收缩业务的智慧：宝洁如何靠“瘦身”来实现增长

    当代最成功的一些公司都采用了这样的原则。苹果公司（Apple）旗下的产品和品牌屈指可数。租车公司Enterprise Rent-A-Car将重点放在手头没车的消费者构成的更新换代市场。就连那些聚焦的初创型企业，也能获得不俗的回报。DocuSign的业务重点就是文件签收。Uber只提供出租车服务。由此可见：只要你将一个市场挖掘得够深，这个市场就不存在“太小”一说。实际上，要扩大收入规模，你应该缩小市场！

    对宝洁来说，现在的难点在于如何控制这个收缩过程。

    如果优先选择的品牌无法通过增长来弥补已剥离品牌产生的收入损失，盲目删减产品和品牌就会成为一场灾难。如果某些非优先选择品牌可以带来利润而且在管理方面不会耗费高层很多精力，它们也许就值得保留，至少在一段时间内是这样。对于那些要剥离的品牌，价格是唯一的影响因素——剥离工作必须尽可能迅速而简单地进行，以免节外生枝。

    专注于核心业务有助于降低复杂性。简化策略，管理层就可以自上而下的执行工作。这就是重点经营和“收缩的智慧”带来的优势。执行新策略的宝洁将经历一个尝试期。但如果顺利度过，它将变得更加精干、运转自如，在盈利状态下实现可持续增长。

    桑杰•科斯拉是西北大学凯洛格商学院（Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University）高级研究员。此前，他于2007-2013年在卡夫食品[现在的亿滋国际（Mondelez International）]担任市场开发总裁。莫汉比尔•萨赫尼是凯洛格商学院技术与创新研究中心（Center for Research in Technology & Innovation）主任。两人合著了《更少、更大、更大胆：从无意识的扩张到有重点的增长》（Fewer, Bigger, Bolder: From Mindless Expansion to Focused Growth，Portfolio Hardcover出版社出版，2014年）一书。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    Some of the most successful companies of our time practice this principle. Apple offers only a handful of products and brands. Enterprise Rent-A-Car emphasizes the replacement market for consumers who don’t have access to a car. Even startup companies that focus have been handsomely rewarded. DocuSign concentrates solely on document signing. Uber only does cab services. The lesson: No market is too narrow if you go deep enough. In fact, to broaden your revenues, you should narrow your markets!

    For P&G, the hard chore now will be managing the process of slimming down.

    Recklessly shedding products and brands can be disastrous if the growth in the priority brands does not compensate for revenues lost from the brands being divested. Some non-priority brands may even be worth holding onto, at least, for a while, if they throw off profits and can be managed without much senior leadership effort. As for those being divested, price is only one factor—the separation has to be as swift and as simple as possible to avoid disruption.

    Concentrating on the core helps weed the underbrush of complexity. Strategy gets simplified. That allows managers top to bottom to work on execution. That’s the advantage of a focused operation and the Wisdom of Less. P&G faces a trying period as it executes its new strategy. But if it gets to the other side, it will become a leaner, smarter operation, one that produces growth that is both profitable and sustainable.

    Sanjay Khosla is a senior fellow at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Previously, he was president of developing markets of Kraft Foods (now Mondelez International) from 2007 to 2013. MohanbirSawhney directs the Center for Research in Technology & Innovation at the Kellogg School of Management. They are the co-authors of Fewer, Bigger, Bolder: From Mindless Expansion to Focused Growth (Portfolio, 2014).