经济学人下载:家乐福,摇摇欲坠

Carrefour’s remaining big project is an internal one, managed by its chief executive, Lars Olofsson. His plan, “Carrefour Planet”, is to spend  1.5 billion ($2.1 billion) to refurbish and redesign 500 hypermarkets around the world within two years. He wins full marks for ambition. Instead of trying to sell a wide range of non-food items, the new stores focus on a few specialist areas, such as electronics and textiles, and offer services such as baby-sitting and hair care.
家乐福下一个重要计划属于公司内部策略，由公司首席执行官拉尔斯．奥洛尔松（Lars Olofsson）负责。拉尔斯的“家乐福行星”计划将斥资15亿欧元（21亿美元），在两年内重新装饰并设计全球500家超级卖场。拉尔斯此举胆略过人。新的卖场将不会销售大量的非食品商品，相反却会专注于几个特定领域，如电子产品和纺织品，并提供诸如照看婴儿和美发等服务。

So far, results have been good, but not stupendous. In four pilot stores, the number of customers and sales went up by a tenth following the revamp. In two others, not much changed. Mr Arnault himself, says a Carrefour executive, is helping to drive traffic, making frequent visits to check on its stores. If the strategy fails to revive Carrefour’s French hypermarkets by the end of next year, some investors will demand that the firm be taken to the charcuterie counter and carved up.
目前为止成效良好，但也并非是令人惊叹的。在4个试点商店里，店铺翻新后顾客数目和销售额都上升了10%。但在另外两家店里却没有出现显著的变化。据家乐福的一位执行官说，阿尔诺先生本人也着手协助店铺运营，并频繁探视一些卖场。如果明年年底这个策略依然无法使家乐福法国的超级卖场重整旗鼓，一些投资者就会将这家企业牵到屠宰市场上，将其瓜分一空。