形勢日益惡化

????百思買（Best Buy）的境況非常糟糕。雖然這家電子零售商依然是網蟲和科技發燒友心目中的“神殿”，但公司內部已經陷入一片混亂。經過一個喧囂的夏天，公司創始人理查德?舒爾茨在上周提出，要以每股24至26美元的價格將這家電子零售公司私有化。（今年六月，由于對公司前任CEO與一名女性員工的桃色緋聞知情不報，舒爾茨被迫下臺。）舒爾茨的出價比8月3日百思買的收盤價至少高出36%。按照出價的中間點計算，目前公司市值約在85億美元左右。

????目前尚不清楚最終結果會如何，但有一點很明確，百思買現在麻煩纏身。面對亞馬遜（Amazon）等在線零售商帶來的殘酷競爭，百思買實體店的銷售下滑，公司面臨關閉店鋪的壓力。下面五點措施或許能夠幫助身陷困境的百思買起死回生，扭轉頹勢。

第1步：私有化

????實行私有化相當于為百思買找一個“擋箭牌”。將百思買私有化就可以避免季度目標帶來的壓力，而且，這樣一來，公司也就不用擔心在形勢危急的時候還得承受股價的猛烈打擊。為了下一步的行動，舒爾茨和他的私募股權合作伙伴需要找到掩護。

第2步：停止壓縮規模

????公司管理層當前的計劃是關閉店鋪，放棄之前雄心勃勃的擴張計劃。新計劃是什么？放慢關閉店鋪的速度。至少目前應該這么干。

第3步：降價

????百思買很難在價格上與在線零售商進行競爭。更糟糕的是，購買電子設備的消費者大部分都習慣“線下搜索，線上購買”（ROPO）的方式，也就是說，他們會親自到實體店查看裝備，但會從網上尋找打折銷售的網絡店鋪。為了應對這種情況，百思買必須降價。

第4步：改善客戶服務體驗

????許多零售商都渴望能提供蘋果公司（Apple）那樣的客戶服務體驗。盡管這并非易事，但卻能幫助百思買留住消費者，讓消費者愿意掏腰包購物，而不是空著手離開。提高客戶服務可以幫助表現較差的店鋪增加客流量。百思買其實有這方面的經驗。公司的“奇客”（Geek Squad）便為消費者提供IT服務。此外，公司部分商店內也有銷售Mac和iPod的小型蘋果零售店。

第5步：專注

????最后一點，由于董事會的鬧劇，百思買的境況一直時好時壞。面對公司CEO的突然離職，董事會似乎根本沒有做好應對的準備工作。因此，外界不由得質疑，公司董事會是否有能力監管復雜的復興過程。要想獲得成功，公司管理層必須將更多注意力轉移到執行方面。

????譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

Bad to worse

????Best Buy is in bad shape. The electronics retailer is still Valhalla to nerds and technophiles, but its corporate house is in disorder. Capping a tumultuous summer, the company's founder Richard Schulze offered last week to take the electronics retailer private at $24 to $26 a share. (Schulze had stepped down as chairman in June after a scandal involving his knowledge of the former CEO's alleged relationship with a female employee.) Schulze's offer represents a price at least 36% higher than Best Buy's closing price Aug. 3. The midpoint of the offer values the company at about $8.5 billion.

????While it remains unclear what will ultimately happen, it is clear Best Buy is in trouble. It faces pressure to close stores as sales lag as well as cutthroat competition from online retailers such as Amazon. Here are five elements of a possible turnaround strategy for the struggling company.

Step 1: Take Best Buy private

????Call it a shield. Taking Best Buy private would protect the company from the pressures of meeting quarterly goals -- not to mention sustaining the assault on its stock price when things get rough. Schulze and his private equity partners are going to need some cover for the next step.

Step 2: Stop downsizing

????Current management plans to shutter stores and pull back from Best Buy's previous, aggressive expansion. The new plan? Slow down the closures. For now.

Step 3: Cut prices

????Online retailers are making it hard for Best Buy to compete on price. To make matters worse, consumers buying electronics equipment are some of the most likely to "ROPO" -- research offline, purchase online -- checking gear out in-person in stores, but finding Web outlets that sell products at a discount. To combat this, Best Buy will have to lower prices.

Step 4: Improve customer service

????Providing Apple-like customer service is something many retailers aspire to. Achieving that won't be easy, but it could help Best Buy keep customers from walking out without buying anything. Better customer care could help drive foot traffic to poorly performing stores. Luckily, Best Buy has some experience in this domain. It owns the Geek Squad, which provides IT services. It also hosts mini-Apple Stores selling Macs and iPods within some of its own outlets.

Step 5: Focus

????Finally, Best Buy has suffered from fits and starts as a result of its boardroom drama. The company's board appears to not have been properly prepared to deal with a sudden departure of the company's CEO. That raises questions about its ability to oversee the complexity of a turnaround. To have any hope of succeeding, management is going to need to focus on execution.