【正文】 Our mall stores face a host of new food and snack vendors that provide particularly strong petition at nonholiday 。 See’s business tends to get a bit more seasonal each year. In the four weeks prior to Christmas, we do 40% of the year’s volume and earn about 75% of the year’s profits. We also earn significant sums in the Easter and Valentine’s Day periods, but pretty much tread water the rest of the year. In recent years, shop volume at Christmas has grown in relative importance, and so have quantity orders and mail orders. The increased concentration of business in the Christmas period produces a multitude of managerial problems, all of which have been handled by Chuck and his associates with exceptional skill and grace. 喜斯糖果的銷售受到季節(jié)因素的影響越來越大，在聖誕節(jié)到來的前四週，其業(yè)績與獲 利分別佔(zhàn)全年的四成與七成五，此外復(fù)活節(jié)與情人節(jié)期間的業(yè)績也特別好，至於平時 的生意表現(xiàn)則平平，不過也因?yàn)槿绱耸沟霉芾聿块T與員工在忙季特別辛苦，這有賴 Chuck 及其團(tuán)隊無比的耐性來處理大量的訂單。 Our costcontrol problem has been exacerbated by the problem of modestly declining volume (measured by pounds, not dollars) on a samestore basis. Total pounds sold through shops in recent years has been maintained at a roughly constant level only by the addition of a few shops annually. This moreshopstogetthesamevolume situation naturally puts heavy pressure on perpound selling costs. 過去我們由於單店銷售數(shù)量 (指重量，而非金額 )略微下滑，使得成本問題惡化，整體 銷量只能靠增加門市來擴(kuò)張，這種依賴展店來維持銷量的做法，當(dāng)然使得單位銷售成 本惡化。 You and I are fortunate to be in partnership with the Blumkin family. 我們很榮幸能與 B 太太合夥作生意。 we did not take an inventory nor verify the receivables。 and, (4) unfailingly behave in a highgrade manner with everyone they deal with. (Mrs. B boils it down to 晝 ell cheap and tell the truth?) 人們常常問我， B 太太到底有什麼經(jīng)營訣竅，而其實(shí)說穿了也不是什麼深奧的道理， 他們整個家族（ 1）對事業(yè)懷抱的熱情與衝勁會讓富蘭克林與 Horatio Alger 看起來 像輟學(xué)生（ 2）腳踏實(shí)地的去落實(shí)並果斷的決定要作的事情（ 3）不受外在對於公司競 爭力沒有幫助的誘惑（ 4）對待所有人皆能保持高尚的人格。 (2) define with extraordinary realism their area of special petence and act decisively on all matters within it。 None of this is in criticism of Levitz, which has a wellmanaged operation. But the NFM operation is simply extraordinary (and, remember, it all es from a $500 investment by Mrs. B in 1937). By unparalleled efficiency and astute volume purchasing, NFM is able to earn excellent returns on capital while saving its customers at least $30 million annually from what, on average, it would cost them to buy the same merchandise at stores maintaining typical markups. Such savings enable NFM to constantly widen its geographical reach and thus to enjoy growth well beyond the natural growth of the Omaha market. 我們不是要批評 Levitz，事實(shí)上該公司經(jīng)營亦頗出色，只是 NFM的表現(xiàn)實(shí)在是太好 了，（記著這一切的一切都是從 B太太 1937 年的 500 塊本錢開始），靠著精打細(xì)算 與大量採購的成本優(yōu)勢， NFM在供獻(xiàn)股東盈餘的同時，也替顧客節(jié)省了可觀的採購預(yù) 算，這一點(diǎn)也使得該公司的客戶分佈越來越廣。 Last year NFM’s sales increased by $ million, bringing the total to $115 million, all from the one store in Omaha. That is by far the largest volume produced by a single home furnishings store in the United States. In fact, the gain in sales last year was itself greater than the annual volume of many goodsized successful stores. The business achieves this success because it deserves this success. A few figures will tell you why. 去年 NFM 單店的營業(yè)額增加一千多萬美金，成為一億一千多萬，是全美單店業(yè)績最 高的一家家具量販店，事實(shí)上它的成功不是沒有道理的，以下數(shù)字說明一切。 and, most recently, Paul Volcker. (They are in good pany.) 今年五月 B 太太榮獲紐約大學(xué)頒贈榮譽(yù)博士學(xué)位，（她是個跳級生，在她獲得這個學(xué) 位之前，從來沒有到學(xué)校上過一天課），在她之前獲頒這項殊榮的包有括艾克森石油 總裁、花旗銀行總裁、 IBM總裁與通用汽車總裁等傑出企業(yè)人士。 Frank Cary, then CEO of IBM。 In May Mrs. B was granted an Honorary Doctorate in Commercial Science by New York University. (She’s a fast track student: not one day in her life was spent in a school room prior to her receipt of the doctorate.) Previous recipients of honorary degrees in business from NYU include Clifton Garvin, Jr., CEO of Exxon Corp.。 Nebraska Furniture Mart Nebraska 家具店 Last year I introduced you to Mrs. B (Rose Blumkin) and her family. I told you they were terrific, and I understated the case. After another year of observing their remarkable talents and character, I can honestly say that I never have seen a managerial group that either functions or behaves better than the Blumkin family. 去年我曾介紹過 B太太跟她的家族的優(yōu)異表現(xiàn)，不過事實(shí)上我還低估他們的管理 才能 與人格特質(zhì)，經(jīng)過一年的觀察，我可以肯定地跟各位報告 B 太太家族堪稱是最佳的經(jīng) 營團(tuán)隊。 Harman ...................... 27,318 38,662 818,872 Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. 2,570 28,149 555,949 Northwest Industries 26,581 27,242 2,553,488 Time, Inc. .......................... 89,327 109,162 1,868,600 The Washington Post Company ......... 10,628 149,955 $573,340 $1,231,560 All Other Common Stockholdings 11,634 37,326 Total Common Stocks $584,974 $1,268,886 ========== ========== It’s been over ten years since it has been as difficult as now to find equity investments that meet both our qualitative standards and our quantitative standards of value versus price. We try to avoid promise of these standards, although we find doing nothing the most difficult task of all. (One English statesman attributed his country’s greatness in the nieenth century to a policy of 単 asterly inactivity? This is a strategy that is far easier for historians to mend than for participants to follow.) 最近十年來實(shí)在很難找得到同時能夠符合我們質(zhì) /量 (價格與價值的 差距 )標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的投資 標(biāo)的，我們儘量避免降格以求，但你知道什麼事都不做才是最困難的一件事 (有一位英 國政治家將該國十九世紀(jì)的偉大歸功於統(tǒng)治者的無為而治，但歷史學(xué)家可以隨隨便便 就提議，不過後繼統(tǒng)治者卻很難真正做得到 ) In addition to the figures supplied at the beginning of this section, information regarding the businesses we own appears in Management’s Discussion on pages 4247. An amplified discussion of Wesco’s businesses appears in Charlie Munger’s report on pages 5059. You will find particularly interesting his ments about conditions in the thrift i