卫生间政策令塔吉特陷入麻烦

Target appears to be paying the price for parading its political correctness a little too proudly. Shopper traffic fell for the first time in over two years in the three months to June, at least some of which appears to be the result of socially-conservative shoppers avoiding it after it waded into the transgender bathroom row. Sticking by its principles is expensive: it’s now spending $20 million on single-stall bathrooms to counter suggestions that its bathroom policy could facilitate sexual assaults. Bathroom issues aside, the company also saw an eye-catching 20% year-on-year drop in demand for Apple products, while the sale of its pharmacy business to CVS also appeared to hit performance.

塔吉特（Target）似乎正在为过于自负地炫耀自己的政治正确性而付出代价。在截至6月份的三个月内，该公司客流量在两年内首次下降，至少部分原因是在塔吉特陷入跨性别人士使用卫生间问题的争论之后，遭到了社会保守人士的抵制。坚持原则要付出高昂的代价：针对其卫生间政策可能加剧性骚扰的建议，公司投入了2,000万美元修建单人卫生间。除了卫生间问题，公司苹果（Apple）产品的需求量出人意料地年比下降了20%，而其将药房业务出售给CVS，似乎也影响了公司的业绩。

China Slowdown Hits Nestle

中国增长放缓冲击雀巢业绩

Nestle said “significantly” slowing growth in China was chiefly responsible for a disappointing second quarter, in which it extended its three-year streak of missing organic growth targets. That could be a blow to more people than Nestle, given that China is relying on pent-up domestic demand to carry its economy through a rebalancing away from excessive investment in industry. The Swiss company continues to be hobbled by the strong franc, but said that deflationary conditions across the world had compounded its pricing problems. It said organic sales growth, which slowed to 3.6% in the first half, should still match last year’s 4.2%, due partly to the rebound of its Maggi noodles business in India.

雀巢（Nestle）表示，第二季度令人失望的业绩，主要原因是中国增长的“显著”放缓，雀巢在第二季度连续三年未能实现有机增长目标。但受中国问题影响的恐怕不止雀巢一家，因为目前中国正在依靠被抑制的国内需求，完成经济再平衡，控制对工业的过度投资。该瑞士公司继续受到瑞士法郎升值的困扰，但公司表示，全世界的通货紧缩加剧了公司的定价问题。雀巢表示，虽然上半年的有机销售额增长下降至3.6%，但仍基本与去年4.2%的水平保持一致，部分原因是公司在印度的美极（Maggi）面条业务出现了反弹。

Cisco Trims, Rather Than Slashes

思科裁员规模小于传言

Cisco’s round of job cuts turned out to be less apocalyptic than rumored. The networking giant said it would cut ‘only’ 5,500 jobs, rather than the 14,000 reported by the website CRN, as it adapts to the challenge of a changing landscape. Money saved on the cuts will be plowed-back into priority businesses such as security, Internet of things, collaboration, next-generation data center gear and cloud, Cisco chief executive Chuck Robbins said on the earnings call. That apart, Cisco’s quarterly earnings came in around 5% higher than expectations, perhaps relieving the pressure for more aggressive cost-cutting in the near term. But further restructuring still looks likely in a world where legacy IT providers see the Cloud suck away demand for their pricey, proprietary hardware and software.

事实证明，思科（Cisco）的此轮裁员并没有传言中那么可怕。该网络行业巨头表示，为了应对市场形势变化带来的挑战，公司将“仅”裁员5,500人，而不是CRN网站报道的14,000人。思科首席执行官查克·罗宾斯在收入电话会议上表示，此次裁员节省的资金将重新投入到重点业务，如安全、物联网、协作、下一代数据中心设备和云等。另外，思科的季度收入高出预期5%，这或许可以缓解近期大规模成本削减行动所带来的压力。但公司仍有可能进行进一步结构重组，因为传统IT提供商认为，在当今的形势下，云服务正在抢走其代价昂贵的专有硬件和软件的需求。