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Business：Global niche players

Nordic companies have coped well with globalisation, but need new blood.

01 NOVO NORDISK HAS the sheen of a global champion. Its corporate headquarters near Copenhagen is decorated with freshly cut flowers and thought-provoking sculptures, with little bowls of fruit and nuts dotted here and there. The CEO and his fellow executives work from a large open-plan office.

諾和諾德是全球領先的企業，在生物技術領域熠熠閃光。其位於哥本哈根附近的總部裝點著新摘的鮮花，頗具深意的雕塑，以及四處遍布的小碗堅果或水果。CEO和他的管理團隊坐在大型開放式辦公室辦公。

02 That is all as it should be. Novo produces half the worlds medical insulin and frequently generates shareholderre turns approaching 30%. The world market for insulin is growing fast: about 346m people already suffer from diabetes and the number will grow as the emerging world gets richer. Novo is well placed to remain the worlds leading insulin producer for years to come.

一切本當如此。全球一半的醫用胰島素產自諾和諾德，其持股人的收益經常高達30%。全球胰島素市場需求增長迅猛：目前已有3.46 億人罹患糖尿病。隨著新興世界愈加富裕，這一數字還會增長。因此，在未來的幾年內，諾和諾德將穩坐世界胰島素生產老大的地位。

03 The Vikings modern descendants believe they can turn globalisation to their advantage. They excel at producing born-global companies. Ericsson, founded in 1876, started selling phones in China in the 1890s. They also outperform more muscular competitors. Torben Pedersen, of the Copenhagen Business School, points out that Nordic countries are past masters at adjusting to rules dictated by big countries such as Germany or America. Surely they can cope with China and India?

這些古老維京人的後裔相信，全球化可為己所用。他們的出色之處在於：創建具有全球性大公司潛質的企業。成立於1876 年的愛立信公司，在19 世紀90 年代就在中國銷售電話。他們甚至打敗了那些更強大的競爭者們。來自哥本哈根商業學校的托本.派德森指出：在由德國或美國這樣的大國制定的遊戲規則中，北歐國家適應良好，遊刃有餘。因此，應付中國或印度應該是綽綽有餘了吧？

04 Alas, the logic that destroyed brawnwork such as shipbuilding and textile manufacturing is now moving on to brainwork.The best Nordic companies are transforming themselves from export machines intoglobal networks. Ericsson, for example, has reduced the number of workers it employs in Sweden from 31,000 in 2001 to 18,000 today. Medium-sized companies are taking advantage of low production costs in the Baltic states as well as in China and India. In turn, foreigners are invading the Vikings strong holds.Volvo, Swedens fabled car company, has been swallowed by a Chinese upstart,Geely. Danisco, a Danish food-ingredients company, has been taken over by Americas DuPont. Ericsson has sold its handset division to Sony. Nokia is a shadow of its former self.

然而，曾經摧毀過造船或紡織這樣重型產業的商業邏輯，開始向智力產業蔓延。一流的北歐公司，正由出口機器的角色轉變為全球網路服務。例如，愛立信將公司在瑞典的員工數由2001年31，000 人裁至18，000。中型企業正在利用波羅地海國家、中國和印度的低生產成本。與此同時，外國企業也在入侵維京人的堡壘。瑞典的曾經的汽車神話沃爾沃，已被一家中國新興企業吉利所收購。丹麥的食品配料公司丹尼斯克，也被美國的杜邦公司接手。愛立信把它的手機部門賣給了索尼。而諾基亞，已是大不如前了。

05 The Nordic countries have an impressive number of globally competitive companies. Denmark is a world leader in hearing aids (Oticon), shipping (Maersk), toys (Lego), drink (Carlsberg) and wind power(with more than 200 companies that account for a third of the worlds wind-turbine market). Novo Nordisk is at the centre of a biotech cluster,dubbed Medicon Valley, that stretches from Copenhagen to Malm? in neighbouring Sweden and has an annual turnover of €13.4 billion.

北歐國家有全球性競爭力的企業為數不少。丹麥在助聽器（奧迪康公司）、航運（馬士基公司）、玩具（樂高公司）、飲料（嘉士伯公司）和風能（有超過200 家公司，佔據全球風力渦輪機市場的三分之一）方面都是世界龍頭老大。諾和諾德位於生產科技產業群的中心——此處又被稱為「醫藥谷」，由哥本哈根延伸至鄰國瑞典的馬爾默，每年營業額高達134 億歐元。

06 Sweden boasts some world-class manufacturing companies, particularly in mining equipment and machine tools(Sandvik and Atlas Copco), as well as retail stars such as IKEA and H&M.Finlands Kone is one of the worlds leading lift and escalator companies.Nokias problems are being offset by the rise of electronic-games makers suchas Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds. Norway is a world leader in oil services and fish farming.

瑞典有一些世界級的製造公司，尤其是在採礦設備和機床（山特維克公司和阿特拉斯科普柯公司）方面。瑞典的零售公司如宜家和H&M 也是全球明星企業。在芬蘭，通力公司是世界領先的電梯和電動扶梯製造公司。電子遊戲製造商如羅維威公司（「憤怒的小鳥」的開發者）的嶄露頭角已經淡化了諾基亞投下的陰影。挪威則是全球石油服務和捕漁業的翹楚。

07 Nordic companies have thrived in well-defined global niches. Lego dominates the market for interlocking bricks.Sandvik is a machine-tool superpower. Volvo Trucks produces the worlds best high-quality lorries. Nichification protects high-cost companies from emerging-market competitors. Nobody wants the cheapest machine-tool when a defective one can cause millions of pounds-worth of damage.

在精細分化的全球利基市場，北歐公司蓬勃發展，蒸蒸日上。樂高集團主導了全球的拼裝積木市場。山特維克公司是醫療器械生產的巨鱷。沃爾沃卡車公司生產世上最好的卡車。市場縫隙化保護高成本公司不受新興競爭者的入侵。一個有瑕疵的機床可能會帶來數百萬英鎊的損失——因此沒有人想要一個最便宜的機床。

08 They owe their success to four qualities. The first is their commitment to relentless innovation which they apply to even the most basic industries. Tiny Denmark remains the worlds eighth-biggest food exporter thanks to its obsession with productivity. Danish farmers use implanted chips to monitor their cows to maximise their milk yield.KJ Industries has developed a way of mechanising the carving up of carcasses by programming the cutting machines with the help of X-rays.

成功取決於四個因素。第一，即使最基礎的產業都在不懈創新。不斷提高生產力使得小國丹麥成為全球第八大食品出口國。丹麥農民利用內置晶元監視奶牛，最大程度地提高出奶量。KJ 工業用X 光給切割機編程，使牲畜切割機械化。

09 Nordic companies balance their passion for the new with an ability to take the long view. Sweden is still dominated by a handful of long-established families such as the Wallenbergs and the Bonniers. Denmark has a number of organisations such as the Carlsberg Foundation and the Lego Foundation, set up partly to look after the long-term interests of their parent companies.

第二，創新之外，北歐公司還思慮長遠。瑞典仍為一些歷史悠久的家族操控，如瓦倫堡家族和邦尼耶家族。在丹麥，一些公司的建立是為了服務其母公司的長遠利益，例如嘉士伯基金會和樂高基金會。

10 The third quality is their consensus-based approach to management. They pride themselves on their flat structures and democratic ways which they feel promote trust and co-operation.BCG thinks the region has the worlds most skilled "low-skilled"workers. But they balance co-operation with a fourth quality—a passion for replacing labour with machines. The Copenhagen underground has dispensed with drivers and ticket-sellers. Shops get by on automated checkouts.

第三個因素：以共識為基礎的管理方式。北歐公司得意於其扁平式結構和民主管理方式，稱此舉可以促進信任和合作。BCG 認為：北歐地區有世上最技能嫻熟的「低技能」工人。但是這種合作為第四個因素所制約，即渴望以機器取代人力。在哥本哈根，地鐵里沒有司機和售票員；商店全靠自動結帳台經營。

11 To see these forces in action, consider two companies in different industries. Sandvik started making steel in the late 19th century in the small town of Sandviken, two hours north of Stockholm. Itis now a global giant that produces everything from machine tools to steel rods for nuclear reactors. Sandviks small-town roots have not prevented it from becoming a global leader in its core businesses. "Expanding abroad is how we save jobs at home" is a common refrain.

不同產業內的兩家公司完美地體現了這些因素的共同作用。在20 世紀晚期，瑞典的山特維克公司開始在一個叫山特維肯市的小城軋鋼——該城位於首都斯德哥爾摩北部，離首都僅兩小時車程。如今，它已經成為全球性大公司；從車床到用於核反應堆的鋼條，產品包羅萬象。儘管出身小城，山特維克公司在其核心產業內卻是全球巨頭。「業興於外，方能救民於內」，這句話常常被人提起。

12 Sandvik is obsessed by promoting productivity—both its own and its customers. A giant factory that produces steel rods looks as if it is run by ghosts: four people monitor computer screens in a command centre and a few others patrol the floor. A productivity centre is devoted to pushing forward the frontiers of technology—making the worlds fastest drills, for example—and training employees to help customers.The companys mantra is "we sell productivity not products."

無論是對自己還是顧客，山特維克公司都一心提高生產力。在控制中心，四個人監視電腦屏幕；寥寥數人在車間巡視——一個偌大的鋼條工廠，竟似由幽靈操作。公司的生產力中心致力於研發前沿科技——例如製造世上最快的鑽機，同時培訓員工服務顧客。公司的格言是：「我們賣的不是產品，是生產力。」

13 Haldor Topsoe founded the company that bears his name back in 1940. Now aged 99, and bright as a button with it, he remains chairman. His company, meanwhile, has grown into a global giant. MrTopsoe ascribes its success to two things. He found a perfect niche incatalysis. Catalysts accelerate lots of chemical processes that are vital to a modern economy. They are also extremely hard to copy. So demand is growing and barriers to entry are high. He believes that his company benefits from being a family affair, which allows it both to invest for the long term and to take advantage of the global market.

1940 年，哈爾德.托普索成立了以自己的名字命名的托普索公司。雖然已經99 歲高齡，他仍是公司主席，頭腦靈活得很。他的公司如今已是全球巨頭。托普索把公司的成功歸結為兩點：其一，他在催化劑產業找到了完美的利基市場。催化劑固然可以加速許多化學反應過程，對現代經濟展至關重要；卻也極不穩定，很難控制。因此，催化劑的市場需求量大，門檻也高。第二，公司的家族企業性質使它既能利用眼前的國際市場，又能投資於長遠利益。

14 Vulnerable giants. For all their fortifications, the best Nordic companies are nevertheless under assault from two powerful enemies: rich-world rivals and emerging-world upstarts. In 2000 Nokia dominated the mobile-phone business. Scandinavian companies had pioneered the GSM standard for mobile communications and Nokia was the worlds biggest producer of handsets. Today it is fighting for its life: since Stephen Elop took over as CEO in 2010, the company has cut a fifth of its workforce. The worlds mobile-phone leader was beaten to the discovery of smartphone gold by Apple, a Californian company whose core competence was making computers.Ericsson decided to abandon the handset business in order to focus on making telecoms equipment, but it is now engaged in a mighty battle with Huawei, a Chinese company that did not exist in the early 1980s.

脆弱的巨人：儘管一流的北歐公司樹大根深，枝繁葉茂，仍然受制於兩大勁敵：來自富國的競爭對手和來自新興世界國家的新貴。2000 年，諾基亞主宰移動手機市場。斯堪的那維亞地區國家倡導了手機通信的GSM（全球移動通信系統）標準，諾基亞則是全球最大的手機生產商。現今諾基亞慘淡經營：自從2010年史蒂芬?埃洛普任CEO 以來，公司已裁員了五分之一。蘋果原為一家核心競爭力在於電腦製造的加利福尼亞公司，卻因為發掘出智能手機這個金礦，給了諾基亞重重一擊。愛立信拋棄手機業務，專攻電信設備；但是它又陷入與華為——一家20 世紀80 年代後才建立的中國公司——的艱難角力之中。

15 These twin assaults have revealed one ofthe regions biggest weaknesses: its failure to bring together design andengineering, two of its core strengths. They have also shown up the downside oftwo of the regions great virtues, consensus and patience. Consensus-basedmanagement can prove a disadvantage when industries are being disrupted by newtechnologies, and patience can lead to the scrapyard. Nokia put up with alacklustre CEO for four years. The CEO of Vestas, which specialises in windpower, is still in place even though its stocks have fallen by 90%.

如此雙重打擊，暴露出北歐地區最大的弱點之一：未能將兩大核心力量——設計和管理——結合起來。同時，共識和忍耐這兩大優點的短處也顯現出來：新的技術擾亂工業時，以共識為基礎的管理有害無利；而忍耐只會讓亂象橫生，難以收拾。諾基亞容忍一個碌碌無為的CEO 長達四年之久；專攻風能的維斯塔斯公司的股票下跌了90%，其ECO 卻安然在位。

16 These problems are not insoluble.Ericsson has done better than Nokia in pulling itself out of its tailspin. It is focusing on a defensible global niche, telecommunications networks, andtrying to turn itself into a creative hothouse. The companys innovation centre has come up with lots of clever ways to show that "everything that can be connected will be connected." The company is also shifting its emphasis from making equipment to providing services. Its obsession with creativity canbe a little trying: does eating your lunch off a table-tennis table really make you more innovative? But Ericsson is a powerful force in the industry—40% of all mobile-phone traffic passes through its networks—and it argues strongly that the market is set to take off.

這些問題並非無葯可醫。愛立信從爛攤子里抽身而退的本事，可比諾基亞強多了。目前，愛立信專註於一個自身防備強大的全球利基市場：電信網路；並且逐漸將自身轉變為創新型企業。公司創新中心智計百出，成功證明：任何可能被連接的東西都將被連接。同時，公司的重心由設備製造向服務提供轉移。然而，它對創新的追求可能有些過頭：在乒乓球桌邊吃午餐會讓你更有創造力嗎？但是愛立信確實是電信產業不可小覷的玩家——40%的移動手機交通使用它的網路。愛立信信心十足：其市場即將騰飛。

17 Even so, the regions best companies are relentlessly moving their activities abroad not just in pursuit of cheaper workers (though that can help) but also in order to be close to the worlds most populous markets. Such offshoring exposes the regions biggest weakness:that most of its best companies were founded in the late 19th and early 20thcenturies, and that its ability to replenish its corporate stock has declined as the state has got bigger. In California 39 of the states 100 biggest companies were founded since 1970. In Denmark the number is just three—and one of those three, Bonus Energy, has been taken over by Germanys Siemens. In Sweden the number is just two. A country that prides itself on equality and upward mobility is dominated by a handful of capitalist dynasties.

即使如此，北歐一流公司不斷將業務移向國外——不僅僅因為尋求更便宜的勞動力（當然有所裨益），而且為了更靠近世界人口最稠密的市場。這種離岸外包也暴露了該地區最大的弱點：這些一流企業，大多成立於19 世紀末或20 世紀初；之後雖然國家實力不斷擴張，但是補充企業新生力量能力卻在下降。。加利福尼亞州排名百位的大公司中，有39 家都成立於20 世紀70 年代之後；在丹麥僅有3 家——其中之一的伯努斯風能發電機製造公司已被德國的西門子收購；瑞典此類公司僅有2 家。區區幾個資本巨頭，就把持了一個自詡平等和上升流動性的國家。

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