雙語閱讀：小米的浴火重生之路

時間：2024-08-14 10:01:05 英語閱讀

雙語閱讀：小米的浴火重生之路

　　導讀：小米公司的創始人和首席執行官雷軍提到，此次恢復元氣之前經歷了“一年的挫折，可以說是我們公司史上最具挑戰的時期”。以下是小編為大家搜索整理的雙語閱讀，希望能給大家帶來幫助!

雙語閱讀：小米的浴火重生之路

　　Xiaomi, once the world’s most valuable unicorn,looked set to become one of China’s biggestunicorpses: it burnt cash, and stumbled with supplyproblems. Now, with fortunes improving, it is stagingits next act: Chinese phoenix.

　　一度是全球估值最高“獨角獸”的小米(Xiaomi)，前一階段貌似會淪為中國最大的“獨角尸”之一：燒錢，深陷供應困境。如今，隨著時運回升，小米的好戲進入下一幕：浴火重生的中國鳳凰。

　　The Beijing-based tech company, which makesproducts ranging from smartphones to smart ricecookers, re-entered the top five of global smartphone makers in the second quarter, asshipments surged 59 per cent year on year to 21m, according to the IDC research firm.

　　據咨詢公司IDC表示，第二季度，這家總部位于北京的科技公司再次進入全球智能手機制造商五強之列，出貨量2100萬臺，同比增長59%。小米生產從智能手機到智能電飯煲的各類產品。

　　The recovery, noted founder and chief executive Lei Jun, “follows a year of setbacks thatcollectively signify the most challenging period in our company history”.

　　小米公司的創始人和首席執行官雷軍提到，此次恢復元氣之前經歷了“一年的挫折，可以說是我們公司史上最具挑戰的時期”。

　　“We needed to slow down,” says Shou Zi Chew, the company’s youthful chief financial officer,speaking in Xiaomi’s surprisingly small headquarters in Beijing’s northwestern tech district.

　　“我們需要放慢速度，”該公司長相年輕的首席財務官周受資(Shou Zi Chew)在小米北京總部表示。地處北京西北高科技區的這個總部小得讓人意外。

　　“From zero to $10bn in revenue, excluding the year we didn’t have a smartphone, it took fouryears. Think of the organisational challenge. We needed to build organisational strength.”

　　“除去我們沒有智能手機的一年，營收從零到100億美元，我們用了4年。想想這里面的組織挑戰。我們需要打造組織實力。”

　　While history is a relative concept in China’s entrepreneurial world — Xiaomi is a mere sevenyears old — there is no disputing the setbacks.

　　盡管“歷史”在中國企業界只是一個相對的概念——小米僅僅成立了7年——但小米經受過挫折是不爭的事實。

　　The company was valued at $45bn in a late 2014 fundraising, exceeding Uber’s then-$40bn,but missed its 2015 handset shipment targets as smaller rivals grabbed market share.

　　在2014年末融資時，小米的估值達到450億美元，超過了優步(Uber)當時400億美元的估值，但是由于被較小的競爭者奪走了市場份額，小米沒有實現2015年手機出貨量目標。

　　It ceded its top three China ranking to upstarts Oppo and Vivo, smartphone stablemates that,like Xiaomi before them, came out of nowhere to rank as the second and third most popularhandset makers in China, respectively, in the second quarter of 2016, according to Gartner.

　　小米的中國智能手機三強位置讓給了后起之秀Oppo和Vivo。據高德納(Gartner)表示，Oppo和Vivo就像之前的小米一樣異軍突起，在2016年第二季度分別成為中國第二大和第三大最受歡迎的手機制造商。

　　Also, like their predecessor, they achieved this by selling heavily online and thus scooping upsales in third- and fourth-tier cities.

　　同樣，和它們的前輩小米一樣，Oppo和Vivo注重網上銷售并因此搶占了三四線城市的銷量，由此取得佳績。

　　“A few years ago, we rushed too fast, achieving a miracle in the history of modern businessgrowth, but we also overspent a portion of our growth,” a humbled Mr Lei wrote in a memoposted on his WeChat account and on Fb in January.

　　“前幾年我們沖得太快，創造了現代商業史上的成長奇跡，但也提前透支了一部分成長性，”痛定思痛的雷軍今年1月在其微信(WeChat)賬號和Fb上發表的備忘錄中寫道。

　　“We must slow down and earnestly learn from our mistakes. Prevention is better than having tofix things later.”

　　“我們必須放慢腳步、認真補課，而且早補要比晚補好，文火慢補要比急火猛藥好。”

　　Many industry observers give Xiaomi full points for doing just that. “A monster quarter hasbrought Xiaomi back into contention as a major player in the smartphone industry,” wroteRadio Free Mobile’s Richard Windsor in a recent note to clients.

　　很多行業觀察者因此給小米打了滿分。“一個好季度讓小米作為智能手機行業重量級選手重返競技場，”RadioFree Mobile的理查德?溫莎(Richard Windsor)最近在寫給客戶的簡報中寫道。

　　The company has gone from 10,000 to 14,000 employees in the past year as part of what MrChew calls a long-overdue recruitment drive. “We had the same valuation yet a fraction of thestaff of our peers,” he says.

　　過去一年該公司的員工總數已經從1萬人增加至1.4萬人，周受資稱，這是拖延已久的招聘活動的一部分。他稱，“我們和同行擁有同樣的估值，但是員工數量僅為他們的一小部分。”

　　Sustainability is the big question. “This recovery needs to be more than just a product cyclefor it to stay there,” says Mr Windsor.

　　可持續性是大問題。“此次恢復需要持續不止一個產品周期，才能使它保持強者地位，”溫莎表示。

　　Xiaomi’s formula for its turnround is three-pronged: improving technology, broadeningdistribution and going global.

　　小米的轉型方案是三管齊下：提高技術、擴大分銷以及全球化發展。

　　On technology, it has moved to design its own processor, enabling it to reduce battery weightas well as its reliance on foreign makers like Qualcomm. It has applied for more than 16,000patents so far, and has been granted 4,000.

　　在技術上，小米已經開始設計自己的處理器，以減輕電池重量并降低對高通(Qualcomm)等外國制造商的依賴。迄今小米已申請逾1.6萬項專利，并獲得了4000項專利。

　　Mr Lei is also banking on the combination of supplementing online sales with physical stores,the seamless “new retail” being pursued by the likes of tech giant Alibaba, and conquering newmarkets, specifically India.

　　在銷售上，雷軍還寄望用實體店補充網上銷售——也就是阿里巴巴(Alibaba)等科技巨頭追求的無縫“新零售”——以及征服印度等新市場。

　　That same strategy helped Oppo and Vivo pick off customers beyond the bigger and wealthierparts of China, where many people were not online.

　　同樣的策略曾幫助Oppo和Vivo在中國富裕大城市以外的地區贏得顧客，這些地區的很多人不上網。

　　But Xiaomi has taken its stores a step further, adding a range of household appliances to itsshelves — all items that come with apps for smart deployment and are a potential revenuestream, according to Hans Tung, partner at GGV, and an early investor in Xiaomi while atQiming Ventures.

　　紀源資本(GGV Capital)合伙人、在啟明創投(Qiming Venture)時成為小米早期投資人的童士豪(HansTung)表示，小米讓實體店更進一步，在店內銷售一系列家用電器——所有產品都帶有App，使其可形成智能家居，并且開辟一條潛在的營收來源。

　　“Every single product has an app that controls it; as people spend more time on these apps, soyou can sell ads,” he says. For instance, a home assistant speaker is a logical extension. Fromthat, internet services can be bolted on such as gaming, as well as online ads.

　　“每一件產品都有可以控制它的App;當人們越來越多地使用這些App時，你就可以賣廣告了，”他表示。例如，智能家居助手音箱是合乎邏輯的延伸產品。接著可以添加互聯網服務，比如游戲，以及在線廣告等。

　　The strategy is showing signs of success. Xiaomi is now the world’s top-selling maker ofwearables such as fitness bands, with its 13.4 per cent market share putting it a whisker aboveApple and Fitbit, the latter the one-time doyen of the sector.

　　該策略正在表現出成功的跡象。小米如今在可穿戴設備上是全球銷量最高的制造商，在健康手環上占據了13.4%的市場份額，高于蘋果(Apple)以及曾經是該領域老大的Fitbit。

　　Xiaomi now has 137 Mi stores across China, and prides itself on keeping the same prices onlineand in-store, while also managing the near-impossible task of keeping operating margins thesame — the cost of a sale in-store is the same as online, thanks to blending on and offline, thecompany claims.

　　如今小米在中國各地開設了137家“小米之家”，以線上和線下統一價標榜自己，同時還做到了保持運營利潤率不變這一近乎不可能的事情——該公司聲稱，由于線上線下相結合，實體店銷售成本和線上銷售成本相同。

　　Global expansion is perhaps Xiaomi’s boldest step. The company has set its sights largely onemerging markets.

　　全球化擴張或許是小米最果敢的一步。迄今該公司主要著眼于新興市場。

　　It claims to be the third-biggest handset seller in Indonesia and fourth in Russia. It isparticularly focused on India, where Oppo and Vivo have won legions of fans largely through acanny use of cricket sponsorship.

　　小米聲稱在印度尼西亞的手機銷量位列第三，在俄羅斯的銷量位列第四。該公司格外注重印度市場;在印度，Oppo和Vivo主要通過贊助板球聯賽的精明之舉贏得了大批粉絲。

　　It is, says Kavin Bharti Mittal, founder and chief executive of India’s Hike Messenger, aTencent-backed messaging unicorn, a niche brand but a well-respected one, in a ficklemarket. “Smartphones get rotated every 12 months, that’s the average in India,” he says. “It’sall about price and features.”

　　騰訊(Tencent)支持的印度獨角獸公司Hike Messenger的創始人和首席執行官凱文?巴蒂?米塔爾(KavinBharti Mittal)表示，小米是小眾品牌，但在這個易變的市場深受尊重。“智能手機每12個月換代一次，這是印度的平均水平，”他表示，“關鍵在于價格和功能特色。”

　　Neha Dharia, a senior analyst at telecoms consultancy Ovum, concurs: with brand loyalty tohandsets a thing of the past, Chinese brands are mopping up in India, she says.

　　電信咨詢公司Ovum的高級分析師內哈?達里亞(Neha Dharia)表示贊同。她說，隨著人們對手機品牌的忠誠度成為歷史，中國品牌正在橫掃印度市場。

　　Xiaomi says that over 95 per cent of its phones sold in India and Indonesia are made locally,although given the complexity of supply chains, this often means assembled rather than fullymanufactured.

　　小米表示，在印度和印尼銷售的小米手機95%以上是當地生產的，盡管考慮到供應鏈的復雜性，這往往只是指組裝，而非完整制造過程。

　　But Ms Dharia notes that the market remains fickle, and the rise of domestic telecomsoperator Reliance Jio will further disrupt the market by boosting demand for 4G (aided by theprovision of $63 phones).

　　但達里亞指出，手機市場仍然多變，印度本土電信運營商Reliance Jio的崛起將通過提振4G需求(得益于該公司提供的63美元的手機)進一步擾亂這一市場。

　　It will fall to which manufacturers can keep up with supply, something that proved an Achillesheel for Xiaomi during its downturn.

　　未來將取決于哪些制造商能夠跟上供應，這一點曾被證明是小米的致命弱點。

　　For now, Mr Lei has a “humble” revenue goal of Rmb100bn ($15.3bn) this year and a target ofshipping 100m smartphones in 2018. Beyond that, he becomes somewhat more ambitious,claiming Xiaomi’s future “is as vast as the constellations and beyond”.

　　目前，雷軍定下的“小目標”是今年達到1000億元人民幣(合153億美元)營收，2018年出貨1億部智能手機。對于更遙遠的未來，他變得有點更為雄心勃勃，聲稱小米的未來就像“星辰大海”。

　　Xiaomi chief models company on retail rather than tech icons

　　小米CEO模仿的是零售企業，而非偶像級科技企業

　　Lei Jun, founder and chief executive of Beijing-based Xiaomi, is often referred to as the “SteveJobs of China”, write Yingzhi Yang and Yuan Yang in Beijing.

　　總部位于北京的小米科技創始人和首席執行官雷軍，經常被稱為“中國的史蒂夫?喬布斯(Steve Jobs)”。

　　But Mr Lei has his sights set on a business model from the much less glamorous world ofAmerican retail rather than Silicon Valley.

　　但在業務模式上，雷軍學習的目標不是硅谷，而是不那么光鮮的美國零售業。

　　“We have the same value system as Costco,” the serial tech entrepreneur once said. Thecompany’s executives are obsessed with efficiency in manufacturing and distribution chains,as much as they are with new gadgets.

　　“我們擁有與好市多(Costco)同樣的價值體系，”這位多次創業的科技企業家曾表示。該公司的高管像癡迷新產品一樣，癡迷于制造和分銷鏈的效率。

　　Xiaomi, which means “millet grain” in Chinese, was founded by Mr Lei in 2010 after a simple mealof millet porridge with its first employees. In his early 40s then, he was already a billionaire andhad enjoyed success as a start-up founder.

　　雷軍在2010年創立了小米科技，當時他請首批員工簡單地吃了一頓小米粥。時年40歲出頭的雷軍早已是一名億萬富翁，享受過作為初創企業創始人的成功。

　　Born in 1969 in central China, Mr Lei copied a childhood friend in choosing to study computerscience, reading about Steve Jobs’ achievements towards the end of his time at WuhanUniversity.

　　雷軍1969年出生于中國中部，他效仿一個兒時伙伴選擇學習計算機科學，在武漢大學臨近畢業時讀到了史蒂夫?喬布斯的成就。

　　His first job was working as an engineer in the early days of software company Kingsoft, wherehe later became president and led it to an IPO.

　　他的第一份工作是在初創時期的金山軟件公司(Kingsoft)擔任工程師，后來成為金山的總裁，并帶領公司上市。

　　While at Kingsoft, he also started an online bookstore, joyo.com, before selling it four yearslater to Amazon for $75m.

　　他在金山任職期間還創辦了在線書店卓越網(joyo.com)，并在四年后以7500萬美元的價格出售給了亞馬遜(Amazon)。

　　Mr Lei is also a serial venture capitalist, who invested in 56 start-ups between 2014 and 2016,including social platform YY, the originator of China’s now-ubiquitous live-streamingplatforms, and UCWeb, a web browser bought by Alibaba in 2014.

　　雷軍還是一位閑不住的風投資本家，他在2014年至2016年間投資了56家初創企業，其中包括社交平臺YY直播和互聯網瀏覽器UCWeb。前者是中國當下十分流行的各種直播平臺的鼻祖，后者于2014年被阿里巴巴收購。

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