Fiat's Extreme Makeover
In 2004, Fiat was a laughingstock. It seemed that whenever you opened a newspaper in Italy, there was another embarrassing story: Fiat had lost more money; a new car had flopped; a strike was on somewhere. The company had gone through four CEOs in three years. Then Sergio Marchionne, an industry outsider, came on board. Today, Fiat's bottom line is solidly in the black and the automaker's latest car, the Cinquecento, is the talk of the industry. In this article, Marchionne describes how he changed the way the company was run. He abandoned the "great man" model of leadership that had long characterized Fiat and created a culture where everyone is expected to lead. The CEO details how he made four particularly effective improvements. First, he searched the company for hidden leadership potential - such as people far from headquarters and young talent in marketing and other functions that hadn't been considered high-potential career paths. Once Marchionne found those potential leaders, he engaged with them in myriad ways - such as through formal performance assessments, informal conversations, and text messages - demonstrating his commitment to them and improving the corporate culture. Second, he set ambitious goals and actively guided managers toward achieving them, in part by challenging long-held assumptions. The time to market for the Cinquecento was whittled down from four years to just 18 months once engineers and designers started questioning and streamlining their processes. Third, he pushed the organization to be less inward-looking, adopting benchmarks from Apple, for instance, and hiring people from outside the car industry. And fourth, he showed respect for Fiat's employees by making adjustments - such as opening kindergartens and grocery stores near plants - to help them cope with work/life balance.
【書誌情報】
ページ数:12ページ
サイズ:A4
商品番号:HBSP-R0812B
発行日:2008/12/1
登録日:2012/3/28