從烤漢堡的小伙計(jì)到麥當(dāng)勞的

    From Burger Flipper to McDonald’s CEO
    譯者點(diǎn)評：今年4月19日，全球餐飲業(yè)巨無霸——麥當(dāng)勞60歲的董事長兼CEO坎塔盧波突發(fā)心臟病去世，公司董事會(huì)緊急任命43歲的澳大利亞人查利·貝爾出任新老總。這是麥當(dāng)勞首位非美籍。貝爾從15歲在悉尼附近的金斯格羅夫麥當(dāng)勞餐廳打工到今天坐鎮(zhèn)美國芝加哥可謂平步青云。這位昔日在麥當(dāng)勞掃廁所的新總裁在接受媒體采訪時(shí)總是提起當(dāng)年的情景，他希望麥當(dāng)勞的廁所比其他所有快餐店的廁所都干凈，可能正是此種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.
    從烤漢堡的小伙計(jì)到麥當(dāng)勞的
    一個(gè)澳大利亞人，在郊區(qū)一家餐館烤漢堡 刷廁所，如今登上了掌管全世界麥當(dāng)勞帝國的寶座。現(xiàn)年43歲的查利·貝爾15歲時(shí)在悉尼金斯格羅夫的麥當(dāng)勞餐廳打工，如今成了麥當(dāng)勞第一位非美國籍。在他的朋友和導(dǎo)師吉姆·坎塔盧波(現(xiàn)年60歲)突然去世后幾個(gè)小時(shí)，他被任命為麥當(dāng)勞國際公司首席執(zhí)行官?？菜R波是在美國佛羅里達(dá)州出席特許經(jīng)銷商會(huì)議時(shí)突發(fā)心臟病去世的。
    此前，貝爾是公司第二號(hào)人物，頭銜是總裁兼首席運(yùn)營官，當(dāng)?shù)谝话咽趾?，能多?00萬美元薪水和獎(jiǎng)金。去年，麥當(dāng)勞發(fā)給坎塔盧波470萬美元，而作為他得力助手的貝爾拿到了260萬美元。他們倆得到巨額獎(jiǎng)金的原因是，通過引進(jìn)更健康產(chǎn)品、改善服務(wù)和提出“我就喜歡它”的口號(hào)而在一年內(nèi)改變公司收入不佳的狀況。麥當(dāng)勞的澳大利亞老板蓋伊·拉索說，他的伙伴貝爾常常告訴同事如何管理公司，他是和貝爾在金斯福爾德餐廳開始他的職業(yè)生涯的。他說：“有許多人比我們年紀(jì)大，我們大約16歲時(shí)，就告訴大家該如何管理公司。我們想，有朝一日，我們會(huì)管理公司的。”
    貝爾平步青云，19歲成為澳大利亞最年輕的麥當(dāng)勞餐廳經(jīng)理。1993年，他被任命為澳大利亞麥當(dāng)勞總經(jīng)理，1999年開始負(fù)責(zé)麥當(dāng)勞全亞洲的業(yè)務(wù)。2002年12月，他從歐洲總裁提升到麥當(dāng)勞在芝加哥的全球總部時(shí)，人們普遍認(rèn)為他是接班人。在麥當(dāng)勞董事會(huì)4月19日舉行的會(huì)議上，他被任命為這家在全世界118個(gè)國家有3萬家連鎖店和40萬員工的公司的。公司董事會(huì)在選繼任者的投票后發(fā)表的聲明說：“為了重振麥當(dāng)勞在全世界的雄風(fēng)，過去16個(gè)月來，查利·貝爾同吉姆并肩工作。他是擔(dān)當(dāng)此任的合適人選，他準(zhǔn)備把吉姆對麥當(dāng)勞業(yè)務(wù)的有特色的重心與規(guī)則堅(jiān)持下去?！?BR>    貝爾從悉尼附近的金斯福爾德到美國的芝加哥是件很有趣的事。這個(gè)星期，大家都在談?wù)撠悹柕墓适拢合癜拇罄麃喅砂偃f其他學(xué)童一樣，一個(gè)15歲的悉尼學(xué)童當(dāng)時(shí)如何在麥當(dāng)勞打散工。可是，這個(gè)學(xué)童19歲就成為麥當(dāng)勞一個(gè)連鎖店最年輕的經(jīng)理，本周，43歲的他成了麥當(dāng)勞全世界的首席執(zhí)行官，依然是最年輕的。貝爾以前的同校同學(xué)彼得·伯恩斯說：“對于麥當(dāng)勞的整個(gè)事情，他總是一心一意的，從不害怕以自己的方式或感覺行事。他一向我行我素，你沒有別的辦法，只能對他贊賞有加?！?BR>    澳大利亞駐紐約總領(lǐng)事肯·艾倫提到貝爾和坎塔盧波之間密切的工作關(guān)系和友誼?？菜R波把貝爾喜歡的澳大利亞俚語翻譯過來。艾倫說，要把坎塔盧波留下的偉大遺產(chǎn)繼承下去，沒有比貝爾更合適的了。他說：“他將繼續(xù)使麥當(dāng)勞成為世界上最成功的公司之一?！绷硪患夜镜鸟R克·卡利諾夫斯基歡迎對貝爾的任命。他說“他在麥當(dāng)勞干了30年。正如人們說的，他血管里都流著調(diào)味番茄醬。”
    盡管坎塔盧波努力為麥當(dāng)勞品牌帶來新的活力，并在肥胖的時(shí)代實(shí)現(xiàn)了更為健康的形象，但批評他的人說，這還不夠。他逐步淘汰特大號(hào)炸薯?xiàng)l和桶裝飲料，從而縮小麥當(dāng)勞大號(hào)高熱量快餐，并推出沙拉和早餐三明治。華爾街評論員阿特·霍根說：“麥當(dāng)勞千方百計(jì)要改變形象，并宣稱提供了健康飲食，可老板卻死于心臟病。這對該公司向普通消費(fèi)者提供的快餐意味著什么呢？今后，許多人可能會(huì)避開巨無霸?！?BR>    成功地改變了在美國的經(jīng)營狀況后，麥當(dāng)勞面臨一個(gè)新的挑戰(zhàn)：首席執(zhí)行官坎塔盧波突然去世把一個(gè)年紀(jì)不大而未經(jīng)考驗(yàn)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人推上掌管這個(gè)全世界餐飲業(yè)巨無霸的寶座。貝爾在麥當(dāng)勞令人印象深刻地迅速崛起，并曾幫助制定坎塔盧波用以恢復(fù)麥當(dāng)勞在美國不斷萎縮的銷售和業(yè)務(wù)的戰(zhàn)略。但是，由于貝爾的職業(yè)生涯多半是在他的祖國澳大利亞的地區(qū)崗位上度過的，因此，他必須在他被提前提升的崗位上迅速顯示自己的才能。出席麥當(dāng)勞在佛羅里達(dá)州奧蘭多舉行的大會(huì)的分析家和特許經(jīng)銷商表示他們有信心貝爾能夠使公司保持興旺。然而，盡管該公司的股票星期二下午漲了15美分，漲到26.9美元，但是，自從星期一人事突然變動(dòng)以來，股票價(jià)格還是跌了2%，這說明股票持有者采取一種觀望態(tài)度。
    麥當(dāng)勞把重點(diǎn)放在美國1.3萬多家連鎖店前臺(tái)上，這是回復(fù)到麥當(dāng)勞強(qiáng)調(diào)高效經(jīng)營和快速服務(wù)的慣例上，這些慣例使麥當(dāng)勞在坎塔盧波的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下提高不斷下降的銷售額并振興一度死氣沉沉的品牌。這個(gè)快餐巨人放慢了瘋狂的擴(kuò)張步伐并使美國的銷售額大大增加，主要借助于主餐沙拉、早餐烤三明治和白肉雞塊三款新產(chǎn)品以及將國內(nèi)更多的麥當(dāng)勞餐館的營業(yè)時(shí)間延長至深夜。麥當(dāng)勞在全球發(fā)動(dòng)新的廣告攻勢，口號(hào)是“我就喜歡它”，以此吸引年輕消費(fèi)者。它還一直想方設(shè)法吸引更關(guān)注飲食健康的消費(fèi)者，靠的不僅是它的沙拉，它上周還宣布，將推出包括沙拉、瓶裝水和計(jì)步器的成人開心樂園餐以及水果和低脂食品的兒童開心樂園餐。
    獨(dú)立顧問、麥當(dāng)勞前特許經(jīng)銷主管迪克·亞當(dāng)斯說：“大家普遍的感覺是，貝爾將遵循坎塔盧波制定的議程和計(jì)劃，因?yàn)樗窃撚?jì)劃的制定者之一?！辈贿^，他作為首席執(zhí)行官的影響力“有待觀察”。自從麥當(dāng)勞于2002年12月把他從歐洲總裁提升為公司總裁兼首席運(yùn)營官以來，貝爾一直是顯然的接班人。對貝爾的提拔是使原首席執(zhí)行官杰克·格林伯格下臺(tái)的改組的一部分。麥當(dāng)勞公司稱，貝爾將在從主持公司董事會(huì)的安德魯·麥克納的過渡中發(fā)揮作用，麥肯納被任命接替坎塔盧波作為董事長的其他職責(zé)。不過，現(xiàn)年74歲的麥肯納不大可能在這個(gè)崗位長期待下去。
    (陳樹培 摘譯自 The Herald Sun Apr. 24The Globe and Mail Apr. 20 2004)