创始人回归：王雪红能否拯救HTC

    创始人回归公司，希望力挽狂澜，拯救陷入困境的公司，但最终的结果有成功，也有失败。史蒂夫•乔布斯重返苹果公司（Apple）取得了毋庸置疑的成功，但杨致远回归雅虎（Yahoo）却遭遇彻头彻尾的失败。至于迈克尔•戴尔能否带领以其名字命名的电脑公司实现复兴，现在下结论仍然为时尚早。

    现在，HTC则寄希望于公司联合创始人、董事长王雪红能够拯救这家深陷困局的台湾智能手机制造商。去年，面对不安的投资者施加的压力，55岁的王雪红重新开始参与公司的日常运营。她尚未正式担任新的职务——她坚称，自己只是为现任CEO周永明提供支持。但她正在积极参与市场营销，与销售HTC设备的电话公司搞好关系，最重要的是，帮助提升员工的士气。经营亏损和大批公司高层出走，一度令员工士气深受打击。

    在1997年参与创立的HTC公司，王雪红更喜欢隐居幕后，这一点并不意外。虽然自己是亿万富翁（净值预计为：16亿美元），而且是石油化工业巨头台塑集团（Formosa Plastics Group）创始人、台湾商界巨擎王永庆的女儿，但王雪红却一直为人低调，生活朴素。她经常乘坐价格低廉的美国西南航空公司（Southwest Airlines）的航班，喜欢穿一套简洁的蓝色套装。但她有着深厚的技术背景：早在HTC之前，她便成立了芯片组制造商威盛科技（Via Technologies）。她告诉《财富》杂志（Fortune）：“我之所以创立HTC，是因为很久以前的一个愿望。我很想生产掌上电脑。”事实上，HTC三个字母的含义便是“高科技计算机”。

    HTC要想止住颓势，触底反弹，或许正需要王雪红身上的谦卑和技术实力。最初，作为惠普（Hewlett-Packard，世界500强第50位）等世界500强公司（Global 500）的批发手机制造商，HTC横空出世，后来开始销售以公司名称命名的手机。2008年，HTC赢得重大胜利。当年，谷歌（Google，世界500强第162位）选择HTC作为合作伙伴，HTC手机成为第一款运行安卓（Android）操作系统的手机。

    之后的一段时间，HTC的发展一帆风顺。受到之前成功的鼓舞，公司管理层开始将重点转移到高端设备，以期与苹果的iPhone和三星（Samsung）的Galaxy系列竞争。2010年，这家公司的收入达到了96亿美元。但从2011年圣诞节开始，这家公司出现了一系列执行错误。管理层无法达到销售预期，即便广受好评的新智能手机HTC One X也未能扭转局面。供应问题和缺乏营销重心导致公司深受困扰。2013年，HTC联合社交媒体巨头Facebook发布了一款手机，其中搭载了“Facebook Home”界面，结果却以失败告终。这款手机的独家运营商美国电话电报公司（AT&T）很快便开始将这款手机降价处理。而在HTC一路跌跌撞撞的同时，苹果和三星却巩固了在移动市场食物链顶端的位置。曾经最畅销的安卓手机制造商HTC最终被挤出了全球十大智能手机制造商行列。王雪红说：“最初，竞争没有这么激烈。我们当时认为市场营销没有那么重要——我们的观念是，产品比市场营销更重要。我们不知道如何与消费者进行沟通。”

    目前，王雪红的回归尚未改善HTC的财务业绩。这家公司2013年的收入减少了30%，仅有68.5亿美元，损失了4,460万美元。最近一个季度的收入同比下滑了23%。而与苹果、三星和越来越多价格更低廉的中国制造商的竞争将会愈演愈烈。

    但公司员工表示，王雪红的回归已经开始产生影响。她在全球四处奔波，会见员工，拜访主要供应商与客户，包括世界上客户数量最多的手机运营商中国移动（China Mobile）的董事长。HTC北美区业务总裁贾森•麦肯齐说：“她的回归让整个公司备受鼓舞，因为我们有这样一位智能手机业的低调偶像。”

    Founders who go back to save their company from the brink of extinction have a mixed record. The second coming of Apple’s Steve Jobs was an unequivocal success, while Jerry Yang’s return to Yahoo was an unequivocal failure. And the jury is still out on Michael Dell’s efforts to revive his namesake computer maker.

    Now HTC, a struggling Taiwan-based smartphone maker, is pinning its hopes of redemption on co-founder and chairwoman Cher Wang. Last year under pressure from agitated investors, Wang, 55, resumed day-to-day involvement. She hasn’t officially assumed a new title—she insists she’s merely there to support current CEO Peter Chou—but she’s actively working on marketing, building relationships with telephone companies that carry HTC devices, and, crucially, helping lift morale among employees, who have been battered by the handset maker’s loss of business and an exodus of senior executives.

    It is no surprise that Wang (rhymes with “gong”) prefers a more behind-the-scenes role at HTC, which she co-founded in 1997. Despite her wealth (estimated net worth: $1.6 billion) and the fact that she’s the daughter of Taiwanese tycoon Wang Yung-Ching, founder of petrochemicals conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group, Wang maintains a low profile and eschews many of the trappings of wealth. She’s been known to fly on discount carrier Southwest Airlines and favors a uniform of simple black suits. But she has serious technology chops: She founded chipset maker Via Technologies before HTC. “I started HTC because of the vision I had a long time ago,” Wang tellsFortune. “I really wanted to do handheld computers.” Indeed, HTC stands for “high-tech computer.”

    Wang’s combination of humility and tech prowess may be exactly what HTC needs to rebound from its ignominious fall. After bursting on to the scene as a wholesale phone maker for Global 500 companies such as Hewlett-Packard (No. 50 on the Global 500), HTC shifted to marketing phones under its own name. The company scored a big win in 2008 when Google (No. 162) selected HTC to partner with it on the first phone to run on its Android operating system.

    For a time HTC was on a roll. Emboldened by its success, management began to focus on high-end devices that would compete with Apple’s AAPL 0.59% iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy line. Revenue in 2010 climbed to $9.6 billion. But by Christmas 2011 the company had started to make execution errors. Management missed sales projections, and a critically admired new smartphone, the HTC One X, failed to reverse the decline. Supply issues plagued the company, as did a lack of marketing focus. Even a phone launched with Facebook FB -0.24% in 2013, which featured the social networking giant’s “Facebook Home” interface, flopped and was quickly discounted by its exclusive carrier, AT&T T 0.48% . As HTC fumbled, Apple and Samsung solidified their positions at the top of the mobile food chain. HTC, once the top seller of Android-powered phones, eventually slipped from the list of the world’s top 10 smartphone makers. “In the beginning, the competition was not as severe,” says Wang. “We didn’t think marketing was as important—we thought the product was more important than marketing. And we didn’t know how to communicate with the customer.”

    Wang’s return has yet to improve HTC’s financial performance. Revenue in 2013 fell 30% to $6.85 billion, and the company lost $44.6 million. Revenue for the recent quarter slipped 23% from the year before. And competing with Apple, Samsung, and a growing number of cheaper Chinese manufacturers, isn’t likely to get any easier.

    Employees say Wang’s presence has already started to make a difference. She’s traversed the globe, meeting with employees and key suppliers and customers—including the chairman of China Mobile, the largest cellphone operator in the world by customers. “It’s been inspiring for the organization because you have somebody who’s really kind of an understated icon in the smartphone world,” says Jason Mackenzie, president of HTC’s North America operations.