Japan - US Business News

Japan Society in New York Event: The Tale of LIXIL Corporation

The Tale of LIXIL: One Corporation’s Transformation from a Japanese Company to a Global Enterprise.

Under Former GE Executive, LIXIL Becomes a Model of Expansion in Today's Economic Climate. 

Wednesday, October 2, 2013, 1:00 pm, at Japan Society New York, NY – Long the dominant building materials and housing equipment company in Japan, LIXIL sought to strengthen its Japanese base and extend into new global growth areas.

In 2011 Yoshiaki Fujimori, a 25-year veteran of GE, joined LIXIL as its CEO with the goal of transforming the traditional Japanese company into a truly global enterprise. Fujimori, a pupil of the legendary Jack Welch and GE’s first officer from Asia, had honed his management philosophy as CEO of GE’s various Asian and global businesses and applied it to LIXIL's operations.

Mr. Fujimori will  discuss how he is leading LIXIL in this unprecedented transformation while handling the challenges of creating a globally focused management team and a new “One LIXIL” culture.

Presided by Reuters anchor Fred Katayama.

Agenda: Noon, registration and reception; 12:30, luncheon; 1:00-2:00, lecture and Q&A.

Admission: $65 lunch and lecture/$15 lecture only. To register or for more information, please visit http://www.japansociety.org/corporate, or call 212-715-1208.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Founded in 1907, Japan Society is a world-class, multidisciplinary hub for global leaders, artists, scholars, educators, and English and Japanese-speaking audiences. At the Society, more than 100 events each year feature sophisticated, topically relevant presentations of Japanese art and culture and open, critical dialogue on issues of vital importance to the U.S., Japan and East Asia. An American nonprofit, nonpolitical organization, the Society cultivates a constructive, resonant and dynamic
relationship between the people of the U.S. and Japan.

Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street between First and Second avenues.

Toyota told to embrace Public Relations worldwide

I recently read the article “Toyota told it has to close PR culture gap” in Financial Times by Bernard Simon.

In the article, it states that the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers has told Toyota “it needs to do more to improve its crisis management and close a public-relations culture gap between head office in Japan and other parts of the world.”

I agree, I agree, I agree. Back in February I wrote the basically the same thing in 3 posts: Toyota's Challenging Steps,  How Toyota should 'Move Forward' and In Toyota's fall, will Japan learn its lesson?

I am glad for the validation. In this article, the group advises ''Also pressing is the need for bridging the culture gap between Japan and other nations in public relations activities.''

This could not be more true and its about time that Japanese are saying it, not just Americans. Japanese companies such as Toyota need to start seeing themselves as truly global companies and accept all the responsibilities and accountabilities that comes with that. They can no longer hide behind “we the Japanese” and act as if they are still an isolated country or company that doesn’t have to play by all the rules that others do.

PR is a major force in America and in many countries. Whether that is good or bad is not the issue here. It is what is done by all so therefore Toyota has to play the game too especially now that they are in a nightmare of bad PR.

Hopefully this group scientists and engineers will convince them.

Global Initiative, Global Solution – Part 3

In Part 1 and Part 2, I wrote of the importance planning and of understanding the current or AS-IS state of the client’s operations. Now I will share with you how we were able to help our client get to where they wanted to be.

What is missing? This is a good question to ask whether in business or in life. If this client was doing a, b, and c and getting only x and y results but needed z results  as well, what was needed to get them there?  We evaluated the necessary changes that were required in order to bridge their current state and desired future state.

Our client was doing a great deal but was missing something in their processes. They were almost doing too much in some areas and not enough in others.  We needed to modify some procedures, get rid of ineffective ones and add new ones . For their future state, they were seeking:

1. Truly standardized processes
2. Software solutions that worked across all regions
3. Necessary add-on applications that could be integrated
4. Comprehensive training materials

There was no one software solution that could fulfill every need at this level. But we could standardize as much across the board as possible and go from there.  We designed and integrated appropriate processes across the three countries and documented the foundation practices and frameworks. Then provided add-ons that fit at least a combination of countries and finally add-ons for each specific region.

From there we fit processes to software solutions:

1. Application components that could be used across the three regions
2. Applications that could be used by at least two regions
3. Add-on applications specific to one region

As I mentioned, this client and project was a great undertaking and I am so glad I was a part of it. I applaud this Japanese company for its progressiveness in an especially traditional industry. I created my business because I knew there were companies like this out there and I wanted to use my skills and my experience of Japan to work with them.

This company took steps toward true globalization and maximizing technology usage that many other Japanese companies in their industry or other industries should note.

In summary, I want to reiterate some the basic lessons that were instrumental in making this project a success:

1. When dealing with different languages even if your team has bilingual staff, for technologically advanced materials, use a professional translation or interpreting service
2. Having a visual representation of processes makes it easier to understand and ‘see’ the process of how things are done.
3. Analyze a client’s current state thoroughly and determine their desired future state
4. Document everything
5. Plan, Plan , Plan
6. Be flexible because it is NEVER  possible to follow any plan to the letter.There will always be unforeseen events that necessitate changes along the way 
7. Keep in constant communication

Global Initiative, Global Solution – Part 2

In the Part 1 of this case study, I wrote about the importance of planning. After the establishment of Project and Communication plans and project scope, the first thing we had to do was to assess the current state of our client’s operations in each country by analyzing their SOPS.

Due to the technically of the SOPS, we had all Japanese SOPS translated into English by a professional translation service. I will take the time here to mention a valuable lesson I have learned over the years when dealing with different languages. Even if your team has bilingual staff, for technologically advanced materials, use a translation/interpreting firm.

We then documented the SOPs as visual workflows. Having a visual representation of processes reduces ambiguity and makes it easier for all to understand and ‘see’ the way things are done. This will help with any gap analysis later because you can actually see what is missing.

Global Initiative, Global Solution - Part 1

Japanese pharmaceutical company technology project.

The challenge that this client faced was that they lacked a truly comprehensive knowledge base where information that was stored pertaining to products and testing could be 1.) entered by all related divisions across 3 regions: Japan, the U.S. and the UK,  2.) updated by different groups regardless of who originally entered the information,  3.) accessed simultaneously by different users as well as other requirements.

As I mentioned when I introduced this project, a communication plan was very important to ensuring the success of this project. We organized and prepared by:

1. Identifying all possibilities that could be identified in advance and prepared potential solutions.
2. Creating focused agendas for all meetings and distributed in advance so that all parties were  prepared and on the same page before entering into any meeting. 
3. Clearly defining goals for the sessions and at the end ensured that we achieved those goals or revised them if we could not. 
4. Documenting decisions and actions items in all meetings in detail.
5. Standardizing documentation and other formats to ensure consistency and to take into consideration language comprehension and communication styles.

As this was a Japanese client, gaining consensus from all participants was key. Each region had input as to their specific needs as well as global needs that applied to all regions.

Simultaneously, project scope and all elements of work related to the project were defined. Our project leaders confirmed quality control details and work to ensure our path to production and project completion.

We mapped the course and our global team then began the real work . Our client was now going to see their innovative project start on the road to fruition.

We now needed to understand our client’s business. They had standard operating procedures but did they follow them?

Stay Tuned for Part 2 of Global Initiative, Global Solution on Wednesday.

Inroduction - Global Initiative, Global Solution

Last summer I was contacted by colleagues who had received an RFP for a leading Japanese company. This company specializes in creating customized technology solutions for the mainly pharmaceutical clients and this was their first foray into Japan.  This was to be a global initiative on the part of this client to consolidate software so that their offices in Japan, the U.S. and the UK could all share more detailed information about their products and related testing and reporting.

I accompanied them to make the presentation as the person who would directly work with the Japanese team if we landed the project.Once we were selected to provide services to this Japanese company, we committed fully to working to meet what we knew to be a very aggressive timeline and to work with other vendors in ensuring that the project was completed both on time and on budget.

In the course of working for other clients over the years, I have never encountered a project such as this. This was to be a truly global undertaking and this Japanese company was fully willing and prepared to not only spend the money but also utilize all resources fully to accomplish their goals. I must say I was impressed and excited.

For all us who work in Japan-U.S. business, we often encounter clients especially on the Japanese end that say they are ‘international minded’ or that that a  ‘project is international’ but this client truly meant it. Not only did they have the usual practice of sending Japanese staff on overseas rotations but they had instituted a program that required U.S. and UK staff also to do work rotations in Japan for various lengths of time.

In the kick-off meeting for this project, you saw Japanese, English, Irish, Germans, Koreans, Indians and Americans all working together. Our weekly status meetings were feats of brilliant engineering by our project manager. The commitment on everyone’s part to make this project a success was exemplified by our willingness to dial in at 6am, 7am, or 9pm depending on what country we were in.

Our most effective tool for this project was our communication plan that was established at the beginning of the project and agreed upon by all top manaegment, project sponsors and team members. By constant communication we were able to identify and mitigate risks that could have seriously affected our timelines. 

Although as with any project, there were issues, major challenges and of course unexpected happenings, this project was a major victory. Not just in terms of a successful completion, but in terms of showing how Japanese businesses can use technology and global teams to advance their businesses.

Starting on Monday,  I will write about this project as a Case Study in a three part series: Global Initiative, Global Solution.

Case Study: Large European Company's IT Project for Japan office

Large European conglomerate’s Information Technology office in the U.S. doing a software upgrade and consolidation project for their office in Japan.

The Challenge:

Software consolidation and upgrade project that involved:
1. Three countries and three project teams
2. Four cultures (American, European, Indian Tech Staff and Japanese end users)
3. Different business cultures
4. Different decision making styles
5. Three time zones
6. 20 different team members and personalities

In technology there is a vast melting pot of workers and the potential for challenges are everywhere. There are people on projects that are used to working alone at a computer and now they have to work with others and on international projects such as this one, it is usually is a co-worker or consultant of a different culture.

For this project, I interacted with the technical staff in the U.S., the Japanese end users and their technical staff in Japan and management in Europe.

As I performed analysis and designed our approach, the project manager had to make sure that all communications were designed to address the individual reader or listener.

The Solution:

Using my understanding of Japanese cultural as the foundation in creating understanding among team members while delivering our technology expertise in the software development lifecycle.

Once the client realized that this was more than a technology project and the scope of potential communication problems, I was also asked to provide cross-cultural training classes for the rest of the team in the U.S. By doing this, I was able to assist all members of the team better understand each other, communicate more effectively and work smoothly together in performing the project work.

Case Study: Small U.S. Manufacturer doing business in Japan-Part 3

Lessons Learned:

In order to minimize the problems that might arise around communications on these type of cross-cultural projects, it is very important for companies to:

1. Establish a clear communication plan
2. Determine and set expectations on both sides
3. Create a plan that details the roles and responsibilities of each side in achieving goals and meeting expectations

Case Study: Small U.S. Manufacturer doing business in Japan-Part 2

The Challenge:

My client was approached by a Japanese distributor who wanted to sell their products in Japan. My client did not have the resources in house and lacked the Japanese language and cultural background to do this on their own. Through a search on the web, they found my company.

It is no surprise that one of the major challenges that faced the client was in the area of communication. They “found communications to be complicated by cultural and language differences and that Japanese expectations are quite different from American ones.”

Case Study: Small U.S. Manufacturer doing business in Japan-Part 1

In the course of providing services for a U.S. client based in the Mid-West seeking to do business in Japan, I realized that there are many challenges that smaller companies face when trying to do business in a market as far away and as different as Japan such as:

• Lack of know how
• Lack of resources to dedicate to projects and information gathering
• The general “ Not even sure where to begin”
• Communication challenges

Lacking the resources to dedicate to managing and doing the actual day to day work involved in the process of entering the Japanese market, most companies, especially smaller ones, either:

• Give up or think they cannot possibly do it so they don't even try
• Employ incorrect entry strategies
• Spend precious time and money in the wrong areas and often times don’t achieve their goals

This was the case of my client. Check back to see how we were able to help them.