福特如何在113年的成功之后繼續創新？
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盡管一般都匱乏資金，但初創型公司可以非常自由地拿自己的想法和產品做試驗，還可以在這樣的試驗失敗后轉向新的領域。與之相對，大型成熟公司的高管或許有大量資金可用，但缺乏獨立性，或者說難以下決心調整本公司利潤豐厚的業務模式。 福特汽車在2016年的國際消費電子產品展上證明，盡管已有113年歷史，但該公司依然可以開展試驗并取得進步。福特在拉斯維加斯舉辦的本次展會宣布，將把參與自動駕駛測試的汽車數量提高到原來的三倍；并攜手亞馬遜以及家庭自動化產品制造商Wink共同開發相關技術，以便消費者在自動駕駛汽車里操縱家里的電器；還將把Apple CarPlay、Android Auto和4G LTE以及幾款新的AppLink應用添加到福特汽車的車內資訊娛樂平臺上。 在2015年的國際消費電子產品展上，福特宣布將制造具備更多聯網功能的汽車，測試車輛共享等其他類型的客運方式，并對車內傳感器收集的信息進行大數據分析，以便更多地了解人們在車內的行為。以上的措施都和上一年的這些計劃有關。 在本屆國際消費電子產品展上，福特首席執行官馬克?菲爾茲是《財富》雜志科技頭腦風暴晚宴嘉賓。在接受科技頭腦風暴大會主席亞當?拉什斯基采訪時，菲爾茲介紹了福特立足今天、探索明天的策略。 《財富》雜志編輯艾倫?莫里在晚宴后指出，雖然市場似乎看好沒有歷史負擔的新生力量，但未來很可能屬于那些知道如何擁抱明天，又能把昨天最好的東西保留下來的公司。菲爾茲說，這正是福特目前的努力方向。 具體做法如下。 不要用同樣的標準來評估你的核心業務和新思路。 菲爾茲說：“我們的核心業務一直都非常公開化，我們也一直在確保自己有一套充滿活力而且強大的管理流程。每到星期四，我們就會作為一個管理團隊坐下來，探討我們的核心業務?！?/p> 這個團隊首先會考察經營環境，看看市場動向，消費者以及最暢銷的福特150皮卡等新推出產品的的情況。簡而言之，他們要確保福特的賺錢機器運轉良好。 福特還會評估車輛共享等出行試驗，但采用的是另一套標準。 “我們得認識到，如果采用評估皮卡和轎車業務大規模資本支出的標準，這些項目很快就會消亡，因為這是在做試驗，是一個學習的過程?！?/p> 給員工動力 菲爾茲說，福特已經多次對自身進行再投資。這項工作需要挑戰習慣并質疑傳統。最重要的是，允許員工就此提出問題。 他指出：“我們認為，高管團隊的作用不是教員工如何創新。他們最不需要的就是花半天時間，脫離工作崗位來看一個1000頁的“怎樣創新”PPT。我們的員工知道怎么去創新。作為高管團隊，我們必須允許他們這樣做，而且無論成敗，我們都得慶祝一番，因為我們將從中汲取經驗和教訓?！?/p> 策略不是扔紙團 對于福特的出行方案，菲爾茲說：“這是一項策略，而不是扔出一個紙團，然后看看它會落在哪里?！?/p> 尊重新生力量 谷歌正在開發自動駕駛汽車。特斯拉汽車制造的純電動汽車擁有一批“信眾”。包括菲爾茲在內，大家都認為蘋果公司將生產汽車。如果是這樣，蘋果的汽車一定會有很棒的用戶界面和聯網功能。 菲爾茲說自己不會對此感到擔心，這些情況只會促使福特更快地進行創新。 他表示：“我們尊重所有的競爭對手，無論是知名企業還是這個領域中的新生力量。我們的觀點是，我們總是能從別人那里學到些東西，然后將其用于我們自己的業務?！?/p> 一定要為新的思路投入資金 去年福特的資本支出預算為65億美元，其中大部分都用于核心業務。雖然菲爾茲沒有透露其中有多少投入了福特的新出行項目，但從他的話里可以聽出來，這筆資金并不是很多。不過，要點在于這是專門用于試驗的資金，或者為此劃撥的?？?。 菲爾茲說：“我們需要非常清楚地表明，我們會撥出這樣一筆錢，并且專門把它用于這些領域，原因是我們認為這里存在著機遇?！保ㄘ敻恢形木W） 譯者：Charlie 校對：詹妮 |
Startup companies, while typically cash poor, have a lot of freedom to experiment with ideas and products, and pivot into new areas if those fail. Meanwhile, execs at large mature companies might have large pools of capital to play with, but lack the independence, or mental fortitude, to tinker with their lucrative business models. Ford Motor Co. demonstrated at CES this year that even at 113 years of age the business can still try to experiment and evolve. During the massive consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, Ford announced plans to triple its test fleet of autonomous vehicles, a partnership with Amazon and home-automation company Wink to develop technologies that would let consumers operate their home from the car, and the addition of Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, 4G LTE, and several new AppLink apps to its in-car infotainment platform. All of these efforts are connected to an initiative introduced a year ago at CES that involves building cars with additional Internet connectivity, experimenting with the different forms of transportation such as car-sharing, and using big data analytics on information from in-vehicle sensors to learn more about how people travel. CEO Mark Fields was Fortune’s guest at our Brainstorm Tech dinner at CES. In an interview with Brainstorm Tech chair Adam Lashinsky, Fields laid out the company’s strategy of keeping one foot planted in today and the other in tomorrow. Fortune editor Alan Murray noted after the dinner that while the markets seem to favor new entrants unburdened by the past, the future likely belongs to those who can somehow figure out how to embrace the new while preserving the best of the old. Fields argues that’s what Ford is doing. Here’s how. Don’t use the same litmus test to evaluate your core business and new ideas. “We’re being very overt around our core business and making sure we have a very robust and strong management process,” Fields said. “Every Thursday, we’re sitting around as a management team reviewing that business.” The team begins by examining the business environment, looking at what’s going on with the markets, customers, and its product launches like their top-selling F-150 truck. In short, make sure that money-making machine is working really well. Ford also evaluates its mobility experiments like car-sharing, but with a different set of standards. “Let’s face it, if we look at (these experiments) through the same lens as we evaluate some of our big capital expenditures on trucks and cars, they’d die a quick death because you’re experimenting, you’re trying to learn.” Empower your employees Ford has reinvented itself many times, Fields said. That process requires challenging custom and questioning tradition, and most importantly, allowing your employees to ask those questions, he said. “Our role as a senior team, in our view, is not to teach our people how to innovate,” Fields said. “The last thing they need is a half day off-site looking at 1,000 powerpoint slides on how to innovate; our people know how to do it. We as a senior team have to allow them to do it and to celebrate the successes and failures because we’ll learn from it.” Strategy not spitballing “This is a strategy,” Fields said about Ford’s mobility plan. “It’s not about throwing stuff out there and seeing what sticks.” Respect the newcomers Google is developing self-driving cars, Tesla Motors is making an all-electric car with a cult-like following, and everyone including Fields expects Apple to make a car of some kind. When Apple does, it will have a great user interface and connectivity. Fields said it doesn’t worry him; it just motivates the company to innovate even faster. “We respect every competitor—established and newcomers to the space,” he said. “Our view is we can always learn something from everyone and apply that to our own business.” Commit to investing in the new ideas The bulk of Ford’s $6.5 billion capital expenditure budget last year went to its core business. And while he wouldn’t reveal what percentage goes towards its new mobility projects, Fields didn’t give the impression that it was a significant amount of money. Still, what matters is that funds are specifically designated or set aside to fund experiments. “We need to be very overt that we’re going to take this amount of cap ex and dedicate it to these areas because we think there’s opportunity there,” he said. |
