三大絕招對(duì)抗經(jīng)濟(jì)蕭條
明尼阿波利斯的通用磨坊(General Mills)總部
????經(jīng)濟(jì)蕭條已變成一種威脅。歐洲債務(wù)危機(jī)、美國(guó)財(cái)政懸崖、中國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)放緩,接踵而至的壞消息足以?shī)Z去所有人的希望,隱隱地削弱令企業(yè)家們時(shí)常保持振作的天生樂(lè)觀(guān)主義精神。 ????頂??!事實(shí)是,即便是在今天這樣動(dòng)蕩的經(jīng)濟(jì)環(huán)境下,仍然有些公司仍取得了巨大的成功。如果我們能順勢(shì)而變,實(shí)現(xiàn)公司的成長(zhǎng)和成功還是很有可能的。下面三項(xiàng)策略可以幫助這些智慧的公司掌握主動(dòng)。 ????管理價(jià)值——而不是每股收益、息稅折攤前收益(Ebitda)、毛利潤(rùn)率、收入、現(xiàn)金,也不是其他指標(biāo)。這一點(diǎn)聽(tīng)起來(lái)顯而易見(jiàn),但在公司困難時(shí),經(jīng)理們很容易采取破壞價(jià)值的舉措。比如,根據(jù)會(huì)計(jì)規(guī)則,研發(fā)和市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷(xiāo)開(kāi)支巨大,只要削減(要削減并不難),就可以公布利潤(rùn)增長(zhǎng)。誰(shuí)不希望當(dāng)下的高利潤(rùn)呢?但事實(shí)上,這些成本都是投資,能帶來(lái)多年的回報(bào),削減它們就是破壞價(jià)值。 ????手機(jī)芯片制造商高通(Qualcomm )深知這一點(diǎn)。本輪經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退期間,高通的利潤(rùn)繼2008年下降后,2009年大幅下滑——但公司在整個(gè)下行期和此后每年都在增加研發(fā)投入,有時(shí)增加幅度還不小。認(rèn)為極度短視的投資者會(huì)懲罰這類(lèi)做法的說(shuō)法并不成立,因?yàn)楦咄ü蓛r(jià)已連續(xù)上漲超過(guò)了三年。 ????其他公司也有不同的價(jià)值管理方式。當(dāng)所在行業(yè)勉強(qiáng)維持,當(dāng)信貸市場(chǎng)遭受重創(chuàng)時(shí),英特爾(Intel)投入了數(shù)十億美元建設(shè)新的工廠(chǎng)。可口可樂(lè)公司(Coca-Cola)從未放松過(guò)品牌建設(shè)。如今,這些公司都在蓬勃發(fā)展。 ????持續(xù)發(fā)展人力資本。所有公司都聲稱(chēng)“員工是我們最重要的資產(chǎn)”,但真正能做到的很少。困難時(shí)期,大多數(shù)公司都會(huì)放松對(duì)員工領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力的培養(yǎng)。培訓(xùn)需要錢(qián),將大有潛力的經(jīng)理派去發(fā)展性項(xiàng)目,感覺(jué)有點(diǎn)奢侈,或許可以等到境況好些時(shí)再說(shuō)。但一流的公司都知道,人力資本是企業(yè)最有價(jià)值的資產(chǎn),也是最稀缺的資源,無(wú)論什么企業(yè)都一樣??纯凑钩岣唢w的IBM吧,它在最新的《財(cái)富》全球領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力培養(yǎng)排行榜上名列榜首。IBM從未考慮過(guò)要縮減其企業(yè)全球服務(wù)志愿隊(duì)(Corporate Service Corps),一直將來(lái)自全世界的優(yōu)秀員工組隊(duì)送去與一些當(dāng)?shù)亟M織合作,解決當(dāng)?shù)氐膯?wèn)題。IBM前首席執(zhí)行官彭明盛總是喜歡說(shuō),將IBM稱(chēng)作硬件、軟件或服務(wù)公司是錯(cuò)誤的,“我們是一家人的公司”。另一個(gè)例子是通用磨坊(General Mills),它在競(jìng)爭(zhēng)激烈的食品行業(yè)依然蓬勃發(fā)展。通用磨坊著名的高要求領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力文化毫不動(dòng)搖,并在Glassdoor.com最新評(píng)出的25家最難入職公司名單中排名第21位。 |
????Gloom has become a menace. The drumbeat of distressing news -- Europe, the fiscal cliff, China -- is enough to rob anyone of hope. It's a nasty, insidious force that's undermining the native optimism that buoys up businesspeople everywhere. ????Resist! The reality is that even in today's uncertain economy, some companies are winning big. Growth and success are always possible if we adapt to the times. Three strategies are helping smart companies dominate. ????They manage for value -- not for EPS, Ebitda, gross margin, revenue, cash, or anything else. That sounds obvious, but in difficult times, managers get seduced into value-destroying moves. For example, accounting rules say that R&D and marketing are expenses, so if you cut them -- and they're easy to cut -- reported profit jumps. Who doesn't want higher profits now? But in reality those costs are investments that pay off for years, so cutting them destroys value. ????A company that understands that is Qualcomm (QCOM), maker of the chips that power mobile phones. In the recession its profits fell in 2008, then fell sharply in 2009 -- yet the companyincreased R&D, sometimes substantially, every year through the downturn and beyond. The complaint that mindlessly short-term-obsessed investors punish such behavior just isn't valid; Qualcomm's stock has been surging for more than three years. ????Other companies manage for value in other ways. Intel (INTC) launched billions of dollars in new plant construction when its industry was on life support and credit markets were traumatized. Coca-Cola (KO) never let up on brand building. Those companies are thriving. ????They keep developing human capital. Every company claims that "people are our most important asset," but few mean it. In tough times most companies slack off on leadership development. Training costs money, and moving high-potential managers into developmental assignments feels like a luxury that can wait for better times. But the best-performing companies know that human capital truly is a business's most valuable asset, the scarcest resource, no matter what kind of business it is. Look at highflying IBM (IBM), No. 1 in our latest ranking of the world's top companies for leadership development. It hasn't even considered cutting back its Corporate Service Corps, which sends teams of promising employees around the world to work with local organizations on local problems. Former CEO Sam Palmisano liked to observe that calling IBM a hardware or software or services company was wrong in each case. "We're a people company," he said. Or consider General Mills (GIS), prospering in the fiercely competitive food industry. Its famously demanding leadership culture hasn't wavered, and the company ranks No. 21 on Glassdoor.com's new list of the 25 companies where it's hardest to get hired. |
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