【中英双语】想成为市场领军者，企业要具备三大战略要素
The Secret to Becoming a Market Leader
格雷厄姆·肯尼（Graham Kenny） | 文
The best-kept secret about strategy is that you are in control. You get to choose the game you want to play and how you might win it. Further, you can choose to lead on a variety of dimensions – market share, innovation, product quality, or customer service. You can tip the odds of success in your favor with these decisions.
关于战略，最不为人知的秘密就是你要掌控局面。你可以选择你希望玩的游戏以及你可能赢得它的方式。此外，你可以选择在不同的方面领跑——市场占有率、创新、产品质量、客户服务。利用这些决策，你可以增大成功的几率。
If shoes were your business, for example, is your market “shoe retailing”? Or is it the retailing of “high-priced, custom-made women’s leather sandals”? Your answer will determine your chances of becoming a market leader. You may have no chance of dominating the shoe market in general, but you may become a market leader in your niche. So why not forget about school shoes, sneakers, and slippers and focus on the part of the market that interests you the most?
比如，如果鞋业是你的业务，你的市场是“鞋类零售”还是“高价位定制女士皮凉鞋的零售”？你的回答将决定你成为市场领军企业的机会。你可能没有机会主宰整个鞋类市场，可是你可以成为你所在小众市场的领军企业。因此，何不把学生鞋、运动鞋和拖鞋抛在脑后而将关注点集中于你最感兴趣的那部分市场呢？
Choose Your Marketspace
选择你的市场空间
FCB Group, which now describes itself as “Australia’s leading workplace relations specialists,” was faced with the need to define its market during the early stages of its existence. It began in 1995 as a mediocre employment services firm. Years into its existence the partners realized that the firm was never going to become a market leader by spreading itself thinly over a wide range of expertise and an even bigger range of customers. They had to bite the bullet and clearly define the firm’s market.
FCB集团现在称自己为“澳大利亚领先的职场关系专家”，它在发展的初期阶段就曾面临过界定市场的需要。该公司1995年成立之初是一家普通的就业服务公司。发展多年后，各合伙人意识到，该公司靠在大范围的专业知识领域和范围更大的客户群体中广种薄收永远也成为不了市场领军企业。他们必须咬牙忍痛，明确界定公司的市场。
FCB zeroed in on the medium-sized enterprise with “complex employment structures” in three industries – logistics, retail, and manufacturing of fast-moving consumer goods. They reasoned that clients in this category lacked the required in-house legal expertise to successfully deal with legal issues, while still being big enough to create them.
FCB将注意力集中在三个行业——物流、零售和快速消费品制造——中“就业结构复杂”的中型企业。他们断定，这类客户缺乏成功处理法律问题所需的内部法律专业知识，但其规模又大到足以引发法律问题。
The partners decided that FCB Group would become these clients’ outsourced legal department in human resources. Its early mantra was “timely access to a quality response.” And it worked. They chose their market, focused on it, and reinvigorated the business. Today FCB is the market leader in its niche.
合伙人决定，FCB集团要成为这些客户的外包人力资源法务部。它早期的真言是“及时获得高质量的回应”。这一招奏效了。他们选择了自己的市场，专注于该市场，重振了业务。现今，FCB是这一小众市场的领先企业。
This realization can be like an epiphany. After a recent online strategy workshop, I asked participants for feedback on which of my five sessions they found the most beneficial. The CEO of an IT contracting firm told me, “Defining your market and focusing on your target customer. We’ve let ourselves be led around by big clients. We haven’t built the business,” he said. “After the session finished, I immediately got on the phone to my two senior managers and told them we have to sort this out. We’ve been mucking around with this issue for years.”
这种认识堪比一次顿悟。在最近一次在线策略研讨会上，我向与会者征求反馈，看看他们认为我的五次研讨中哪一次最有收获。一家IT承包公司的CEO向我表示：“是界定你的市场并专注于你的目标客户。我们一直被大客户牵着走，我们尚未建立业务。”他表示：“在那次研讨结束之后，我立即打电话给我的两位高级经理，告诉他们我们必须把这事理顺。我们在这个问题上已经胡乱折腾了多年。”
Of course, you must be very thoughtful about how you select a focus. Defining your market requires an assessment of both client needs and your business’s capabilities. You need to find a market demand large enough to support your business’s growth.
当然，你必须缜密思考如何选择关注点的问题。界定你的市场需要对客户需求和你公司的能力都进行评估。你需要找到足够大的市场需求来支持你公司的发展。
Go Deep to Dominate
深入一步，主宰市场
Narrowing your view of “the market” allows you to go deep and dominate. By focusing you can meet more of your customer’s specific needs.
收缩你的“市场”视野让你能够深入一步，主宰市场。通过聚焦关注点，你可以满足客户更多的具体需求
Take the German manufacturer of dishwashers, Winterhalter, as an example. It explains its awakening thus: “We analyzed the entire market for commercial dishwashers and found that our world market share was well below 5%. We were an insignificant follower. This prompted us to completely realign our strategy. We tailored our services to serve hotels and restaurants exclusively.”
以德国洗碗机制造商Winterhalter为例。该公司这样解释它的觉醒：“我们对商用洗碗机的整个市场进行了分析，发现我们的全球市场占有率远不及5%。我们只是无足轻重的跟风者。这促使我们彻底调整了我们的策略。我们专为酒店和餐厅提供量身定制的服务。”
In doing so the company decided to go deep ensuring that the end-result for its customers is close to perfect. Instead of chasing fickle trends in the domestic retail market, the executive team pivoted to present their chosen market with new services, including state-of-the-art water treatment devices, effective detergents and rinse aids, and close-to-the-customer service.
在这样做的时候，该公司决定深入一步，确保对客户产生近乎完美的最终结果。高管团队不是去追求国内零售市场上变化无常的趋势，而是转而为他们选择的市场提供新的服务，包括最先进的水处理设备、高效的洗涤剂和漂洗助剂以及贴近客户的服务。
FCB Group has also gone deep to build the customer experience using technology and a subscription model. Over the last ten years FCB Group has progressively “technologically enabled” its routine work. This move has allowed its professionals to concentrate on providing high-level, in-depth expert advice and systems to support it. One example of this is enableHR. It’s a cloud-based technology that provides a centralized employee records system with standard contracts for the employment of staff and contractors. It also houses best-practice guides on work health and safety procedures. One client, Solotel, runs 19 hotels and restaurants with 1,200 employees.
FCB集团也深入了一步，利用技术和一种订阅模式构建客户体验。在过去的10年里，FCB集团已逐步“用技术支持”它的日常工作。这一举动让其专业人士能够集中精力提供高水平、深层次的专家建议和系统来支持公司。其中一个例子是enableHR。这是一种基于云的技术，为一个集中的员工记录系统提供雇佣职员和承包商的标准合同。它还包含工作健康与安全程序方面的最佳做法指南。该公司的一家客户Solotel经营着19家酒店和餐厅，拥有1200名员工。
This move has been coupled with a subscription model that builds a close and on-going relationship with clients. The firm found that many of its clients struggled with costs – specifically the hourly rates of lawyers. They regarded them as “really expensive.” So, the Group introduced a monthly fee based on the number of employees, contractors, and volunteers a client had. EnableHR, for example, has over 11,000 subscribers. FCB uses its close relationship with its market to anticipate needs for products and services. In other words, it proactively leads the market, rather than reacting to it.
这一举措已经与一种可与客户建立密切、持续关系的订阅模式相结合。该公司发现，它的许多客户被费用所困扰——具体而言，就是律师的时薪。他们认为这费用“着实昂贵”。因此，该集团推出了一种按照客户的员工、承包商和志愿者数量计费的月费。比如，EnableHR拥有11000多订阅者。FCB利用其与市场的密切关系来预测产品和服务需求。换言之，它可以主动地引领市场，而不是被动对市场做出反应。
Gather the Courage
鼓起勇气
The CEO of the IT contracting firm I mentioned said that “we lacked the courage to make the necessary decisions.” This trepidation holds entrepreneurs and CEOs back from making a commitment to focus. Instead, they play it safe by trying to be all things to all customers. Mediocrity and average returns become the result – at best.
我提到的那位IT承包公司CEO表示：“我们缺乏做出必要决定的勇气。”这种不安妨碍了企业家和CEO们致力于聚焦关注点的决心。相反，他们试图为客户提供一应俱全的服务，以此求得稳妥。结果充其量就是庸庸碌碌和平均水平的回报率。
Remember what Steve Jobs, once CEO of Apple and its co-founder, said: “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. That’s true for companies, and it’s true for products.” So, think differently about your “market.” Doing so will boost your chances of success and of becoming a market leader.
请记住苹果公司曾经的CEO及共同创始人史蒂夫·乔布斯(Steve Jobs)说过的话：“决定不做什么与决定做什么同样重要。对企业而言是这样，对产品来说也是如此。”因此，请用不同的方式考虑你的“市场”。这样做可以增加你成功、并成为市场领军者的机会。
格雷厄姆·肯尼是Strategic Factors的CEO，公认的战略与业绩评估专家，帮助经理人、高管和董事会在私营、公共和非营利部门创建成功的企业。
时青靖 | 编辑
