Please click to hear

Live CaseNissan Motor Company-Female Japanese Expatriate on Assignment in the USAInterview conducted on October 15, 2009 at Nissan North America Headquarters Please click to hear

How are you enjoying living in the United States? “I enjoy living here very much; it is much easier to travel and live here. This is my first time to live anywhere other than Japan. I can shop as I could in Japan and buy anything in the grocery store that I would want; Europe is more of a challenge. People are very nice here.” Introduction Is your current assignment your first visit to the U.S.? “My older sister was at U of NY so I visited a number of times. NY is very much like Japan, because people do not care as much about differences in others, such as ethnicity. There are different regions and cultures within Japan. “

Introduction What made you decide to take a U.S. assignment? “I really wanted an assignment in Europe, but ended up in the USA. My goal was to actually work in a foreign market to be closer to the marketing side and customer. I have worked for foreign regions such as Africa (GOM) while in Japan but never actually worked in a foreign market. I want to go to other countries, therefore I took the US job. I have done a lot of travel in the world for Nissan (worked for Nissan 15 years). Being in the country helps to make a better connection with my work.”

Introduction What do you enjoy about the U.S.? “Shorter working time!! In Japan we work from 9 am to 9 - 10 pm, here I have more time. I did not like the work hours in Japan. The work hours were not as crazy in manufacturing, just at HQ. Actually R&D is the worst, they work until midnight every night. There is a longer commute as well…1.5 to 2 hours is a typical commute in Japan.” Traffic Control in Tokyo - 2008

Culture Do you believe your culture has given you an innate competitive advantage over the West? If so, what parts of your culture and why? “Yes and no, Japanese are very hard working people. In Japan, silence is a problem, because many do not want to express their opinions or emotions. So there is a lot of guessing at what others are thinking, this is a weakness for the Japanese. “ “Japanese work very hard, but promotions are limited because of the foreign ex-pats that work there (NNA and Renault). There is a lot of top down pressure in Japan. During the recovery (late 1990s – early 2000s when Nissan was in financial trouble) the business/work environment was better, now we should change the way we manage people in Japan. Mr. Ghosn does not promote Japanese into such areas as Finance or Treasury.”

Culture Is it easier or harder to be a professional woman in the U.S. as compared to Japan? “Much easier in the US. Japan is still way behind - little or no flexibility (for working mothers). Most women in the past left work and did not come back after child was born. Now it is becoming a little easier, but most do not work after a child. Japan is not flexible with sick children….or working mothers. The daycare system is not very well developed in Japan. Husband wants wife to stay home once she has a kid.”

Culture What advice would you give an U.S. employee going on their first international assignment to Japan? “Be patient – it’s crowded and land is scarce – you will have a long commute, smaller room and space to work – very little personal space. The Japanese people are reserved and not outgoing, so try to talk with the people, most know some English. They will open up if you keep talking to them.” “We are not next to any other country and this is probably the reason the Japanese are so reserved. Remove those barriers and try to talk with everyone. Many Renault people came and did not communicate well…many Japanese people are shy. They are very kind and want to help you, but you have to ask for help. “

Company Perspective Do you think your career path or success thus far would be different in our culture? Faster? Slower? (Same glass ceiling?) “Could be faster here….to move up. Or same, but NNA is more likely to promote their people. NNA is more likely to promote younger people over those with more tenure. This is still frowned upon in Japan.”

Company Perspective Describe the hiring process for Nissan in Japan – experience, education, interviewing, etc? “(Hiring) is based on education, not experience. Not many people change their jobs so experienced hires were rare. But this is changing more now days….more like US culture. Young people today may move to different jobs. I took an entrance exam (general topic – math, science, etc) and had one interview. Which university you went to was very important, but now that is changing also. You no longer have to disclose what university you attended just the degree (you earned).”

Company Perspective How would you describe your management style while working in the U.S. and does it differ from your style in Japan? If so, how? What about meetings? “I have no staff, but if I did there would be no difference – (I would) provide clear direction and expectations.. Japan is a top-down culture, but NNA is surprisingly even more so. At NNA you can voice your opinions to directors, but VPs are very isolated and this is an issue for Japanese. In Japan, the VPs often sit near their groups and so you have much more interaction with them and you are able to express your opinions directly to them.”

Company Perspective What does long-term mean to you? Do you believe there’s more or less of a short-term focus at NNA vs. NML? “NNA has much more of a short-term focus. Japan has a longer-term focus.”

Company Perspective Why do the Japanese work so many hours? “(Several reasons). First there are too many things to do, second (the Japanese are) less efficient because they’re used to working late and third the complex organization structure leads to inefficiencies that require us to work longer hours. Consensus is important in decision making and often this consensus must be gained from many different departments. NML is very big with lots of functional walls (silos) and it is very hard to get consensus with everyone in the different functional areas. (We) need to be more cross-functional or have cross-functional people that know which groups to talk to. (Mr.) Ghosn thinks that we have a cross-functional work environment, but NML does not…this creates a large barrier. Ex-pats in Japan do not work as late as the Japanese, but they work later than Americans do at NNA. There isn’t really resentment, we just understand there are cultural differences – (Japanese) have a somewhat lazy image of Americans. Some envy the difference in culture.”

Company Perspective What does world class mean to you? "Famous, renown at a certain level. Must have (a) good understanding of all cultures in the world that they work with. Requires great capabilities - financially and culturally and must be in a large market.” How does NML invest in its people as compared to NNA? “The (NML) facility is smaller, therefore less space for their people. Otherwise very similar. Training/continuing education is hard to do, because there is little time to do so. (It is) not common to go to school and work at the same time…time management is hard….no financial support from NML.”

Company Perspective What would you change at NNA if you could? NML? “Remove functional access barriers at both NML and NNA…..(people) looking only at their specific departments, but not looking out for the good of the company as a whole. Japan same as US. NNA is very short term perspective…..similar at NML but not as bad as NNA.”

Company Perspective Describe the competitive environment between Nissan, Toyota and Honda. From employee and business perspectives what are the advantages and disadvantages? How would you compare the cultures of the three? What about Nissan pre-alliance? “Toyota has enough margins to do (a) lot of things….can do what they want. They are on the west side (of the island) in Toyota City and away from Honda and Nissan. Toyota’s products are not as attractive but (they have) good service and reliability and the best quality. Honda (has a) more liberal culture…..broader prospective. They too have other businesses. Honda (has a) nice product but not very reliable. Honda has the best engine in Japan. Nissan is in between - better than Honda but not as good as Toyota….very sports oriented. Quality of the vehicle (is) better (in Japan) than the US….thanks to Japanese industry…..root cause - deep thinking, Kaisen and (we) work hard. Honda and Panasonic founders (are the) most famous business people in Japan.”

Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~building-pc/yokohama/yokohama150Nissan.htm Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://www.japantrends.com/inside-the-tokyo-traffic-control-center/ Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://www.env.go.jp/en/policy/biz_women/index.html Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://urbanresearch.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/tsukiji-fish-market/ Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://vvnursery.com/shop/images/japanese%20maple.JPG Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/l/lj/ljweb/496091_japanese_cherry_blossoms.jpg Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://media.photobucket.com/image/japanese%20small%20desk%20photo/Lakmir1/Job/IMG_6104.jpg Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://farm1.static.flickr.com/106/316077932_069808b020.jpg Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://culture-dynamics.com/about_us.html Photo ReferencesImages were used from the following sources:

Photo ReferencesImages were used from the following sources: Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/learn/training/images/japanese_business.jpg Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://www.1worldglobalgifts.com/images/Awards/35499-Globe-Award.jpg Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_86/1159071489d5jn44.jpg Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://www.newmediabytes.com/2008/04/22/the-secret-to-increasing-traffic-from-facebook-without-building-applications/

Please click to hear