THE headlong plunge of shares in Teva, a pharmaceutical giant—down by over 40% since August 2nd—is causing consternation beyond the firm’s shareholders and employees. The company was founded in Jerusalem in 1901, is the largest in Israel and is the country’s only multinational with its headquarters still at home. Since beginning its rapid expansion abroad in the early 1980s it has been called “the nation’s share” by Israelis, whose pension funds have invested heavily in its success.

自8月2日以来，制药业巨头Teva股价一路下跌超过40％，令股东和员工感到惊愕。该公司1901年成立于耶路撒冷，是以色列最大的，也是唯一总部还设在国内的跨国企业。从20世纪80年代前期向海外迅速扩张以来，以色列人一直将其称为“国家占股”，因为他们的养老基金投入也是该公司成功的重要因素。

That prosperity came chiefly thanks to the firm’s most popular proprietary drug, a bestselling medication for multiple sclerosis called Copaxone. Over the past two decades its sales paid for a global spree of buying generic-drugs competitors. Last year Teva completed its most ambitious purchase, of Actavis Generics, an American generics manufacturer, for $40.5bn; financing the deal took its debt to $35bn. But Teva’s transformation into the world’s largest supplier of generic medicines turned out to be ill-fated. The mood has turned in recent months as American pharmacies and wholesalers have squeezed the prices of generic drugs.

Teva的兴盛主要得益于其销量最大的专利药物——一种治疗多发性硬化症，名为Copaxone的畅销药物。在过去的二十年中，这个药物的销售为其在全球购买仿制药的竞争对手们提供了资金。 去年，Teva以405亿美元完成了其庞大的收购——收购一家美国仿制药生产商阿特维斯生物制药公司（Actavis Generics）。可是，融资使其背负了350亿美元债务。不过，Teva转身成为全球最大的仿制药供应商注定要失败。近几个月来，随着美国药房和批发商对仿制药价格的打压，这种行情开始转变。

Last week Teva said its second-quarter earnings had fallen by a tenth and announced plans to cut 7,000 jobs and pull out of 45 countries by the end of 2017. Seemingly overnight, it has gone from being the darling of the Israeli economy into a byword for mismanagement. Having been run for 26 years by one CEO, Eli Hurvitz, who had married into the founder’s family and who led its international expansion, in the past decade the firm has gone through a further five. Israeli politicians who in the past approved big tax write-offs to boost the national success story are speaking of a need to look into the firm’s business and perhaps even intervene. Eli Cohen, the economics minister, this week called for Teva to take care of employees and to relocate its foreign activities in Israel.

上周，Teva表示，第二季度的收益下降了十分之一，并宣布计划在2017年底前裁员7000人和撤出45个国家。似乎一夜之间，它已以色列经济的宠儿变成了管理不善的代名词。在与创始人家族联姻并领导其国际扩张的首席执行官伊莱•赫维茨(Eli Hurvitz)执掌公司26年之久。在过去的十年里，该公司有五年经营低迷不振。以色列政治人物以前曾批准大幅降税来支持这个国家成功案例，现在却一直在要求调查该公司的业务，甚至要插手干预。经济部长伊莱•科恩(Eli Cohen)本周呼吁Teva照顾员工，将将海外的经营移回国内。

Such heavy-handedness is hardly justified. Unemployment in Israel is near an all-time low, at 4.5%, and Teva’s highly qualified employees would find new jobs if the firm sinks further. Most of the pension funds have diversified in recent years and can absorb the losses from its tumbling shares. Although Israelis are sentimental about Teva because of its past success, says Guy Rolnik, editor of the Marker, a business newspaper, they need to “wake up” to the fact that it is a multinational.

这种粗暴行为是没有道理的。 以色列的失业率接近历史最低水平，为4.5％。如果Teva进一步沉沦，它的高素质员工会跳槽。近年来，大部分养老基金近实现了多元化，有能力承受股票暴跌的亏损。 商业报纸Marker的编辑盖尔·罗尔尼克（Guy Rolnik）表示，虽然以色列人对过去的成功感到有些感慨，但他们要“觉醒”，认清它是一个跨国公司的事实。

Yet Teva’s plight has revived a debate about whether Israel is benefiting enough from its high level of investment in research and development. Hundreds of technology startups have been snapped up by global firms in recent decades, and many of them have moved abroad. Israel now has two economies, notes Eugene Kandel, the former chairman of the government’s National Economic Council and the chief executive of Start-Up Nation Central, a non-profit organisation. There is the lucrative, high-tech economy for a small share of the workforce and a second economy where most Israelis work and earn much less, he says.

然而，Teva的困境再次引发争论：以色列能否从高水平研发投资中获益？近几十年来，以色列有数百家科技创业企业被全球企业抢购，其中许多企业迁往海外。前政府国民经济委员会主席，非营利组织Start-Up Nation Central首席执行官尤金·坎德尔(Eugene Kandel)指出，以色列现在有两个经济体系：一小部分人从事利润丰厚的高科技经济，而大多数以色列人从事的工作挣钱不多。

To sustain the first, Israel needs to keep companies such as Teva. But it may now be taken over and lose its Israeli identity. Israel will try to persuade firms such as Mobileye, a developer of driverless car systems that was bought earlier this year by Intel, an American chip giant, for $15.3bn, to base not only their research centres in Israel, but their manufacturing. Yet the economy as a whole is still suffering from low labour productivity and over-regulation. A new wave of state intervention in cases such as Teva’s is unlikely to be the right way to build and attract big firms in future.

为了维持第一种经济，以色列需要保留Teva这一类企业，但是，它现在可能会被收购，不再有以色列的国家色彩。对于无人驾驶汽车系统开发商Mobileye，在今年此前由美国芯片巨头英特尔(Intel)斥资153亿美元收购，以色列将想要说服输该公司不仅要保留以色列的研究中心，还要将制造基地放在以色列。然而，以色列经济从整体上仍然受到低劳动生产率和监管过度的困扰。 像针对Teva这一类企业的新一波国家干预风潮不太可能在未来能有大企业出现并留得信它们。

编译：李文卓

审校：雷月营

编辑：翻吧君

来源：经济学人