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Unit 1

1 Intel does it. So does Microsoft, Motorola, W. L. Gore & Associates, Southwest Airlines, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Hewlett-Packard, Lincoln Electric, and Starbucks. What is it? These companies pursue “people-first” strategies.英特尔公司奉行它。微软、摩托罗拉、戈尔、西南航

空公司、班杰瑞、惠普、林肯电气以及星巴克也都奉行它。它是什么？它就是这些公司所奉行的“以人为本”的策略。

(Para. 2a) There is an increasing amount of evidence that successful organizations put people first. Why? Astute managers have come to learn that their organization’s employees are its only true competitive advantage. Competitors can match most organizations’ products, processes, locations, distribution channels, and the like.越来越多的例子证明，成功的组织都是以人

为本的。为什么？因为精明的经理人们已经认识到他们企业的员工才是它们唯一真正的竞争优势。竞争者可以在产品、工艺、选址、销售渠道等诸多方面与其不相上下，

(Para. 2b)But what’s far more difficult to emulate is a workforce made up of highly knowledgeable and motivated people. The characteristic that differentiates successful companies from their less successful counterparts in almost every industry is the quality of the people they’re able to get and keep.但却很难效仿的是拥有一支由专业素质高和工作动机强

的人组成的劳动力队伍。几乎在所有的行业，那些成功的公司之所以超越它们的对手们，主要的区别就在于他们所能够得到和留住想要的人。

(Para. 3a) What kind of practices differentiate people-first organizations? We can list at least four: (1) They value cultural diversity. They actively seek a diverse workforce based on age, gender, and race. (2) They are family friendly. They help employees balance work and personal responsibilities through programs such as flexible work schedules and on-site child care facilities.

哪些做法才能区分以人为本的公司呢？我们至少可以列出四条：第一，它们重视文化的多样性。它们根据年龄、性别和种族积极寻求一支多元化的员工队伍。第二，它们具有家庭氛围。公司通过为其员工提供灵活的工作时间以及现场托儿服务设施等帮助员工平衡工作和个人职责之间的关系。

(Para. 3b)(3) They invest in employee training. These organizations spend heavily to make sure employee skill levels are kept current. This not only ensures that employees can handle the latest technologies and processes for the organization but that employees will be marketable to other employers. (4) People-first organizations empower their employees. They push authority and responsibility down to the lowest levels.第三，它们对员工培训进行投资。这些公司花

费巨资以确保员工的技能水平始终保持最新状态。这不仅确保员工可以处理该公司的最新技术和工艺，而且还使这样的员工极具市场竞争力。第四，以人为本的公司将权力下放给员工。它们将权力和义务下放到公司的最底层。

(Para. 4) Organizations that put people first have a more dedicated and committed workforce. This, in turn, translates into higher employee productivity and satisfaction.

那些奉行以人为本的组织拥有一支更敬业、更忠诚的工作团队。因而这样的团队精神转化成了高生产率和工作满意度。

These employees are willing to put forth the extra effort — to do whatever is necessary to see that their jobs are done properly and completely. Let’s take a look at one of those successful organizations that pursue “people-first” strategies: Starbucks.

这些员工会愿意做出更大的努力——为了准确彻底地完成他们的工作，他们会

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全力以赴。我们来看一看其中的一个因奉行“以人为本”而取得成功的公司：星巴克。

(Para. 5a)Wake up and smell the coffee — Starbucks is everywhere. The world’s number one specialty coffee retailer, Starbucks operates and licenses more than 8,000 coffee shops in more than 30 countries. The shops offer a variety of coffee drinks and food items as well as coffee and coffee accessories.

让你在咖啡中醒来！——星巴克无处不在。作为世界首屈一指的专业咖啡零售商，星巴克在世界上30多个国家开设和授权开设了8000多家咖啡店。这些咖啡店销售各种各样的咖啡饮品、食物、咖啡及咖啡用品。

(Para. 5b)Starbucks operates more than 4,700 of its shops in five countries, while licensees operate more than 2,800 units. In addition, Starbucks markets its coffee through grocery stores and licenses its brand for other food and beverage products.

星巴克在五个国家拥有超过4700家店面，同时，它的授权经销商们还经营着2800多家店面。另外，星巴克还通过杂货店销售它的产品并且授权其它食品和饮料产品使用它的品牌。

(Para. 6) From its modest beginnings in 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company’s reach today extends across the U.S. to Canada, Europe, Asia, and beyond, bringing the Starbucks coffee experience to the customer almost anywhere.

从1971年成立之初至今，星巴克咖啡公司的经营已从美国蔓延至加拿大、欧洲、亚洲甚至更远，并让几乎每一个地方的顾客都享受到星巴克的咖啡体验。

(Para. 7a)Central to the company’s growth and success has been a constant dedication to offering Starbucks customers the highest quality products. While the company’s success was built upon the core product, coffee, Starbucks has become much more than coffee.

该公司不断壮大和成功的核心在于坚持不懈地为顾客提供最佳品质的产品。公司的成功曾建立在它的核心产品，即咖啡上，但如今的星巴克已不仅仅只是出售咖啡。

(Para. 7b) It is a total coffee experience which encompasses everything from the decor of the retail locations and the music played within to the attitude of the Starbucks employees (known as “partners”), and even to the company’s desire to give back to the communities it serves.

而是一种完整的咖啡经验，包括零售站的装潢、背景音乐的播放、星巴克员工的态度、以及公司渴望对它所服务的社会做出的回馈。

(Para. 8a) Since its inception, it has been the Starbucks employees who have helped drive the success of the company. But it was probably Howard Schultz who started the ignition.

从公司创建伊始到现在，星巴克的员工一直都是公司成功的主要推动者。然而，是霍华德·舒尔茨，真正地开启了它。

(Para. 8b)Schultz joined the company in 1982, more than a decade after the company’s first retail bean store opened in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. As director of retail operations and marketing he was influential in the move to provide Starbucks coffee to fine restaurants and espresso bars throughout Seattle.

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从公司创建伊始到现在，星巴克的员工一直都是公司成功的主要推动者。然而，是霍华德·舒尔茨，真正地开启了它。星巴克最初在西雅图派克市场成立第一家店，经营咖啡豆，十几年后，即1982年，舒尔茨加入星巴克。作为零售及市场总监，他开始向西雅图的餐馆和咖啡店销售星巴克咖啡，他的这一决定意义重大。

(Para. 9a) A year after he joined the company a visit to Milan, Italy inspired Schultz to bring the Italian coffee-bar concept back to Seattle and put it into action in a new Starbucks location. It was a new foray for the company which previously had only provided freshly roasted beans for sale.

舒尔茨加入公司一年后去米兰出差。意大利给了舒尔茨以启发，他将意大利咖啡吧的概念带回西雅图，并付诸实践开了一家新的咖啡店。这对于之前只销售新鲜的烘焙咖啡豆的公司来说是一个新的冲击。

(Para. 9b) However, the overwhelming success of the espresso bar concept led Schultz to found Il Giornale, an espresso bar which offered brewed coffee and espresso beverages made using Starbucks coffee beans. A few months later, the continued success of the Il Giornale concept led to Il Giornale acquiring the assets of Starbucks in 1987 with the backing of local investors. The new company changed its name to Starbucks Corporation.

然而，舒尔茨的咖啡吧理念大获成功，他建立了每日咖啡厅，专门经营用星巴克咖啡豆煮出的咖啡和浓缩咖啡。几个月后，每日咖啡厅再次成功，并在当地投资者资金的支持下，于1987年买下了星巴克的全部股份。这家新的公司正式改名为星巴克公司。

(Para. 10) At that time, Starbucks operated 17 stores and had begun to expand beyond Seattle to cities such as Chicago and Vancouver. For the next decade and beyond, the company experienced tremendous growth bringing specialty coffee to the everyday consumer, and in the process helped create and define the specialty coffee industry.

当时，星巴克开设了17家店面并已经开始向西雅图之外的城市，如芝加哥和温哥华发展。在接下来的十年以及后来，公司发展迅猛，它将别具风味的咖啡带给大众消费者，并在这中间开创形成了独有的咖啡产业。

(Para. 11) While the success of the company often is attributed to the persistence and vision of the company’s current CEO, Howard Schultz, it is also the employees, from management down to store level, who are at the heart of the company’s success

尽管该公司的成功往往要归功于其现任首席执行官霍华德·舒尔茨的坚持不懈和卓越远见，但公司上下的员工也是促使公司成功的关键因素。

(Para. 12) At the store level, Starbucks has been successful in bucking the norm at most retail service environments where employee turnover is high and competence or enthusiasm is waning. “When we first started our business, our attitude from the beginning was that the employees on the front line really have the most to do with our success,” said John Richards, Starbucks president, retail North America.

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