This is a international business question, and the answer should be related to sociocultural froces.
The reading material is:
Warren Oats was a highly successful executive for American Auto
Suppliers, a Chicago-based company that makes original-equipment specialty
parts for Ford, GM, and Chrysler. Rather than retreat before the onslaught of
Japanese automakers, AAS decided to counterattack and use its reputation for
quality and dependability to win over customers inJapan.
Oats had started in the company as an engineer and worked his way up to become one
of a handful of senior managers who had a shot at the next open vice-presidential
position. He knew he needed to distinguish himself somehow, so when he was
given a chance to lead the AAS attack on the Japanese market, he jumped at it.
Oats knew he did not have time to learn Japanese, but he had heard
that many Japanese executives speak English, and the company would hire a
translator anyway. The toughest part about leaving theUnited Stateswas persuading his wife, Carol, to take an
eighteen-month leave from her career as an attorney
with a prestigiousChicago law firm. Carol finally persuaded herself
that she did not want to miss an
opportunity to learn a new culture. So, armed with all the information they could
gather aboutJapan from their local library, the Oats headed
forTokyo.
Known as an energetic, aggressive salesperson back home, Warren Oats wasted little
time getting started. As soon as his office had a telephone—and well before all
his files had arrived from the States—Oats made an appointment to meet with
executives of one ofJapan’s leading automakers. Oats reasoned that
if he was going to overcome the famous Japanese resistance to foreign
companies, he should get started as soon as
possible.
Oats felt very uncomfortable at that first meeting. He got the feeling that the
Japanese executives were waiting for something. It seemed that everyone but Oats
was in slow motion. The Japanese did not speak English well and appeared grateful
for the presence of the interpreter, but even the interpreter seemed
to take her time in translating each phrase. Frustrated by this seeming lethargy
and beginning to doubt the much-touted Japanese efficiency, Oats got right to
the point. He made an oral presentation of his proposal, waiting patiently for
the translation of each sentence. Then he handed the leader of the Japanese
delegation a packet containing the specifics of his proposal, got up, and left.
The translator trailed behind him as if wanting to drag out the process even
further.
By the end of their first week, both Oats and his wife were frustrated. Oats’s office
phone had not rung once, which did not make him optimistic about his meeting
with another top company the following week. Carol could scarcely contain her
irritation with what she had perceived of the Japanese way of life. She had
been sure that a well-respectedU.S.lawyer would have little trouble securing
a job with a Japanese multinational corporation, but the executives she had met
with seemed insulted that she was asking them for a job. And the way they
treated their secretaries! After only a week inJapan, both Carol and Warren Oats were ready to go home.
A month later, their perspective had changed radically, and both looked back on
those first meetings with embarrassment. Within that month, they had learned a lot
about the Japanese sense of protocol and attitudes toward women. Warren Oats
believed he was beginning to get the knack of doing business with the
Japanese in their manner: establishing a relationship slowly, almost ritualistically,
waiting through a number of meetings before bringing up the real business at
hand, and then doing so circumspectly. It was difficult for
Oats to slow his pace, and it made him nervous to be so indirect, but he was beginning
to see some value in the sometimes humbling learning process he was going
through. Perhaps, he thought, he and Carol could become consultants for other
executives who needed to learn the lessons he was beginning to
understand.
Q1: What specific errors didWarrenand Carol Oats make during their first
week inJapan?
Q2: If you were talking to a non-U.S. businessperson making a first
contact with an American company, what advice would you give?
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