1、 外文翻译 原文 Problems and prospects of supermarket development in China MaterialSource: Author:Wing-Chun Lo Notwithstanding the re-emergence and growth of supermarkets in China, there were still problems hindering their development. Findings of this study showed that some problems which had existed in t
2、he past, for instance poor refrigeration and less satisfactory packaging, had been remedied to a large extent. Nevertheless, some problems which existed in the 1980s are still evident today. According to the CEOs and the government officials interviewed during this study, the major problems faced by
3、 local supermarket operators were as follows. (1)Keen competition In order to have a “quick” share of the booming supermarket/retailing business, many participants rushed into the supermarket/retailing scene (even though some of them were not well equipped with the relevant supermarket/retailing tec
4、hnology or expertise). While competition had not been mentioned in past studies, supermarket operators generally felt that competition had become a major issue. To the local supermarkets the major competition came from other supermarkets, from department stores, from big multinational giants such as
5、 Wal-Mart, and from other traditional retail outlets. The competition was so keen that one CEO of a large local supermarket chain complained that his competitor intentionally opened a supermarket next door, according to him, only for the sake of competition. (2)Lack of management skills and expertis
6、e This issue, the lack of management expertise and technical skills in supermarket operations, existed in the 1980s (Ho and Lo, 1987). As supermarkets and retailing shops of various types expanded in numbers, they attracted staff from the existing pool of expertise built up in this area. The entrepr
7、eneurial nature of the Chinese could be the source of the continued insufficient supply of human capital. Some executives, after acquiring some knowledge and expertise in the field, chose to leave the company for “greener turf” by setting up smaller scale supermarkets of their own. Staff turnover, i
8、n one case, was as high as 30 per cent in a year. This might explain the lack of enthusiasm by management to spend money on staff training. Hence, there was a serious shortage of managerial manpower, particularly in the areas of cash management, inventory control, and purchasing and sourcing. (3)Hig
9、her prices As mentioned earlier, prices of products sold in supermarkets in the early stages of development of the industry were higher than in traditional stores. This was because they aimed at higher income groups of the community, mainly foreigners, and also due to the high operating costs (such
10、as high wastage in packaging). Despite the fact that supermarket technology has become more known at present, most of the CEOs interviewed did not adopt the high volume low price strategy practised in Western countries. One CEO expressed the view that because 20 per cent of the items sold in his sto
11、re were imported goods, it would be difficult to lower the price. Another said that there were price control items determined by the government, leaving little room for the company to manipulate pricing. Still there were others who targeted tourists and the high-income groups by providing a one-stop
12、 shopping service, thus demanding a premium return on their services. There was one CEO who deliberately avoided the high rent commercial area in location selection, and had successfully lowered the retail price by about 10 per cent across the board. In other words, management often faced a dilemma
13、on good location versus low price. According to some CEOs, good locations usually need to pay 5-20 per cent premium on rental. Good location means within or near the commercial centres. People tend to shop after work and go home by public transportation or by bicycle. (4)High operating costs and low
14、 profit margins The high operating costs in the 1980s were mainly due to the high wastage on packaging. Today, this is no longer an issue. However, given that the “iron rice bowl” system of employment is prevalent on most of the state-owned supermarkets, high staff cost is still an unresolved proble
15、m. This is because there were always redundant staff when traditional shops were regrouped and combined to form supermarket chains. Firing and hiring of employees were often not under the managements “free choice”. In addition to the cost of redundant staff, there was another operating cost unique t
16、o developing countries. That was the cost of high rental. Supermarkets in China represented a modern style of retailing. Therefore, many supermarkets were located in prime locations competing with other non-food stores. This was particularly difficult for supermarkets. For most of the developed coun
17、tries, supermarkets are never competing for prime locations. Similarly, comfortable interior decoration, including fixtures and air conditioning, is a must. All these had driven up the cost of operating supermarkets in China. (5)Lower customer loyalty and lower volume of purchases Due to the poor li
18、ving environment as compared with those in the developed countries, many Chinese prefer to spend their weekends in the commercial centres instead of staying at home. Thus touring around shops becomes part of their leisure activities. People tend to visit different stores and shop around for the best
19、 price before making their purchases. As a result, patronage is more impulse than pre-planned. It is therefore difficult to cultivate patronage loyalty. The limited living space of most of the people in China (with small refrigerators at home) also poses a physical constraint to the amount of goods
20、that they could buy at any one time. This was coupled with the fact that bicycles, rather than cars, were the major personal transportation tools, which gave no inducement for shoppers to buy in bulk. The average cost of serving a customer also increased as a result. (6)Lack of economies of scale an
21、d efficiency of operation While some supermarket chains already appeared in China, it was mentioned that purchases for many supermarket chains were often not performed centrally, even though bulk purchases could lower costs by 20 per cent or 30 per cent. This is due to the inflexibility of the exist
22、ing system. Meanwhile, some supermarkets (which were in fact converted from the former traditional food stores) did not carry too many product lines or product items. They only put more items of the same kind on the shelves rather than to maximising customers choice through a wider range of brands a
23、nd varieties. This might reduce the workload of management but neglected consumers needs, resulting in poor sales performance. Coupled with the problem of high staff turnover, there was a general lack of will-power to innovate and improve the efficiency on the operating level. (7)Government bureaucr
24、acy There was already a lot of documented evidence discussing the Chinese Governments bureaucracy. One CEO said that there were too many licences and approvals required from different government departments before the opening of his store. The procedure was not only cumbersome but also time consumin
25、g. In addition, some supermarket operators commented that the “existing” “regional protectionism” might hinder the expansion of their supermarket operations. They pointed out that some cities/regions would deliberately find all kinds of excuses in order to “restrict” the expansion of supermarkets fr
26、om other regions to their territory. This would impede competition and is not conducive to building up a healthy, more competitive environment. Other interventions mentioned included pricing control and levying of different levels of local government tax. These were hurdles preventing the take-off o
27、f the supermarket industry in China. China is a huge market. With the commitment of further opening up the service sector after joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO), China will soon become the battleground for world giant retailers. This would certainly speed up the development of the supermar
28、ket industry in China. In fact, in the process of applying to join the WTO and subscribing to the terms of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, China has already opened up her market wider to foreign investors, in particular her service sector. As far as the service sector is concerned, China
29、 will focus on the development of supermarkets, convenience stores and other forms of chain stores. The government wants to reform its commercial sector, in order to reduce operating costs through economies of scale, and to increase its competitive edge through pricing advantages. Within the area of
30、 retailing, chain stores (which only started to develop in 1990) have already been designated as a development priority. In July 1997, Mr Chen Bang-chu, the Minister of Internal Trade, told the delegates of a national conference on chain store operations that he hoped China could develop a group of
31、cross-districts and cross-provinces chain stores with an annual sales turnover of over RMB 10 billion within the next five to ten years. His statement is not without support. According to Cundiff, economic development is the most important factor, which hinders or facilitates the development of supe
32、rmarket technology in a market place. If channels of distribution in a country reflect the economic development as argued, then with the current economic growth of China, supermarkets could become one of the major retailing institutions in China in the near future. During the past 18 years there hav
33、e been significant changes in supermarket operations. Supermarket operators have turned their focus from foreigners and visitors to the mass public. Problems encountered by local supermarket operators were no longer related to the problems of technology transfer or the lack of support from complemen
34、tary industries; rather most of the problems were caused by competition and management issues. According to the findings of this study, CEOs of supermarkets were concerned about problems from competition and management issues such as financing, sourcing and costing. With the presence of large multin
35、ational firms in the trade, they may transfer management technology to their local partners, leaving competition to be the unresolved issue for local operators. 译文 中国超市发展中存在的问题及其前景 资料来源 : Emerald 国际网站 作者： Wing-Chun Lo 尽管近年来中国超市的增长速度非常快，但在其发展过程中仍存在一些问题，阻碍超市的进一步发展。我们已经尽力去纠正了一些过去存在的问题，例如没有合理冷藏，包装很差等等。然
36、而，还有一些问题在 20 世纪 80 年代就已经存在，却至今还没有合理解决。在访问了一些公司的老总和地方政府官员之后，我们得出本地超市经营者所面临的主要问题如下： (1)激烈的竞争 超市行业的蓬勃发展吸引了 一大批的商人进入该行业（即使其中一些人没有很好地掌握与有关超市有关的技术或专业知识）。虽然竞争并没有在过去的调查中提到，但是超市经营者普遍认为，竞争已经成为一个主要问题。对当地的超市而言，它们的竞争对手主要来自其他超级市场，百货公司，国际巨头如沃尔玛大型跨国企业，以及其他传统的零售商店。面对如此激烈的竞争，当地的一个大型连锁超市总裁抱怨道，他的竞争对手故意在它的隔壁开了一家超市。据他解释，
37、他们是为了竞争才有意这样做的。 (2)缺乏管理技能和专业知识 在 20 世纪 80 年代，超市行业已经面临缺少管理方面专业知识和 超市经营专业技能的问题。由于超市和各类零售商店的数量快速增长，他们吸引了很多在相关行业具有专业知识的职员投入超市领域的建设。这种中国企业家的特性造成了人力资源持续供给不足的状况。有些管理人员，在其他领域获得一些专业知识和专门技能以后，选择了离开该领域，而去从事那些市场前景较好的新生行业，譬如自己建立一个规模较小的超市。在一个案例中，企业年均员工流失率竟然高达 30%。或许，造成这种情况的原因是由于管理者对出资给员工进行培训缺乏热情。从而导致企业中的管理人员严重不足，
38、特别是在现金管理，库存控制，采购管理等领域。 (3)价格较高 在该行业发展的早期阶段，超市出售的产品价格往往高于传统商店的产品价格。这是因为他们的针对的目标对象主要是社会高收入群体，特别是外国人，这就导致了经营成本的进一步提高（譬如花费大量资金在包装方面）。 尽管实际上超市技术已经被大众普遍熟知，在西方国家，大多数受访的老总表明自己并没有在企业里实施量多价格低的策略。一位经理表示，由于在他的商店售出的商品中有 20%是进口产品，因此很难再降价了。另一位经理指出政府对商品的价格进行了严格控制，导致商家只能在小范围内对商品的价格进行调整。也有一些商人通过对 游客和其他高收入群体提供一站式服务，收取
39、额外的服务费用。另外，还有一个老总为了减少经营成本，在选址的过程中放弃了在高租金商业地段，从而成功地减少了 10%的零售价格。换句话说，管理者在处理好位置和低价格的问题上经常会出现进退两难的情况。一些老总表示，一个好的位置在租金方面需要多付 5%-20%的额外费用。所谓的好的位置就是指在商业中心范围内或是靠近商业中心的地方。在这些地方，人们往往会在下班后去商店购物，然后乘坐公共交通工具或者骑着自行车回家。 (4)经营成本高，利润率低 在 20 世纪 80 年代，导致经营成本上涨的 主要原因是由于大量资金花费在包装上。如今，这已经不再是一个问题。然而，由于大多数的国有超市普遍实行“铁饭碗”的就业
40、制度，高员工成本仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。这是因为在传统商店被重组或合并从而形成连锁超市的过程中，总会产生一些冗员，但在员工解雇和员工招聘的问题上，管理者往往不能自行决定。除了一些冗员成本之外，还有一个是发展中国家特有的成本 运营成本，即高昂的租金成本。在中国，超市展现出了零售业的一种现代风格。因此，很多超市都开设 在黄金地段，与其他非食品商店竞争，这对超市来说是特别困难的。对于大多数发达国家而言，超市从来没有为黄金地段而竞争。另外，舒适的内部装饰包括固定装置和空调也是必须的。这些人都带动了中国超市的经营成本。 (5)较低的客户忠诚度和采购量 相对于发达国际而言，由于较差的生活环境，许多中国人
41、宁愿在周末的时候去商业中心购物，而不是呆在家里。因此，逛街成为他们的休闲活动的一部分。为了找到最优惠的价格，在购买之前人们往往会逛很多不同的商店，这导致商业中心的客流量出乎意料的高。因此，很难培养顾客的忠诚度。 大多数中国人的生活 空间都非常有限（家里的小冰箱），这也造成一种物质上的约束，不能一次性购买大量的物品，他们可以在任何时间另行购买。再加上中国人现今主要的个人交通工具是自行车，而不是汽车，因此不能有效刺激消费者成批购买商品。结果，客户服务的平均成本也相应增加了。 (6)缺乏规模效益和运作效率 虽然在中国已经出现一些连锁超市，但是有人指出，许多连锁超市并没有实行集中采购的方式，即使批量采
42、购可以降低百分之二十或百分之三十的费用。这主要是由于现行制度缺乏灵活性。与此同时，一些超市（实际上是从以前的传统食品商店转换过来的）并没有提供多 种多样的产品来满足客户的需求。他们只是把大量的同种类货物放在货架上，而不是通过提供各种各样的品牌和品种使顾客拥有最大化的选择机会。虽然这可能会使管理人员的工作量减少，但是这样做忽视消费者的需求，会导致销售业绩不佳。再结合企业内高程度的员工流失问题，说明这些企业缺乏一种自主创新的能力，不能有效提高其经营水平。 (7)政府的官僚作风 已经有不少的文件中显示中国政府中存在的官僚主义。一位老总说，在他的店开业之前，必须具备各种来自不同政府部门颁发的牌照和许可
43、证。该过程不仅麻烦，而且费时。此外，一些超市经营者 评论道，“现有的”、“地方保护主义”可能妨碍其超市业务进一步扩张。他们指出，一些城市或地区会故意找各种各样的借口，从而“限制”超市行业从其他地区扩展到他们的管辖范围内。这样做将阻碍竞争，不利于建设一个健康，更具竞争力的环境。 另外，还存在其他的干预措施，包括价格控制和地方政府各种类型的税收政策。这些都是阻碍中国超市行业进一步发展的障碍。 中国是一个巨大的市场。在中国加入世界贸易组织（ WTO）后，随着服务行业的进一步开放，中国将很快成为世界零售巨头眼中的新市场。这肯定会加快在中国超市业的发展。事实上，在申请加 入世贸组织和签署关于服务贸易总协
44、议的过程中，中国已经对内地市场实行了开放政策，为国外投资者提供了广阔的市场。特别是在服务行业。至于服务业方面，中国将集中精力发展超市，便利店以及其他形式的连锁店。政府要改革其商业部门，通过规模经济来降低企业的运营成本，并通过价格优势，增加其竞争优势。区域内的零售店，连锁专卖店（在 1990 年才开始发展）已经被指定为发展重点。 1997 年 7 月，内地贸易部长陈邦柱在一次全国性会议中对连锁经营行业发表了看法，他希望中国能够在未来五到十年内发展一批跨区域跨省份的连锁专卖店，并且这些连锁店 每年的营业额高达 100 亿人民币。他的发言并非没有支持。坎迪夫指出，在市场经济中，经济发展是阻碍或促进超市技术发展的最重要因素。如果说，一个国家的分销渠道反映其经济发展的水平，那么从目前中国的经济增长速度来看，超市在不久的将来将会成为在中国主要的零售机构之一。 在过去 18 年里，在超市经营领域发生了很多重大的变化。超市运营商的目标客户已经从以前的外国人和游客逐步转变成广大的市民。他们面临的问题不再是相关技术转让带来的困扰或是缺少互补产业的支持，其中的大部分问题是由激烈的竞争和管理不善造成的。这项研究的结果显示， 很多超市老总都在密切关注的由竞争和管理造成的问题，如融资、采购和成本。随着一些大型跨国公司进入中国市场，他们可能将管理技术外包给当地的合作伙伴，从而集中精力提高自身的核心竞争力。
