零售业巨头沃尔玛CEO杜克

零售业巨头沃尔玛CEO杜克

For a folksy southerner from rural Georgia who spent his childhood eating food grown on the family farm and buying clothes on rare trips to a five-and-dime store, Mike Duke has accumulated an eclectic array of retailing achievements.

沃尔玛CEO迈克•杜克(Mike Duke)是个随和的南方人，来自佐治亚州的农村，在他的童年里，吃的是自家农场种出的食物，很久才去廉价商店买一次衣服。而今天他已经在零售业取得了许多成就。

Since the start of last year alone, Walmart's chief executive has won Michelle Obama's endorsement for the company's healthy eating initiatives; overcome union opposition to win a foothold in Africa; outlasted Bo Xilai, who tormented Walmart in China; and seen off a huge lawsuit over sex discrimination against its US staff.

单从去年年初算起，杜克就已经取得了一系列成绩。他赢得了美国第一夫人米歇尔•奥巴马(Michelle Obama)对沃尔玛提倡的健康饮食计划的支持；他克服了工

会的反对，坚持在非洲建起立足点；挺到了薄熙来（给沃尔玛中国公司找过麻烦）政治生命的终结；还了结了一宗有关沃尔玛对美国员工存在性别歧视的大额诉讼。But in the past week all that has been forgotten. Mr Duke, a craggy 62-year old with a gap-toothed smile, faces devastating allegations that senior Walmart executives hushed up a campaign of bribery to secure construction permits in Mexico. The allegations are the biggest test of a 40-year career for the plain but affable boy from the warehouses, who rose through the nuts-and-bolts ranks of Walmart's logistics division.

然而在最近一段时间，这些成绩都被忘记了。杜克现在正面临毁灭性的指控：沃尔玛为了在墨西哥获得建设许可证而大举行贿，但该公司高管却掩人耳目。对于朴素而平易近人的杜克来说，这些指控是他40年职业生涯中最严峻的考验。现

年62岁的杜克面容粗犷，微笑时经常露出牙齿的缝隙，他最早从仓储工作干起，在沃尔玛物流部门担任过多个职位。

With federal investigations running alongside an independent probe by the Walmart board, it remains to be seen whether the sleuths will prove any wrongdoing entangling Mr Duke, a faithful churchgoer who let it be known this week that he was "fully supportive" of the board probe.

联邦调查与沃尔玛董事会发起的独立调查同时进行，调查人员是否会证实任何牵涉到杜克本人的不当行为尚不得而知。虔诚、常去教会的杜克明确表示，"完全

支持"董事会展开的调查。

But even for a company used to the barbs of critics who say it pays stingy wages, bullies suppliers and steamrollers mom-and-pop stores, the allegations are a potent challenge to an evangelical business culture forged in the poverty of backwoods Arkansas by its founder Sam Walton. 尽管沃尔玛已经习惯了各种苛刻的批评，如薪资吝啬、欺压供应商、排挤社区小店，但对于沃尔玛创始人山姆•沃尔顿(Sam Walton)在阿肯色州(Arkansas)贫穷

落后地区建立起的福音式商业文化，上述指控仍然有可能构成巨大的挑战。

His doctrine combines down-home style with ruthless penny-pinching and a zeal for logistical efficiency: it enabled Walmart to conquer America from its isolated home town, Bentonville. But the bigger it gets and the harder it pushes for new customers in places where business and politics work differently, the more the limitations begin to show.

他的经营原则将纯朴的风格，与每分钱成本都精打细算、对物流效率的热衷相结合，这使得沃尔玛能够走出总部所在的偏远城市本顿维尔(Bentonville)，征服了美国市场。随着沃尔玛的规模越来越大，这家公司也越来越积极地进入新市场争夺消费者，但在这些新市场，商业和政治的运作方式和美国并不相同，因而越来越多的局限也陆续显现出来。

Mr Duke embodies that culture –but as head of the world's biggest public company, with sales of $444bn last year, he arguably has too much of the insularity that is its weakness and not enough of the down-home charm that is its strength.

杜克就是这种文化的化身。沃尔玛去年销售额达4440亿美元，是全球上市公司中最高的。杜克作为这样一家企业的负责人，他身上可以说表现出了太多的偏狭性，而淳朴风格却稍嫌不足，前者正是沃尔玛的劣势，后者才是沃尔玛的优势。Jimmy Wright, who worked for Mr Duke after he joined Walmart in 1995, says: "Mike is a nice guy first and foremost. Likeable and not arrogant. He treats people with respect and rarely will mutter an off-colour word." Yet while "Mr Sam" oozed star quality, many people say Mr Duke lacks charisma. He clearly tries, but in speeches the delivery of his passion lines can be tinny and laughter lines can fall flat.

吉米•赖特(Jimmy Wright)在1995年加入沃尔玛后曾与杜克共事，他说："迈克首先是一个彻彻底底的好人，亲和也并不高傲。他对人很尊重，极少言辞无礼。"不过"山姆先生"散发着明星气质，许多人却形容杜克缺乏魅力。杜克显然在努力表现出魅力，但他在讲话中表达激情的句子有些单调枯燥，笑点也并不好笑。What he has in spades, however, is discipline. Mike Cockrell, an

ex-Walmarter who worked with Mr Duke, most recently as chief merchandising officer in India, says: "He's the only person I know that never looked at his watch and always sat with his back to clock, but five minutes before the meeting was supposed to be over he'd say: 'Let's wrap up. What you got?' "

然而他无疑有很强的纪律性。曾在沃尔玛与杜克共事的迈克•考克雷尔(Mike Cockrell)表示："在我认识的人中，他是唯一不用看表，背对着时钟，却能在会议预定结束前五分钟说'开始总结会议成果'的人。"考克雷尔在沃尔玛的最后一个职位是印度区首席商品官。

He also has organisational nous and an ability to fix stuff, honed by a Georgia Tech engineering degree that he got before joining a regional department store –a choice that was inspired by his high-school physics teacher's advice that service industries were the future.

杜克也拥有组织头脑和解决问题的能力，这得益于他从佐治亚理工学院(Georgia Tech)获得的工科学历。毕业后他进入了一家地区性百货商店，杜克作出了这样