什么都不做就能挣钱：Uber和Airbnb的故事

好日子即将到头

    美国各州和各大城市已经开始对至少某些新经济公司实施监管，尽管此类努力经常会受到人们的嘲笑，并且背上了扼杀创新的罪名。我不知道推卸责任和法律义务是否真的属于“创新”。规避旨在监管旅馆位置的区划法规，对谁有资格开车载客的规定不管不顾，必然会带来一些风险，被服务一方真的应该警觉这些风险，如果你相信服务协议的话。

    对于那些担心收入不均的人，还有一个理由让他们重新审视这些新商业模式。密歇根大学（University of Michigan）商学院教授杰拉德•F•戴维斯和他的同事对53个国家在1960-2006年之间的数据进行了仔细分析。他们发现，人们在大公司里工作的比例越高，收入不均的水平就越低。这一发现是有道理的，因为内部劳动力市场以及雇员之间更密切的社会交往，比市场安排更易于减少员工的收入差异。

    你可以说我“老套”，但我的确更喜欢一家公司的“服务协议”里写明它究竟提供哪种产品和服务，而不是说它对任何事都不负责。我喜欢光顾的公司，是那种有自己的产品、有严格的管理、关心它的顾客、对员工提供监管、为服务提供质量保障的公司。（财富中文网）

    本文作者Jeffrey Pfeffer是斯坦福大学商学院（Stanford’s Graduate School of Business）组织行为学教授。他最近的著作《Leadership B.S.: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time》将于2015年由哈珀柯林斯出版社（HarperCollins）出版。

The jig may soon be up

    Cities and states are beginning to try to impose some oversight on at least some of the new economy companies, although such efforts are often met with derision and characterized as stifling innovation. I am not sure that avoiding responsibility and legal liability is really as “innovative” as is sometimes claimed. Bypassing zoning regulations on where hotels can be located and negating licensing requirements related to who can pick up passengers poses risks that, if you believe the terms of service agreements, truly should make the buyer beware.

    For those people who worry about income inequality, there is another reason to think twice about these new business models. In a careful analysis of 53 countries from 1960 to 2006, University of Michigan business school professor Gerald F. Davis and a colleague found that the higher proportion of employees who worked in large companies, the lower the level of income inequality. This makes sense because internal labor markets and the greater social contact among employees reduces variation in wages much more so than in market-like arrangements.

    Call me old-fashioned, but I actually like a company whose “terms of service” entails providing the product or service I am purchasing rather than stating all the things it is not responsible for. I prefer to buy from a company that stands behind its products, with management that cares enough about its customers to provide oversight of its employee workforce and quality assurance for its services.

    Jeffrey Pfeffer is Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. His latest book, Leadership B.S.: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time will be published in September, 2015 by HarperCollins.