優步狂妄的是與非 被指逃避社會責任
Uber may be one of the most formidable businesses of our times but it is also something of an ideological piñata, which everyone with a grievance loves to whack.
優步(Uber)可能是當今時代最令人敬畏的企業之一，但它也是有怨氣的人都喜歡抨擊的某種意識形態公敵。
Those wielding the sticks include taxi drivers who have had their livelihoods undercut; Uber drivers who claim to be exploited; and politicians who complain the ride-hailing company is shirking its social responsibilities and outsourcing its obligations.
那些掄起大棒的人包括生計受到影響的出租車司機；宣稱被剝削的優步司機；以及抱怨這家叫車應用公司逃避社會責任、外包自身義務的政客們。
Judges, too, have joined the fray in several jurisdictions.
多個司法管轄地的法官們也加入了抨擊行列。
Last month a UK tribunal dismissed Uber’s claims that it did not employ its drivers as ridiculous.
上月，英國一家法庭駁斥了優步關於其與司機不存在僱傭關係的主張，稱其荒謬可笑。
That gnarly mood is captured by James O’Brien, a London-based talk radio presenter, who says Uber is like the Frankenstein’s monster of everything that’s gone wrong with modern capitalism.
倫敦談話類電臺主持人詹姆斯.奧布萊恩(James O'Brien)捕捉到了這種不友好的情緒，他說，優步就像是展現現代資本主義所有不對勁之處的‘弗蘭肯斯坦的怪物’。
It must count as some kind of perverse achievement for a company to arouse so much anger when it delivers such a popular service around the world every day.
對一家招致如此普遍憤怒的公司而言，每天在世界各地提供如此受人歡迎的服務肯定算得上是某種反常的成就。
Then again Travis Kalanick, Uber’s combative founder, has always loved a good scrap.
但話說回來，優步好鬥的創始人特拉維斯.卡蘭尼克(Travis Kalanick)一直喜歡吵架。
I like pissing people off, he once told Fortune.
他曾經向《財富》(Fortune)表示：我就喜歡惹人生氣。
In spite of — or perhaps partly because of — the controversy it stirs, Uber has developed at astonishing speed since its creation in 2009.
儘管（或者說在一定程度上正是因爲）引起了極大的爭議，優步自2009年成立以來以令人震驚的速度發展壯大。
By June Uber’s drivers completed a total of 2bn rides in 450 cities around the world.
到今年6月，優步司機在全球的450座城市完成了總計20億單生意。
Having attracted funding of about $10bn to finance its expansion, Uber’s implied valuation is close to $70bn, making it the most valuable privately owned start-up.
優步吸引了大約100億美元的融資以支持其擴張，隱含估值接近700億美元，使其成爲最有價值的私有初創企業。
Uber offers plenty of lessons, both good and bad, for how our sharing economy works in practice.
優步爲共享經濟在實踐中如何運行提供了許多啓示，既有好的經驗，也有壞的教訓。
In its defence, the company argues it is providing exactly what the market wants by satisfying a deep consumer need.
如果要爲優步辯護，正如該公司所辯稱的，它提供了市場恰恰想要的東西，滿足了消費者的深層次需求。
Its app is the means for connecting willing drivers and willing passengers, delivering a seamless service at the lowest cost.
其APP是在願意提供服務的司機和願意購買服務的乘客之間牽線搭橋的手段，以最低成本提供了無縫服務。
How Uber has been so successful in expanding around the world will remain the stuff of business school case studies for years, even if the service stumbled in China.
至於優步是怎麼會如此成功地在世界各地擴張的，這在今後多年裏將是商學院案例研究的課題，即便它在中國遭遇了挫折。
Just think for a minute how diabolically tricky it is to create harmonious two-sided markets from scratch in cities you do not know and in business environments that are often hostile.
你只要想一下，在你不熟悉的城市和往往不友好的商業環境從零開始創建和諧的雙邊市場，該是多麼的錯綜複雜。
Sign up too many drivers too early and they will quickly grow disillusioned because of a lack of demand.
過早與太多司機簽約，他們將會很快因缺乏需求而倍感失望。
Entice too many passengers to use your service before you have enough drivers on the road and they will wait too long and never come back.
在你有足夠司機上路之前吸引太多乘客使用你的服務，他們將會因等待時間太長而永遠不再使用你的服務。
For sure, Uber has been ruthless in competing with rivals such as Lyft, skirted the law and exploited regulatory arbitrage.
沒錯，優步與Lyft等對手展開無情競爭，與法律打擦邊球，還鑽了監管差異的空子。
Its company philosophy has always been to seek forgiveness rather than permission.
其公司哲學始終是尋求原諒而非許可。
But it has championed consumer demands and eroded the power of vested interests in ways that few politicians have dared to do.
但它捍衛消費者需求，撼動既得利益的實力，很少有政客敢這麼做。
Uber offers some other societal benefits.
優步還提供了其他社會效益。
It has drawn drivers into the workforce who have previously been socially marginalised, providing a route out of the banlieues in France, for example.
它讓本來被社會邊緣化的司機進入職場，例如在法國爲人們提供了離開貧困的郊區(banlieues)的途徑。
It provides its many part-time drivers with the flexibility they crave in the gig economy.
它讓許多兼職司機擁有了他們渴望的零工經濟的靈活性。
It argues that its carpooling services reduce the total number of trips made, thereby cutting congestion and pollution.
它辯稱，拼車服務降低了出行總量，從而緩解了交通擁堵和污染。
The unnerving thing is that Uber may have only just begun.
令人不安的是，優步可能只是剛剛起步。
It is now pioneering driverless car rides in Pittsburgh and is even investing in flying cars.
它正在匹茲堡試運行無人駕駛汽車載客，甚至還投資于飛天車。
It has always stressed that it is a technology platform rather than a transport company, a real-time logistics network that can apply its expertise to many new market opportunities.
優步總是強調，它是一個技術平臺而非一家運輸公司，是一個實時物流網絡，能夠將其技術專長應用於許多新的市場機遇。
The company is moving so fast that it is likely to outpace pursuing politicians and regulators.
優步行動迅速，政客和監管者很可能趕不上它的步伐。
Its greatest threat may yet come from the market that its founders so revere.
該公司面臨的最大威脅可能還是來自其創始人尊崇的市場。
So long as humans remain useful to its business model, Uber could be vulnerable to a competitive backlash.
只要人類依然對其商業模式有用，優步就容易遭受競爭反彈。
For the moment, Uber’s low-cost structure and flexibility results from its arm’s-length relationship with its drivers.
就目前而言，優步的低成本結構和靈活性源於與司機保持距離。
But that strength may one day prove a flaw.
但這種優勢有朝一日可能被證明是個缺陷。
There is little to stop those drivers defecting to rivals who offer them a better deal.
優步沒什麼辦法阻止那些司機投奔提供更好待遇的競爭對手。
One such company, the New York-based Juno, is building its business model around being an anti-Uber, promising its drivers a bigger slice of the take and quasi-equity.
總部位於紐約的Juno就是這樣的一家公司，該公司正在圍繞反優步理念打造自己的業務模式，向司機們承諾更大提成比例並提供準股權。
At present, it is a speck in Uber’s rear mirror but it could presage the intensification of some real competition.
就目前而言，該公司是優步後視鏡上的小斑點，但它可能預示着某種真正競爭的加劇。
If Uber is abusing its market dominance, as its critics contend, rivals can take advantage.
如果優步像批評者說的那樣濫用其市場主導地位，競爭對手就會有機可乘。
The insolent mindset that has served Uber so well as an insurgent may yet fail it as an incumbent.
當優步還是挑戰者的時候，狂妄一些會有很好的效果，然而在該公司已經是老牌企業的情況下，狂妄心態可能導致它走向失敗。
