外文翻譯--當(dāng)你的合同制造商變成你的競爭對手 （節(jié)選）

1、<p>　　2000單詞，1.1萬英文字符，3675漢字</p><p>　　出處：Arruñda B, Vázquez X H. When your contract manufacturer becomes your competitor.[J]. Harvard Business Review, 2006, 84(9):135-145 </p><p>

2、　　畢業(yè)論文（設(shè)計）外文翻譯</p><p><b>　　原文： </b></p><p>　　When Your Contract Manufacturer Becomes Your Competitor</p><p>　　Arruñda B , Vázquez XH </p>

3、<p>　　Outsourcing the entire manufacturing of a product allows original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to reduce labor costs, free up capital, and improve worker productivity. OEMs can then concentrate on the thing

4、s that most enhance a product’s value –R&D, design, and marketing, for instance. Facilitating these gains are the contract manufacturer’s (CM) special strengths, which may include location in a low-wage land, economi

5、es of scale, manufacturing prowess, and exposure to the engineering and deve</p><p>　　As IBM and other companies have learned, however, contract manufacturing is a two-edged sword. For one thing, a CM is pri

6、vy to an OEM’s intellectual property (IP), which it can leak to other clients or arrogate. For another, an ambitious, upstart CM can claim for itself the very advantages it provides an OEM. Having manufactured an OEM’s p

7、roduct in its entirety, the CM may decide to build its own brand and forge its own relationships with retailers and distributors–including those of the OEM. Wh</p><p>　　Although launching a brand would not b

8、e a trivial undertaking for any contract manufacturer, a brand identity rooted in the CM’s production prowess would have immediate credibility .Moreover, a CM working for several OEMs has experience making a wider range

9、of products than do most of its clients, permitting it to concentrate on producing the most profitable ones. And its cost structure does not necessarily bear the burden of investments in R&D.</p><p>　　In

10、 short, OEMs’ humble attempts to realize operational improvements and cost savings can plunge them into a strategically treacherous realm in which partners quickly outgrow one another, spy more attractive opportunities e

11、lsewhere, and, in the most flagrant cases, bite the hand that has been nourishing them. Put simply, OEMs that retain contract manufacturers may unleash forces they find hard to control. It would be no exaggeration to say

12、 that the players soon find themselves immersed in a melod</p><p>　　OEMs cannot evade this dilemma by terminating their outsourcing arrangements: Modularization, codification of manufacturing processes, and

13、diminished transaction costs make contract manufacturing irresistible to less well capitalized OEMs. But OEMs can manage their relationships with CMs so that the OEMs don’t become weak or the CMs too strong. Doing so req

14、uires a few things: modesty about revealing one’s secrets; caution about whom one consorts with; and a judicious degree of intimacy, loyalty,</p><p>　　Few industrial companies still consider manufacturing an

15、 essential part of their businesses. Traditional brand owners –what we know today as OEMs–prefer to focus now on product research, design,and sales, leaving production to the new specialists: contract manufacturers.</

16、p><p>　　Contract manufacturing involves outsourcing an entire manufacturing process to the point where, in many instances, none of an OEM’s employees will have physically touched the product they’re marketing a

17、nd selling. The practice began in 1981, with the manufacture of the first IBM PCs, but a decade passed before it reached such everyday products as toys, clothing, footwear, beer, and pharmaceuticals.Today, even a few cor

18、ners of the automobile industry have embraced it: Finland’s Valmet Automotive </p><p>　　The diffusion of contract manufacturing has heightened competition in some industries in four ways.</p><p>

19、;　　The creation of new companies. Contract manufacturing facilitates the creation of new firms and divisions. Businesses that outsource don’t have to raise, invest, and risk the capital necessary to develop their own pro

20、duction facilities. Thus, they can bypass the traditional deterrents to entering new markets. Indeed, any firm–even one selling low volumes–can decrease its unit costs simply by retaining the CM with the biggest scale. T

21、hat’s how Dell and Gateway have been able to venture beyond the</p><p>　　The creation of new brands. Contract manufacturers’ evolving situation encourages them to develop their own brands. It happens as foll

22、ows: As CMs reach efficient scale, their cost levels converge. At the same time, the products they make begin to commoditize. In response, CMs will attempt to regain a sustainable competitive advantage by undertaking the

23、 value-adding activities that their patrons had handled themselves, such as R&D and marketing. In a variant of the innovator’s dilemma, OEMs cede </p><p>　　If CMs find they can’t get from customers all t

24、he knowledge they need to sell and brand a new product, they can purchase entire divisions of OEMs.</p><p>　　Taiwan-based BenQ did just that, buying Siemens’s mobile phone business in 2005. By doing so, BenQ

25、 acquired not only Siemens’s IP but also decades worth of Siemens’s managerial experience,its highly developed talent pool, its widely known brand, and its global operations platform. Once they have</p><p>　

26、　achieved manufacturing mastery, CMs can begin innovating, something they have been doing for some time: The surging volume of Chinese patent applications filed under the European patent treaty – 26 in 1990 and 961 in200

27、0 – offers at least indirect proof of this. CMs can also buy R&D knowledge</p><p>　　from OEMs. In 2004, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), which had done some manufacturing for Volkswagen a

28、nd GM, acquired from bankrupt MG Rover the drawings needed to build the Rover 25, Rover 45,and Rover 75. SAIC plans to sell its own line of cars in China, Europe, and North America.</p><p>　　Movement up of

29、the value chain. The most powerful retailers and distributors can engage the largest, most efficient CMs to produce (under the retailers’or distributors’ own nameplates) items equal in quality to those of the finest OEMs

30、. These products share shelf space with the OEMs’ products but ask half the price. Contract manufacturer Solectron developed its manufacturing expertise in the course of working for IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Mitsubishi.

31、Later, distributor Ingram Micro asked Solectr</p><p>　　Leakage of intellectual property. Contract manufacturing puts OEMs’proprietary intangible assets into play. A CM can exploit for the benefit of its own

32、brands the knowledge it acquires in the course of working for a given OEM;or the CM can transfer (legitimately or not) this knowledge to other client OEMs. Such leakage may occur even if the CM does no more than assemble

33、 components made by others: Three dimensional scanning, computer-aided design, and computer-aided manufacturing allow companies </p><p>　　An Inevitable Relationship Contract manufacturing is inevitable, thou

34、gh it entails inescapable hazards. First of all, OEMs that embrace contract manufacturing can reduce their directcosts even if the number of units they sell is well below the level otherwise required to achieve meaningfu

35、l economies of scale. Consider Flextronics: The contract manufacturer’s plant in Guadalajara, Mexico, can assemble for Royal Philips Electronics a device for connecting TV sets to the Internet at very low per-un</p>

36、;<p>　　for their own brands.</p><p>　　Second, contract manufacturing allows OEMs to concentrate on their most profitable activities –R&D, for instance, or sales and marketing. IBM certainly had th

37、e money and the knowledge to invest in factory automation, and the company was glad that its relationship with Sanmina let it match Dell’s prices. But IBM’s points of differentiation are its outstanding engineering and s

38、ervices – forms of specialization that outsourcing has allowed it to concentrate on.</p><p>　　Third, firms can communicate and coordinate among themselves more efficiently than ever before. Consequently,the

39、economic logic that once impelled OEMs to perform almost every specialized function in-house no longer applies. The Internet is driving most of these efficiencies, as are the standardized production methods, management p

40、rocedures, electronic communication protocols, and digital design formats promoted by the International Organization for Standardization, a federation of national stan</p><p>　　Fourth, flexible manufacturing

41、 systems allow OEMs to replace one product with another on short notice. Valmet Automotive, for example, was able to start assembling the Porsche Boxster within seven months of landing the production deal with the automa

42、ker.And Ford makes three different chassis</p><p>　　in its factories, each of which can accommodate nine different car models, allowing the company to shift production rapidly to the models generating the gr

43、eatest market demand.</p><p>　　Finally, the combination of standardization and flexible manufacturing lets OEMs replace underachieving or uncooperative CMs about as easily as they can replace ebbing products

44、. The reciprocal nature of these relationships–and, conversely, the ability of either party to withdraw at the first sign of a hold-up by its partner–makes them easy to embrace.</p><p>　　Leading OEMs cannot

45、afford to retreat to the safety of vertical integration; the benefits of specialization are too great. he better alternative is to master the present stage of outsourcing’s development while guarding against opportunisti

46、c, self-serving conduct by CMs and other partners. </p><p>　　當(dāng)你的合同制造商變成你的競爭對手</p><p><b>　　譯文：</b></p><p>　　原始設(shè)備制造商把整個產(chǎn)品的制造都外包給別人，這使得他們可以減少勞動力成本，解放資金，提高企業(yè)的生產(chǎn)力。這樣原始設(shè)備制造商可以

47、集中精力來提高產(chǎn)品價值設(shè)計和銷售等。而合同制造商低的土地租金，低的工資水平，很強的制造能力正好促成了原始設(shè)備制造商的成功。他們促進原始設(shè)備制造商產(chǎn)品的發(fā)展。</p><p>　　IBM和其它公司已經(jīng)了解到 ,合同制造業(yè)是一把雙刃劍。 一方面, 合同制造商參與并了解原始設(shè)備的知識和技術(shù),它可能會向原始設(shè)備制造商的競爭對手出售相關(guān)部件甚至技術(shù)。另一方面,一個雄心勃勃的合同制造商可以根據(jù)它提供的優(yōu)勢來索求很大的費用。而

48、且合同制造商掌握了相關(guān)技術(shù)后，具備自主開發(fā)同類產(chǎn)品和品牌的能力，所以他還有可能成為原始設(shè)備制造商的競爭對手。一旦低估合同制造商的話,原始設(shè)備制造商可能不但面臨現(xiàn)任競爭者的威脅,而且還會有新的競爭對手的威脅。但是如果原始設(shè)備制造商并沒有把業(yè)務(wù)交給他的合同制造商得話，這樣對原始設(shè)備制造商來說也是不利的。原始設(shè)備制造商需要花很大的投入來進行產(chǎn)品的生產(chǎn)等方面，獲得的利潤也是很低的，這樣還會阻止它進入其他的市場領(lǐng)域。

49、 </p><p>　　雖然建立一個品牌不是一個簡單的事情，但品牌形象來源于它們的生產(chǎn)能力，生產(chǎn)能力對于品牌有直接的可信度。此外,一家合同制造商同時為幾家原始設(shè)備制造商生產(chǎn)，合同制造商具有更高的生產(chǎn)效率；能在制造過程中發(fā)展新的后勤服務(wù)和采購。合同制造讓原始設(shè)備制造商得以將有限的資源集中于產(chǎn)品開發(fā)研究和更新?lián)Q代，鞏固產(chǎn)品的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)技術(shù)和領(lǐng)先地位。&l

50、t;/p><p>　　簡而言之，原始設(shè)備制造商試圖通過業(yè)務(wù)方面的改進實現(xiàn)來實現(xiàn)成本的節(jié)省，這可會讓他的戰(zhàn)略伙伴迅速成長起來，搶走原先屬于他的機會,最嚴(yán)重的情況還有可能反咬他們一口。簡單來說,合同制造商慢慢長大可能會變得難以控制。并不夸張地說,參與者很快就發(fā)現(xiàn)自己浸在一場充滿混亂、不忠誠(合同制造商尋求各類的原始設(shè)備制造商),零售商和經(jīng)銷商把他們的業(yè)務(wù)轉(zhuǎn)交給原始設(shè)備制造商的合同制造商),和背叛(合同制造商把原始設(shè)備制造

51、商的知識產(chǎn)權(quán)給它的對手或自己用著)的鬧劇中。 </p><p>　　原始設(shè)備制造商無法回避這種進退兩難的局面終止他們的外包安排。 但原始設(shè)備制造商可以管理自己與合同制造商之間的關(guān)系,以至于原始設(shè)備制造商不會變得更弱或合同制造商變得太強。這樣做需要一些東西:保持合約的秘密性;注意你的搭檔,保持一個合理的親密程度、對自己的合作伙伴和客戶要保持忠誠和慷慨的態(tài)度。原始設(shè)備制造商可以通過使用其剩余的知識產(chǎn)權(quán)進入他們核心產(chǎn)品

52、以外的市場以躲避合同制造商的背后反擊。</p><p><b>　　激烈的競爭 </b></p><p>　　幾個工業(yè)公司仍然認(rèn)為制造是他們很重要的一個部分。傳統(tǒng)品牌所有者，我們熟知的原始設(shè)備制造商更傾向于注重產(chǎn)品的研究、設(shè)計和銷售,而將生產(chǎn)留給新的專家：也就是我們的合同制造商。 </p><p>　　合同制造商幾乎包攬了整個的制造過程，在許多

53、情況下,沒有一個原始設(shè)備制造商的雇員會親自參與他們的產(chǎn)品的營銷和銷售部分。合同制造最先開始于這開始于1981年。那時不像現(xiàn)在玩具、服裝、鞋類、啤酒和藥品各類領(lǐng)域都涉及。 </p><p>　　合同制造的不斷發(fā)展，導(dǎo)致了四種結(jié)果的產(chǎn)生。</p><p>　　新公司的建立。合同制造促進許多新公司和部門的產(chǎn)生。外包業(yè)務(wù)不需要企業(yè)提高資本投入來發(fā)展自己的生產(chǎn)設(shè)施。 因此,他們可以繞過傳統(tǒng)的障礙進入

54、新的市場。事實上,任何公司甚至是一個銷售量極小的公司都可以通過利用合同制造商來減少其單位成本，實現(xiàn)規(guī)模最大化。那就是戴爾Gateway能夠超越其其他企業(yè)，進入國內(nèi)電子市場的原因。</p><p>　　新的建立的品牌。競爭的不斷加大讓原始設(shè)備制造商了解到發(fā)展自己的品牌的重要性。這種情況如下:合同制造商的幫助,使得它的成本有所縮減。在同一時間,他們的產(chǎn)品開始變得商品化。原始設(shè)備制造商為了保持持續(xù)的競爭優(yōu)勢，他們著手去

55、做一些活動，例如研究開發(fā)和營銷。但是有時發(fā)明會陷入困境，這使得他們不得不放大尺度來讓合同制造商參與，這使得合同制造商有了很大的發(fā)展空間,以至于后來他們可能會來威脅原始設(shè)備制造商。 然后原來的合同制造商便成了一個原始設(shè)備制造商。已成為世界領(lǐng)先的公司的聯(lián)想集團和海爾(家用電器) TCL(電視)用的就是這種方法。如果合同制造商發(fā)現(xiàn)他們不能從用戶得到他們出售的新品牌和產(chǎn)品所有知識的話,他們可以購買整個原始設(shè)備制造商的整個業(yè)務(wù)。比如臺灣的明基一樣

56、, 在2005購買了西門子的移動電話業(yè)務(wù)。 這樣, 明基不僅可以取得西門子的知識產(chǎn)權(quán)也可以獲得西門子幾十年的管理經(jīng)驗,和他高度發(fā)達的人才資源,其品牌知名度,及其全球業(yè)務(wù)平臺。一旦他們掌握了這些的方法，合同制造商可以開始創(chuàng)新去做一些他們已經(jīng)做了一段時間的事情:這些可以從根據(jù)歐洲專利條約中國專利申請數(shù)量中看出來，在1990時只有26個和2000年</p><p>　　價值鏈的變動。最強大的零售商和經(jīng)銷商可以讓最大、最

57、有效的合同制造商給他們生產(chǎn)(零售商和經(jīng)銷商自己銘牌類)。而且這些項目的質(zhì)量和初始設(shè)備制造商所提供的質(zhì)量是同等的。這些產(chǎn)品和原始設(shè)備制造商的產(chǎn)品占有一樣的市場份額,但他要求的價格只是他的一半。 合同制造商旭電公司通過給IBM、惠普(Hewlett-Packard,和三菱工作過程中提高他自己的專業(yè)知識。后來,經(jīng)銷商英格拉姆讓旭電公司在自己的品牌下去建立個人電腦、服務(wù)器和其它計算機設(shè)備業(yè)務(wù)。零售商,也是如此，比如百思買集團,家樂福、西爾斯和沃

58、爾瑪、都銷售自己品牌的電子產(chǎn)品,從而削弱原始設(shè)備制造商的市場影響力。合同制造商也可以生產(chǎn)自己的品牌的東西,因為他們的產(chǎn)品很難靠零售商來改善其質(zhì)量的。 </p><p>　　知識產(chǎn)權(quán)的泄漏。合同制造商可以使用原始設(shè)備制造商專有的無形資產(chǎn)。 一個合同制造商可以利用這些從原始設(shè)備制造商那里得來的知識,給其他的原始設(shè)備制造商工作;或合同制造商可轉(zhuǎn)讓(合法或不合法)的這一知識給其它原始設(shè)備制造商。這些都可能會出現(xiàn)知識產(chǎn)權(quán)的

59、泄露，即使合同制造商只是裝配部分的東西。例如,一個合資企業(yè)由通用電氣和法國原廠斯奈克瑪公司組成,生產(chǎn)飛機引擎的一部分,已經(jīng)采取行動打擊在美國的購買假冒產(chǎn)品的修理和整修店了。當(dāng)然,原始設(shè)備制造商可以利用訴訟、游說等手段來維護自己的權(quán)利。但是這些方法都不是很有效。因為訴訟的結(jié)果是不確定的,最后可能得到的結(jié)果是只是昂貴的訴訟費。同時,還會導(dǎo)致利潤的不斷下降。 游說行業(yè)的其它成員來一起來抵制合同制造商不但需要時間,還一定會遇到阻力,和風(fēng)險，甚至

60、還會遭遇反托拉斯法的束縛。最后,在全球化的發(fā)展的今天,政府的干預(yù)顯得不那么具有決定性作用了。而且從今天的情況看來,原始設(shè)備制造商還是需要合同制造商為其服務(wù)的來幫助他保持其專業(yè)化、增值、保持競爭力。 </p><p>　　一個必然的關(guān)系。合同制造這個行業(yè)是不可以取代掉的,盡管他會不可避免地帶來各種危害。 </p><p>　　首先,原始設(shè)備制造商通過合同制造可以減少他們的費用,從而實現(xiàn)規(guī)模經(jīng)

61、濟。比如說，像IBM、惠普等企業(yè)來講如果在他們自己的工廠生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品對他們來說不是一件好事，這可能會使他們的成本大幅度上升。因此，他們需要這些工廠專門為他們生產(chǎn)自己的品牌來保持企業(yè)的規(guī)模經(jīng)濟。而從合同制造商的角度來看，為原始設(shè)備制造商工作對他們來說也是有益處的。</p><p>　　第二,有了合同制造商，才使得原始設(shè)備制造商可以集中精力去關(guān)注他們最賺錢的活動——提高產(chǎn)品價值設(shè)計和銷售等。雖然IBM公司有足夠的錢和技術(shù)

62、來投資工廠來生產(chǎn)自己的產(chǎn)品,但是公司更樂意與Sanmina合作，讓他幫他生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品。這使得他與戴爾公司相比有明顯的優(yōu)勢。IBM公司的外包業(yè)務(wù)讓他能集中精力來從事優(yōu)秀的設(shè)計和提高服務(wù)的專業(yè)化。</p><p>　　公司之間的協(xié)調(diào)和交流比以往更有效率。因為原始設(shè)備制造商與合同制造商在供應(yīng)鏈上是一種精益的生產(chǎn)組織方式。它是由一些獨立的企業(yè)通過網(wǎng)絡(luò)結(jié)構(gòu)聯(lián)系起來，是一種低成本的聯(lián)絡(luò)企業(yè)之間完全以動態(tài)的供求關(guān)系相聯(lián)系，具有高度

63、的柔性，即靈活性。同時，業(yè)務(wù)外包使原始設(shè)備制造商與合同制造商形成一種對需求快速反應(yīng)的生產(chǎn)組織方式。原始設(shè)備制造商可以集中精力于開發(fā)設(shè)計從而加快進入市場的速度,然后利用合同制造商的產(chǎn)能和已經(jīng)到位的設(shè)備和人力，迅速進入量產(chǎn)。當(dāng)需求突然顯著增加時，原始設(shè)備制造商可能會面對很長的設(shè)備準(zhǔn)備和員工培訓(xùn)周期，而合同制造商可提供迅速的產(chǎn)能提升。</p><p>　　第四,靈活的制造系統(tǒng)，讓原始設(shè)備制造商的產(chǎn)品可以在很短的時間內(nèi)便

64、可實現(xiàn)產(chǎn)品的更新?lián)Q代。如果原始設(shè)備制造商更換一個產(chǎn)品便可以馬上通知他的合同制造商進行生產(chǎn)。例如,瓦爾梅特汽車,能夠讓他的汽車制造商在幾個月內(nèi)出產(chǎn)新的保時捷組裝零件。 </p><p>　　最后,由于是標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化的生產(chǎn)所以原始設(shè)備制造商可以輕易地更換掉那些不被看好的或者不合作合同制造商。雖然這些關(guān)系是相互的。但是,如果有能力的一方能夠在一開始便做出選擇，那么這更容易讓他的同伴接受。</p><p&g