第六十篇Don’t Confuse Brand Names with Quality
本帖最后由 小编D 于 2012-8-27 15:03 编辑
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本文翻译：muddy533 校稿：275641119
Don’t Confuse Brand Names with Quality
不要把品牌名称与质量混为一谈
Quality professionals can help retailers learn how to use high-wage U.S. labor effectively
质量专家能够帮助零售商学习如何有效的使用高工资的美国劳工。
I recently returned a pair of $28 (suggested retail price) Chinese-made gloves I bought for $7.97 the day after Christmas, which is when I do all my Christmas shopping. The reason I returned the gloves was because a seam had begun to come apart less than three weeks after I bought them. This underscores the current retail practice of importing cheap, low-quality goods from offshore sources, and then attaching brand names or designer labels along with a hefty markup.
我最近退了一副我圣诞节后一天花了7.97美元买的建议零售价为28美元的中国产的手套，那一天是我的圣诞大采购。我退这幅手套的原因是我买了不到三个礼拜的时间，这副手套就开线了。这很大程度上暴露了当今零售业的现状：从海外进口回来廉价的、低质量的货物，然后贴上商标或设计者的标签再以高价售出。
Quality and supply-chain professionals should therefore share some basic quality and supply-chain principles with the public to help people on tight budgets (or even those with plenty of money to spend) get genuine value for their money. First, an upscale brand name or even a fancy designer label does not equate to quality. If it’s made in China or some other low-wage country, the same item might easily be found in Walmart or Sam’s Club without the designer label, and with a price that more or less reflects the item’s actual value.
质量和供应链专家将跟大家分享一些关于质量和供应链的基本原则，有助于财政紧张的（或者有很多钱花的）人们花钱花的值得。首先，一个大品牌名称或设计师的标签并不等同于高质量。如果它是由中国制造或其他一些低工资的国家所制造，同样的产品在沃尔玛或山姆俱乐部可能很容易就被发现没贴设计师的标签，价格也或多或少的反应了他的真实价值。
质量和供应链专家将因此跟大家分享一些关于质量和供应链的基本原则，有助于财政紧张的（或者有很多钱花的）人们花钱花的值得。首先，一个大品牌名称抑或高级设计师的标签并不等同于高质量。如果它是由中国制造或其他一些低工资的国家所制造，同样的没贴设计师的标签的产品在沃尔玛或山姆俱乐部可能很容易就被发现，价格也或多或少的反应了他的真实价值。
As but one example, I recently saw a men’s shirt with an Italian name on it and a suggested retail price of $70 or $80. Sure enough, it was made in China, which means it was probably worth roughly what it had been marked down to, or even less: about $20. In another case, I had to return some brand-name pants because one pair began to come apart at the seams not long after I bought it, and I didn’t want to trust the others I had bought to not do the same. When I last saw that brand name it was in Sam’s Club, where it probably belongs with similar goods from low-wage countries.
据个例子来说，我最近看到一件意大利品牌的衬衫，建议零售价是70或80美元。可以足够肯定地说，他是中国制造，这意味着他很可能就值他所标示的大约20美元。在另一件事儿中，我不得不退掉了我买的一些品牌裤子，因为有一条在我没买几天就开线了，我也不相信我买的其他那些裤子的质量了。我最后一次看到那个牌子是在山姆俱乐部，很有可能是从同样的低工资国家买来的相似产品。
How, then, can consumers pay roughly what the foreign-made cheap goods are worth instead of what the retailer wants? In Moving Forward (Doubleday, 1930), Henry Ford wrote, “If prices are used as baits for buyers, to be raised or lowered as the buyers feel about it, it is in effect a handing over of the control of the business to the buyers to do with as they like. That is a very real control, and it is exercised in very drastic fashion.” When a grocery store, for example, puts something on sale, it is a clear message that the store can afford to sell it at the indicated price, and that consumers should stop buying it when the price goes back up—or else see if it is possible to get the same thing via the Internet.
那么，消费者支付怎样的价钱来买这些国外产的廉价商品才算合适，而不是按照零售商的愿望来支付？在大跃进中（1930年，双日），亨利 福特写道：“如果价格是用来吸引购买者的诱饵，可以按照购买者的意愿来调高或调低，那么实际上就是按照买方的意愿来控制商品市场了。那将是非常真实的控制，并且将按照异乎寻常时尚的方式进行。”比如，如果一个杂货店搞促销，那将会传达一个非常清晰的信息就是杂货店可以负担得起他所标示的低价，如果杂货店把价格涨上去，消费者将不会再购买了——或者会看看是否可能在网上找到同样的物品。
Delayed gratification is generally the best way for consumers to exercise the kind of control that Ford describes, and this is where supply-chain principles come to mind. Retailers who stock goods of North American manufacture can set firm prices and stand by them because they can order to demand instead of to forecast. Seasonal demand is not a major problem because the retailer never carries large inventories of any particular item. When retailers order from offshore, though, they must do so to forecast instead of demand because of the time it takes a container ship to cross the Pacific Ocean.
延迟的满足感通常是实践福特所说的那种控制的最好方式，这是供应链原则在大脑中的显现。储存北美制造商货物的零售商能够设置工厂价并一直坚持这个价格，因为他们按照需求下订单而不是预测需求。季度的需求不是大问题，因为零售商从来都不会为某一件商品储备大量的库存。当零售商从海外订货时，尽管他们要为预测的需求而不是因为集装箱装船并横跨大西洋的时间来储存大量的存货。
延迟的满足感通常对消费者来说是实践福特所说的那种控制的最好方式，这是供应链原则在大脑中的显现。储存北美制造商货物的零售商能够设置工厂价并一直坚持这个价格，因为他们按照需求下订单而不是预测需求。季度的需求不是大问题，因为零售商从来都不会为某一件商品储备大量的库存。当零售商从海外订货时，尽管他们要为预测的需求而不是因为集装箱装船并横跨大西洋的时间的要求下订单。
If the inventory remains unsold at the end of the season, the retailers must dispose of it at fire sale prices to make room for the next batch of cheap goods. As but one example, the suggested retail price of a Chinese-made, brand-name sweater was $95; I bought it for $28.50 on December 26. That’s still probably more than it is worth, but it is a lot less than the seller hoped to get with a fancy brand name as bait.
如果在季末还有大量的库存没有出清，零售商将会以跳楼价来处理这些商品，为下一批的廉价商品倒出地方。就比如，一个中国产的建议零售价为95美元的外套，我在12月26日以28.5美元的价格购得。这很有可能还是高于它的真实价值，不过确实比销售商以品牌作为诱饵而销售的期望价格要低很多。
Parents can use this buying technique to teach the concept of delayed gratification to children who are young enough to believe in Santa Claus. “Santa’s elves have to make presents for the millions of other children who want them by December 25, so they can make only a few for any particular child. Really smart children are willing to wait a few extra days because the elves have time to make extra gifts for them.” Once the children are old enough to no longer believe in Santa Claus, parents can teach them more sophisticated explanations such as seasonal inventory obsolescence.
父母们可以将这些延迟的满足感的销售技巧交给还相信圣诞老人的小孩子：“圣诞精灵们需要为想在12月25日得到礼物的其他小孩子们准备成百万的礼物，所以他们只能为每一个孩子准备很少的礼物。真正聪明的孩子会多等几天因为精灵们有额外的时间来为他们准备额外的礼物。”当小孩子长到足够大的时候，不再相信圣诞老人了，父母们可以给他们做一些复杂的解释，诸如季度库存清仓。
There is meanwhile no reason to take one-day or two-day sales seriously. If a flat screen television won’t sell for $300 today, it won't sell for $450 tomorrow. It is also difficult to respect anybody who would stand in line overnight, let alone participate in a riot, to buy Nike Retro Air Jordans for $180 a pair. A Google shopping search on “Air Jordan XIV” now turns up a price of $160 for the men’s basketball shoe at the Finish Line. The people who waited in overnight lines during the holiday shopping season therefore wasted hours of their time along with $20, which does not reflect well on the basic intelligence of these consumers.
同时，你没有必要对一天或两天的短期促销活动认真。假如一台平板电视今天没卖到300美元，明天也不会450美元。也很难去佩服那些排一晚上的队，自己一个人在混乱中抢到一双价值180的Nike Retro Air Jordans。谷歌购物搜索在最后一行显示一双Air Jordan XIV男式运动鞋只要160。那些在假期购物季中等了一宿的人浪费了时间不说，还多支付了20块，这反映不了这些消费者的基本智商。
同时，你没有必要对一天或两天的短期促销活动认真。假如一台平板电视今天没卖到300美元，明天也不会450美元。也很难去佩服那些排一晚上的队，更别提自己一个人在混乱中抢到一双价值180的Nike Retro Air Jordans的人们。谷歌购物搜索在最后一行显示一双Air Jordan XIV男式运动鞋只要160。那些在假期购物季中等了一宿的人浪费了时间不说，还多支付了20块，这反映不了这些消费者的基本智商。
The best way for retailers and “manufacturers” (they actually order cheap goods from Chinese and other offshore factories and then put their brand names on them) to avoid “handing over of the control of the business to the buyers to do with as they like” is to manufacture in America, and manufacture to demand instead of forecast—e.g., with retail stores pulling work into factories to replenish individual items as they are sold.
零售商和“制造商”（他们通常从中国和其他海外的工厂订购廉价的商品然后贴上他们的商标）避免“买方按照自己的意愿控制市场”的最好办法就是在美国制造，并且按照需求进行制造而不是按照预测的需求进行制造，比如，零售仓库可以在工厂制造并根据销售的状况随时补充货物。
Quality and supply-chain professionals are willing to help those who are willing to learn how to use high-wage American labor effectively. Those who are unwilling to learn should be gamed by consumers as described above. If they happen to go under, it will do little harm to the U.S. economy because no American manufacturing workers will lose their jobs.
质量和供应链专家愿意帮助那些乐于学习如何有效地使用高工资的美国劳工的人。那些不愿意学的人就只能被上面所讲的消费者玩儿了。如果他们正好做了，对美国经济一点坏处都没有，因为美国制造工人不会失业。
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
作者简介
William A. Levinson
威廉. A. 李维森
William A. Levinson, P.E., is the principal of Levinson Productivity Systems P.C. He is an ASQ Fellow, a certified quality engineer, quality auditor, quality manager, reliability engineer, and Six Sigma Black Belt. Levinson is the author of Henry Ford’s Lean Vision: Enduring Principles from the First Ford Motor Plant (Productivity Press, 2002)。 He holds degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering from Penn State and Cornell Universities, and night school degrees in business administration and applied statistics from Union College.
威廉. A. 李维森是李维森系统产品控制的首席质量工程师，他还是美国质量协会的会员，注册质量工程师、质量审核员、质量经理、可靠性工程师及6西格玛黑带。李维森是《亨利 福特的精益展望：福特第一汽车制造厂的长期原则》（生产出版社，2002年）的作者。他在宾夕法尼亚州和康奈尔大学获得化学和化工的学位，并获得商业夜大的学位并申请了联合大学统计学的学位。
请对以下文章有翻译兴趣的组员留下你的预计完成时间和邮箱地址，以便小编登记翻译者信息以及文章最终完成时间
本文翻译：muddy533 校稿：275641119
Don’t Confuse Brand Names with Quality
不要把品牌名称与质量混为一谈
Quality professionals can help retailers learn how to use high-wage U.S. labor effectively
质量专家能够帮助零售商学习如何有效的使用高工资的美国劳工。
I recently returned a pair of $28 (suggested retail price) Chinese-made gloves I bought for $7.97 the day after Christmas, which is when I do all my Christmas shopping. The reason I returned the gloves was because a seam had begun to come apart less than three weeks after I bought them. This underscores the current retail practice of importing cheap, low-quality goods from offshore sources, and then attaching brand names or designer labels along with a hefty markup.
我最近退了一副我圣诞节后一天花了7.97美元买的建议零售价为28美元的中国产的手套，那一天是我的圣诞大采购。我退这幅手套的原因是我买了不到三个礼拜的时间，这副手套就开线了。这很大程度上暴露了当今零售业的现状：从海外进口回来廉价的、低质量的货物，然后贴上商标或设计者的标签再以高价售出。
Quality and supply-chain professionals should therefore share some basic quality and supply-chain principles with the public to help people on tight budgets (or even those with plenty of money to spend) get genuine value for their money. First, an upscale brand name or even a fancy designer label does not equate to quality. If it’s made in China or some other low-wage country, the same item might easily be found in Walmart or Sam’s Club without the designer label, and with a price that more or less reflects the item’s actual value.
质量和供应链专家将跟大家分享一些关于质量和供应链的基本原则，有助于财政紧张的（或者有很多钱花的）人们花钱花的值得。首先，一个大品牌名称或设计师的标签并不等同于高质量。如果它是由中国制造或其他一些低工资的国家所制造，同样的产品在沃尔玛或山姆俱乐部可能很容易就被发现没贴设计师的标签，价格也或多或少的反应了他的真实价值。
质量和供应链专家将因此跟大家分享一些关于质量和供应链的基本原则，有助于财政紧张的（或者有很多钱花的）人们花钱花的值得。首先，一个大品牌名称抑或高级设计师的标签并不等同于高质量。如果它是由中国制造或其他一些低工资的国家所制造，同样的没贴设计师的标签的产品在沃尔玛或山姆俱乐部可能很容易就被发现，价格也或多或少的反应了他的真实价值。
As but one example, I recently saw a men’s shirt with an Italian name on it and a suggested retail price of $70 or $80. Sure enough, it was made in China, which means it was probably worth roughly what it had been marked down to, or even less: about $20. In another case, I had to return some brand-name pants because one pair began to come apart at the seams not long after I bought it, and I didn’t want to trust the others I had bought to not do the same. When I last saw that brand name it was in Sam’s Club, where it probably belongs with similar goods from low-wage countries.
据个例子来说，我最近看到一件意大利品牌的衬衫，建议零售价是70或80美元。可以足够肯定地说，他是中国制造，这意味着他很可能就值他所标示的大约20美元。在另一件事儿中，我不得不退掉了我买的一些品牌裤子，因为有一条在我没买几天就开线了，我也不相信我买的其他那些裤子的质量了。我最后一次看到那个牌子是在山姆俱乐部，很有可能是从同样的低工资国家买来的相似产品。
How, then, can consumers pay roughly what the foreign-made cheap goods are worth instead of what the retailer wants? In Moving Forward (Doubleday, 1930), Henry Ford wrote, “If prices are used as baits for buyers, to be raised or lowered as the buyers feel about it, it is in effect a handing over of the control of the business to the buyers to do with as they like. That is a very real control, and it is exercised in very drastic fashion.” When a grocery store, for example, puts something on sale, it is a clear message that the store can afford to sell it at the indicated price, and that consumers should stop buying it when the price goes back up—or else see if it is possible to get the same thing via the Internet.
那么，消费者支付怎样的价钱来买这些国外产的廉价商品才算合适，而不是按照零售商的愿望来支付？在大跃进中（1930年，双日），亨利 福特写道：“如果价格是用来吸引购买者的诱饵，可以按照购买者的意愿来调高或调低，那么实际上就是按照买方的意愿来控制商品市场了。那将是非常真实的控制，并且将按照异乎寻常时尚的方式进行。”比如，如果一个杂货店搞促销，那将会传达一个非常清晰的信息就是杂货店可以负担得起他所标示的低价，如果杂货店把价格涨上去，消费者将不会再购买了——或者会看看是否可能在网上找到同样的物品。
Delayed gratification is generally the best way for consumers to exercise the kind of control that Ford describes, and this is where supply-chain principles come to mind. Retailers who stock goods of North American manufacture can set firm prices and stand by them because they can order to demand instead of to forecast. Seasonal demand is not a major problem because the retailer never carries large inventories of any particular item. When retailers order from offshore, though, they must do so to forecast instead of demand because of the time it takes a container ship to cross the Pacific Ocean.
延迟的满足感通常是实践福特所说的那种控制的最好方式，这是供应链原则在大脑中的显现。储存北美制造商货物的零售商能够设置工厂价并一直坚持这个价格，因为他们按照需求下订单而不是预测需求。季度的需求不是大问题，因为零售商从来都不会为某一件商品储备大量的库存。当零售商从海外订货时，尽管他们要为预测的需求而不是因为集装箱装船并横跨大西洋的时间来储存大量的存货。
延迟的满足感通常对消费者来说是实践福特所说的那种控制的最好方式，这是供应链原则在大脑中的显现。储存北美制造商货物的零售商能够设置工厂价并一直坚持这个价格，因为他们按照需求下订单而不是预测需求。季度的需求不是大问题，因为零售商从来都不会为某一件商品储备大量的库存。当零售商从海外订货时，尽管他们要为预测的需求而不是因为集装箱装船并横跨大西洋的时间的要求下订单。
If the inventory remains unsold at the end of the season, the retailers must dispose of it at fire sale prices to make room for the next batch of cheap goods. As but one example, the suggested retail price of a Chinese-made, brand-name sweater was $95; I bought it for $28.50 on December 26. That’s still probably more than it is worth, but it is a lot less than the seller hoped to get with a fancy brand name as bait.
如果在季末还有大量的库存没有出清，零售商将会以跳楼价来处理这些商品，为下一批的廉价商品倒出地方。就比如，一个中国产的建议零售价为95美元的外套，我在12月26日以28.5美元的价格购得。这很有可能还是高于它的真实价值，不过确实比销售商以品牌作为诱饵而销售的期望价格要低很多。
Parents can use this buying technique to teach the concept of delayed gratification to children who are young enough to believe in Santa Claus. “Santa’s elves have to make presents for the millions of other children who want them by December 25, so they can make only a few for any particular child. Really smart children are willing to wait a few extra days because the elves have time to make extra gifts for them.” Once the children are old enough to no longer believe in Santa Claus, parents can teach them more sophisticated explanations such as seasonal inventory obsolescence.
父母们可以将这些延迟的满足感的销售技巧交给还相信圣诞老人的小孩子：“圣诞精灵们需要为想在12月25日得到礼物的其他小孩子们准备成百万的礼物，所以他们只能为每一个孩子准备很少的礼物。真正聪明的孩子会多等几天因为精灵们有额外的时间来为他们准备额外的礼物。”当小孩子长到足够大的时候，不再相信圣诞老人了，父母们可以给他们做一些复杂的解释，诸如季度库存清仓。
There is meanwhile no reason to take one-day or two-day sales seriously. If a flat screen television won’t sell for $300 today, it won't sell for $450 tomorrow. It is also difficult to respect anybody who would stand in line overnight, let alone participate in a riot, to buy Nike Retro Air Jordans for $180 a pair. A Google shopping search on “Air Jordan XIV” now turns up a price of $160 for the men’s basketball shoe at the Finish Line. The people who waited in overnight lines during the holiday shopping season therefore wasted hours of their time along with $20, which does not reflect well on the basic intelligence of these consumers.
同时，你没有必要对一天或两天的短期促销活动认真。假如一台平板电视今天没卖到300美元，明天也不会450美元。也很难去佩服那些排一晚上的队，自己一个人在混乱中抢到一双价值180的Nike Retro Air Jordans。谷歌购物搜索在最后一行显示一双Air Jordan XIV男式运动鞋只要160。那些在假期购物季中等了一宿的人浪费了时间不说，还多支付了20块，这反映不了这些消费者的基本智商。
同时，你没有必要对一天或两天的短期促销活动认真。假如一台平板电视今天没卖到300美元，明天也不会450美元。也很难去佩服那些排一晚上的队，更别提自己一个人在混乱中抢到一双价值180的Nike Retro Air Jordans的人们。谷歌购物搜索在最后一行显示一双Air Jordan XIV男式运动鞋只要160。那些在假期购物季中等了一宿的人浪费了时间不说，还多支付了20块，这反映不了这些消费者的基本智商。
The best way for retailers and “manufacturers” (they actually order cheap goods from Chinese and other offshore factories and then put their brand names on them) to avoid “handing over of the control of the business to the buyers to do with as they like” is to manufacture in America, and manufacture to demand instead of forecast—e.g., with retail stores pulling work into factories to replenish individual items as they are sold.
零售商和“制造商”（他们通常从中国和其他海外的工厂订购廉价的商品然后贴上他们的商标）避免“买方按照自己的意愿控制市场”的最好办法就是在美国制造，并且按照需求进行制造而不是按照预测的需求进行制造，比如，零售仓库可以在工厂制造并根据销售的状况随时补充货物。
Quality and supply-chain professionals are willing to help those who are willing to learn how to use high-wage American labor effectively. Those who are unwilling to learn should be gamed by consumers as described above. If they happen to go under, it will do little harm to the U.S. economy because no American manufacturing workers will lose their jobs.
质量和供应链专家愿意帮助那些乐于学习如何有效地使用高工资的美国劳工的人。那些不愿意学的人就只能被上面所讲的消费者玩儿了。如果他们正好做了，对美国经济一点坏处都没有，因为美国制造工人不会失业。
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
作者简介
William A. Levinson
威廉. A. 李维森
William A. Levinson, P.E., is the principal of Levinson Productivity Systems P.C. He is an ASQ Fellow, a certified quality engineer, quality auditor, quality manager, reliability engineer, and Six Sigma Black Belt. Levinson is the author of Henry Ford’s Lean Vision: Enduring Principles from the First Ford Motor Plant (Productivity Press, 2002)。 He holds degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering from Penn State and Cornell Universities, and night school degrees in business administration and applied statistics from Union College.
威廉. A. 李维森是李维森系统产品控制的首席质量工程师，他还是美国质量协会的会员，注册质量工程师、质量审核员、质量经理、可靠性工程师及6西格玛黑带。李维森是《亨利 福特的精益展望：福特第一汽车制造厂的长期原则》（生产出版社，2002年）的作者。他在宾夕法尼亚州和康奈尔大学获得化学和化工的学位，并获得商业夜大的学位并申请了联合大学统计学的学位。
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275641119 (威望:4) (广东 东莞) 电子制造 工程师 - 走了很多不该走的路。。。
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Don’t Confuse Brand Names with Quality
不要把品牌名称与质量混为一谈
Quality professionals can help retailers learn how to use high-wage U.S. labor effectively
质量专家能够帮助零售商学习如何有效的使用高工资的美国劳工。
I recently returned a pair of $28 (suggested retail price) Chinese-made gloves I bought for $7.97 the day after Christmas, which is when I do all my Christmas shopping. The reason I returned the gloves was because a seam had begun to come apart less than three weeks after I bought them. This underscores the current retail practice of importing cheap, low-quality goods from offshore sources, and then attaching brand names or designer labels along with a hefty markup.
我最近退了一副我圣诞节后一天花了7.97美元买的的中国产的手套（建议零售价为28美元），那一天是我的圣诞大采购。我退这幅手套的原因是我买了不到三个礼拜的时间，这副手套就开线了。这很大程度上暴露了当今零售业的现状：从海外进口回来廉价的、低质量的货物，然后贴上商标或设计者的标签再以高价售出。
Quality and supply-chain professionals should therefore share some basic quality and supply-chain principles with the public to help people on tight budgets (or even those with plenty of money to spend) get genuine value for their money. First, an upscale brand name or even a fancy designer label does not equate to quality. If it’s made in China or some other low-wage country, the same item might easily be found in Walmart or Sam’s Club without the designer label, and with a price that more or less reflects the item’s actual value.
质量和供应链专家将因此跟大家分享一些关于质量和供应链的基本原则，有助于财政紧张的（或者有很多钱花的）人们花钱花的值得。首先，一个大品牌名称抑或高级设计师的标签并不等同于高质量。如果它是由中国制造或其他一些低工资的国家所制造，同样的没贴设计师的标签的产品在沃尔玛或山姆俱乐部可能很容易就被发现，价格也或多或少的反应了他的真实价值。
As but one example, I recently saw a men’s shirt with an Italian name on it and a suggested retail price of $70 or $80. Sure enough, it was made in China, which means it was probably worth roughly what it had been marked down to, or even less: about $20. In another case, I had to return some brand-name pants because one pair began to come apart at the seams not long after I bought it, and I didn’t want to trust the others I had bought to not do the same. When I last saw that brand name it was in Sam’s Club, where it probably belongs with similar goods from low-wage countries.
举个例子来说，我最近看到一件意大利品牌的衬衫，建议零售价是70或80美元。可以足够肯定地说，他是中国制造，这意味着它很可能就值它所标示的大约20美元。在另一件事儿中，我不得不退掉了我买的一些品牌裤子，因为有一条在我没买几天就开线了，我也不相信我买的其他那些裤子的质量了。我最后一次看到那个牌子是在山姆俱乐部，很有可能是从低工资国家买来的相似产品。
How, then, can consumers pay roughly what the foreign-made cheap goods are worth instead of what the retailer wants? In Moving Forward (Doubleday, 1930), Henry Ford wrote, “If prices are used as baits for buyers, to be raised or lowered as the buyers feel about it, it is in effect a handing over of the control of the business to the buyers to do with as they like. That is a very real control, and it is exercised in very drastic fashion.” When a grocery store, for example, puts something on sale, it is a clear message that the store can afford to sell it at the indicated price, and that consumers should stop buying it when the price goes back up—or else see if it is possible to get the same thing via the Internet.
那么，消费者支付怎样的价钱来买这些国外产的廉价商品才算合适，而不是按照零售商的愿望来支付？在大跃进中（1930年，双日），亨利 福特写道：“如果价格是用来吸引购买者的诱饵，可以按照购买者的意愿来调高或调低，那么实际上就是按照买方的意愿来控制商品市场了。那将是非常真实的控制，并且将按照异乎寻常的方式进行。”比如，如果一个杂货店搞促销，那将会传达一个非常清晰的信息就是杂货店可以负担得起他所标示的低价，如果杂货店把价格涨上去，消费者将不会再购买了——或者会看看是否可能在网上找到同样的物品。
Delayed gratification is generally the best way for consumers to exercise the kind of control that Ford describes, and this is where supply-chain principles come to mind. Retailers who stock goods of North American manufacture can set firm prices and stand by them because they can order to demand instead of to forecast. Seasonal demand is not a major problem because the retailer never carries large inventories of any particular item. When retailers order from offshore, though, they must do so to forecast instead of demand because of the time it takes a container ship to cross the Pacific Ocean.
延迟的满足感通常对消费者来说是实践福特所说的那种控制的最好方式，这是供应链原则在大脑中的显现。储存北美制造商货物的零售商能够设置工厂价并一直坚持这个价格，因为他们按照需求下订单而不是预测需求。季度的需求不是大问题，因为零售商从来都不会为某一件商品储备大量的库存。当零售商从海外订货时，尽管他们要为预测的需求而不是因为集装箱装船并横跨大西洋的时间的要求下订单。
If the inventory remains unsold at the end of the season, the retailers must dispose of it at fire sale prices to make room for the next batch of cheap goods. As but one example, the suggested retail price of a Chinese-made, brand-name sweater was $95; I bought it for $28.50 on December 26. That’s still probably more than it is worth, but it is a lot less than the seller hoped to get with a fancy brand name as bait.
如果在季末还有大量的库存没有出清，零售商将会以跳楼价来处理这些商品，为下一批的廉价商品倒腾出地方。就比如，一个中国产的建议零售价为95美元的外套，我在12月26日以28.5美元的价格购得。这很有可能还是高于它的真实价值，不过确实比销售商以大品牌作为诱饵而销售的期望价格要低很多。
Parents can use this buying technique to teach the concept of delayed gratification to children who are young enough to believe in Santa Claus. “Santa’s elves have to make presents for the millions of other children who want them by December 25, so they can make only a few for any particular child. Really smart children are willing to wait a few extra days because the elves have time to make extra gifts for them.” Once the children are old enough to no longer believe in Santa Claus, parents can teach them more sophisticated explanations such as seasonal inventory obsolescence.
父母们可以将这些延迟的满足感的购买技巧教给还相信圣诞老人的小孩子：“圣诞精灵们需要为想在12月25日得到礼物的其他小孩子们准备成百万的礼物，所以他们只能为每一个孩子准备很少的礼物。真正聪明的孩子会多等几天因为精灵们有额外的时间来为他们准备额外的礼物。”当小孩子长到足够大的时候，不再相信圣诞老人了，父母们可以给他们做一些复杂的解释，诸如季度库存清仓。
There is meanwhile no reason to take one-day or two-day sales seriously. If a flat screen television won’t sell for $300 today, it won't sell for $450 tomorrow. It is also difficult to respect anybody who would stand in line overnight, let alone participate in a riot, to buy Nike Retro Air Jordans for $180 a pair. A Google shopping search on “Air Jordan XIV” now turns up a price of $160 for the men’s basketball shoe at the Finish Line. The people who waited in overnight lines during the holiday shopping season therefore wasted hours of their time along with $20, which does not reflect well on the basic intelligence of these consumers.
同时，你没有必要对一天或两天的短期促销活动认真。假如一台平板电视今天没卖到300美元，明天也不会450美元。也很难去佩服那些排一晚上的队，更别提自己一个人在混乱中抢到一双价值180的Nike Retro Air Jordans的人们。谷歌购物搜索在最后一行显示一双Air Jordan XIV男式运动鞋只要160。那些在假期购物季中等了一宿的人浪费了时间不说，还多支付了20块，这反映不了这些消费者的基本智商。
The best way for retailers and “manufacturers” (they actually order cheap goods from Chinese and other offshore factories and then put their brand names on them) to avoid “handing over of the control of the business to the buyers to do with as they like” is to manufacture in America, and manufacture to demand instead of forecast—e.g., with retail stores pulling work into factories to replenish individual items as they are sold.
零售商和“制造商”（他们通常从中国和其他海外的工厂订购廉价的商品然后贴上他们的商标）避免“买方按照自己的意愿控制市场”的最好办法就是在美国制造，并且按照需求进行制造而不是按照预测的需求进行制造，比如，零售仓库可以在工厂制造并根据销售的状况随时补充货物。
Quality and supply-chain professionals are willing to help those who are willing to learn how to use high-wage American labor effectively. Those who are unwilling to learn should be gamed by consumers as described above. If they happen to go under, it will do little harm to the U.S. economy because no American manufacturing workers will lose their jobs.
质量和供应链专家愿意帮助那些乐于学习如何有效地使用高工资的美国劳工的人。那些不愿意学的人就只能被上面所讲的消费者玩儿了。如果他们正好破产，对美国经济一点坏处都没有，因为美国制造工人不会失业。
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
作者简介
William A. Levinson
威廉. A. 李维森
William A. Levinson, P.E., is the principal of Levinson Productivity Systems P.C. He is an ASQ Fellow, a certified quality engineer, quality auditor, quality manager, reliability engineer, and Six Sigma Black Belt. Levinson is the author of Henry Ford’s Lean Vision: Enduring Principles from the First Ford Motor Plant (Productivity Press, 2002)。 He holds degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering from Penn State and Cornell Universities, and night school degrees in business administration and applied statistics from Union College.
威廉. A. 李维森是李维森系统产品控制的负责人，他还是美国质量协会的会员，注册质量工程师、质量审核员、质量经理、可靠性工程师及6西格玛黑带。李维森是《亨利 福特的精益展望：福特第一汽车制造厂的长期原则》（生产出版社，2002年）的作者。他在宾夕法尼亚州和康奈尔大学获得化学和化工的学位，并获得商业夜大的学位并申请了联合大学统计学的学位。