一位管理者能夠客觀冷靜地看待公司,是獲得成功必備的最重要能力之一。 但對所有管理者來說,常常對鏡反省業(yè)務(wù)策略和業(yè)績表現(xiàn),卻不能看透本質(zhì)。這種客觀性的缺乏,或許就是從2012年以來,激進(jìn)投資者項(xiàng)目發(fā)起數(shù)量年度增加18%的原因之一。 解決這一問題,或許可以保護(hù)你的公司免受潛在的激進(jìn)投資項(xiàng)目傷害。但更重要的是,長遠(yuǎn)來看它可以幫助你的公司創(chuàng)造更多價(jià)值。 采用激進(jìn)投資者的心態(tài) 當(dāng)許多人開始關(guān)注你的公司時(shí),一個保護(hù)自身免受股東激進(jìn)主義傷害的關(guān)鍵策略,就是采用激進(jìn)主義的心態(tài)。那句古老的諺語此處適用:“如果你不能打敗他們,那就加入他們?!? 被激進(jìn)投資者關(guān)注對于管理者和董事們來說,是件頭疼的事,但要記住股東激進(jìn)主義者只是尋求其投資組合的價(jià)值增加。 作為一個整體,激進(jìn)投資者提升了股東價(jià)值,通過客觀地、毫無感情色彩地查看資產(chǎn)負(fù)債表和各項(xiàng)數(shù)據(jù),他們做到了這一點(diǎn)。對他們來說,這不是私人的事,至少不常是。他們查看可以公開獲取的關(guān)于你的公司的信息,卻并不了解你的業(yè)務(wù)日常運(yùn)作。 這些日常運(yùn)作的具體信息,讓你更加了解公司各項(xiàng)運(yùn)作的前因后果,但同時(shí)也會制造公司策略和執(zhí)行上的一些盲點(diǎn)和無意識的偏見。你或許不想看到或者不肯承認(rèn),公司運(yùn)作本可以更好,或者成本可以更低,因?yàn)槟阒滥愕膯T工是多么地努力,或者你認(rèn)為你有著未來改變商業(yè)格局的創(chuàng)新項(xiàng)目。 如同激進(jìn)投資者那樣,有關(guān)錯過的機(jī)會這樣的痛苦問題,你要樂于讓你的團(tuán)隊(duì)去面對。你不能害怕令人不快的有關(guān)公司業(yè)務(wù)的談話,也要勇于問你的團(tuán)隊(duì):我們的業(yè)務(wù)組合是不是太寬泛?我們的利潤能否更高?我們的業(yè)務(wù)模式執(zhí)行和變化地是否夠快夠效率? 比較同行,專注于你的戰(zhàn)略、業(yè)績和執(zhí)行 像激進(jìn)投資者那樣思考,也意味著觸及CEO責(zé)任的核心——設(shè)立和執(zhí)行公司戰(zhàn)略。 專注于戰(zhàn)略,意味著客觀地看待你的公司業(yè)務(wù),并將之與競爭者比較。但簡單來說 說,當(dāng)你用這面透鏡專注于你的核心戰(zhàn)略,你開始更苛刻地審查業(yè)務(wù)支出、競爭優(yōu)勢和業(yè)務(wù)組合,以及改變業(yè)務(wù)形態(tài)的步伐快慢。 這樣做后,你開始觀察到一些你本來不會看到的事情。比如,你或許會看到盡管你的公司仍是市場老大,但你的市場份額和收入減少了。類似的,你或許會看到,如果把你的成本結(jié)構(gòu)考慮進(jìn)去,你的毛利不如你的競爭對手?;蛘吣氵€會意識到,盡管某一業(yè)務(wù)單元在過去的表現(xiàn)很好,但長遠(yuǎn)來看它仍然不適合留在你的業(yè)務(wù)組合里。 跨越所謂短期和長期的辯論 過去幾年里,投資者和商業(yè)領(lǐng)袖一直與所謂抑制公司發(fā)展的“短期行為”作斗爭,以便投資長遠(yuǎn)。這一辯論很重要,近期又被炒熱,因?yàn)樯虡I(yè)圓桌會議在幾個月前宣布支持移除季度業(yè)績指標(biāo)。 激進(jìn)投資者們因只考慮短期和自己賺大錢而臭名昭著。但是,作為一名客觀冷靜的商業(yè)領(lǐng)袖,或許我們應(yīng)該問自己:“為什么激進(jìn)投資者或含蓄或直白地懷疑我們的能力,不愿將錢重新投入業(yè)務(wù)中——比如技術(shù)升級或者兼并收購?是不是因?yàn)樗麄儾徽J(rèn)為投資有保障,或者他們質(zhì)疑我們的能力能否對這一投資產(chǎn)生回報(bào)?” 現(xiàn)實(shí)是,對于許多公司來說,短期的業(yè)績和著眼長遠(yuǎn)而改變公司業(yè)務(wù)都是必要的。許多激進(jìn)投資者是可以接受長期投資的,但“長期”不能意味著不靠譜。公司應(yīng)該專注于長遠(yuǎn)戰(zhàn)略,但也不能以犧牲短期和中期的業(yè)績目標(biāo)為代價(jià)。 同樣道理,如果公司的變革和更新不夠迅速,激進(jìn)投資者不會投資。因此,溝通是關(guān)鍵:你必須將你正在創(chuàng)造的長遠(yuǎn)價(jià)值清晰地告訴你最大的幾位投資者,同時(shí)也要傾聽他們的看法。缺了與投資者和股東的有效外部溝通,他們就不會明白你的長期業(yè)務(wù)安排。這就會給你制造麻煩,不能很好地平衡短期利潤的現(xiàn)實(shí)需要和長期戰(zhàn)略目標(biāo)及執(zhí)行。 采用這些策略應(yīng)能幫助你將公司業(yè)績做到最大化,同時(shí)在過程中希望能免受股東激進(jìn)主義的干擾。最終,這些策略都是指向?yàn)楣緞?chuàng)造更多的價(jià)值。如果你能夠創(chuàng)造價(jià)值,并有效地與股東溝通,他們中的大多數(shù)會專注于投資長遠(yuǎn),而不是搞一些激進(jìn)項(xiàng)目。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)) 蒂姆·瑞恩是普華永道的美國業(yè)務(wù)主席和高級合伙人。 譯者:宣峰 |
As executives, being able to look at our organizations objectively and dispassionately is one of the most important skills we must possess to succeed. Yet all too often when we look in the mirror and examine our business strategy and performance, we don’t quite see what is really there. This lack of objectivity is perhaps one of the reasons why the number of activist investor campaigns launched has increased by 18% annually since 2012. Addressing this problem may help protect your company from a potential activist campaign. But more importantly, it will go a long way toward helping your business create more value. Adopt an activist investor mindset At a time when there are more people looking over your shoulder, one key strategy to protecting yourself from shareholder activism is to adopt an activist mindset. The age-old adage applies in this case: “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” While attention from activist investors may cause headaches for executives and directors, it’s important to keep in mind that shareholder activists are simply seeking increases in value to their portfolios. As a collective force, they have improved shareholder value and have done so by looking at balance sheets and numbers objectively and without emotion. For them, it’s not personal—or at least not always. They are looking at your publicly available information and do so without the details of your business’s day in and day out. While having these details gives you more context about how your company may be performing, it also may create blind spots and unconscious bias about your firm’s strategy and execution. You may not want to see or admit that performance could be better or that costs could be lower because you know how hard your employees are working or because you have what you think is the next game-changing innovation. Like an activist investor, you have to be willing to confront your teams with tough questions about missed opportunities. You can’t be afraid of having uncomfortable conversations about your business or asking your teams: Are our portfolios too broad? Could our margins be better? Are we executing or changing our business model fast and effectively enough? Focus on your strategy, performance, and execution vis-a-vis your peers Thinking like an activist investor also means getting to the core of what CEOs are responsible for—setting and executing the business strategy. Focusing on strategy means looking at your business objectively and seeing how it is performing in comparison to your competitors. Put simply, when you’re focused on your core business strategy through this lens, you begin to more critically examine your business costs, competitive margins, and portfolios, as well as the pace with which you are changing your business. As a result, you begin to observe things that you might not have seen otherwise. For example, you might see that while you’re still number one in the marketplace, you’re losing market share or margins. Similarly, you might see that your margins are not comparable to your competitors’, calling into question your cost structure. Or you might realize that even though the past performance of a specific business unit has been good, it still might not justify keeping the business in your portfolio in the long run. Getting past the short-term and long-term debate For the past few years, investors and business leaders have been fighting about curbing corporate “short-termism” in order to invest for the long term. This debate is important and recently gained traction again when the Business Roundtable announced a couple of months ago that it supported moving away from providing quarterly guidance. Activists have a reputation for only caring all about the short-term and capturing money to enrich themselves. However, as objective and dispassionate leaders, perhaps we should be asking ourselves: “Why do activists implicitly or explicitly doubt our ability to invest the money back into the business—in the form of upgrades like technology transformation—or M&A? Is it because they don’t think that investment is warranted or do they doubt our ability to generate a return on that investment?” The reality is that delivering short-term results and changing one’s business for the long term is necessary for most companies. Many activist investors are fine with investing for the long term, but “l(fā)ong term” cannot mean a lack of accountability. Businesses should be focused on their long-term strategy, but it can’t be done at the expense of intermediary milestones. Similarly, activist investors zero in on businesses where they don’t see changes or transformations happening fast enough. Therefore, communication is key: You have to clearly communicate to your largest investors about the long-term value you are creating and stay connected with them while listening to their perspectives. Without effective external communications with investors and shareholders, they won’t understand your long-term business plans. This then can create challenges for you in finding the right balance between the reality of short-term profits and the goal of longer-term strategy and execution. Taking on these strategies should help maximize your company’s business performance, and in the process, hopefully protect against shareholder activism. Ultimately, these strategies are all about creating more value for your organization. And if you are able to create more value and communicate it effectively to your shareholders, more of them will be focused on investing for the long term instead of going along with an activist campaign. Tim Ryan is the U.S. chairman and senior partner at PwC. |