小型企业失败的10大原因

arcticice

于2011-01-06 22:58:37翻译 | 已有1197人浏览

越来越多的人开始自己创业,成功者毕竟是少数,尤其是初创企业失败的比例很高,可是人们通常找不到失败的原因,本文作者在芝加哥拥有多家企业,为你解开秘密

One of the least understood aspects of entrepreneurship is why small businesses fail, and there's a simple reason for the confusion: Most of the evidence comes from the entrepreneurs themselves.

关于创业活动，最令人不解的方面是为什么小企业会失败，对于这个问题，原因很简单：大部分迹像来自己创业者本身。

I have had a close-up view of numerous business failures -- including a few start-ups of my own. And from my observation, the reasons for failure cited by the owners are frequently off-point, which kind of makes sense when you think about it. If the owners really knew what they were doing wrong, they might have been able to fix the problem. Often, it's simply a matter of denial or of not knowing what you don't know.

我曾对无数企业倒闭事件（也包括我自己的几个初创企业）作过近距离观察。据我观察，企业主常

常提到的失败原因通常都没击中要害，只是当你考虑这个问题时候（他们所说的原因）似乎有些道理。如果企业主真的知道他们错在哪里，他们可能就已经搞定那个问题了。通常这只是一种抵赖或者只是不了解人们所悟不到东西。

In many cases, the customers -- or, I should say, ex-customers -- have a better understanding than the owners of what wasn't working. The usual suspects that the owners tend to blame are the bank, the government, or the idiot partner. Rarely does the owner's finger point at the owner. Of course, there are cases where something out of the owner's control has gone terribly wrong, but I have found those instances to be in the minority. What follows -- based on my own experiences and observations -- are my top 10 reasons small businesses fail. The list is not pretty, it is not simple, and it does not contain any of those usual suspects (although they might come in at Nos. 11, 12 and 13).

在许多情况下，顾客（或者，应该说前顾客）——比业主自己更了解问题出在哪。业主最容易把（失败）原因推到银行、政府或者是白痴合伙人。很少有业主会将矛头指向自己。当然，我不否认在有些案例中，是出现了超出业主控制范围的严重问题，但是我发现这是少数情况。以下的这些，根据我的经验和观察，是小型企业倒闭的最大的10个原因。这个清单所列并不琐碎也不简单，它不包含人们通常猜测的那些原因（虽然这些原因可能排11、12或13位）。

1. The math just doesn't work. There is not enough demand for the product or service at a price that will produce a profit for the company. This, for example, would include a start-up trying to compete against Best Buy and its economies of scale.

1 算术没学好。一项售价在能为公司创利的产品或服务，没有足够的市场需求。这个，举例来说，包括那些试图与（知名企业）Best Buy及其经济规模相竞争的初创企业。

2. Owners who cannot get out of their own way. They may be stubborn, risk adverse, conflict adverse -- meaning they need to be liked by everyone (even employees and vendors who can't do their jobs). They may be perfectionist, greedy, self-righteous, paranoid, indignant, or insecure. You get the idea. Sometimes, you can even tell these owners the problem, and they will recognize that you are right -- but continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

2 业主不能改变自己（处世）方式。他们性格可能很顽固、不愿接受风险、不愿陷入冲突——也就是说他们必需被每个人所喜欢（甚至那些做不好自己本职工作的雇员和销售者）。他们性格可能太过完美主义、贪婪、自以为是、虚妄、易怒或者不可靠。你知道了。有时，你甚至会告诉这些业主他们的问题，他们也会承认你说对了，但是还是不断地犯同样的错误。

3. Out-of-control growth. This one might be the saddest of all reasons for failure -- a successful business that is ruined by over-expansion. This would include moving into markets that are not as profitable, experiencing growing pains that damage the business, or borrowing too much money in an attempt to keep growth at a particular rate. Sometimes less is more.

3 扩张失控。一个成功企业毁于过度扩张，这可能是最悲哀的失败原因。这方面的例子包括进入利润不怎么样市场领域、经历有损企业的发展时期困难，或者为了达到一定增长速度借钱过多。有时候少即是多。

4. Poor accounting. You cannot be in control of a business if you don't know what is going on. With bad numbers, or no numbers, a company is flying blind, and it happens all of the time. Why? For one thing, it is a common -- and disastrous -- misconception that an outside accounting firm hired primarily to do the taxes will keep watch over the business. In reality, that is the job of the chief financial officer, one of the many hats an entrepreneur has to wear until a real one is hired.

4 财务知识差。如果你不知道企业内部正在发生的事情，就不可能掌控一个企业。如果得到数据不准确或者数据空白，一个公司是在盲目前行，这样的情况一直都有发生。为什么这么说呢？一个原因：大家都有普遍误解（灾难性的），就是以为雇来主要做税务工作的外部会计事务所会帮助监督企业运营情况。事实上，这是财务总监的工作，财务总监也是创业者要承担的许多角色中的一个角色，直到雇到一个真正有能力做财务总监的人。

5. Lack of a cash cushion. If we have learned anything from this recession (I know it's "over" but my customers don't seem to have gotten the memo), it's that business is cyclical and that bad things can and will happen over time -- the loss of an important customer or critical employee, the arrival of a new competitor, the filing of a lawsuit. These things can all stress the finances of a company. If that company is already out of cash (and borrowing potential), it may not be able to recover.

5 缺少现金缓冲。如果我们已经从这次经济衰退中学到了什么（我知道它已经结束了，但是我的顾客看起来还没有吸取教训），就是说，事情总是周而复始的，坏事过一段时间可以、将会再次发生，举例来说，失去了一个重要的客户或者关键雇员、来了新的竞争者、卷入某种官司。这些事情都会对公司的财务造成压力。如果那个公司已经现金（或者借贷潜力）短缺了，它就有可能挺不过去。

6. Operational mediocrity. I have never met a business owner who described his or her operation as mediocre. But we can't all be above average. Repeat and referral business is critical for most businesses, as is some degree of marketing (depending on the business).

6 运营平庸，我从来没遇到过一个以“平庸”来形容自己公司运营情况的业主。但是不可能所有公司（运营情况）都在一般水平以上。回头客或者由他人推荐的生意对大多数企业来说都是至关重要的，同样，一定程度的市场业务（取决于业务种类）也很重要。

7. Operational inefficiencies. Paying too much for rent, labor, and materials. Now more than ever, the lean companies are at an advantage. Not having the tenacity or stomach to negotiate terms that are reflective of today's economy may leave a company uncompetitive.

7 运营无能。房租，劳资和材料花费太多。节约的公司在这方面更有优势，当今比从前表现得更为明显。如果在磋商协定条款（当前经济状况的反射）过程中不具备坚韧和勇气，就可能会置公司于没有竞争力的境地。

8. Dysfunctional management. Lack of focus, vision, planning, standards and everything else that goes into good management. Throw fighting partners or unhappy relatives into the mix, and you have a disaster.

8 管理不善。缺乏重点、远见，计划、标准以及一切可令公司走入良性管理的东西。再加上好斗的合伙人或者不知足的亲戚等等。。。你就麻烦了

9. The lack of a succession plan. We're talking nepotism, power struggles, significant players being replaced by people who are in over their heads -- all reasons many family businesses do not make it to the next generation.

9  缺乏连续发展计划。我们谈论的是任人唯亲、权力之争，被不知如何举措的能力欠缺者取代了的关键人士——还在谈论许多家族企业不能延续至下一代的所有原因。

10. A declining market. Book stores, music stores, printing businesses and many others are dealing with changes in technology, consumer demand, and competition from huge companies with more buying power and advertising dollars.

10 市场衰退。书店，音响店，印刷业和其他一些业务都要应对技术、消费需求的改变，也面对来自购买力更大和广告投入更多的大型公司的竞争。

In life, you may have forgiving friends and relatives, but entrepreneurship is rarely forgiving. Eventually, everything shows up in the soup. If people don't like the soup, employees stop working for you, and customers stop doing business with you. And that is why businesses fail.

在生活中，你可能有一些慈悲宽厚的朋友和亲戚，但是企业活动很少是慈悲宽厚的。最后，汤里有些什么总会看得清清楚楚，如果人们不喜欢这道汤，雇员会停止为你工作，顾客也不再做你的生意。这就是为什么生意会失败的原因。

Jay Goltz owns five small businesses in Chicago.

作者在芝加哥拥有五家小型企业