非洲 - 钻石之王

为了体验百叶人集团的力量，南非施用的公司已经为钻石行业占据了一世纪以上的钻石行业，一个人只有在邻近博茨瓦纳的露天坑腾矿的边缘。该矿井占地2.5公里，近400米，占世界各钻石供应的10％。从坑里搭配十英尺高轮子的猛犸象卡车，每周一次，一辆装甲车塞满了粗钻的钻石，远离延腾护送汽车。ViCoy的警报器将Warthogs和Baboons击败了Kalahari沙漠的灌木丛，以至于东北的宝石160公里到博茨瓦纳的首都，歌唱龙，以及全球贸易商，抛光剂，制造商和珠宝商。

要体验戴比尔斯的魅力，人们只能进入曼哈顿第五大道的壮观的三层零售店。便宜的东西 - 珠宝的一小节和1,500美元低于1,500美元的价格标签 - 位于底楼。当顾客上升到三楼时，克拉的数量达到两位数，价格飙升到数百万。在最近的一个早晨，詹姆斯图里省的一份早晨店铺经理正在帮助一个有魅力的金发女郎，尝试用870万美元的梨形石头的117克拉。“甚至没有梦想它，”她的丈夫说，他们暗示他们撤退了一个地板。

With millions of newly affluent fiancées in China and India hoping for engagement rings and with world supplies tightening, the future for De Beers looks bright indeed. Last year global revenues from diamond sales rose 5 percent, while output of rough diamonds increased by only 2.3 percent. "There are few resource markets in the world that have such good fundamentals," says Tim Clark, a Johannesburg-based mining industry analyst for Deutsche Securities.

It's the present that vexes some analysts and investors. "With this company you have to focus on the long term, not the bumps on the road," says David Winters, portfolio manager for Mountain Lakes, New Jersey°©based Wintergreen Fund, which has $596 million in assets under management, including $16.4 million in the largest De Beers shareholder, global mining giant Anglo American.

Those bumps come in all sizes. In Botswana rising nationalism is gradually cutting into De Beers's share of diamond revenues. At Jwaneng, for example, 84 cents of every dollar in rough diamond sales went to the Botswana government last year. That compares with the roughly 50 cents on every dollar that De Beers made when Jwaneng began operation in 1984. In South Africa black economic empowerment demands led the company to sell 26 percent of its subsidiary, De Beers Consolidated Mines, to a black-owned investment group last year. And for all their glitter, the Fifth Avenue De Beers store and 14 others like it around the world aren't yet making money. "Just because De Beers knows how to find diamonds doesn't make them retail geniuses," says Martin Rapaport, chairman of New York°©based Rapaport Diamond Report, the industry's most influential publication. Part of the problem is that De Beers is going up against more glamorous, long-entrenched market leaders like Tiffany & Co., Cartier and Bulgari, which offer a full range of gems.

长期控制它坚持认为任何困难的博勒斯和oppenheimer家族是暂时的，并且与2000年开始的公司的重大转型联系起来。那一年，De Beers放弃了世界上钻石供应的垄断，因为它证明了太昂贵了和争议维护。该公司积累了不断增长的未售出钻石库存，其他非洲国家和澳大利亚的一些钻石生产商开始在开放市场上销售。与此同时，在美国和欧洲，戴比尔斯被击中了从事非竞争力实践的指控。

自从投降其垄断以来，该公司在粗糙钻石中的市场份额下降至40％ - 不到二十年前的一半。俄罗斯的Alrosa Co.这一休闲队伍已被控制，该公司占据了20％的市场，澳大利亚矿业巨头Rio Tinto和BHP Billiton，分别有8％和7％。

为了弥补其减少的纽约尔，戴比尔斯已经接受了一种寻求的新战略 - 迄今为止，只有部分成功，通过品牌和更复杂的营销来增加钻石的价值。“我们在未来几年克服这些挑战的成功将定义我们的未来，”聂伍德海默，家庭的62岁的族长和贝尔斯董事长，在与机构投资者的电子邮件交换中。亚博赞助欧冠

这些挑战是令人生畏的。2005年，戴斯在2009年之前设定了兴趣，税收，折旧和摊销前加倍盈利的崇高目标。“毫无疑问，这是一个延伸，”德贝尔集团首席执行官45岁，45，约翰内斯堡公司总部采访。“但我们是在轨道上吗？是的，我们是。”

Last year's figures suggest otherwise. Ebitda fell 12 percent from 2005, to $1.23 billion. Net earnings increased 32 percent, to $730 million, but that was largely the result of nonrecurring income from sales of holdings in South Africa and Canada. Underlying earnings of $425 million were half the 2005 total. Meanwhile, sales declined 6 percent, to $6.15 billion. Sales fell a further 7 percent in the first half of 2007, to $3.4 billion, while underlying earnings rose 5 percent, to $324 million, because of a tax credit and lower finance charges.

2006年欧洲委员会在欧洲委员会在2006年订购的德勒结束了与Alrosa的贸易协定之后，销售额的下降反映了俄罗斯的粗钻石供应下降，争论它在开放市场上保持了太多粗糙的石头。（上个月欧洲联盟的第一案法院推翻了该决定;委员会尚未决定是否上诉。De Beers说，这太​​快了解裁决对其业务有什么影响。）

To carry out its dramatic change in business strategy -- from monopoly toward a more market-oriented approach -- without resistance from shareholders, De Beers delisted from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 2001 and took itself private in a $9.3 billion buyout. De Beers is now owned by Anglo American (45 percent), the Oppenheimer family (40 percent) and the government of Botswana (15 percent). According to Forbes magazine's 2007 list of the world's richest people, the Oppenheimers have a fortune of more than $5 billion, making them the wealthiest South African family.

De Beers和Anglo American之间的联系回到Ernest Oppenheimer（1880-1957），尼基的祖父，20世纪30年代的公司控制了两家公司作为他们的领先股东。今天，他的后代只拥有2.26％的英美，其市场资本化776亿美元。Anglo American的其他股东 - 标准人寿集团，线程投资，法律和一般集团和忠诚投资是最大的，每次2％至4％的股权 - 已被迫证明耐心淘汰啤酒的滞后表现。其对英美利润的潜在贡献在2006年下降了47％，达到2.27亿美元，博勒斯的资本回报率仅为11.5％，远低于英美32.4％。

这两家公司的对比财务表现使一些投资者预测，越来越迟到，戴比尔斯将不得不考虑一个IPO给Anglo American的出口。

"I think it's inevitable," says James Passin, managing partner at New York°©based Firebird Global Fund, a hedge fund whose diamond-mining investments include an undisclosed holding in Anglo American. "Anglo keeps talking about restructuring, and it isn't benefiting enough from its 45 percent stake in De Beers."

尼基oppenheimer，他在伦敦和约翰内斯堡之间分裂了大部分时间，不敢否认De Besers将再次公开。“在贝尔斯未来没有IPO的计划，”他在他的电子邮件中。“英美，博茨瓦纳政府和我的家人都表达了对目前的管理层结构的信心和支持。”

据尼克·冯·施密斯，伦敦的伦敦投资者关系负责人为英美，投资者最常见的问题是该公司是否将出售其钻石子公司。“我们的回应是，戴比尔斯是盎格鲁美国的核心资产，因此根据定义，我们希望拥有更多 - 不少 - ”他说。询问Anglo美国人是否可能考虑购买OppeNheimers的股权，冯谢尼斯响应：“显然，如果机会出现，我们会以合适的价格购买。”

THE OPPENHEIMERS HAVE WEATHERED far more difficult circumstances during their long involvement with diamonds. De Beers was founded in 1888 by Englishman Cecil Rhodes, the empire builder who bought out thousands of claim holders to take control of the Kimberley Mine in South Africa -- the site of what was then the world's largest diamond deposit. Ernest Oppenheimer, a German-born, naturalized British citizen, began his association with De Beers in 1902 when a London firm of diamond merchants sent him to Kimberley as its representative.

1917年，随着John Pierpont Morgan Jr的支持，Oppenheimer成立了南非的Anglo American Corp.，很快是金牌和其他矿物的主要生产商。这给了他1929年宣称戴比尔斯委员会主席的裁判员。oppenheimer随后创造了一种复杂的交叉股权安排，使他能够控制戴比尔斯和英美。

By the 1930s, De Beers's global monopoly over rough diamond sales was well entrenched. Through its London-based Central Selling Organization, De Beers sold more than 80 percent of the world's rough diamonds. About half came from its own mines. Even into the 1970s and '80s, as Johannesburg's apartheid policies were causing increasing outrage across the world, De Beers -- the best-known South African company -- still persuaded other producers that only a CSO-managed monopoly could ensure that supply never outstripped demand and that diamond prices never fell.

但到了20世纪90年代，垄断令人震惊。“我们不再将其视为我们的商业模式，”贝尔斯首席执行官便士说。“这不是有利可图的，而且它没有合法强壮。”在保持稳定价格的努力失败，CSO几乎埋没了50亿美元的粗钻库存。主要生产商，如澳大利亚的亚皆老街钻石，结束了与De Beers合同，以寻求更好的公开市场价格。

在美国，占零下于620亿美元的零售钻石市场的一半，1994年的消费者带来了一个阶级行动诉讼，用价格定影带来了啤酒。在布鲁塞尔，欧洲委员会指责公司将扼杀竞争与俄罗斯的alrosa市场钻石的独家合同。

近年来，德贝尔搬迁到解决这些问题。2004年，它通过在未承认责任的情况下支付2.5亿美元来解决美国诉讼。两年后，它达成了欧洲委员会，在2009年逐步淘汰购买ALROSA钻石的购买。去年它从2005年购买了6亿美元的钻石钻石;它打算在2007年购买5亿美元的价值。

覆盖俄罗斯缺口counti戴比尔斯ng on two new diamond mines in Canada on which it has spent $1.7 billion. The Snap Lake Mine in the Northwest Territories will start production in October, and the Victor Mine in Ontario will follow in the last quarter of 2008. Along with smaller new projects in South Africa, De Beers expects to add some $700 million to annual production by 2009.

展示当前的战略是在2000年塑造了贝恩＆Co.的波士顿管理咨询公司敦促啤酒们敦促烧杯停止购买其他生产商的钻石，并销售其50亿美元的库存。凭借其40％的钻石生产份额，德贝尔仍将对该行业产生巨大影响。而且，贝恩建议，这种影响应该用于诱导行业的投资远远超过其对广告的收入占钻石品牌价值的比例。相比之下，手表行业花费了5％的广告收入。

"Traditionally, diamonds have competed solely on the basis of price, which is something totally alien to other luxury goods," says Stephen Lussier, branding guru and London-based director of corporate affairs at De Beers. "We need to create more interest and excitement around design and brand image."

在其新战略的核心是德贝尔呼叫选择供应商的情况下，该公司优先于向展示他们可以为宝石增加价值的买家销售粗钻石。每年五次，93名叹息师，或者青睐客户，来自世界各地的伦敦戴斯钻石贸易有限公司伦敦办事处。它们是盒箱，或“景点”，含有粗钻石 - 在14,000个品种的组合中，根据尺寸，形状，质量，原产地，颜色和价值 - 旨在满足他们的制造商和零售珠宝商的要求顾客。叹息的系统从De Deaers毫不犹豫地毫不犹豫地幸存下来，即使是其最富有的客户也是如此。哈利温斯顿，一个领先的叹息师和世界上最着名的零售珠宝商，直到1978年去世，曾被拒绝接受戴啤酒盒，因为他不喜欢它的钻石混合。无法在其他地方找到钻石，他再也没有敢于拒绝啤酒箱。

如今，De Beers不一定是如此高。随着未来几年担心粗糙钻石短缺的担忧，叹息师愿意遵守他们每年购买设定的盒子数量的要求。“大型珠宝制造商或零售连锁店需要戴啤酒，以稳定的粗糙石头供应，因为他们没有足够的时间来跑来跑去，手中的帽子，从一堆较小的供应商处购买，”行业分析师纳粹主德说。

According to De Beers, the showcase example of how the new strategy generates value is the marketing arrangement between longtime sightholder Leo Schachter Diamonds and big jewelry retailer Signet Group around a product called the Leo Diamond. Created by Leo Schachter designers, the Leo has a distinctive, multifaceted cut that reflects more light than most diamonds. "Leo Schachter has a differentiated product that enables them to distribute their stones through a large retailer and not be subject entirely to price competition," says Lussier. "And Signet can offer something that consumers are willing to pay more for."

新的营销安排令人厌烦许多古老的达啤酒叹息师，特别是钻石制造商。“De Beers感觉我们必须成为他们新商业模式的一部分，并比熟练的制造更多地带到桌子上，”纽约夫·国际钻石制造商协会总裁Jeffrey Fischer说。“但不是每个人都可以下游，找到合适的零售伙伴。”

Sometimes a sightholder rebels. The most publicized case involves Mahdu Mehta, managing director of Antwerp-based jewelry manufacturer Jayam NV, a De Beers sightholder for three generations. Jayam sued De Beers and its Diamond Trading Co. for breach of contract, claiming the Supplier of Choice system unfairly slashed its annual supply of diamonds to $50 million in 2003 from $142 million previously. But De Beers won the case in London's High Court in March of this year. Mehta says Jayam is considering an appeal.

In seeking to add value, De Beers contends that it is demanding as much from itself as from its clients. It spent $200 million last year on marketing, or just over 3 percent of sales. Since 2001 it has waded into the high-end retail business by forming a partnership with French luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton to open diamond outlets like the Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan. Today, De Beers's 15 stores generate $100 million in annual revenues -- but still lose money as they try to contend with the likes of Tiffany, which last year had net earnings of $254 million on sales of $2.6 billion. "We have to triple the network by 2009 to get the sort of scale that we need to become significantly profitable," says Lussier.

但有些分析师怀疑钻石市场是否正在沿着贝尔斯增值模型开发。沃尔玛商店已成为美国最大的钻石珠宝零售商之一 - ，品牌符合其成功无关。“问一下的公平问题是：你会买一个订婚戒指并把它放在沃尔玛盒子里吗？”Kenneth Gassman Jr.是一家以珠宝allen，弗吉尼亚州格伦艾伦的珠宝行业研究院运行珠宝行业研究院的前华尔街金融分析师。显然，为了让贝尔沮丧，答案往往是肯定的。（沃尔玛不提供钻石收入的数字。）

美国零售市场的另一个重要现象是在线钻石珠宝销售的成功，特别是在西雅图的蓝尼罗河。仅在十年前创立，蓝尼罗河去年报告了2.56亿美元的收入 - 完全来自在线销售。“他们的典型客户是来自华盛顿，波士顿和旧金山等高科技城镇的高收入，25至34岁的人，他们没有时间访问商店并习惯在线购物，”Gassman说。

尽管它一直在为零售工作abroad, De Beers has proved agile in navigating the political and racial minefields in its native South Africa. During the waning, brutal decades of white rule, Harry Oppenheimer (1908-2000), who controlled De Beers as chairman of Anglo American, became known as the more enlightened face of the South African business community for his criticism of the government's apartheid policies. Under his son, Nicky, De Beers has continued to anticipate change.

With demands for more black ownership and management in white businesses, Nicky Oppenheimer and his son, Jonathan, put forth in 2003 the Brenthurst Initiative. Named after the family's Johannesburg estate (where Nicky still lives amid a 45-acre garden tended by 48 gardeners), the plan proposed a scorecard system providing tax breaks to corporations that give blacks 25 percent ownership and promote them into management. The main outlines have been adopted by the South African business community.

2006年，该公司南非子公司的De BEERES综合矿山销售了26％的股权，由Manne Dipico领导的黑色投资组。他是非洲全国大会的前劳动领导者和一位排名政治家，执政党。股权占南非标准银行安排的5.07亿美元，加上2.06亿美元的融资;Ponahalo正在支付股息的总和。2006年1月，Jonathan Oppenheimer，现在只有18个月，因为DABCM首席执行官只为David Noko为David Noko提供了一名南非航班的空气厨师前四年的Black Encion食品采补室，他是首席执行官。

Noko has been required to carry out a painful restructuring that was decided upon while Oppenheimer was still CEO, including the closing or sale of four unprofitable South African mines and a 38 percent reduction of the company's workforce of 10,000. "We are in a no-choice situation here," says Noko. "We have some mines that are between 80 and 100 years old, and in terms of our cost-revenue ratio, they are moving into the red-ink zone."

去年DBCM的钻石产量为1460万克拉，或者占百叶人集团总计5100万克拉的30％。博茨瓦纳是迄今为止最重要的啤酒矿业运营，2006年产量为3430万克拉;该公司在纳米比亚生产了超过200万克拉。预计2007年和2008年安排在加拿大运营的两个新的啤酒矿就预计每年占用300万克拉。

In its effort to retrench and increase profitability in South Africa, De Beers is depending on the political clout of Dipico, 47, who is deputy chairman of DBCM. A onetime labor organizer at De Beers, he was convicted for being a member of the then-banned ANC, did five years in prison at Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela, later served two terms as premier of the Northern Cape province and today is parliamentary counselor to President Thabo Mbeki. "I add value to De Beers in terms of my relationship with the government," says Dipico candidly.

作为一个例子，Dipico引用了他在德贝尔和政府之间致力于结合国家采矿集团Alexkor的资产，每年只生产40,000名克拉，而De Beers©拥有的Namaqualand Mines，其具有产出每年100万克拉。De Beaers将在Namaqualand向南非的矿业部发出20％的股权，随着时间的推移稀释自己的兴趣，并最终将其作为运营商的作用放弃。

“这是我们新的经营理念的一部分 - 我们希望更有效地部署我们的资本，”首席执行官Penny说。该交易还通过创建一个拥有更多黑人的合资企业并愿意接受资本的较低回报而非啤酒树来帮助戴比尔斯履行其对政府的黑色赋权计划的义务。

对于DIPICO，De Beers对黑人经济赋权的义务是开放的。“我们没有一个明确的时间范围，但历史只有在我们长达26％的股权时，才会有利地判断我们。”询问他是否可以想象一个没有由oppeNheimers控制的展示者，他回应：“是的，当然，因为空间不断为新球员开放。”

Nicky Oppenheimer坚持认为他的家人无意在南非或大陆的其他任何地方进行削减啤酒。“我是第三代非洲人，嫁给了第四代非洲，孙子们将我的家人与大陆的联系扩展到第六代，”他写道。