Abstract

Nissan Motor Corporation is a multinational automotive company that began in 1933 and is headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. The company was at the brink of bankruptcy in the late 1990s with crippling debt, falling share price and stagnant market share. The company was saved by Renault Groupe of France when it purchased and initial 36.4% of the share capital, further increasing its stake in Nissan to 43.4% and Nissan having a 15% stake in Renault Groupe. The purchase lead to the Nissan being transferred a number of executives from Renault in order to effect a turnaround strategy and business transformation. One of these executives was Carlos Ghosn whose key task was to effect a turnaround strategy in the company. Carlos Ghosn was largely seen as the saviour of Nissan due to the fact that he implemented strategies to reduce debt levels at Nissan, returning it to profitability and increasing its global market share. He was the first non-Japanese to become CEO of a Japanese automotive company. It was in February 2017 that Carlos Ghosn announced that he would be stepping down from his role as Chief Executive Officer of Nissan and would be handing the reigns over to 40-year company veteran, Hiroki Saikawa to become the next CEO of Nissan. Will the new CEO continue with the strategic momentum that his predecessor started? Will the company continue with a diverse globalised approach or will it “re-Japanize” the company? Was Carlos Ghosn an effective leader in bringing Nissan out of the corporate problems it had? What was the effect of the Mitsubishi Motor Corporation acquisition in 2016 propel the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance to be the #1 automotive group by the end of 2017 ?

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