經得起歲月的考驗 值得重讀的商業經典1

Onlya few business books stand the test of time: the companies they examine fadeaway, the economic circumstances they analyse change, and the people theyidolise turn out to have fatal flaws.

只有少數商業書籍經得起歲月的考驗：它們研究的公司會消逝，它們分析的經濟環境會變化，它們推崇的人物會被證明有致命缺陷。

Whethera book’s insights will endure is one criterion for the FT and McKinseyBusiness Book of the Year. To launch the 2016 award, open for submissions fromApril 11, FT columnists pick one business book they believe is worth rereading.

一本書的洞見能不能歷久彌新，是英國《金融時報》/麥肯錫年度最佳商業圖書獎(FT and McKinsey Business Book of the Year)的評選標準之一。2016年的評獎從4月11日起開始提交候選圖書。爲了拉開序幕，英國《金融時報》的專欄作家們各自挑選了一本他們認爲值得重讀的商業圖書。

MartinWolf, chief economic commentator: Parkinson’s Law: The Pursuitof Progress, by Cyril Northcote Parkinson (1958)

馬丁•沃爾夫(MartinWolf)，首席經濟評論員：《帕金森定律》(Parkinson’s Law: The Pursuit of Progress)，西里爾•諾思科特•帕金森(CyrilNorthcote Parkinson)著，1958年

Whydo companies fail? Part of the answer is that they are bureaucracies. Indeed,they are supposed to be bureaucracies. As the late Nobel-laureate economistRonald Coase pointed out, we have companies because command-and-control isfrequently more efficient than markets. Broadly, that is the case where thetransaction costs created by the latter are higher than the costs of controlinherent in the former.

企業爲何會倒閉？部分答案是，它們是官僚機構。的確，它們理應是官僚機構。就如已故的諾貝爾經濟學獎得主羅納德•科斯(Ronald Coase)所指出的，企業之所以存在，是因爲命令和控制體系常常比市場更有效率。大體上，在市場帶來的交易成本高於命令和控制體系固有的控制成本的情況下，確實是這樣。

Parkinson’slaw — based on the idea that “work expands so as to fill the time available forits completion” — explains why the solution Coase correctly identifies createsits own difficulties. Bureaucracies have malignant tendencies: not least, notedParkinson, because “an official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals”and “officialsmake work for each other”.

帕金森定律基於“工作會不斷擴充直至佔滿完成這項工作可用的時間”的理念，解釋了爲何科斯正確指出的解決方案會產生其自身的困難。官僚體制有惡變的傾向：尤其是正如帕金森所言，“一個官員想要增加下屬而不是對手”以及“官員們會給彼此製造工作”。

Tothese should be added the natural tendency towards conservatism of allsuccessful organisations.

此外還應該加上一點：所有成功的組織都有趨向保守的自然傾向。

Theseare among the iron laws of bureaucracy. Managers should read —and beware.

這些都是官僚體制的“硬道理”。管理者應該閱讀——並且銘記心中。

JohnThornhill, innovation editor: Andrew Carnegie, by David Nasaw (2006)

約翰•桑希爾(JohnThornhill)，創新編輯：《安德魯•卡內基傳》(Andrew Carnegie)，戴維•納索(David Nasaw)著，2006年

Thereare two reasons to read David Nasaw’s monumental,800-plus page biography of Andrew Carnegie.

有兩個理由閱讀戴維•納索逾800頁的傳世之作《安德魯•卡內基傳》。

First,it provides fabulous insights into the practices of one of the greatestbusiness geniuses of all time. For good and bad, every executive can learnsomething from the ruthless way Carnegie invested early in promisingtechnologies, created and exploited new markets and crushed the competition.

首先，本書精彩地表現了有史以來最偉大的商業天才之一的商業實踐。不論是好是壞，每個高管都能從卡內基在早期投資有希望的技術、開創和發掘新市場以及粉碎競爭的那種冷酷無情的方式中學到一些東西。

Second,Nasaw deftly tells the riveting human tale of how an immigrant Scottish boybecame the richest man in the world and then gave away his vast wealth, more orless inventing modern philanthropy. Business history on this scale is hard tobeat.

第二，納索駕輕就熟地講述了一個引人入勝的人物故事：一個蘇格蘭移民小子如何成爲世界首富，然後捐出自己的鉅額財富，在很大程度上開創了現代慈善事業。這樣鴻篇鉅製的商業史難覓敵手。