New York Times
“Magee has a powerful tale to tell.”
Harvard Business Review
“Magee offers a provocative case study”
Wall Street Journal
“Nissan’s resurgence merits study; there are few to match it.”
Miami Herald
“interesting and instructive”
Boston Globe
“Offers a cogent, behind-the-scenes look at Ghosn, the unlikely leader of a new generation of global business managers.”
Publishers Weekly
The facts of Magee's account are quite startling. Nissan, once a darling of the automotive world, with its cheap Datsun pickups and stylish, spunky Z roadsters, had, by the 1990s, fallen on hard times. Saddled with billions in debt, the company merged with Renault in 1999, and a Renault v-p, Carlos Ghosn, was named Nissan's new CEO. Routing not only every naysayer in the auto industry, Ghosn, who was born to Lebanese parents in Brazil, also had to overcome an entrenched Japanese business culture that at that time had seemed to stress perks, seniority and relationships over the bottom line. Given complete control over the company, Ghosn slashed costs and laid off employees, as was expected, but also instituted a sweeping reorganization of the entire company, announced an ambitious slate of new vehicles and promised that if Nissan was not profitable in 2000, he and his entire managerial staff would quit. Journalist Magee lays out Ghosn's management style, his mantra of complete transparency and responsibility, and all the tiny victories that went into returning Nissan to the top ranks of automakers. His approach can be hagiographic, but this profile of an astoundingly effective CEO (one of the few who might have actually earned his large salary) is sure to inspire. Agent, Elizabeth Frost Knappman. (Jan. 1) Forecast: Like Robert Slater's The Eye of the Storm: How John Chambers Steered Cisco Through an Unexpectedly Quick Recovery (Forecasts, Dec. 16, 2002), Magee's book seeks to highlight a winning CEO. Business readers might gravitate to these books, as they champion the dying breed of high-profile CEOs who are making progress in this depressed economy. Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Magee, a freelance newspaper writer who lives in Oxford, MS, examines Nissan's remarkable turnaround, credited to its leader, the pragmatic, charismatic Ghosn. The son of Brazilian and Lebanese parents, Ghosn was educated as an engineer in France and quickly climbed through the executive ranks at Renault. When Renault took over Nissan in the 1990s, keeping its operations and brand separate, Ghosn was sent to Japan with the task of remaking the company and quickly proved his daring and talent for getting things done. He listened to employees at all levels of the company, breaking cultural barriers and bringing people together regardless of their business philosophies and traditions to focus on what would make the company successful. He also fought traditional Japanese business relationships, which had stifled profitability; closed some plants and opened others; redesigned automobiles; and cut costs wherever possible. He thereby turned the company around from near bankruptcy. Magee's very readable account focuses on Ghosn's strategies, making this a fine case study for the business student and academic. Car buffs may enjoy this, too. A good choice for public and academic libraries.-Steven J. Mayover, formerly with Free Lib. of Philadelphia Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
