去年对中国银行业来说应该是不错的一年，也没有哪家能比招商银行（China Merchants Bank Co.）更好了。这家中型银行近年来一直在打造强大的品牌和优质服务的声誉。

　　虽然全球金融危机重创了世界各地的其它大型银行，但对中国银行业的打击并不大。在西方金融机构收紧信贷时，它们还在继续大规模放贷。虽然盈利增长放缓，但增幅仍足以让世界各地的其它金融机构羡慕。

　　招商银行2008年的净利润增长38%，至210.8亿元（30.9亿美元），增速超过了中国工商银行（Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.）和中国银行（Bank of China Ltd.）等规模更大的竞争对手。因此，在对《亚洲华尔街日报》订户和其他商界人士有关亚洲200家最受尊敬中国企业的调查中，招商银行从众多金融机构和大型科技公司中脱颍而出，在领导力综合排名中名列第一位看来也就不足为奇了。

　　在中国企业调查结果的前五名中，四家是高科技巨头：个人电脑制造商联想集团（Lenovo Group Ltd.）、无线运营商中国移动（China Mobile Ltd.）、在线旅行服务公司携程旅行网（Ctrip.com International Ltd.）和互联网搜索运营商百度（Baidu Inc.）。这反映出中国作为消费市场日益增加的重要性，以及中国国内企业在电脑、手机和互联网行业的主导地位。这还凸显出在中国这样规模的市场上占据主导地位的价值。

　　但目前的经济和商业环境也给这些企业带来了一些挑战。截至6月份，长期处于领先地位的中国电信运营商中国移动共有4.93亿用户，超过了世界上任何一家运营商。总体而言，这个全球人口最多国家的手机用户数量还在继续增长，尤其是在用手机上网日渐普遍之际。

　　但在去年中国电信业重组增加了中国联通（China Unicom （Hong Kong） Ltd.）和中国电信（China Telecom Corp.）这两大对手的实力之后，中国移动也面临着更为激烈的竞争。中国移动的用户增速在5、6月份出现了放缓，这两个月仅净增500万用户，而2008年时平均每月新增用户730万人。

　　经济危机打击了高科技企业，大多数企业都没有进入亚洲200家财务声誉排名的前十位。联想集团的表现好于大多数公司，在企业声誉方面排名第一，也进入了优质产品及服务、管理层远见和对客户需求的创新响应方面的前五位。但联想在过去一年中进行了两次重大重组，包括员工人数减少了11%和在强调了多年的海外增长后重新将中国市场作为重点。

　　在全球商用电脑销售滑坡之际，联想推出消费者电脑方面反应迟缓，它从全球个人电脑销售疲软受到的打击比其他竞争对手更大，而且在中国之外的市场占有率不断下降。但它在中国市场的垄断地位仍令惠普（Hewlett Packard Co.）和戴尔（Dell Inc.）等国外竞争对手感到羡慕。以电脑出厂量来计算，中国是继美国之后的全球第二大市场。联想在中国市场仍占据约30%的份额。

　　百度是谷歌（Google Inc.）在中国最大的竞争对手，也是中国最受欢迎的网站。去年百度的销售操作曾曝出一些负面消息，导致股价一度大幅下滑，但随后逐步回升。在去年12月10日触及100.50美元的低点之后，百度股价在纳斯达克市场已经增长了两倍以上，达到了目前的332美元左右。百度仍在继续试验新广告模式，希望把握中国这一拥有3.38亿网民的全球最大互联网市场。市场研究公司易观国际（Analysys International）的数据显示，今年第二季度百度占据了中国网络搜索市场62%的份额，远远超过谷歌的29%.

　　携程旅行网也明显超过了其主要外国竞争对手艺龙公司（eLong Inc.），后者是IAC/InterActiveCorp旗下Expedia的子公司。随着中国消费者的国内外旅游业务不断增长，携程旅行网凭藉着其在中国旅游网络市场的领先优势也获得了明显增长。据分析师们表示，今年第二季度中国旅游网络行业收入达到了1.23亿美元左右，较上年同期增长了13%，这还是在第二季度甲型H1N1流感扩散的不利条件影响下实现的。

　　Associated Press银行也同样如此；当前的经济环境既带来了挑战，也提供了机遇。中国政府去年年底推出了巨额经济刺激计划，促使银行发放了大量贷款；短期内这可能有助于提高银行的财务业绩，但一些分析师担心银行可能会面临长期信贷质量的问题。

　　招商银行行长马蔚华今年4月表示，招商银行计划响应政府号召，加大对基础设施项目的贷款力度。中国政府此前呼吁银行对涉及公共事业工程的刺激计划项目提供融资帮助。马蔚华说，中国政府的刺激计划可能有助于招商银行增加中期和长期信贷，改善其资产质量。在大举扩张企业信贷业务的过程中，招商银行或将与规模更大的竞争对手工商银行展开竞争。工商银行在今年的调查中排在第七位。

　　不过，招商银行的主要优势位于零售业务领域。该行占据了中国国内信用卡市场大约三分之一的市场份额，而诸多其他竞争对手仍在努力争取实现两位数的份额。招商银行还先行一步进入了高端的财富管理领域。今年6月，招商银行宣布，计划在当前8个私人银行中心的基础上再增加至少5个业务中心，从而拥有中国银行业中最为广阔的一个财富管理服务网络。招商银行在与贝恩咨询公司（Bain Consulting）联合发布的报告中表示，去年中国此类客户的规模是30万人。

　　亚洲200强调查结果显示，招商银行在提供高质量服务和针对客户需求的产品和创新方面排名第一。该行在其他三项评估标准方面排名第二：财务声誉、良好的公司声誉以及长期管理理念。

　　去年6月，招商银行收购了香港永隆银行的控股股权。受经济危机影响，永隆银行的市值明显缩水，给招商银行的收益状况带来了拖累。去年招商银行就对永隆银行的持股计入了人民币5.79亿元的减值支出。这笔收购还导致招商银行的资本基础下滑。截至3月底，招商银行的资本充足率为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.