Thomas D. Gorman: And that was the subject of your presentation, which was a very memorable presentation. 2001 was of course also a very momentous year for China, it was the year that China entered the World Trade Organization, and that was a historic catalyst for all kinds of changes, including in the economics sphere, investment sphere and in terms of integration of China with the world economy.
Looking back to that period of time, we had ten Chinese companies on the Fortune Global 500 list. By contrast in 2009 we had 37. That's incredible growth, obviously, in a very short period of time.
And in that same time span -- 2001 to 2009 -- 50%, actually more than 50% growth in the number of publicly listed Chinese's companies. Whether listed abroad or in the domestic market, so also a lot of change there. Meanwhile, we've just been through the most turbulent period the world economy has seen in living memory.
Jim Collins: Yeah.
Thomas D. Gorman: So all of these things strike me as giving us a very opportune moment in which to consider the principles of greatness that you have written about, so eloquently, how they may apply to this phenomenal growth of the Chinese corporate universe, and also, in the context of the current turbulence that we're living through, which I know is the subject of the book you're working on now.
Jim Collins: It's sort of about the permanent turbulence I think we'll be in.
Thomas D. Gorman: Right. So I thought this would be a great place to revisit some of these subjects and I can't think of a better place to start, than the first sentence of "Good to Great" which is of course, "Good is the enemy of great" and I'd be interested in your thoughts about the universality of that. Do you think that applies as much to companies in China or any other country as it does to the (U.S. company) research set that lead you to that observation?
Jim Collins: Well, we were speaking a moment ago about the rise of the business group in China today, and how there are business leaders who want to build a great company.
And there's a big difference between having a good company that is successful or just being a successful person, or just making a lot of money, and building a great institution, a great company, something that in my mind, a really great company is all about, in the end is a company that delivers such exceptional results. And makes such a distinctive impact on the world it touches. Whether it's a small world or a big world, that if you took it away, it would leave an unfillable hole that couldn't be filled by any other institution. That you've built something that is truly distinctively special and exceptional in how well it performs.
And that you can't do by simply saying, good enough is, you have to say, no, in order to really be indispensable, to truly reach that point, where something would be lost if we went away.
That requires a dedication to building something far more than just successful, which is: a great company. |
|
高德思：那也是你發言的主題，讓人難以忘懷。當然2001年對中國來說，也是非常值得紀念的一年。中國加入了世貿組織，這對各種變革來說都是歷史性的催化劑，作用于經濟、投資以及中國與世界經濟大環境融合等各個方面。
回首那一時期，有10家中國企業名列《財富》世界500強排行榜。形成鮮明對比的是，到2009年，這個榜單上有了37家中國企業。在如此短的時間內，實現這樣的增長讓人感到難以置信。
在相同的時間跨度里，從2001年到2009年，中國的上市公司數量增加了50%還要多，包括在國外和國內上市的，同樣產生了巨大的變化。與此同時，我們經歷了當代人記憶中世界經濟最為混亂的時期。
吉姆·柯林斯：是的。
高德思：這些變化都深深地觸動了我們，讓我們利用這個適宜的契機，去思考你寫到的“卓越”的基本原則，思考如何將這些原則應用到中國快速成長的商業環境中，或是用這些原則來解釋當前動蕩的大環境，而我知道，這也是你手頭正在創作的那本書的主題。
吉姆·柯林斯：在我看來這種經濟動蕩會一直持續下去。
高德思：對。所以我想，現在我們可以重溫其中的一些主題。我能想到的最好的開場白，莫過于《從優秀到卓越》書中的第一句話：“優秀是卓越的敵人。”我很想知道，你是否認為這句話是放之四海而皆準的。通過觀察一組美國公司，你得出了這些結論。你是否認為這一原則也適用于中國或其他任何國家的企業？
吉姆·柯林斯：我們剛剛談到了當今中國商業集團的崛起，談到許多商業領袖想要建立卓越的企業。
做一家成功的公司、做一個成功的人、或掙一大筆錢，與建立一家卓越的機構、一家卓越的企業之間存在著很大的區別。在我看來，一家真正卓越的企業，歸根結底就是能夠產生優異的業績，并且對其所接觸的領域會產生巨大的影響。無論這個領域是小是大，一旦這家企業不在了，它將留下一個無法填補的空洞，其他任何機構都無法填補。因為這家企業的表現超凡脫俗，它建立起了真正與眾不同的、特殊的價值。
為了實現“卓越”，你不能說“我們已經夠好了”。你必須得說“還不夠”，如此才能讓你的企業變得不可或缺，才能在你們離開時，讓大家覺得缺少了什么。
這需要企業家身全心投入進去，建立一家遠遠超越“成功”這個層次的企業，也就是我們所說的卓越的企業。 |
