2012年股东大会 · 如果公司有坏消息，那知道的越早越好 — 文稿

M10:00

这个问题来自马里兰州的一位股东 David Kass。

This question comes from a shareholder named David Kass of Maryland.

他说，Berkshire 近几年最大的几笔投资之一就是 Walmart。

He says, one of Berkshire's largest investments in recent years has been Walmart.

因为 Walmart 的墨西哥行贿丑闻，你对这家公司的看法有没有改变？

Has your opinion of this company changed as a result of the Mexican bribery scandal?

M20:14

没有。我觉得他们在处理这件事的方式上，可能确实犯了错误。如果你读过《New York Times》的报道，就会知道事情总有另一面，但从目前看，他们很可能在处理方式上出了问题。

No, I think they made - it looks, if you read the New York Times story, and there's always another side to it, but it looks like they may well have made a mistake in how that was handled.

但我不认为这件事会改变什么根本性的东西。当然，它很可能会导致一笔数额不小的罚款，但我不觉得这会改变公司的基本运行逻辑。

But I do not think it - and it may well result in a significant fine, you know, but I don't think it changes the fundamental dynamic.

我的意思是，Walmart 的毛利率确实很低，这也就意味着它能提供低价，而这种模式在零售业是行得通的。他们做的很多其他事情，在零售业里也都行得通。

I mean, Walmart does operate on low gross margins, which means it offers low prices, and that works in retailing, and a lot of other things they do work in retailing.

所以，我是说，这件事会严重分散管理层的时间，也会带来成本，还有一大堆其他影响。但我不认为，五年以后 Walmart 的盈利能力会因为这件事的结果而受到实质性影响。

So, I do not see - I mean, it's a huge diversion of management time, and it's costly, and a whole bunch of things, but I don't think the earning power of Walmart five years from now will be materially affected by the outcome of this situation.

Charlie，你怎么看？

Charlie?

M31:20

嗯，这些问题挺有意思。

Well, these are interesting questions.

据我所知，Berkshire 在这方面没有出现任何问题。不过我们的员工太多了，所以不能排除某个地方可能会有疏漏。

I'm unaware of any place where Berkshire is slipping on this, but we have so many employees that it's not inconceivable we could have some slippage somewhere.

而且，一家公司做到 Walmart 这么大的规模，偶尔出现点小纰漏也是难免的。

And, uh, you get as big as Walmart, you're going to have an occasional glitch.

我不认为 Walmart 在根本上有什么不光彩的地方。

I, I don't think there's something fundamentally dishonorable about Walmart.

M21:54

像 Berkshire 这么大的公司，总会有个……对，肯定会有纰漏。

When you have something as big as Berkshire, you're going to have a - yeah, there's no glitch.

我的意思是，我们现在有二十七万人在和客户、政府官员、供应商以及各种各样的人打交道。

I mean, we have 270,000 people today interacting with customers and government officials and vendors and all kinds of people.

我可以保证，肯定有人在做错事。

I will guarantee you somebody is doing something wrong.

事实上我敢保证，至少大概有二十个人在做错事。

In fact, I would guarantee you at least, you know, probably 20 people are doing something wrong.

你不可能有一座二十七万人口的城市，却什么事情都不发生。

You can't have a city of 270,000 people and not have something going on.

我们可以没完没了地讲什么该做、什么不该做，但有时候，人们并不会按照你传达信息的方式去理解。

And we can talk till we're blue in the face about what people should do and not do, but people don't get messages sometimes the same way that you give them.

而且，我们和实际做事的人之间隔着好几层，很多人就是会做出一些很离谱的事情。

And they're, you know, we're layers removed from people operating and others, and a lot of people just do crazy things.

所以，经营这样一家企业时，真正让人担心的不是有人做错事，因为肯定会有人做错事。

So it is a - I mean, it is a real worry if you're running a business like this that you don't worry about the fact somebody's doing something wrong, because there is going to be somebody doing something wrong.

你担心的是，问题很严重，却没有人处理；还有就是，一旦听说出了什么问题，你能不能迅速采取行动。

What you worry about is that it's, it's, it's material and nothing gets done about it, and, and that you act fast if you hear about something.

当然，我们有举报热线，也有各种通信渠道，什么都有。但这些都无法阻止一件事实：就在此刻，Berkshire 里肯定有人在做错事。

And, you know, we've got hotlines and we've got all communications and everything, but that does not stop the fact that right now somebody is doing something wrong at Berkshire.

如果有一天我们的规模扩大一倍，那员工也会更多。

And if we get twice as large someday, we'll have more people.

所以我们会反复告诉管理人员，一旦发现了什么问题，就要立刻处理。

And we try to convey to the managers that when they find out about something, you know, act on it immediately.

要告诉我们。

Let us know.

只要坏消息能及时传到我们这里，我们就能应对。

We can handle bad news as long as we get it promptly.

但对于任何一个管理着几十万人的人，我都非常理解他们面临的困难。

But I'm very sympathetic to anybody running hundreds of thousands of people.

有些人有时候甚至意识不到自己做错了事，这就会带来相应的问题。

To the problems of the ones that sometimes, you know, they don't even think they're doing something wrong.

我的意思是，把二十七万人聚在一起，哪怕只是这么大的一群人，你也会碰到一些非常古怪的人。

I mean, if you get 270,000 people together, maybe even a crowd this size, you'll have some very peculiar people.

M33:48

那些高卢人。

The gauls.