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从烤汉堡的小伙计到麦当劳的掌门人

http://www.sina.com.cn 2004/06/21 12:45 英语文摘

　　From Burger Flipper to McDonald’s CEO

　　译者点评：今年4月19日，全球餐饮业巨无霸——麦当劳60岁的董事长兼CEO坎塔卢波突发心脏病去世，公司董事会紧急任命43岁的澳大利亚人查利·贝尔出任新老总。这是麦当劳首位非美籍掌门人。贝尔从15岁在悉尼附近的金斯格罗夫麦当劳餐厅打工到今天坐镇美国芝加哥可谓平步青云。这位昔日在麦当劳扫厕所的新总裁在接受媒体采访时总是提起当年的情景，他希望麦当劳的厕所比其他所有快餐店的厕所都干净，可能正是此种精神成就了他的今天。

　　An Australian has gone from flipping burgers and cleaning toilets in a suburban restaurant to running the worldwide McDonald’s fast food empire. Charlie Bell 43 who started at the Kingsgrove McDonald’s store in Sydney at 15 becomes the first nonAmerican to head the company. He was appointed chief executive of McDonald’s International hours after the sudden death of his friend and mentor Jim Cantalupo 60. Mr Cantalupo died from a heart attack while attending a franchisee conference in Florida.

　　Mr Bell who was second in command as president and chief operating officer could earn an additional $2 million in salary and bonuses. McDonald’s paid Mr Cantalupo $4.7 million last year while Mr Bell his righthand man earned $2.6 million. Both were rewarded with big bonuses for turning around the company’s ailing fortunes within one year by introducing healthier products improved service and the “I’m lovin’ it” jingle. McDonald’s Australia boss Guy Russo who began his career with Mr Bell at the Kingsford restaurant said his mate would often tell their fellow staff how to run the company. “There were a lot of people who were older than us” he said. “When we were about 16 we were telling everyone how to run the company at that age. We thought we would one day.”

　　Mr Bell progressed quickly becoming Australia’s youngest store manager at 19. In 1993 he was appointed managing director of McDonald’s Australia and began heading up the firm’s Asiawide operations in 1999. Mr Bell was widely accepted as the heir apparent when he was promoted in December 2002 from head of European operations to McDonald’s global headquarters in Chicago. At the McDonald’s board meeting on April 19 he was appointed to lead the company that operates 30000 restaurants in 118 countries with 400000 staff worldwide. “Charlie Bell has worked side by side with Jim during these past 16 months to revitalise McDonald’s all over the world” read a board statement released after the succession vote. “He is ideally suited and prepared to continue Jim’s remarkable focus and discipline on our business.”

　　A funny thing happened to Charlie Bell on the way from Kingsford near Sydney to Chicago in the US. Everyone is talking about Charlie’s story this week—how a 15yearold Sydney school kid was a parttimer at McDonald’s just like a million other Aussie school kids. But this one became the youngest store manager at 19 and this week became the CEO of McDonald’s worldwide at 43—again the youngest ever. A former schoolmate Peter Byrnes says “He was always singleminded about the whole McDonald’s thing never frightened to do things his way or to back his own feelings. He was always his own person and you couldn’t help but admire that about Charlie.”

　　Australia’s ConsulGeneral in New York Ken Allen noted the close working relationship and friendship Mr Bell and Mr Cantalupo enjoyed. Mr Cantalupo translated Mr Bell’s favourite Australian slang. Mr Allen said there was no better man than Charlie Bell to carry on the great legacy left by Jim Cantalupo. “He’ll continue to make McDonald’s one of the most successful companies in the world” he said. Mark Kalinowski of another company welcomed Mr Bell’s appointment. “He has worked at McDonald’s for 30 years. As they say ketchup runs in his veins” he said.

　　While Mr Cantalupo worked hard to revitalise the McDonald’s brand and achieve a healthier image in the age of obesity his critics said it was not enough. He tried to downsize McDonald’s huge highcalorie meals by phasing out Super Size fries and bucketsized drinks and introduced salads and a breakfast sandwich. Wall St. commentator Art Hogan said “Here’s McDonald’s trying to change its image and promote itself as providing a healthy diet and the big boss dies of a heart attack. What does that say about the company’s meals to the average consumer﹖ A lot of people could be avoiding Big Macs in future.”

　　After the successful turnaround of its U.S. business McDonald’s Corp. faces a new challenge—the sudden death of CEO Jim Cantalupo puts a young and unproven leader in charge of the world’s largest restaurant company. Charlie Bell has risen impressively within McDonald’s and helped craft the strategy Cantalupo employed to revive its flagging U.S. sales and performance. But after spending most of his career in regional posts in his native Australia Bell must prove himself quickly in a job he was elevated to ahead of schedule. Analysts and franchisees attending the McDonald’s convention in Orlando Fla. voiced confidence Mr. Bell will be able to keep the company on the upswing. Nonetheless even after rising 15 cents to $26.90 on Tuesday afternoon the stock price was down 2 per cent since Monday’s abrupt transition showing that shareholders have a waitandsee outlook.

　　It was a focus on the front counters of the more than 13000 U.S. McDonald’s—a backtobasics approach emphasizing more efficient operations and swifter service—that enabled McDonald’s under Cantalupo to lift sagging sales and revive a lacklustre brand. The fastfood giant slowed its breakneck expansion pace and sharply boosted U.S. sales with help from three new products—entreesized salads McGriddles breakfast sandwiches and whitemeat chicken nuggets—as well as by keeping more of its domestic restaurants open late at night. The company reached out to younger consumers with a new global advertising campaign and the tag line “I’m lovin’ it.” It also has been trying to attract more dietconscious consumers with not only its salads but last week’s announcement that it will introduce adult Happy Meals featuring salad bottled water and a pedometer and fruit and lowerfat options for its kids’ Happy Meals.

　　Independent consultant Dick Adams a former McDonald’s franchising executive said“There’s a general sense that Mr. Bell will go along with Cantalupo’s agenda and plan because he’s one of the adopters of that plan.” But his impact as CEO “remains to be seen.”Mr. Bell had been the heir apparent since the company promoted him from head of European operations to president and chief operating officer in December 2002 as part of the shakeup that saw CEO Jack Greenberg depart. The company said Mr. Bell would have help in the transition from Andrew McKenna the presiding director of McDonald’s board who was named to take over Mr. Cantalupo’s other duties as chairman. But Mr. McKenna 74 is unlikely to hold that post for the long term.

从烤汉堡的小伙计到麦当劳的掌门人

　　一个澳大利亚人，在郊区一家餐馆烤汉堡 刷厕所，如今登上了掌管全世界麦当劳帝国的宝座。现年43岁的查利·贝尔15岁时在悉尼金斯格罗夫的麦当劳餐厅打工，如今成了麦当劳第一位非美国籍掌门人。在他的朋友和导师吉姆·坎塔卢波(现年60岁)突然去世后几个小时，他被任命为麦当劳国际公司首席执行官。坎塔卢波是在美国佛罗里达州出席特许经销商会议时突发心脏病去世的。

　　此前，贝尔是公司第二号人物，头衔是总裁兼首席运营官，当第一把手后，能多挣200万美元薪水和奖金。去年，麦当劳发给坎塔卢波470万美元，而作为他得力助手的贝尔拿到了260万美元。他们俩得到巨额奖金的原因是，通过引进更健康产品、改善服务和提出“我就喜欢它”的口号而在一年内改变公司收入不佳的状况。麦当劳的澳大利亚老板盖伊·拉索说，他的伙伴贝尔常常告诉同事如何管理公司，他是和贝尔在金斯福尔德餐厅开始他的职业生涯的。他说：“有许多人比我们年纪大，我们大约16岁时，就告诉大家该如何管理公司。我们想，有朝一日，我们会管理公司的。”

　　贝尔平步青云，19岁成为澳大利亚最年轻的麦当劳餐厅经理。1993年，他被任命为澳大利亚麦当劳总经理，1999年开始负责麦当劳全亚洲的业务。2002年12月，他从欧洲总裁提升到麦当劳在芝加哥的全球总部时，人们普遍认为他是接班人。在麦当劳董事会4月19日举行的会议上，他被任命为这家在全世界118个国家有3万家连锁店和40万员工的公司的掌门人。公司董事会在选继任者的投票后发表的声明说：“为了重振麦当劳在全世界的雄风，过去16个月来，查利·贝尔同吉姆并肩工作。他是担当此任的合适人选，他准备把吉姆对麦当劳业务的有特色的重心与规则坚持下去。”

　　贝尔从悉尼附近的金斯福尔德到美国的芝加哥是件很有趣的事。这个星期，大家都在谈论贝尔的故事：像澳大利亚成百万其他学童一样，一个15岁的悉尼学童当时如何在麦当劳打散工。可是，这个学童19岁就成为麦当劳一个连锁店最年轻的经理，本周，43岁的他成了麦当劳全世界的首席执行官，依然是最年轻的。贝尔以前的同校同学彼得·伯恩斯说：“对于麦当劳的整个事情，他总是一心一意的，从不害怕以自己的方式或感觉行事。他一向我行我素，你没有别的办法，只能对他赞赏有加。”

　　澳大利亚驻纽约总领事肯·艾伦提到贝尔和坎塔卢波之间密切的工作关系和友谊。坎塔卢波把贝尔喜欢的澳大利亚俚语翻译过来。艾伦说，要把坎塔卢波留下的伟大遗产继承下去，没有比贝尔更合适的了。他说：“他将继续使麦当劳成为世界上最成功的公司之一。”另一家公司的马克·卡利诺夫斯基欢迎对贝尔的任命。他说“他在麦当劳干了30年。正如人们说的，他血管里都流着调味番茄酱。”

　　尽管坎塔卢波努力为麦当劳品牌带来新的活力，并在肥胖的时代实现了更为健康的形象，但批评他的人说，这还不够。他逐步淘汰特大号炸薯条和桶装饮料，从而缩小麦当劳大号高热量快餐，并推出沙拉和早餐三明治。华尔街评论员阿特·霍根说：“麦当劳千方百计要改变形象，并宣称提供了健康饮食，可老板却死于心脏病。这对该公司向普通消费者提供的快餐意味着什么呢？今后，许多人可能会避开巨无霸。”

　　成功地改变了在美国的经营状况后，麦当劳面临一个新的挑战：首席执行官坎塔卢波突然去世把一个年纪不大而未经考验的领导人推上掌管这个全世界餐饮业巨无霸的宝座。贝尔在麦当劳令人印象深刻地迅速崛起，并曾帮助制定坎塔卢波用以恢复麦当劳在美国不断萎缩的销售和业务的战略。但是，由于贝尔的职业生涯多半是在他的祖国澳大利亚的地区岗位上度过的，因此，他必须在他被提前提升的岗位上迅速显示自己的才能。出席麦当劳在佛罗里达州奥兰多举行的大会的分析家和特许经销商表示他们有信心贝尔能够使公司保持兴旺。然而，尽管该公司的股票星期二下午涨了15美分，涨到26.9美元，但是，自从星期一人事突然变动以来，股票价格还是跌了2%，这说明股票持有者采取一种观望态度。

　　麦当劳把重点放在美国1.3万多家连锁店前台上，这是回复到麦当劳强调高效经营和快速服务的惯例上，这些惯例使麦当劳在坎塔卢波的领导下提高不断下降的销售额并振兴一度死气沉沉的品牌。这个快餐巨人放慢了疯狂的扩张步伐并使美国的销售额大大增加，主要借助于主餐沙拉、早餐烤三明治和白肉鸡块三款新产品以及将国内更多的麦当劳餐馆的营业时间延长至深夜。麦当劳在全球发动新的广告攻势，口号是“我就喜欢它”，以此吸引年轻消费者。它还一直想方设法吸引更关注饮食健康的消费者，靠的不仅是它的沙拉，它上周还宣布，将推出包括沙拉、瓶装水和计步器的成人开心乐园餐以及水果和低脂食品的儿童开心乐园餐。

　　独立顾问、麦当劳前特许经销主管迪克·亚当斯说：“大家普遍的感觉是，贝尔将遵循坎塔卢波制定的议程和计划，因为他是该计划的制定者之一。”不过，他作为首席执行官的影响力“有待观察”。自从麦当劳于2002年12月把他从欧洲总裁提升为公司总裁兼首席运营官以来，贝尔一直是显然的接班人。对贝尔的提拔是使原首席执行官杰克·格林伯格下台的改组的一部分。麦当劳公司称，贝尔将在从主持公司董事会的安德鲁·麦克纳的过渡中发挥作用，麦肯纳被任命接替坎塔卢波作为董事长的其他职责。不过，现年74岁的麦肯纳不大可能在这个岗位长期待下去。

　　(陈树培摘译自 The Herald Sun Apr. 24The Globe and Mail Apr. 20 2004)

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