What companies are for

公司是做什么的

Competition, not corporatism, is the answer to capitalism’s problems

解决资本主义争端的出路是竞争，而不是合作主义

Across the West, capitalism is not working as well as it should. Jobs are plentiful, but growth is sluggish, inequality is too high and the environment is suffering. You might hope that governments would enact reforms to deal with this, but politics in many places is grid locked or unstable. Who, then, is going to ride to the rescue? A growing number of people think the answer is to call on big business to help fix economic and social problems. Even America’s famously ruthless bosses agree. This week more than 180 of them, including the chiefs of Walmart and JPMorgan Chase, overturned three decades of orthodoxy to pledge that their firms’ purpose was no longer to serve their owners alone, but customers, staff, suppliers and communities, too.

在整个西方，资本主义并没有发挥应有的作用。就业机会充足，但增长乏力，不平等过高，环境恶化。你可能希望政府能通过改革来解决这一问题，但许多地方的政治都是网格锁定或不稳定的。那么，谁来搭救呢?越来越多的人认为答案是呼吁大企业帮助解决经济和社会问题。甚至连美国那些以冷酷著称的老板们也同意这一观点。本周，包括沃尔玛(Walmart)和摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)首席执行官在内的180多名高管，推翻了30年来的传统观念，承诺他们公司的目标不再是只为所有者服务，还包括为客户、员工、供应商和社区服务。

词汇

Orthodox/正统的；传统的

 

The CEOs’ motives are partly tactical. They hope to pre-empt attacks on big business from the left of the Democratic Party. But the shift is also part of an upheaval in attitudes towards business happening on both sides of the Atlantic. Younger staff want to work for firms that take a stand on the moral and political questions of the day. Politicians of various hues want firms to bring jobs and investment home.

执行总裁们的动机部分是出于战术考虑。他们希望先发制人，阻止民主党左翼对大企业的攻击。但这种转变也是大西洋两岸对商业态度剧变的一部分。年轻的员工希望为那些在当今道德和政治问题上表明立场的公司工作。形形色色的政客都希望公司能把工作和投资带回国内。

词汇

Tactical/战术的；策略的

pre-empt/先发制人

hue/色调，色相

 

However well-meaning, this new form of collective capitalism will end up doing more harm than good. It risks entrenching a class of unaccountable CEOs who lack legitimacy. And it is a threat to long-term prosperity, which is the basic condition for capitalism to succeed.

不管这种新形式的集体资本主义的本意有多好，最终弊大于利。这可能会让一批不负责任、缺乏合法性的执行总裁陷入困境。这是对长期繁荣的威胁，而长期繁荣是资本主义成功的基本条件。

词汇

Unaccountable/无责任的；莫名其妙的；不可理解的

 

Ever since businesses were granted limited liability in Britain and France in the 19th century, there have been arguments about what society can expect in return. In the 1950s and 1960s America and Europe experimented with managerial capitalism, in which giant firms worked with the government and unions and offered workers job security and perks. But after the stagnation of the 1970s shareholder value took hold, as firms sought to maximise the wealth of their owners and, in theory, thereby maximised efficiency. Unions declined, and shareholder value conquered America, then Europe and Japan, where it is still gaining ground. Judged by profits, it has triumphed: in America they have risen from 5% of GDP in 1989 to 8% now.

自从19世纪英国和法国赋予企业有限责任以来，人们就一直在争论社会能期望得到什么回报。在20世纪50年代和60年代，美国和欧洲试验了管理资本主义，其中大型公司与政府和工会合作，为工人提供工作保障和津贴。但在上世纪70年代的股东价值停滞之后，随着企业寻求最大化所有者的财富，并在理论上实现效率的最大化，股东价值开始下降。工会衰落了，股东价值战胜了美国，然后是欧洲和日本，在这些国家，工会仍在不断壮大。从利润来判断，它已经取得了胜利:在美国，它已经从1989年占GDP的5%上升到现在的8%。

词汇

Stagnation/停滞；滞止

 

It is this framework that is under assault. Part of the attack is about a perceived decline in business ethics, from bankers demanding bonuses and bail-outs both at the same time, to the sale of billions of opioid pills to addicts. But the main complaint is that shareholder value produces bad economic outcomes. Publicly listed firms are accused of a list of sins, from obsessing about short-term earnings to neglecting investment, exploiting staff, depressing wages and failing to pay for the catastrophic externalities they create, in particular pollution.

正是这个框架受到了攻击。攻击的部分原因是人们认为商业道德在下降，从银行家同时要求奖金和救市，到向--者出售数十亿粒--类药物。但主要的抱怨是，股东价值会产生糟糕的经济结果。上市公司被控犯下一系列罪行，从过分关注短期收益，到忽视投资、剥削员工、压低工资，再到未能为它们带来的灾难性外部效应(尤其是污染)买单。

词汇

bail-outs/救市

 

Not all these criticisms are accurate. Investment in America is in line with historical levels relative to GDP, and higher than in the 1960s. The time-horizon of America’s stockmarket is as long as it has ever been, judged by the share of its value derived from long-term profits. Jam-tomorrow firms like Amazon and Netflix are all the rage. But some of the criticism rings true. Workers’ share of the value firms create has indeed fallen.Consumers often get a lousy deal and social mobility has sunk.

并非所有这些批评都是准确的。美国的投资与国内生产总值(GDP)的历史水平相当，甚至高于上世纪60年代。从从长期利润中获得的价值份额来判断，美国股市的时间跨度和以往一样长。像亚马逊和Netflix这样的明日公司风靡一时。但有些批评听起来是对的。工人在企业创造的价值中所占的份额确实下降了，消费者往往得到了一笔糟糕的交易，社会流动性也下降了。

词汇

Jam-tomorrow/许诺但不兑现的东西，可望而不可及的事物

 

Regardless, the popular and intellectual backlash against shareholder value is already altering corporate decision-making. Bosses are endorsing social causes that are popular with customers and staff. Firms are deploying capital for reasons other than efficiency: Microsoftis financing $500m of new housing in Seattle. President Donald Trump boasts of jawboning bosses on where to build factories. Some politicians hope to go further. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic contender for the White House, wants firms to be federally chartered so that, if they abuse the interests of staff, customers or communities, their licences can be revoked. All this portends a system in which big business sets and pursues broad social goals, not its narrow self-interest.

无论如何，公众和学术界对股东价值的强烈反对，已经在改变企业的决策。老板们支持深受顾客和员工欢迎的社会事业。各公司投入资金的原因并非出于效率:微软为西雅图5亿美元的新住宅提供了融资。美国总统唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)夸口称，他曾就在哪里建厂向老板们发出过严厉的警告。一些政客希望走得更远。民主党总统候选人伊丽莎白·沃伦希望公司能获得联邦特许，这样，如果公司滥用员工、客户或社区的利益，他们的执照就可以被吊销。所有这些都预示着一个大企业设定并追求广泛社会目标的体系，而不是狭隘的自身利益。

词汇

Jawboning/强烈呼吁

Revoke/撤回，取消；废除

 

That sounds nice, but collective capitalism suffers from two pitfalls: a lack of accountability and a lack of dynamism. Consider accountability first. It is not clear how CEOs should know what “society”wants from their companies. The chances are that politicians, campaigning groups and the CEOs themselves will decide—and that ordinary people will not have a voice. Over the past 20 years industry and finance have become dominated by large firms, so a small number of unrepresentative business leaders will end up with immense power to set goals for society that range far beyond the immediate interests of their company.

这听起来不错，但集体资本主义有两个陷阱:一是不可数性，二是动态性。目前还不清楚执行总裁们应该如何知道“社会”想从他们的公司得到什么。很有可能政客、竞选团体和执行总裁们自己会做出决定，而普通人将没有发言权。在过去的20年里，工业和金融业已经被大公司所主导，因此，一小部分没有代表性的商业领袖最终将拥有巨大的权力，为社会设定远大于公司当前利益的目标。

词汇

Pitfall/陷阱，圈套；缺陷；诱惑

 

The second problem is dynamism. Collective capitalism leans away from change. In a dynamic system firms have to forsake at least some stakeholders: a number need to shrink in order to reallocate capital and workers from obsolete industries to new ones. If, say, climate change is to be tackled, oil firms will face huge job cuts. Fans of the corporate giants of the managerial era in the 1960s often forget that AT&T ripped off consumers and that General Motors made out-of-date, unsafe cars. Both firms embodied social values that, even at the time, were uptight. They were sheltered partly because they performed broader social goals, whether jobs-for-life, world-class science or supporting the fabric of Detroit.

第二个问题是活力。集体资本主义倾向于改变。在一个动态的系统中，企业必须至少放弃一些利益相关者:为了将资本和工人从过时的行业重新配置到新的行业，一些利益相关者需要缩减规模。比如说，如果要应对气候变化，石油公司将面临大规模裁员。上世纪60年代管理时代的企业巨头们的拥趸们，常常忘记美国电话电报公司(AT&T)剥削消费者，忘记通用汽车(General Motors)制造过时、不安全的汽车。这两家公司都体现了社会价值观，即使在当时也是紧张的。他们之所以受到庇护，部分原因是他们实现了更广泛的社会目标，无论是终身就业、世界级的科学，还是支持底特律的结构。

 

The way to make capitalism work better for all is not to limit accountability and dynamism, but to enhance them both. This requires that the purpose of companies should be set by their owners, not executives or campaigners. Some may obsess about short-term targets and quarterly results but that is usually because they are badly run. Some may select charitable objectives, and good luck to them. But most owners and firms will opt to maximise long-term value, as that is good business.

让资本主义更好地为所有人服务的方法，不是限制问责制和活力，而是增强两者。这就要求公司的目标应该由其所有者来决定，而不是由高管或竞选者们来决定。有些人可能会执着于短期目标和季度业绩，但这通常是因为他们的经营不善。有些人可能会选择慈善目标，祝他们好运。但大多数所有者和公司会选择将长期价值最大化，因为这是一项好业务。

 

It also requires firms to adapt to society’s changing preferences. If consumers want fair-trade coffee, they should get it. If university graduates shun unethical companies, employers will have to shape up. A good way of making firms more responsive and accountable would be to broaden ownership. The proportion of American households with exposure to the stock market (directly or through funds) is only 50%,and holdings are heavily skewed towards the rich. The tax system ought to encourage more share ownership. The ultimate beneficiaries of pension schemes and investment funds should be able to vote in company elections; this power ought not to be outsourced to a few barons in the asset-management industry.

同时也要求企业适应社会不断变化的偏好。如果消费者想要公平贸易的咖啡，他们应该得到它。如果大学毕业生回避不道德的公司，雇主将不得不改进。让公司更有相应、更负责任的一个好办法是扩大所有权。拥有股票市场敞口的美国家庭(直接或通过基金)仅占50%，而且持有的股票严重偏向富人。税收制度应该鼓励更多的股份所有权。退休金计划和投资基金的最终受益人应能够在公司选举中投票;这种权力不应该外包给资产管理行业的少数巨头。

词汇

Skew/ 偏的，歪斜的

Beneficiary/受益人

Baron/大亨，巨头

Accountability works only if there is competition. This lowers prices, boosts productivity and ensures that firms cannot long sustain abnormally high profits. Moreover it encourages companies to anticipate the changing preferences of customers, workers and regulators—for fear that a rival will get there first.

问责制只有在存在竞争的情况下才有效。这降低了价格，提高了生产率，并确保企业无法长期维持异常高的利润。此外，它还鼓励企业预测消费者、工人和监管者不断变化的偏好，因为它们担心竞争对手会抢先一步。

 

Unfortunately, since the 1990s, consolidation has left two thirds of industries in America more concentrated. The digital economy, meanwhile, seems to tend towards monopoly. Were profits at historically normal levels, and private-sector workers to get the benefit, wages would be 6% higher. If you cast your eye down the list of the 180 American signatories this week, many are in industries that are oligopolies, including credit cards, cable TV, drug retailing and airlines, which overcharge consumers and have abysmal reputations for customer service. Unsurprisingly, none is keen on lowering barriers to entry.

不幸的是，自上世纪90年代以来，行业整合使得美国三分之二的行业更加集中。与此同时，数字经济似乎倾向于垄断。如果利润处于历史正常水平，私营部门的工人也能从中受益，那么工资将上涨6%。如果你看看本周美国180个签名方的名单，你会发现，其中许多公司都属于寡头垄断行业，包括信用卡、有线电视、药品零售和航空公司，这些行业对消费者收费过高，在客户服务方面声誉极差。不出所料，它们都不热衷于降低准入门槛。

词汇

Signatory/签约方；签字人；签约国

Oligopoly/寡占；寡头买主垄断

Abysma/深不可测的；糟透的；极度的

 

Of course a healthy, competitive economy requires an effective government—to enforce antitrust rules, to stamp out today’s excessive lobbying and cronyism, to tackle climate change. That well-functioning polity does not exist today, but empowering the bosses of big businesses to act as an expedient substitute is not the answer. The Western world needs innovation, widely spread ownership and diverse firms that adapt fast to society’s needs. That is the really enlightened kind of capitalism.

当然，一个健康、有竞争力的经济需要一个有效的政府来执行反垄断规则，消除当今过度的游说和任人唯亲，以应对思潮变化。这种运作良好的政体如今已不复存在，但让大企业的老板们充当权宜之计的替代品并不是解决之道。西方世界需要创新，广泛的所有权和多样化的公司来快速适应社会的需求。这才是真正开明的资本主义。

词汇

Antitrust/反垄断的

stamp out/扑灭；踩灭

Cronyism/任人唯亲；任用亲信