????創始人回歸公司，希望力挽狂瀾，拯救陷入困境的公司，但最終的結果有成功，也有失敗。史蒂夫?喬布斯重返蘋果公司（Apple）取得了毋庸置疑的成功，但楊致遠回歸雅虎（Yahoo）卻遭遇徹頭徹尾的失敗。至于邁克爾?戴爾能否帶領以其名字命名的電腦公司實現復興，現在下結論仍然為時尚早。

????現在，HTC則寄希望于公司聯合創始人、董事長王雪紅能夠拯救這家深陷困局的臺灣智能手機制造商。去年，面對不安的投資者施加的壓力，55歲的王雪紅重新開始參與公司的日常運營。她尚未正式擔任新的職務——她堅稱，自己只是為現任CEO周永明提供支持。但她正在積極參與市場營銷，與銷售HTC設備的電話公司搞好關系，最重要的是，幫助提升員工的士氣。經營虧損和大批公司高層出走，一度令員工士氣深受打擊。

????在1997年參與創立的HTC公司，王雪紅更喜歡隱居幕后，這一點并不意外。雖然自己是億萬富翁（凈值預計為：16億美元），而且是石油化工業巨頭臺塑集團（Formosa Plastics Group）創始人、臺灣商界巨擎王永慶的女兒，但王雪紅卻一直為人低調，生活樸素。她經常乘坐價格低廉的美國西南航空公司（Southwest Airlines）的航班，喜歡穿一套簡潔的藍色套裝。但她有著深厚的技術背景：早在HTC之前，她便成立了芯片組制造商威盛科技（Via Technologies）。她告訴《財富》雜志（Fortune）：“我之所以創立HTC，是因為很久以前的一個愿望。我很想生產掌上電腦。”事實上，HTC三個字母的含義便是“高科技計算機”。

????HTC要想止住頹勢，觸底反彈，或許正需要王雪紅身上的謙卑和技術實力。最初，作為惠普（Hewlett-Packard，世界500強第50位）等世界500強公司（Global 500）的批發手機制造商，HTC橫空出世，后來開始銷售以公司名稱命名的手機。2008年，HTC贏得重大勝利。當年，谷歌（Google，世界500強第162位）選擇HTC作為合作伙伴，HTC手機成為第一款運行安卓（Android）操作系統的手機。

????之后的一段時間，HTC的發展一帆風順。受到之前成功的鼓舞，公司管理層開始將重點轉移到高端設備，以期與蘋果的iPhone和三星（Samsung）的Galaxy系列競爭。2010年，這家公司的收入達到了96億美元。但從2011年圣誕節開始，這家公司出現了一系列執行錯誤。管理層無法達到銷售預期，即便廣受好評的新智能手機HTC One X也未能扭轉局面。供應問題和缺乏營銷重心導致公司深受困擾。2013年，HTC聯合社交媒體巨頭Facebook發布了一款手機，其中搭載了“Facebook Home”界面，結果卻以失敗告終。這款手機的獨家運營商美國電話電報公司（AT&T）很快便開始將這款手機降價處理。而在HTC一路跌跌撞撞的同時，蘋果和三星卻鞏固了在移動市場食物鏈頂端的位置。曾經最暢銷的安卓手機制造商HTC最終被擠出了全球十大智能手機制造商行列。王雪紅說：“最初，競爭沒有這么激烈。我們當時認為市場營銷沒有那么重要——我們的觀念是，產品比市場營銷更重要。我們不知道如何與消費者進行溝通。”

????目前，王雪紅的回歸尚未改善HTC的財務業績。這家公司2013年的收入減少了30%，僅有68.5億美元，損失了4,460萬美元。最近一個季度的收入同比下滑了23%。而與蘋果、三星和越來越多價格更低廉的中國制造商的競爭將會愈演愈烈。

????但公司員工表示，王雪紅的回歸已經開始產生影響。她在全球四處奔波，會見員工，拜訪主要供應商與客戶，包括世界上客戶數量最多的手機運營商中國移動（China Mobile）的董事長。HTC北美區業務總裁賈森?麥肯齊說：“她的回歸讓整個公司備受鼓舞，因為我們有這樣一位智能手機業的低調偶像。”

????Founders who go back to save their company from the brink of extinction have a mixed record. The second coming of Apple’s Steve Jobs was an unequivocal success, while Jerry Yang’s return to Yahoo was an unequivocal failure. And the jury is still out on Michael Dell’s efforts to revive his namesake computer maker.

????Now HTC, a struggling Taiwan-based smartphone maker, is pinning its hopes of redemption on co-founder and chairwoman Cher Wang. Last year under pressure from agitated investors, Wang, 55, resumed day-to-day involvement. She hasn’t officially assumed a new title—she insists she’s merely there to support current CEO Peter Chou—but she’s actively working on marketing, building relationships with telephone companies that carry HTC devices, and, crucially, helping lift morale among employees, who have been battered by the handset maker’s loss of ?business and an exodus of senior executives.

????It is no surprise that Wang (rhymes with “gong”) prefers a more behind-the-scenes role at HTC, which she co-founded in 1997. Despite her wealth (estimated net worth: $1.6 billion) and the fact that she’s the daughter of Taiwanese tycoon Wang Yung-Ching, founder of petrochemicals conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group, Wang maintains a low profile and eschews many of the trappings of wealth. She’s been known to fly on discount carrier Southwest Airlines and favors a uniform of simple black suits. But she has serious technology chops: She founded chipset maker Via Technologies before HTC. “I started HTC because of the vision I had a long time ago,” Wang tellsFortune. “I really wanted to do handheld computers.” Indeed, HTC stands for “high-tech computer.”

????Wang’s combination of humility and tech prowess may be exactly what HTC needs to rebound from its ignominious fall. After bursting on to the scene as a wholesale phone maker for Global 500 companies such as Hewlett-Packard (No. 50 on the Global 500), HTC shifted to marketing phones under its own name. The company scored a big win in 2008 when Google (No. 162) selected HTC to partner with it on the first phone to run on its Android operating system.

????For a time HTC was on a roll. Emboldened by its success, management began to focus on high-end devices that would compete with Apple’s AAPL 0.59% iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy line. Revenue in 2010 climbed to $9.6 billion. But by Christmas 2011 the company had started to make execution errors. Management missed sales projections, and a critically admired new smartphone, the HTC One X, failed to reverse the decline. Supply issues plagued the company, as did a lack of marketing focus. Even a phone launched with Facebook FB -0.24% in 2013, which featured the social networking giant’s “Facebook Home” interface, flopped and was quickly discounted by its exclusive carrier, AT&T T 0.48% . As HTC fumbled, Apple and Samsung solidified their positions at the top of the mobile food chain. HTC, once the top seller of Android-powered phones, eventually slipped from the list of the world’s top 10 smartphone makers. “In the beginning, the competition was not as severe,” says Wang. “We didn’t think marketing was as important—we thought the product was more important than marketing. And we didn’t know how to communicate with the customer.”

????Wang’s return has yet to improve HTC’s financial performance. Revenue in 2013 fell 30% to $6.85 billion, and the company lost $44.6 million. Revenue for the recent quarter slipped 23% from the year before. And competing with Apple, Samsung, and a growing number of cheaper Chinese manufacturers, isn’t likely to get any easier.

????Employees say Wang’s presence has already started to make a difference. She’s traversed the globe, meeting with employees and key suppliers and customers—including the chairman of China Mobile, the largest cellphone operator in the world by customers. “It’s been inspiring for the organization because you have somebody who’s really kind of an understated icon in the smartphone world,” says Jason Mackenzie, president of HTC’s North America operations.