TED演讲:为什么竞争者要把店开在彼此旁边(2)

 　　Day three of the ice cream wars, you get to the beach early, and set up right in the center of Teddy territory, 在“冰淇淋战争”的第三天，你更早的来到了海滩并把你的冰淇淋车放在了泰迪地盘的中间，

　　assuming you'll serve the 75% of beachgoers to your south, leaving your cousin to sell to the 25% of customers to the north. 假设你可以服务在你南边75%的海滩行人，留给你表兄弟服务北边25%的顾客。

　　When Teddy arrives, he sets up just south of you stealing all of the southerly customers, 当泰迪来的时候，他把车放在了你的南边。偷走了原本属于你的所有的南边的客户，

　　and leaving you with a small group of people to the north. 并且只给你留了很少一点儿的在北边的顾客

　　Not to be outdone, you move 10 paces south of Teddy to regain¹ your customers. 为了不被淘汰，你移到了泰迪南边10步远的地方以重新获得你的顾客

　　When you take a mid-day break, Teddy shuffles² 10 paces south of you, 在你中午休息的时候，泰迪又移到了你南边10步远的地方

　　and again, steals back all the customers to the far end of the beach. 再次获得了直到最南边的所有顾客。

　　Throughout the course of the day, both of you continue to periodically move south towards the bulk of the ice cream buyers, 在这一天里，你们不停的移动到对方的南边以获得南边的冰淇淋买家

　　until both of you eventually end up at the center of the beach,  直到你们最终都到达了海滩的中间，

　　back to back, each serving 50% of the ice-cream-hungry beachgoers. 背对背，各自服务50%的冰淇淋买家。

　　At this point, you and your competitive cousin have reached what game theorists call a Nash Equilibrium³,  在这一点上，你和你的表兄弟达到了博弈论中所谓的纳什均衡，

　　the point where neither of you can improve your position by deviating⁴ from your current strategy. 你无法通过移动你的位置以获得更高的收益。

　　Your original strategy, where you were each a quarter mile from the middle of the beach, 你原计划是俩人都在海滩1/4的位置来平分顾客，

　　didn't last, because it wasn't a Nash Equilibrium. 但好景不长，因为它不是一个纳什均衡。

　　Either of you could move your cart towards the other to sell more ice cream. 你们各自都可以移动位置以卖出更多的冰淇淋。

　　With both of you now in the center of the beach, 现在你们俩都处于海滩的中间，

　　you can't reposition your cart closer to your furthest customers without making your current customers worse off. 你无法移动位置来节省最远的顾客要走的路程，而且也不能使你当前客户需要走的路程加长。

　　However, you no longer have a socially optimal⁵ solution,  但是，您不再有社会最优的解决方案，

　　since customers at either end of the beach have to walk further than necessary to get a sweet treat. 因为顾客在海滩的两端，为了获得甜蜜享受的他们必需走那么远。

　　Think about all the fast food chains, clothing boutiques, or mobile phone kiosks at the mall. 想想所有的快餐连锁店、服装精品店或者在商场的移动电话亭。

　　Customers may be better served by distributing services throughout a community, 也许当他们平均分布的时候顾客可能会获得更好的服务，

　　but this leaves businesses vulnerable to aggressive competition. 但是这使企业受到激烈的竞争。

　　In the real world, customers come from more than one direction, and businesses are free to compete with marketing⁶ strategies, 在现实世界中，客户来自四面八方，并且企业之间用营销策略自由竞争，

　　by differentiating⁷ their product line, and with price cuts,  通过推出不同的产品、降价，

　　but at the heart of their strategy, companies like to keep their competition as close as possible. 但关键是企业要保持自己的竞争力。

1 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

2 shuffles   

n.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的名词复数 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的第三人称单数 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼

参考例句：

• She shuffles cards expertly, all the guys stare in amazement. 她熟练地洗着牌，爷们都看呆了。 来自互联网
• Fortune shuffles cards, but we discard them. 命运负责洗牌，而出牌的是我们自己。 来自互联网

3 equilibrium   

n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静

参考例句：

• Change in the world around us disturbs our inner equilibrium.我们周围世界的变化扰乱了我们内心的平静。
• This is best expressed in the form of an equilibrium constant.这最好用平衡常数的形式来表示。

4 deviating   

v.偏离，越轨( deviate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I compromise by using a prepared text and deviating from it whenever I feel the need. 我搞折衷办法，准备一份讲稿，觉得需要的时候就自由发挥。 来自辞典例句
• Theories deviating practices are inane, while practices deviating theories are blindfold. 脱离实践的理论是空泛的，脱离理论指导的实践是盲目的。 来自互联网

5 optimal   

adj.最适宜的；最理想的；最令人满意的

参考例句：

• What is the optimal mix of private and public property rights in natural resources?私人和国家的自然资源产权的最适宜的组合是什么？
• Optimal path planning is a key link for the sailing contest.帆船最优行驶路径规划是帆船比赛取胜的关键环节。

6 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

7 differentiating   

[计] 微分的

参考例句：

• They succeed in differentiating the most commodity-like products. 在最通用的日用产品方面，它们也能独树一帜标新立异。
• The simplest and most effective method of differentiating areas is to use different colours. 区别面状要素最简单而又行之有效的办法，是使用不同的颜色。