt, Welch’s hand-picked replacement, retired under a cloud in 2017.
韋爾奇親手挑選的繼任者杰弗里·伊梅爾特在2017年黯然退休。
John Flannery, once seen as a wizard behind the rise of the health-care division, took over but was fired after little more than a year.
約翰·弗蘭納里曾被視為醫療保健部門崛起背后的奇才，但他接任后不到一年就被解雇了。
Mr Culp was brought in from outside, a step last taken in the 19th century.
卡爾普先生是從外部引進的，上次采取這一步還是在19世紀。
During much of Welch’s tenure and its immediate aftermath GE was the most valuable company in the world, reaching a peak market value nearly five times its current $121bn.
在韋爾奇任內的大部分時間以及卸任后不久，通用電氣一直是全球最有價值的公司，市值達到峰值，幾乎是其目前市值1210億美元的5倍。
It is tempting to conclude that GE’s failure illustrates the demise of the conglomerate.
人們很容易得出這樣的結論：通用電氣的失敗說明了企業集團結構的衰落。
That is refuted by the diversification of today’s most valuable companies: tech firms that have branched out into driverless cars, cloud computing and so on.
如今最有價值的公司的多元化趨勢反駁了這一點：科技公司已經擴展到無人駕駛汽車、云計算等領域。
Rather, GE’s story reflects how even the most valuable American companies may be flawed -- and if flaws emerge, may be thoroughly transformed.
相反，通用電氣的故事反映了，即使是最有價值的美國公司也可能存在缺陷——一旦缺陷出現，它就可能會徹底改變。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
