去年對中國銀行業(yè)來說應該是不錯的一年，也沒有哪家能比招商銀行（China Merchants Bank Co.）更好了。這家中型銀行近年來一直在打造強大的品牌和優(yōu)質服務的聲譽。

　　雖然全球金融危機重創(chuàng)了世界各地的其它大型銀行，但對中國銀行業(yè)的打擊并不大。在西方金融機構收緊信貸時，它們還在繼續(xù)大規(guī)模放貸。雖然盈利增長放緩，但增幅仍足以讓世界各地的其它金融機構羨慕。

　　招商銀行2008年的凈利潤增長38%，至210.8億元（30.9億美元），增速超過了中國工商銀行（Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.）和中國銀行（Bank of China Ltd.）等規(guī)模更大的競爭對手。因此，在對《亞洲華爾街日報》訂戶和其他商界人士有關亞洲200家最受尊敬中國企業(yè)的調查中，招商銀行從眾多金融機構和大型科技公司中脫潁而出，在領導力綜合排名中名列第一位看來也就不足為奇了。

　　在中國企業(yè)調查結果的前五名中，四家是高科技巨頭：個人電腦制造商聯想集團（Lenovo Group Ltd.）、無線運營商中國移動（China Mobile Ltd.）、在線旅行服務公司攜程旅行網（Ctrip.com International Ltd.）和互聯網搜索運營商百度（Baidu Inc.）。這反映出中國作為消費市場日益增加的重要性，以及中國國內企業(yè)在電腦、手機和互聯網行業(yè)的主導地位。這還凸顯出在中國這樣規(guī)模的市場上占據主導地位的價值。

　　但目前的經濟和商業(yè)環(huán)境也給這些企業(yè)帶來了一些挑戰(zhàn)。截至6月份，長期處于領先地位的中國電信運營商中國移動共有4.93億用戶，超過了世界上任何一家運營商?？傮w而言，這個全球人口最多國家的手機用戶數量還在繼續(xù)增長，尤其是在用手機上網日漸普遍之際。

　　但在去年中國電信業(yè)重組增加了中國聯通（China Unicom （Hong Kong） Ltd.）和中國電信（China Telecom Corp.）這兩大對手的實力之后，中國移動也面臨著更為激烈的競爭。中國移動的用戶增速在5、6月份出現了放緩，這兩個月僅凈增500萬用戶，而2008年時平均每月新增用戶730萬人。

　　經濟危機打擊了高科技企業(yè)，大多數企業(yè)都沒有進入亞洲200家財務聲譽排名的前十位。聯想集團的表現好于大多數公司，在企業(yè)聲譽方面排名第一，也進入了優(yōu)質產品及服務、管理層遠見和對客戶需求的創(chuàng)新響應方面的前五位。但聯想在過去一年中進行了兩次重大重組，包括員工人數減少了11%和在強調了多年的海外增長后重新將中國市場作為重點。

　　在全球商用電腦銷售滑坡之際，聯想推出消費者電腦方面反應遲緩，它從全球個人電腦銷售疲軟受到的打擊比其他競爭對手更大，而且在中國之外的市場占有率不斷下降。但它在中國市場的壟斷地位仍令惠普（Hewlett Packard Co.）和戴爾（Dell Inc.）等國外競爭對手感到羨慕。以電腦出廠量來計算，中國是繼美國之后的全球第二大市場。聯想在中國市場仍占據約30%的份額。

　　百度是谷歌（Google Inc.）在中國最大的競爭對手，也是中國最受歡迎的網站。去年百度的銷售操作曾曝出一些負面消息，導致股價一度大幅下滑，但隨后逐步回升。在去年12月10日觸及100.50美元的低點之后，百度股價在納斯達克市場已經增長了兩倍以上，達到了目前的332美元左右。百度仍在繼續(xù)試驗新廣告模式，希望把握中國這一擁有3.38億網民的全球最大互聯網市場。市場研究公司易觀國際（Analysys International）的數據顯示，今年第二季度百度占據了中國網絡搜索市場62%的份額，遠遠超過谷歌的29%.

　　攜程旅行網也明顯超過了其主要外國競爭對手藝龍公司（eLong Inc.），后者是IAC/InterActiveCorp旗下Expedia的子公司。隨著中國消費者的國內外旅游業(yè)務不斷增長，攜程旅行網憑藉著其在中國旅游網絡市場的領先優(yōu)勢也獲得了明顯增長。據分析師們表示，今年第二季度中國旅游網絡行業(yè)收入達到了1.23億美元左右，較上年同期增長了13%，這還是在第二季度甲型H1N1流感擴散的不利條件影響下實現的。

　　Associated Press銀行也同樣如此；當前的經濟環(huán)境既帶來了挑戰(zhàn)，也提供了機遇。中國政府去年年底推出了巨額經濟刺激計劃，促使銀行發(fā)放了大量貸款；短期內這可能有助于提高銀行的財務業(yè)績，但一些分析師擔心銀行可能會面臨長期信貸質量的問題。

　　招商銀行行長馬蔚華今年4月表示，招商銀行計劃響應政府號召，加大對基礎設施項目的貸款力度。中國政府此前呼吁銀行對涉及公共事業(yè)工程的刺激計劃項目提供融資幫助。馬蔚華說，中國政府的刺激計劃可能有助于招商銀行增加中期和長期信貸，改善其資產質量。在大舉擴張企業(yè)信貸業(yè)務的過程中，招商銀行或將與規(guī)模更大的競爭對手工商銀行展開競爭。工商銀行在今年的調查中排在第七位。

　　不過，招商銀行的主要優(yōu)勢位于零售業(yè)務領域。該行占據了中國國內信用卡市場大約三分之一的市場份額，而諸多其他競爭對手仍在努力爭取實現兩位數的份額。招商銀行還先行一步進入了高端的財富管理領域。今年6月，招商銀行宣布，計劃在當前8個私人銀行中心的基礎上再增加至少5個業(yè)務中心，從而擁有中國銀行業(yè)中最為廣闊的一個財富管理服務網絡。招商銀行在與貝恩咨詢公司（Bain Consulting）聯合發(fā)布的報告中表示，去年中國此類客戶的規(guī)模是30萬人。

　　亞洲200強調查結果顯示，招商銀行在提供高質量服務和針對客戶需求的產品和創(chuàng)新方面排名第一。該行在其他三項評估標準方面排名第二：財務聲譽、良好的公司聲譽以及長期管理理念。

　　去年6月，招商銀行收購了香港永隆銀行的控股股權。受經濟危機影響，永隆銀行的市值明顯縮水，給招商銀行的收益狀況帶來了拖累。去年招商銀行就對永隆銀行的持股計入了人民幣5.79億元的減值支出。這筆收購還導致招商銀行的資本基礎下滑。截至3月底，招商銀行的資本充足率為10.95%，低于去年年底的11.34%.

　　Last year was a relatively good year to be a Chinese bank， and for none more so than for China Merchants Bank Co.， a mid-sized lender that in recent years has built a strong franchise and reputation for quality service.

　　While the global financial crisis savaged other big banks around the world， it did relatively little harm to Chinese lenders， who continued to lend at a rapid clip even as Western financial institutions tightened credit. While earnings growth slowed， it was still quick enough to be the envy of almost every other major financial sector in the world.

　　China Merchants Bank's net profit in 2008 rose 38% in 2008 to 21.08 billion yuan （$3.09 billion） —— a faster rise than larger rivals like Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and Bank of China Ltd. So it is perhaps not surprising that Wall Street Journal Asia subscribers and other businesspeople ranked China Merchants Bank first overall for leadership in the Asia 200 survey of Chinese companies， beating out other financial companies and a bevy of big technology companies.

　　Of the top five spots in the Chinese survey results， four went to tech giants： personal computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd.， wireless carrier China Mobile Ltd.， online travel service Ctrip.com International Ltd.， and Internet search operator Baidu Inc. That reflects China's growing importance as a consumer market as well as the dominance of local players in the PC， mobile-phone and Web industries. It also underscores the value of having dominant positions in a market of China's scale.

　　But the current economic and business environment has brought some challenges for these companies. China Mobile， the longstanding leader among China's telecommunications carriers， has more wireless subscribers than any other company in the world with 493 million subscribers as of June. And overall， the number of mobile subscribers in the world's most populous nation is continuing to grow， especially as they use phones to go online.

　　But China Mobile is facing increased competition after an industry restructuring last year that bolstered two big rivals： China Unicom （Hong Kong） Ltd. and China Telecom Corp. China mobile's subscriber growth slowed in May and June， with just over five million net additions in both months compared with an average monthly increase of 7.3 million subscribers in 2008.

　　The economic crisis hasn't been kind to tech firms， and most didn't place in the top 10 in the Asia 200 financial-reputation category. Lenovo Group fared better than most， placing first for good company reputation and also making the top five for high-quality products and services， long-term management vision and innovativeness in responding to customer needs. But the company has undergone two major restructurings within the past year that included an 11% decrease of its workforce and a refocus on the China market after years of emphasizing growth overseas.

　　Lenovo， which was late to introduce consumer PCs at a time when commercial sales have declined around the world， suffered more than its competitors from waning global PC sales and was losing market share outside of China. But its dominance in China —— the world's second-largest PC market after the U.S. by shipments， where Lenovo maintains about 30% market share —— remains the envy of foreign rivals Hewlett Packard Co. and Dell Inc.

　　Baidu， Google Inc.'s chief rival in China and the country's most popular Web site， has rebounded after some negative publicity last year over its sales practices that sent the company's shares plunging. After hitting a low of $100.50 on Dec. 10， the company's Nasdaq-listed shares are now trading at more than three times that amount， at around $332. Baidu continues to experiment with new advertising models， in hopes of capitalizing on China's 338 million Internet users， the most in the world. Baidu had a 62% share of the search market in China by revenue as of the second quarter of 2009， according to research firm Analysys International， while Google had just 29%.

　　Ctrip， too， has pulled far ahead of its chief foreign rival， eLong Inc.， backed by IAC/InterActiveCorp's Expedia Inc. As Chinese consumers travel more both in and outside of China， Ctrip benefits from its leading position in the online travel market. According to Analysys， industry revenue in China reached about $123 million in the second quarter of 2009， 13% higher than a year earlier even though bookings during that quarter were affected by news of spreading cases of the H1N1 virus.

　　For the banks， too， the current economic environment has brought challenges and opportunities. A massive stimulus package unveiled by the government late last year has triggered an explosion in bank lending that could boost financial performance in the short term but that some analysts worry could erode lending quality over the long term.

　　In April， Ma Weihua， president of China Merchants Bank， said his company intends to boost its share of infrastructure loans as a response to the government's call for banks to help finance stimulus-projects involving public-works construction. Mr. Ma said the government's stimulus push could help his bank increase its medium- and long-term lending and improve its asset quality. Expanding aggressively into corporate lending will likely pit it against heftier rivals like ICBC， which ranked No. 7 overall in this year's survey.

　　But China Merchants Bank's main strength is in the retail business. It has about a third of the domestic credit-card market， making it the main player among rivals who have been struggling to grab double-digit market share. The bank also was an early entrant into high-end wealth management. In June， it announced plans to add at least five more private banking centers to its eight existing branches in the country， giving it one of the most extensive wealth-management networks among China's lenders. China Merchants Bank， in a report jointly prepared with Bain Consulting， says there were 300，000 such customers in China last year.

　　The Asia 200 survey identified China Merchants Bank as the leader in providing high-quality services and products and innovativeness in responding to customer needs. The lender placed second on another three assessment criteria： financial reputation， good company reputation and long-term management vision.

　　In June last year， China Merchants Bank became the controlling shareholder of Wing Lung Bank Ltd. in Hong Kong in an acquisition that hurt the bank's earnings as the market value of the Hong Kong lender plunged amid the economic crisis. CMB booked a 579 million yuan impairment charge for its stake in Wing Lung last year. The acquisition also reduced its capital base. At the end of March， CMB's capital-adequacy ratio was 10.95%， down from 11.34% at the end of last year.