福特下任CEO面临挑战

    马克•菲尔茨一直是公认的艾伦•穆拉利接班人。或许，用不了多久，他就将接替穆拉利，担任福特汽车公司（Ford Motor Company）的首席执行官。

    据彭博新闻社（Bloomberg News）昨天报道，68岁的穆拉利将在今年年底之前退休，由在福特工作25年的老将、53岁的菲尔茨接任。福特没有发表任何官方消息。作为全球第二大汽车制造商，福特或许会非常谨慎地处理这件事，因为早在几十年前，这家公司曾经有过一段高管继任混乱的尴尬历史。

    菲尔茨18个月前得到提拔，开始担任目前的首席运营官职务，或多或少巩固了他作为穆拉利接班人的地位。而之所以让他担任首席运营官但未明确他将接任CEO，或许是为了检验一下他在公司第二把交椅上的表现如何，再考虑让他更上一层楼。此外，去年有传闻称穆拉利可能接替史蒂夫•鲍尔默担任微软（Microsoft）CEO，让事情变得扑朔迷离。但穆拉利最终并未前往微软。

    2006年，穆拉利从波音（Boeing）跳槽到福特汽车，当时的福特正处于关键时期。由于资产负债表表现不佳，福特在2006年年初便开始大规模贷款用于新产品项目，将公司的资产打包抵押，包括公司的品牌。两年后，全球金融危机爆发，如果福特没有提前获得贷款，最终或许只能步通用汽车（General Motors）和克莱斯勒（Chrysler）的后尘，面临破产的结局。

    原波音高管穆拉利对于福特的主要贡献在于文化方面，他促使福特及其高管简化了公司的商业策略，同时还使公司同仁之间和谐相处。积极乐观的穆拉利为以残忍的内部政治和纷乱的高管竞争著称的福特带来了新气象。

    曾经带领福特野马（Mustang）获得巨大成功的李•艾柯卡在1978年被亨利•福特二世免去了福特汽车总裁的职位。2001年，杰克•纳赛尔因为与福特家族发生冲突，也遭遇了类似的命运。

    4月16日，福特公司执行主席比尔•福特在彭博电视台上说：“许多优秀的CEO离开之后，留下了一堆烂摊子。艾伦和我讨论过这个问题：一位优秀的CEO退位前最后一项决策的重点就是保证顺利交接。”

    福特发言人苏珊•克鲁赛尔提供了下列事先准备的声明：“我们不对任何猜测发表意见。我们对于继任计划非常认真，我们每一个主要领导岗位都有相应的接任计划。出于竞争原因，我们不会公开讨论公司的继任计划。我们之前的声明没有变化。如果有任何变化，我们会通知大家。”

    如果菲尔茨出任CEO，他将面临非常严峻的挑战：首先，福特汽车缺少一款真正意义上的豪华车，它旗下的林肯汽车公司（Lincoln Motor Car Company）依然处在振兴的初期；其次，福特的欧洲业务长期无法实现盈利，拖累了公司的整体收入；第三，福特在自己最赚钱的市场，也就是美国市场，基本完全依赖大型皮卡汽车，需要提高乘用车的盈利能力。

    对于任何一位CEO来说，这都是异常艰巨的任务。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Mark Fields, who has been the heir apparent to Alan Mulally, may soon be designated Mulally's successor as chief executive officer of the Ford Motor Company.

    Bloomberg News reported yesterday that Mulally, 68, will retire before the end of the year and that Fields, 53, a 25-year Ford veteran will succeed him. Ford (F), officially, was tight-lipped. The No. 2 automaker may be proceeding cautiously due to its inglorious history of high-level management succession pratfalls, going back decades.

    Fields was elevated to his present position about 18 months ago, which more or less entrenched him as Mulally's successor. Keeping him in the job without acknowledging his path to CEO may have been a way to see how well he did with the No. 2 post before promoting him. Meanwhile, Mulally confused the issue a bit by putting himself in play last year to succeed Steve Ballmer at CEO of Microsoft (MSFT), a post he didn't get.

    Mulally's arrival at Ford Motor in 2006 from Boeing came at a critical moment for the automaker. Burdened by a weak balance sheet, Ford earlier in the year had begun securing massive loans to pursue new product programs, collateralizing the borrowings with the company's assets, including its brand. Two years later, during the global financial crisis, Ford could have faced bankruptcy like General Motors (GM) and Chrysler did, had it failed to secure early financing.

    The former Boeing executive's main contribution to Ford was cultural, forcing the automaker and its top executives to simplify the company's business strategy and to work in harmony with one another. A relentlessly positive figure, Mulally represented a breath of fresh air at a place known for its vicious internal politics and tumultuous executive rivalries.

    Lee Iacocca, who steered the Mustang to overwhelming market success, was booted from the presidency of Ford Motor by Henry Ford II in 1978. Jac Nasser ran afoul of the Ford family in 2001 and suffered a similar fate.

    Bill Ford, Ford's executive chairman, appearing on Bloomberg television on April 16, said "a lot of great CEOs leave, and then there's chaos behind them. Alan and I have talked about that -- the importance of the final act of a great CEO is having a great transition."

    Susan Krusel, a Ford spokesperson, offered the following prepared statement: "We do not comment on speculation. We take succession planning very seriously, and we have succession plans in place for each of our key leadership positions. For competitive reasons, we do not discuss our succession plans externally. There is no change from our previous announcements. If something were to change, we would let everyone know."

    Fields will face some formidable challenges as CEO: First, Ford Motor lacks a serious luxury franchise, its Lincoln Motor Car Company still in the early stages of renovation. Second, the automaker's operations in Europe have been chronically unprofitable and are a drag on earnings. Third, the automaker's most profitable market, the U.S., is wholly reliant on its large pickups and, thus, needs to improve profitability of passenger cars.