簡介： ◎ fashion 當動詞時指什麼？ ◎ 什麼是 tooth and nail？ ◎「掃地機器人」的英語怎麼說？ Dyson: The Dynamic Driver
Sir James Dyson, the founder and private owner of 100 percent of the eponymous multibillion dollar U.K. enterprise, had to claw tooth and nail toward success. As a small-fry industrial design graduate, Dyson spent years living off his art-teacher spouse's earnings while designing profitable inventions but failing to accrue what he was due because of his business naivete.
In 1981, Dyson redesigned his Hoover vacuum out of sheer frustration at its inefficiency, fashioning a model which nixed the bag component and utilized centrifugal force. Years of toil and 5,127 prototypes later, Dyson produced the Dyson Cyclone — the world's first bagless vacuum. Unfortunately for Dyson, no investor wanted to pick up what he was putting out. After stagnating for years, a modified version of Dyson's vacuum (the G-Force) saw breakout success in Japan in 1986, and Dyson used the royalties to establish Dyson Ltd. in 1987. By 1993, the Dyson DC01 had become the fastest-selling vacuum in the U.K., and by 2005, Dyson vacuums had emerged as category leaders by value in the United States.
In the wake of Brexit, Dyson Ltd. redirected its focus inward and toward Asia, compounding its domestic sales by a third and its Chinese sales by 244 percent. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Dyson Ltd., and the company has a lot to celebrate. With a 45 percent YoY sales growth to £2.5 billion and a 41 percent rise in underlying profits to £631 million, 2016 was the company's most profitable year ever.
戴森：動力無限的家電界一哥
詹姆士．戴森爵士──這位市值數十億美元之同名英國企業的創辦人暨百分百私有者──他的成功之路是一段漫長的奮鬥史。身為一個小小的工業設計畢業生，戴森有好多年都仰賴藝術老師妻子的薪資來過活，一邊設計能賺錢的發明，卻因不諳經商而無法累積他所應得的收入。
1981 年時，戴森對其胡佛吸塵器的低效能感到極度沮喪而予以重新設計，製作出一個移除袋子零件的產品模型，並運用了離心力。歷經多年的辛勞和 5,127 個產品原型後，戴森製造出戴森旋風──全世界第一個無袋式吸塵器。遺憾的是，對戴森而言，沒有投資人想買他的產品。滯銷多年後，戴森吸塵器的修改版本（G-Force）於 1986 年在日本獲得突破性的成功，戴森於是用這些權利金來建立戴森公司。到了 1993 年，戴森 DC01 成為英國銷售速度最快的吸塵器；而到了 2005 年，戴森吸塵器在美國成為該項目市值最高的品牌。
英國脫歐之後，戴森公司將焦點重新導向國內與亞洲，國內銷量增加了三分之一，中國的銷量則增加了 244%。2017 年是戴森公司的三十週年紀念，這間公司有很多值得慶祝的事情。與 2015 年同期數字相比，2016 年的銷售成長了 45%，來到 25 億英鎊；潛在利潤則成長 41%，達 6.31 億英鎊。2016 年是這家公司獲利最豐厚的一年。 |
