The multinational company is in trouble
Global firms are surprisingly vulnerable to attack
Jan 28th 2017 

多国籍企業が窮地に立っている。
グローバル企業は驚くほど攻撃に脆弱だ。



AMONG the many things that Donald Trump dislikes are big global firms. Faceless and rootless, they stand accused of unleashing “carnage” on ordinary Americans by shipping jobs and factories abroad. His answer is to domesticate these marauding multinationals. Lower taxes will draw their cash home, border charges will hobble their cross-border supply chains and the trade deals that help them do business will be rewritten. To avoid punitive treatment, “all you have to do is stay,” he told American bosses this week. 

stand ：状態でいる
accused：非難された
unleashing：繋いだ犬を解き放つ
carnage：大虐殺
domesticate：動物を飼いならす
marauding：略奪するために荒しまわる
draw：引くようにそっと移動させる
hobble：を故意に妨害する
punitive：懲罰的

Mr Trump is unusual in his aggressively protectionist tone. But in many ways he is behind the times. Multinational companies, the agents behind global integration, were already in retreat well before the populist revolts of 2016. Their financial performance has slipped so that they are no longer outstripping local firms. Many seem to have exhausted their ability to cut costs and taxes and to out-think their local competitors. Mr Trump’s broadsides are aimed at companies that are surprisingly vulnerable and, in many cases, are already heading home. The impact on global commerce will be profound. 

behind the times：時代遅れで
in retreat：退却して 
revolts：反乱
slipped：悪化する
outstripping ：を凌ぐ
out-think：裏をかく
broadsides：激しい批判
heading：に向かう
profound：深刻な

Multinational firms (those that do a large chunk of their business outside their home region) employ only one in 50 of the world’s workers. But they matter. A few thousand firms influence what billions of people watch, wear and eat. The likes of IBM, McDonald’s, Ford, H&M, Infosys, Lenovo and Honda have been the benchmark for managers. They co-ordinate the supply chains that account for over 50% of all trade. They account for a third of the value of the world’s stockmarkets and they own the lion’s share of its intellectual property—from lingerie designs to virtual-reality software and diabetes drugs. 

matter：重要である
benchmark：基準
account：を占める
lingerie：ランジェリー

They boomed in the early 1990s, as China and the former Soviet bloc opened and Europe integrated. Investors liked global firms’ economies of scale and efficiency. Rather than running themselves as national fiefs, firms unbundled their functions. A Chinese factory might use tools from Germany, have owners in the United States, pay taxes in Luxembourg and sell to Japan. Governments in the rich world dreamed of their national champions becoming world-beaters. Governments in the emerging world welcomed the jobs, exports and technology that global firms brought. It was a golden age. 

fiefs：封土
unbundled：別々に切り離す

Central to the rise of the global firm was its claim to be a superior moneymaking machine. That claim lies in tatters (see Briefing). In the past five years the profits of multinationals have dropped by 25%. Returns on capital have slipped to their lowest in two decades. A strong dollar and a low oil price explain part of the decline. Technology superstars and consumer firms with strong brands are still thriving. But the pain is too widespread and prolonged to be dismissed as a blip. About 40% of all multinationals make a return on equity of less than 10%, a yardstick for underperformance. 

Central：中心的な
claim：主張
tatters：ボロボロになって
dismissed：相手にされない
blip：状況の悪化
yardstick：基準
underperformance：標準以下

多国籍企業をトランプは目の敵にしているが、勝手のような状況ではない。確かに貿易の５０％を超えるサプライチェーンを主導しているが、ドル高と原油安のために、４０％の多国籍企業は株主資本利益率は１０％を切っている。

火曜日。今日は英語資料レビューのサポーターがアメリカに帰国するので、その送別会がある。困ったな。ではまた明日。