The story. In August 2010 Claudio Castiglioni, a motorcycle aficionado and serial entrepreneur, bought back the iconic Italian motorcycle brand MV Agusta from Harley-Davidson. It was the third time in 20 years he had owned MV Agusta, a high-end brand that enjoyed huge success in races from the 1950s to the 1970s. He had twice relinquished this prize asset because of financial difficulties in the Castiglioni-owned portfolio of companies.

先说一下案例背景。2010年8月，摩托车狂热爱好者、职业创业者(serial entrepreneur)克劳迪奥•卡斯蒂廖尼(Claudio Castiglioni)，从哈雷戴维森(Harley-Davidson)手中回购了意大利标志性摩托车品牌奥古斯塔(MV Agusta)。这是20年来他第三次拥有奥古斯塔。这个高端品牌曾在上世纪50年代至70年代在赛车场上取得巨大成功。由于卡斯蒂廖尼旗下公司的财务困难，他曾两次放弃这一宝贵资产。

Mr Castiglioni had revived other motorcycle brands such as Ducati, and he hoped it would be third time lucky with MV Agusta.

卡斯蒂廖尼曾带领杜卡迪(Ducati)等其他摩托车品牌实现复兴。这一次，他希望借着“第三次的幸运”（西方人认为第三次尝试成功的可能性比前两次更大——译者注）振兴奥古斯塔。

The challenge. The financial crisis had hit an already declining motorcycle market and MV Agusta’s sales had fallen sharply.

再来看振兴奥古斯塔面临的挑战。金融危机对业已率落的摩托车市场造成了冲击，奥古斯塔的销量大幅下滑。

The company's financial situation was dire. In 2009 it had revenues of just