麦肯锡对话全球企业领袖——卡特彼勒公司前董事长兼CEO英文全记录.pdf

1 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 0 o p e r a t i o n s p r a c t i c e McKinsey conversations with global leaders: Jim Owens of Caterpillar Caterpillar’s former chairman and CEO reflects on an unconventional career path, organizational change, and how and where to stay competitive over the long term. 2 During his 38-year tenure at Caterpillar, Jim Owens saw the construction- equipment company recover from the financial brink to become an industry archetype in today’s emerging-market growth story. In this video, the latest in our interview series McKinsey conversations with global leaders, Owens—who retired as chairman on October 31—talks about that evolution, his own journey, and the role business leaders play in rebalancing new economic realities. Hans-Werner Kaas, a director in McKinsey’s Detroit office, conducted the interview in September 2010. Managing in the downturn: The game has changed The Quarterly: Jim, unlike most CEOs, you are an economist by training. How has that unique background shaped your views on the global economic crisis? Jim Owens: In terms of the economic side of it all, here at Caterpillar, we think about scenarios. And so, we kind of set those trend levels, if you will, and then the high-lows that we will have to deal with. And really, within the firm, we break that down into the sub-elements of our business, because the assets to support the business are tied to that. And so, we’ve gone through, in our strategic planning process at Caterpillar over the years, we’ve really worked on that high-low mentality with a lot of emphasis, because everybody is inclined to be optimistic. In many of the industries we serve, be it global oil and gas industry, mining industry— certainly construction, housing—these industries are highly cyclical. And