金融英語泛讀:“電子商務(wù)教父”杰夫·貝佐斯

The Wizard of Web Retailing：Jeff Bezos“電子商務(wù)教父”杰夫·貝佐斯

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon. com in 1995 as an online bookstore.Due to customer demand the company later expanded and added other products to its inventories, including videos, DVDs, electronics, toys, apparel, software, household items, and gourmet food.In an interview, Bezos indicated that books were chosen as Amazon.com's first product category“because they offered so much selection”；in the same interview, Bezos stated，“I think the main thing that has differentiated Amazon.com from conventional retailers is its obsessive and compulsive focus on the end-to-end customer experience.That includes having the right products, the right selection, and low prices.”

Started up in Seattle, Washington, Amazon. com had its first base of operation in the Bezos's garage, which was converted into a workspace initially housing three Sun workstations.Amazon grew to be an international enterprise and eventually expanded to include sites in Canada, the United Kingdom， France, and Japan.Coworkers and chroniclers of the Amazon story characterized Bezos as a visionary and as a man who on the surface was easygoing but kept his employees on demanding schedules.Bezos demanded quick turnaround time for Project completion.He scheduled weekly management meetings which often ran as long as four hours, with managers reporting on new products and pricing and taking on questions from the CEO.Bezos promoted innovative efforts among his employees through the Just Do It program, which rewarded those who came up with and executed ideas that helped the company-without first obtaining permission from their bosses.Bezos was committed to hiring the best employees, always looking for intelligent and innovative individuals.

Amazon. com：The Early Years

Bezos had paid close attention to the rapid rise of the World Wide Web, noting in 1994 that it was growing at an annual rate of 2300 percent, and therein looked for a pure entrepreneurial outlet. He began his research by making a list of the top 20 mail-order companies, observing that there were no book mail-order companies because a comprhensive catalog would have needed to be thousands of pages long and thus expensive to mail.Bezos decided that an Internet-based company would have the capability to offer a substantially wider selection of printed matter to consumers.Thus, he made a thorough study of the book business, beginning by attending the American Booksellers'Association's annual convention.

When Bezos told Shaw, his former boss, that he was leaving to launch an online book business, Shaw advised him to take some time to reconsider his decision in a characteristically creative way. He told Time that he pictured himself at 80 years of age and was certain that he would not regret either missing out on a six-figure Christmas bonus nor having tried to build an online business and failing.He stated，“In fact, I'd have been proud of myself for having taken that risk and tried to participate in that thing called the Internet that I thought was going to be such a big deal.And I knew if I didn't try this, I would regret it.And that would be inescapable.”

Bezos's parents supported his decision, investing the$300000 they had saved for retirement in their son's venture（which was later amply rewarded；they became billionaires）. Bezos and his wife, McKenzie, moved to Seatte to start the company and persuaded the highly successful programmer Shel Kaphan to be among the first employees hired.Bezos officially founded Amazon.com in 1994.In June 1995 the first Web site was tested.

On July 16，1995，Amazon. com was made available to consumers in every state and 45 other countries.Sales were immdiate.Bezos told Time，“Within the first few days, I knew it was going to be huge.”The media noticed and reported on Amazon, and as a result of the publicity the company's consumer base rapidly increased.Bezos owned and operated his own warehouses for the book inventory；as of 2003 Amazon had six.

After the Web site was launched, it was fine-tuned by Bezos and his employees to include features such as one-click shopping and customer reviews. Investors were able to buy stock in Amazon.com beginning in 1997 when the company went public.Over the next few years Bezos expanded the company by launching Web sites in Canada, the United kingdom, Germany, France, and Japan.

Management Style

On the surface Bezos was easygoing with a sense of humor. On the other hand, employees and chroniclers found that he was adamant in his expectations of quick turnaround time on project completion and high productivity, as well as of innovativeness and intelligence.Consequently, Bezos was characterized as a relentless recruiter of talented, innovative individuals.Bezos and the personnel manager are comprehensively inspective of the future employees'University grades and SAT scores.According to Bezos，“People here like to invent, and as a result other people who like to invent are attracted here.And people who don't like to invent are uncomfortable here.So it's self reinforcing.”

To encourage new ideas, Bezos instituted the Just Do It program, wherein the winners were those who proceeded with projects that they felt would help the company without first asking their bosses'permission. Bezos believed in the benefits of communication with customers and listened to and used their ideas for expansion.Via the Web site Amazon customers were encouraged to recommend their favorite books and products through reviews, and many compiled lists of their favorite items.

In 2000 Bezos and his company were put to the ultimate test. At a time when many dot-com companies were going out of business, Amazon's stock price fell from$106 in December 1999 to$41.50 in September 2000.To deal with this crisis， Bezos was forced to layoff 1300 employees in February 2001.He also cut backon products, eliminating those that had yet to prove profitable for the company.Through the efforts of Bezos and his team Amazon turned a profit in the last quarter of 2001.Amazon not only survived the crisis of 2000 but flourished.

Ultimately, Bezos，44，wants to create something that transcends his own company. He points to Sony Corp, whose co-founder, akio Morita, aimed to make Japan known for quality.For his part, Bezos wants to set new standards for providing a great customer experience.If he can pull that off he will deserve an enduring place in the history books.

1995年，杰夫·貝佐斯創(chuàng)立了亞馬遜在線書店。根據(jù)客戶的需求，該公司后來擴(kuò)大了產(chǎn)品銷售目錄，銷售產(chǎn)品包括錄像帶、DVD、電子產(chǎn)品、玩具、服裝、軟件、家居用品和食品等。貝佐斯在接受記者采訪時說，圖書被選為亞馬遜的第一產(chǎn)品類別，是“因?yàn)樗鼈兲峁┝硕喾N選擇”；他同時表示，“我認(rèn)為把亞馬遜和傳統(tǒng)的零售商區(qū)別開來的主要原因是：我們?nèi)M足顧客的需求。這包括正確的產(chǎn)品、正確的選擇，以及低廉的價格”。

亞馬遜成立于美國華盛頓州西雅圖，最初的業(yè)務(wù)是在貝佐斯家的車庫里開展的，這個車庫最初包括三個Sun工作站，后來被改裝成工作間。漸漸地，亞馬遜成長為一個跨國公司，業(yè)務(wù)擴(kuò)展到加拿大、英國、法國和日本。同事和亞馬遜傳奇的撰寫者把貝佐斯描述為一個有遠(yuǎn)見的人，表面上隨和，但對雇員的工作要求極高。貝佐斯通常會要求項(xiàng)目快速完成。他每周召開管理會議，經(jīng)常長達(dá)四小時：聽取經(jīng)理人報告新的產(chǎn)品和價格安排，和CEO討論公司問題。貝佐斯推行“想到就做”的項(xiàng)目以鼓勵員工創(chuàng)新，獎勵那些想出和執(zhí)行新點(diǎn)子來幫助公司的人，并且這些想法無須事先獲得上級許可。貝佐斯致力于雇用最好的員工，并一直在尋找有才能、有創(chuàng)新能力的人才。

Amazon. com：創(chuàng)業(yè)初期

貝佐斯密切關(guān)注互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的迅速崛起，他注意到：1994年網(wǎng)絡(luò)年均增長高達(dá)2300%，他開始在這里尋找賺錢的途徑。他的研究始于列出前20名郵購公司的名單，發(fā)現(xiàn)其中沒有圖書郵購公司，因?yàn)橐粋€全面的目錄可能長達(dá)幾千頁，因此郵寄費(fèi)用昂貴。貝佐斯認(rèn)為一個網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司有能力向消費(fèi)者提供具有更多選擇性的印刷品。因此，他開始深入研究書籍業(yè)務(wù)，并參加了美國書商協(xié)會的年度會議。

貝佐斯告訴前老板肖他要離開公司，推出在線圖書業(yè)務(wù)，肖勸他認(rèn)真重新考慮一段時間。貝佐斯最終決定的方法極具特色和創(chuàng)造性。在《時代》雜志的報道中，他說：當(dāng)時他想象自己已經(jīng)80歲，那時他既不會后悔沒能拿到六位數(shù)的圣誕節(jié)獎金，也不會后悔試圖建立一個在線公司卻慘遭失敗。他說：“事實(shí)上，我一直引以為傲的是冒險參與自己看好的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)業(yè)務(wù)。我知道如果不嘗試一下，我一定會后悔的。一切在所難免，這是趨勢所在。”

貝佐斯的決定得到了父母的支持，他們把節(jié)省下來的30萬美元的養(yǎng)老金投資在兒子的公司（這筆投資后來得到充分的回報，他們成了億萬富翁）。貝佐斯和妻子麥肯齊移居西雅圖，創(chuàng)辦公司，并成功游說著名程序員夏爾·卡番加盟。1994年，貝佐斯正式成立亞馬遜公司。1995年6月，第一個網(wǎng)站進(jìn)行測試。

1995年7月16日，美國每一個州和45個其他國家的消費(fèi)者都可以在亞馬遜公司購物，銷量迅速上升。貝佐斯對《時代》雜志說：“從一開始，我就知道我的公司前途無量?！泵襟w相繼注意到亞馬遜公司，并進(jìn)行了報道，知名度的提高使公司的消費(fèi)者數(shù)量迅速增加。貝佐斯擁有和經(jīng)營著自己的書籍存貨管理倉庫，截至2003年，亞馬遜已經(jīng)有六個這樣的倉庫。

網(wǎng)站運(yùn)行后，貝佐斯和他的員工精心調(diào)整其功能，增加了一鍵購物和顧客評語。1997年公司公開上市，投資者可以購買其股票。在接下來的幾年內(nèi)，貝佐斯擴(kuò)大公司網(wǎng)站，在加拿大、英國、德國、法國和日本等地開展業(yè)務(wù)。

管理模式

表面上，貝佐斯是一個隨和而幽默的人。然而，同事和撰寫者發(fā)現(xiàn)，他專注于項(xiàng)目的快速周轉(zhuǎn)與效率，同時執(zhí)著于創(chuàng)新與才能的發(fā)現(xiàn)。因此，貝佐斯以不遺余力招聘有天分、創(chuàng)新能力強(qiáng)的員工而出名。貝佐斯和人事經(jīng)理全面檢查未來員工的大學(xué)成績和SAT的分?jǐn)?shù)。貝佐斯說：“這里的員工喜歡發(fā)明，因此其他喜歡發(fā)明的人也會被吸引到這里來。不喜歡發(fā)明的人待在亞馬遜會不舒服。所以這是個自我加強(qiáng)的過程?！?/p>

為鼓勵新思想，貝佐斯開展了“想到就做”這個項(xiàng)目——員工無須上級許可就可以直接實(shí)行對公司有利的想法并能獲得獎勵。貝佐斯相信與客戶良好溝通、聽取并采用他們的意見有利于公司的發(fā)展。通過網(wǎng)站，亞馬遜鼓勵顧客反饋使用心得，以此推薦他們最喜愛的書籍和產(chǎn)品，許多顧客列出了自己最喜歡的商品的清單。

2000年，貝佐斯和他的公司面臨著終極考驗(yàn)。那個時候，眾多網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司破產(chǎn)，亞馬遜的股票價格從1999年12月的106美元跌至2000年9月的41.50美元。為了應(yīng)對危機(jī)，貝佐斯被迫于2001年2月裁員1300人。他還削減產(chǎn)品線，只保留了那些能使公司獲利的商品。通過貝佐斯和他的團(tuán)隊(duì)的努力，亞馬遜在2001年最后一個季度扭虧為盈。經(jīng)歷了2000年的危機(jī)，亞馬遜公司不僅沒有倒閉，反而生意更加興隆。

現(xiàn)年44歲的杰夫·貝佐斯想要超越自己的公司，創(chuàng)造另一個奇跡。他向索尼公司看齊，索尼創(chuàng)建者之一川端章森田希望使日本成為高質(zhì)量的象征，而貝佐斯希望為顧客完美購物的體驗(yàn)設(shè)立新標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。如果能成功，杰夫·貝佐斯將會在史書中留下濃墨重彩的一筆。

實(shí)戰(zhàn)提升

核心單詞

obsessive[?b'sesiv]adj.妄想的；使人著迷的

initially[i'ni??li]adv.最初；開頭

execute['eksikju:t]v.執(zhí)行；履行；完成

officially[?'fi??li]adv.官方地，正式地

adamant['?d?m?nt]adj.固執(zhí)的；堅(jiān)強(qiáng)的

transcend[tr?n'send]v.超出，超越

財經(jīng)知識一點(diǎn)通

網(wǎng)站（website）

開始是指在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)（互聯(lián)網(wǎng)起源于美國國防部高級研究計劃管理局建立的阿帕網(wǎng)）上，根據(jù)一定的規(guī)則，使用HTML等工具制作的用于展示特定內(nèi)容的相關(guān)網(wǎng)頁的集合。簡單地說，網(wǎng)站是一種通信工具，就像布告欄一樣，人們可以通過網(wǎng)站來發(fā)布自己想要公開的資訊，或者利用網(wǎng)站來提供相關(guān)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)。人們可以通過網(wǎng)頁瀏覽器來訪問網(wǎng)站，獲取自己需要的資訊或者享受網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)。

破產(chǎn)（bankruptcy）

是指當(dāng)債務(wù)人的全部資產(chǎn)無法清償?shù)狡趥鶆?wù)時，債權(quán)人通過一定程序?qū)鶆?wù)人的全部資產(chǎn)供其平均受償，從而使債務(wù)人免除不能清償?shù)钠渌麄鶆?wù)，并由法院宣告破產(chǎn)解散。

翻譯練習(xí)

Bezos was committed to hiring the best employees, always looking for intelligent and innovative individuals.

The media noticed and reported on Amazon, and as a result of the publicity the company's consumer base rapidly increased.

For his part, Bezos wants to set new standards for providing a great customer experience.