破壊的イノベーションを考える

Sam Walton’s story reads like a classic tale of the American dream come true. From humble beginnings on a Midwestern farm, Walton eventually built an empire that made him at one time the richest man in America. Along the way, he helped change the way the world does business.

classic：典型的な
tale：物語
humble：(身分などが)低い
empire：大企業
along the way：途中で

Sam Walton was born on March 29, 1916, in Oklahoma, a rural state. His family lived on a farm until he was five. During that time, and through the Great Depression, Walton worked at odd jobs to help make ends meet. He learned the necessity of hard work and the importance of saving.

the Great Depression：世界恐慌
odd job：臨時の仕事
make ends meet：生活の収支を合わせる
saving：倹約

In 1945, Walton started his career in retail sales. He bought one of the franchise 10 stores of a company called Ben Franklin, which sold household items. It became very successful, and Walton opened several more franchise stores for Ben Franklin, though he was allowed to use the name Walton 5&10. Eventually, in 1962, he felt it was time to start his own chain of stores. Wal-Mart was born.

household item：家庭用品
evntually：最終的に

Walton’s business philosophy was an important part of his rapid success. He made sure that the shelves were always well-stocked and clean, while emphasizing high volume sales, rock-bottom prices, and excellent customer service. Walton also made a number of innovations, like moving the checkout counters to the front of the stores and sharing profits with his employees. Later he added an advanced inventory system, to keep the shelves full and the customers happy.

well-stocked：在庫が十分ある
rock-bottom：最低の
advanced：進歩した
inventory：在庫(品)

As these methods were perfected, Wal-Mart expanded. The company grew from 24 stores in 1967 to 276 by 1979. Walton also bought out many competitors, while forcing others out of business by selling goods so cheaply that nobody could match the price.

perfect：改良する
buy out：(会社を)買い取る
while：～する一方で
so X that Y：とてもXなのでYである

Yet Walton was more than a shrewd businessman. He started college scholarship programs for local students. He also established Wal-Mart’s long involvement in local charity events.

shrewd：抜け目のない
scholarship：奨学金
involvement：関わり合い

After Sam Walton died on April 16, 1992, the empire he founded continued to grow by leaps and bounds. Indeed, Wal-Mart is now the world’s largest retailer and largest private employer, with more than two million employees. But it all started as a dream 10 on an Oklahoma farm — a dream that became reality through hard work, vision, and a total lack of mercy for the competition.

by leaps and bounds：とんとん拍子に
(ref.) without a hitch：滞りなく、問題なく
empire：(巨大な企業の)王国
private employer：民間雇用主
total lack：完全な欠如
mercy：慈悲

Drama. Murder. Father against son. Brother against brother. Gucci’s story is like an Italian opera, full of complex and violent relationships. But after hard times and horror stories, the name stands today as an icon in the world of luxury goods.

luxury：贅沢

Guccio Gucci founded the company in Florence in 1921. He soon earned as reputation for high-quality handbags and other leather goods. He himself designed some of the firm’s best-known products.

reputation：評判

Following Guccio’s death in 1953 , his two sons, Aldo and his movie-star brother Rodolfo, took the reins. Aldo took Gucci global, opening stores in New York (1953), London (1961), and Tokyo (1972). In just a short period of time, the company had 10 risen to the summit of the fashion world, with film stars proudly wearing Gucci styles.

take the reins：権力を握る、場を取り仕切る、状況を制御する
reins：手綱
risen：rise – rose – risen
summit：頂上

The Gucci brothers didn’t always see eye to eye. In fact, they fought constantly over every aspect of the business. Their children joined in the battle, and Aldo’s son managed to send his 81-year-old father to prison. By the late 1980s, the company was in financial trouble, and something had to be done. Rodolfo’s son Maurizio sold the remainder of his stake to a foreign group in 1993, taking the company completely out of the Gucci family’s hands. But its revival was about to begin.

see eye to eye：意見が一致する
aspect：側面
revival：再生
be about to X：Xしようとしている

1995 was a year of triumph and tragedy for Gucci Group (its new name). On the plus side, Tom Ford, a young American designer, became the creative director. His first clothing line was a roaring success, making Gucci hip and hot again. 1995 was also the year the company went public. That very same year, Maurizio Gucci was murdered outside the Gucci office in Milan. His ambitious ex-wife, intensely angered by his decision to remarry, was later convicted of hiring a professional killer to do the job. Now that’s drama!

triumph：勝利
tragedy：悲劇
roaring：活気のある
hip and hot：(流行の)最先端の
go public：上場する
very：まさに
ambitious：野心のある
intensely：激しく
convict：有罪判決を下す

The company grew with a series of purchases, including Yves Saint Laurent (1999) and Balenciaga (2001). In 2004, Gucci Group was bought by PPR, one of Europe’s largest companies. Tom Ford also left Gucci that year, a decade after leading the company back to glory.

purchases：商品
glory：栄光

The Gucci brand continues to shine bright, with sales of US$7.7 billion in 2007. Over 400 Gucci stores and other dealers sell the label’s watches, handbags, clothing, 10 and other fine goods. Through all the drama, the luxury legend lives on.

luxury：栄光の
live on：生き続けている

At one time or another, most of us have either owned or used a Sony product. For more than 60 years, the company has filled the world with millions of radios, cameras, and other electronic wonders. It also owns some of the world’s largest movie, music and television businesses.

At one time or another：いつの間にか
wondor(s)：素晴らしいもの

Founded in Japan in 1946 by Akio Morita (a physicist) and Masaru Ibuka (an engineer), the company was originally called Tokyo Telecommunication Engineering Corporation. (The name was changed to Sony Corporation in 1958.) The two businessmen led a team of 20 people in designing and building electric products. The first of these, a simple rice cooker, was a failure. But the team members kept their noses to the grindstone, looking for the right product that they could sell locally and abroad.

physicist：物理学者
keep one’s nose to the grindstone：あくせく働く
(ref.) grindstone：砥石
(ref.) follow one’s nose：まっすぐ行く、本能のままに行動する
(ref.) keep one’s nose clearn：ごたごたを起こさない、品行方正である
(ref.) poke one’s nose into X：Xに口出しする

The hard work paid off in the 1950s with a very popular line of pocket-sized radios. Millions of units were sold, and Sony went on to become a household name in Asia, Europe, North America, and beyond.

pay off：うまく行く
household name：よく知られているもの
beyond：より先に

As evidence of its international outlook, Sony started selling shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 1970. That made it the first Japanese company to sell its stock on the exchange. And believing that local manufacturing would be best for overseas markets, it opened factories in the U.S. in 1972 and England in 1974.

outlook：展望
shares：株
stock：株
manufacturing：製造

Over the decades, Sony continued innovating, filling store shelves with many new and exciting products. These included the Trinitron TV (1968), the Walkman (1979), the CD player (1982), and the Blu-Ray Disc (2006). A key reason for this unending stream of new products has been an emphasis on research and design. Indeed, Sony gives bonuses to engineers whose designs are made into products.

decade：10年
innovate：刷新する

Yet not every Sony product has been a success. Its most notable failure was the Betamax video-recording format. Launched in 1975, it eventually lost out in the home consumer market to the more popular VHS format. And Sony suffered badly when its stock price, which had increased rapidly in the high-tech bubble, burst in 2000. Still, setbacks like these only challenge Sony to work harder and continue pushing the envelope. With more than 180,000 employees and revenues topping US$85 billion in 10 2007, this legendary company continues to evolve and amaze.

notable：有名な
launch：始める
eventually：やがて
lose out to X：(負けて)Xに取って代わられる、Xに座を奪われる
suffer：苦しむ
setback：つまずき
push the envelope：かたくなに頑張る
legendary：有名な
envelope：進化する