The Amish Effect: Unique cultural strengths help Plain Sect businesses thrive
阿米绪效应：独特的文化力量帮助该朴素教派获得商业繁荣
Amish scholar Don Kraybill calls it a riddle, or a paradox.
阿米绪学者Don Kraybill称之为一个迷，或者一个悖论。
How can the Amish be such successful entrepreneurs today, when they end their formal education at eighth grade and forswear so much of the paraphernalia of modern life?
在完成八年级后结束正式教育，并且放弃这么多与现代生活息息相关的用品，阿米绪人如何能在当今成为如此成功的企业家？
That they succeed is indisputable: The failure rate of Amish startups in the first five years is less than 10 percent, versus 65 percent for businesses in North America overall.
他们的成功是毋庸置疑的：阿米绪人创业企业在第一个五年内的失败率不到10%，而对于整个北美，这一失败率为65%。
Many Amish retailers cater to mainstream customers, and do so with sophistication. Kraybill likes to cite Emma’s Gourmet Popcorn, which pegs promotions to popular holidays and offers online ordering on a modern, well-designed website.
许多阿米绪零售商迎合主流客户，并且精于世故。Kraybill喜欢引用“艾玛的美食爆米花”为例，它经常利用受欢迎的节假日进行促销活动，并且提供了一个精心设计的入时网站供在线订购。
Bowls of the flavored treat were part of a buffet preceding a talk on Amish business that Kraybill gave recently at Elizabethtown College. Kraybill, who retired from teaching at Elizabethtown last year, remains an active scholar at the college’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies.
Kraybill最近在伊丽莎白镇学院做了一个有关阿米绪商业的演讲，在演讲开始前的自助餐上，有着各式各样的风味小吃。Kraybill去年从伊丽莎白镇学院的教学岗位退休，但仍然是该学院青年中心的一位活跃学者，这个中心从事再洗礼派和虔信派研究。
2,000-plus Amish firms
2000多家阿米绪企业
Over the past few decades, Lancaster County’s Amish have undergone a “mini-Industrial Revolution,” Kraybill said. High land prices plus a population explosion limited farming opportunities for rising generations, fueling a turn to carpentry, small manufacturing and other enterprises.
Kraybil说，在过去的几十年里，（宾夕法尼亚州）兰开斯特县的阿米绪人经历了一场“小型工业革命”。对年轻一代，高昂的土地价格加上人口爆炸限制了农业机会，推动了（从农业）向木工业、小型制造业和其他企业的转变。
Today, there are more than 2,000 Amish businesses in the Lancaster area, Kraybill said. Fewer than one-third of local Amish households still rely on farming as the primary source of income.
现今有超过2000多家阿米绪企业在兰开斯特地区，Kraybill说道。只有少于三分之一的当地阿米绪家庭仍然依靠农业作为主要收入来源。
Alan Dakey is president of the Bank of Bird-in-Hand. Its single branch sits at the corner of North Ronks Road and Route 340, and a majority of its clientele are Plain-sect members. Many of the bank’s customers farm but also operate nonfarm side businesses, Dakey said.
Alan Dakey是手中鸟银行的主席。该银行的唯一分行座落在Ronks北路和340号公路的路口，并且大多数客户是朴素派教徒。Dakey说，许多银行的客户经营农场，同时也进行非农业方面的业务。
Remarkably, the bank has yet to record a single 30-day delinquency on a loan since its December 2013 opening — a tribute to its customers’ frugality and money-management capabilities. Amish aren’t opposed to borrowing per se, but “they want to use it constructively,” Dakey said.
值得注意的是，自从2013年12月开业以来，归功于其客户的节俭和理财能力，银行从未有过哪怕一个拖欠贷款达到30天的记录。阿米绪人并不反对借款本身，但“他们想积极地使用它，” Dakey如是说。
In his talk, Kraybill identified 12 factors he sees contributing to Amish business success. While some are integral to the culture, many, in principle, could be adopted by anyone.
在Kraybill的演讲中，他指出了他所认为的帮助阿米绪人创业成功的12个因素。虽然有一些与他们的文化融为一体，但也有许多在原则上是可以被任何人采纳的。
Here they are:
这些因素是：
1.Apprenticeship: Apprenticeship is a training system that mainstream society has largely abandoned, Kraybill said. But in Amish society, teens learn trades by working alongside their parents or other adults. Kraybill described once watching a 13-year-old fix a piece of hydraulic machinery. He had already spent years in his father’s shop and knew what he was doing. “That’s apprenticeship,” Kraybill said.
1.学徒制：学徒制是一个很大程度上已经被主流社会放弃了的训练体系，Kraybill说到。然而在阿米绪社会中，青少年从通过在他们父母或其他成年人旁边工作而学习手艺。Kraybill介绍了他曾经观察一个13岁少年在修理一台液压机械的部件。他已经花了数年时间在父亲的商店，并且知道自己在做什么。“这就是学徒制，” Kraybill说。
2.Limited education: Because Amish finish school with eighth grade, they can’t be drawn off into law, medicine or other professions that require extended formal education. The two basic Amish career tracks are farming and small business, so that’s where the best and brightest end up, bringing their ingenuity and drive with them.
2.有限的教育：由于阿米绪人八年级就结束学校教育，他们不能进入律师、医药或者其他需要更长时间正式教育的行业。阿米绪人的两种基本职业路线是农业和小型企业，这就是最优秀最聪明的人的出路，这些人具备智慧和进取心。
3.Work ethic: Amish are brought up in a culture that values hard work. It’s seen as integral to life, and children are brought up from an early age to pitch in to help their family and community.
3.职业道德：阿米绪人在一种重视努力工作的文化中长大。这种文化被视为生活中不可或缺的一部分，并且儿童从小要帮助他们的家庭和社区。
4.Smallness: “Bigness spoils everything,” Kraybill said an Amishman once told him. With many small companies instead of a few dominant ones, individual Amish have scope to express their entrepreneurial spirit. There’s little social distance between business owners and employees, and owners stay personally invested in their enterprises.
4.精简：“庞大宠坏了一切，”Kraybill说一个阿米绪人曾经这么告诉他。有许多小公司而不是少数几家大公司占据统治地位，阿米绪个人有机会展现他们的创业精神。企业主和员工之间的社交距离很短，业主们在他们自己的企业里保持投入。
5.Low overhead: Amish businesses don’t have air conditioning or luxurious offices. If the business has an office, Kraybill said he usually finds it empty, because the owner is out working on the shop floor.
5.低开销：阿米绪企业没有空调和奢华的办公室。Kraybill说，即便企业有办公室，他也经常发现办公室是空的，因为业主在车间工作。
6.Social capital: Information propagates rapidly through Amish communities’ social networks. Job seekers and companies with vacancies can put the word out and find each other easily. Transaction costs are low because everyone shares the same values and trust is high.
6.社会资本：信息通过阿米绪社区的社交网络传播得很迅速。求职者们和有职位空缺的公司可以让每个人都知道，并且很容易找到彼此。由于大家有着共同的价值观和高信任度，因此交易成本很低。
7.The paradox of technology: The Amish taboos on technology stimulate innovation and “hacking” as entrepreneurs find workarounds, Kraybill said. The culture distinguishes between using and owning technology — that’s why it’s OK for a business like Emma’s Gourmet Popcorn to contract with a website developer, or for Amish carpenters to journey to job sites in “Amish taxis” driven by their neighbors.
7.技术的悖论：在创业者寻找替代方法时，阿米绪人的技术禁忌刺激了创新和黑客精神，Kraybill说。这种文化把使用技术和拥有技术区别对待——那就是为什么像艾玛的美食爆米花这样的企业与网站开发人员签约是可行的，阿米绪木匠也可以乘坐由他们邻居的“阿米绪出租车”去工作地点。【编注：阿米绪人的教规不允许他们拥有手机、电脑和汽车等现代器物，但其中一些较开明的支派允许在工作中使用这些器物。】
8.Infrastructure:New Amish companies operate within a framework created by their fellow business people. They enjoy access to a well-established network of products and services tailored to the culture and its unique needs and restrictions.
8.基础设施：新的阿米绪公司在一个由他们的商人创建的框架里运行。他们享有一个为其文化以及该文化所赋予的独特需求和限制而量身定做的完善的网络产品和服务。
9.Regional markets: The tens of millions of people in the mid-Atlantic region comprise a “phenomenal external market” for the Amish, Kraybill said. There are more than 50 Amish markets between Annapolis and New York City, many catering to urban dwellers hungering for a taste of rural life. Ben Riehl, who owns a stand at the Markets at Shrewsbury in southern York County, said half of his Saturday customers drive up from Maryland, and he estimates they account for half his weekly sales.
9.区域性市场：Kraybill说，大西洋中部地区数以千万计的居民为阿米绪人提供了一个“规模惊人的外部市场”。在安纳波利斯（美国马里兰州首府）和纽约之间有超过50个阿米绪市场，许多是为了迎合城市居民对体验农村生活的渴望。Ben Riehl在南约克郡什鲁斯伯里的集市里拥有一个摊位【译注：什鲁斯伯里是宾夕法尼亚州的一个自治镇】，他说他周六的一半客人是从马里兰州开车赶来的，他估计这大概占了每周收入的一半。
10.Niche markets: Gourmet popcorn is a niche product. So are dried flower arrangements, carriage restoration, handmade furniture and horse-drawn farm machinery. Many Amish specialize in organic or free-range farming, Dakey said. Kraybill said he knows an Amish farmer who raises camels, having discovered camel milk commands a premium price.
10.细分市场：美食家爆米花是一个细分产品。同样，干花艺术、马车修整、手工家具和马车农业机械也是。许多阿米绪人专业从事有机或自由放养的农业，Dakey说。Kraybill说他知道一个阿米绪农民饲养骆驼，并且发现骆驼奶奇货可居。
11.Amish “branding”: For many Americans, the term “Amish” has strong positive associations: honesty, simplicity, old-fashioned virtue. Businesses can partake in those associations simply by being Amish. For Riehl, there’s a big difference between overt image-building and the kind of trust that accrues when Amish business owners serve their customers with integrity: The latter “is a reputation that was earned, not a brand that was bought.”
11.阿米绪“品牌效应”：对许多美国人而言，“阿米绪”这个词有着很强的正面联想：诚实、朴素和传统的美德。企业仅仅需要是阿米绪的即可产生那些联想。对Riehl而言，赤裸裸的形象塑造和阿米绪企业主通过全心全意为客人服务而积累的那种信任之间有天壤之别，后者“是赢得的口碑，而不是可以买到的品牌”。
12.Payroll costs: Amish employees in Amish businesses are exempt from mainstream companies’ Social Security, health insurance and pension mandates. Though that keeps costs down, the impact is often exaggerated, Amish business owners say. They say they still have to pay into Amish Aid, the community’s mutual-aid fund, and they have responsibility for payroll taxes and benefits for non-Amish employees, so the difference isn’t all that great.
12.薪资成本：在阿米绪企业工作的阿米绪雇员被免除了主流公司的社会保障、医疗保险和退休津贴的要求。阿米绪企业主说，尽管那带来了成本下降，效果却经常被过分夸大。阿米绪企业主说他们仍然需要支付阿米绪援助金，社区互助基金，并且有责任为非阿米绪员工付工资税和福利津贴，因此差别并没有那么显著。
翻译：babyface_claire（@许你疯不许你傻）
校对：hkustliqi
编辑：辉格@whigzhou