Posted at 2013.05.04 Category : Time
今週のアジア版TIMEはユニクロがカバーストーリーとなっていました。下記の写真を見れば分かるようにアメリカ、ヨーロッパなどは違う表紙を選んでいます。グローバル企業としてのユニクロを取り上げている内容ですが、そこまでグローバルではないということが伺えるかもしれません。
カバーストーリといっても、5,000語を超える長いものではありません。日本人の我々にとって特に目新しい部分はなく、知っている内容なので英語も読み進められると思います。
What They'll Wear to the Revolution (Japan)
Uniqlo's well-made, well-priced casual clothing has become a global retail phenomenon. Can its iconoclastic CEO bring some of that magic to Japan?
Words checked = [1666]
Words in Oxford 3000™ = [81%]
最初のパラグラフを丁寧に読めば、記事の基調が浮かび上がってきます。日本の将来を憂慮した異端の経営者像としてユニクロを描こうとしていると感じ取れます。
The strangeness of Tadashi Yanai is best appreciated in his natural element. Among the gray suits of corporate Japan, the head of Uniqlo stands out like beefsteak on a plate of sushi. In a business culture where senior executives tend to speak in soft monotones, stick to carefully vetted talking points and shuffle uncomfortably at personal questions, Yanai, 64, is as colorful as the T-shirts and sweaters in his stores. Talking so loudly that he drowns out his translator, Yanai is bracingly blunt on subjects ranging from the state of the Japanese economy ("We are on the edge of a cliff") to the lackadaisical attitude of the country's youth ("The younger generation relies too much on their parents"). He dresses casually in a plaid shirt and brown pants--his own label, natch--and underlines his brand loyalty by unbuttoning himself mid-interview to show his Uniqlo underwear.
この記事はユニクロの世界展開、経営者としての柳井氏、ユニクロの経歴を取り上げています。ユニクロの世界展開については安かろうではなく、新技術の採用によってひきつけていることを伝えています。
How has Uniqlo managed to sneak up on long-established rivals during a global economic slowdown? It's not just about low prices and marquee stores: walk a block or so to either side of its Fifth Avenue store and you can buy a cheap T-shirt at the Gap or H&M. On a recent afternoon, shoppers emerging from the Uniqlo store told TIME they were drawn by the Japanese brand's reputation for innovative textile technology. "I could have got this color from Marks & Spencer," said Kasturi Nagarajan, a software engineer visiting from New Delhi, as he fished out what looked like a white standard men's polo shirt. "But I've got two of these at home, and I know they dry quicker and don't stain as much as my other shirts."
経営者としての柳井氏をこの記事ではソニーや松下などの日本を代表する経営者と同列に置いています。"Each one of us needs to embrace the concept of 'change or die,' [or] there will be no future for us."という言葉を経営哲学として紹介しています。
Inevitably, success has made an icon of the iconoclast: Yanai is one of the best- known Japanese business leaders since Akio "Walkman" Morita, Sony's charismatic CEO during the country's economic heyday in the 1980s. It has also made him the loudest advocate for change in Japan Inc., one who exhorts other companies to rediscover their entrepreneurial zeal by sweeping away the consensus-based decisionmaking and social niceties that sap initiative and creative thinking. "Other Japanese companies advocate globalization, but some of them want to retain their conventional practices," he says. "Each one of us needs to embrace the concept of 'change or die,' [or] there will be no future for us."
この対極にあるのがリスクを嫌うサラリーマン経営者でしょう。
Yanai's call to action isn't very welcome in the halls of the major corporations, where managers who slaved their entire lives crawling up the corporate ladder are deeply invested in the current bureaucratic systems. Unlike the go-getters of the 1960s, Japanese have become terrified of taking the risks crucial to rebuilding their businesses. "The obstacle is that losing face is a terrible thing culturally," says Kenneth Grossberg, a marketing professor at Tokyo's Waseda University. "One reason Japanese culture is so risk-averse is that they are ridiculed for their mistakes. I think it will prevent companies from globalizing successfully."
個人的に見習いたいのは、失敗したらいさぎよく撤退して、再度また挑戦する姿勢でしょうか。米国進出は今でこそかっこいいキャンペーンを打てていますが、2005年の最初の挑戦は認知されずに終わってしまったそうです。
While Uniqlo's growth at home progressed apace, Yanai stumbled in some of his early forays into foreign markets. In 2005, Uniqlo launched its first three U.S. outlets in shopping malls in New Jersey, where nobody had heard of the brand. By 2006, all three were shuttered. Yanai tried again in 2011, this time choosing prime real estate like New York City's Fifth Avenue. A high-visibility advertising campaign featuring Orlando Bloom and Charlize Theron ensured that the brand was no longer unknown. Uniqlo now has seven outlets in the U.S. and is aiming for 200 by 2020.
ブラック企業に関するトピックは記事の最後に取り上げられていました。
Not everyone regards Yanai as an enlightened employer. Japanese media have run stories saying his workers complain about long hours, exacting standards and high stress. Such reports have given Uniqlo a reputation as a "black company" that mistreats workers. Masahiro Watanabe, a journalist who has written extensively on the labor practices at Fast Retailing and other firms, says the way Yanai treats his staff is simply un-Japanese. "Traditional Japanese companies treat their employees as family," he says. "Uniqlo thinks employees are only parts and something replaceable."
Yanai is unsympathetic. Japanese workers, he says, "never work long hours. That's the problem." It's a symptom, he adds, of a larger malaise, which stems from Japan Inc.'s successes of the 1980s: "Japan got rich, then it got spoiled." If they don't change, there's a sign outside his office he'd like them to read.
法律違反はいけないと思いますが、言われたことしかやらない、評価に入る項目しかやらないという風潮があるような気がします。TOEICブームはスコアが高いと褒められるというインセンティブがあるからですよね。TOEICだけでいいじゃないかという態度も評価に入る項目しかやらないという態度そのものですよね。だから5年経っても、10年経ってもTOEIC学習者もTOEIC講師もTIMEやPBが読めない人ばかりじゃないですか。。。。
まあ、駄目な人にどうこういってもしょうがないのでやる気のある人がやるしかないのでしょう。今回TIMEのウエブサイトでおっと思ったのが、記事の脇にFacebokやTwitterと合わせて、Send to Kindleというボタンがあったことです。早速試してみましたが、以下のようにKindleでテキストだけが送られるというサービスのようです。
PCのディスプレイで読むよりもやはりKindleやタブレットの方が読みやすいですし、オフラインでも読めますから便利ですね。
カバーストーリといっても、5,000語を超える長いものではありません。日本人の我々にとって特に目新しい部分はなく、知っている内容なので英語も読み進められると思います。
What They'll Wear to the Revolution (Japan)
Uniqlo's well-made, well-priced casual clothing has become a global retail phenomenon. Can its iconoclastic CEO bring some of that magic to Japan?
Words checked = [1666]
Words in Oxford 3000™ = [81%]
最初のパラグラフを丁寧に読めば、記事の基調が浮かび上がってきます。日本の将来を憂慮した異端の経営者像としてユニクロを描こうとしていると感じ取れます。
The strangeness of Tadashi Yanai is best appreciated in his natural element. Among the gray suits of corporate Japan, the head of Uniqlo stands out like beefsteak on a plate of sushi. In a business culture where senior executives tend to speak in soft monotones, stick to carefully vetted talking points and shuffle uncomfortably at personal questions, Yanai, 64, is as colorful as the T-shirts and sweaters in his stores. Talking so loudly that he drowns out his translator, Yanai is bracingly blunt on subjects ranging from the state of the Japanese economy ("We are on the edge of a cliff") to the lackadaisical attitude of the country's youth ("The younger generation relies too much on their parents"). He dresses casually in a plaid shirt and brown pants--his own label, natch--and underlines his brand loyalty by unbuttoning himself mid-interview to show his Uniqlo underwear.
この記事はユニクロの世界展開、経営者としての柳井氏、ユニクロの経歴を取り上げています。ユニクロの世界展開については安かろうではなく、新技術の採用によってひきつけていることを伝えています。
How has Uniqlo managed to sneak up on long-established rivals during a global economic slowdown? It's not just about low prices and marquee stores: walk a block or so to either side of its Fifth Avenue store and you can buy a cheap T-shirt at the Gap or H&M. On a recent afternoon, shoppers emerging from the Uniqlo store told TIME they were drawn by the Japanese brand's reputation for innovative textile technology. "I could have got this color from Marks & Spencer," said Kasturi Nagarajan, a software engineer visiting from New Delhi, as he fished out what looked like a white standard men's polo shirt. "But I've got two of these at home, and I know they dry quicker and don't stain as much as my other shirts."
経営者としての柳井氏をこの記事ではソニーや松下などの日本を代表する経営者と同列に置いています。"Each one of us needs to embrace the concept of 'change or die,' [or] there will be no future for us."という言葉を経営哲学として紹介しています。
Inevitably, success has made an icon of the iconoclast: Yanai is one of the best- known Japanese business leaders since Akio "Walkman" Morita, Sony's charismatic CEO during the country's economic heyday in the 1980s. It has also made him the loudest advocate for change in Japan Inc., one who exhorts other companies to rediscover their entrepreneurial zeal by sweeping away the consensus-based decisionmaking and social niceties that sap initiative and creative thinking. "Other Japanese companies advocate globalization, but some of them want to retain their conventional practices," he says. "Each one of us needs to embrace the concept of 'change or die,' [or] there will be no future for us."
この対極にあるのがリスクを嫌うサラリーマン経営者でしょう。
Yanai's call to action isn't very welcome in the halls of the major corporations, where managers who slaved their entire lives crawling up the corporate ladder are deeply invested in the current bureaucratic systems. Unlike the go-getters of the 1960s, Japanese have become terrified of taking the risks crucial to rebuilding their businesses. "The obstacle is that losing face is a terrible thing culturally," says Kenneth Grossberg, a marketing professor at Tokyo's Waseda University. "One reason Japanese culture is so risk-averse is that they are ridiculed for their mistakes. I think it will prevent companies from globalizing successfully."
個人的に見習いたいのは、失敗したらいさぎよく撤退して、再度また挑戦する姿勢でしょうか。米国進出は今でこそかっこいいキャンペーンを打てていますが、2005年の最初の挑戦は認知されずに終わってしまったそうです。
While Uniqlo's growth at home progressed apace, Yanai stumbled in some of his early forays into foreign markets. In 2005, Uniqlo launched its first three U.S. outlets in shopping malls in New Jersey, where nobody had heard of the brand. By 2006, all three were shuttered. Yanai tried again in 2011, this time choosing prime real estate like New York City's Fifth Avenue. A high-visibility advertising campaign featuring Orlando Bloom and Charlize Theron ensured that the brand was no longer unknown. Uniqlo now has seven outlets in the U.S. and is aiming for 200 by 2020.
ブラック企業に関するトピックは記事の最後に取り上げられていました。
Not everyone regards Yanai as an enlightened employer. Japanese media have run stories saying his workers complain about long hours, exacting standards and high stress. Such reports have given Uniqlo a reputation as a "black company" that mistreats workers. Masahiro Watanabe, a journalist who has written extensively on the labor practices at Fast Retailing and other firms, says the way Yanai treats his staff is simply un-Japanese. "Traditional Japanese companies treat their employees as family," he says. "Uniqlo thinks employees are only parts and something replaceable."
Yanai is unsympathetic. Japanese workers, he says, "never work long hours. That's the problem." It's a symptom, he adds, of a larger malaise, which stems from Japan Inc.'s successes of the 1980s: "Japan got rich, then it got spoiled." If they don't change, there's a sign outside his office he'd like them to read.
法律違反はいけないと思いますが、言われたことしかやらない、評価に入る項目しかやらないという風潮があるような気がします。TOEICブームはスコアが高いと褒められるというインセンティブがあるからですよね。TOEICだけでいいじゃないかという態度も評価に入る項目しかやらないという態度そのものですよね。だから5年経っても、10年経ってもTOEIC学習者もTOEIC講師もTIMEやPBが読めない人ばかりじゃないですか。。。。
まあ、駄目な人にどうこういってもしょうがないのでやる気のある人がやるしかないのでしょう。今回TIMEのウエブサイトでおっと思ったのが、記事の脇にFacebokやTwitterと合わせて、Send to Kindleというボタンがあったことです。早速試してみましたが、以下のようにKindleでテキストだけが送られるというサービスのようです。
PCのディスプレイで読むよりもやはりKindleやタブレットの方が読みやすいですし、オフラインでも読めますから便利ですね。
スポンサーサイト
Tracback
この記事にトラックバックする(FC2ブログユーザー)