我们的事业是什么What is our business？

我们的事业是什么What is our business？

“我们 的事业是什么”并非由生产者决一定，而是由消费者来决定；不是靠公司名称、
地位或规章来定义，而是 由顾客购买商品或服务时获得满足的需求来定义。因此，要回答这
个问题，我们只能从外向内看，从顾客 和市场的角度，来观察我们所经营的事业。时时刻刻
都将顾客所见所思、所相信和所渴求的，视为客观事 实，并且认真看待，其重要性不下于销
售员的报告、工程师的测试结果或会计部门的财务报表，但是能轻 易做到这点的企业管理层
并不多。企业管理层必须设法让顾客诚实说出他们的观感，而不是企图猜测顾客 的心思。
What is our business is not determined by the producer but by the consumer. It is not
defined by the company’s name, statutes or articles of incorporation. It is defined by the
want the consumer satisfies when he buys a product or a service.
The question “What is our business” can therefore be answered only by looking at the
business from the outside, from the point of view of the customer and the market.
And management must make a conscious effort to get honest answers from the
customer himself rather than attempt to read his mind.
所以，企业最高管 理层首要职责就是提出这个问题：“我们的事业是什么？”并且确定这个
问题会经过严谨的研究，而得到 正确的答案。
It is, then, the first responsibility of top management to ask the question “what is our
business?” and to make sure that it is carefully studied and correctly answered.
“我们的事业是什么”决定企业成败的最重要的问题
这个问题不只在企业初创或深陷泥沼时， 才需要提及。相反的，当企业一帆风顺时，最
需要提出这个问题，并且深思熟虑，详加研究。因为假如没 有及时提出这个问题，可能导致
企业快速衰败。
“What is our business?”—the most important in successful business—it is not a
question that needs to be raised only at the inception of a business or when the
company is in trouble. On the contrary, to raise the question and to study it thoroughly is
most needed when a business is successful. For the failure to raise it may result in
rapid decline.

…但是市场上对于铜究竟有没有足够的需求，其实完全要看企业管理 层采取什么行动来
创造市场、寻找产品新用途，并且及早看出可能创造新契机或危及现有用途的市场趋势 或技
术发展趋势。
But whether there is demand for copper depends sutstantially on management’s action
in creating markets, in finding new uses, and in spotting, well in advance, market or
technological developments that might create opportuinites for copper or threaten
existing uses.
谁是顾客？
想要弄清楚我们的事业是什么，第一步是问：“我们的顾客是谁？ ”谁是我们真正的顾客，
谁又是我们潜在的顾客？这些顾客在哪里？他们如何购买？如何才能接触到这些 顾客？
The first step toward finding out what our business is, it to raise the question: “who is
the customer?”
…生产厨房煤气灶的厂商过去总认为竞争对手是其他煤气灶 制造商。但是他们的顾客
——家庭主妇，其实买的不是炉子——而是最简易的食物烹调方式，可能是电炉 、燃气灶（无
论是用管道煤气、天然气，或罐装液化气）、煤炭炉、木柴炉，或以上任何一种组合。
The manufacturer of gas kitchen stoves used to consider himself in competition only
with the other manufacturers of gas stoves. But the housewife, his cutomer, does not
buy a stove: she buys the easiest way to cook food. This may be an electric stove, a
gas stove (whether for manufactured, natural or bottle gas), a coal stove, a wood stove,
or any combination thereof.
在顾客心目中，价值是什么？
最后是最难回答的问题：“在顾客心目中 ，价值是什么？他采购时究竟在寻找什
么？”finally, there is the most difficult question: “What does the customer consider value?
What does he look for when he buys the product? “
传统经济理论以一个名词来回答这个问题：价格，但这个答 案很容易误导大家。的确，
对大多数产品而言，价钱都是主要的考虑因素之一。但首先我们必须了解，“ 价格”并不是一
个简单的概念。

我们的事业将是什么？
到目前为 止，所有关于“我们的事业”本质的问题都和现况有关。但是企业管理层也应
该问：“我们的事业将是什 么？”。这个问题牵涉到四件事情But management must also ask
“what will our business be?” , this involves finding out four things：
(1) 首先，是市场潜力和市场趋势the first is market potential and market trend。假定在
市场结构和技术都没有任何基本变化的情况下，五年、十年后，我们预期市场会变
得多大？哪些因素会影 响市场的发展？
(2) 其次，经济发展、流行趋势和品味的变化，或竞争对手的动作，分别会导致市 场结
构发生什么样的改变？而定义“竞争者是谁”的时候，必须以顾客认为他所购买的产品
和服 务是什么为依归，而且也必须包括直接和间接的竞争。
Second, what changes in market structure are to be expected as the result of
economic developments, changes in fashion or taste, or moves by competition?
And competition must always defined according to the customer’s concept of what
product or service he buys and must include in direct as well as competition.
(3) 第三，哪些创新将改变顾客需求、创造新需求、淘汰旧需求、创造 满足顾客需求的
新方式、改变顾客对价值的看法，或带给顾客更高的价值满足感？
Third, what innovations will change the customer’s wants, create new ones,
extinguish old ones, create new ways of satisfying his wants, change his concepts
of value or make it possible to give him greater value satisfaction?
(4) 最后，今天还有哪些顾客需求无法从现有的产品和服务中获得充分满足？能否提出
这个 问题，并且正确回答问题，通常就是持续成长的公司和只能搭上经济繁荣或产
业兴盛的潮流乘势而起的公 司，真正的差别所在。任何人，只满足于随波而升也将
会随波而降。
Finally, what wants does the consumer have that are not being adequately satisfied
by the products or services offered him today? It is the ability to ask this question
and to answer it correctly that usually makes the difference between a growth
company and one that depends for its development on the rising tide of its
economy or industry.

我们的事业应该是什么？
关于“我们的事业”所 做的分析，至此还没有真正完成。企业管理层还需要自问：“我们
是否从事正确的事业？还是我们应该改 变我们的事业？”
但是决定将主要的能量和资源从旧产品转移到新产品，换句话说，决定让整个事业不 再
只是意外的产物，必须以下列分析为基础：“我们的事业是什么？我们的事业应该是什么？”
But the decision to shift major energies and resources to new products and away from
old ones, the decision, in other words, to make a business out of an accident should
always be based on the analysis: “What is our business and what should it be?”
创新而导致事业本质的改变。生产力方面的考虑也可能激发事业本质的改变。Changes in
the nature of the business arising out innovation…Productivity considerations, too, may
demand a changes in the nature of the business.
不应该单单因为利润的考虑而改变事业的本质。Profitability considerations alone should
not, however, normally lead to changes in the nature of the business.
企业设定目标时，必须以对企业而言最正确的方向为依据。不能为了权宜之计，或 顺应
经济潮流。也就是说，企业管理不能依赖直觉。
These objectives must be set according to what is right and desirable for the enterprise.
They must not be based on the expedient or on adaptation to the economic tides.
Managing a business cannot, in other words, depend on intuition.