Ghosn Faces Test With Nissan Shuffle
Nissan Motor Corp.'s Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said he is giving the company's effective day-to-day management to a veteran Nissan marketing executive, in a pivotal shuffle that amounts to a big test of Mr. Ghosn's leadership.
Nissan said Toshiyuki Shiga, 51 years old, will become chief operating officer as of April 1. Mr. Ghosn, 50, will remain chief executive of Japan's second biggest car producer by volume. But he also is preparing to assume the post of chief executive at French car maker Renault SA, which has a 44% stake in Nissan. By taking on top posts at both companies -- with plans to shuttle between Paris and Tokyo by private jet -- Mr. Ghosn concedes that he won't able to devote his full attention to either.
Mr. Ghosn, who is widely praised in the auto industry for taking Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy five years ago to becoming one of the world's most-profitable major car producers, claims his biggest achievement has been cultivating competent staff and then creating for them the environment to succeed. Those claims will be put to the test now that Mr. Ghosn will be in Japan only 40% of the time, by his own estimates.
Mr. Shiga isn't a successor, says Mr. Ghosn, who has no plans to step down as chief executive. That said, it will be Mr. Shiga who will be running the show in Tokyo during Mr. Ghosn's long absences. "The challenge for Shiga-san is to make sure that the transition is seamless," Mr. Ghosn said. "No bumps, no problems, no mistakes."
The decision comes as Nissan is facing some new challenges. Key markets from the U.S. to China are slowing. Interest rates in many countries are rising. Sales in Japan, a core market, only recently recovered after the introduction of six models and a major marketing campaign. "To be honest, I'm feeling a little pressure," Mr. Shiga said.
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Yet few executives at U.S. auto makers will take comfort at Nissan's management shuffle. Its American operations, which will continue to report to Mr. Ghosn for a year, are growing well, despite some quality issues at new operations in Canton, Mississippi last year. Nissan's U.S. sales jumped 24% in 2004, at a time when the market grew at 8%, thanks to the strong performance of such models as the Murano crossover wagon and its Infiniti-brand luxury cars.
Overall, Nissan has also been recording record profit on solid sales growth. The company's operating profit margins, a core measure of profitability in the car industry, are more than 10%, the highest of any major global auto maker.
The management shuffle, like much else that Mr. Ghosn does, has been widely anticipated in the Japanese media and among business-school gurus. As a case study, the approach is likely to be unique. Mr. Ghosn first determined the scope of the job, and then sought three qualities: a strong performance record; an ability to work well with fellow employees -- as well as with employees of Renault; and a clear sense of "ambition for the company," he said.
Then, in an unusual move, Mr. Ghosn asked each member of the executive managing committee to pick three employees that would best hold all three of these qualities. "Nobody picked himself," said Mr. Ghosn, in an exclusive interview. "I had my own thoughts, of course, but in the end, the choice was obvious."
Mr. Shiga joined Nissan in 1976 after graduating from a regional university with a degree in economics. He made his name marketing Nissan products in developing markets, most notably China and elsewhere in Asia. He has an agreeable, jocular manner, but those who have worked with him say he is a tough negotiator, having cut deals with savvy partners in such markets as Indonesia and China. "I wouldn't play poker with him," said a Nissan executive.
By picking Mr. Shiga, Mr. Ghosn is asking a lifetime Japanese Nissan employee to keep pushing the company into territory uncharted by other Japanese car makers. Mr. Ghosn has turned Nissan, which once sought to mimic the lineup of its bigger rival, Toyota Motor Corp., into a new company with its own identity.
Nissan sells roughly three million vehicles a year today, well behind the 7.5 million that Toyota and its subsidiaries sell across the globe. But Nissan's models are increasingly bold in design. The corporate culture, meanwhile, is more inclusive with many foreigners in leadership positions, a sharp contrast to Toyota's insular culture in which senior posts go only to Japanese who are lifetime employees.
Mr. Shiga, however, will have a hard time matching Mr. Ghosn's profile in Japan. The Brazilian-born Frenchman has become something of a cult hero after saving Nissan from bankruptcy. In 1999, Renault took a controlling stake in the Japanese car maker and sent Mr. Ghosn to run the company. His strategy began with plant closures, job cuts and a campaign to squeeze costs out of suppliers.
Following a loss in his first year, the company has been on a steady recovery path, recording sales and profit growth every year. Along the way, Mr. Ghosn has become a favorite subject of books and media profiles. In one survey, he was cited as among the men that Japanese women would most want to father their children.
Mr. Ghosn says that any such comparisons would be unfair. For starters, Mr. Shiga isn't a successor, Mr. Ghosn says. Moreover, he isn't being brought in to fix a company that had been "written off" as likely to fail, he adds. "You can't compare the two jobs," he says. "It's not the same moment. It's not the same situation."
日产汽车CEO戈恩脱离公司日常管理
日产汽车(Nissan Motor Co.)首席执行长卡罗斯?戈恩(Carlos Ghosn)宣布将把公司的日常管理交由公司资深营销人士志贺俊之(Toshiyuki Shiga)，这项重要人事调整是对戈恩领导力的重大考验。
这家日本第二大汽车制造商称，自4月1日起，现年51岁的志贺俊之将担任首席营运长一职，50岁的戈恩将继续担任首席执行长。戈恩还准备接任法国汽车制造商雷诺公司(Renault SA)首席执行长一职；雷诺持有日产汽车44%的股份。戈恩承认，同时担任两家公司的首席执行长后（通过私人飞机在巴黎和东京两地穿梭），他将无法给任何一个公司以全部的关注。
戈恩5年前将日产汽车从破产边远拉了回来，并打造成如今全球盈利水平最高的大汽车商之一，如此的成功在汽车行业备受赞誉。戈恩认为自己最大的成就就在于培养了具有竞争力的员工队伍，并为他们创造了成功环境。如果戈尔将来只有40%的时间在日本（据他自己的估计），这些成就可能将面临考验。
志贺俊之并不是继任者，戈恩称，他没有辞去首席执行长职务的计划。因此，在戈恩长时间不在日产的情况下，东京的事务将由志贺俊之负责。“志贺俊之面临的挑战是要确保平稳过渡，”戈恩称，“没有大起大落，没有问题，没有失误。”
这个决定宣布之时，日产汽车正面临一些新的挑战。从美国到中国许多主要市场增长正在放缓。许多国家利率在上升。核心市场日本的销售直到最近推出6款新车并进行了大型推广活动后才有所起色。“老实说，我感到有点压力，”志贺俊之表示。
不过日产美国分部的一些管理人士或许会对这次人事变动感到高兴。该分部一年内将继续向戈恩汇报工作，目前状况良好，虽然其位于密西西比州坎通的新厂去年出了一些质量问题。日产汽车在美国的销售去年增长了24%，大大高于市场总体8%的增幅，原因是Murano复合型车和Infiniti品牌豪华车等车型销售强劲。
总的来说，日产汽车在销售稳定增长的基础上实现了创纪录的利润。该公司的经营利润率（这是汽车行业的核心盈利指标）超出10%，比任何一家大型国际汽车公司都要高。
此次的管理层调整也受到了日本媒体和商学院专家的广泛期待。这种安排可能是绝无仅有的案例。戈恩首先划定了这个职位的责任范围，然后寻找具有三种品质的人：出色的工作纪录，能与日产同事和雷诺的员工友好配合，以及对公司发展具有雄心壮志。
之后，戈恩很不寻常地要求执行管理委员会成员每人推荐三名最符合上述所有要求的雇员。“没有人推荐自己，”戈恩在独家采访中称，“当然我也有自己的想法，但最后结论是显而易见的。”
志贺俊之1976年在一家地区性大学毕业并获得经济学学位后加入了日产汽车。他以在发展中国家推广日产汽车而闻名，尤其是在中国以及亚洲其他地方。他和蔼可亲，风趣幽默，但曾与他共事的人称，他是一个很厉害的谈判对手，曾在印尼和中国等市场与精明的合作伙伴签订协议。
戈恩之所以选定志贺俊之，是希望由一位一直在日产汽车供职的人继续推动公司进入其他日本汽车制造商未曾到过的领域。戈恩已将一度靠模仿竞争对手丰田汽车(Toyota Motor Corp.)产品的日产汽车转变成一家有自身个性的新公司。
日产汽车现在每年的汽车销量大约为300万辆，低于丰田汽车及子公司在全球750万的销量。但日产汽车的车型设计越来越大胆。与此同时，日产汽车的企业文化更加具有包容性，有许多外国人身处领导岗位，这与丰田汽车封闭的文化形成了鲜明的对比，在丰田汽车，高级管理职位通常只授予资深的日本雇员。
但志贺俊之要想获得戈恩那么高的声望恐怕困难不小。这位在巴西出生的法国人在将日产汽车从破产边远拯救回来以后已成了一个光环围绕下的英雄人物。1999年，雷诺收购这家日本汽车制造商的控股股权后，将戈恩派至日本负责管理。他的战略最初是关闭部分工厂，裁减员工，并从供应商方面著手努力降低成本。
在第一年亏损后，日产汽车踏上了稳步复苏的道路，销售和利润连年增长。戈恩也随之成为众多书籍和媒体追踪的热门人物。
戈恩认为，任何这样的比较都是不公平的。志贺俊之是一个起步者，不是继任者，而且他的受命并不是为了拯救一家可能破产的公司。“你不能把这两项工作进行比较，”戈恩说，“时间不同，形势也不一样。”
