新年意味著新的開始，不過對《財富》500強企業(yè)和其他一些公司的首席執(zhí)行官而言，2015年更像是一個高壓鍋，他們?yōu)榕まD企業(yè)頹勢或修復受損品牌形象所做的嘗試，都將受到嚴峻的考驗。
A new year indicates a fresh start, but for CEOs in the Fortune 500 and beyond, 2015 will be a pressure cooker as their attempts to turn around struggling businesses or mend damaged brands are put to the test。
盧英德——百事可樂公司
2014年，維權投資者尼爾森。佩爾茲的特里安基金管理公司一直呼吁百事可樂公司一分為二，這一呼聲讓這家飲料和快餐公司的首席執(zhí)行官盧英德如坐針氈。盧英德則認為，在這個競爭激烈的零售市場，保持單一身份對百事公司更為有利，優(yōu)于預期的第三季度業(yè)績也佐證了她的觀點。然而，不斷變化的消費者飲食習慣促使百事公司押下重注，以贏得眼光更加敏銳的公眾的青睞。盧英德在12月表示：“我們正在嘗試許多新的想法。”
Indra Nooyi—PepsiCo
Activist investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management has made PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi’s seat especially hot this year by calling on the beverage and snack company to split in two. Nooyi has argued that Pepsi’s size as a single entity is an asset in a tough retail market—a point strengthened by the food and beverage company’s better-than-expected third quarter results. But consumers’ evolving eating and drinking habits have prompted Pespsi to make big bets to try to win over a more discerning public. “We are rolling the dice on a lot of new ideas right now,” Nooyi said in December。
唐·湯普森——麥當勞
在這家快餐巨頭第三季度的財報電話會議上，自2012年起擔任首席執(zhí)行官的唐?湯普森表示，連鎖餐廳的業(yè)績“沒有達到我們的期望”。其實這只是輕描淡寫的說法。麥當勞最新的收益報告顯示，美國的同店銷售額連續(xù)四個季度下滑，總體利潤下降了30%。明年或許將證明湯普森提議的解決方案——可定制化的漢堡平臺、分區(qū)域確定菜單和數(shù)字領域投資——能否取得效果。
Don Thompson—McDonald’s
During the fast-food giant’s third quarter earnings call, CEO Don Thompson, head of McDonald’s since 2012, said that the restaurant’s results fell "short of our expectations." That’s putting it lightly. McDonald’s latest earnings report showed the fourth straight quarter of negative same-store sales in the U.S. and an overall 30% drop in profit. Next year will likely prove whether Thompson’s proposed fixes—a customizable burger platform, a regional approach to the menu, and digital investments—do the trick。
特拉維斯·卡蘭尼克——Uber
2014年底，一連串爭議事件使得打車服務商Uber成為千夫所指的對象。首先，該公司一位高管揚言要報復批評Uber的媒體人。緊接著又有消息稱，在印度新德里，一名使用Uber服務的司機涉嫌強暴女乘客。而在悉尼人質危機期間，該應用的“峰值定價”更是激起了眾怒。此外，Uber之前就長期遭受批評，稱他們罔顧乘客安全，還克扣司機的報酬。毫無疑問，Uber的財務狀況非常健康——該公司的估值高達400億美元之巨——但首席執(zhí)行官特拉維斯。卡蘭尼克需要在2015年修復該公司糟糕的社會聲譽。
Travis Kalanick—Uber
At the end of 2014, a flurry of controversies swirled around car-sharing service Uber. First there was an exec’s comments about seeking revenge against its media critics. Then came an Uber driver’s alleged rape of a female passenger in Dehli. And finally, the app’s surge pricing during Sydney’s hostage crisis. Those events piled atop longstanding criticism that Uber skirts liability for passengers’ safety and underpays its drivers. There’s no doubt Uber is financially healthy—it’s valued at $40 billion—but it’ll be up to CEO Travis Kalanick to repair the company’s social reputation in 2015.
邁克爾·林頓——索尼影視娛樂公司
在2014年底，沒有哪家公司遭遇的媒體風暴像索尼影視娛樂公司這般猛烈，而且這場風暴仍在影響著該公司。這家電影公司在11月遭遇的網(wǎng)絡被黑事件引發(fā)了一系列危機：員工的敏感信息泄露、索尼高管的爭議郵件被公布、奧巴馬譴責索尼取消《刺殺金正恩》的上映計劃、電影界大佬指責索尼沒有維護言論自由。12月23日，索尼改變了主意，宣布《刺殺金正恩》將于圣誕節(jié)當天在為數(shù)不多的影院公映。這些爭議都堆在首席執(zhí)行官邁克爾。林頓面前，他需要在2015年承擔起收拾殘局的重任。
Michael Lynton—Sony Entertainment
No corporation faced as big a media firestorm in late 2014 than the one that’s still slamming Sony Pictures. The hacking of the film studio’s network in November set off a series of crises: the release of sensitive employee data, controversial leaked emails from Sony execs, a callout from President Obama over the studio’s initial decision to pull the movie "The Interview" from distribution, and criticism from film industry big wigs that Sony failed to uphold free speech. On December 23, Sony reversed course and announced that it would put out a limited release of "The Interview" in theaters starting on Christmas Day. The controversies have landed in the lap of CEO Michael Lynton, who has the enormous task of picking up the pieces in the coming year。
羅睿蘭——IBM
《財富》前不久刊文報道了IBM的最新收益情況，文章的標題足以說明了一切——《羅睿蘭的糟心時光》。這篇刊發(fā)于10月份的文章顯示，IBM的業(yè)績比預期的還要差：連續(xù)第十個季度收入下滑，營業(yè)收益同比下降10%。如此糟糕的業(yè)績，使得該公司正在進行的緩慢但非常積極的轉型黯然失色——IBM正致力于剝離表現(xiàn)不佳的部門，大舉投資移動、云和認知計算領域。2015年，這位《財富》最具影響力女性能否引領該公司順利轉型，不再出現(xiàn)任何重大差池?且讓我們拭目以待。
Ginni Rometty—IBM
Fortune’s headline about IBM’s latest earnings is awfully telling: “Ginni Rometty’s terrible, horrible (no good, very bad) day。” The October piece told of worse-than-expected results: IBM’s tenth quarter of consecutive revenue decline, a 4% decline in sales from a year ago, and a 10% drop in operating earnings during the same period the previous year. The results tarnished what had been a positive—albeit slow—transformation for the company that centered on its divestiture of poor-performing units and investment in mobile, cloud, and cognitive computing. We’ll see if Fortune’s Most Powerful Woman can capitalize on that progress in 2015 without any significant hiccups。
梅格·惠特曼——惠普
近幾年來，“轉變”這個詞一直與惠普和該公司首席執(zhí)行官梅格�；萏芈�(lián)系在一起。這家公司正嘗試著跟上科技發(fā)展的步伐，這一方針在2015年也不會有所改變。今年10月，惠普宣布該公司將一分為二，電腦和打印機業(yè)務組成一個公司，而另一家公司則專注于企業(yè)硬件和服務業(yè)務�；萏芈硎�，拆分有助于這兩個新公司更快地應對行業(yè)的變化。也許明年將證明她是對的。
Meg Whitman—Hewlett-Packard
The word “turnaround” has been associated with Hewlett-Packard and CEO Meg Whitman for years, as the company attempts to keep up with the evolving tech space, and 2015 will be no different. In October, HP announced that it will split in two, with its computer and printer business making up one company and its corporate hardware and services operations constituting the other. Whitman said the division will help the two companies respond more quickly to industry changes. Perhaps the coming year will prove her right。
瑪麗莎·梅耶爾——雅虎
自2012年執(zhí)掌雅虎以來，首席執(zhí)行官瑪麗莎。梅耶爾就不斷地改變著公司的產(chǎn)品，同時還投資了許多初創(chuàng)公司——尤其是微博客Tumblr——并雇傭了凱蒂。庫瑞克等鼎鼎有名的記者。迄今為止，這些舉動都未能讓這家互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司重振旗鼓，反而還促使維權投資公司Starboard Value LP提出拆分或出售雅虎的要求。仿佛扭轉公司局勢的壓力還不夠似的，梅耶爾如今又從阿里巴巴[微博]的首次公開募股中獲得了大量現(xiàn)金。現(xiàn)在所有的目光都注視著她的下一個動作。
Marissa Mayer—Yahoo
Since taking over Yahoo in 2012, CEO Marissa Mayer has swapped products in and out of the company’s arsenal while scooping up dozens of startups—Tumblr, most notably—and hiring big-name journalists like Katie Couric. Such moves have failed to revive the Internet company thus far and have instead prompted activist Starboard Value LP to call for its breakup or sale. As if turning the company around wasn’t pressure enough, Mayer now has at her disposal bundles of cash from Alibaba’s IPO. All eyes are on her to see what she’ll do with it。
