经济学人12:经营道德 购买香蕉

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　　商业。

　　Business ethics¹.

　　经营道德。

　　Going bananas.

　　购买香蕉。

　　Chiquita has tried hard to be good—and got no credit for it.

　　奇基塔一直努力作为一个好企业，但一直得不到信任。

　　SOMETIMES you bend over backwards² to please, but still get nowhere. That is what appears to have happened to Chiquita Brands, an American firm which is one of the world's biggest suppliers of bananas and other fruit. Despite accommodating eco-warriors, social activists⁴ and unions, it has found little reward.

　　有时你使出浑身解数来取悦对方，但仍毫无结果。这就像是在奇基塔身上发生的一样，美国奇基塔公司是世界上一个大的香蕉及其他水果供应商。尽管帮助于生态保护斗士，社会积极分子及其组织，但是奇基塔公司没得到什么好处。

　　After a campaign by a green group called ForestEthics, Chiquita agree d in November to avoid fuel from Canadian tar⁵ sands. Extracting this oil is a dirty process. Environmentalists have worked furiously to block a pipeline⁶, called Keystone XL, which would carry it from Canada to America. Chiquita told ForestEthics that it does not use such fuel in its ships and agreed to avoid its use in lorries.

　　环保组织"森林伦理"(ForestEthics)发起环保运动后，奇基塔公司11月承诺不再从加拿大焦油砂中提取燃油。提取这种燃油是一个污染环境的过程。环保人士竭力阻止加拿大通往美国的Keystone XL输油管道的修建。奇基塔公司告诉环保组织"森林伦理"(ForestEthics)，在其船运中他们不再使用这种燃油，同时也避免将这种燃油使用于陆运。

　　This may have pleased environmentalists, but it infuriated Canadians who depend on the oil industry. A pro-business lobby called EthicalOil.org is urging a boycott⁷ of Chiquita's products that is said to be costing the company a fortune. Chiquita would not quantify its losses.

　　这样的举动或许能讨好环保人士，但是激怒了依赖于这种燃油产业的加拿大人。一个称为EthicalOil.org的商业主义游说团体呼吁抵制奇基塔公司的产品，据称这将损失公司一大笔钱。奇基塔公司不会量化其损失。

　　Chiquita traces its origins to the late 1890s and the United Fruit Company, which treated some of the Central American countries it operated in as banana republics. In recent years, however, the firm has made huge efforts to promote social responsibility and sustainability, working with activist³ groups such as the Rainforest Alliance. "We can do good and do well at the same time," Fernando Aguirre, the firm's chief executive, wrote in the company's latest social responsibility report, issued in 2008.

　　追溯奇基塔公司的起源可到19世纪90年代末，当时还是联合果品公司，把操控着一些的中美洲国家戏称为"香蕉共和国"。然而，近几年，该公司同像雨林联盟这样的激进分子组织在促进社会责任和提升可持续发展能力上作出了巨大的努力。该公司总裁兼首席执行官费尔南多.阿格里在公司最新社会责任报告中写到，"我们能做好事同时也能做好"，该报告发行于2008年。

　　Chiquita has signed and largely upheld a global agreement with local and international food unions. It has embraced sustainable farming techniques and allows products to be certified⁸ for environmental and other standards. Last year it promised to promote more women and to ensure there is no sexual harassment⁹ on the plantations¹⁰ it owns and buys from. But that has not provided protection from big retailers¹¹ buying bananas direct from plantations and bypassing Chiquita and its main rivals, Dole¹² and Fresh Del Monte Produce.

　　奇基塔同当地和国际食品组织已签署了并很大程度上支持的一份全球协议。该协议囊括了可持续农业技术，给予产品环保认证以及其他标准。去年，该公司承诺将提升更多的女性同时确保在其拥有和购买的种植园内不存在性骚扰。但是，对于那些避开奇基塔和其主要竞争对手的杜尔和德尔蒙食品公司直接在种植园从大零售商那里购买香蕉并不能够提供相应的保障。

　　Many firms in conflict zones face extortion. In 2003 Chiquita became the only American company voluntarily to admit to the Department of Justice that it had paid protection money to Colombian paramilitary forces surrounding its plantations. Now it is facing a raft of American and Colombian lawsuits¹³.

　　冲突地区的许多公司都面临着勒索敲诈。2003年，奇基塔就是美国唯一家公司主动承认他们向驻扎在种植园附近的哥伦比亚军事部队交过保护费。现在正面临着一系列美国和哥伦比亚的诉讼。

　　Chiquita's conspicuous¹⁴ lack of reward is beginning to worry some veteran campaigners. Neither Dole nor Del Monte has been interested in following Chiquita in signing a global union agreement, says Ron Oswald, head of IUF, the international foodworkers' union."It's not sustainable for any company in a competitive sector¹⁵ to make progress and gain no recognition for it," he grumbles¹⁶.

　　奇基塔显著的不讨好开始有点让一些资深活动家感到担心。国际食品劳联首领罗恩?奥斯瓦德讲到，在奇基塔同全球联盟签订一份协议后杜尔和德尔蒙食品公司对此都不会感兴趣。并抱怨到这对于在一个竞争激烈的行业中取得发展和得到认可都是不可持续的。

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