Case Study

Working with the Japanese: Toyota Financial Services

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The CompanyToyota Financial Services Europe and Africa region (TFS EAR) works across 16 locations to provide finance options for over 1 million customers through 1,641 Toyota and Lexus Retailers. TFS EAR is a subsidiary of Toyota Financial Services Corporation (TFSC) which is based in Nagoya, Japan. Their group mission is to “provide sound financial services that contribute to the prosperous life for Toyota customers and others.”

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The ChallengeJapanese culture underpins everything that is done at Toyota and Lexus Financial Services. Many of the business practices have Japanese names: Kaizen, Hoshin, Genchi Genbutsu to mention just a few – which are new concepts to most employees joining Toyota. Some employees engage with Japanese colleagues on a daily basis while others only on the odd occasion or hardly ever. Regardless of the levels of interaction, there was a sense that a lack of cultural understanding was at times inhibiting effective communication and creating unnecessary misunderstanding - something no organisation can afford. So how could the company raise awareness of the cultural values that defines many of its business practices and help its employees engage with colleagues with a higher level of confidence and avoid the risk of unintentionally offending ?

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Our SolutionToyota Financial Services worked together with Kwintessential Consulting to design and roll out a practical Japanese Cultural Training session, to cater for both employees based in the UK and those across the Europe and Africa region. The training drew on the experiences of the participants to get them to challenge/reflect on commonly held stereotypes and used a combination of group discussions, case studies and quizzes to bring the realities of the Japanese culture to life.

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The ResultTo date it is one of their most popular external courses. Positive feedback from those attending confirms the training has really helped employees improve their confidence when meeting and working with their Japanese colleagues. Even employees who have worked directly with their Japanese colleagues for a number of years came away from the training with a wealth of new knowledge about Japanese culture and how they can work more effectively with their Japanese colleagues.

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What the Participants Said• “Goal-oriented discussions with Japanese colleagues are supported. Great

job, allowed comments by participants and sharing of experiences.” • “The trainer was very authentic and interesting.”• “I will better anticipate and better appreciate my business partners'

reactions and behaviours.”• “We now know why we we’re not understanding the Japanese responses

to our requests!”• “This training should have been undertaken many years ago and should

be considered as part of the induction process for certain staff.”• “I think this course is an excellent initiative and the timing was perfect.

Although I have been to Japan, I learnt loads and it helped make sense of things that had baffled me.”

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Similar ProjectsWe are working with a huge number of clients across all industries on Cultural Awareness Programmes. Below you find a list of programmes, which were similar to the one delivered for Toyota Financial Services.

• Cultural Awareness Programmes on the UK: AkzoNobel Powder Coatings, Alstom Power

• Cultural Awareness Programmes on Japan: 7 Layer Solutions, Ericsson, Sandfords, Unipath, VT Group, Xyratex

• Working with the Japanese: Fujitsu, Twinings, UKTI

• Living & Working in the UK: BHP Billiton, Lexis Nexis, Lloyds Register EMEA

• Working and Communicating with the UK/ Working and Communicating with the Japanese: JX Nippon

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Kwintessential’s Services'We Speak Global Here'

Cultural AwarenessTrainingSoft Skills Training

E-learning via the Argonaut™Country Profiles

WebinarsLocal Guides

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Contact Us:

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cross-cultural/communication-awareness-training.html

+ 44 (0)207 978 0191

training@Kwintessential.co.uk

@kwint_train

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