Carlos Ghosn is one of the most talented top managers of our time. Despite the fact that he was able to revive the Nissan Corporation and establish himself as a brilliant manager and "cost killer", his career ended very sadly.
early years
Carlos Ghosn was born on March 9, 1954 in Porto Velho, Brazil. A few years later, the family moved to Beirut, Lebanon, where the boy graduated from Notre-Dame de Jamhour College. After school, Carlos entered the Polytechnic University, where he received a higher education, and then a degree. Immediately after graduation, Ghosn got a prestigious job at the French company Michelin & Cie, the largest supplier of auto parts and components. Carlos worked there for 18 years, gaining invaluable experience and reaching unprecedented career heights. So, at the age of 30, Ghosn was appointed chief operating officer of the South American branch of Michelin. To do this, he personally went to Rio de Janeiro, where during the work he was directly subordinate to François Michelin himself. Ghosn was faced with the task of bringing the unprofitable branch out of the crisis. The businessman's exceptional tactics and the right decisions helped to achieve this goal: in less than two years, the branch turned out to be profitable.
In 1990, Carlos Ghosn was appointed CEO of Michelin North America, which was owned by the Renault holding. He oversaw engineering, development, research, and operations for the company in North America.
Career rise and revival of Nissan
In 1999, Ghosn acquired a 36.8% stake in Nissan and soon joined the company as CEO, becoming president in 2000. However, he retained his position at Renault. At the time, Nissan had $ 20 billion in debt and only a few of the brand's vast lineup were profitable. Reversing Nissan's future was nearly impossible, and Ghosn promised to leave the company if he couldn't do anything about the situation anytime soon.
In that era, many accused Carlos Ghosn of rather radical management methods. The decisions of the top manager were actually "shock therapy". Ghosn cut costs wherever possible. The bloated bureaucratic state was almost completely abolished. 5 factories were closed. In total, more than 20 thousand people lost their jobs, which was a real shock for Japan, which is famous for the stability of jobs. Thanks to such measures, Nissan's financial performance has shown astonishing results, replacing losses of 6 billion dollars with profit of 2.7 billion dollars. Moreover, Ghosn's three-year anti-crisis plan was implemented in just one year. He spearheaded key fundamental changes at Nissan that quickly turned it into a thriving business.
First of all, ultra-modern and practical crossovers were introduced into the lineup, combining maximum functionality and adequate cost. At the same time, everyone around kept repeating that nothing would come of this venture. For example, the Nissan Qashqai was criticized by marketers, focus groups, and the press, but this model still breaks records of popularity and sales among peers. It is believed that it was Ghosn who was the founder of the entire class of modern crossovers, which combined all the best from SUVs and hatchbacks.
Since 2005, Carlos Ghosn took part in a large-scale international project, which resulted in the creation of the largest financial and technical alliance Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi to date, and in 2017 he became the absolute leader in terms of sales in the world.
One of Ghosn's ideas was to conquer emerging markets by releasing budget and practical car models. As part of this strategy, in 2007 he initiated the acquisition of a 75% stake in AvtoVAZ. From 2013 to 2016, Carlos Ghosn served as chairman of the board of directors of the Russian concern. According to experts, it is thanks to this businessman that AvtoVAZ continues to stay afloat, and in 2018 it even showed a net profit.
Achievements of Carlos Ghosn
According to Forbes magazine, Ghosn is "the hardest working man in a fiercely competitive global business." The greatest top executive of our time is famous for many other achievements that have nothing to do with the automotive industry.
- He is fluent in Portuguese, English, French and Arabic.
- He invested in Ixsir, an environmentally friendly vineyard.
- Some also consider him a worthy candidate for the Lebanese presidency.
- He starred in the documentary Revenge of the Electric Car (2011).
- The story of his life was told in the form of a comic book entitled "The True Story of Carlos Ghosn", which had considerable success in Japan.
- Ghosn also wrote The Shift: Inside Nissan's Historic Renaissance, which is a bestseller.
Carlos Ghosn's work is often the subject of university theses and business essays. He has received several awards such as:
- Most Distinguished CEOs from Quarterly Magazine (2010);
- "Asia Business Leader of the Year" by CNBC (2011).
Additionally, Ghosn was added to the Japan Automobile Hall of Fame in 2010.
End of career
Alas, Carlos Ghosn's brilliant career was not destined to last long, as his activities began to take on too large-scale turns. There is an opinion that the Japanese began to worry about their auto industry, they say, control over this industry was gradually transferred to the Europeans.
At the highest level, it was decided to appoint the native Japanese Hiroto Saikawa to the post of CEO of Nissan. At the same time, Ghosn himself remained in the position of chairman of the board of directors of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, but this did not last long. The internal security service began to actively "dig" under Carlos. Facts that were sufficient for a criminal case were revealed - incomplete payment of taxes, unauthorized use of company assets for personal purposes. In other conditions, one could “close our eyes” to such oversights, but in this situation Carlos Ghosn was simply forced to appear at the prosecutor’s office with a confession about violation of the financial legislation of Japan. In November 2018, he was arrested and his entire team fired.
