257 Globalization
257 全球一体化
In many ways, today’s business environment has changed qualitatively since the late 1980s. The end of the Cold War radically altered the very nature of the world’s politics and economics. In just a few short years, globalization has started a variety of trends with profound consequences: the opening of markets, true global competition, widespread deregulation of industry, and an abundance of accessible capital. We have experienced both the benefits and risks of a truly global economy, with both Wall Street and Main Street feeling the pains of economic disorder half a world away.
自从20世纪80年代后期以来，当今的商业环境在很多方面都已经发生了质的变化。冷战的结束从根本上改变了世界政治和经济的性质。短短几年内，全球化就已经引发了很多种发展趋势，并带来了一系列深远的影响，市场开放，真正的全球竞争，政府对工业控制的广泛解除，以及可利用资本的富足。我们经历了真正的全球经济的好处和风险。不管是华尔街的人还是平民百姓都可以感觉到半个世界外的经济混乱会带来伤痛。
At the same time, we have fully entered the Information Age, Starting breakthroughs in information technology have irreversibly altered the ability to conduct business unconstrained by the traditional limitations of time or space. Today, it’s almost impossible to imagine a world without intranets, e-mail, and portable computers. With stunning speed, the Internet is profoundly changing the way we work, shop, do business, and communicate.
同时，我们完全进入了信息时代。信息技术发生了惊人的突破，它不可逆转地改变了企业经营的方式，使之不再受传统时间和空间的限制。如今，几乎已经无法想像没有企业内联网，电子信件和手提电脑的世界会是怎样的。互联网正在以惊人的速度改变我们的工作，购物，经商和交流方式。
As a consequence, we have truly entered the Post-Industrial economy. We are rapidly shifting from an economy based on manufacturing and commodities to one that places the greatest value on information, services, support, and distribution. That shift, in turn, place an unprecedented premium on “knowledge workers,” a new class of wealthy, educated, and mobile people who view themselves as free agents in a seller’s market.
结果是我们真正进入了后工业经济时代。我们正快速地由以生产和商品为基础的经济模式转向非常重视信息，服务，援助和分配的经济模式。反之，这种转变使人们对“知识型员工”有了空前的重视。作为一个新的阶层，他们生活富裕，受过良好的教育，会变通，并把自己看作是买方市场的自由代理人。
Beyond the realm of information technology, the accelerated pace of technological change in virtually every industry has created entirely new business, wiped out others, and produced a Pervasive demand for continuous innovation. New product, process ,and distribution technologies provide powerful levers for creating competitive value. More companies are learning the importance of destructive technologies-----innovations that hold the potential to make a product line, or even an entire business segment, virtually outdated.
在信息技术范围之外，几乎每个产业中技术的快速变化都创造出了全新的产业，消灭了其他的一些产业，并提出了持续创新的广泛需求。新的产品，程序和分配技术为创造有竞争力的价值提供了有力的手段。更多的公司认识到了这种革新性技术创新的价值，它能使一条生产线，甚至是整个商业部门彻底过时。
Another major trend has been the fragmentation of consumer and business markets. There’s a growing appreciation that superficially similar groups of customers may have very different preferences in terms of what they want to buy and how they want to buy it. Now, new technology makes it easier, faster ,and cheaper to identify and serve targeted micro-markets in ways that were physically impossible or prohibitively expensive in the past. Moreover, the trend feeds on itself, a business’s ability to serve sub-markets fuels customers’ appetites for more and more specialized offerings.
另外一个主要的趋势是消费者市场相商务市场的分化。人们逐渐了解到，外表相似的顾客群在想买什么和怎么买等方面都有着非常不同的偏好。现今，新的技术使想要在小型超市中实行的鉴定和服务变得更简单，更快捷，更便宜，而这些新的方式在过去是无法操作的，或是非常昂贵的。而且，这种趋势可以自动发展：一个企业为其分支市场服务的能力会刺激顾客对更加专业的产品的购买欲。