導讀
這封信是2006年Amazon的第10封致股東信。
Amazon的業務支柱之一是AWS雲計算服務，而2006年正是這個巨無霸誕生之時。
這項業務起初在規模還小時就被認為很有潛力。然而，相較當時已經成熟的零售業務，AWS只是個小項目，但依然得到足夠的耐心。
Amazon的企業文化並不要求新業務在誕生之日就必須規模巨大。
這也體現了Jeff Bezos所謂的長期主義的優點：眼光長遠，不會揠苗助長。
好了，導讀結束，以下致股東信正文開始。
正文
To our shareholders:
致我們的股東：
At Amazon’s current scale, planting seeds that will grow into meaningful new businesses takes some discipline, a bit of patience, and a nurturing culture.
以Amazon現階段的規模，如果想在未來收穫有價值的新業務，必須要依靠有紀律、有耐心的文化。
Our established businesses are well-rooted young trees. They are growing, enjoy high returns on capital, and operate in very large market segments. These characteristics set a high bar for any new business we would start. Before we invest our shareholders’ money in a new business, we must convince ourselves that the new opportunity can generate the returns on capital our investors expected when they invested in Amazon. And we must convince ourselves that the new business can grow to a scale where it can be significant in the context of our overall company.
我們已經建立的業務是根深蒂固的小樹。它們在一個很大的細分市場運作，擁有很高的資本回報率，並且持續成長。以上這些特徵，為我們之後開展新業務時，樹立了極高的標準。在我們為新業務進行投資時，我們必須先說服自己，新業務有機會創造足夠高的報酬，正如投資者投資Amazon時的預期。同時，我們必須說服自己，新業務能成長茁壯，發展到具有重要意義的規模。
Furthermore, we must believe that the opportunity is currently underserved and that we have the capabilities needed to bring strong customer-facing differentiation to the marketplace. Without that, it’s unlikely we’d get to scale in that new business.
此外，我們認為當前的機會在於現有的服務品質不夠好，而我們專注於客戶體驗的能力，能帶給市場差異化的服務。如果沒有這點，我們不太可能在新業務中擴大規模。
I often get asked, “When are you going to open physical stores?” That’s an expansion opportunity we’ve resisted. It fails all but one of the tests outlined above. The potential size of a network of physical stores is exciting. However: we don’t know how to do it with low capital and high returns; physical-world retailing is a cagey and ancient business that’s already well served; and we don’t have any ideas for how to build a physical world store experience that’s meaningfully differentiated for customers.
我經常被問到：「你們打算什麼時候開實體店？」而這正是我們已經拒絕的擴張方式。在我們的測試案例中，開設實體店的擴張方式，只有一次是成功的，其他都失敗。實體店的潛在市場的確很吸引人，然而，我們不知道怎麼在開設實體店時，保持低資本投入與高回報率。實體零售是個古老的產業，它已經十分完善。我們不曉得怎麼做，才能讓Amazon開設的實體店，與其它實體店有不同購物體驗。
When you do see us enter new businesses, it’s because we believe the above tests have been passed. Our acquisition of Joyo.com is a first step in serving the most populous country in the world. E-commerce in China is still in its early days, and we believe it’s an excellent business opportunity. Shoes, apparel, groceries: these are big segments where we have the right skills to invent and grow large-scale, high-return businesses that genuinely improve customer experience.
當你看到我們開展一項新業務時，這意味著這項新業務通過了我們的測試。收購卓越網（Joyo.com），是Amazon開始服務全世界人口最多的中國市場的第一步。中國的電子商務依然還在早期階段，我們認為其中蘊含機會。鞋子服裝、雜貨，在這些領域中，我們能夠做得很好，並且把規模擴大，進而透過高回報的業務來改進客戶體驗。
Fulfillment by Amazon is a set of web services API’s that turns our 12 million square foot fulfillment center network into a gigantic and sophisticated computer peripheral. Pay us 45 cents per month per cubic foot of fulfillment center space, and you can stow your products in our network. You make web services calls to alert us to expect inventory to arrive, to tell us to pick and pack one or more items, and to tell us where to ship those items. You never have to talk to us. It’s differentiated, can be large, and passes our returns bar.
我們將Amazon的物流體系，整合為一套網路服務的API，將我們佔地1200萬平方英尺的出貨中心，變成一個龐大而複雜的電腦設施。使用我們的出貨中心，每立方英尺一個月只要花費45美分，你可以將你的產品，存放在我們的網絡之中。你可以使用我們的服務，提醒我們揀貨、包裝和出貨。使用這一切服務，你甚至不用和我們說上任何話。
Amazon Web Services is another example. With AWS, we’re building a new business focused on a new customer set … software developers. We currently offer ten different web services and have built a community of over 240,000 registered developers. We’re targeting broad needs universally faced by developers, such as storage and compute capacity — areas in which developers have asked for help, and in which we have deep expertise from scaling Amazon.com over the last twelve years. We’re well positioned to do it, it’s highly differentiated, and it can be a significant, financially attractive business over time.
Amazon Web Services（簡稱AWS）是另一個例子。有了AWS，我們便有了專注於新客戶群－軟體開發者的新服務。我們目前提供十種網路服務，建立了一個超過24萬註冊開發者的社群。我們的目標是開發人員最普遍的需求，即儲存空間和計算能力。在這些領域中，開發人員一直在尋求幫助，而我們在過去12年擴張Amazon規模的過程中，儲備了深厚的知識。我們已經做好準備，我們的服務有高度差異，隨著時間流逝，AWS會成為一項具有財務吸引力的業務。
In some large companies, it might be difficult to grow new businesses from tiny seeds because of the patience and nurturing required. In my view, Amazon’s culture is unusually supportive of small businesses with big potential, and I believe that’s a source of competitive advantage.
在一些大公司中，由於開展新業務需要耐心，因此很難從萌芽時期慢慢將新業務拉拔長大。在我看來，Amazon不是這樣的公司，我們的公司文化能夠支持具有巨大潛力的小業務持續發展。我相信這是一種競爭力來源。
Like any company, we have a corporate culture formed not only by our intentions but also as a result of our history. For Amazon, that history is fairly fresh and, fortunately, it includes several examples of tiny seeds growing into big trees. We have many people at our company who have watched multiple $10 million seeds turn into billion dollar businesses. That first-hand experience and the culture that has grown up around those successes is, in my opinion, a big part of why we can start businesses from scratch. The culture demands that these new businesses be high potential and that they be innovative and differentiated, but it does not demand that they be large on the day that they are born.
就像其他公司，我們的企業文化，不是我們有意為之，而是我們的歷史塑造的。我們的歷史是相當年輕，而且幸運的是，其中包括不少小種子長成大樹的例子。在我們公司裡，有許多人見過價值千萬的新業務從0開始的過程。在我看來，我們之所以能從頭開始發展新業務，正是由於這種親身親歷的所造就的文化。這種文化要求新業務具備強大的潛力，具有高度創新和差異化，但不要求新業務從誕生之日就擁有巨大的規模。
I remember how excited we were in 1996 as we crossed $10 million in book sales. It wasn’t hard to be excited — we had grown to $10 million from zero. Today, when a new business inside Amazon grows to $10 million, the overall company is growing from $10 billion to $10.01 billion. It would be easy for the senior executives who run our established billion dollar businesses to scoff. But they don’t. They watch the growth rates of the emerging businesses and send emails of congratulations. That’s pretty cool, and we’re proud it’s a part of our culture.
我記得在1996年，當我們的圖書銷售額超過1000萬美金時，我們感到多麼興奮！這很難不讓人興奮！我們從0開始取得這樣的成績。今天，當有一項業務從Amazon內部萌芽，成長價值為1000萬的新事業，Amazon整間公司的市值只是從100億變成101億。這一點數字，對於我們的資深員工來說，很難放在心上。但是，他們並不輕視這樣的成績。相反，他們關注新業務的成長速度，並且在第一時間寄發祝賀信。這很酷吧！這是我們引以為傲的文化。
In our experience, if a new business enjoys runaway success, it can only begin to be meaningful to the overall company economics in something like three to seven years. We’ve seen those time frames with our international businesses, our earlier non-media businesses, and our third party seller businesses. Today, international is 45% of sales, non-media is 34% of sales, and our third party seller businesses account for 28% of our units sold. We will be happy indeed if some of the new seeds we’re planting enjoy similar successes.
根據我們的經驗，如果一項新業務取得了巨大的成功，它只會在前3至7年對公司整體創造經濟層面的影響。我們看過很多案例，包括非媒體業務，和我們的第三方賣家業務。如今，國際業務佔銷售額的45％，非媒體業務佔銷售額的34％，我們的第三方賣方業務佔我們銷售單位的28％。如果我們那些正處於萌芽期的新業務取得類似的成功，我們會非常開心。
We’ve come a distance since we celebrated our first $10 million in sales. As we continue to grow, we’ll work to maintain a culture that embraces new businesses. We will do so in a disciplined way, with an eye on returns, potential size, and the ability to create differentiation that customers care about. We won’t always choose right, and we won’t always succeed. But we will be choosy, and we will work hard and patiently.
自從我們達到第一個1000萬之後，已經走了好長一段路。隨著我們持續發展，我們將會努力維持擁抱新變化的文化。我們將以紀律嚴明的方式做到這一點，著眼於回報、潛在規模及差異化能力。我們不可能總是選擇正確，我們也不可能總是成功。但是，我們會持續以高標準做選擇，努力並耐心地工作。
As always, I attach our 1997 letter to shareholders. You’ll see that our philosophy and approach have not changed. Many thanks for your support and encouragement.
如同往常，我把我們在1997年寫的致股東信附在文末。你會看到我們的理念和方法依然不變。非常感謝你們的支持和鼓勵。
Jeffrey P. Bezos
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Amazon.com, Inc.
傑夫·貝佐斯
Amazon創始人暨CEO
以上就是2006年Amazon致股東信。
想看隔年的Amazon致股東信，請至《2007年Amazon致股東信：移除實體書的所有元素後，Kindle還剩下什麼？》。
想看全系列導讀目錄，請至《Amazon 1997–2019年致股東信導讀目錄》。
