丰田厉行改革

    2009年，丰田汽车公司（Toyota Motor）爆出了大规模召回和安全问题，结果声誉一落千丈，业绩遭受重挫。现在，丰田创始家族的继承人丰田章男身兼丰田公司总裁和首席执行官的重任，决心改变丰田长期以来被孤立的状态。

    他的目标是：使丰田更灵活，反应更快速。上周，丰田在东京宣布改组管理层，重组公司架构，旨在让高管层具有更多样化的视角，从而摆脱来自丰田大本营名古屋工程师高管传统的单一视角。

    改组内容包括任命马克•霍根为丰田公司董事。马克现年61岁，曾任通用汽车公司（General Motors）高管，是通用汽车前首席执行官里克•瓦格纳的亲密战友。在为通用和丰田的在美合资企业工作时，他认识了57岁的丰田章男。而该合资企业现已解体。

    吉姆•兰茨曾是丰田美国分公司的销售主管，现已被提拔为丰田北美区总管。除了霍根，丰田还任命了两位非丰田系的日籍高管担任董事。这三位因此成为第一批非丰田内部产生、任职于丰田公司16人董事会的董事。吉姆•普瑞斯曾任丰田高管和董事，现在是日产公司（Nissan）和雷诺公司（Renault）的顾问。他说：“丰田章男巩固团队的这一招非常漂亮。他已用一种更加商业化的方式重新确立了丰田家族的领导地位。”

    种种迹象表明，丰田汽车正在卷土重来。去年它从通用汽车手中重新夺回了全球销售冠军的宝座。而通用是在2011年从丰田手中夺走这个王位的。单纯从规模来说，丰田和通用正在受到来自大众汽车集团（Volkswagen AG）的挑战，大众汽车已设定了2018年成为全球第一的目标。

    从资本市场的角度看，丰田的市值达到了1,640亿美元，远超同业对手，如大众集团只有1,000亿美元不到。而通用汽车和福特（Ford）各自的市值只有大众的一半左右。2008年6月，也就是全球金融危机来袭之前，丰田的股价站上顶峰，达到5,590日元；2011年11月跌入谷底，只有2,413日元，现在则又重回约4,835日元。

    在全新的管理架构下，丰田将会分成四大业务板块：欧、美、日成熟市场业务；新兴市场业务；零部件和整车研发业务和雷克萨斯（Lexus）分公司。来自美国的高管马克•坦普林将负责雷克萨斯全球业务，他的目标很可能是带领雷克萨斯在全球范围内成为与宝马（BMW）、梅赛德斯-奔驰（Mercedes）和奥迪（Audi）旗鼓相当的顶级品牌。坦普林将是首位掌管丰田来自日本的主要业务的美国高管。

    现年76岁、曾任丰田董事长的藤尾长将担任名誉董事长，这一般是退休的前奏。大名鼎鼎的“普瑞斯之父”内山田武将接任藤尾长的位置。

    掌管新兴市场的伊原安森将力挽狂澜，设法挽回中国市场一落千丈的惨淡销售。众所周知，由于中日两国的钓鱼岛争端，中国消费者发起了抵制日系车的运动。

    身为通用的首席执行官，丰田章男已成功经受了任期内的重大考验。如果还有谁敢说家族成员没能耐挽救公司的颓势，事实已经彻底驳斥了他们。

    丰田接下来的举措也会同样引人关注，因为它可能必须设法适应变化节奏不断加快的全球交通网络。替代燃料和自动驾驶汽车，以及虎视眈眈的竞争对手，都将成为丰田首席执行官必须密切关注的对象。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远

    After widespread vehicle recalls and safety concerns badly dented Toyota Motor Corp.'s reputation and finances in 2009, Akio Toyoda—president, chief executive and heir of the founding family—vowed to remedy the automaker's famed insularity.

    His goal: make Toyota more nimble and responsive. A management shakeup and reorganization announced this week in Tokyo is aimed at creating a wider variety of perspectives among senior executives beyond those of a typical engineer from Toyota's (TM) hometown of Nagoya.

    The changes include the appointment of Mark Hogan, 61, a former General Motors (GM) executive, as a Toyota director. Hogan, a confederate of onetime GM chief executive officer Rick Wagoner, knew Toyoda, 57, when the former worked for GM and Toyota's now disbanded U.S. joint venture.

    Jim Lentz, who was head of Toyota's U.S. sales subsidiary, was promoted to head of the North American region. In addition to Hogan, Toyota nominated two non-Toyota Japanese business executives as directors. The three are the first non-company individuals to serve on the automaker's 16-member board. "It was an ideal move by Akio to firmly establish his team," said Jim Press, a former Toyota executive and board member who now advises Nissan (NSANY) and Renault. "He has reinstituted leadership for the family in a much more business-like way."

    Toyota is showing signs that it's back. Last year it regained the global sales leadership from GM, which had lost it before winning it back from Toyota in 2011. In terms of pure size, Toyota and GM are being challenged by Volkswagen AG, which has set its goal to be No. 1 by 2018.

    In financial terms, Toyota's market capitalization dwarfs the rest of the industry at about $164 billion, compared to VW at just less than $100 billion. The market capitalization of GM and Ford (F) are each about half the size of VW's. Toyota's share price, which peaked at 5590 yen in June 2008, prior to the global financial crisis, dipped as low as 2413 Yen in November 2011 and now is trading around 4835 yen.

    Under its new management structure, the Japanese automaker will be divided into four organizations: mature markets including the U.S., Europe and Japan; emerging markets; parts and vehicle development and Lexus. Mark Templin, a U.S. executive, will run Lexus's worldwide business, most likely with the objective of bringing the division on a par globally with BMW, Mercedes and Audi. Templin will be the first U.S. executive to run a major Toyota business unit from Japan.

    Fujio Cho, 76, who had been chairman, will become honorary chairman, normally a prelude to retirement. Takeshi Uchiyamada, known as "father of the Prius," succeeds Cho.

    Yasumori Ihara, who will run emerging markets, will be responsible for reversing the disastrous sales decline in China, where consumers were boycotting Japanese-built cars due to diplomatic tensions over disputed islands.

    Akio Toyoda has survived a major test of his tenure as Toyota's chief executive. If anyone bet that a family member mightn't have the right stuff to reverse the company's decline, they've been thoroughly contradicted.

    The next steps will be interesting as well, because Toyota probably must keep adapting to a global transportation grid whose pace of change is accelerating. Alternative fuels and autonomous vehicles, along with predatory competitors, will loom large on the CEO's radar screen.