丹纳赫如何创造持久的竞争优势
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4398886-how-danaher-created-an-enduring-competitive-advantage
Summary 摘要 The Danaher Corporation uses a continuous improvement strategy called the Danaher Business System. 丹纳赫公司采用了一种名为丹纳赫商业系统的持续改进策略。 After starting as a Lean Manufacturing practice, it evolved and expanded into a system that affects every aspect of the company’s operations and business. 最初作为精益生产实践开始，它逐渐演变并扩展为一个影响公司运营和业务各个方面的系统。 For over two decades, it has helped the firm outperform the S&P 500. 二十多年来，它帮助公司超越了标准普尔 500 指数。 "Common sense, vigorously applied” (Danaher) “常识，积极应用”（丹纳赫） Whenever the Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) is discussed, you’re likely to find references to its secret sauce, what it calls the Danaher Business System, DBS: 每当谈到丹纳赫公司（NYSE: DHR）时，你很可能会发现对其“秘密武器”的提及，即它所称的丹纳赫商业系统（Danaher Business System，DBS）：
Logo of Danaher Business Systems
Here’s an example of it in use, as shown by then President & CEO Tom Joyce in a May 2018 presentation: 以下是其使用的一个例子，由时任总裁兼首席执行官汤姆·乔伊斯（Tom Joyce）在 2018 年 5 月的演示中展示：
Danaher Improvement Example
A couple of notes on the jargon in that slide: 关于那张幻灯片中的术语有几点说明：
SDR is an acronym for "Speed Design Review". SDR 是“速度设计评审”的缩写。 VOC refers to "Voice of the Customer". VOC 指的是“客户声音”。 An "Obeya" room, a Japanese word arising out of Lean Manufacturing practices, simply means a big room where employees, managers, and/or others can meet. “Obeya”房间是一个源于精益生产实践的日语词，简单来说就是一个员工、经理和/或其他人可以聚会的大房间。 "Gemba" refers to another Japanese word adopted by Lean practitioners, referring to “the place where value is created”. “Gemba”是另一个被精益实践者采用的日语词，指的是“创造价值的地方”。 In summary, the company did a series of experiments that allowed them to develop a faster chlorine monitoring system, one that was good enough to win approval of the Federal Drug Administration - and open a new $50 million market. 总之，该公司进行了一系列实验，使他们能够开发出一种更快的氯监测系统，这种系统足够好，获得了联邦药品管理局的批准，并开辟了一个 5000 万美元的新市场。
What is Danaher? 丹纳赫是什么？ For those not familiar with it, Danaher is a conglomerate, an entity made up of numerous companies in different industries. Specifically, those industries, in early 2021 are: 对于不熟悉的人来说，丹纳赫是一个综合企业，由多个不同行业的公司组成。具体来说，这些行业在 2021 年初包括：
Life Sciences 生命科学
Danaher Life Sciences
Diagnostics 诊断
Danaher Diagnostics
Environmental & Applied Solutions 环境与应用解决方案
Danaher Environmental & Applied Solutions In its third-quarter 2020 earnings release, the company described itself this way, “Danaher is a global science and technology innovator committed to helping its customers solve complex challenges and improving quality of life around the world. Its family of world class brands has leadership positions in the demanding and attractive health care, environmental and applied end-markets.” 在 2020 年第三季度的财报中，公司这样描述自己：“丹纳赫是一家全球科学和技术创新者，致力于帮助客户解决复杂挑战，并改善全球的生活质量。其世界级品牌家族在要求高且具有吸引力的医疗、环境和应用终端市场中占据领导地位。”
However, the company has had many shapes since its 1984 incarnation (it began in 1969 as a real estate investment trust). 然而，自 1984 年成立以来，该公司经历了许多变化（它于 1969 年作为房地产投资信托开始）。
Since the 1980s, it has bought numerous companies and put each of them through rationalized management practices and philosophy, beginning with Lean Manufacturing (including Kaizen) in the 1980s. 自 1980 年代以来，它收购了众多公司，并对每个公司实施了合理化的管理实践和理念，从 1980 年代的精益生产（包括改善）开始。
Today, the approach is much broader than just Lean and it is the cultural core and DNA that all subsidiaries share. 如今，这种方法远不止于精益，它是所有子公司共享的文化核心和 DNA。
Danaher Business System Overview 丹纳赫商业系统概述 On its website, the company notes, “Success at Danaher doesn't happen by accident. We have a proven system for achieving it. We call it the Danaher Business System (DBS), and it drives every aspect of our culture and performance. We use DBS to guide what we do, measure how well we execute, and create options for doing even better—including improving DBS itself.” 在其网站上，公司指出：“丹纳赫的成功不是偶然发生的。我们有一个经过验证的系统来实现这一目标。我们称之为丹纳赫商业系统（DBS），它驱动着我们文化和绩效的各个方面。我们使用 DBS 来指导我们的工作，衡量我们的执行效果，并创造更好表现的选项——包括改善 DBS 本身。”
DBS History DBS 历史 Writing on LinkedIn, Mark C. DeLuzio wrote that he had been the architect of Danaher’s system and the initiative began when Danaher bought a troubled manufacturing company. As he described it, “Jacobs Manufacturing, affectionately known as JAKE BRAKE. At Jake, the spark was lit in 1987 which ignited the modern Lean movement in the USA. In the 1980’s Jake Brake was an arrogant company who hid behind their patent as they continued to provide poor customer service and quality.” 在 LinkedIn 上，Mark C. DeLuzio 写道，他是 Danaher 系统的设计师，这一倡议始于 Danaher 收购一家陷入困境的制造公司。他描述道：“Jacobs Manufacturing，亲切地称为 JAKE BRAKE。在 Jake，1987 年点燃了现代精益运动的火花。在 1980 年代，Jake Brake 是一家傲慢的公司，他们躲在专利后面，继续提供糟糕的客户服务和质量。”
To turn the company around, they used elements of the Toyota Production System, which was popular at the time. Japanese manufacturers were seriously outperforming their rivals everywhere, including the United States. Like many Japanese companies, Toyota used Lean Manufacturing techniques to improve quality, increase speed, and reduce costs. 为了扭转公司的局面，他们采用了当时流行的丰田生产系统的元素。日本制造商在各个地方，包括美国，的表现都远超竞争对手。像许多日本公司一样，丰田利用精益生产技术来提高质量、加快速度并降低成本。
But, Danaher wasn’t prepared to limit its improvements to the manufacturing floor, according to DeLuzio, and it began exploring ways of methodically improving every aspect of the company. That eventually evolved into the robust system that exists today. 但是，德鲁齐奥表示，丹纳赫并不打算将其改进局限于生产车间，而是开始探索系统性改善公司各个方面的方法。这最终演变成了今天存在的强大系统。
The following slide, from its 2019 Overview presentation shows that evolution: 以下幻灯片来自 2019 年概述演示，展示了这一演变：
Danaher DBS Evolution
DBS Pillars DBS 支柱 As we saw in the logo above, there are four main pillars, and on its website the corporation says, “the DBS engine drives the company through a never-ending cycle of change and improvement: exceptional PEOPLE develop outstanding PLANS and execute them using world-class tools to construct sustainable PROCESSES, resulting in superior PERFORMANCE. Superior performance and high expectations attract exceptional people, who continue the cycle. Guiding all efforts is a simple philosophy rooted in four customer-facing priorities: Quality, Delivery, Cost, and Innovation.” 正如我们在上面的标志中看到的，有四个主要支柱，企业在其网站上表示：“DBS 引擎推动公司经历一个永无止境的变革和改进循环：卓越的人才制定出色的计划，并利用世界级工具执行这些计划，以构建可持续的流程，从而实现卓越的绩效。卓越的绩效和高期望吸引优秀的人才，他们继续这个循环。所有努力的指导原则是一个简单的哲学，根植于四个以客户为中心的优先事项：质量、交付、成本和创新。”
The idea, as was the case with many Japanese and American improvement strategies, is to see the pillars as individual but linked elements in an ongoing cycle. Each iteration of the cycle is expected to give the company—and its financials—a boost that helps drive further improvement in the next cycle. 这个理念，与许多日本和美国的改进策略一样，是将支柱视为持续循环中相互关联的独立元素。每次循环的迭代预计将为公司及其财务带来提升，帮助推动下一个循环的进一步改进。
And, as Danaher’s explanation suggests, it takes all four of the Ps to make DBS work properly: 正如 Danaher 的解释所示，成功实施 DBS 需要四个 P 的共同作用：
Train people, so they can make better plans. 培训员工，使他们能够制定更好的计划。 Other trained people execute the plans, and because of their training and ‘world-class tools’, operations are more efficient and effective. 其他经过培训的人员执行这些计划，由于他们的培训和“世界级工具”，运营变得更加高效和有效。 Part of that efficiency and effectiveness also comes from better-managed processes (this is the original Lean part of the DBS). 这种效率和有效性的一部分也来自于更好管理的流程（这是 DBS 的原始精益部分）。 The result, we’re told, is superior performance, or better results across a range of financial and human metrics. Those metrics include more satisfied customers and employees as well as greater profitability (and now ESG priorities as well). 我们被告知，结果是卓越的表现，或者在一系列财务和人力指标上取得更好的结果。这些指标包括更满意的客户和员工，以及更高的盈利能力（现在还有 ESG 优先事项）。 Better customer experiences should produce greater profitability and that means Danaher should have more funds available to reinvest in training, tools, and process management. And, the circle continues. 更好的客户体验应该带来更高的盈利，这意味着丹纳赫应该有更多资金可用于再投资于培训、工具和流程管理。这样，循环就会继续。
At least that’s the theory. But, does it work in practice? 至少这是理论。但是，这在实践中有效吗？
Does the Danaher Business System Really Work? 丹纳赫商业系统真的有效吗？ This chart shows Danaher’s total return far outstripping the S&P 500 total return since 1997: 这张图表显示，自 1997 年以来，丹纳赫的总回报远远超过标准普尔 500 指数的总回报：
Danaher versus S&P 500 total returns We should add that ‘total return’ is a bit of a misnomer in Danaher’s case. It began paying a dividend in 1993, but it has never amounted to anything significant. The current dividend yield is just 0.30% and even though its is growing its payments, the 5-year yield-on-cost only amounts to 1.05%. Shareholders’ only real return is from capital gains, which have been attractive. 我们应该补充一点，在丹纳赫的情况下，“总回报”有点不准确。它在 1993 年开始支付股息，但从未达到过任何显著的水平。目前的股息收益率仅为 0.30%，尽管其支付正在增长，但 5 年成本收益率仅为 1.05%。股东唯一真正的回报来自资本增值，而资本增值一直很可观。
As the chart suggests, the capital gains have been particularly strong in recent years, and especially in 2020 as Danaher responded to opportunities created by the Covid-19 pandemic. 正如图表所示，近年来资本收益特别强劲，尤其是在 2020 年，丹纳赫抓住了新冠疫情带来的机遇。
While those pandemic gains are unlikely to last beyond this year, we can likely give it a bullish rating for the next five to ten years. It has a solid history of growth, and the existence of DBS suggests it can keep producing strong managers and leaders for the foreseeable future. 尽管这些疫情带来的收益不太可能持续到今年之后，但我们可以对未来五到十年给予乐观的评级。它有着稳固的增长历史，DBS 的存在表明它能够在可预见的未来持续培养出优秀的管理者和领导者。
DBS as a Competitive Advantage DBS 作为竞争优势 A company that continuously increases the value it provides to its customers while at the same time reducing its costs has an advantage over its competitors. Over time, of course, the advantage becomes more robust. 一家不断提高其为客户提供的价值，同时降低成本的公司，相较于其竞争对手具有优势。随着时间的推移，这种优势当然会变得更加稳固。
That advantage extends to its acquisitions. Here’s are three examples from the Tom Joyce presentation: 这种优势扩展到其收购中。以下是汤姆·乔伊斯演示中的三个例子：
Danaher acquisitions Conclusion 结论 As the chart above showed, the Danaher Business System has given the Danaher Corporation a competitive advantage and robust results on key metrics. In particular, the share price has outperformed the S&P 500 for more than 20 years. 如上图所示，丹纳赫商业系统为丹纳赫公司提供了竞争优势，并在关键指标上取得了强劲的业绩。特别是，股价在过去 20 多年中表现优于标准普尔 500 指数。
The system itself is one that focuses on customer satisfaction, and from that satisfaction come financial rewards and employee satisfaction. Most importantly, perhaps, is that the gains keep building on themselves, just as reinvested dividends can produce fortunes over time. 该系统本身专注于客户满意度，而这种满意度带来了财务回报和员工满意度。或许最重要的是，收益不断自我积累，就像再投资的股息随着时间的推移可以产生财富一样。
The existence of the system, along with the culture it fosters and the talent it helps develop, makes me bullish about Danaher’s prospects for the next five to ten years. 该系统的存在，以及它所培养的文化和帮助发展的人才，使我对丹纳赫在未来五到十年的前景感到乐观。