Pursuits
Carlos Ghosn on Preserving the Renault-Nissan Alliance
The CEO of Renault and Nissan explains how he fended off skeptics and held a shaky alliance together. Not speaking Japanese helped
This article is for subscribers only.
When I came to Japan in 1999 from Renault, my job was to revive Nissan. I was the only chief executive officer managing two companies on two continents, and not one of them was a slave to the other. Some people would say, “Oh, you’re not doing enough for Nissan.” Others would say I wasn’t doing enough for Renault. Nobody wants to share their CEO.
It became clear that [Nissan] wanted results, but it didn’t want change. Every idea I had was resisted. The Japanese people are very polite, so they wouldn’t directly oppose any decision of mine; instead, they would propose something else to avoid it.