刘强东是如何一手将京东打造成一个市值450亿美元的科技巨头的
How Richard Liu built JD.com into a $ 45 billion tech giant
刘强东是如何一手将京东打造成一个市值450亿美元的科技巨头的
作者:Sherisse Pham
文章链接:https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/04/technology/jd-com-ceo-richard-liu/index.htmlhttps://money.cnn.com/2018/09/04/technology/jd-com-ceo-richard-liu/index.html
导语:
Chinese e-commerce company JD.com is often overshadowed by its bigger rival Alibaba. Now it's in the global spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
中国电商企业京东商城时常被比它更强大的对手阿里巴巴夺去风头,但这次却凭借不太好的原因成为全球瞩目的焦点。
Richard Liu, the billionaire founder and CEO of JD.com (JD), made headlines around the world this week after he was arrested in the United States on suspicion of sexual misconduct.
京东商城的创始人和CEO、亿万富翁刘强东涉嫌发生不正当性行为在美国被拘捕,成为本周全球各大媒体的头条新闻。
The company says Liu, who has since returned to China, was falsely accused. But the attention isn't going away.
京东公司声称,刘强东遭受了虚假指控,目前已经返回中国。然而,公众对此事的关注并未因此而消减。
His name remains a top trending topic on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform, where users are sharing the police mug shot of Liu dressed in orange prison garb and discussing the future of his $ 45 billion company.
他的名字依旧是有“中国Twitter”之称的社交媒体微博上的热搜话题。用户纷纷在微博上分享刘强东身着橙色狱服的面部照片,热议着他所执掌的这家市值450亿美元的公司的未来。
"Company founders in China definitely enjoy a kind of celebrity status," said Benjamin Cavender, a Beijing-based analyst with China Market Research Group."Consumers are more likely to be aware of Richard Liu's problems than they would be in most other markets."
中国市场研究集团常驻北京的分析师本杰明·卡文德尔表示:“在中国,公司创始人的身份就如同名人一般。相比于在其他市场,消费者更有可能去了解刘强东的问题。”
JD.com is China'ssecond-largest online shopping site after Jack Ma's Alibaba (BABA).Getting in early on the rise of e-commerce in China has helped make Liu, 45,one of China's richest tech tycoons with an estimated net worth of more than $7billion.
京东商城是仅次于马云的阿里巴巴的中国第二大在线购物平台。早在中国电子商务兴起之初京东就搭上了这趟车,帮助现年45岁的刘强东成为中国最富有的科技大亨之一,净资产预计超过70亿美元。
In an effort to distinguish himself from the competition, Liu has said he wanted his company to sell authentic goods and be in full control of delivering them.
为了凸显自己与竞争对手的不同,刘强东曾声称他希望他的公司去销售正品并全权负责商品的配送。
JD has built a sprawling logistics network, tapping into hundreds of stores and warehouses around thecountry. Using everything from bicycles to drones, the company boasts that 90% of goods bought on JD.com are delivered the same day or the next.
京东打造了仍在不断扩展的物流网络,延伸到了遍及全国的数百家商店和工厂。公司利用从自行车到无人机的各类配送工具,号称在京东商城购买的90%的商品都可以当天或次日送达。
RichardLiu is one of China's richest men.
刘强东是中国最富有的人之一。
Selling BMWs and watches online
在线销售宝马和手表
JD.com sells products ranging from high-end fashion to fresh groceries, targeting China's more affluent shoppers. Big name brands like Japanese retailer Muji, luxury watchmaker Chopard and car manufacturer BMW (BAMXF)have flagship stores on the site, which has more than 300 million active users.
京东商城以中国更富有的购物人群为目标,销售从高端时尚奢侈品到生鲜的所有商品。京东商城的活跃用户超过3亿人,日本零售商无印良品、奢侈手表制造商萧邦(Chopard),以及汽车制造商宝马等知名品牌都在网站上设立了旗舰店。
The company's tag line —Authentic Products, Delivered Today — takes a dig at Alibaba and other rivalswho have been plagued by complaints of not doing enough to pull fake goods from their platforms.
京东的宣传口号“正品真货,当天送达”(译者注:没查到中文对应的口号,京东现在的口号是“正品低价、品质保障、配送及时、轻松购物”),嘲讽阿里巴巴和其他对手因未采取足够力度将假货从平台上下架而广受消费者抱怨和诟病。
Like Alibaba, JD.com is tryingto reach new customers overseas. The company has been spending heavily to expand operations to Southeast Asia and Europe.
和阿里巴巴一样,京东商城也正在致力于吸引更多海外消费者。公司已斥巨资用于拓展在东南亚和欧洲的业务。
JD's major investors includeC hinese tech giant Tencent (TCEHY)and US retailer Walmart (WMT),whose Chinese business it bought in 2016. Google (GOOGL)invested $550 million in the company in June.
京东的主要投资方包括中国的科技巨头腾讯和美国零售商沃尔玛,后者在中国的业务于2016年被收购。谷歌也于今年六月向公司注资5.5亿美元。
Liu owns about 16% of JD but controls 79.5% of its voting rights, meaning a scandal tied to him could have outsized repercussions for the company.
刘强东持有京东16%的股权,但却掌握着公司79.5%的投票权,这就意味着一个发生在他身上的丑闻有可能会对公司造成巨大的不利影响。
Dreaming of meat
梦想着能吃到肉
The billionaire tycoon comes from humble beginnings.
这位亿万富翁、商业大亨出身卑微。
He was born Liu Qiangdong in Suqian, a village around 250 miles northwest of Shanghai.
他出生于宿迁市光明村,往东南方向大约250英里就是上海。
He grew up just as China was beginning a sweeping program of economic reforms. While the country would experience explosive growth in the coming decades, Liu's hometown and family remained poor for most of his younger years. During a speech at his childhood middle school last year, he told kids that he used to dream of eating meat, because he had pork just once or twice ayear.
他成长于改革开放政策正在开始席卷中国的时代。虽然这个国家在接下来的几十年里将经历爆炸式的经济增长,但在刘青春年少的大部分时光里,他所在的家乡和他的家庭都依旧十分贫穷。去年他在童年时就读的中学发表演讲时告诉孩子们,他曾经梦想着能吃到肉,因为那时候他一年只能吃到一两次猪肉。
When he got into Renmin University, a top college in Beijing, Liu recalled his entire village pitching in to help send him off.
他回忆起自己考入坐落于北京的顶级学府人民大学时,全村的人都来为他送行。
"They donated a total of 76 eggs and 500 yuan to send me off for the opportunity that changed my life," he said in a company blog post.
他在公司的一条博客推送中写道:“他们为我捐了76个鸡蛋,凑齐了500块钱,让我有了这次(求学)机会,改变了我的人生。”(译者注:没找到对应的原话,原话可能是下图中的内容)
刘强东博客
When he graduated from college, most of Liu's classmates wanted to go into government, or study abroad. Liu didn't want to be a bureaucrat and he couldn't afford to go overseas. He was also keenly aware of the fact that his family was too poor to afford medicine for his grandmother.
在大学毕业的时候,刘强东的同班同学都希望进政府部门,或者出国深造。他不想成为一名公务员,也没有钱去出国留学。他也很清楚地认识到自己家里太穷,甚至连给奶奶买药的钱都负担不起。
"I needed to make moneyto pay for her medical care," Liu said in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
刘强东在一月份参加达沃斯世界经济论坛时说道:“我需要去挣钱来支付她的医疗费。”
So in 1998, he set up abusiness selling computer accessories in Zhongguancun, a tech hub in northwest Beijing.
于是,他于1998年在位于北京西北的技术中心中关村创建了一家卖电脑零部件的公司。
SARS outbreak drove Liu online
“非典”把刘强东逼到了“线上”
By 2003, Liu's business hadgrown to a dozen brick-and-mortar stores.
到了2003年,刘强东的业务已经扩大到拥有十几家实体店的规模。
But then the SARS outbreak hitChina. Customers and workers were reluctant to be outdoors, where they might come in contact with the deadly respiratory virus. Liu closed his shops and told most of the employees to stay home while he huddled with managers to figure out how to move inventory.
但随后中国爆发了“非典”。顾客和工作人员都不愿意出门,怕与这种致命的呼吸道病毒发生接触。刘强东关闭了店铺并告知大部分员工待在家里,而他则跟店铺经理们聚在一起,商讨着怎么样才能清理库存。
"Then one day, one of our managers said: 'Why don't we sell our products from the internet?'" Liu said at a retail conference earlier this year. "So we needn't see our customers. [There] was no risk any more, from both sides," he said.
刘强东在那一年年初召开的一次零售大会上提到:“有一天,一位经理跟我说'我们为什么不在网上卖产品呢?’这样我们就不用跟顾客见面了。对我们双方也都不存在什么风险。”
Liu founded what would eventually become JD.com the following year at a time when e-commerce was just starting to take off in China as more and more people gained access to the internet.
刘强东于是在第二年创建了后来成为京东商城的在线购物平台。当时,在中国越来越多的人获得了上网的机会,电商也才刚刚起步。