The world is going through the biggest wave of mergers and acquisitions ever witnessed. The process sweeps from hyperactive America to Europe and reaches the emerging countries with unsurpassed might. Many in these countries are looking at this process and worrying: Won't the wave of business concentration turn into an uncontrollable anti-competitive force?

世界正在經(jīng)歷一場(chǎng)前所未有的巨大并購(gòu)浪潮，它席卷了最為活躍的美國(guó)，影響到歐洲國(guó)家，一直深入潛力無(wú)限的新興國(guó)家（并以不可比擬的威力影響到正在崛起的國(guó)家）。新興國(guó)家的許多人們目睹著這一轉(zhuǎn)變，憂(yōu)心不已——商業(yè)集中化的浪潮（企業(yè)合并的浪潮）是否會(huì)淪為不受控制的反商業(yè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)勢(shì)力呢？

mergers and acquisitions 合并和收購(gòu)

hyperactive 極度活躍的

with unsurpassed might ?以不可比擬的威力

business concentration 指的是“企業(yè)合并的浪潮”

uncontrollable anti-competitive force 一股不可遏制的反競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力量

There's no question that the big are getting bigger and more powerful. Multinational corporations accounted for less than 20% of international trade in 1982. Today the figure is more than 25% and growing rapidly. International affiliates account for a fast-growing segment of production in economies that open up and welcome foreign investment. In Argentina, for instance, after the reforms of the early 1990s, multinationals went from 43% to almost 70% of the industrial production of the 200 largest firms. This phenomenon has created serious concerns over the role of smaller economic firms, of national businessmen and over the ultimate stability of the world economy.

毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，大企業(yè)在變大變強(qiáng)。1982年，跨國(guó)公司的貿(mào)易額不到國(guó)際貿(mào)易總額的20%，而今，這一比例超過(guò)了25%，而且還在迅速增加。在一個(gè)開(kāi)放并歡迎海外投資的經(jīng)濟(jì)體中（在那些對(duì)外開(kāi)放并鼓勵(lì)外資經(jīng)濟(jì)的國(guó)家中），國(guó)際子公司扮演了迅速發(fā)展的生產(chǎn)部門(mén)的角色（國(guó)際分公司在國(guó)民生產(chǎn)中成為一個(gè)快速增長(zhǎng)的部門(mén)）。例如，在阿根廷，上世紀(jì)90年代的改革后，在200家最大的企業(yè)中，跨國(guó)企業(yè)的工業(yè)產(chǎn)值從43%幾乎增到了70%。這一現(xiàn)象使國(guó)內(nèi)經(jīng)銷(xiāo)商（民族企業(yè)家）憂(yōu)慮不已，同時(shí)也加劇了在經(jīng)濟(jì)活動(dòng)中扮演小角色的小型企業(yè)以及關(guān)于全球經(jīng)濟(jì)穩(wěn)定的擔(dān)憂(yōu)。

International affiliates 國(guó)際分公司

concern of 誰(shuí)的擔(dān)憂(yōu)

concern over 關(guān)于……的擔(dān)憂(yōu)

I believe that the most important forces behind the massive M&A wave are the same that underlie the globalization process: falling transportation and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers and enlarged markets that require enlarged operations capable of meeting customers' demands. All these are beneficial, not detrimental, to consumers. As productivity grows, the world's wealth increases.

我認(rèn)為合并與收購(gòu)大浪潮背后深藏原因與全球化進(jìn)程的相同（推動(dòng)這股巨大并購(gòu)浪潮的最主要力量，也是推動(dòng)全球化進(jìn)程的力量）——交通通訊成本的減少，貿(mào)易投資壁壘的降低，市場(chǎng)擴(kuò)張要求企業(yè)擴(kuò)張，以此滿(mǎn)足消費(fèi)者需求（市場(chǎng)擴(kuò)張和為了滿(mǎn)足市場(chǎng)需求而進(jìn)行的擴(kuò)大生產(chǎn)）。所有這些對(duì)消費(fèi)者而言都有益無(wú)害的。隨著生產(chǎn)力的發(fā)展，世界財(cái)富也在增加。

underlie 構(gòu)成……的基礎(chǔ)

detrimental 有害的

Examples of benefits or costs of the current concentration wave are scanty.Yet it is hard to imagine that the merger of a few oil firms today could re-create the same threats to competition that were feared nearly a century ago in the US, when the Standard Oil trust was broken up.The mergers of telecom companies, such as World Com, hardly seem to bring higher prices for consumers or a reduction in the pace of technical progress.On the contrary, the price of communications is coming down fast. In cars, too, concentration is increasing-witness Daimler and Chrysler, Renault and Nissan-but it does not appear that consumers are being hurt.

少有例子證明當(dāng)今商業(yè)集中浪潮利弊。但還是難以想象，今天一小部分石油公司的合并會(huì)重新創(chuàng)造出同樣的威脅，而這種威脅正是大約一個(gè)世紀(jì)前，當(dāng)美國(guó)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)石油托拉斯瓦解時(shí)人們所擔(dān)心的（那時(shí)由于人們對(duì)該公司的這種擔(dān)心而導(dǎo)致了它最終的解散）。諸如世界通訊公司的電信公司的合并，幾乎沒(méi)有增加消費(fèi)者的消費(fèi)成本，也沒(méi)有因此放緩科技進(jìn)步的步伐。恰恰相反，通訊的成本迅速下降。汽車(chē)行業(yè)亦是如此，商業(yè)集中化程度加深（合并也在增加）——例如戴姆勒與克萊斯勒、雷諾和尼桑的合并，但消費(fèi)者的利益似乎并沒(méi)有受到損害。