????多年以來,，本田公司（Honda）一直被人們奉作工程師的終極舞臺(tái),。這些工程師們騎著本田摩托去上班，開發(fā)的是像噴氣式飛機(jī)和人型機(jī)器人這種令人嘆為觀止的項(xiàng)目,。本田創(chuàng)造了一長串的科技成就,，比如說它在70年代就研發(fā)出了CVCC發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)（它不需要催化轉(zhuǎn)換器就可以產(chǎn)生清潔的汽車尾氣）。因此本田的工程師們對(duì)前輩的遺產(chǎn)深感與有榮焉,，同時(shí)也非常享受自己在公司里的精英地位,。
????久而久之，本田養(yǎng)成了一種創(chuàng)意為王的溫室文化,，將注意力集中在公司內(nèi)部,，產(chǎn)品的適銷性反而沒有得到足夠的關(guān)注。事實(shí)上,，最早研發(fā)出混合動(dòng)力轎車的是本田，而不是豐田（Toyota）,。但本田還是頑固地堅(jiān)持老式的動(dòng)力系統(tǒng),，因此本田老早以前就在與豐田的競爭中落于下風(fēng)。比如本田推出了一款革命性的Ridgeline皮卡,，它采取了一體式車身,，但它的銷售卻十分慘淡。而且本田最近推出的創(chuàng)新產(chǎn)品,，比如本田歌詩圖（Crosstour）和謳歌ZDX掀背車,，都是甫一上市就飽受詬病，也沒能形成市場吸引力,。
????最近還有一個(gè)事例證明本田對(duì)消費(fèi)者的需求并不敏感,，那就是2012款本田思域（Civic）,。本田并沒有注意到，消費(fèi)者越來越喜歡更加舒適的小型車,，反而是生產(chǎn)了一款配置更加簡單的轎車,。2012款思域最終未能獲得《消費(fèi)者報(bào)告》（Consumer Reports）雜志的推薦。要知道,，這本雜志可是很多本田車迷的《圣經(jīng)》,。思域的成功對(duì)于本田來說至關(guān)重要，因?yàn)樵?011年上半年,，思域和雅閣（Accord）兩款轎車占了本田乘用車銷量的83%,。
????今年三月的日本地震和海嘯使本田的運(yùn)營受到了嚴(yán)重的影響。本田一直在努力自救,，但財(cái)務(wù)業(yè)績?nèi)匀辉獾搅顺林氐拇驌?。本田今年一季度的營收入下跌了27%，營業(yè)利潤幾乎消失殆盡,。
????本田陷入了危機(jī),，本田的兩個(gè)主要對(duì)手卻在繁榮發(fā)展。豐田章男（豐田創(chuàng)始人豐田喜一郎的孫子——譯注）繼任總裁之后,，為豐田注入了一股新的能量,。同時(shí)一向精力充漬的卡洛斯?高森也已將日產(chǎn)公司（Nissan）打造成了電動(dòng)汽車領(lǐng)域的龍頭企業(yè)。
????這大概也說明了本田的另一個(gè)問題：如果你隨便在汽車業(yè)里拉過100個(gè)人,，問他們本田的總裁和CEO是誰,，99個(gè)人都會(huì)干瞪眼。
????自從魅力超凡的前社長川本信彥1998年退休后,，先后執(zhí)掌公司的都是個(gè)性不強(qiáng)的工程師?，F(xiàn)任本田社長伊東孝紳也像他的前任們一樣，是從本田大名鼎鼎的研發(fā)部門中升上來的“技術(shù)流”,。伊東孝紳這個(gè)月末就將迎來58歲生日,，他本人是一位知名的底盤工程師，研發(fā)了謳歌NSX等車型的底盤,。他最近上演了一出驚人之舉：日本地震剛剛過了兩天,，伊東就騎著他的本田摩托車，訪問了嚴(yán)重受損的本田櫪木（Tochigi）工廠,。后來他跨坐在摩托車上,，讓攝影記者給他拍照。只不過他那天西裝革履,，未免和那輛拉風(fēng)的摩托有些不搭調(diào),。
????伊東孝紳時(shí)不時(shí)也會(huì)在各種汽車媒體上露面，有時(shí)談?wù)勲妱?dòng)汽車的前途（本田將在2012年推出一款電動(dòng)汽車），有時(shí)說說謳歌NSX轎車的復(fù)興（他正在考慮這件事）,。不過人們恐怕極少聽他談起過本田在產(chǎn)品研發(fā)上的失敗,，或者本田為何沒能抓住消費(fèi)者越來越喜歡小型車這一勢頭，或者謳歌品牌為什么一直沒能形成市場吸引力等話題,。
????本田現(xiàn)在需要的是一股新的能量,，還需要把重點(diǎn)放在核心價(jià)值上——對(duì)于本田來說，就是“人最大,，車最小”,。本田將負(fù)責(zé)研制噴氣式飛機(jī)的航空事業(yè)部分離了出去，這是明智之舉,，因?yàn)檫@可以杜絕高管層注意力分散的弊病,。（本田的航空事業(yè)部至少還得再過一年，才能在市場上推出它的第一架飛機(jī)）,。
????除此之外,，本田還需要進(jìn)行嚴(yán)肅的反省。壘球隊(duì)會(huì)在自由球員交易時(shí)期引進(jìn)幾名球員,，填補(bǔ)球隊(duì)陣營中的短板 ,。同樣，本田也應(yīng)該給自己的產(chǎn)品線查缺補(bǔ)漏,。這意味著本田可能要做一些在自己看來難以想象的事——聘用外部人才,，用新視角來觀察市場和消費(fèi)者。現(xiàn)在通用汽車和福特等大品牌紛紛推出了有競爭性的新產(chǎn)品,，連韓國現(xiàn)代（Hyundai）也加入戰(zhàn)團(tuán),，豐田更是卯足了力氣準(zhǔn)備推出新產(chǎn)品。所以本田也不要再玩機(jī)器人了,，還是立足本分,，把注意力放在汽車業(yè)務(wù)上吧。
????譯者：樸成奎 |
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????For years, Honda has been considered the ultimate playground of engineers. They rode to work on their Honda motorcycles and got to explore speculative projects like jet airplanes and humanoid robots. With a long list of technical achievements dating back to the CVCC engine of the 1970s (it produced a clean exhaust without a catalytic converter), they were rightly proud of their heritage and enjoyed an elite status within the company.
????The result has been a hothouse culture where creativity is king, attention focuses inward, and marketability falls low down the list of corporate priorities. It was Honda that developed the first hybrid -- not Toyota -- but by stubbornly sticking to a bare-bones system, it long ago lost its leadership to its number one Japanese rival. A revolutionary pickup truck with a unibody construction, the Ridgeline, remains a market outlier. Meanwhile, recent product innovations, like the Honda Crosstour and Acura ZDX hatchbacks, were widely panned upon introduction and failed to gain traction in the marketplace.
????The most recent evidence of Honda's insensitivity to customer needs is the 2012 Civic. Rather than taking note of growing buyer preferences for more comfortable small cars, it produced a simpler vehicle that failed to win a recommendation from Consumer Reports, a bible for many Honda customers. The Civic's success is critical to Honda because, along with Accord, it accounted for a hefty 83% of Honda's passenger car sales in the first half of 2011.
????It didn't help when Honda's operations were severely disrupted by the earthquake and tsunami in March. The automaker has struggled to right itself, and its financial results have taken a severe hit. Revenues fell 27% in the first quarter, and its operating profit nearly disappeared.
????Honda is suffering at the very moment when its two main Japanese rivals are thriving. Toyota is getting a jolt of energy from Akio Toyoda, scion of the founding family, while the ever-energetic Carlos Ghosn has made Nissan the leader in electric cars.
????Which perhaps illustrates another part of Honda's problem: Ask 100 people in the auto industry who is the president and CEO of Honda, and the response from 99 of them will be a blank stare.
????Since the retirement of the charismatic Nobuhiko Kawamoto in 1998, Honda has been led by a succession of relatively faceless engineers. The latest is Takanobu Ito, who, like all his predecessors, worked his way up through Honda's famed R&D unit. Ito, who turns 58 later this month, is best known as a chassis engineer on cars like the Acura NSX. He recently caused a stir by hopping on his Honda motorcycle and visiting Honda's heavily damaged Tochigi operation two days after the earthquake. Later, he posed for photographers atop his bike, improbably clad in a suit and tie.
????Ito turns up in the automotive press from time to time, where he is quoted on such topics as the future of electric cars (Honda will have one in 2012) or the revival of the NSX (he's considering it). Rarely though is he heard musing about Honda's failures in product development, or its inability to cash in on the growing allure of small cars, or the continued failure of its Acura brand to gain traction.
????What Honda needs, in part, is what every company needs from time to time: a jolt of new energy and a rededication to core values -- in Honda's case, "man maximum, machine minimum." A spinoff of the Hondajet operation, which won't deliver its first plane into a now-depressed market until a year from now, would eliminate executive distraction.
????More than that, Honda needs to take a hard look at itself and, like a baseball team at free agent time, fill in the parts of its lineup where it is weak. That may include doing the unthinkable for Honda: recruiting some talented outsiders to take a fresh look at the market and its customers. With competitive new offerings from General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Ford (F, Fortune 500), Hyundai now in the mix, and Toyota about to unleash a product onslaught, Honda needs to stop playing with robots and refocus on the car business. |
