“三星共和國”的挫敗：Note 7召回打擊韓國

SEOUL, South Korea — A former South Korean teacher, Kim Jeong-min was at Narita Airport in Japan this month when he watched a television news report that Samsung Electronics’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphone was banned on airplanes because it was prone to catching fire.

韓國首爾——本月，前韓國教師金正民(Kim Jeong-min，音)在日本成田機(jī)場(Narita Airport)看到電視新聞報道稱，三星電子(Samsung Electronics)的蓋樂世Note 7智能手機(jī)(Galaxy Note 7)因容易起火而被禁止帶上飛機(jī)。

Mr. Kim, 58, said he had felt humiliated, as if the non-Koreans in the airport lounge were looking at him.

58歲的金正民稱，他感到羞愧，好像候機(jī)廳里的非韓國人都在看他。

Though he does not own a Galaxy Note 7, his reaction was typical of the intense feelings South Koreans hold toward Samsung, the most dramatic corporate success story to emerge from the country’s transformation from a war-torn agrarian nation to a global economic powerhouse.

雖然他沒有蓋樂世Note 7，但他的反應(yīng)反映出韓國人對三星懷有的典型的強(qiáng)烈感情。三星是這個國家從遭戰(zhàn)爭破壞的農(nóng)耕國家轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)槿蚪?jīng)濟(jì)強(qiáng)國過程中出現(xiàn)的最激動人心的商業(yè)成功故事。

“Whether we like it or not, Samsung is to the global market what our national team is in the Olympics,” Mr. Kim said.

“不管我們喜歡與否，三星在全球市場上相當(dāng)于奧運(yùn)會上的韓國代表團(tuán)，”金正民說。

Calling Samsung this country’s biggest and most profitable company hardly describes its special (but not always favorable) place in minds here. Some South Koreans say they live in the “Republic of Samsung.”

稱三星是韓國最大、最賺錢的公司還不足以描述它在韓國人民心中的特殊(但不總是受歡迎的)地位。有些韓國人說他們生活在“三星共和國”。

Life can literally begin and end with Samsung: One can be born in a Samsung hospital; attend a Samsung university; honeymoon in a Samsung hotel; stock a Samsung-built apartment with Samsung appliances bought with a Samsung credit card; take children to Samsung amusement parks; and have one’s body, upon death, taken to a Samsung funeral center.

一個韓國人的一生可能從頭到尾都與三星有關(guān)系：他可能出生在三星的一家醫(yī)院里;上了一所三星的大學(xué);在三星的一家酒店里度蜜月;在三星建的公寓里裝滿用三星信用卡買的三星電器;帶孩子去三星的游樂場;去世后，遺體被運(yùn)往三星的一家殯儀館。

For South Koreans, the company’s progression from an assembler of clunky transistor radio sets to the world’s leading producer of flat-panel television sets, computer chips and smartphones is a source of national pride. Last year, Samsung accounted for 20 percent of South Korea’s $527 billion in exports. That pride was dented, and economic unease deepened, when Samsung recalled more than three million Note 7 smartphones globally and decided not to produce any more because some devices heated up and burst into flames.

對韓國人來說，這家公司從一個裝配笨重晶體管收音機(jī)的工廠發(fā)展成為生產(chǎn)平板電視、電腦芯片和智能手機(jī)的世界領(lǐng)先企業(yè)是該國的一個驕傲。去年，三星的出口額占韓國5270億美元的總出口額的20%。因有些設(shè)備過熱并起火，三星在全球召回300多萬部Note 7智能手機(jī)，并決定不再生產(chǎn)這款手機(jī)，這讓韓國人的榮譽(yù)感受到傷害，并加深了他們對經(jīng)濟(jì)的不安感覺。

“This is not just Samsung’s trouble. It’s trouble for the entire economy,” the opposition leader Moon Jae-in, a potential contender in next year’s presidential election, said this month, referring to the Note 7 crisis. “Because people take pride in Samsung as a brand representing South Korea, it is their trouble, too.”

“這不只是三星的麻煩。它是整個經(jīng)濟(jì)的麻煩，”本月，反對黨領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人文在寅(Moon Jae-in) 在提起Note 7的危機(jī)時表示。他是明年總統(tǒng)大選的一個潛在競爭者。“因為人們認(rèn)為三星代表著韓國，為它感到驕傲，所以這也是他們的麻煩。”

On Thursday, President Park Geun-hye voiced concern about the Galaxy Note 7 recall’s impact on exports. The economy has taken recent hits from rising unemployment rates and the bankruptcy of Hanjin, a major shipping company. Its shipyards, among the world’s largest, are laying off thousands after posting huge losses because of shrinking orders and competition from lower-cost rivals in China.

周四，樸槿惠總統(tǒng)(Park Geun-hye)就蓋樂世Note 7的召回對出口的影響表示擔(dān)憂。最近，該國經(jīng)濟(jì)已經(jīng)因為失業(yè)率上升和大型船運(yùn)公司韓進(jìn)(Hanjin)的破產(chǎn)而受到打擊。該國的造船廠躋身世界最大造船廠之列，但是由于訂單減少以及來自中國的低成本對手的競爭，它們出現(xiàn)巨額虧損，導(dǎo)致數(shù)以千計的員工下崗。

Samsung is the best-known brand name South Korea has ever produced, ranking seventh in the 100 best global brands compiled by Interbrand, a brand consultancy. Its Galaxy smartphones have lifted its — and by extension South Korea’s — high-tech image more than any other Korean product.

到目前為止，三星是韓國最著名的品牌，在品牌咨詢公司Interbrand選出的全球最佳品牌100強(qiáng)中，三星排名第七。蓋樂世智能手機(jī)在提升該公司以及該國的高科技形象方面做出了超過其他任何韓國產(chǎn)品的貢獻(xiàn)。

Having already overtaken Sony and other Japanese companies it once mimicked, Samsung has grown powerful enough to challenge Apple, an icon of American innovation.

三星已經(jīng)超越它曾經(jīng)模仿的索尼(Sony)等日本公司，變得非常強(qiáng)大，足以挑戰(zhàn)美國創(chuàng)新能力的標(biāo)志蘋果公司(Apple)。

To many South Koreans, the Note 7 recall, the biggest ever in the mobile phone industry, is just another painful lesson for Samsung to learn from and pay for — the recall is estimated to cost it $6.2 billion — in its quest to dominate yet another industry.

對很多韓國人來說，Note7的召回只是三星努力在另一個行業(yè)占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位的過程中吸取的沉痛教訓(xùn)和付出的沉重代價。此次是手機(jī)行業(yè)最大規(guī)模的召回行動，成本估計高達(dá)62億美元。

“All manufacturing companies, including the American and Japanese, make mistakes,” said Park Bo-yeon, 29, who was recently browsing in a handset shop in downtown Seoul where a notice urged customers to hand in Note 7s. “What matters is whether you can learn from them and move on. Samsung always has.”

“所有的制造企業(yè)，包括美國和日本的，都犯過錯誤，”29歲的樸寶妍(Park Bo-yeon，音)說。前不久，她在首爾市中心一家手機(jī)店里瀏覽商品。店里貼了一個提示，敦促顧客交回Note 7。“重要的是，是否能夠吸取教訓(xùn)，繼續(xù)前進(jìn)。三星總能做到這一點(diǎn)。”

Ms. Park suspected that the Note 7 fiasco had been overblown by the American news media, which she said looked down on Samsung. She said she was disappointed that Samsung had failed to explain why some Note 7s heated up and caught fire. But she was equally impressed by Samsung’s “courageous decision to terminate the Note 7 before anyone died.”

樸寶妍懷疑，美國新聞媒體因為瞧不起三星，過分渲染了Note 7的此次慘敗。她說自己對三星沒有解釋有些Note 7過熱并起火的原因感到失望。不過，她也同樣很佩服三星“在沒有出現(xiàn)死亡案例之前決定終止生產(chǎn)Note 7的勇氣”。

Among South Koreans, though, the name Samsung also evokes greed and secrecy. They often describe the company as a predator that makes profits not so much through innovation as by ruthlessly squeezing its numerous domestic parts suppliers.

不過在韓國人眼中，三星這個名字也代表著貪婪和詭秘。他們經(jīng)常把這個公司形容為掠奪者，它不僅是通過創(chuàng)新獲利，更多的是通過無情地壓榨國內(nèi)的眾多零件供應(yīng)商。

And Samsung has never shaken off its image as an imitator, though a highly efficient one. (Last year, it was ordered to pay $548 million in damages to Apple for infringing on its iPhone design patents, a case that is now at the United States Supreme Court.)

而且三星從未擺脫模仿者的形象，雖然它是一個非常高效的模仿者(去年，因侵權(quán)使用iPhone的設(shè)計專利，三星被勒令向蘋果賠償5.48億美元的損失，目前該案正在美國最高法院審理)。

The Note 7 disaster raised more doubt about Samsung’s reputation. It also reminded South Koreans that their export-driven economy depended so heavily on Samsung and a handful of other family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebol, that they often feel it is held hostage to them.

Note 7的災(zāi)難加深了人們對三星聲譽(yù)的質(zhì)疑，也讓韓國人再次想到，他們以出口驅(qū)動的經(jīng)濟(jì)十分強(qiáng)烈地依賴于三星和其他少數(shù)幾個由家族控制的企業(yè)集團(tuán)(又叫財團(tuán))，他們經(jīng)常覺得韓國遭受了這些財團(tuán)綁架。

“The saying that Samsung’s good and bad luck is our country’s good and bad luck is propaganda manufactured by Samsung and media and politicians beholden to it,” said Kim Sang-gyun, 32, who was visiting the same shop as Ms. Park. “Why should I worry about Samsung’s trouble unless I owned a Samsung share or Note 7? And I don’t.”

“三星的命運(yùn)就是我們國家的命運(yùn)——這是三星以及受惠于它的媒體和政客們宣傳出來的，”32歲的金尚坤(Kim Sang-gyun，音)說。和樸寶妍一樣，他也是那家手機(jī)店的顧客。“如果我沒有持有三星的股票或擁有一部Note 7，我為什么要擔(dān)心三星的麻煩?我不擔(dān)心。”

Samsung is the most successful among the chaebol, which spearheaded South Korea’s industrialization by copying foreign competitors’ products but making them cheaper, better and faster.

三星是韓國最成功的財團(tuán)，它通過仿造外國競爭者的產(chǎn)品并生產(chǎn)出更便宜、更好用、速度更快的產(chǎn)品而領(lǐng)導(dǎo)韓國的工業(yè)化進(jìn)程。

China is now using the same model to threaten South Korea in the industries it has dominated through the “fast follower” strategy: shipbuilding, semiconductor and smartphones. South Korea sees itself as in a constant race to catch up with innovators like Apple while struggling to keep a step ahead of Chinese rivals.

現(xiàn)在，在韓國通過“快速模仿”戰(zhàn)略占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位的行業(yè)，中國在以同樣的模式威脅韓國，比如在造船、半導(dǎo)體和智能手機(jī)領(lǐng)域。韓國認(rèn)為自己在不斷追趕蘋果等創(chuàng)新者，同時努力領(lǐng)先于來自中國的對手們。

The Note 7 humiliation left many South Koreans wondering whether Samsung — and South Korea in general — is stumbling in that race.

Note 7的恥辱讓很多韓國人擔(dān)心，三星以及整個韓國正在那場競賽中遭遇重挫。

“They say Samsung is the strongest among our country’s businesses,” said Mr. Kim, the former teacher. “That’s why its Note 7 failure worries me. It kind of shows our limit.”

“他們說三星是我們國家最強(qiáng)大的公司，”曾擔(dān)任教師的金正民說，“這是Note 7的失敗讓我擔(dān)心的原因。它似乎顯示出我們的局限性。”