新年意味着新的开始，不过对《财富》500强企业和其他一些公司的首席执行官而言，2015年更像是一个高压锅，他们为扭转企业颓势或修复受损品牌形象所做的尝试，都将受到严峻的考验。
A new year indicates a fresh start, but for CEOs in the Fortune 500 and beyond, 2015 will be a pressure cooker as their attempts to turn around struggling businesses or mend damaged brands are put to the test。
卢英德——百事可乐公司
2014年，维权投资者尼尔森。佩尔兹的特里安基金管理公司一直呼吁百事可乐公司一分为二，这一呼声让这家饮料和快餐公司的首席执行官卢英德如坐针毡。卢英德则认为，在这个竞争激烈的零售市场，保持单一身份对百事公司更为有利，优于预期的第三季度业绩也佐证了她的观点。然而，不断变化的消费者饮食习惯促使百事公司押下重注，以赢得眼光更加敏锐的公众的青睐。卢英德在12月表示：“我们正在尝试许多新的想法。”
Indra Nooyi—PepsiCo
Activist investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management has made PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi’s seat especially hot this year by calling on the beverage and snack company to split in two. Nooyi has argued that Pepsi’s size as a single entity is an asset in a tough retail market—a point strengthened by the food and beverage company’s better-than-expected third quarter results. But consumers’ evolving eating and drinking habits have prompted Pespsi to make big bets to try to win over a more discerning public. “We are rolling the dice on a lot of new ideas right now,” Nooyi said in December。
唐·汤普森——麦当劳
在这家快餐巨头第三季度的财报电话会议上，自2012年起担任首席执行官的唐?汤普森表示，连锁餐厅的业绩“没有达到我们的期望”。其实这只是轻描淡写的说法。麦当劳最新的收益报告显示，美国的同店销售额连续四个季度下滑，总体利润下降了30%。明年或许将证明汤普森提议的解决方案——可定制化的汉堡平台、分区域确定菜单和数字领域投资——能否取得效果。
Don Thompson—McDonald’s
During the fast-food giant’s third quarter earnings call, CEO Don Thompson, head of McDonald’s since 2012, said that the restaurant’s results fell "short of our expectations." That’s putting it lightly. McDonald’s latest earnings report showed the fourth straight quarter of negative same-store sales in the U.S. and an overall 30% drop in profit. Next year will likely prove whether Thompson’s proposed fixes—a customizable burger platform, a regional approach to the menu, and digital investments—do the trick。
特拉维斯·卡兰尼克——Uber
2014年底，一连串争议事件使得打车服务商Uber成为千夫所指的对象。首先，该公司一位高管扬言要报复批评Uber的媒体人。紧接着又有消息称，在印度新德里，一名使用Uber服务的司机涉嫌强暴女乘客。而在悉尼人质危机期间，该应用的“峰值定价”更是激起了众怒。此外，Uber之前就长期遭受批评，称他们罔顾乘客安全，还克扣司机的报酬。毫无疑问，Uber的财务状况非常健康——该公司的估值高达400亿美元之巨——但首席执行官特拉维斯。卡兰尼克需要在2015年修复该公司糟糕的社会声誉。
Travis Kalanick—Uber
At the end of 2014, a flurry of controversies swirled around car-sharing service Uber. First there was an exec’s comments about seeking revenge against its media critics. Then came an Uber driver’s alleged rape of a female passenger in Dehli. And finally, the app’s surge pricing during Sydney’s hostage crisis. Those events piled atop longstanding criticism that Uber skirts liability for passengers’ safety and underpays its drivers. There’s no doubt Uber is financially healthy—it’s valued at $40 billion—but it’ll be up to CEO Travis Kalanick to repair the company’s social reputation in 2015.
迈克尔·林顿——索尼影视娱乐公司
在2014年底，没有哪家公司遭遇的媒体风暴像索尼影视娱乐公司这般猛烈，而且这场风暴仍在影响着该公司。这家电影公司在11月遭遇的网络被黑事件引发了一系列危机：员工的敏感信息泄露、索尼高管的争议邮件被公布、奥巴马谴责索尼取消《刺杀金正恩》的上映计划、电影界大佬指责索尼没有维护言论自由。12月23日，索尼改变了主意，宣布《刺杀金正恩》将于圣诞节当天在为数不多的影院公映。这些争议都堆在首席执行官迈克尔。林顿面前，他需要在2015年承担起收拾残局的重任。
Michael Lynton—Sony Entertainment
No corporation faced as big a media firestorm in late 2014 than the one that’s still slamming Sony Pictures. The hacking of the film studio’s network in November set off a series of crises: the release of sensitive employee data, controversial leaked emails from Sony execs, a callout from President Obama over the studio’s initial decision to pull the movie "The Interview" from distribution, and criticism from film industry big wigs that Sony failed to uphold free speech. On December 23, Sony reversed course and announced that it would put out a limited release of "The Interview" in theaters starting on Christmas Day. The controversies have landed in the lap of CEO Michael Lynton, who has the enormous task of picking up the pieces in the coming year。
罗睿兰——IBM
《财富》前不久刊文报道了IBM的最新收益情况，文章的标题足以说明了一切——《罗睿兰的糟心时光》。这篇刊发于10月份的文章显示，IBM的业绩比预期的还要差：连续第十个季度收入下滑，营业收益同比下降10%。如此糟糕的业绩，使得该公司正在进行的缓慢但非常积极的转型黯然失色——IBM正致力于剥离表现不佳的部门，大举投资移动、云和认知计算领域。2015年，这位《财富》最具影响力女性能否引领该公司顺利转型，不再出现任何重大差池?且让我们拭目以待。
Ginni Rometty—IBM
Fortune’s headline about IBM’s latest earnings is awfully telling: “Ginni Rometty’s terrible, horrible (no good, very bad) day。” The October piece told of worse-than-expected results: IBM’s tenth quarter of consecutive revenue decline, a 4% decline in sales from a year ago, and a 10% drop in operating earnings during the same period the previous year. The results tarnished what had been a positive—albeit slow—transformation for the company that centered on its divestiture of poor-performing units and investment in mobile, cloud, and cognitive computing. We’ll see if Fortune’s Most Powerful Woman can capitalize on that progress in 2015 without any significant hiccups。
梅格·惠特曼——惠普
近几年来，“转变”这个词一直与惠普和该公司首席执行官梅格。惠特曼联系在一起。这家公司正尝试着跟上科技发展的步伐，这一方针在2015年也不会有所改变。今年10月，惠普宣布该公司将一分为二，电脑和打印机业务组成一个公司，而另一家公司则专注于企业硬件和服务业务。惠特曼表示，拆分有助于这两个新公司更快地应对行业的变化。也许明年将证明她是对的。
Meg Whitman—Hewlett-Packard
The word “turnaround” has been associated with Hewlett-Packard and CEO Meg Whitman for years, as the company attempts to keep up with the evolving tech space, and 2015 will be no different. In October, HP announced that it will split in two, with its computer and printer business making up one company and its corporate hardware and services operations constituting the other. Whitman said the division will help the two companies respond more quickly to industry changes. Perhaps the coming year will prove her right。
玛丽莎·梅耶尔——雅虎
自2012年执掌雅虎以来，首席执行官玛丽莎。梅耶尔就不断地改变着公司的产品，同时还投资了许多初创公司——尤其是微博客Tumblr——并雇佣了凯蒂。库瑞克等鼎鼎有名的记者。迄今为止，这些举动都未能让这家互联网公司重振旗鼓，反而还促使维权投资公司Starboard Value LP提出拆分或出售雅虎的要求。仿佛扭转公司局势的压力还不够似的，梅耶尔如今又从阿里巴巴[微博]的首次公开募股中获得了大量现金。现在所有的目光都注视着她的下一个动作。
Marissa Mayer—Yahoo
Since taking over Yahoo in 2012, CEO Marissa Mayer has swapped products in and out of the company’s arsenal while scooping up dozens of startups—Tumblr, most notably—and hiring big-name journalists like Katie Couric. Such moves have failed to revive the Internet company thus far and have instead prompted activist Starboard Value LP to call for its breakup or sale. As if turning the company around wasn’t pressure enough, Mayer now has at her disposal bundles of cash from Alibaba’s IPO. All eyes are on her to see what she’ll do with it。
