STILL SETTING

Studying Japan from the Inside: What comes next for Japan's economy? Masako Egawa, executive director of Harvard Business School's Japan Research Office, sees a period of fundamental change ahead. (Cynthia D. Churchwell, Aug 25, 2003, Harvard Business School Working Knowledge)

Churchwell: What has been the most interesting company to write about in your case development?

Egawa: All the companies on which we developed cases are very interesting, and it is difficult to choose one. But if I have to choose one, I would say I enjoyed the case on Nissan Motor, the auto manufacturer that had been turned around by Carlos Ghosn. Ghosn was sent from Renault, the French auto company, which acquired management control of Nissan in March 1999. At the time Nissan had been in deep financial distress and had no choice but seek a foreign partner. Ghosn, who had never worked in Japan but had extensive experiences in other parts of the world, motivated the middle management at Nissan and transformed the culture of the company, leading to the dramatic recovery of its performance. What struck me most from this case was the power of the great leader. It was fascinating to learn that all the reforms Ghosn implemented were originally proposed by the middle managers who had been working for Nissan for twenty years, and that they were instrumental in the transformation process. The same group of people who had been working for an under-performing company can produce outstanding results if they have the right leader.

The point being, as Bill Emmott wrote years ago, it's not a culture that values, heeds or rewards creative thinking, which is one of the reasons they're in eclipse. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 25, 2003 2:21 PM