面臨市場規(guī)模小或價(jià)值主張受到抵制的企業(yè)，可以通過與競爭對手合作來提升人們對其行業(yè)或產(chǎn)品品類的認(rèn)識，從中獲益。澳大利亞葡萄園主和牛油果種植戶的經(jīng)驗(yàn)就是一例啟發(fā)。? ??

為什么澳大利亞人不怎么喝威士忌？他們可不是以飲酒有度著稱。部分答案是他們傾向于喝啤酒和葡萄酒。但另一個(gè)原因是，威士忌品牌并沒有同心協(xié)力來讓澳大利亞人真正品嘗威士忌。也許他們應(yīng)該這樣做，因?yàn)榘拇罄麃喨诉^去一直被誘導(dǎo)改變他們的飲酒習(xí)慣。

Why don’t Australians drink much whiskey? They’re hardly known for being abstemious.?Part of the answer is that they tend to drink beer and wine. But another part of the answer is that whiskey brands haven’t made a?concerted?effort to get them to really try whiskey. Perhaps they should, because Australians have been lured into changing their drinking habits in the past.

時(shí)間倒回至20世紀(jì)60年代，澳大利亞的葡萄酒消費(fèi)量遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)低于今天的水平。于是，葡萄酒生產(chǎn)商聯(lián)合起來，教公眾鑒別優(yōu)質(zhì)葡萄酒的細(xì)微差別?，F(xiàn)在，澳大利亞人的葡萄酒消費(fèi)量是1961年的四倍，按人均計(jì)算，是世界上葡萄酒的最大消費(fèi)群體之一。

Rewind to the 1960s?and Australian wine consumption was way down on today’s level. So, wine producers got together and educated the public on the nuances of fine wine.?Now Australians are drinking?four times the amount of wine they drank in 1961 and are among the largest consumers of wine?in the world?on a?per capita basis.

這并非絕無僅有的事。1998年的時(shí)候，“大丈夫”是不吃牛油果的。那時(shí)的澳大利亞人均每年吃牛油果不到1公斤。在行業(yè)發(fā)起了一系列活動(dòng)之后，這一消費(fèi)現(xiàn)在增長到了3.88公斤，高于美國的數(shù)字。

This is not a one-off. Back in 1998 real men didn’t eat avocados.?At that time Australians were eating less than 1kg of avocados per capita per year. After a series of industry-sponsored campaigns, this has?now grown to 3.88kg?and is above?the figure for the U.S.

在一個(gè)又一個(gè)行當(dāng)中，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)許多企業(yè)如今的處境與當(dāng)年葡萄酒和牛油果生產(chǎn)商的首席執(zhí)行官們(CEOs)及營銷經(jīng)理們所處的境遇相同。

In business after business you find companies in the same position today that the CEOs and marketing managers of wine and avocado producers were in back in the day.

納塔莉(Natalie)是美國波旁威士忌一個(gè)著名品牌的營銷經(jīng)理。她和她的銷售經(jīng)理在烈性酒類領(lǐng)域面臨著諸多競爭，因?yàn)橛懈鞣N各樣的烈性酒在相互競爭——杜松子酒、伏特加、朗姆酒等。在威士忌這一品類內(nèi)部，有蘇格蘭威士忌、愛爾蘭威士忌和波旁威士忌可供選擇。查看波旁威士忌在烈酒類飲料里的市場份額就好比是在用顯微鏡觀察。

Natalie is the marketing manager of a well-known brand of American bourbon whiskey. She and her sales manager face a lot of competition within the spirits category as there’s a wide range of competing spirit drinks — gin, vodka, rum, and so on. And within the whiskey category there’s Scotch whisky, Irish whiskey, and bourbon to choose from. Looking at bourbon’s market share of the liquor category is like peering down a microscope.

當(dāng)我問納塔莉，她的公司對非顧客人士（甚至從未考慮過試用產(chǎn)品的人）有何舉措時(shí)，她的回答很簡練：“我們只面向‘烈酒’類買家。我們對非威士忌買家的態(tài)度沒有區(qū)別。”她形容該公司的態(tài)度是“短期思維”。

When I asked Natalie what her company was doing about noncustomers (people who have never even considered trying the product) her reply was terse: “We only target ‘spirit’ category buyers. There’s no difference in our approach to non-whiskey buyers.” She described the company’s approach as “short-termism.”

澳大利亞天然藥物領(lǐng)域一家領(lǐng)先企業(yè)的CEO希拉里(Hilary)也有許多非顧客。許多澳大利亞人不愿觸碰天然藥物，因?yàn)樗麄兒ε逻@些產(chǎn)品沒有療效，甚至可能有害。希拉里向我承認(rèn)：“在提高天然藥物的可信度、引起本行業(yè)的非消費(fèi)者注意方面尚有工作要做?！?/p>

Hilary, CEO of one of Australia’s leading businesses in?natural medicines,?also has a lot of noncustomers. Many Australians won’t touch natural medicines because they’re afraid that the products don’t work and could even be harmful. Hilary admitted to me: “There’s a job yet to be done just with raising the credibility of natural medicine to reach the industry’s nonconsumers.”

我問一家IT招聘公司的負(fù)責(zé)人蒂姆(Tim)，他是否面對過非客戶?！爱?dāng)然，”他表示，“對我們來說，非客戶是指那些已經(jīng)決定組建自己的人才團(tuán)隊(duì)、并堅(jiān)信他們不會(huì)使用招聘公司的組織。他們希望親力親為，他們形成了一種內(nèi)部思維。在過去，我們是把他們歸入太倔的一類人里的?！痹僬f一遍，這些非顧客已鐵了心要與整個(gè)招聘行業(yè)作對。

I asked Tim, head of an IT recruitment company, if he faced noncustomers. “Sure do,” he said. “A noncustomer for us is an organization that has made a decision to build their own talent team and have come to a firm position that they will?not?use recruiters. They want to do it themselves. They develop an in-house mindset. In the past, we’ve put them in the too-hard basket.” Again, these noncustomers have set their minds against the whole recruitment industry.

那么葡萄酒和牛油果生產(chǎn)商是如何解決他們的問題的？

他們投資于“合作競爭”——與對手合作的同時(shí)又與他們競爭。

So how did the wine and avocado producers fix their problems?

They invested in “coopetition” — simultaneously collaborating and competing with rivals.

這要求他們在行業(yè)層面合作，以發(fā)展和提高這一行業(yè)，同時(shí)在企業(yè)層面爭奪市場份額。澳大利亞葡萄酒管理局(Wine Australia)等機(jī)構(gòu)的成立就是為了“促進(jìn)澳大利亞葡萄酒在國際上和國內(nèi)的銷售與消費(fèi)”，其中包括大型的葡萄酒展覽會(huì)，展覽中有生產(chǎn)商主持的葡萄酒品鑒會(huì)。

This required them to cooperate at the industry level to grow and improve the industry while at the same time compete at the firm level for market share. Organizations such as?Wine Australia?were formed to “promote the sale and consumption of Australian wine internationally and domestically,” which included?large-scale wine exhibitions?with producer-hosted wine tastings.

合作競爭需要著眼于長遠(yuǎn)。葡萄酒行業(yè)針對葡萄的品種、葡萄酒的類型、格調(diào)對消費(fèi)者進(jìn)行了全面教導(dǎo)。在20世紀(jì)60年代之前，澳大利亞的葡萄酒消費(fèi)者相對而言還不成熟，習(xí)慣于更甜、質(zhì)量更劣的葡萄酒。各生產(chǎn)商還率先針對產(chǎn)品質(zhì)量和一致性進(jìn)行了行業(yè)規(guī)范，并在提升澳大利亞葡萄酒消費(fèi)者品味與提升澳大利亞葡萄酒質(zhì)量之間建立了一種共生關(guān)系。

Coopetition requires taking a long-term view. The wine industry educated the consumer — fully — on grape varieties, wine types, and styles. Before the 1960s Australian wine consumers were relatively unsophisticated, having grown accustomed to sweeter, lower-quality wines. Producers also took the lead in introducing industry regulation on the quality and consistency of products and established a symbiotic relationship between the improving palate of Australian wine consumers and the improving quality of Australian wine.

澳大利亞牛油果行業(yè)做的事情大致相同。他們的成功有一部分要?dú)w功于一個(gè)現(xiàn)在名為“澳大利亞牛油果協(xié)會(huì)”(Avocados Australia)的行業(yè)機(jī)構(gòu)，其角色是“為我們的成員及業(yè)內(nèi)更廣大的范圍提供各種各樣的服務(wù)，以促進(jìn)增長和發(fā)展”。合作競爭很明確：“通過合作，我們力求不斷提升種植者為所有消費(fèi)者提供健康、盈利且安全的產(chǎn)品的能力?！?/p>

The Australian avocado industry did much the same. Part of their success is down to an industry body, now called?Avocados Australia, whose role is to “provide a range of services to our members and the broader industry to foster growth and development.” Coopetition is clear: “By working together we seek to continually improve our growers’ ability to provide a healthy, profitable and safe product for all consumers.”

澳大利亞牛油果協(xié)會(huì)的活動(dòng)是由種植者的稅款資助的。正如一個(gè)種植者合作社的主席、本身也是牛油果種植戶的雷(Ray)向我指出的那樣：“行業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者總是能夠說服種植戶支持用于研究和推廣的征稅?！?/p>

Avocados Australia’s activities are funded by?grower levies. As Ray, the Chairman of a growers’ cooperative and himself an avocado grower, pointed out to me “industry leaders have always been able to persuade growers to support levies which go towards research and promotion.”

當(dāng)然，在發(fā)達(dá)市場大規(guī)模合作競爭需要認(rèn)真持續(xù)的努力。沒有一家葡萄酒或牛油果生產(chǎn)商能獨(dú)自實(shí)現(xiàn)非客戶的轉(zhuǎn)變——這需要組織工作和共同努力。因此，首先要評估機(jī)會(huì)。這是否值得爭取？如果你的回答是肯定的，那么請與你的競爭對手及供應(yīng)商等其他行業(yè)參與者取得聯(lián)系，然后組織起來。合作競爭可以讓每一位參與者受益。

Of course, coopetition at scale in a developed market requires requires serious and sustained effort. No wine or avocado producer achieved the noncustomer shift alone — it required organization and combined effort. So start by sizing up the opportunity. Is it worth chasing? If your answer is “yes” then reach out to your competitors and other industry participants, such as suppliers, and get organized. Coopetition could benefit everyone involved.

格雷厄姆·肯尼是StrategicFactors的CEO，也是戰(zhàn)略及業(yè)績評估領(lǐng)域公認(rèn)的專家。他幫助私有、公共和非營利部門的經(jīng)理、高管和董事會(huì)打造成功的企業(yè)。

Graham Kenny, CEO of?KMS Education?and?Strategic Factors, is a recognized expert in strategy and performance measurement who helps managers, executives, and boards create successful organizations in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors.?