时思糖果的秘密（节选）

    每天凌晨4点钟，时思糖果公司（See's Candies）的工人们就开始陆续抵达位于洛杉矶和旧金山的工厂。他们站在各自的工位前，一些人把软糖料洒在枫叶核桃糖上，或者数着每个皇家杏仁巧克力中的坚果数量。另一些人则把甜醉杏仁糖铺在平底锅里，或者用手捏碎腰果块。工人们穿着类似实验室工作服的白大褂，衣服的前方缝着每个人的名字，颜色为黑色——与1952年摄制的著名情景喜剧《我爱露西》（I Love Lucy）中的服饰非常类似，这部戏的主演露西尔•鲍尔还曾专门在时思糖果公司体验过一段时间。到了早上9点钟，许多工人已经开始吃午饭了。

    与此同时，在奥马哈市法钠姆街的基维特大厦，沃伦•巴菲特基本上不知道时思糖果公司正在发生的一幕。他的伯克希尔哈撒韦集团（Berkshire Hathaway）于1972年（整整40年前），以2,500万美元的价格收购了这家小型糖果制造商。盒装巧克力是一个规模较小的产业，据估算，美国一年的盒装巧克力总销售额还不到20亿美元，而且并不是每年都会增长，尽管在2012年增长了4%。巴菲特同时还持有其他资产，包括美国运通（American Express）、可口可乐（Coca-Cola）和IBM公司的大宗股权，它们2011年实现了3.76亿美元的销售额。相形之下，时思糖果公司8,300万美元的净利润不啻为“沧海一粟”。但在他所有的投资中，这家区域性糖果制造商时至今日依然是巴菲特的最爱。

    当然，这位奥马哈先知并不担心旗下公司的日常管理工作；2006年，巴菲特对时思糖果公司进行了40年来最大一次干预：当时，已经为时思糖果公司效力54年之久、并担任了33年首席执行官一职的查克•希金斯荣休之后，巴菲特安排伯克希尔哈撒韦集团保险事务的长期负责人布拉德•金斯特勒接掌了这家公司的运营工作。

    现在，59岁的金斯特勒正着手从事一项雄心勃勃的计划，意欲把时思糖果带往全美各地。在前往美国西海岸的旅途中，大家或许在机场商店中见过时思糖果的身影，但在该公司的211家专卖店中，没有一家设在芝加哥以东的地区。未来3年，时思糖果计划在佛罗里达州、佐治亚州、宾夕法尼亚州、马里兰州和华盛顿特区等地区开设专卖店。这项计划能否成功依然是个未知数；过去进行的类似尝试并不太奏效。对于一家素以耐心和审慎著称（就像巴菲特本人）的企业而言，（虽然经过了仔细考虑，）如此规模的扩张计划往往依然孕育着风险。但金斯特勒比他的前任更有决心实现这个目标。

    译者：任文科

    The plant workers of See's Candies start arriving each day at 4 a.m. In Los Angeles and San Francisco they stand at their stations and drizzle fondant onto maple pecan bonbons or count the nuts in each almond royal. They spread rum nougat into flat pans or break up chunks of cashew brittle by hand. All the while, they wear the signature white lab coats with their first names embroidered on the front in black stitching -- similar to the ones in the famous 1952 I Love Lucyepisode, for which Lucille Ball trained at See's. By 9 a.m., many of the workers break for lunch.

    Meanwhile, in the Kiewit Building on Farnam Street in Omaha, Warren Buffett is largely unaware of what is beginning at See's. His Berkshire Hathaway group (BRKA) acquired the little candy company in 1972 -- exactly 40 years ago -- for $25 million. The boxed-chocolate industry is small, with total sales estimated at just under $2 billion a year in the U.S., and does not often grow year to year, although it is up 4% in 2012. See's, which had sales of $376 million in 2011, $83 million of it profit, represents an infinitesimal drop in the bucket of Buffett's other holdings, which include fat stakes in American Express (AXP), Coca-Cola (KO), and IBM (IBM). But of all his investments, the regional candy maker remains Buffett's fondest.

    Of course, the Oracle doesn't worry himself with the day-to-day management of companies he owns; his biggest act of participation in four decades was in 2006 when he installed longtime Berkshire insurance man Brad Kinstler to run things after Chuck Huggins, who had been with the company 54 years and was CEO for 33 of them, retired.

    Now Kinstler, 59, is embarking on a plan to spread out across the country. You may know See's from airport kiosks on trips to the West Coast, but of the company's 211 shops, none are east of Chicago. In the next three years See's plans to open stores in states like Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and in Washington, D.C. Whether it will be successful is uncertain; past attempts have not worked that well. The plan means risk -- though measured -- for a business that, like Buffett himself, is usually about patience and caution. But Kinstler is more determined than anyone before him to make it happen.