The story: By the late-1990s fast-food chain McDonald's had enjoyed 40 years of exceptional performance. In 1997,for example, the company the had，registered 10 years of 20 per cent per annum growth.

背景：截止20世纪90年代未，快餐连锁店麦当劳的非凡表现已经持续了40年。比如说，到1997年，该公司已连续10年维持着20%以上的年增长率。

The challenge: That year, Jack¹ Greenberg became the company's fourth chief executive. His main how to lead the business in less favourable² concern was market conditions. McDonald' s was facing concerns about fatty foods and about beef; competition squeezing margins³; andgrowth from international markets was slowing.

挑战：那一年，杰克·格林伯格成为该公司第四任首席执行官。他首要考虑的是如何在市场状况恶化的形势下领导公司继续前进。当时麦当劳面临着以下问题，人们对高脂肪食品和牛肉心存顾虑:激烈的竞争正挤压着利润率;来自国际市场的增长正在放缓。

The Mr Greenberg: Mr Greenberg did what the textbooks suggest. First, he focused on improving the core business, announcing it as his top priority. Then he also set a second priority: to find a new platform for growth. With this audacious goal in mind, e supported five acquisition of related restaurant businesses including Chipotle, a Mexican food restaurant, and 50 per cent of Pret A Manger, the U.K. sandwich chain and he setup the Partner Brands Division, to be responsible for these new businesses. Mr Greenberg also opened the door to a number of other, more organic initiatives led by his head of strategy, Mats Lederhausen.

策略：格林伯格完全依照教科书行事。首先，他着力改善核心业务，宣称这是自己的第一要务。其次，他确定了第二项优先事项，即寻找新的增长平台。怀着这样的雄心，格林伯格支持实施5起收购，将一些相关餐饮企业收人庵下，其中包括一家墨西哥餐厅Chipotle，以及英国三明治连锁店Pret A Manger 50%的股权。同时，他成立了伙伴品牌部门，负责管理这些新业务。梅林伯格还同意了主管战略的马茨·利德豪森提出的许多更具内生性的举措。

What happened: Mr Greenberg found it difficult to dedicate enough attention to both priorities. The core business continued to deteriorate⁴ andin 2001 McDonald's announced its first quarterly loss and the resignation of Mr Greenberg.

结果：格林伯格发现难以兼顾两个优先事项。核心业务每况愈下，到了2001年，麦当劳首次出现季度亏损，格林伯格本人辞职。

Jim Cantalupo, a retired⁵ McDonald's executive, was asked to return as CEO. His first announcement was that McDonald's had been trying to do too many things. He shut down many of the organic initiatives and housed all the new businesses into a structure called McDonald' s Ventures.

麦当劳请当时已经退休的原高管吉姆·坎塔卢波重新出山，出任首席执行官。坎塔卢披上任后马上宣布，麦当劳一直以来手头的事情太多。他叫停了许多内生性措施，并把所有新业务合并在一起，称之为麦当劳的商业冒险。

Mr Cantalupo instructed Mr Lederhausen to identify those businesses that could become significant for McDonald's without distracting management from its core business and to sell or close the rest. The result was that over the course of the next few years, a1most all of them were either sold or closed.

坎塔卢波指示利德豪森，从这些业务中挑选出一些未来可能变得较为重要、但不至于让管理层分心的业务，并将其余业务转手出售或关闭。结果，短短几年内，几乎所有这些业务不是被卖掉，就是关业大吉。

Thel lessons: First, this story is common. A company forecasts reduced growth in its core business, looks for new sources of revenue, launches initiatives, and makes acquisitions only to find a few years later, that it is back where it started, having sold or closed its new ventures.

教训：首先，这个案例具有普遍性。一家公司预计其核心业务增长将会放缓，于是着手寻找新的收入来源，推出各项举措，并进行收购——而数年后却只能回到起点，把所有新业务卖掉或关停。

Second, the textbook advice set a growth ambition, try a portfolio⁶ of related ventures and invest heavily in the few successes at the same timeas attending to the core does not always work, in spite of its continuing popularity.

其次，教科书上的建议——制定远大发展蓝图，尝试开展一系列相关业务，在致力于核心业务的同时，遇有好时机就大举投资——尽管一直备受推崇，却并非总是行之有效。

So, what is the alternative? When the core business starts to mature, leaders should be patient rather than energetic. The main risk is that attention is distracted from the core. Therefore, avoid launching a portfolio of initiatives; don 't set targets for growth outside the core; and don 't set up a new business division or venturing unit.

那么又该怎么做呢?当核心业务开始成熟时，领导人应当保持耐心，不可"勇猛直前"。这样做最大的风险是可能分散对核心业务的注意力。所以，这时要避免采取一系列行动，不要制定核心业务以外的增长目标，也不要设立新业务部门或者开拓新业务。

Do scan opportunities， but with a tough screening process and the expectation that none will be suitable. Expect to use spare cash to buy back shares, until a really good opportunity comes along.

要留心机会，但一定要细加筛查，抱着不会有什么合适的机会的心态。想着有富余资金就回购股票，除非出现真正的良机。

Above all, look for people rather than projects successful new growth outside the core nearly always comes from individuals or teams who happen to have a rare combination of both grassroots knowledge of a particular area and an understanding of how your company's strengths can be used to succeed.

最重要的是，应该物色的是人而非项目——一般来说，能够从非核心业务获得新的增长，往往是因为负责新业务的个人或团队难得地兼具以下两大优点:既切实了解某个特定领域，也明白如何利用公司的有利条件获取成功。

What happened next: The company's leaders have stuck to and revived the core. In fact, as is often the case with a strong core, the hamburger business is growing again, partly because of the fast growth of emerging markets such as China.

后续：麦当劳的管理层全心投入，终于重振核心业务。部分得益于中国等新兴市场的迅速增长，该公司汉堡业务重新恢复增长。就核心业务极其强大的案例来说，这其实是十分寻常的。

McDonald's is still looking for other opportunities but in a patient way.

麦当劳依然在寻找其他机会，但很有耐心。