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Turnaround: How Carlos Ghosn Rescued Nissan
Books: Text Books: Corporate: Item 4
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Turnaround: How Carlos Ghosn Rescued Nissanby David Magee
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful: The Passionate Pragmatist, May 14, 2004 Reviewer:Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - Although Magee does indeed provide a brilliant analysis of how Carlos Ghosn "rescued" Nissan, the value of this book extends far beyond that admirable achievement. What we have here is a probing and informative analysis of a leadership and management style which provides important lessons to decision-makers in all organizations (regardless of size or nature) which currently struggle to compete successfully in their respective marketplaces. In a sense, the same skills required by a successful turnaround are also valuable in organizations which are currently prospering: "Be transparent and explain yourself in clear, lucid terms. Do as you say you are going to do. Listen first; then think." Prior to being reassigned by Renault to the Nissan organization, Ghosn had led the revivals of Michelin South America, Michelin North America, and Renault. According to Magee, he "may be the only person to have four verifiable corporate turnaround efforts on four different continents." Serious problems had developed at Nissan in the early 1990s. How serious? It was "strapped by $22-billion in debt, inflated supplier costs, and new product development that was at a standstill." This book explains how, under Ghosn's leadership, Nissan not only solved those and other problems; it regained a position of profitable and prominent leadership in one of the most competitive of industries. As indicated previously, Ghosn is a firm believer in transparency throughout all areas and at all levels of an organization. For that reason, prior to the merger of Renault and Nissan, he created cross-company teams (CCTs) which "were charged with finding possible synergies between the companies and exploring specifically how these might work if an alliance was formed." Teams studied product planning, vehicle engineering, power trains, and purchasing. It is incomprehensible to me that Ghosn, a native of Porto Velho, Brazil, could convince those who worked in two such different companies, in cultures with such different values, to work effectively together. He advocated the same strategy which had succeeded so well at Michelin North America: "Assume nothing (find answers within the company), work fast, and earn trust and respect with strong results." As American colleague Jim Morton once said of Ghosn, "he knows how to get a commitment." Obviously, throughout his career thus far, Ghosn has demonstrated a specific style of leadership and management which Shiro Tomii, a senior vice president in Japan, once summarized as follows: He establishes high, yet attainable goals; makes everything clear to all roles and levels of responsibility; works with speed; checks on progress; and appraises results based on fact. In this context, Magee notes by creating intracompany transparency, "only the facts survive. [Ghosn] loves it when data and analysis win and loses his patience when individuals persistently argue a point with nothing to back it up." Once the Nissan Revival Plan (NRP) had restored hope, profits, and confidence in the company, Ghosn focused everyone's attention on NISSAN 180 which involves even more ambitious objectives and requires even greater commitments to achieve them. "So questions remain as to exactly how high and how far Nissan will go in its ultimate quest." However, this much is certain: "Renault took a chance. Ghosn went to work. And Nissan responded. Together, they changed world business forever." That is the story which Magee has told in this book and he has done so with rigor and eloquence.
From Publishers Weekly
The facts of Magee's account are quite startling. Nissan, once a darling of the automotive world, with its cheap Datsun pickups and stylish, spunky Z roadsters, had, by the 1990s, fallen on hard times. Saddled with billions in debt, the company merged with Renault in 1999, and a Renault v-p, Carlos Ghosn, was named Nissan's new CEO. Routing not only every naysayer in the auto industry, Ghosn, who was born to Lebanese parents in Brazil, also had to overcome an entrenched Japanese business culture that at that time had seemed to stress perks, seniority and relationships over the bottom line. Given complete control over the company, Ghosn slashed costs and laid off employees, as was expected, but also instituted a sweeping reorganization of the entire company, announced an ambitious slate of new vehicles and promised that if Nissan was not profitable in 2000, he and his entire managerial staff would quit. Journalist Magee lays out Ghosn's management style, his mantra of complete transparency and responsibility, and all the tiny victories that went into returning Nissan to the top ranks of automakers. His approach can be hagiographic, but this profile of an astoundingly effective CEO (one of the few who might have actually earned his large salary) is sure to inspire.
Copyright 2003 Reed business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
This the story of the dramatic comeback of Nissan under the leadership of CEO Carlos Ghosn. The ultimate international businessman, Ghosn is of Lebanese descent, born in Brazil and raised as a French citizen. He saved Renault first and then Nissan from bankruptcy by using drastic cost-cutting measures and by fully engaging the workforce from the ground up to stimulate creative innovation. In order to do so, he had to implement Western-style changes, such as plant closings and layoffs, and risk alienating a Japanese culture used to life-long job security. In 1999, Ghosn unveiled his Nissan Revival Plan and made headlines by pledging to quit if the ailing company was not profitable within one year. He proved all the doubters wrong when he announced that fiscal year 2000 was not only profitable but had posted the best financial performance in the company's history. Magee's report is a fine lesson in the adage that "there are no problems at a car company good products can't solve." David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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