Asia's most powerful and influential men: ReviewAsia recently published profiles and portraits of some of Asia's most influential and interesting men. Business Asia looks at some of the men who made the list

Business Asia, August, 2008 by Andre Khoury

After leaving CBS Inc., Sir Howard was Chairman and CEO of TELE-TV, the media and technology company formed by Bell Atlantic, NYNEX and Pacific Telesis, three of the largest telephone companies in the United States, from February 1995 to April 1997.

ReviewAsia described as "a bumpy ride" Sir Howard's tenure as chairman and chief executive officer.

"However judging by the figures, Stringer has come up trumps: Sony is looking at a profit margin of 4.6 per cent for the fiscal year to March 31," the magazine said. "This may not be the 5 per cent target announced three months after Stringer's appointment, but it is far above the 1.6 per cent booked just before he took office--and is Sony's highest result in almost a decade."

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Carlos Ghosn

Carlos Ghosn has been president and chief executive officer of Japan's Nissan Motor since 2000.

"When he joined Nissan, the company had debts of US$20 billion and only three of its 48 models were generating a profit," ReviewAsia reported. "Ghosn vowed to resign if the company was not able to report a profit by the end of his first year ... one year after his arrival, Nissan's net profit stood at US$2.7 billion--a remarkable turnaround from the US$6.1 billion loss reported one year earlier. And by fiscal 2006, operating profit margin stood at 9.25 per cent, up from 1.38 per cent in 2000."

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ReviewAsia described as "an inspired choice" Ghosn's appointment to the top job.

"After their initial doubts, the Japanese have bestowed celebrity status on a man who has written books about how he achieved Nissan's turnaround and has even had a manga characted based on him," the magazine said. "To add to his already heavy workload, he became president of Renault in April 2005."

The magazine quoted Nissan vice president of global communications, Simon Sproule: "I would say that his biggest strength is that he is able to take a very complicated situation and make it very simple to understand. He can focus on the issue to drive the decision.

"He is not a micro-manager--he could never hope to be if he is running two very large companies on opposite sides of the world--and he has lots of personal drive.

"Ghosn is very passionate about the alliance, about cross-cultural ties and he has lots of plans to see people from different parts of the world working together.

"He wants social and cultural diversity in the company and one of his great assets, I believe, is his ability to go down to the production lines in any country in the world and talk to employees. He has every belief that Nissan can be one of the great global companies and he is always talking about the potential here that remains to be unlocked."

Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-moon, the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations, brings to his post 37 years of service both in government and on the global stage.

At the time of his election as Secretary-General, Ban was his country's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His long tenure with the ministry included postings in New Delhi, Washington D.C. and Vienna, and responsibility for a variety of portfolios, including Foreign Policy Advisor to the President, Chief National Security Advisor to the President, Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and Director-General of American Affairs. Throughout this service, his guiding vision was that of a peaceful Korean peninsula, playing an expanding role for peace and prosperity in the region and the wider world.