原文標(biāo)題：
Sportswear
No Yeezy answers
Can Adidas ever catch up with Nike?
運(yùn)動(dòng)品牌
回答“是”或“不是”
阿迪達(dá)斯能否追上耐克？

The German firm’s new boss has his work cut out
德國公司的新老板面臨著巨大的挑戰(zhàn)

[Paragraph 1]
A FEW YEARS ago it appeared as though Adidas might challenge Nike for the title of the world’s biggest maker of sportswear. The American giant was well ahead, to be sure.
幾年前，阿迪達(dá)斯似乎有機(jī)會(huì)挑戰(zhàn)耐克，成為全球最大的運(yùn)動(dòng)裝備制造商之一。當(dāng)然，依然是美國巨頭遙遙領(lǐng)先。

But its three-striped German rival had pep in its step. Under Kasper Rorsted, who took over as chief executive in October 2016, Adidas’s revenues shot up—by a cumulative 30% or so in the first three years of his stewardship.
但三條紋的德國競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手表現(xiàn)出了強(qiáng)勁的勢(shì)頭?？ㄋ圭辍ち_斯泰德于2016年10月接任首席執(zhí)行官，在他的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，阿迪達(dá)斯的營收大幅增長--在他任職的前3年里累計(jì)增長了30%左右。

A lucrative deal from 2013 to make and sell trainers designed by Kanye West, an American rapper, was paying off handsomely; by 2021 Mr West’s Yeezy line contributed 12% of Adidas’s overall shoe sales.
2013 年簽訂了一項(xiàng)利潤豐厚的協(xié)議，即制造和銷售由美國說唱歌手坎耶·維斯特設(shè)計(jì)的運(yùn)動(dòng)鞋，這給公司帶來可觀的回報(bào)；到2021年，維斯特的“椰子鞋”系列為阿迪達(dá)斯鞋子總銷售額貢獻(xiàn)了12%。

In August that year the company’s market capitalisation reached €67bn ($79bn), more than twice what it had been five years earlier.
同年 8 月，該公司的市值達(dá)到了 670 億歐元（790 億美元），是五年前的兩倍多。

[Paragraph 2]
Today Adidas looks like an also-ran.
今天，阿迪達(dá)斯看起來像一個(gè)失意者。

Revenues were more or less flat in the final three months of 2022, year on year. The company disclosed a quarterly operating loss of €724m.
2022 年最后三個(gè)月的營收同比持平。公司公布了季度營業(yè)虧損 7.24 億歐元。

Far from catching up, it is falling further behind Nike, which on March 21st reported quarterly sales of $12bn, 14% higher than the year before and twice those of Adidas, and boasts cushy 13% operating margins worthy of its Air soles.
阿迪達(dá)斯遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)落后于耐克，后者在 3 月 21 日?qǐng)?bào)告季度銷售額達(dá)到 120 億美元，比去年同期增長了 14%，是阿迪達(dá)斯的2倍，并輕松擁有 13%的營業(yè)利潤率，氣墊鞋名副其實(shí)。

Adidas’s market value is back down to €25bn, one-seventh that of Nike.
阿迪達(dá)斯的市值回落至250億歐元，是耐克的1/7。

Investors today appear to have more confidence not just in the swoosh but in Puma, Adidas’s smaller domestic rival (see chart).
今天的投資者似乎不僅對(duì)耐克更有信心，而且對(duì)阿迪達(dá)斯的德國競(jìng)爭(zhēng)小對(duì)手“彪馬”也有信心（見圖表）。

[Paragraph 3]

Some of Adidas’s cramps are the result of factors beyond its control. Inflation pushed up supply-chain costs.

阿迪達(dá)斯遇到的一些問題是由于自身無法控制的因素造成的。通貨膨脹推高了供應(yīng)鏈成本。

The company had to wind down its sizeable business in Russia in February 2022, provoking an exodus of Western firms from the Russian market.

2022年2月西方公司從俄羅斯市場(chǎng)撤離，阿迪達(dá)斯也不得不逐漸停止在俄的大業(yè)務(wù)。

And the increasingly erratic behaviour, including anti-Semitic outbursts, of Mr West (who now insists on being called Ye) led Adidas to cut ties with him in October last year. That left it with millions of unsold pairs of Yeezys, worth some €1.2bn.

與此同時(shí)，“坎爺”的行為越來越不穩(wěn)定，包括反猶風(fēng)波，導(dǎo)致阿迪達(dá)斯在去年10月與他斷絕了聯(lián)系。這使得該公司面臨著數(shù)百萬雙“椰子鞋“（價(jià)值約12億歐元）賣不出去的困境。

Unless these are somehow repurposed, the company expects to end 2023 with its first annual operating loss in 30 years, of perhaps €700m.

除非這些鞋被以某種方式重新利用，否則該公司預(yù)計(jì)將在2023年結(jié)束時(shí)出現(xiàn)30年來的首次年度運(yùn)營虧損，可能達(dá)到7億歐元。

The prospect of a recession in Europe and North America, and uncertainty over Chi’s economic recovery, present another drag.
歐洲和北美的經(jīng)濟(jì)前景堪憂，以及中經(jīng)濟(jì)復(fù)蘇的不確定性，也是另一種拖累。

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Bad luck is not the whole story, however.
然而，這并非全是運(yùn)氣不好。

Mr Rorsted’s focus on efficiency and cost, though in some ways welcome, came at a price.

羅斯泰德注重效率和成本，某些方面值得贊揚(yáng)，但也付出了代價(jià)。

He treated Adidas’s retail partners shoddily, preferring to focus on selling directly to consumers through the company’s own shops.He also neglected investments in innovation.

他對(duì)阿迪達(dá)斯的零售合作伙伴很不友好，他更喜歡將重點(diǎn)放在通過公司直營店直接向消費(fèi)者銷售。他也忽略了創(chuàng)新方面的投資。

Mr Rorsted would have made a fine chief financial officer, says Florian Riedmüller of the Nuremberg Institute of Technology.Instead, he “is an example of what happens when you put the wrong person into the top job”.

紐倫堡工學(xué)院的弗洛里安·里德穆勒表示，羅斯泰德本可以成為一位出色的首席財(cái)務(wù)官。但相反，“他是一個(gè)將錯(cuò)誤的人放在高管職位的例子”。

[Paragraph 5]

Adidas’s board thinks it has now found the right one in Bjorn Gulden, who took over as CEO at the start of the year.

阿迪達(dá)斯董事認(rèn)為他們現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)找到了正確的人選--約恩·古爾登，他于今年年初接任首席執(zhí)行官。

The Norwegian former professional footballer had helped to turn round Puma, from which he was poached.
這位挪威前職業(yè)足球運(yùn)動(dòng)員曾幫助扭轉(zhuǎn)了彪馬的局面，后來被挖走加入阿迪達(dá)斯。

[Paragraph 6]

Mr Gulden’s first task is to decide what to do with all the Yeezys (options include trying to sell them, possibly handing the proceeds to charity, donating them to a good cause, such as the victims of the recent earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, or just binning them).

古爾登先生的第一個(gè)任務(wù)是決定如何處理所有的“椰子鞋”（選項(xiàng)包括嘗試出售，可能將收益捐給慈善機(jī)構(gòu)；將其捐贈(zèng)給慈善事業(yè)，例如敘利亞和土耳其地震的受害者；或者直接扔掉）。

A bigger long-term challenge, says Aneesha Sherman of Bernstein, a broker, is what to do about Chi. Last year Adidas’s Chinese sales fell by 36%. Nike’s Chinese sales, too, declined in its latest quarter, by 8%.
伯恩斯坦的安尼莎·謝爾曼說，更大的長期挑戰(zhàn)是如何應(yīng)對(duì)中國市場(chǎng)。去年，阿迪達(dá)斯在中國的銷售額下降了36％。耐克最新季度里的中國銷售額也下降了8％。

[Paragraph 7]

But unlike Nike, China’s bestselling sportswear brand, which has deftly adapted to local tastes, in particular a growing love of basketball, Adidas has been caught flat-footed.

阿迪達(dá)斯與耐克（中國最暢銷的運(yùn)動(dòng)品牌）不同，耐克巧妙地適應(yīng)了當(dāng)?shù)氐目谖?，尤其出現(xiàn)日益增長的籃球熱時(shí)，阿迪達(dá)斯則措手不及。

Its Chinese sales have been overtaken by those of Anta, a fast-charging local rival. Now it risks losing the number-three position to another, Li Ning.
阿迪達(dá)斯在中國的銷售額已被快速崛起的本土品牌“安踏”超越。現(xiàn)在它有可能會(huì)輸給另一家競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手“李寧”，從而失去第三大運(yùn)動(dòng)品牌的地位。

[Paragraph 8]

Mr Gulden calls 2023 a “transition year” that will smooth the path to rebuilding a profitable business in 2024.

古爾登先生稱2023年是一個(gè)“過渡年”，將為2024年重建盈利業(yè)務(wù)鋪平道路。

He plans to cut the dividend, reduce discounts on unsold kit, mend relations with retailers, and invest more in products and in the Adidas brand.

他計(jì)劃削減股息，減少未售出產(chǎn)品的折扣，修復(fù)與零售商的關(guān)系，并加大對(duì)產(chǎn)品和阿迪達(dá)斯品牌的投資。

That is a start. But if Adidas really wants to catch up with Nike, it will need to pick up the pace—and then some.
這是一個(gè)開始。但如果阿迪達(dá)斯真的想趕上耐克，它需要加快步伐，而且還要更努力。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量745左右）
原文出自：2023年3月25日《The Economist》Business版塊。

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene

本文編輯校對(duì): Irene
僅供個(gè)人英語學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【補(bǔ)充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
阿迪達(dá)斯（Adidas）是一家全球性的德國運(yùn)動(dòng)品牌，成立于1949年。該公司的標(biāo)志是三條平行線，這個(gè)標(biāo)志最初是為了解決鞋子在中腳部分的穩(wěn)定性問題而被設(shè)計(jì)出來的。自1970年代以來，阿迪達(dá)斯一直是世界頂級(jí)運(yùn)動(dòng)品牌之一。近年來，阿迪達(dá)斯致力于推出更環(huán)保的產(chǎn)品，如使用回收的海洋塑料制造鞋子等，同時(shí)也在數(shù)字化方面加強(qiáng)了投資，如開發(fā)智能運(yùn)動(dòng)服和推出運(yùn)動(dòng)應(yīng)用程序。

耐克（Nike）是一家全球著名的運(yùn)動(dòng)品牌，總部位于美國俄勒岡州。它成立于1964年，最初名為“Blue Ribbon Sports”，后于1971年改名為“Nike”，是運(yùn)動(dòng)鞋、運(yùn)動(dòng)服、體育用品和配件的知名生產(chǎn)商和銷售商。耐克的品牌口號(hào)是“Just Do It”，這個(gè)標(biāo)語成為了該品牌最具代表性的標(biāo)志之一，與品牌緊密相連。NIKE SWOOSH（耐克），是奈特和鮑爾曼在1972年創(chuàng)始的品牌，品牌名源自希臘勝利之神的名字。一種獨(dú)特標(biāo)志Swoosh（意為“嗖的一聲”），它極為醒目、獨(dú)特，每件耐克公司制品上都有這種標(biāo)記。簡(jiǎn)言之，Swoosh就是NIKE加對(duì)勾的那個(gè)標(biāo)志。

【重點(diǎn)句子】（3?個(gè)）
Some of Adidas’s cramps are the result of factors beyond its control. Inflation pushed up supply-chain costs.
阿迪達(dá)斯遇到的一些問題是由于自身無法控制的因素造成的。通貨膨脹推高了供應(yīng)鏈成本。

But unlike Nike, China’s bestselling sportswear brand, which has deftly adapted to local tastes, in particular a growing love of basketball, Adidas has been caught flat-footed.
阿迪達(dá)斯與耐克（中國最暢銷的運(yùn)動(dòng)品牌）不同，耐克巧妙地適應(yīng)了當(dāng)?shù)氐目谖叮绕涑霈F(xiàn)日益增長的籃球熱時(shí)，阿迪達(dá)斯則措手不及。

He plans to cut the dividend, reduce discounts on unsold kit, mend relations with retailers, and invest more in products and in the Adidas brand.
他計(jì)劃削減股息，減少未售出產(chǎn)品的折扣，修復(fù)與零售商的關(guān)系，并加大對(duì)產(chǎn)品和阿迪達(dá)斯品牌的投資。