1994-03-01 Warren Buffett.Dexter Shoe

Refer To：《1994-03-01 Warren Buffett's Letters to Berkshire Shareholders》。

Dexter Shoe

What we did last year was build on our 1991 purchase of H. H. Brown, a superbly-run manufacturer of work shoes, boots and other footwear. Brown has been a real winner: Though we had high hopes to begin with, these expectations have been considerably exceeded thanks to Frank Rooney, Jim Issler and the talented managers who work with them. Because of our confidence in Frank’s team, we next acquired Lowell Shoe, at the end of 1992. Lowell was a long-established manufacturer of women’s and nurses’ shoes, but its business needed some fixing. Again, results have surpassed our expectations. So we promptly jumped at the chance last year to acquire Dexter Shoe of Dexter, Maine, which manufactures popular-priced men’s and women’s shoes. Dexter, I can assure you, needs no fixing: It is one of the best-managed companies Charlie and I have seen in our business lifetimes.

我们去年所做的，是在 1991 年收购 H. H. Brown 的基础上继续加码。H. H. Brown 是一家经营极其出色的工装鞋、靴子及其他鞋类制造商。Brown 一直是个真正的赢家：虽然起初我们就寄予厚望，但在 Frank Rooney、Jim Issler 以及与他们共事的优秀管理团队带领下，结果远超预期。基于我们对 Frank 团队的信心，我们在 1992 年末进一步收购了 Lowell Shoe。Lowell 是一家历史悠久的女鞋和护士鞋制造商，但其业务需要修整。事实再次证明，成果超过了我们的期待。因此，我们去年迅速抓住机会，收购了位于缅因州 Dexter 的 Dexter Shoe——一家生产大众价位男鞋与女鞋的公司。我可以向你保证：Dexter 完全不需要修整。它是 Charlie 和我职业生涯中见过的管理最出色的公司之一。

Harold Alfond, who started working in a shoe factory at 25 cents an hour when he was 20, founded Dexter in 1956 with $10,000 of capital. He was joined in 1958 by Peter Lunder, his nephew. The two of them have since built a business that now produces over 7.5 million pairs of shoes annually, most of them made in Maine and the balance in Puerto Rico. As you probably know, the domestic shoe industry is generally thought to be unable to compete with imports from low-wage countries. But someone forgot to tell this to the ingenious managements of Dexter and H. H. Brown and to their skilled labor forces, which together make the U.S. plants of both companies highly competitive against all comers.

Harold Alfond 20 岁时在鞋厂打工，时薪 25 美分；他于 1956 年以 10,000 美元资本创立了 Dexter。1958 年，他的外甥 Peter Lunder 加入。此后两人把公司发展成一门如今每年生产超过 750 万双鞋的生意——大部分在缅因州制造，其余在波多黎各制造。你可能也知道，美国本土鞋业普遍被认为无法与来自低工资国家的进口鞋竞争。但显然有人忘了把这件事告诉 Dexter 和 H. H. Brown 那些才智过人的管理层，以及他们技艺娴熟的劳动力队伍——正是他们共同让两家公司在美国的工厂对任何竞争对手都极具竞争力。

对照Right Business的逻辑。

1、长期的经济前景？

巴菲特说的“favorable long-term economics”，指向的是企业，但如果行业没有长期的经济前景，处于该行业的企业也不可能有，鞋子每个人都需要穿，行业的经济前景是成立的。

2、必需品，以成本取胜，还是以品牌取胜、是用户desired的产品？

连买3家做鞋的公司，显然这个生意偏向于必需品、以成本取胜。

3、有没有长期的、结构性的成本优势？

这时候已经面临低工资国家的进口鞋竞争，但是巴菲特寄希望于优秀的管理团队。

Dexter’s business includes 77 retail outlets, located primarily in the Northeast. The company is also a major manufacturer of golf shoes, producing about 15% of U.S. output. Its bread and butter, though, is the manufacture of traditional shoes for traditional retailers, a job at which it excels: Last year both Nordstrom and J.C. Penney bestowed special awards upon Dexter for its performance as a supplier during 1992.

Dexter 的业务还包括 77 家零售门店，主要分布在美国东北部。公司也是高尔夫球鞋的重要制造商，产量约占美国总产出的 15%。不过，它真正的“基本盘”是为传统零售商生产传统款式的鞋，而这项工作它做得极其出色：去年，Nordstrom 和 J.C. Penney 都因为 Dexter 在 1992 年作为供应商的表现，授予了它特别奖项。

Our 1993 results include Dexter only from our date of merger, November 7th. In 1994, we expect Berkshire’s shoe operations to have more than $550 million in sales, and we would not be surprised if the combined pre-tax earnings of these businesses topped $85 million. Five years ago we had no thought of getting into shoes. Now we have 7,200 employees in that industry, and I sing “There’s No Business Like Shoe Business” as I drive to work. So much for strategic plans.

我们的 1993 年业绩只从合并生效日（11 月 7 日）起纳入 Dexter。我们预计 1994 年 Berkshire 的鞋类业务销售额将超过 5.5 亿美元；如果这些业务合计的税前利润超过 8,500 万美元，我们也不会感到意外。五年前，我们还完全没想过要进入鞋业。如今，我们在这个行业里已有 7,200 名员工，我每天开车上班时都会唱“鞋业才是最好的生意”。战略规划？就这样吧。

At Berkshire, we have no view of the future that dictates what businesses or industries we will enter. Indeed, we think it’s usually poison for a corporate giant’s shareholders if it embarks upon new ventures pursuant to some grand vision. We prefer instead to focus on the economic characteristics of businesses that we wish to own and the personal characteristics of managers with whom we wish to associate—and then to hope we get lucky in finding the two in combination. At Dexter, we did.

在 Berkshire，我们并不持有一种“未来图景”，据此决定我们将进入哪些行业或业务。事实上，我们认为：如果一家企业巨头基于某种宏大愿景而去开展新业务，这通常对股东来说是毒药。我们更愿意把注意力放在：我们想拥有的企业的经济特征，以及我们希望与之共事的管理者的个人特质——然后希望我们能幸运地找到两者兼具的组合。在 Dexter，我们做到了。

* * * * * * * * * * * *

And now we pause for a short commercial: Though they owned a business jewel, we believe that Harold and Peter (who were not interested in cash) made a sound decision in exchanging their Dexter stock for shares of Berkshire. What they did, in effect, was trade a 100% interest in a single terrific business for a smaller interest in a large group of terrific businesses. They incurred no tax on this exchange and now own a security that can be easily used for charitable or personal gifts, or that can be converted to cash in amounts, and at times, of their own choosing. Should members of their families desire to, they can pursue varying financial paths without running into the complications that often arise when assets are concentrated in a private business.

现在插播一段“商业广告”：尽管他们拥有一颗商业明珠，我们仍认为 Harold 和 Peter（他们对现金并无兴趣）用 Dexter 的股票交换 Berkshire 股票，是一个稳健的决定。他们实际上做的，是把“对一家极其优秀企业的 100% 权益”，换成“对一大组极其优秀企业的较小权益”。这次交换不产生税负，而他们现在持有的这项证券，既便于用于慈善或个人赠与，也可以在他们自己选择的金额与时点变现为现金。若他们的家族成员有此意愿，也可以在不触发那些常见于“资产集中在私人企业”时的复杂问题的前提下，走各自不同的财务路径。

For tax and other reasons, private companies also often find it difficult to diversify outside their industries. Berkshire, in contrast, can diversify with ease. So in shifting their ownership to Berkshire, Dexter’s shareholders solved a reinvestment problem. Moreover, though Harold and Peter now have non-controlling shares in Berkshire, rather than controlling shares in Dexter, they know they will be treated as partners and that we will follow owner-oriented practices. If they elect to retain their Berkshire shares, their investment result from the merger date forward will exactly parallel my own result. Since I have a huge percentage of my net worth committed for life to Berkshire shares—and since the company will issue me neither restricted shares nor stock options—my gain-loss equation will always match that of all other owners.

出于税务及其他原因，私人公司往往也很难在本行业之外实现多元化。相较之下，Berkshire 可以轻松实现多元化。因此，把所有权转到 Berkshire 名下，Dexter 的股东等于是解决了一个“再投资问题”。此外，虽然 Harold 和 Peter 现在持有的是 Berkshire 的非控股股份，而不再是 Dexter 的控股股份，但他们知道我们会把他们当作合伙人对待，并会贯彻以所有者为导向的做法。若他们选择继续持有 Berkshire 股票，那么从合并日起，他们的投资结果将与我的结果完全同步。因为我把自己净资产中极大比例的部分“终身”押在 Berkshire 股票上——而且公司既不会给我限制性股票，也不会给我股票期权——所以我的盈亏方程将永远与所有其他股东一致。

Additionally, Harold and Peter know that at Berkshire we can keep our promises: There will be no changes of control or culture at Berkshire for many decades to come. Finally, and of paramount importance, Harold and Peter can be sure that they will get to run their business—an activity they dearly love—exactly as they did before the merger. At Berkshire, we do not tell .400 hitters how to swing.

此外，Harold 和 Peter 也知道，在 Berkshire 我们能兑现承诺：未来几十年，Berkshire 的控制权与文化都不会发生变化。最后，也是最重要的一点，Harold 和 Peter 可以确信：他们将像合并前一样继续经营他们深爱的事业。在 Berkshire，我们不会教打出 .400 打击率的击球手该怎么挥棒。

What made sense for Harold and Peter probably makes sense for a few other owners of large private businesses. So, if you have a business that might fit, let me hear from you. Our acquisition criteria are set forth in the appendix on page 22.

对 Harold 和 Peter 有意义的安排，可能也同样适用于少数其他拥有大型私人企业的所有者。所以，如果你有一家可能符合条件的企业，请与我联系。我们的收购标准列在附录第 22 页。

1994-03-01 Warren Buffett.Dexter Shoe

1994-03-01 Warren Buffett.Dexter Shoe

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