据我们所知，您当时接到的是帮助中国制定机械机床工业发展道路的项目，当时您为什么会接这个项目？当时给出的建议是什么？如今中国机床工业规模世界第一，在那时候，您能想象到吗？

The World Bank had invited bids for a project to develop the Chinese machinery and machine tool industry. We won this mandate. At that time most machinery production plants in China rather resembled production workshops. Visiting China’s tool manufacturing industry for the first time showed us the massive development potential. Yet despite this obvious potential, it was difficult for anyone of us to imagine that the industry would grow by an astonishing eighty-fold in the three decades to come.
The Chinese authorities acted on the huge opportunities of the time. However, the limitations of the state-directed economy in developing such an industry became obvious and they took the very courageous steps to open up the economy and give a more important role to private enterprises. It was clear that at that time state-owned enterprises were still run inefficiently but that there was also a dynamic from within these companies toward a more economic management style. We supported this development by introducing efficient governance structures and processes, new technologies as well as finance and accounting procedures.
世界银行对发展中国机械机床工业的项目进行招标。我们赢得了授权。当时中国的大多数机械生产厂房更像生产车间。首次参观中国的机床制造工业，我们感受到了巨大的发展潜力。但是，尽管它的潜力十分明显，我们还是没有想到，在接下来的三十年，这里的工业会以八十倍的速度增长，这是十分惊人的。中国当局抓住了当时的巨大机遇，采取了相应行动。然而，在发展此类工业方面，国家主导经济的局限性越来越明显，这时中国当局勇敢地迈出了开放经济的步伐，并给予民营企业更为重要的地位。显而易见的是，当时的国有企业运营效率仍然十分低下，但是这些公司的内部也充满活力，乐于接受更为经济的管理方式。我们通过引进高效的治理结构和流程，新的技术以及财务会计规程，对这种发展给予了支持。

The German machine tool industry is supreme across the globe. As things stand, the entire German industry, the manufacturing industry in particular, enjoys a strong reputation. In your opinion, what does it take to make the German industry powerful and long-lasting?
德国的机床工业是世界首屈一指的，事实上整个德国工业特别是制造业一直以来都享有盛誉，在您看来德国工业强盛不衰的原因是什么？

Germany has a unique mix of large corporations and SMEs as well as a good combination of industry and high-value technical services. With a share of GDP well above 20%, industry in Germany is far more important than in other developed countries like Great Britain or France, for example. Its success is based, among other things, on its decades-long experience as an export world champion. Especially Germany’s SMEs play an important role in this: 60% of the products made by approximately 1,200 “hidden champions” go to export. Their experience has provided them with a deep understanding of their international customers’ needs. Plus,they are mostly privately owned by their founders or founding families who have a strong influence on the firms’ organizational culture. Also, with their top managers often being personally liable, they focus on sustainability in the sense of long-term success rather than short-term profit. However, in order to stay successful in a changing and highly challenging competitive global economic environment, those companies urgently need to use the opportunities the digital transformation of industry – Industry 4.0 – offers.
德国大企业与中小型企业的组合十分独特，而工业与高价值技术服务的契合度也很好。德国工业占GDP的比重超过20%，相比其他发达国家而言，如英国或法国，工业对于德国具有更为重要的意义。德国工业获取成功的原因有许多，其中一个就是数十年来作为全球出口“冠军”所获取的经验。特别是德国的中小企业在其中发挥了重要作用：60%的出口产品均由大约1200个“隐形冠军”所生产。它们的经验让它们对国际客户的需求了如指掌。另外，它们大多数都是创始人或创始家族的私有公司，这对公司的组织文化会产生深远影响。同时，因为它们的高层管理者通常承担个人责任，他们更专注于可持续发展，即长期成功，而非短期利润。然而，为了在这个急剧变化、高度竞争的全球经济环境中处于不败之地，这些公司都亟需抓住工业数字化转型，即工业4.0所带来的机遇。