...Develop and Articulate clear and consistent sense of purpose and direction for the organization Ghosn was only moderately successful in articulating an organization purpose. In presenting his first analysis of Nissan, he identified the challenge of “save the business without losing the company” while simultaneously presenting the goal of “ do everything in my power to bring Nissan back to profitability at the earliest date possible and revive it as a highly attractive company”. While the combination of saving the business and returning Nissan to attractiveness is an appropriate organizational purpose, the discussion of profitability goals appears to veer into the strategy arena, which would be more specific. While he is able to establish a common sense of direction and goals for all employees, saving the company, there had to have been questions regarding what not losing the company meant in the context of returning it to profitability. Additionall, a clear purpose is generally supported by decentralized and autonomous decision making. Ghosn makes a point of referring to everything that is in his power which seems inconsistent with establishing high levels of coordination and teamwork. Establish Demanding Performance Expectations Ghosn was successful in creating demanding performance expectations. Similar to the tactics employed by Jack Welch at GE, Ghosn worked to instill the concept of “stretch”. Stretch goals are those that cannot be achieved by incremental or...
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...Carlos Ghosn Carlos Ghosn, born 9 March 1954 is a Brazilian-Lebanese businessman who is currently the Chairman and CEO of Yokohama, Japan-based Nissan and holds the same positions at Paris-based Renault, which together produce more than one in 10 cars worldwide.[1] Ghosn is also Chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, the strategic partnership overseeing the two companies through a unique cross-shareholding agreement. For orchestrating one of the decade's most aggressive downsizing campaigns and spearheading the turnaround of Nissan from near bankruptcy in the late 1990s, Ghosn earned the nicknames "le cost killer" and "Mr. Fix It."[2] After the Nissan financial turnaround, he achieved celebrity status[3] and ranks as one of the 50 most famous men in global business and politics.[4] In Japan, he is the superhero protagonist in a popular "manga" comic book series.[5] His polemical decision to spend $5 billion to develop the world's first mainstream electric car, the Nissan Leaf, is a subject of the 2011 documentary "Revenge of the Electric Car." Personal life Ghosn was born in Porto Velho, Brazil on 9 March 1954 to a French mother and Lebanese father. At age 6, he moved to Beirut, Lebanon, with his mother. He completed his secondary school studies there, in a Jesuit school (Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour). Then he completed his classes préparatoires at Lycée Stanislas in Paris.[7] He graduated with engineering degrees from the École Polytechnique in 1978 (X1974) with...
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...Leaders The Personality of Carlos Ghosn: The $10 Billion Man Read the following dossier of article extracts and answer the final questions. 1.- “The $10 billion man” Feb 24th 2005, The Economist Having turned round Nissan, Carlos Ghosn is about to run Renault as well It is said that he could add $10 billion to the market value of Ford or General Motors with a stroke of his pen. But Carlos Ghosn is not about to sign up as chief executive of either firm. Instead, in May, he will become the boss of Renault, France 's second-largest carmaker, while continuing to head Nissan, Japan's number two car firm. To ease the transition, this week he named Toshiyuki Shiga as Nissan's chief operating officer. Although Renault and Nissan have cross-shareholdings and a deep alliance, their relationship deliberately stops well short of outright merger. Perhaps that is why it has been so successful, avoiding the integration pain that has marred, for instance, DaimlerBenz's takeover of Chrysler. In his book, “Shift: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival”, published in English last month, Mr Ghosn says that the strength of the alliance “can be found, on the one hand, in its respect for the identities of the two companies, and on the other, in the necessity of developing synergies.” Certainly the benefit has flowed both ways since the Franco -Japanese deal was done in 1999. First, Renault rescued Nissan, buying a stake (now 44%) and installing its Mr Ghosn as chief operating officer...
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...I-Carlos Ghosn’s Management Style Carlos Ghosn, clearly an extraordinary man with an impressive list of accomplishments already under his belt at a relatively young age. But what is it exactly about his management style that makes him stand-out from other leaders, why is it that so much attention has been showered onto him? In the first part of this report that is exactly what we will try to uncover. Ghosn truly does have a unique management style, one that is perfectly suited to today’s global economic reality. In our view the following management practices are the ones that have been integral to the success of not only Ghosn’s turnaround of Nissan but also in his previous accomplishments at Michelin and Renault: Adaptability What really strikes you as you read and learn more and more about Ghosn is that he truly does not have any preconceptions or stereotypes. Whether he is facing a new and unknown country and culture or a situation within a company, Ghosn’s approach is what he calls “a clean sheet of paper.” What Ghosn has been able to do so well is transcend what Peter M. Senge describes as “Mental Models” in his article The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization. As we have seen in the Senge’s article whenever you limit yourself to your Mental Models you reduce you ability to react effectively to changes in the environment. Senge uses the example of oil companies unable to effectively deal with changes in market conditions...
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...Case study: Leading a Global Organization This paper will evaluate Carlos Ghosn’s approach to turning Nissan around from his appointment of COO at a very critical time in Nissan’s history. After many years of success, Nissan began facing difficulties in the 90s and Carlos Ghosn was invited to help turn the organization around. Both national and organizational culture was very strong in Nissan and made changes difficult, but Ghosn’s management style enabled him to implement the Nissan revival plan (NRP), which turned the company around to profitability. Background The case revolves around Nissan and its management. The company was established in 1933 under a different name, but quickly changed to Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. Following the Second World War, Nissan expanded its operations around the world and grew steadily. By 1991 Nissan was highly profitable and had four out of the top ten cars in the world. The success didn’t last though. In the years 1993-1999 Nissan had seven consecutive years of losses and credit rating services were threating to lower their status from “investment grade” to “junk”. Part of the problem was the managerial decision to emphasize short-tem market share growth rather than long-term success. Inspired by local Japanese culture and customs, especially keiretsu, Nissan invested heavily in suppliers. This was done to encourage loyalty and cooperation between members of their value chain. Unfortunately, the Asian financial ended up devaluating...
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..."Leading Change – Carlos Ghosn at Michelin, Renault, and Nissan Motors" case is an example of how one person was able to turn around three different companies from the brink of failure, and implement change through effective leadership. Carlos Ghosn exemplified strong leadership through three interrelated notions, one, affecting the behaviors of others, two, mobilizing employees to encourage commitment, and three, by mobilizing adaptive behaviors. His success can be attributed through the five core tasks that are the “heart of effective change leadership.” Those core tasks are to develop, and communicate purpose, establish demanding performance goals, enable upward communication, forge an emotional bond between employees and the organization, and develop future change leadership. This paper will explore how Ghosn used the five tasks of change leadership to revitalize Michelin, Renault, and Nissan Motors. One of the first strategies Ghosn established was to get all employees to work towards the same common goal. Within each of the companies mentioned above, he developed cross-functional teams. Cross-functional teams allow people from a diverse group to exchange information to solve problems. Michelin-South American personnel had two groups from different cultural backgrounds-French and Brazilian employees. He believed by creating cross-functional teams, it would create teamwork to re-energize employees to work together. He stated, “a cross-functional team was fundamental...
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...Honda has assigned a woman, Kunii to its board for the first time and given a major promotion to a foreigner in a sign the automaker wants to change perceptions of a hidebound corporate culture. Honda Motor Co. announced Monday that technology expert Hideko Kunii, 66, will join the board, and Issao Mizoguchi, a Brazilian of Japanese ancestry, has been appointed operating officer. These appointments require shareholder approval at the June meeting of the establishment. The company has come under fire in Japan does not advocate any person other than Japanese men. Honda officials clearly stated that Kunii was chosen is because her’s ability and she is the right person but not because of the gender issue. Among Japanese companies, Nissan Motor Co., allied with Renault SA of France, has been the most progressive in promoting diversity. However, this has not yet appointed a woman to its board of directors. Placing women in leadership positions is a motive of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies to rescue the moribund Japanese economy. Japanese society is expected to lose its potential for growth and innovation, if it does not do more to encourage women to enter the labour market, because its population is aging and shrinking. This is because Japanese is a high masculine culture country which the society is driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner in field. This culture make women hard to climb up the corporate ladders in Japan with their...
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...1. What factors account for the success of IKEA? The IKEAs success is derived from three factors. * Low price – 30% - 50% lower than market prices * Scandinavian design and style - good design and functional * Well-designed shopping area to be immensely appealing to customers– cheerful decorated model room, bright and inviting atmosphere, childcare centers, restaurant, etc. 2. What do you think of the product strategy? The product strategy of IKEA is to provide low price products but have meaning at well-designed shopping areas. In other words, IKEA provides cheap products with good design which will not make customers feel cheap at the place where they can enjoy shopping with their families. To provide cheap products, IKEA has global sourcing network. In addition, IKEA has a rigid cost saving culture. 3. Despite the success, what are Ikea downsides? * American Culture - Americans are notorious for their reluctance to buy new furniture. To expand in the US market, IKEA needs to sell product as much as possible and thus, IKEA needs to change the fix idea in the US. * Scandinavian design and style - There is no doubt that the Scandinavian design and style are attractive. However, IKEA needs to adopt some American style (Colonial American, American Country, Mission, Southwestern and Shaker) to meet American needs. * High-end Retailers – Competition with high-end retailers could be the downside factor. High-end retailers offer exclusive services...
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...Article Discussion Title of Article: Ghosn Creating Value across Cultures ___________________________________________________________________ ___ 1. What is the author’s/authors’ purpose in writing this article? The author, presenting the alliance between Renault and Nissan, wants to make perfectly clear that partnering globally is an opportunity. An equal relationship with two winners. He explains the benefits which are produced by the relationship between the two at a corporate level, and the positive effects at the workforce as well. Learning through differences is essential is the send message. Moreover, the author is warning us of the hidden risks. Losing the corporate identity will have as consequence a lack employees’ motivation. Lastly, the author states that motivation is the engine of performance. 2. Name and discuss three major points on which the author(s) focus in their discussion of their primary purpose. Learning through differences: The author describes the different skills of the French, the Japanese and the Americans. The combination of these skills can disentangle difficult situations more easily and multiplies the possibilities of having Eureka Moments. I find this cross cultural consociation remarkable, people from the two edges of the world, coming from different cultures, having different expertise and knowledge, working together, creating a harmonious relationship, allowing to achieve things which differently would need much more time,...
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...Why was the former Nissan Management unsuccessful in turning the company around? Why could they not prevent the slide of Nissan’s ranking market share, etc.? The former managers of Nissan had been struggling to turn Nissan into a profitable company for eight years. Nissans major problem were the extremely low margins due to its lack of brand power and the very unprofitable cost structure (especially regarding purchasing costs). Nissan’s organizational and financial structures where very traditional and typical Japanese (e. g. the cross-shareholdings within the kereitsu structures). All previous Nissan CEO’s where Japanese , probably each of them with a long tenure and history in the company. Each CEO was surely skilled and experienced in leading an international company. But it can be speculated that it is much harder for a Japanese CEO to make fundamental changes in Nissan's long-standing operating practices and behavioral norms of Japanese society that are deeply integrated in the corporate structure. The former managers were simply stuck in their Japanese organizational structures and no one wanted to break with their own tradition. In addition, the company advisors, a group of senior managers without line responsibilities, made sure that Japanese business practices were implemented and pursued. Some examples of these country specific, traditional structures are the kereitsu partnerships and the predominant seniority rule: Nissan was consistently strapped for cash and...
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...Slide 1: Education Bachelor's Degree Ecole Polytechnique France Bachelor's Degree Groupe Ecole des Mines Bachelor of engineering at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal Speaks 7 languages french english portuguese italian arabic japonise and spanish he spends the following 3 month on the road, personally studying Nissan’s problems He promises to the audience that if he or his team don’t make Nissan profitable in one year, he will quite Slides 4: video about his traits as leader Slide 5: video to explain how to be a healthy manager Slides 6: He is like a duck, because ducks are calm on the surface and pushing like crazy getting things done under the surface. Slides 7: Motivated his employee by rewards: Ghosn held a belief that employees at all levels of a company possess the solutions to the problems. Reward: opportunity and career development, give credit of all success Democratic Meet every employee, shake hands, walk around the entire company, encourage innovations Once the employee conficence was gained, they were very commitment to the company and deliver expectations beyond their promise His ability to communicate and lead his Japanese staff in spite of the fact that he didn’t speak jap Cross-Functional-Team 1 Business growth—new products, new services, new markets 2 Purchases which represent 60% of expenditures 3 Manufacturing and logistics 4 Research and development 5 Sales and marketing 6 General and administrative services 7 Finance 8 Everything...
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...Individual Analysis Paper Chairman and CEO of Nissan and Renault – Carlos Ghosn Chao Ru chao.ru@laverne.edu University of La Verne Graduate School of Business BUS 586 – CRN 1354: Leadership for the Future Professor John C. Sivie June 28, 2012 I. Table of Contents I. Table of Contents 2 II. Background and Award of Carlos Ghosn 3 III. Important Contributes for Nissan from Ghosn 4 IV. Doing the Right Things of Carlos Ghosn 5 V. Learn from Carlos Ghosn 7 VI. References 9 Chairman and CEO of Nissan and Renault – Carlos Ghosn II. Background and Awards of Carlos Ghosn Background Information of Carlos Ghosn: Carlos Ghosn is the president and CEO of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., a global automotive company with 180,000 employees and $83 billion in revenue. He joined to Nissan in June 1999 as its chief operating officer. And then, he became Nissan’s president in June 2000, and also became the chief executive in June 2001. Carlos Ghson is also the president and CEO of Paris-based Renault, SA which was named in May 2005. Both companies together produce more than one in 10 cars sold worldwide. He is also Chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, the strategic partnership overseeing the two companies through a unique cross-shareholding agreement (Wikipedia, 2012). Currently, he is not only the president and CEO of Nissan and Renault. He also serves on the board of director at Alcoa Automotive, Inc and Closure Systems International, Inc. He serves these...
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...bubble economy collapsed in the early 1990s and Nissan’s profits deteriorated in parallel (Wiki – 2011). In response to a dire operating situation, Nissan formed a partnership with Renault in 1999. While the injection of capital was much needed by the Japanese car manufacturer, the most important asset exchanged in the strategic alliance turned out to be Carlos Ghosn, the Renault Executive Vice President appointed to turn around Nissan. The following analysis focuses on Carlos Ghosn’s leadership and the Nissan Revival Plan (NRP). The NRP saved Nissan and its roots seem to have originated from the Lean Action Plan framework. Get Started (First Six Months) Find a change agent (Score - 5 of 5) The Lean Thinking textbook places a considerable amount of emphasis on starting the Lean Leap. While it may seem basic in nature, kicking off the process is not easy, and it requires an organization to have an executive base with leadership talent. In particular, finding a “change agent” that is committed to co-developing and implementing a plan to accomplish concrete objectives is hard to unearth. Carlos Ghosn was an ideal “change agent”. Ghosn quickly established a vision for Nissan, which he was able to clearly communicate to the employees of the organization. He displayed a willingness to engage and...
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...Nissan is one of the world's leading automakers. Jidosha-Seizo Kabushiki-Kaisha("Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd." in English) was established in 1933, taking over all the operations for manufacturing Datsun from the automobile division of Tobata Casting Co. LTD, and its company name was changed to Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. in 1934. There were numerous good and bad times the company has faced but it became consistently with the progression of time and now it has turned into one of the main company of making automobiles in the world. The following is a SWOT analysis based on the case study provided of Nissan Motor Co. LTD. Nissan has a number of strengths, one of the most important strength is that it operates globally. After the second world war, Nissan developed steadily, growing its operation internationally. It's got to be particularly fruitful in North America with a lineup of littler gas productive autos and little pickup trucks as well as sports coupe cars. Nissan was extremely remarkable for its advanced engineering and technology innovation, plant productivity, and quality administration. It is because the combination of these strengths the company has held its position over the world. The Nissan company has many strengths, on the other hand it also has weaknesses. One of these is that wrong estimation of customers wants. Customers like stylish, innovative cars, but Nissan thought they preferred good quality cars. As opposed to reinvesting in new product...
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...Nationalistic and Patriotic - News of Renault-Nissan negotiations resulted in a drop in Renault shares. - Nissans’ problems were evident: • Too many plants (some running at 50% capacity) • 25 expensive chassis (compared to volkswagens 4) • Too many suppliers (3000, compared to 300 at ford) • Too many dealers in Japan. • Japanese Culture: - Lifetime employment - Close ties with suppliers - Renaults STAKE: • The power of VETO, meaning that people were afraid of making changes due to the stakes. Building the team - Cross-cultural challenge (mainly French and Japanese) 1 - Ghosn had one condition: He would have full control, and he did not have to seek approval from France. - And he got to handpick 20 or so executives who would accompany him. - Ghosns’ approach: THE TWO COMPANIES SHOULD WORK TOGETHER AS TWO DISTINCT PARTNERS. Without worrying about creating a common culture, and combining the businesses. Ghosn went to the factories: - He talked to sales people and service technicians. - He visited research facilities and plants (inputs from engineers, managers and dealers) - He got CANDID FEEDBACK, he approached them earnestly...
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