????而在底特律的文藝復興中心總部，通用的高層們也許自我感覺良好。通用討厭的“政府汽車”標簽將在一年后隨著美國財政部（U.S. Treasury）出售最后的通用股份而剝落。此外，政府所有制的終結意味著通用可以開出更高的工資追逐汽車業界的頂尖人才，他們的高管也能夠因此終止與商務航班的飛行常客項目。通用在開始投資過去以及未來的問題上也感到足夠樂觀。同時，通用宣布在鳳凰城附近成立第四個美國信息技術中心，還將雇傭1,000名員工。通用還稱，已同意買下擁有133年歷史的杜蘭特?多特運輸公司工廠（Durant-Dort Carriage Co.），用來展示公司的歷史。這個工廠位于弗林特，是通用公司的發源地。

????那么還有什么要擔心的問題嗎？下面是目前困擾通用管理層的三大問題：

????1、我們公司的競爭優勢是什么？通用公司是一個大公司，但是福特和大眾（Volkswagen）更善于利用它們巨大的規模和平臺來高效運作。通用的汽車做工精良，但是質量和可靠性的名聲遠小于豐田（Toyota）和本田（Honda）。而當顧客考慮到安全性、技術性或燃油經濟性時，也無法將通用列為自己的第一選擇。

????2、我們做得最好的領域是什么？也許只有如大型跨界車（雪佛蘭Traverse、GMC Acadia、別克Enclave）和全尺寸越野車（雪佛蘭Suburban、GMC Yukon、凱迪拉克Escalade）這類利基產品。凱迪拉克是奢侈客車市場的后起之秀，但仍難望德國車之項背。福特依然是小貨車的王者，除非有人能證明山外有山。在其他方面，通用汽車也都處于落后地位。

????3、主席和首席執行官丹?阿克森之后，我們應該選誰當繼任者？現年64歲的阿克森已經表示計劃在三年內離職，但是通用的破產和裁員讓能夠接替他的整整一代高管流失。這導致領袖的競爭人選相對年輕：51歲的副主席史蒂夫?葛思基，51歲的產品開發主管瑪麗?巴拉，49歲的北美區總裁馬克?羅伊斯和41歲的首席財務官丹?阿曼。如果其中任何一人當選首席執行官，通用的董事會可能都會再找一位非執行主席來協助工作。不過，正如前主席和首席執行官愛德華?惠特克所說，目前的通用高層都不大情愿成為繼任者。

????任何汽車公司的命運都與它們所依托的經濟形勢休戚相關，通用自然不例外。形勢很好或者較好時，汽車公司就能健康地盈利；而到了困難時期，汽車公司也會困難重重。綜合美國經濟的基礎，汽車廠商的歷史和通用新產品替換的節奏來看，通用在美國將會延續良好的表現。對于它能力的真正考驗在下次經濟衰退時才會到來。在歐洲，通用正著手進行長期的努力，而它的計劃能否最終讓公司重新回到盈利的水平，一切在2016年之前尚不明了。在中國，只要通用能繼續緊跟競爭者的步伐，就應該能夠繼續笑傲市場，除非遭遇自然或政治災難。

????羅杰?史密斯于1981至1990年擔任通用的主席和首席執行官。他常常說，他的業績既不像他的朋友們認為的那樣好，也不像敵人們控訴的那樣壞。如今的通用正是如此。（財富中文網）

????譯者：嚴匡正

????Down at Renaissance Center headquarters in Detroit, GM's brass should be feeling pretty good about itself. The "Government Motors" tag that GM hated should become obsolete a year from now when the U.S. Treasury sells the last of its GM shares. Among other things, the end of government ownership means GM can start competing for top automotive talent with higher pay packages and allow its executives to discontinue their frequent flier programs on commercial airliners and fly corporate again. GM also feels optimistic enough to start investing in its past as well as its future. At the same time that it announced a fourth U.S. information technology center near Phoenix that will employ 1,000 people, it said it has agreed to buy the 133-year-old Durant-Dort Carriage Co. factory in Flint where it was born, as a showcase for its corporate history.

????So what's to worry? Here are three big questions that ought to be weighing on GM management right now:

????1. What is our corporate competitive advantage? GM is a huge company, but both Fordand Volkswagen make better use of their enormous scale with platform efficiencies. GM builds well-made vehicles, but its reputation for quality and reliability can't touch Toyota's(TM) or Honda's (HMC). Nor, when customers go looking for the leader in safety, technology, or fuel economy, do they make a GM dealer their first stop.

????2. Where are we the world's best? Probably only in niche categories like large crossovers (Chevy Traverse, GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave) and full-size SUVs (Chevy Suburban, GMC Yukon, Cadillac Escalade). Cadillac is a rising star in the luxury passenger car segment but still can't touch the Germans, and Ford remains the pickup truck leader until proven otherwise. Everywhere else, GM is an also-ran.

????3. Who are we going to pick to succeed chairman and CEO Dan Akerson? Akerson, 64, has signaled that he plans to leave within three years, but GM's bankruptcy and downsizing wiped out a whole generation of executives who might logically have followed him. As a result, the leading inside contenders are relative youngsters: vice-chairman Steve Girsky, 51, product development chief Mary Barra, also 51, North American boss Mark Reuss, 49, and CFO Dan Ammann, 41. If any one of them is named CEO, the GM board would likely want to find a non-executive chairman to work in tandem with them, but as former chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre has noted, the current cast of GM directors has been reluctant volunteers when asked to step up.

????The fate of any auto company has always been tied to the direction of the economies in which they operate, and GM is no different. When times are flush, or relatively so, they become healthily profitable; when times are hard, automakers suffer too. The fundamentals of the American economy, the age of the automotive fleet, and GM's new product replacement cadence suggest that it should continue to do well in the U.S. The true test of its abilities won't come until the next downturn. In Europe, GM is buckling down for the long term, and the success of its plan to get back to profitability won't be clear until 2016. China should continue to be a winner, barring natural or political disaster, as long as GM can continue to keep pace with its competitors.

????Roger Smith, GM's Chairman and CEO from 1981 to 1990, liked to say that he was doing neither as well as his friends suggested, or as poorly as his enemies charged. The same is true of GM today.