STILL WATERS RUN DEEP IN DISPUTE AT WAHAHA
静水流深-达能、娃哈哈之争
By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai
Monday, June 18, 2007

Zong Qinghou, founder of the Wahaha drinks group, is a rare figure among Chinese entrepreneurs. Many have built strong operations in manufacturing and real estate but few have created a consumer brand known and respected across the country.
在中国的企业家中，娃哈哈饮料集团创始人宗庆后是个不同寻常的人物。许多企业家在制造业和房地产业建立起了强大的业务，但很少有人能创建一个在全国范围内受人尊敬的知名消费品牌。

That brand is gaining notoriety for other reasons. The name Wahaha was chosen to sound like a baby laughing but is now at the centre of an increasingly contentious international business dispute.
这个品牌还因为其它的原因而声名日隆。娃哈哈的名字选择了听起来类似婴儿笑声的发音，但是，该品牌目前正处于一场日益激化的国际商务争端的核心。

Danone, the French group that has a joint venture with Wahaha, has launched a $100m lawsuit in the US against two of Mr Zong's family and a subsidiary company over allegedly illegal sales of Wahaha drinks, while Mr Zong has accused Danone of trying to “frame” him and not understanding the Chinese market.
与娃哈哈拥有一家合资企业的法国集团达能，已在美国对宗庆后的两名家庭成员和一家子公司发起了1亿美元的诉讼，称其非法销售娃哈哈饮料。而宗庆后则指责达能试图“陷害”他，同时不了解中国市场。

The dispute could lead to the joint venture, one of the most successful in China, falling apart.
此次争端可能导致中国最成功的合资企业之一最终分崩离析。

In the process, it has put the spotlight back on whether multinationals should invest in China through such partnerships.
在此过程中，它已将人们关注的焦点带回到另一个问题：即跨国企业是否应通过此种合作方式在华投资。

Mr Zong, 62, blends many of the strengths and weaknesses of his generation of hard-driving entrepreneurs. He spends 200 days a year travelling the country, visiting markets and testing competitors' products to get a sense of what consumers want. While most rivals spent the 1990s focusing on big cities, he concentrated on smaller towns and rural areas to build broader support for the brand.
62岁的宗庆后，身上有着他这代苦干型企业家的优势和弱点。他每年花200天的时间巡视全国市场、测试竞争对手的产品，以了解消费者的需求。在90年代，当多数竞争对手将注意力集中在大城市时，他却专注规模相对较小的城镇和农村地区，以为该品牌建立更广泛的支持。

Wahaha remains a personality-driven company, with operations overly dependent on Mr Zong – who is often referred to as “Chairman Zong”.
娃哈哈仍然是一家由个人主导的企业，其业务过度依赖宗庆后——人们往往称他为“宗总”。

He has flirted with eccentric diversification plans. Last year, he talked about going into the defence industry and mining.
他已迅速转向了怪异的多元化计划。去年，他曾谈到要进军国防及采矿业。

For the past decade, Danone has benefited richly from Mr Zong's entrepreneurial energy. When Wa-haha wanted to launch its own bottled water in 1996, it entered a joint venture with the French company that provided capital for the operation in return for a 51 per cent stake. The bottled water is now the market leader.
过去10年，宗庆后作为一名企业家的精力，使达能从中获益匪浅。1996年，当娃哈哈希望推出自己的瓶装水时，与这家法国企业成立了一家合资公司，达能提供运营资本，并以此换取了合资公司51%的股权。目前，该公司的瓶装水已经占据了市场领先地位。

In retrospect, however, the business was an accident waiting to happen. Executives familiar with the joint venture say Danone has little influence on day-to-day operations. Yet, if Mr Zong wanted to use the Wahaha name on other products, he needed permission from the joint venture board – in other words Danone.
然而，回过头看，这家公司早晚会出问题。熟悉这家合资企业的高管表示，达能对日常经营没有什么影响力。但是如果宗庆后希望在其它产品上使用娃哈哈品牌，则需要获得该合资公司董事会——换言之就是达能——的同意。

“In the successful joint ventures, the two companies have skills that complement each other, but in this case they are also competitors,” says Paul French, a retail industry consultant in Shanghai.
上海的零售咨询顾问Paul French表示：“在一家成功的合资企业中，双方应当有相互弥补的技能，但在这个案例中，它们还是竞争对手。”

According to Danone, Mr Zong's response was conflict. He set up a parallel sales company to market and distribute water and other joint venture drinks products.
达能表示，宗庆后的反应是矛盾的。他设立了一家平行的销售企业，推广并分销水及其它合资企业的饮料产品。

With a slew of lawsuits pending, Danone won the first stage of the battle last week when Mr Zong resigned as chairman of the joint venture company, to be replaced by Danone's Asia boss Emmanuel Faber.
目前有很多未决的诉讼，而达能获得了这场斗争第一阶段的胜利，宗庆后已辞去了合资公司董事长的职务，并由达能亚太区总裁范易谋接任。

However, the depth of the task facing Danone as it tries to assert control was underlined on Friday when Wahaha employees issued public statements denouncing the French company.
然而，娃哈哈雇员则发表公开声明，谴责这家法国公司，从而突现出达能宣称对该公司拥有控制权这一任务所面临的困难。

A letter claiming to be from the Wahaha sales team stated: “We formally warn Danone and the traitors they hire, we will punish your sins. We only want Chairman Zong… Please get out of Wahaha!”
一封据称来自娃哈哈销售团队的信宣称：我们正式警告达能及其雇佣的叛徒，我们将惩罚你们的罪恶。我们只要宗总……请滚出娃哈哈！

Danone did not comment publicly on the letter.
达能未对这封信发表公开评论。

The danger for Danone is that Wahaha's extensive sales and distribution network, which deals with both the joint venture's drinks and Wahaha's own products, will undermine the joint venture.
对达能来说，危险在于娃哈哈庞大的销售和分销网络将对合资企业形成危害。该网络同时销售合资企业的饮料和娃哈哈自己的产品。

A consultant who asked not to be named said: “From Danone's point of view, it had become impossible to work with Zong, but it might also be impossible to run the company without him
一位不愿透露姓名的顾问表示：“从达能的角度来看，已不可能与宗庆后合作，但在没有宗庆后的情况下运营公司也不可能。”

However, Lu Jinyong at the Foreign Economic and Trade University in Beijing, says Danone should be able to stabilise the business. “There have been disagreements for some time so I assume Danone planned for the worst-case scenario,” he said.
然而，北京对外经济贸易大学的卢进勇表示，达能应该有能力稳住该项业务。他表示：“一段时间以来一直都存在分歧，因此，我猜想达能已经为最坏的情况做好了准备。”

In his battle with Danone, Mr Zong has tried to use his political contacts. He chose the National People's Congress in March to go public with his attacks on Danone.
在与达能的争端之中，宗庆后已设法动用政治方面的关系。他选择在3月份的全国人大上公开抨击达能。

However, there are signs that the heavy nationalist language used by Mr Zong has not gone down well in Beijing.
不过，一些迹象表明，宗庆后使用的带有强烈民族主义色彩的语言在北京并不太奏效。

State media reported that Beijing has tried not to take sides in the dispute.
国有媒体报道称，中国政府方面试图不偏袒争议中的任何一方。

If Mr Zong is to squeeze Danone out of control of the Wahaha brand, he will need to rely on his own energies.
如果宗庆后要使达能丧失对娃哈哈品牌的控制权，他需要凭借自己的力量。