1、 外文翻译 原文 Competition of Industrial Clusters by Porter Resource: The Declining Quality of Earnings Author: William Hester Economic geography in an era of global competition poses a paradox. In theory, location should no longer be a source of competitive advantage. Open global markets, rapid transport
2、ation, and high-speed communications should allow any company to source any thing from any place at any time. But in practice, Michael Porter demonstrates, location remains central to competition. Todays economic map of the world is characterized by what Porter calls clusters: critical masses in one
3、 place of linked industries and institutions from suppliers to universities to government agencies-that enjoy unusual competitive success in a particular field. The most famous examples are found in Silicon Valley and Hollywood, but clusters dot the worlds landscape. Porter explains how clusters aff
4、ect competition in three broad ways: first, by increasing the productivity of companies based in the area; second, by driving the direction and pace of innovation; and third, by stimulating the formation of new businesses within the cluster. Geographic, cultural, and institutional proximity provides
5、 companies with special access, closer relationships, better information, powerful incentives, and other advantages that are difficult to tap from a distance. The more complex, knowledge-based, and dynamic the world economy becomes, the more this is true. Competitive advantage lies increasingly in l
6、ocal things- knowledge, relationships, and motivation that distant rivals cannot replicate. Porter challenges the conventional wisdom about how companies should be configured, how institutions such as universities can contribute to competitive success, and how governments can promote economic develo
7、pment and prosperity. Paradoxically, the enduring competitive advantages in a global economy lie increasingly in local things-knowledge relationships, and motivation that distant rivals cannot match. Now that companies can source capital, goods, information, and technology form around the world, oft
8、en with the click of a mouse, much of the conventional wisdom about how companies and nations compete needs to be overhauled. In theory, more open global markets and faster transportation and communication should diminish the role of location in competition. After all, anything that can be efficient
9、ly sourced from a distance through global markets and corporate networks is available to any company and therefore is essentially nullified as a source of competitive advantage. But if location matters less, why, then, is it true that the odds of finding a world-class mutual-hand company in Boston a
10、re much higher than in most any other place? Why could the same be said of textile-related companies in North Carolina and South Carolina, of high-performance auto companies in southern Germany, or of fashion shoe compares in northern Italy? Todays economic map of the world is dominated by what I ca
11、ll clusters: critical masses-in one place- of unusual competitive success in particular fields. Clusters are a striking feature of virtually every national, regional, state, and even metropolitan economy, especially in more economically advanced nations. Silicon Valley and Hollywood may be the world
12、s best-known clusters. Clusters are not unique, however; they are highly typical-and therein lies a paradox: the enduring competitive advantages in a global economy lie increasingly in local things-knowledge, relationships, motivation- that distant rivals cannot match. Although location remains fund
13、amental to competition, its role today differs vastly from a generation ago. In an era when competition was driven heavily by input costs, locations with some important endowment-a natural harbor, for example, or a supply of cheap labor-often enjoyed a comparative advantage that was both competitive
14、ly decisive and persistent over time. Competition in todays economy is far more dynamic. Companies can mitigate many input-cost disadvantages through global sourcing, rendering the old notion of comparative advantage less relevant. Instead, competitive advantage rests on making more productive use o
15、f inputs, which requires continual innovation. Untangling the paradox of location in a global economy reveals a number of key insights about how companies continually create competitive advantage. What happens inside companies is important, but clusters reveal that the immediate business environment
16、 outside companies plays a vital role as well. This role of locations has been long overlooked, despite striking evidence that innovation and competitive success in so many fields are geographically concentrated-whether its entertainment in Hollywood, finance on Wall Street, or consumer electronics
17、in Japan. Clusters affect competitiveness within countries as well as across national borders. Therefore, they lead to new agendas for all business executives not just those who compete globally. More broadly, clusters represent a new way of thinking about location, challenging much of the conventio
18、nal wisdom about how companies should be configured, how institutions such as universities can contribute to competitive success, and how governments can promote economic development and prosperity. Birth, Evolution, and Decline A clusters roots can often be traced to historical circumstances. In Ma
19、ssachusetts, for example, sew earl clusters had their beginnings in research done at MIT or Harvard. The Dutch transportation cluster owes much to Hollands central location within Europe, an extensive network of waterways, the efficiency of the port of Rotterdam, and the skills accumulated by the Du
20、tch through Hollands long maritime history. Clusters may also arise from unusual, sophisticated, or stringent local demand. Israels cluster in irrigation equipment and other advanced agricultural technologies reflects that nations strong desire for self-sufficiency in food together with a scarcity o
21、f water and hot, arid growing conditions. The environmental cluster in Finland emerged as a result of pollution problems created by local process industries such as metals, forestry, chemicals, and energy. Prior existence of supplier industries, related industries, or even entire related clusters pr
22、ovides yet another seed for new clusters. The golf equipment cluster near San Diego, for example, has its roots in southern Californias aerospace cluster. That cluster created a pool of suppliers for castings and advanced materials as well as engineers with the requisite experience in those technolo
23、gies. 译文 波特解释的集群竞争 资料来源 ： The Declining Quality of Earnings 作者： William Hester 今天的世界经济地图上的特点是什么，波特呼吁集群：即成功的在某一特定领域有不同寻常的影响力。最有名的例子是在硅谷和好莱坞，集群斑点已成为世界的景观。 波特解释了集群如何影响竞争，在三大方面：第一，提高了企业的生产率，二是加快了革新的步伐 ； 第三，可以通过刺激形成新的企业内部联网。地理，文化，体制相近为公司提供了特殊通道，相互间形成更加密切的关系，并提供更好的信息，有力的激励措施等。而较复杂的、以知识为基 础的、动态的世界经济，更是这样。竞
24、争优势越来越多，知识，人际关系，创新，遥远的竞争对手并无法匹敌。 集群已经成为一个鲜明的特点，几乎每一个国家，区域，特别是在经济较先进的地区，都离不开集群，硅谷和好莱坞就是世界上最知名的集群。集群影响竞争力。更广泛地说，集群代表着一种新的思维方式，即如何应对具有挑战性的许多传统智慧及公司应该如何被配置。集群也往往容易衡量和比较，因为公司内部集群通常都十分熟悉他们的供应商的成本。经理可以以成本和员工的表现与其他本地公司进行比较。此外，金融机构可以积累知识集群，用来监控 绩效。集群促使创新。集群在提高生产力方面发挥着重要作用，特别是在提高公司的持续创新能力上。集群发展充满活力，特别是在交叉口的集群
25、，把那里的见解，技能和技巧，从各个领域进行合并，形成新的创新和新的业务。一个来自德国的例子说明了这一点。该国具有鲜明的家电和家居家具集群，每一个都基于各种不同的技术和投入。在相交的两个，虽然是一组内建式厨房和家电，但德国在这方面却具有较大的世界出口份额。 在充满竞争的新经济时代，最重要的不是投入和规模，而是 生产力 。在信息技术和生物技术领域，思维竞争已被扭曲，形成误解，事实上，一个充满活力的集群可以帮助任何公司在任何行业的竞争中，最先进的方式，最先进的技术成功。因此，行政人员必须扩大自己的思维，调整战略并进行广泛的垂直整合，公司今天一定要密切联系买家，供应商和其他机构。 一个公司的 “ 大本
26、营 ” ，为每一个产品线，不过，集群是至关重要的。大本营活动的战略发展，核心产品和工艺研发，汇聚了最先进的生产和服务。因此，选址决定必须基于双方的总系统成本和创新的潜力，而不是对投入成本。每生产线需要一个大本营，而最有活力的集群将提供最佳 的位置。在美国国内，举例来说，加利福尼亚州，那里是几乎所有的世界领先的个人计算机和工作站业务的所在地，马萨诸塞具有非同寻常的浓度，拥有世界知名的研究医院和领先的医疗仪器公司。 集群也便于存取重要的资源和信息。在一个集群中，充满人际关系，需要进行面对面的沟通，仅仅公司，供应商和机构造成的潜在经济价值，并不能必然保证其实现。他们必须拥有一个庞大的本地投资，即使该
27、公司的母公司设在其他地方。但是，经理人认识到，许多与会者在集群中并不直接参与竞争，对供应量更熟练的人，可以超越任何竞争者。 任何一个国家或民族都必须认识 到，产量并不能促进繁荣，认识到这一点，各国政府应努力营造良好的环境，提高生产率。健全的宏观经济政策是必要的，但这并不足够。从微观经济基础上的竞争将最终决定生产力和竞争力。各国政府必须确保高质量的投入，如教育和物质基础设施。并且各国政府应促进集群的形成和升级，并建设公共或准公共物品。 一个传统的集群应升格。每一个联网，不仅直接促进了国家生产力，也影响到生产力的其他簇。加强和建立在现有的新的集群，而不是试图制造完全新的基地。成功的新兴产业和集群往往是成长出来的，某些种子的集群应该已经通过了市场的考验。 集群发展 的举措，应该树立追求竞争优势和专业化的观念，而不是简单地模仿成功的集群。
