Turnaround: How Carlos Ghosn Rescued Nissan

The astonishing business story and management strategies of Nissan's president, Carlos Ghosn. Arguably the world's most successful CEO, Ghosn rescued the Japanese automaker from the brink of bankruptcy, achieving record profits in only two years. This is the story of how he did it.

When Carlos Ghosn, a 46–year–old, fiery Brazilian was installed as president of the Japanese corporate giant, Nissan, the automotive world was astonished. Ghosn moved to Japan and immediately promised to make Nissan profitable in one year, 2001, or he would resign. He accomplished his goal and then some, using western business techniques that had never been tried before in that tradition–bound country. The book, written in narrative style by a journalist, will have Ghosn's complete cooperation. Readers will learn how he went about remaking Nissan, cutting costs, closing plants, breaking up the Keiretsu relationships, pushing for innovative new automobile designs –– all the while defying the business and cultural taboos that permeate business in Japan. In the process, he has become a celebrity (he is hero of a series of admiring comic books) and a champion in global business circles.

Editorial Reviews

The facts of Magee's account are quite startling. Nissan, once a darling of the automotive world, with its cheap Datsun pickups and stylish, spunky Z roadsters, had, by the 1990s, fallen on hard times. Saddled with billions in debt, the company merged with Renault in 1999, and a Renault v-p, Carlos Ghosn, was named Nissan's new CEO. Routing not only every naysayer in the auto industry, Ghosn, who was born to Lebanese parents in Brazil, also had to overcome an entrenched Japanese business culture that at that time had seemed to stress perks, seniority and relationships over the bottom line. Given complete control over the company, Ghosn slashed costs and laid off employees, as was expected, but also instituted a sweeping reorganization of the entire company, announced an ambitious slate of new vehicles and promised that if Nissan was not profitable in 2000, he and his entire managerial staff would quit. Journalist Magee lays out Ghosn's management style, his mantra of complete transparency and responsibility, and all the tiny victories that went into returning Nissan to the top ranks of automakers. His approach can be hagiographic, but this profile of an astoundingly effective CEO (one of the few who might have actually earned his large salary) is sure to inspire. Agent, Elizabeth Frost Knappman. (Jan. 1) Forecast: Like Robert Slater's The Eye of the Storm: How John Chambers Steered Cisco Through an Unexpectedly Quick Recovery (Forecasts, Dec. 16, 2002), Magee's book seeks to highlight a winning CEO. Business readers might gravitate to these books, as they champion the dying breed of high-profile CEOs who are making progress in this depressed economy. Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.