Corporate Culture

2 Pages 412 Words

Article ~ New York Times ~ “Speaking the Language of Success”

In 1999, the Nissan Motor Company, controlled by French automaker Renault, hired Carlos Ghosn as President and Chief Operating Officer. Ghosen is “Brazilian-born, French-educated and American-experienced”. This article chronicles Ghosn’s efforts to save Nissan from bankruptcy, and the response of Nissan’s Board of Directors, Workers, and the Japanese public to a foreign manager with a different management style.
Carlos Ghosn joined Nissan when the company was at the brink of bankruptcy and was able to, “boost profits, and decrease debt in a very quick fashion”. The methods and approach used to accomplish this financial revival have included:
§ Changing Japanese attitudes about foreign managers and corporate culture
§ Cutting Costs and Jobs by closing plants, making it necessary for employees to accept transfers to stay with the company
§ Changing supplier relationships, eliminating “unwinding the traditional keiretsu system of interdependency with suppliers” who could not meet quality and cost cutting demands
§ Management overhauling, replacing senior managers with younger types
§ Linking pay to performance – “replacing seniority with a merit based system of cash bonuses and stock options”
Hofstede’s value dimensions say, “the core of the Japanese enterprise is the permanent worker group”, they show a small power distance, a high acceptance to strong uncertainty avoidance, an acceptance of collectivism, and high goal orientation. The article confirms Hofstede value dimensions by identifying Japan as a, “land of lifetime employment and resistance to foreign control”. The results of Ghosn’s tenure at Nissan seem to contradict Hofstede. Ghosn is a foreigner, has top level meetings in English, has rewarded success through a merit system, reduced the number of parts and service suppliers based on quality, cut the workfo...