《财富》的500强长寿品牌之旅

    然后，我们改变了拜访的行业和地点，沿101号高速公路来到旧金山，见到了大型药品经销商麦克森公司（McKesson，第14位）的CEO约翰•哈默格伦。我曾经认为，奥巴马总统的《平价医疗法案》（Affordable Care Act）至少有一点好处：通过为更多的人提供医疗保险，我们就可以减少不必要急诊治疗次数。哈默格伦确认了我的观点。不过，对于该法案，他也有很多详细的、有思想的、负面的批评意见。当然，我今天选择让自己保持积极乐观。【还有一件积极的事：哈默格伦将很快离开惠普公司（Hewlett-Packard，第15位）董事会；对此，他自己似乎并不伤感。】

    前往旧金山拜访建筑工程公司URS（第248位）的CEO马丁•科菲尔是我们的最后一站。这家公司带给我们一个启发：URS将80%的重心放在北美，尤其是加拿大的含油砂行业和美国的Keystone输油管道项目。科菲尔尤其看好美国基础设施升级项目这个大好机会。实际上，在我拜访过的美国公司CEO当中，他是最乐观的一位，至少除了信息科技行业之外。（笔者很快将推出对科菲尔的进一步报道。）

    对于福特福星混合动力车，我非常喜欢。为了庆祝《财富》500强公司榜单的公布，同时也是为了宣传福特作为一家伟大的美国公司所取得的成功，福特公司把车借给我使用——把另外一辆更有男人味的皮卡借给了我在纽约的上司。福特一直对自己生产的汽车引以为豪。（愤世嫉俗者请注意：如果我不喜欢这辆车，我根本不会有只言片语提到它。我女儿非常喜欢这款车，不过她很明确地表示，她喜欢的是汽车亮丽的外观。）我所驾驶的车型零售价在32,000美元左右，安静舒适，马力十足，而且安装了非常易于使用的仪表盘通信系统。这套系统在15秒内就可以与我的iPhone手机完成同步。

    我驾驶着一辆由历史比《财富》杂志更悠久的美国标志性公司生产的汽车，从芯片设备制造商到闪存公司，从医疗产品经销商到建筑公司，一路拜访，一路思索。真是不错的一天。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Shifting industries and locations, we drove up the 101 freeway to San Francisco to see John Hammergren, CEO of mighty McKesson (MCK, No. 14), the massive drug distributor. Hammergren confirmed my understanding that it's possible to say at least one good thing about the president's Affordable Care Act: By providing more people with health insurance we'll cut down on unnecessary emergency-room visits. He had plenty of detailed, thoughtful, and lamentable criticisms of the act too. I'm choosing to stay positive today. (Here's something else positive: Hammergren is shortly leaving the board of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, No. 15); he doesn't seem too broken up about that.)

    Our last visit was with Martin Koffel, CEO of construction-engineering firm URS (URS, No. 248), based in San Francisco. This was a revelation: URS is 80% focused on North America, notably the tar sands industry in Canada and the Keystone pipeline in the U.S. Koffel is particularly bullish on the opportunities for infrastructure improvements in the U.S. In fact, he's perhaps the most optimistic CEO of a U.S. company I've spoken to in forever, outside the information-technology industry at least. (I'll have more to report from Koffel soon.)

    As for that Ford Fusion hybrid, I loved it. Ford lent it to me—and a far more manly pickup truck to my boss in New York—to help us promote our big day and also Ford's success as a great American company that is proud of its vehicles. (Note to cynics: If I didn't like the car, I would simply have kept mum about it. My young daughter really liked it, but she stated unequivocally that was due to the car's shininess.) The model I drove, which retails for around $32,000, was quiet, powerful, comfortable, and sports an incredibly easy-to-use dashboard communications system. It synched with my iPhone in about 15 seconds.

    From chip equipment manufacturing to flash storage to health-products distribution to a company that builds things, all in a car made by an American icon that's been around longer than Fortune. Not bad for a day's work.