L/O/G/O

Managing Across Cultures Case study: Toyota in France

Lecturer: Mr Jeffrey TanGroup 6: Long, Khoa, Nanda, Lydia

Contents

Conclusion

Reflection

Toyota in France Cultural issues and solutions

Introduction

Content

IntroductionAn understanding of cross-cultural issues coming up

when Toyota opened its factory in France

Research questions:•What cultural issues in Valenciennes factory of Toyota were caused related to the differences and interaction between French and Japanese culture?•How could these issues be resolved and how to increase cross-cultural awareness?

France Culture

SPECIFIC

LOW MASCULINITY

INDIVIDUALISM

MEDIUM CONTEXT

Japan Culture

ACHIEVEMENT ORIENTED

HIGH MASCULINITY

COLLECTIVISM

HIGH CONTEXT

Culture in Toyota as a Japanese Company

Value harmony and teamwork

Emphasizes on developing good employees

Employees from various nationalities

Japan Versus France 1 - Geert-Hofstede.com

Cultural Issues

Cultural IssuesLanguage and communication

Power Distance

Individualism versus Collectivism

Long-term orientation

Corporate culture versus National culture

Language and communication

• Main communication is in ENGLISH

• The second language with both Japanese & French

Language and communication

The scale of high context and low context cultures of Hall

Power distance

FRANCE 68 High PDI – JAPAN 54 Medium PDI

Individualism vs collectivism

Long-term orientation

JapanLong-termorientation

FranceShort-term

orientation

34

80

Corporate Culture versus National Culture

Toyota- Uniform for the

employees- Prefer to hiring young

employees

French employees- Seniority is a privilege- Do not like wearing

uniform

Solution and result

Preparation and Policies

Minimising the influence of cultural differences is TMMF’s strategy

Many Japanese employees had been sent to live and study in France

Toyota’s efforts‧Language - Communication

Inviting interpreters to the work floor, even in every interview to assure that no misunderstanding happen.‧PDI

Encourage a flatter organizational structure.Enhance internal communication.Inspire young workers to participate to group

discussion and to speak up their opinions.- Creating green fields

Recruiting unskilled young people

The fruit of their efforts

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-Employees did exercises together at 8h every morning before starting their work.

- The company's attire was accepted

- Alcohol ban at workplace was respected by employees

Enhancing Cross-cultural Awareness

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-By increasing the informal exchange of information, Toyota is able to generate and leverage knowledge and create a ‘learning company’.

-The influence of corporate culture can be improved if the company closely links to the employee community

- The interaction between national culture and corporate culture can create competitive advantages and disadvantages

Reflection

Reflection

Initial Difficulties

‧Language and communication problems

‧Vietnamese members - more individualistic

‧Low uncertainty avoidance of Vietnamese

ReflectionOvercoming challenges

to reach agreement

‧Build perception

‧Utilized an effective communication tool → SKYPE

‧Vietnamese → Long-term orientation

‧Taiwanese and Indonesian → Positive attitudes

Conclusion

Conclusion

‧Clarify the theories of culture and management declared by Hofstede, Hall and GLOBE study

‧Analysis of the cultural conflicts between the expatriate subsidiary with local workers and the evaluation their solutions aim to illustrate for the study of Heenan and Perlmutter (1979).

Conclusion

‧Good preparation for organisation's internationalisation

‧Utilising the contrasts and avoiding blind spot cannot be forgotten.

‧Underlying cultures conflicts always exist in MNCs

Three limitations

‧ Lacking of knowledge

‧ Time and length

‧The information

L/O/G/O

Thank You!