日产高层大换血昭示扩张野心

卡洛斯•戈恩这位企业领袖一向既不自鸣得意也没耐心。最近，他对日本汽车制造商日产汽车（Nissan Motor）的高级管理层进行了大换血，将一位来自西班牙的前核工程师提拔至管理日产北美业务。

现年48岁的何塞•穆尼奥斯过去一直在欧洲，是一位积极进取的销售高管。他此番接替考林•道奇，后者将负责一些“特别项目”。戈恩也是日产联盟公司——法国汽车制造商雷诺（Renault SA）的首席执行官。

周二，戈恩在任命穆尼奥斯后，又为日产-雷诺联盟控制的俄罗斯汽车制造商Avtovaz任命了一名新总裁。股票分析师开始质疑，戈恩对俄罗斯等新兴市场的预测是否现实。

在宣布日产第三季度业绩的新闻发布会上，戈恩对全公司范围内的“运营不力”提出了批评。虽然该汽车制造商的净利润增长2%，收入增长16%，但北美业务运营利润下降了28%，欧洲业务由盈利变成了亏损。

戈恩表示，穆尼奥斯的3个目标将是提升市场份额、利润和客户满意度。穆尼奥斯这位西班牙人拥有核工程博士学位，又是MBA，过去曾在欧洲为丰田（Toyota）服务，7个月前刚刚被提拔为负责销售的高级副总裁。在此之前，他曾负责日产墨西哥业务，日产在墨西哥拥有25%的市场份额，占据首位。

与此同时，戈恩还任命前通用汽车（General Motors）采购主管、瑞典人博•安德森担任俄罗斯汽车制造商Avtovaz的总裁，成为该公司首位非俄罗斯裔的掌门人。 安德森的目标是争取让Avtovaz、雷诺和日产共同取得俄罗斯市场40%的份额。

戈恩表示（或许只是希望），“在俄罗斯的投资，特别是对Avtovaz的投资，将对整个联盟的全球增长做出巨大贡献。"他指的是，日产-雷诺的合作伙伴范围逐步扩大，如今已包括德国汽车制造商戴姆勒（Daimler)和日本汽车制造商三菱（Mitsubishi）。

穆尼奥斯将自己在墨西哥获得的成功归功于加强与经销商的接触和沟通，他将在美国复制这种模式。日产和英菲迪尼（Infiniti）的经销商们表示，他总是积极参与市场推广。他一直在对美国经销商施压，提高它们各自的市场份额，从而将日产在美国市场份额从当前的8%提升到10%。当前美国市场份额的一个百分点代表着150,000辆至200,000辆汽车的销量。

日产在北美和其他地区都面临吞噬利润的产品召回事件。9月份，这家公司在全球召回了900,000辆汽车以修复存在缺陷的加速器传感器。而且，上个月，它还因防锁死刹车问题在美国召回了188,000辆SUV。戈恩表示，由日本供应商Jatco制造的日产无级变速器也有可能被召回。

最新的人员调整——以及高管国家背景的多样化——显示出，这家日法联盟的巨大野心。这个联盟要想实现种种目标，这些瑞典人、日本人、法国人和巴西人未来必须有所作为。

如果他们真的能够做到，那没问题。否则，戈恩肯定不会犹豫，再一次地大换血。（财富中文网）

Carlos Ghosn, a corporate chieftain not renowned for complacency or patience, has shuffled the top management of Japanese automaker Nissan Motor, promoting a former nuclear engineer from Spain to run its North American operations.

José Muñoz, 48, an aggressive sales executive who had been running operations in the western hemisphere, takes over from Colin Dodge, who will pursue "special projects." Ghosn also serves as chief executive of Renault SA, the French automaker and Nissan ally.

On Tuesday, Ghosn followed Muñoz's appointment by naming a new head of Avtovaz, the Russian automaker controlled by the Nissan-Renault alliance. Equity analysts have raised questions whether Ghosn's projections for growing sales in emerging markets like Russia are realistic.

At a press conference to announce Nissan's third-quarter financial results, Ghosn criticized "operational softness" across the company. While the automaker's net income rose 2% on a 16% increase in revenue, operating profit fell 28% in North America and shifted to a loss from a profit in Europe.

Muñoz's three goals, Ghosn said, will be to increase market share, earnings, and customer satisfaction. The Spaniard, who holds a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering as well as an MBA, and previously worked for Toyota (TM) in Europe, was promoted to senior vice president in charge of sales only seven months ago. Previously, he was in charge of Nissan's operations in Mexico, where it leads with 25% of the market.

Meanwhile, Ghosn appointed one-time General Motors (GM) purchasing chief Bo Andersson, a Swede, to the presidency of Russian automaker Avtovaz, the first non-Russian to run the company. Andersson's goal will be to capture a combined 40% of the Russian market for Avtovaz, Renault, and Nissan.

Ghosn said -- perhaps hopefully -- "investments in Russia and specifically in Avtovaz will be a significant contributor to the overall global growth of the alliance." He was referring to Nissan-Renault's growing circle of partners, which now includes German automaker Daimler and Japanese automaker Mitsubishi.

Muñoz has credited his success in Mexico to increased contact and communication with dealers, a pattern he was in the process of repeating in the U.S. Nissan and Infiniti dealers have reported that he's been quite active and involved in their marketing. He has been increasing pressure on U.S. dealers to raise the share of their respective markets and thus help Nissan reach 10% of the U.S. market from its current 8%. Every point of share in the current U.S. market represents between 150,000 and 200,000 vehicles.

Nissan faces profit-eroding product recalls in North America and elsewhere. In September, the company recalled over 900,000 vehicles worldwide to fix a faulty accelerator sensor. And last month, the automaker recalled more than 188,000 SUVs in the U.S. due to an antilock brake problem. Nissan's continuously variable transmissions made by Jatco, a Japanese supplier, have been vulnerable to recall, Ghosn said.

The latest personnel moves -- and the diverse range of national backgrounds of the executives themselves -- show the significant breadth of the Japanese-French alliance's ambitions. These Swedes, Japanese, French, and Brazilians will have to step up if the alliance is to fulfill its goals.

If they do, fine. If not, Ghosn isn't the type to hesitate before reaching into his executive personnel files once more.