????2011年的最終統計結果顯示，汽車制造商日本豐田汽車公司（Toyota Motor）已經從世界排名首位下滑至第三位，產量居通用汽車（General Motors）和大眾汽車（Volkswagen）之后。這一結果并不出人意料。過去三年間，豐田公司遭遇了一系列天災人禍，甚至使豐田舉世聞名的偏執主義傾向似乎也帶上了樂觀主義的積極色彩。公司遭遇的最近一次打擊源自日元升值，堅挺的日元讓豐田所有本土產品成本上升，進而從根本上對公司利潤率造成了沖擊。《汽車新聞》（Automotive News）雜志11月刊預測豐田即將面臨更多的“不幸”，比如“銷售額下滑，泰國洪災影響持續存在，潛在客戶群購買意向出現搖擺”等等。

????豐田遭遇這一切的時候，統領全局的是一位天生注定要登上公司總裁寶座的年輕人，但他在危機管理方面并無多少經驗。他就是豐田公司創始人之孫——豐田章男。過去十年里，豐田公司一直由職業經理人打理。其間，豐田章男不動聲色地沿著企業內部晉升階梯拾級而上。2009年，他臨危受命，出任公司總裁，一上任就必須立刻著手處理全球范圍業務衰退、大規模召回以及嚴重的海嘯危機等難題。汽車產量嚴重跳水，公司最重要的競爭優勢——高品質聲譽也行將喪失。豐田章男在美國國會公開道歉，隨后全美都在YouTube上看到了他落淚致歉的視頻。豐田公司在美國市場的份額也下跌不少。2009年底，豐田的市場份額還高居18.3%，2011年就已經一路跌至12.9%。競爭者借由豐田召回事件這一機會大力唱衰，聲稱一度被汽車業界認為勢不可擋的豐田而今已淪為平庸的配角。

????但我也聽到了不同的聲音。有觀點認為豐田公司極好地應對了海嘯危機，召回事件也對其敲響了警鐘，從而改變了其原先志得意滿的心態。這位新總裁本人極為重視公司產品，在他的大力推動下，公司與客戶的關系得到了良好地重建。

????密歇根大學（the University of Michigan）的杰弗瑞萊克是一位研究豐田公司的頂尖學者，他告訴我：“豐田章男讓公司重新獲得了活力。他承諾要做一位離實際工作前線最近的總裁。”

????豐田章男更頻繁地前往美國，以激勵經銷商，并親自解決雷克薩斯（Lexus）品牌業績低迷的問題。獨立調查結果顯示，豐田在質量和價值方面的聲譽正逐步恢復。2012年，豐田將推出19款新車型和重新設計的車型。數量之大，超乎尋常。新推出的車型顯示，普銳斯（Prius）混合動力車產品線得到了大力擴展，豐田快車似乎已經做好了準備，誓要重拾往昔的發展勢頭。

????When the final tally was made for 2011, Toyota Motor (TM), formerly the world's largest automaker, slipped to third place in production behind General Motors (GM) and Volkswagen. It's not surprising: Toyota has endured a string of calamities over the past three years -- natural and man-made -- that would make even the company's famous paranoia seem like sunny optimism. The latest is endaka, the strong yen that causes everything that Toyota manufactures in Japan to be more expensive and undermines its profitability. A November issue of Automotive News predicted "more misery" for Toyota as "sales slip, floods delay, shoppers stray."

????At the head of the company all this time has been a young president who was effectively born into the job and has little experience in crisis management: Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company's founder. For a decade, while the automaker was being run by professional managers, Akio rose up the corporate ladder without making much of a mark. (For the sake of clarity, we'll use his first name, pronounced a-KEY-o, in this story.) Thrust into the presidency in 2009, he immediately had to cope with a global recession, massive recalls, and a deadly tsunami. Auto production plummeted, and at the same time Toyota lost its most important competitive advantage: its reputation for exceptional quality. Americans saw Akio apologizing before Congress and later tearing up in a YouTube video. U.S. market share tumbled. After reaching 18.3% at the end in 2009, it fell all the way to 12.9% for 2011. Emboldened by the recall crisis, competitors spread word that Toyota, once considered the unstoppable force of the automotive world, had been reduced to the status of also-ran.

????But I had been hearing different things -- that Toyota had coped remarkably well with the tsunami, and that the recall crisis had served as a wake-up call for a company grown complacent. With a big boost from its new president, who took an intensely personal interest in its products, it was connecting with customers again.

????The University of Michigan's Jeffrey Liker, a leading Toyota scholar, told me, "Akio has reenergized the company. He's promised to be the closest president ever to the gemba [where the real work is happening]."

????The Toyoda scion was traveling to the U.S. more frequently to fire up dealers and had taken charge personally of the sagging Lexus brand. Independent studies were beginning to show that Toyota cars were regaining their reputation for quality and value. With 19 new or redesigned models coming in calendar 2012 -- an exceptionally large number -- including a big expansion of the Prius hybrid line, the Toyota steamroller seemed ready to regain its old momentum.