Oskar Blues啤酒公司 vs. 米勒康勝公司

????挑戰：前有2,000多家美國手工啤酒廠，后有占據市場主導地位的幾家全球啤酒業巨頭，面對如此險境，如何才能在市場中搶占一席之地？

????戰斗歷程：44歲的戴爾?凱特奇斯于1997年在科羅拉多州萊昂斯創辦Oskar Blues酒店時，肯定沒想過自己會經營一家數百萬美元的企業。凱特奇斯回憶道：“銀行都不愿意借錢給我。”于是，他只能用信用卡提現的方式，支付種子的費用。不過，后來他開始在地下室釀造啤酒，生產客戶最喜歡的罐裝啤酒，比如低度啤酒。從此，公司開始了快速發展。很快，他的啤酒公司就擴展到附近一個有百年歷史的谷倉，最終成為一家占地43,000平方英尺的啤酒廠。目前，Oskar Blues已經成為美國發展最快的手工啤酒廠之一，年銷售額達3,100萬美元。12月份，公司在北卡羅來納州的布里瓦德建造了一套生產設施，還成立了一家名為REEB Cycles的山地自行車初創公司。沒錯，公司的名字正是倒過來寫的英文單詞“beer”（啤酒——譯注）。

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哈佛書店 vs. 亞馬遜

????挑戰：面對在線書商的猛烈攻擊，如何成功保留一家傳統書店？

????戰斗歷程：62歲的前科技公司高管杰夫?梅耶索恩曾幫助開發互聯網技術，但他仍是印刷圖書的忠實粉絲。2008年，他在馬塞諸薩州坎布里奇收購了具有代表性的哈佛書店（Harvard Book Store），決定在自己的領域打敗大型在線零售商。他購買了一臺小汽車大小的印刷機，可以在幾分鐘內印刷一本書——不必再占用寶貴的書架空間，有效擴大了庫存。他的理論是：“數字化不應該成為實體書店的喪鐘，而應該是救命稻草。”此外，他還在當地推出了自行車送書服務，派送速度甚至比亞馬遜（Amazon，《財富》500強）還快。去年，他的書店銷售額增加超過了10%。對于一個夕陽產業來說，這已經算是相當不錯的成績了。

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Coupa vs. Ariba （SAP公司）

????挑戰：如何戰勝一家跨國同行，把開支軟件銷售給大客戶？

????戰斗歷程：為了下大力氣整頓公司預算，許多公司都采購了復雜的軟件，來跟蹤公司的開支，精細程度甚至細化到一支比克鋼筆的費用。然而，他們的美好愿望在現實中卻經常遭遇挫折，因為員工們發現，那些程序實在讓人望而生畏。2006年，幾個以前在甲骨文公司（Oracle ）干過的老員工成立了Coupa公司，開發出了依托于云技術的“開支優化”軟件，希望這類軟件能像Facebook一樣易于使用。公司CEO羅布?伯恩施特恩說：“到目前為止，我們的產品是目前市場上最實用的。”公司稱，康泰納零售連鎖店（Container Store）等大客戶，以及超過90%的其他客戶都續簽了包年合同，公司2011年的收入達到了1,500萬美元。風投們也蜂擁而至：自2009年以來，伯恩施特恩總計已經募集到了4,150萬美元資金。（財富中文網）

????譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

Oskar Blues vs. MillerCoors

????The challenge: Getting a toehold in a market with more than 2,000 U.S. craft brewers and a few dominant global titans.

????What he did: Dale Katechis, 44, never expected to run a multimillion-dollar operation when he started Oskar Blues Restaurant in tiny Lyons, Colo., in 1997. "Banks wouldn't lend me any money," recalls Katechis, who used credit card cash advances for seed money. But when he started brewing beer in the basement and, later, canning customer favorites like Dale's Pale Ale, the company took off. His beer operation soon spread to a nearby 100-year-old barn and eventually to a 43,000-square-foot brewery too. Now one of the fastest-growing U.S. craft brewers, Oskar Blues has annual sales of $31 million. It launched a production facility in Brevard, N.C., in December -- as well as a mountain-bike startup called REEB Cycles. Yep, that's "beer" spelled backward.

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Harvard Book Store vs. Amazon

????The challenge: Maintaining an old-fashioned bookstore against the onslaught of online sellers.

????What he did: Former tech executive Jeff Mayersohn, 62, helped create technology to build the Internet, but he's still a die-hard fan of printed books. In 2008 he bought the iconic Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Mass., and resolved to beat the big online retailers at their own game. He bought a printing press about the size of a Smart Car that could produce any one of millions of titles within minutes -- effectively expanding inventory without using precious shelf space. His theory: "Digitization, rather than being the death knell for the corner brick-and-mortar store, could be its salvation." He also introduced local bicycle messengers who can deliver books faster thanAmazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) can ship them. Sales rose by more than 10% in the past year. Not bad for a dying industry.

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Coupa vs. Ariba (SAP)

????The challenge: Beating out an international powerhouse to sell spending software to big companies.

????What they did: Gung ho about whipping their budgets into shape, many companies invest in complex software to track spending down to the last Bic pen. But their good intentions are often frustrated because employees find the programs daunting. The Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500)veterans who founded Coupa in 2006 created cloud-based "spend optimization" software designed to be as accessible as Facebook. "We're by far the most usable tool out there," says CEO Rob Bernshteyn, 39. With big clients like the Container Store -- and more than 90% of customers renewing their annual contracts, according to the company -- the Silicon Valley firm says it pulled in $15 million in 2011. VCs are flocking: Bernshteyn has raised $41.5 million since 2009.