創始人迴歸 王雪紅能否拯救HTC
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.
創始人迴歸公司，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，但楊致遠迴歸雅虎（Yahoo）卻遭遇徹頭徹尾的失敗。至於邁克爾o戴爾能否帶領以其名字命名的電腦公司實現復興，現在下結論仍然爲時尚早。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.
現在，HTC則寄希望於公司聯合創始人、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，自己只是爲現任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係，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。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.”
在1997年參與創立的HTC公司，王雪紅更喜歡隱居幕後，這一點並不意外。雖然自己是億萬富翁（淨值預計爲：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，但王雪紅卻一直爲人低調，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。但她有着深厚的技術背景：早在HTC之前，她便成立了芯片組製造商威盛科技（Via Technologies）。她告訴《財富》雜誌（Fortune）：“我之所以創立HTC，是因爲很久以前的一個願望。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”。
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.
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，作爲惠普（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，後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作爲合作伙伴，HTC手機成爲第一款運行安卓（Android）操作系統的手機。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.”
之後的一段時間，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年聖誕節開始，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發佈了一款手機，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，競爭沒有這麼激烈。我們當時認爲市場營銷沒有那麼重要——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。”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.
目前，王雪紅的迴歸尚未改善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製造商的競爭將會愈演愈烈。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.
但公司員工表示，王雪紅的迴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o麥肯齊說：“她的迴歸讓整個公司備受鼓舞，因爲我們有這樣一位智能手機業的低調偶像。”Wang comes from a family of accomplished business executives. In addition to her highly successful father, who ran his plastics empire until his death at age 92, her sister Charlene co-founded motherboard maker First International Computer in 1980. Another sibling, Winston, started a China-based semiconductor company. “They are a fascinating family,” says Steve Zelencik, the former chief marketing officer of Advanced Micro Devices. Back when Wang started her career, working for her sister’s company in the 1980s, she was in charge of buying components from AMD AMD -2.30% . “She showed up as just a kid out of college, but she adapted quickly,” says Zelencik, now retired from the tech industry.
王雪紅的家族商業人才輩出。她的父親在92歲去世之前一直運營着自己的塑料帝國。1980年，她的姐姐王雪玲參與創立了電腦主板製造商大衆電腦（First International Computer）。哥哥王文洋在中國大陸創辦了一家半導體公司。超威半導體公司（Advanced Micro Devices，AMD）前首席營銷官史蒂夫o契爾尼克說：“他們是一個非常了不起的家族。”上世紀80年代，職業剛剛起步的王雪紅在姐姐的公司工作，負責從AMD採購組件。目前已從科技行業退休的契爾尼克回憶說：“當時的她就是一個剛剛走出大學校門的孩子，稍微顯得有些青澀，但她很快就適應了自己的角色。”In fact, Wang spent much of her teen years learning how to adapt. At 15, she was sent from Taipei, Taiwan, to Berkeley to attend high school and eventually the University of California at Berkeley. A devout Christian, Wang lived with a Jewish host family, where she was exposed to new foods, customs, and responsibilities. “Wednesdays were my day to cook,” Wang recalls. “I didn’t know how to, so they soon became Chinese restaurant night.”
事實上，王雪紅的少年時代一直都在學會適應。15歲時，她被從臺北送到伯克利讀高中，後來就讀於加州大學伯克利分校（University of California at Berkeley）。身爲一名虔誠的基督徒，王雪紅卻不得不寄宿在一個猶太家庭。她要接觸全新的食物、習俗和責任。王雪紅回憶道：“每週三輪到我做飯。我不知道該怎麼做，結果，週三很快就變成了中餐館之夜。”Wang’s mother, Wang Yung-Ching’s second of three partners, eventually also left Taiwan and settled in the Bay Area. “She didn’t take any money with her,” says Wang. “She learned English and got her driver’s license when she was 60.”
王雪紅的母親、王永慶的二房（王永慶共有三位太太）最終也離開臺灣，前往舊金山灣區定居。王雪紅說：“她去美國時沒有帶太多錢。她在60歲的時候學會了英語，還考取了駕照。”Wang tears up when she talks about her parents. Her father, clearly a prominent figure in her life, wrote her 10-page letters describing his business experiences. “I had to write back or he would be upset,” says Wang during an interview at the Rosewood Hotel in Menlo Park, Calif. (She splits her time between the Bay Area and Taipei, close to where HTC is based.)
在談到父母的時候，王雪紅忍不住潸然淚下。很顯然，父親在她的一生中扮演着最重要的角色。他曾給她寫過10頁紙的書信，傳授自己的經商經驗。王雪紅在加州門羅帕克的瑰麗酒店（Rosewood Hotel）接受採訪時說：“我必須得回信，否則他會很生氣。”（她要經常往返於舊金山灣區和臺北，這裏靠近HTC的總部。）After spending her formative years with her sister’s company, Wang helped build Via Technologies in the late 1980s. Later, through acquisition and investment, Wang and a small team of executives drifted into the phone business. “At that time I interviewed everyone,” Wang says of HTC’s early days. “I would tell them the vision. Peter [Chou] was the first one to believe.”
王雪紅在姐姐的公司渡過性格形成期之後，她在上世紀80年代末幫助創建了威盛科技公司。後來，通過收購和投資，王雪紅和幾位高管逐漸轉入手機行業。回想起HTC最初的日子，王雪紅說：“當時，我參加所有人的面試。我會告訴他們我的願景。周永明是第一個相信這個願景的人。”Wang continues to place faith in Chou’s ability to turn around the company they built together. “ Now I can focus on building new products and new product categories,” says Chou, who has reportedly said he would step down if the company’s current family of smartphones didn’t succeed. “She is my biggest supporter.” She’s also HTC’s largest shareholder, and she’s seen the value of her holdings plunge 90% since 2011. Wang may be modest, but if HTC’s slide continues, few would be surprised if she pulls a Steve Jobs-like return.
王雪紅仍然相信，周永明有能力帶領他們共同打造的公司走出困境。周永明說：“現在，我的重點是打造新產品和新的產品類別。”據稱，周永明已經表態，如果公司目前的智能手機無法成功，他就會主動下臺。“她是我最大的支持者。”王雪紅同時也是HTC最大的股東。從2011年以來，她所持有的股份的價值已經縮水90%。雖然王雪紅一直非常謙遜，但如果HTC繼續下滑，就算她像喬布斯一樣選擇重新出山，也不會有多少人感到意外。
