沃爾瑪候任CEO"董明倫"面臨的五座大山

Wal-Mart announced on Monday that company veteran C. Douglas McMillon will replace chief executive officer Mike Duke when he retires early next year.

沃爾瑪（Wal-Mart）於週一宣佈，公司首席執行官麥克.杜克將於明年早些時候退休，屆時將由公司元老董明倫接替他的職位。

McMillon has a stellar resume that reflects his veteran status at the nation's largest employer: The 47-year-old started his career in the company's merchandising division and went on to lead the company's logistics, distribution, and administration divisions before overseeing Wal-Mart International in 2005 and becoming chief executive of Sam's Club in 2006. He currently heads Wal-Mart's (WMT) operations outside the U.S.

身爲美國最大僱主元老級的人物，董明倫有着耀眼的履歷：現年47歲的董明倫最初加入公司的促銷部門，後來曾分別領導公司的物流、配送和行政部門；2005年，他負責沃爾瑪國際部；2006年，他成爲山姆會員商店（Sam's Club）首席執行官。他目前主要負責沃爾瑪的海外業務。

In a report released this morning, The Buckingham Reseach Group called McMillon a "great choice, " citing his overseas experience and his work to integrate systems across the company's procurement, distribution and merchandising divisions.

白金翰研究集團（The Buckingham Reseach Group）今天上午發佈了一份報告，稱董明倫是“很好的選擇”，同時還提到了他的海外工作經歷，以及負責整合公司採購、配送和促銷等部門的經驗。

But McMillon's impressive tenure at Wal-Mart will by no means make his new job an easy one. Here are some of the challenges he'll face:

不過，董明倫在沃爾瑪出色的工作經歷不見得會降低他新工作的難度。有許多挑戰正等待他去應對。

1. Wage outrage

1. 工資爭議

The most public and populist of all of Wal-Mart's troubles is the contentious relationship it has with its hourly workers. Retail workers' protests of Wal-Mart's low hourly wages started in earnest last October and have continued ever since. There will be no letting up this holiday season; non-union worker group OUR Wal-Mart said 1, 500 protests are planned for Black Friday 2013. The most recent burst of outrage came earlier this month when a Wal-Mart store in Canton, Ohio held a food drive in an employee lounge for the store's own workers. "Please donate food items so associates in need can enjoy Thanksgiving dinner, " said a sign placed above several plastic bins. A company spokesperson said that the food drive was for staffers who had undergone hardships and reflected just how much store employees care about each other. The company has previously characterized worker protests as "publicity stunts" and has stood by its hourly pay.

在沃爾瑪的所有麻煩當中，最公開和最具有民粹主義色彩的是公司與其“臨時工”之間頗具爭議的關係。零售工人抗議沃爾瑪時薪過低的活動，從去年10月份開始，一直持續到現在。似乎今年節日季也沒有平息的可能；非工會勞工組織“我們的沃爾瑪”（OUR Wal-Mart）表示，計劃在2013年的黑色星期五進行1,500場抗議活動。員工的怒火最近一次爆發是在本月早些時候。當時，俄亥俄州坎頓市的一家沃爾瑪在員工休息室爲店鋪的員工舉辦了一次食品捐贈活動。放置在幾個塑料盒子上的一條標語中寫道：“請捐贈食物，讓有需要的同事能夠享受感恩節晚餐。”公司發言人表示食品捐贈活動的初衷是幫助面臨困境的員工，表現同事彼此之間的關懷。公司之前一直稱員工抗議活動是“做秀”，而且始終沒有調整員工的時薪。

2. Depressed sales

2. 低迷的銷量

Wal-Mart may be able to brush off its reputation woes, but it will not be able to dismiss its weak sales quite as easily. When the company reported its third-quarter earnings earlier this month, comparable sales were down 0.3% as shoppers made fewer trips to the stores. Those figures continued a downward trend seen earlier this year when same-store sales dipped 0.3% in the second quarter and 1.4% in the first. The lackluster performance forced the retailer to forecast disappointing profits for the upcoming holiday shopping season -- it expects flat comparable sales in the U.S. -- which its executives have predicted to be "as competitive" as they've ever seen it. The main contributor to stores' poor performance is reluctance by lower-income shoppers to spend money on discretionary goods because of this year's higher payroll taxes and slow job growth.

沃爾瑪或許能夠對聲譽危機置之不理，卻很難對疲軟的銷量無動於衷。這家公司於本月早些時候公佈了第三季度的盈利情況，由於消費者前往店鋪的次數減少，導致可比銷售額下降了0.3%。從今年早些時候開始，可比銷售額便持續下降趨勢。第二季度，沃爾瑪同店銷售額下降了0.3%，第一季度更是下降了1.4%。如此慘淡的表現使得沃爾瑪預測今年節日購物季的利潤將不容樂觀。它預測，美國節日購物季的銷售額將相對持平，而公司高管表示沃爾瑪將面臨有史以來最激烈的競爭。導致這家公司銷售低迷的主要原因是，今年工資稅提高，就業增長緩慢，使得低收入購物者在購買彈性消費品時更加慎重。

3. Making it in the big city

3. 打入大城市

One of the bright spots for Wal-Mart has come from its Neighborhood Markets stores, which are mini, city-based shops outfitted to accommodate express shopping trips and compete with dollar stores. Comparable sales at these smaller stores grew 3.4% in the third quarter of this year. Wal-Mart has 300 small stores now but plans to have 400 by the end of the year, which means that Neighborhood Market openings will outpace new superstores for the first time ever. But determining how to supply the 38, 000 square-foot shops -- which are a third of the size of Wal-Mart's supercenters -- is still in the air, as is the success such stores will have in different metropolitan areas. Organized labor has opposed Wal-Mart's efforts to move into major cities because of the company's history of anti-union tactics. The store recently won the right to open its second and third stores in Chicago after years of lobbying, but politicians and union leaders have long kept the company from entering New York City.

沃爾瑪今年的亮點之一是它的社區店（Neighborhood Markets）。這種基於城市的小型店鋪可以滿足快捷購物需求，能夠與一美元商店競爭。今年第三季度，沃爾瑪社區店的可比銷售額增長了3.4%。目前，沃爾瑪更有300家小型商店，並計劃在年底達到400家，意味着它社區店的開店速度首次超過了超市。社區店的總面積爲38,000平方英尺，僅佔沃爾瑪超級購物中心的三分之一。目前，小型店鋪的商品供應問題仍然懸而未決，同樣，小型店鋪在不同都市區域能否都能取得成功也是一個未知數。由於沃爾瑪一直以來的反工會策略，美國工會反對沃爾瑪進入大城市的舉動。最近，這家公司經過多年遊說，終於獲得了在芝加哥開設第二家和第三家店鋪的權力，但政客和工會領導人一直在阻止公司進軍紐約市。

4. Surviving in the Amazon

4. 在與亞馬遜的競爭中生存下來

Wal-Mart has invested heavily in merging its online, offline, and mobile commerce operations, a strategy that encourages customers to use the Wal-Mart app while they're in the store. The effort has resulted in some success. In the third quarter of this year, online sales increased 40%, and the company expects its e-commerce to total $10 billion, 2.1% of its total sales, by the end of the year. That's a huge figure, but it represents just how far Wal-Mart has to go to catch its biggest e-commerce competitor, Amazon (AMZN), which brought in $61 billion in net sales last fiscal year.

沃爾瑪投入了巨資來整合其線上、線下和移動業務，鼓勵消費者在其超市內時使用沃爾瑪應用。這方面的努力取得了一定的成功。今年第三季度，它的線上銷售額增加了40%。預計截止年底，公司的電子商務總額將達到100億美元，佔據總銷售額的2.1%。這個數字非常龐大，但相比其在電子商務領域最大的競爭對手亞馬遜（Amazon），還有巨大的差距。亞馬遜公司上一個財年的淨銷售額達到了610億美元。

5. Growth abroad

5. 海外增長

McMillon's appointment as Wal-mart CEO is an answer to at least one of the company's biggest questions: what role it will have internationally. The company's U.S. market is near saturation, so it makes sense to ramp up overseas operations, but international markets typically offer lower operating margins and returns. Wal-Mart's international sales rose 4.1% to $34.4 billion in the third quarter, but comparable sales fell in key markets like Mexico and Canada. Wal-Mart has long put a big emphasis on its global growth, but its overseas operations are still small compared to its domestic business: The international division represented 29% of the company's 2013 fiscal revenue. But by choosing McMillon, who oversaw Wal-Mart's acquisitions of Massmart in South Africa, Netto in the U.K., and Yihaodian in China, the company has indicated that it will continue to try to tap the international markets as a counter to anemic growth at home.

董明倫擔任沃爾瑪CEO，至少爲公司最大的問題找到了一個答案：這家公司在國際市場中的地位。沃爾瑪在美國市場已接近飽和，所以向海外業務傾斜也有一定道理，但國際市場的營業利潤率和回報率往往相對較低。沃爾瑪第三季度的國際銷售額上漲了4.1%，達到344億美元，但墨西哥和加拿大等關鍵市場的可比銷售額卻略有下降。沃爾瑪一直非常重視全球增長，然而相對於國內業務，沃爾瑪的海外業務規模仍很小：國際部門僅佔2013年財政收入的29%。而選擇董明倫負責沃爾瑪收購南非零售商Massmart、英國折扣零售店Netto和中國的一號店（Yihaodian），表明公司將繼續開發國際市場，以應對國內增長乏力的現狀。