【导读】近来，日本诸多老牌电子产品制造商亏损严重，而同为日企的丰田公司却有望保住世界第一汽车制造商的宝座。丰田的经验提醒着其它的日企：生产，要把目标放得纯粹一些。
Corporate Japan
日企
The good, the bad and the ugly
惨淡者众多，优异者寥寥
Ailing gadget-makers may find it hard to copy Toyota’s turnaround
境况不佳的日本电子产品制造商要想像丰田公司那样“咸鱼翻身”可能没那么容易
JUST over three years ago, Akio Toyoda, then the new boss of Toyota, said that the carmaker founded by his grandfather was on the verge of “irrelevance or death”. Buffeted by bad news ranging from the global economic crisis to product recalls and huge losses, he responded not with a massive shake-up but a simple strategy: to make cars that were fun to drive. From that, he argued, would follow sales and profits.
三年前，丰田章男称自己祖父一手创立的丰田汽车公司即将被“边缘化”，甚至濒临“灭亡”，当时章男刚刚就任丰田新总裁。从全球金融危机，到产品召回，再到巨额亏损，坏消息接二连三地冲击着丰田。对此，章男并没有诉诸大规模的公司重组，而是以一条简单的战略回应：生产能带来驾驶乐趣的汽车。他认为，由此出发，销量会随之上升，利润也会滚滚而来。
It has not been an easy road since, but the turnaround seems to be gaining traction. On November 5th Toyota raised its net profit forecast for the current fiscal year to a five-year high of ¥780 billion ($9.8 billion). That is well short of record profits, but it contrasted with Honda and Nissan, which slashed their profit forecasts by a fifth. All three have been hurt by slumping sales in China, which is in a territorial row with Japan. But Toyota’s new hybrids as well as its Corolla and Camry models have been flying out of the showrooms.
随后丰田的道路并不平坦，但局势却似乎重归掌控。11月5日，丰田将本财政年度的净利润预期上调至7800亿日元（98亿美元），达到了五年来的新高。这个预期虽然远低于丰田历史上的利润记录，但却与本田和日产形成了鲜明对比。后两家公司将利润预期下调了五分之一。而无论是丰田、本田还是尼桑，都因为中日两国陷入领土争端而深受在华销量暴跌的打击。但是在各地的展销厅里，丰田的新型混合动力车和卡罗拉、凯美瑞等车型还是卖得飞快。
New bosses at Sharp, Panasonic and Sony must be looking at Toyota enviously, wondering how they too can rebuild Japan’s image as a producer of snazzy high-tech goods. Jointly, their companies are expected to have lost more in the past five years than they have made profits in the past two decades .
夏普、松下和索尼的新总裁们一定正眼巴巴地看着丰田，琢磨着如何才能重塑日本时髦高科技产品生产者的形象。据预测，三家公司合计五年来的亏损额比过去二十年来的总盈利都要高。
Sharp is in the ugliest mess. The maker of TVs and solar panels is so sensitive about its balance-sheet that on November 5th it revised a four-day-old announcement that had said there was “material doubt” about its future. The new version, with no apologies for murdering the English language, said: “There exist conditions which might raise uncertainties about Sharp being an assumed going concern. However, we judge that no uncertainties about Sharp’s ability to continue as a going concern will exist.”
夏普的状况最为惨不忍睹。这家电视及太阳能电池板的制造商对于自己的资产负债表过于敏感，以至于在11月5日修正了刚刚发布了四天的公司声明。先前的版本称夏普的未来面临“实质性疑问”。而新声明称：“目前存在一些情况，可能会加大有关夏普能否像既定的那样继续经营下去的不确定性。然而，我们判断，有关于公司存续能力的不确定性将不会存在。”英文版的声明文法不通，简直难以卒读，而夏普竟然未就自己糟蹋英语的行为道歉。
The same day, Standard & Poor’s, a ratings agency, cut Sharp’s creditworthiness further into junk territory. It said two years of huge losses were straining its finances, added to which Sharp was highly dependent on short-term debt. Two banks, Mizuho Corporate and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, recently provided it with a ¥360 billion syndicated loan, but this expires next June, just before a big convertible-bond issue comes due. S&P said it might downgrade Sharp again in 90 days, if the company’s finances or its relationship with its banks worsens.
就在同一天，评级机构标准普尔将夏普本已是垃圾级的信用评级进一步下调。标普称两年的巨额亏损使得夏普的财务不堪重负，而对短期贷款的高度依赖更是让夏普的财务雪上加霜。瑞穗实业和三菱东京UFJ两家银行最近提供给夏普3600亿日元的银团贷款，但这笔贷款会在明年六月期满，之后马上又会有一笔巨额可换股债券到期。标普表示在90天后，如果夏普的财务状况或公司与银行的关系恶化的话，就可能还会下调夏普的评级。
S&P believes Panasonic and Sony have stronger balance-sheets. But they are also suffering from chronic overinvestment in loss-making TV and other screen-related businesses that make them look too much like Sharp for comfort. Panasonic shocked its bondholders recently when it said it faced losses of over ¥700 billion for the second year in a row. It also skipped its annual dividend for the first time since 1950. Sony, meanwhile, predicted a full-year profit but said that much of its core electronics business remained in decline.
标普认为松下和索尼的资产负债情况要稍好一些。但电视机以及其它与显示器相关的产业一再亏损，两家公司在这些领域长期过度投资，以致深陷其中，这都与夏普如出一辙，令松下与索尼深感不安。近期，松下称公司连续第二年面临超过7000亿日元的巨额亏损，对此松下的债券持有者大为震惊。同时，松下自1950年以来头一回没有进行年度分红。索尼虽预测全年将实现盈利，但其核心的电子产品业务大部分仍在下滑之中。
Is there anything they can learn from Toyota? Analysts say their industry is much more commoditised than carmaking. Their empires are so thinly spread across an array of businesses that it is harder to cut costs through economies of scale. They are also too wedded to Japan to move to cheaper manufacturing locations.
这些公司能否从丰田那学到点什么？分析家认为夏普等公司的产业远比汽车制造更为同质化。他们的企业帝国是在一条业务线上扩展的，范围极窄，较之丰田公司他们很难通过规模经济效益来降低成本。他们也过分执泥于将产品制造厂设在日本，而不愿将其转移到劳动力更为廉价的地方。
Yet Mr Toyoda has one lesson to teach: they could put more energy into making products that consumers enjoy. That’s what their competitors in South Korea and at Apple do. Sadly, they are too busy stanching the wounds of the past to give it much thought.
不过章男先生的确可以教给他们一点：夏普等公司可以投入更多的精力，来打造顾客喜欢的产品，这正是他们的竞争者——韩国众企业以及苹果公司的做法。可悲的是，日本的电子厂商忙于抚平过去的伤痕，而没有对此多加考虑。
经济学家
2012-11-13
经济学家
325次
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