商界老掌门复出成风

    结果，他陷入了大麻烦，美国联邦监管机构指控称公司高管参与了一项重大会计欺诈。（他待了不到两年就另谋高就，但上述指控最终让他丢了连后来那份工作也丢了。)

    施乐后来显著复苏，但保罗的这段复出经历凸显——无论本意有多好或有多么必要，请回前CEO可能都会存在问题。特别是创始人，他们想让企业经营回归初始愿景或运作方式，而市场已经变了。前CEO的回归也能帮助董事会推卸责任(策略或计划失败)或是转移责难。

    当然，有像乔布斯、舒尔茨这样大获成功的故事，也有尚未终结的传奇故事，包括电子产品零售商百思买（Best Buy）创始人理查德•舒尔茨的回归能否给这家腹背受敌的公司带来新的生机。

    舒尔茨已复出担任百思买董事长一职。受到电商网站低价竞争的冲击，百思买在CEO休伯特•乔利的领导下最近一个季度出现了亏损。

    没人知道JC Penney更换CEO的决定能否奏效，但坎特指出：“这次请回来的CEO过去就是因为不得力才被请来的瑞恩•约翰逊顶替（而后者最近也被换了下来）。真是戏剧性十足。

    “既然当初整个董事会都认为此君策略失败，需要新鲜血液，我想不通为什么他们又要把这个人请回来。”

    随着网络零售商运用低价和噱头更多地吸引公众注意力，JC Penney在如何保留核心顾客方面遇到很大挑战。JC Penney节节败退。作为前苹果高管，约翰逊试图将电子产品公司的一些营销技巧应用到这家拥有百年历史的美国零售商身上。

    然后，到了今年5月，约翰逊被踢到了一边，董事会请回前CEO麦隆•乌尔曼重新执掌公司。科恩说，董事会的想法是：“我们需要一位像护林熊(Smokey the Bear)那样家喻户晓、经验丰富的森林消防员，不只是把火灭了就完事。”

    “他是位真正的零售商，他需要在坚持传统的同时重建JC Penny的重要地位”她说。“他得植树造林。”

    他还有机会拯救这家公司，因此“现在还不是为JC Penney奏哀乐的时候，”她指出。“但现在没有一家实体零售商不需要担心生存。”（财富中文网）

    He became mired in federal regulators' charges that senior company executives engaged in an major accounting fraud. (He stayed less than two years, then went onto another high corporate position, but the accusations cost him that job as well.)

    The company later enjoyed a major turnaround, but his stint underscores that no matter how well intentioned - or necessary - bringing back the boss can be problematic. Founders, in particular, can want company operations to return to his, or her, original vision, or operating style when the marketplace has moved on. The return can also be the band aid the board of directors needs to dodge responsibility for failed strategies and plans, or to deflect blame.

    Certainly, there are the over-the-top success stories like Jobs and Schultz, but there are yet-to-be-concluded sagas including whether Richard Schulze, who founded electronics retailer Best Buy, will succeed in breathing new life into the wounded company.

    Schulze has returned as chairman of Best Buy, which has been walloped by online competitors offering cheaper prices, and recorded a loss in its most recent quarter under the leadership of CEO Hubert Jolly.

    No one knows yet how Penney's CEO change will work out, but Kanter noted that "the CEO brought back was one said to have failed previously, which was why (recently replaced CEO) Ron Johnson was brought in - to be a dramatic turnaround.

    "I'm scratching my head about why they brought someone back that the whole board felt had a failed strategy needing updating."

    Penney's has been struggling to hang onto its core audience as online retailers, with low prices and flashy offerings, has exerted a stronger hold on the public. The company has foundered while Johnson, a former Apple executive, tried to apply some of the electronic company's marketing know-how to the century-old American retailer.

    Then in May, Johnson was moved aside and former CEO Myron Ullman was returned to the helm by the board. The board was thinking: "We need a Smokey the Bear, someone who is well known and very experienced, not just to put out the fire," said Koehn.

    "He's a serious retailer who needs to recapture Penney's relevance while holding on," she said. "He needs to plant some new trees and to grow a forest.

    He has a chance to resuscitate the company so "it's not time to play Penney's funeral march," she noted. "But no brick-and-mortar retailer can now afford not to be playing for keeps."