????

????馬克?菲爾茨一直是公認的艾倫?穆拉利接班人?；蛟S，用不了多久，他就將接替穆拉利，擔任福特汽車公司（Ford Motor Company）的首席執行官。

????據彭博新聞社（Bloomberg News）昨天報道，68歲的穆拉利將在今年年底之前退休，由在福特工作25年的老將、53歲的菲爾茨接任。福特沒有發表任何官方消息。作為全球第二大汽車制造商，福特或許會非常謹慎地處理這件事，因為早在幾十年前，這家公司曾經有過一段高管繼任混亂的尷尬歷史。

????菲爾茨18個月前得到提拔，開始擔任目前的首席運營官職務，或多或少鞏固了他作為穆拉利接班人的地位。而之所以讓他擔任首席運營官但未明確他將接任CEO，或許是為了檢驗一下他在公司第二把交椅上的表現如何，再考慮讓他更上一層樓。此外，去年有傳聞稱穆拉利可能接替史蒂夫?鮑爾默擔任微軟（Microsoft）CEO，讓事情變得撲朔迷離。但穆拉利最終并未前往微軟。

????2006年，穆拉利從波音（Boeing）跳槽到福特汽車，當時的福特正處于關鍵時期。由于資產負債表表現不佳，福特在2006年年初便開始大規模貸款用于新產品項目，將公司的資產打包抵押，包括公司的品牌。兩年后，全球金融危機爆發，如果福特沒有提前獲得貸款，最終或許只能步通用汽車（General Motors）和克萊斯勒（Chrysler）的后塵，面臨破產的結局。

????原波音高管穆拉利對于福特的主要貢獻在于文化方面，他促使福特及其高管簡化了公司的商業策略，同時還使公司同仁之間和諧相處。積極樂觀的穆拉利為以殘忍的內部政治和紛亂的高管競爭著稱的福特帶來了新氣象。

????曾經帶領福特野馬（Mustang）獲得巨大成功的李?艾柯卡在1978年被亨利?福特二世免去了福特汽車總裁的職位。2001年，杰克?納賽爾因為與福特家族發生沖突，也遭遇了類似的命運。

????4月16日，福特公司執行主席比爾?福特在彭博電視臺上說：“許多優秀的CEO離開之后，留下了一堆爛攤子。艾倫和我討論過這個問題：一位優秀的CEO退位前最后一項決策的重點就是保證順利交接?！?/p>

????福特發言人蘇珊?克魯賽爾提供了下列事先準備的聲明：“我們不對任何猜測發表意見。我們對于繼任計劃非常認真，我們每一個主要領導崗位都有相應的接任計劃。出于競爭原因，我們不會公開討論公司的繼任計劃。我們之前的聲明沒有變化。如果有任何變化，我們會通知大家?！?/p>

????如果菲爾茨出任CEO，他將面臨非常嚴峻的挑戰：首先，福特汽車缺少一款真正意義上的豪華車，它旗下的林肯汽車公司（Lincoln Motor Car Company）依然處在振興的初期；其次，福特的歐洲業務長期無法實現盈利，拖累了公司的整體收入；第三，福特在自己最賺錢的市場，也就是美國市場，基本完全依賴大型皮卡汽車，需要提高乘用車的盈利能力。

????對于任何一位CEO來說，這都是異常艱巨的任務。（財富中文網）

????譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

????Mark Fields, who has been the heir apparent to Alan Mulally, may soon be designated Mulally's successor as chief executive officer of the Ford Motor Company.

????Bloomberg News reported yesterday that Mulally, 68, will retire before the end of the year and that Fields, 53, a 25-year Ford veteran will succeed him. Ford (F), officially, was tight-lipped. The No. 2 automaker may be proceeding cautiously due to its inglorious history of high-level management succession pratfalls, going back decades.

????Fields was elevated to his present position about 18 months ago, which more or less entrenched him as Mulally's successor. Keeping him in the job without acknowledging his path to CEO may have been a way to see how well he did with the No. 2 post before promoting him. Meanwhile, Mulally confused the issue a bit by putting himself in play last year to succeed Steve Ballmer at CEO of Microsoft (MSFT), a post he didn't get.

????Mulally's arrival at Ford Motor in 2006 from Boeing came at a critical moment for the automaker. Burdened by a weak balance sheet, Ford earlier in the year had begun securing massive loans to pursue new product programs, collateralizing the borrowings with the company's assets, including its brand. Two years later, during the global financial crisis, Ford could have faced bankruptcy like General Motors (GM) and Chrysler did, had it failed to secure early financing.

????The former Boeing executive's main contribution to Ford was cultural, forcing the automaker and its top executives to simplify the company's business strategy and to work in harmony with one another. A relentlessly positive figure, Mulally represented a breath of fresh air at a place known for its vicious internal politics and tumultuous executive rivalries.

????Lee Iacocca, who steered the Mustang to overwhelming market success, was booted from the presidency of Ford Motor by Henry Ford II in 1978. Jac Nasser ran afoul of the Ford family in 2001 and suffered a similar fate.

????Bill Ford, Ford's executive chairman, appearing on Bloomberg television on April 16, said "a lot of great CEOs leave, and then there's chaos behind them. Alan and I have talked about that -- the importance of the final act of a great CEO is having a great transition."

????Susan Krusel, a Ford spokesperson, offered the following prepared statement: "We do not comment on speculation. We take succession planning very seriously, and we have succession plans in place for each of our key leadership positions. For competitive reasons, we do not discuss our succession plans externally. There is no change from our previous announcements. If something were to change, we would let everyone know."

????Fields will face some formidable challenges as CEO: First, Ford Motor lacks a serious luxury franchise, its Lincoln Motor Car Company still in the early stages of renovation. Second, the automaker's operations in Europe have been chronically unprofitable and are a drag on earnings. Third, the automaker's most profitable market, the U.S., is wholly reliant on its large pickups and, thus, needs to improve profitability of passenger cars.