SIEM research group session at the 2012 Spring Meeting of the Association of Japanese Geographers, Tokyo, 29 March 2012
During the meeting we received a lecture and discussed the road map of a global joint research project and our forthcoming participation in the IGC conferences in Cologne and Kyoto. We offer other research groups to present in English and will encourage an international audience to attend our meetings. We also support the agenda of the 2013 IGC meeting in Kyoto that centers on globalization processes within the Japanese economy and society by encouraging our members to participate actively. Please find further information at URL.
Professor Rolf D. Schlunze introduced his research work entitled “Japanese Managers Holding Out in Germany: Location and Intercultural Synergy Creation”. Are Japanese managers capable to create synergy in overseas affiliated companies? To what extent do their intercultural capability and the location matter? The study introduced characteristics of synergy creation of Japanese managers in the German workplace by investigating their adjustment practices, preferences and networking behavior. Questionnaire and interview surveys with international managers in Germany have been carried out using an original approach designed and shared by SIEM research group members. One third of the Japanese managers based in Germany took part in this investigation. Three samples from Germany totaling more than 94 individuals were analyzed to investigate the success practices of expatriate managers in the intercultural workplace. The approach introduced here developed distinguishes types of executive managers. The results show that Hybrid managers are able to adjust and to get networked in the local cultural environment. Cases studies of two Japanese hybrid managers, who can be labeled as a localizer and a local networker, testify that different strategies exist to succeed in intercultural workplace. The results infer that the workplaces outside of the enclave of Düsseldorf demand the managers` intercultural competence more. It appears that they succeed to create synergy by their excellent team work in the intercultural workplace which needs to be deepening by further investigations.
Atsushi Taira, Rolf Schlunze and Hachiro Hagiwara at the Shuto University, Tokyo.
