松下新总裁也要"炮打司令部"?

It is not often the plans of a Japanese company president remind you of the slogans of Chinese dictator Mao Zedong.

日本企业总裁的计划很少会让人联想到中国独裁者毛泽东的口号。

But two of the most important strategies of Kazuhiro Tsuga – newly charged with turning round Panasonic– are uncannily reminiscent of slogans coined by the late Communist party chairman.
但松下(Panasonic)新任总裁、担负扭亏重任的津贺一宏(Kazuhiro Tsuga)的两个最重要战略，却奇怪地让人想起这位已故中共领导人创造的口号。

First, there is "Bombard the Headquarters" – the words with which Mao in 1966 declared war on a party core he saw as an obstacle to leftist revolution.
第一个是"炮打司令部"。1966年，毛泽东借着这样的口号，对党内一些他认为阻碍左翼革命的核心成员公开宣战。

The personable Mr Tsuga is not about to unleash a horde of fanatical Red Guards against Panasonic's HQ in the western city of Osaka – but nor is he pulling punches. He readily seconds the view of a former president of the electronics group who accuses HQ staff of ignorance of the "importance of added value" and of being "preoccupied with internal negotiations". He also plans radically to restructure and to recategorise, with most HQ functions being distributed to business units or simply removed.
风度翩翩的津贺一宏并不是要发动大群狂热的"红卫兵"，对松下位于日本西部大阪市的总部展开围攻，但他也绝不手下留情。他非常赞成这家电器集团的一位前总裁的观点，后者批评松下总部的人忽视"增值的重要性"，"只顾着内部协商"。他还计划大刀阔斧地进行重组和重新划分职能，把总部的大部分职能或者下放给业务部门，或者干脆取消。

"Currently the headquarters employ about 7,000 people," says Mr Tsuga, who became Panasonic president last month. "We are trying to minimise it to several hundred."
上月履新的津贺一宏说："目前总部大约有7000名员工，我们正在努力将这一数目裁减到几百人。"

Then there is Mao's 1957 instruction to China: "Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend" – a line of classical poetry the Great Helmsman turned into a call for progress by means of freer thinking by intellectuals and scientists.
第二个口号是毛泽东1957年提出的指导方针："百花齐放、百家争鸣"。"伟大的舵手"借用这句经典诗句，要求知识分子和科学工作者解放思想、取得进步。

Mr Tsuga, who has degrees in bioengineering and computer science, is less metaphorical than Mao – and convincingly denies seeing the chairman as an inspiration. But he too hopes to lead a flowering of creative thinking and competitive instincts at Panasonic's nearly 90 business units.
拥有生物工程和计算机科学学位的津贺一宏不像毛泽东那么善于比喻，他也大有理由否认他的灵感来自毛泽东。但他也希望在他的领导下，松下近90个业务部门能够呈现创意思维"齐放"、人才互相"争鸣"的局面。

Under his plan to cultivate "autonomous responsible management", units generating healthy profits will be left largely alone. But those with operating profits of less than 5 per cent will come under the slimline HQ's scrutiny and will be forced to demonstrate how they can recover.
根据他的提倡"自主负责管理"计划，效益好的部门基本上将可以自己做主。而经营利润占比不到5%的部门将接受瘦身后的总部的监督，并须拿出重振计划。

The idea is to re-energise a company Mr Tsuga himself likens to a cluster of small- and medium-sized enterprises. To survive, units must show they can find their own way: "They should compete with each other."
这个想法是为了在集团内部重新激起活力——津贺一宏把松下比喻为由一群中小企业组成的集群。要生存下去，各部门必须证明他们能够找到自己应该走的方向。津贺一宏表示："他们彼此之间应互相竞争。"

Whether these new approaches work matters not only to Panasonic, its 330,000 employees and its shareholders – who have seen the company's shares slide from more than Y2,800 in 2005 to only Y610 yesterday.
这些新举措能否凑效不仅关乎松下、33万名员工及其股东（松下股价已从2005年的2800日元以上跌到了610日元左右）。

Success would also offer desperately needed inspiration for an electronics sector that was Japan's pride – but which is battered by US, South Korean and Chinese rivals.
如果这些举措获得成功，日本电器行业将从中得到急需的鼓舞。电器行业曾经是日本的骄傲，而如今美国、韩国、中国的对手已经让它"遍体鳞伤"。

Further affected by slowing overseas demand, a rising yen and natural disaster, the sector has been awash with red ink.
海外需求疲软、日元升值、自然灾难又带来了进一步的打击，日本电器行业深陷亏损的泥潭。

Panasonic's net loss of Y772bn for the year to March was the biggest in its 94-year history. Sony suffered its own record annual loss of Y457bn. Sharp set a company low by losing Y376bn.
在截至3月的一年中，松下净亏损7720亿日元，为公司创建94年以来的最大亏损。索尼(Sony)也创下了全年亏损4570亿日元的纪录。夏普(Sharp)亏损额最小，为3760亿日元。

Mr Tsuga says Panasonic is already on track for a "V-shaped recovery". And he is surely right to reject its past approach of seeking higher profits from larger sales, particularly of TVs – an increasingly commoditised product area which high-cost Japan used to dominate but in which it now struggles.
津贺一宏表示，松下已经走上了"V字型的复苏"轨道。他抛弃松下过去寻求通过扩大销量提高利润的做法无疑是正确的，松下原来尤其喜欢在电视方面采用这种方法，以高成本著称的日本过去在这个产品领域占据着主导地位，但是现在电视日益商品化，以致日本企业在这个领域不得不苦苦挣扎。

However, some observers doubt Mr Tsuga's confidence that a smaller TV business can be put back in the black.
然而，一些观察家对津贺一宏的自信表示怀疑：电视业务缩减规模后就能恢复盈利吗？

His strategy has other challenges. One is it relies on changing how managers think: making them more profit-conscious; more self-reliant; and more aware of developments outside their silos. Mao could wash brains by means ofmass-struggle sessions, but Mr Tsuga must use gentler tactics. Tinkering with seniority-based pay is one option, but details are scarce. "We need to discuss how we can realise such profit-oriented, performance-based remuneration," he says.
他的战略还面临其他的挑战。其一，战略能否成功，取决于管理人员思维模式的改变：让他们加强盈利意识；更加自力更生；并更深刻地意识到自己所在领域之外的发展。毛泽东可以通过群众批斗大会给人们"洗脑"，但津贺一宏就必须使用更加柔和的策略。拿资历薪酬制度开刀是可取的，但还缺乏具体细节。他说："我们需要探讨如何建立以盈利为导向、基于业绩的薪酬体系。"

To devolve power and to diversify also carry risks, although Mr Tsuga points out that focusing on the wrong things – such as TVs – merely caused bigger losses. Instead of focus, he intends to redefine businesses in reference to the customers they serve, with an overarching emphasis on "green" products.
权力下放和业务多元化也会带来风险，不过津贺一宏指出，目标错误——比如着重于电视产品——只会造成更大的亏损。与集中策略不同，他打算根据所服务的客户对业务进行重新界定，最主要的重点将放在"绿色产品"。

Failure of past Japanese electronics turnround plans means investors ought to be sceptical. Panasonic has recently fallen short of the utopian dreams of founder Konosuke Matsushita, who thought manufactured goods should be as plentiful and cheap as tap water.
鉴于日本电器企业过去的扭亏计划均以失败告终，投资者理应抱着怀疑的态度。松下近来已经偏离了松下幸之助(Konosuke Matsushita)的乌托邦梦想，这位创始人认为，经由制造的商品应该就像自来水一样，充足、便宜。

Yet Mr Tsuga will surely do better than Mao, whose hundred flowers campaign degenerated into a leftist crackdown and whose HQ bombardment deepened the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. Unlike the late chairman, Panasonic's new president is at least trying to go in the right direction.
不过津贺一宏无疑会做得比毛泽东好，后者的"百花齐放"运动最终演化为一场左翼镇压运动，"炮打司令部"也加重了文化大革命的混乱。与毛泽东不同，松下新任总裁至少是在努力朝着正确的方向走。