1、 The world is going through the biggest wave of mergers and acquisitions ever witnessed. The process sweeps from hyperactive America to Europe and reaches the emerging countries with unsurpassed might. Many in these countries are looking at this process and worrying: "Won't the wave of business concentration turn into an uncontrollable anti-competitive force?"

　　世界正在經(jīng)歷一場(chǎng)前所未有的巨大的并購(gòu)浪潮。這個(gè)浪潮從異常活躍的美國(guó)席卷到歐洲，并以不可比擬的威力影響到正在崛起的國(guó)家。這些國(guó)家的許多人面對(duì)這個(gè)浪潮開(kāi)始憂(yōu)慮：“企業(yè)合并的浪潮會(huì)不會(huì)變成一股不可控制的反競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的力量？”

　　2、There's no question that the big are getting bigger and more powerful. Multinational corporations accounted for less than 20% of international trade in 1982. Today the figure is more than 25% and growing rapidly. International affiliates account for a fast-growing segment of production in economies that open up and welcome foreign investment. In Argentina, for instance, after the reforms of the early 1990s, multinationals went from 43% to almost 70% of the industrial production of the 200 largest firms. This phenomenon has created serious concerns over the role of smaller economic firms, of national businessmen and over the ultimate stability of the world economy.

　　無(wú)疑，大企業(yè)正在變得更大、更強(qiáng)。跨國(guó)公司在1982年只占有國(guó)際貿(mào)易不到20％的份額。而現(xiàn)在，這個(gè)數(shù)字上升到25％強(qiáng)，并且還在迅速上升。在那些對(duì)外開(kāi)放并鼓勵(lì)外資的國(guó)家的經(jīng)濟(jì)中國(guó)際分公司在國(guó)民生產(chǎn)中成為一個(gè)快速增長(zhǎng)的部門(mén)。比如，在阿根廷，經(jīng)過(guò)90年代初的改革之后，跨國(guó)公司在200家大型企業(yè)的工業(yè)生產(chǎn)中從43％增加到幾乎70％。這個(gè)現(xiàn)象造成了人們對(duì)小型企業(yè)和民族資本的作用以及世界經(jīng)濟(jì)的最終穩(wěn)定的嚴(yán)重憂(yōu)慮。

　　3、I believe that the most important forces behind the massive M&A wave are the same that underlie the globalization process: falling transportation and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers and enlarged markets that require enlarged operations capable of meeting customers' demands. All these are beneficial, not detrimental, to consumers. As productivity grows, the world's wealth increases.

　　我認(rèn)為，推動(dòng)這股巨大的并購(gòu)浪潮的最主要的力量，也是推動(dòng)全球化進(jìn)程的力量，包括日趨下降的運(yùn)輸與通訊費(fèi)用，較低的貿(mào)易與投資壁壘，以及市場(chǎng)的擴(kuò)大和為滿(mǎn)足市場(chǎng)需求而進(jìn)行的擴(kuò)大生產(chǎn)。所有這些對(duì)消費(fèi)者來(lái)說(shuō)都有益而無(wú)害的。隨著生產(chǎn)力的提高，世界的財(cái)富也在增長(zhǎng)。

　　4、Examples of benefits or costs of the current concentration wave are scanty. Yet it is hard to imagine that the merger of a few oil firms today could re-create the same threats to competition that were feared nearly a century ago in the US, when the Standard Oil trust was broken up. The mergers of telecom companies, such as World Com, hardly seem to bring higher prices for consumers or a reduction in the pace of technical progress. On the contrary, the price of communications is coming down fast. In cars, too, concentration is increasing — witness Daimler and Chrysler, Renault and Nissan — but it does not appear that consumers are being hurt.

　　目前證明這股合并浪潮是帶來(lái)利還是弊的實(shí)例并不多。但是很難想像當(dāng)今的幾個(gè)石油公司的合并是否會(huì)重新造成約100年前美國(guó)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)石油公司對(duì)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)造成的同樣的威脅，那時(shí)由于人們對(duì)該公司的這種擔(dān)心而導(dǎo)致了它最終的解散。像世界通訊這樣的通訊公司合并似乎沒(méi)有給消費(fèi)者帶來(lái)更高的價(jià)格，或者降低技術(shù)進(jìn)步的速度。相反，通信的價(jià)格在迅速下降。在汽車(chē)行業(yè)，合并也同樣在增加——比如戴姆勒與克萊斯勒，雷諾與尼桑的合并——但消費(fèi)者看起來(lái)并未受到傷害。

　　5、Yet the fact remains that the merger movement must be watched. A few weeks ago, Alan Greenspan warned against the megamergers in the banking industry. Who is going to supervise, regulate and operate as lender of last resort with the gigantic banks that are being created? Won't multinationals shift production from one place to another when a nation gets too strict about infringements to fair competition? And should one country take upon itself the role of "defending competition" on issues that affect many other nations, as in the US vs. Microsoft case?

　　但是合并運(yùn)動(dòng)必須受到嚴(yán)密監(jiān)視這個(gè)事實(shí)仍然存在。就在幾星期以前，格林斯潘對(duì)銀行業(yè)的巨大合并發(fā)出了警告。如果合并后如此巨大的銀行出現(xiàn)，誰(shuí)來(lái)充當(dāng)最終的借貸者，發(fā)揮監(jiān)督、規(guī)范和運(yùn)作的作用呢？當(dāng)一個(gè)國(guó)家對(duì)破壞公平競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的行為的處理過(guò)于嚴(yán)厲時(shí)，跨國(guó)公司會(huì)不會(huì)把它們的生產(chǎn)從一地轉(zhuǎn)到另一地呢？在那些將會(huì)影響許多其他國(guó)家的事情中，如美國(guó)政府與微軟公司的訴訟案，一個(gè)國(guó)家是否應(yīng)該擔(dān)負(fù)起“保護(hù)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)”的責(zé)任呢？

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