2020年经济学人 熊彼特专栏--LVMH对决爱马仕(1)

Business

商业版块

Schumpeter

熊彼特专栏

The one that got away

逃脱的品牌

Hermes seemed destined¹ to become part of LVMH’s luxury empire. Not so fast

爱马仕似乎注定要成为酩悦·轩尼诗-路易·威登集团奢侈帝国的一部分。但没那么快。

In the autumnof 2010 le tout² Paris of business braced³ for the sad, if predictable, end of an era. After 173 years and six generations, Hermès, a purveyor⁴ of handbags to bankers and neckties to their husbands, was to become part of LVMH. The champagne-to-evening- gowns mastodon, home to Louis Vuitton and Christian⁵ Dior, among many others, had disclosed a stake of 17% and rising. Bernard Arnault, LVMH’s boss, with a knack⁶ for closing in on companies he admires, had only to pick off a few Hermes heirs ready to cash out. Bankers assumed the “wolf in cashmere” would take mere⁷ weeks to gobble up his elegant prey⁸.

2010年秋季的巴黎商业圈生意悲惨，不出所料地还见证了一个时代的落幕。爱马仕是一家为银行家们提供手袋，为丈夫们提供领带的公司。经过173年六代人的努力，这家公司准备加入酩悦·轩尼诗-路易·威登集团（LVMH)。LVMH这家奢侈品巨头业务广泛，从香槟到晚礼服，名下还拥有路易威登和迪奥等众多品牌，这家公司已经披露持有爱马仕17%甚至更多的股份。LVMH的老板贝尔纳·阿尔诺很擅长接近自己欣赏的公司，他只需要接近几位准备接手爱马仕的继承人即可。银行家们认为这匹“披着羊皮的狼”只需几周就能吞下优雅的猎物。

Fast forward to autumn 2020, and the various descendants of Thierry Hermes not only still control their family’s firm, they have beaten LVMH at its own game. One of their own, Axel Dumas, has reclaimed⁹ the helm from an outside manager. Mr Arnault has all but scarpered off the Hermes shareholder¹⁰ register and moved on to other targets, though not always successfully: on September 9th LVMH said it would not go ahead with a $17bn bid for Tiffany, an illustrious American jeweller. By just about any measure, Hermes has led the luxury pack, nearly trebling revenues between 2010 and 2019, to 6.9bn euros($7.7bn). Operating margins¹¹ last year hit 34%, best in the industry. Even as it has been roiled¹² by covid-19, its market capitalisation has risen this year to 78bn euros, while big competitors have shrunk.

快进到2020年秋季，蒂埃里·爱马仕的后代们不仅仍然控制着家族企业，还在博弈中战胜了LVMH集团。其中一位后代阿克塞尔·杜马斯已经从一位外部经理手中夺回了掌舵权。阿尔诺几乎掉出了爱马仕的股东名册，他只好退而转向其他目标，尽管也不总是成功：9月9日，LVMH集团表示，不会继续以170亿美元的价格收购美国著名珠宝商蒂芙尼。不管以任何标准衡量，爱马仕都算是奢侈品品牌的领跑者，在2010年至2019年之间，其收入几乎翻了两番，达到69亿欧元（合77亿美元）。去年的营业利润率达到了34％，在业内名列前茅。即使受到疫情困扰，爱马仕的市值今年仍增至780亿欧元，而大型竞争对手却缩水了。

1 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

2 tout   

v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱

参考例句：

• They say it will let them tout progress in the war.他们称这将有助于鼓吹他们在战争中的成果。
• If your case studies just tout results,don't bother requiring registration to view them.如果你的案例研究只是吹捧结果，就别烦扰别人来注册访问了。

3 braced   

adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来

参考例句：

• They braced up the old house with balks of timber. 他们用梁木加固旧房子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The house has a wooden frame which is braced with brick. 这幢房子是木结构的砖瓦房。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 purveyor   

n.承办商，伙食承办商

参考例句：

• Silence, purveyor of gossip, do not spread that report. 快别那样说，新闻记者阁下，别散布那个消息。 来自互联网
• Teaching purpose: To comprehensively understand the role function and consciousness composition of a news purveyor. 教学目的：全面深入的理解新闻传播者的角色功能和意识构成。 来自互联网

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 knack   

n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法

参考例句：

• He has a knack of teaching arithmetic.他教算术有诀窍。
• Making omelettes isn't difficult,but there's a knack to it.做煎蛋饼并不难，但有窍门。

7 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

8 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

9 reclaimed   

adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• Many sufferers have been reclaimed from a dependence on alcohol. 许多嗜酒成癖的受害者已经被挽救过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They reclaimed him from his evil ways. 他们把他从邪恶中挽救出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

11 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

12 roiled   

v.搅混（液体）( roil的过去式和过去分词 )；使烦恼；使不安；使生气

参考例句：

• American society is being roiled by the controversy over homosexual marriage. 当今美国社会正被有关同性恋婚姻的争论搞得不得安宁。 来自互联网
• In the past few months, instability has roiled Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas. 在过去的几个月里，西藏和藏人居住区不稳定。 来自互联网