Nissan Motors Entering the International Market

Theories of Leadership: Critical Review

Trait Theory

The first assessed approach is the trait theory (TT) of leadership. TT focuses on assuming that personal attributes and skills are leadership markers (GuramatunhuCooper, 2017). Past meta-analyses associate traits like intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability with leadership (Dan, 2019). However, the TT has not been adequately supported due to its leader-centric nature, dependence on only a few leader attributes, and unresponsiveness to changing situations (GuramatunhuCooper, 2017). TT’s limitations are rooted in a presumption of universal traits, which ushers a failure to note cultural and gender variations (GuramatunhuCooper, 2017; Jheid, 2021). As more complex notions of leadership emerge, TT as a stand-alone approach lost relevance today. The problem of identifying universal leadership traits increases when research is conducted in culturally complex multinational settings (Jneid, 2021). Although the TT approach can be used for planning ideal manager profiles, it is recommended that Nissan Motors (NM) incorporate it with a contingency theory.

Contingency Theory

Based on the observations above, a suitable approach for NM is the contingency leadership model. A contingency model argues that a leader’s competence depends on adapting to different contexts and situations (Abba et al., 2018). Contingent leadership provides a more realistic outlook, recognizing that leaders must consider the environment and characteristics of clientele to achieve optimal results (Williams et al., 2017). The strengths of contingency theory (CT) include sufficient research support, flexibility, and the ability to predict an effective type of leadership (Williams et al., 2017). Therefore, applying CT implies that prescriptions and procedures no longer exist to facilitate decision-making in every situation, which allows for higher adaptability to the international market.

Furthermore, high levels of distributed leadership and responsibility require that innovation, creativity, and individual initiative are upheld over notions of ‘right’ behavior. If NM were to develop leadership profiles, the obtained data about individual leader styles could then be used. However, it is important to consider that the theory does not explain the advantage of particular leadership styles in certain situations. Additionally, CT does not show organizations how to act when there is a mismatch between the leader and the workplace situation, which NM should be cautious about, moving into the international scene.

Human Resources: Key Challenges

Economic Crisis

The financial crises of the 2000s were an example of widespread effects on employment, including company restructuring, layoffs, wage cuts, and high unemployment. An economic crisis is not preventable at the single-firm level (Farndale et al., 2019). Therefore, the first challenge for international human resource management (IHRM) would be uncertainty and the pressure to adjust to changes in the economy given no existing standard procedures. Furthermore, a crisis leads to a decline in the demand for labor as consumers spend less on products and services (Farndale et al., 2019). As a result, IHRM systems unable to adapt to this flexibility in demand may face a labor surplus and layoffs.

Political Crisis

Welcoming international personnel to the company may seem easier during the globalization era. Today, however, nations trend toward more nationalistic policies, characterized by less porous borders, higher trade barriers, and more aggressive political rhetoric regarding the diplomacy costs and nations’ cooperative action (Farndale et al., 2019). Consequently, highly skilled people are increasingly hesitant to move across national borders, which may mean losing NM’s competitive advantage due to slowed growth and innovation (Farndale et al., 2019). Therefore, NM managers must be aware of the increasing political tensions as they engage with the international workforce.

Social Crisis

Geographically permeable labor markets have become an important feature of global migration. Therefore, the lack of professional opportunities, poverty, and political instability in many developing economies have made international migrants a significant group in the global workforce (Farndale et al., 2019). However, the IHRM research presents limited knowledge of migrants’ skill sets (Farndale et al., 2019). Thus, a lack of IHRM strategies for using and managing these skill sets and knowledge to build a competitive advantage is another challenge for NM’s entry into the international environment.

Recruitment Strategies

The traditional IHRM approaches to recruiting are becoming obsolete in the emerging trends and market requirements. Jneid (2021) found that there is no universal set of competencies for global leadership. In this context, talent management is the recommended international recruitment strategy for NM, the central objective being to find the right person at the right moment for the position (Jheid, 2021). Therefore, IHRM must develop customized recruitment strategies for finding such employees. Another one of the well-known strategy in the international recruitment world is language-sensitive recruitment. Peltokorpi (2017) suggests that MNCs invest in language-oriented recruitment to enhance knowledge transfer. An enhanced knowledge transfer, in turn, increases companies’ absorptive capacity. Therefore, to aggressively improve and pursue desirable candidates, a flexible and language-oriented approach is required.

Cultural Challenges

A very important cultural challenge lies in international migrant workers’ willingness and ability to integrate into the new society. This aspect is currently understudied and may differ significantly by country (Farndale et al., 2019). Thus, the HR department must be willing to discuss individual reservations and expectations of desired workers beyond the standard employment-related questions. Furthermore, an undeniable aspect of culture is language and, as follows, the linguistic barriers. When using language-oriented IHRM, NM recruiters must note potential misalignments between language and functional competencies (Peltokorpi, 2017). Such misalignment is especially prevalent in countries with a limited supply of highly competent workers proficient in the corporate language (Peltokorpi, 2017). The NM management can deal with the challenges of language-sensitive recruitment by using established interview techniques and selection committees composed of local and highly qualified employees.

Summary and Recommendations

The key conclusion and recommendation for international expansion is avoiding universal, template-like approaches to leadership strategies, recruitment, or addressing challenges. The importance of trait and contingency theories of leadership, particularly in a multinational environment fraught with behavioral complexity, was critically evaluated in the company’s expansion. The recommendation for the IHRM would be to adhere to the contingency theory of leadership more than in a domestic context, given the lack of leadership qualities equally applicable in all countries. Although core competencies may be universal, leaders’ supporting behaviors should be culturally contingent. Specific behaviors, for instance, grasping initiatives with energy and drive, should be avoided since they are unlikely to transfer easily across cultures.

Furthermore, there are several issues that Nissan Motors IHRM may face upon moving to an international arena: an unstable economic environment, political tensions between nations, and uneven skillsets of the migrant workforce. In such a context, the competitive advantage of NM will be based on its ability to transfer knowledge effectively through its intra-organizational networks. Therefore, a case-based recruitment methodology and language-oriented approach are the recommended strategies for successful expansion. Unlike in a domestic context, IHRM must be aware of potential challenges with cultural integration and hiring people of sufficient linguistic proficiency.

Integration of these practices will assist Nissan Motors in ensuring a degree of flexibility that is much needed in the international context. The leaders in the company will have to be responsive to new environments and be willing to act independently beyond strict protocols. Furthermore, the need to be culturally and linguistically oriented will result in a profound shift in the HR staff composition. The inclusion of local staff will be a paramount change the company must undergo to truly become a multinational corporation.

Reference List

Abba, M., Yahaya, L. and Suleiman, N. (2018) ‘Explored and critique of contingency theory for management accounting research, 4(5), p. 12.

Dan, H. (2019) ‘The Analysis of LG and Haier with Trait Theory and Leadership Style Theory’, The Frontiers of Society, Science and Technology, 1(3).

Farndale, E. et al. (2019) ‘Facing complexity, crisis, and risk: Opportunities and challenges in international human resource management, Thunderbird International Business Review, 61(3), pp. 465–470.

GuramatunhuCooper, N.M. (2017) ‘Theory leadership from Africa: examples of trait theory, in Global and Culturally Diverse Leaders and Leadership. Emerald Publishing Limited (Building Leadership Bridges), pp. 3–19.

Jneid, C. (2021) , Management Decision, 59(1), pp. 118–133. Web.

Peltokorpi, V. (2017) ‘Absorptive capacity in foreign subsidiaries: The effects of language-sensitive recruitment, language training, and interunit knowledge transfer’, International Business Review, 26(1), pp. 119–129.

Williams, P., Ashill, N. and Naumann, E. (2017) ‘Toward a contingency theory of CRM adoption’, Journal of Strategic Marketing, 25(5–6), pp. 454–474.

Renault-Nissan Alliance Facts and Figures

The current world market has been very competitive and grim. The automobile industry has not been left out of the current problem. With a huge decline in car sales and massive lay offs, the car industry has felt the pinch as much as everyone else. The Nissan –Renault alliance has also been hit. This alliance was formed in order to help sustain the competitive edge of these two companies.

According to Kim and Massy-Beresford, (2009) “when the alliance was formed in 1999, Nissan was experiencing extreme financial difficulty and Renault offered the necessary capital to enable them to smoothly progress forward.” The areas of cooperation have increased over the years, with each firm gaining in terms of skill, technology and lower production costs, and as a result sky-rocketed to the top five international car makers (Alliance facts, 2009).

The alliance between these two companies brought a wide brand variety. Alliance facts (2009) shows that “Nissan brought two brands: Nissan and Infiniti while Renault brought three brands: Renault, Samsung and Dacia. The merger was indeed a logistical success in that it enabled the companies to experience economies of scale when the market was good.” So how do the individual brands work out now that the financial forecast is grim?

“The Infiniti brand is the luxury arm of Nissan” according to Revolution (2009). “This marque brand has done well, having overcome a poor start in the early 90s to pick up in the international market recording increased sales until the fatal financial crunch” (Edmunds, 2009). The synergy created between Nissan and Infiniti and later on the Nissan-Renault alliance stands to help this brand even in the current situation.

Let us examine this using a SWOT model (see table 1). The alliance enables the brand gain strengths that it could not achieve on its own. “One of the major let-downs of this brand during its initial start was lack of advertising power” as cited by Edmunds (2009). The Nissan-Renault alliance offers the Infiniti brand more market recognition. David (1987, 3) agrees with this citing “the increased monopoly due to more market share and recognition as the causing factor.”

Another strength that enables this brand to competitively stay afloat during this period is the technical expertise offered by this alliance. The alliance allows for consultation between the engineers of both Renault and Nissan, allowing the company to access a greater knowledge pool (Alliance facts, 2009). The result has been “a good reputation for quality and luxury that this brand now enjoys” (Edmunds, 2009). This recognition of quality has seen the introduction of the G35 and redesign of the Q45 that gave the brand a much needed car sale boost.

However, the brand has a few weaknesses. Ratnam (2009) points out “the recent recall in 2008 of 4854 of its EX35 showed that the brand has not gained fault free production”.

He adds that “these kinds of recalls affect the view of potential buyers, even in the future.” Another weakness is the inability of the brand to take full advantage of the newly created hybrid car segment (Nissan, 2009). This is an opportunity that the alliance has not effectively taken advantage of despite being touted as the next big thing in the automobile world. Such delays are not good and present a threat to the company’s command of the market share.

The opportunities that have presented themselves are many, and sometimes not taken full advantage of. For example, “the inability of Nissan, the parent company to introduce the hybrid technology is seriously affecting their competitive performance” according to Kim and Massy-Beresford (2009). However, there are opportunities that the brand has used very well.

Revolution sees one of them is “internet advertising” (Revolution, 2009). “The launch in London of Infiniti was preceded by a big blog and opinion campaign that resulted in huge cost savings on advertisement. The strategy has also been adopted by the Infiniti sales teams with the teams recording high sales volumes for very low advertising costs”, a clever strategy noted by Pasch (2009). Their competitive edge in the world market therefore is increased as they are able to register less sales related expenses per vehicle.

The threats to the competitive ability of the brand are indeed big, more so in the current financial landscape. With the global slump causing reduced new car sales, the companies are facing steeper financial problems. The financial performance report of Nissan Motor Co. third quarter for 2008 state that the operating loss encountered was 92.5 billion yen. This kind of financial performance has been reflected across the worldwide industry, even extending to other sectors.

The poor financial performance Kim and Massy-Beresford (2009) note “has caused the joined factory building projects underway by the Nissan-Renault alliance to be stalled”. This kind of stalling is not good for the brand. The imminent threat of reduced production ensures that the brand cannot have enough output in case the market demands more, thus losing out to other competitors. Even with the global recession on, the continual increase of capacity is important so as to take advantage of a boom in the future.

The competitive edge of this brand is also threatened by its exorbitant price range, especially in this time. Being a luxury brand the car’s shop price is not something that an economy that is facing job redundancy and wage loss would indulge in. The manufacturer must strive to ensure that the car’s price is reasonable with respect to the current market condition.

The brand is high quality and has international recognition for the same. The alliance between Nissan and Renault can greatly enhance its competitive edge by causing technical and production economies of scale. However, there are some factors that curtail the competitiveness of the Infiniti brand. First, the brand must strive to avoid anything that would result in negative publicity, such as vehicle recalls.

It must also ensure that the brand takes full advantage of its capital base to launch into newly created market segments as quickly as possible. In this way, it would be able to capitalize on the consumer taste and fashion trends while they still exist. Infiniti stands a good chance of weathering the financial crisis if it makes affordable, relevant and yet quality products.

Table 1. SWOT Analysis Framework.

Strengths

  • Technical expertise
  • Market recognition
  • Greater knowledge pool
Weaknesses

  • Lack of advertising power
  • Negative publicity because of brand recalls
  • Exorbitant price range
  • Poor financial performance
Opportunities

  • Newly created hybrid car segment
  • Internet advertising
Threats

  • Global financial slump
  • Stiff competition

References

Alliance Facts 2009 . Web.

Chang-Ran K. & Massy-Beresford H., 2009, Is Nissan-Renault tie-up success story overblown. Web.

Edmunds 2009 Infiniti. Web.

Gopal R., 2009 Nissan Recalls Murano, Infiniti SUVs for Air Bags. Web.

Nissan 2009 Financial Results Material. Web.

Pasch Consulting 2009 Group Infiniti of Santa Monica Case Study. Web.

Quick MBA 2009 Swot Analysis. Web.

Revolution 2008 Case studies-Nissan Infiniti. Web.

Ravenscraft J. D., & Frederic M. S., 1997 Mergers, Sell-offs, and Economic Efficiency Brookings Institution Press.

Nissan Patrol Product Marketing in the UAE

This project aims at discussing the marketing strategies, problems, analysis of the macro and microenvironment, and solutions for Nissan Company and its new product, Nissan Patrol, being launched in the market of the United Arab Emirates. In addition to the evaluation of the market, it is expected to develop a situational analysis and identify the threats, strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for the organization to introduce a powerful marketing strategy in terms of which such issues as price, goals, promotion, distribution, and product are mentioned.

Current Situation: Macro Environment Analysis

Economy

The auto industry has become one of the main elements of the successful economy in almost every country in the world, and the UAE market remains to be one of the fastest-growing examples. The affordability of cars and the necessity to choose credible organizations that focus on quality and guarantees have improved.

Legal Issues

Nissan Company follows the requirements of the Federal Labor Law according to which all employees are provided with certain rights and opportunities and the Consumer Rights in UAE Law No. 24 (2006) on Consumer Protection according to which all UAE customers remain to be protected against the products and services that could cause harm (United Arab Emirates: The Cabinet 8).

Government

The government of the UAE supports the investors to promote their business in the country because such kind of activity might attract the attention of various car producers and use the products that could be offered from the UAE auto market.

Technology

The current technological improvements and developments influence the auto industry of the UAE. Certain changes occur in manufacturing, cleaning, and tuning of cars. The fast production of cars is a key point of the industry. Internet technologies have changed the marketing conditions.

Ecology

From the ecological point of view, Nissan Company aims at promoting a safe environment and meeting all major ecological issues.

Socio-Cultural Issues

Though the UAE is the country with strong cultural and religious opinions, several contradictions and opinions in terms of socio-cultural relations occur. The majority of consumers are concerned with public opinions. Still, they are always eager to choose quality and comfort regardless of price set.

Supply Chain

The UAE is the country that relies on its import. There is a considerable gap between car demand and supply in the country, and Nissan Company has to deal with the challenges of introducing itself as a powerful organization in the market.

Current Situation: Market Analysis

Market Definition

A lot of international companies are ready to invest in the UAE industry and evaluate the market to understand what people want from the auto manufacturers. The investigations show that in summer, 2014, “Nissan recorded a monthly record for sales of its Patrol models” (The National Staff par. 1). Besides, Nissan’s overall sales continue increasing (72% during one month) (The National Staff par. 8).

Market size

The market size for cars is about AED 23 to 36 billion in the UAE. People understand the main priorities of the Nissan Patrol model and enjoy its reliability on the off-roads and comfort under any weather conditions with about eight people in one car. The annual report of the company in 2015 shows that more than 230000 sales occurred in the Middle East (“Annual Report 2015: Nissan Motor Corporation 12).

Market Segmentation

The geographic segmentation: the Gulf region, and the UAE in particular.

The demographic segmentation: males of 30-50 years, who have big families and like traveling or who prefer comfort and quality of travel the most.

The psychographic segmentation: the middle to high social classes, who have enough income to buy a car.

The behavioral segmentation: people, who choose Nissan Patrol, focus on such aspects as capability regardless the severity of driving conditions, advanced safety with a world-renowned Safety Shield concept that helps to protect people in a vehicle, and comfort that makes Nissan Patrol attractive and appropriate for vacations with several family members or business partners (“Patrol” par. 3).

Industry Structure and Strategic Groupings

During the last years, Nissan in the UAE has re-evaluated the role of buyers and the conditions of product development. The contemporary industry structure of Nissan Company includes considerable specialization and the possibility to shorten the product life in comparison to its competitors such as Toyota, Audi, and Honda.

Porter 5 Forces Analysis

Porter 5 Forces Analysis

Competition and Market Share

Nissan maintains the second position (after Toyota) and sells more than 63000 units annually. It means that 2015 has better financial results in comparison to the results of 2013: 2013 – 10%, and 2015 15.3% of market share (“Motoring: Nissan Sales Grew by 141% in KSA” par. 3).

Competitors’ Strengths and Weaknesses

In the UAE, the main competition occurs between Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. These companies introduce powerful vehicles addressing such aspects as quality, comfort, and speed. The strengths of competitors lie in the possibility to create the products that meet the current market trend, and the main weakness is the impossibility to neglect the presence of competitors

Market Trends

The main market trends defined by the UAE customers have nothing to do with price. Citizens want to be sure that they get high-quality products that are safe and comfortable for everyday usage. People expect to know more about the products they are going to buy. Besides, people focus on the electronics and software content of their cars. Finally, the UAE auto market aims at satisfying customer’s requirements such as domestic assembly quotas and gas/diesel preferences (“2016 Auto Industry Trends” par. 10). The only task Nissan has is to react quickly to the existing market trends to meet the expectations of its customers.

Current Situation: Consumer Analysis

Nature of the buying decision

  • The desire to have a car with an original style;
  • The intention to protect the environment and the fact that some Nissan vehicles decrease CO2 emissions and reduce the necessity to buy fuel frequently;
  • The awareness of the fact that Nissan is the company that listens to its consumers and considers their opinions.

As soon as customers investigate the options offered by Nissan, they compare the alternatives, underline the pros and cons of their favorite models, and make their decisions in regards to the standards used, the quality offered, and value recognized.

Participants

There is no direct relation between the company that introduces a new model and its consumers. Therefore, the role of dealers and has to be underlined. Nissan introduces products to its consumers through dealers and advertisers, who investigate the current economic and financial situation of the country, set prices, and make propositions.

Demographics

Nissan Patrol is offered to all customers. Still, the main auditory for this type of car are men between 25-40 years with middle or even high income.

Psychographics

Nissan Patrol is a car for men, who appreciate comfort, power, and quality. The UAE is the country, where the power of men and their role in society is underlined and explained. Therefore, Nissan Patrol can be offered to people, who understand the worth of family values, like traveling, and can investigate the auto market to identify the best options. Citizens of the UAE are ready to wait and spend huge money to get the required portion of quality and satisfaction.

Buyer motivation and expectations

Buyers are motivated by the necessity to have big and comfortable cars, avoid losses, and gain rewards. UAE buyers expect to get comfortable and safe cars at affordable prices. Still, the price is not a very significant point for UAE customers. What they want is to be confident that their purchases do not harm them.

Summary of Situation Analysis (S.W.O.T)

External threats

  • Natural disasters and climate changes;
  • Fuel price changes;
  • Raw material price changes,
  • Development of global competitions.

External opportunities

  • Acquisition growth,
  • The necessity to create environmentally safe vehicles.

Internal strengths

  • Innovations;
  • Brand;
  • Partnership;
  • Successful financial performance.

Internal weaknesses

  • The possibility of product recalls in the UAE.

Critical success factors in the industry

  • The development of internal business processes;
  • Attention to innovation;
  • Evaluation of stakeholder value;
  • Increased consumer awareness;
  • Improved quality consumer services.

Our sustainable competitive advantage

Nissan’s brand is one of the strongest sustainable competitive advantages of the company because it takes money, maturity, and time to be successfully developed.

Marketing Strategy: Product

Product mix

Nissan production varies and meets the expectations of different customers. The developers consider different segments when they introduce new models such as Micra (small cars), Sentra (sedan models), Tiida, X-Trail, sports cars, luxury cars, etc.

Product strengths and weaknesses

The main weakness of the product is the inability of Nissan to reach the product depth and make it unique among the same models of other companies. The main strength of the Nissan Patrol is the ability to predict what customers expect from the product and how to underline the main features.

Brand name, brand image, and brand equity

Nissan is a worldwide known brand with a powerful image and history. Many people recognize their brand and equity around the whole world. In other words, when people decide to choose Nissan, they understand the nature of their choice.

The augmented product

The value of the Nissan Patrol is improved by the presence of such augmented products as warranties and high-quality services offered to all buyers of this model.

Product portfolio analysis

High Relative Market Share Low Relative Market Share
High Market Growth Stars (high market position and strong competition):
Patrol, GT-R
Question marks (need more capital to improve market shares):
X-Trail, Maxima.
Low Market Growth Cash cow (strong competition but slow market growth):
Almera, Juke.
Dog (weak competition and slow market growth):
Altima, Sentra.

Marketing Strategy: Price

Pricing objectives

It is necessary to attract customers by unique features of the product, and low prices can be one of the most attractive options in addition to good design and a comfortable environment.

Pricing strategy

The pricing strategy of Nissan works directly in regards to the correlation with its product function. This company is known for setting reasonable and logical prices to its products regardless of the country they offer its production.

Marketing Strategy: Promotion

Promotional goals

Nissan should focus on providing its consumers with credible information about the model, underline that the company’s activities affect customers and help to recognize their needs and make people believe that the company does everything possible to combine quality, comfort, and price to meet the expectations of its customers.

Promotional mix

In addition to several advertisement campaigns that are spread via television, the Internet, and various print media sources, Nissan should focus on charity events and direct contact with customers (e.g. multiple test drives and fun drives in cities).

Advertising reach, frequency, flights, theme, and media

The main goal of advertising the Nissan Patrol is to prove that the company understands the needs of the UAE consumers and is ready to introduce the product that meets the majority of their expectations.

Publicity and public relations

To introduce and promote its products, Nissan offers online newsrooms and official forms where customers can share their experience. Nissan has to focus on public opinion not to provide its competitors with a chance to use some facts against it.

Electronic promotion

Electronic promotion of Nissan Patrol occurs on the official site of the company. Besides, people create their blogs and forums to share their personal experience on what they know about the Nissan Patrol and what their results of the comparison between Patrol and some Toyota or Honda models are.

Marketing Strategy: Distribution

Geographical coverage

Nissan Patrol is one of the most popular models in the UAE. It is suggested to prove that Nissan Patrol is the best option for the citizens of the UAE, who want to enjoy comfort, space, and quality.

Distribution channels

Nissan Patrol’s main distribution channels are successful marketing campaigns, the development of trustful relations with dealers, and direct participation of consumers in test drives and other advertising activities.

Physical distribution and logistics

Nissan Patrol is a product that is developed according to several logical steps and decisions. For example, in the UAE, the first stage of physical distribution is the identification of raw material sources. Then the production process takes place. Finally, customers get access to the product using the company’s cooperation with dealers or other intermediates.

Electronic distribution

Nowadays, people can buy cars online and get them delivered right to the required place. It is also possible to learn more about the required model online. Portable technologies are used to find the necessary information about the product online from any part of the world and make a purchase anytime.

Conclusion

In general, the UAE, the automobile industry grows fast, and several well-known international companies are eager to enter this market to gain benefits and provide customers with the best products. The demand for cars in the UAE has increased considerably due to such factors as the country’s economic growth, the development of international relations, and the identification of the tourism industry as one of the main incomes of the country.

Several manufacturers have been already attracted to the country. Now, Nissan is going to launch a new product and prove that sufficient innovations offered in Nissan Patron may be defined as the best solution for people, who want to enjoy the quality and beauty of the Middle East.

Works Cited

2016 Auto Industry Trends. 2016. Web.

. 2015. Web.

” 2016. Arab News. Web.

n.d. Web.

The National Staff. “Nissan Patrol Powers Its Way to Record Sales in the UAE and Region.” The National. 2014. Web.

United Arab Emirates: The Cabinet. 2007. Web.

Carlos Ghosn’s Strategies in Nissan Company

Evaluate to what extent did Ghosn use or not use the defining perspective of organization development?

Systematic perspective is essential for any business conduction, and it has the strategy in its core. A system implies the balance between the strategy, processes, personnel, finance, innovations, customers, etc. According to Nissan’s financial crisis and low rate of competitiveness at the market, when Ghosn began work in the company, its organizational system didn’t seem to be well-balanced.

However, Ghosn started the process of the systematic improvements by determination of the precise goals and directions. Ghosn’s main goal was, as he claimed, to do everything possible “to bring Nissan back to profitability at the earliest date possible and revive it as a highly attractive company.”

Ghosn also admitted that the systematic changes in the organization were of tremendous importance as well as the protection of the organizational “identity and the self-esteem of its people.” Therefore, the systematic approach was taken into consideration by Ghosn and was endowed with great significance and value.

Alignment means the coherence and correspondence among the strategic processes, environment, and employees. In Ghosn’ case, it can be observed that the effectiveness of alignment differed in various periods of his management. In Nissan, Ghosn established high demands and requirements for the staff members, and especially those who were in charge of supervision and management.

He demanded a high level of accountability that, according to him, “must start at the top.” However, not all the employees handled alignment with Ghosn’s demands, and within two years he removed “a number of key executives for failure to meet performance targets.” Ghosn’s demands were high not merely in executive office but all units of the company.

The strict requirements and regulations introduced by Ghosn make it clear that the alignment perspective was important to him. However, the fact that sometimes the subordinates failed to achieve the working objectives proves that alignment wasn’t always fulfilled.

The perspective of participation was considered by Ghosn perfectly. Under his management, the employees of all departments could make a contribution to Nissan’s development. It best of all can be observed in the example of the company’s problems diagnosis in 1999 when “Ghosn engaged in a process he called ‘deep listening,’ speaking to over 5,000 people.”

In this process, each person could share his or her concerns about the existed issues and could suggest some potential problems solutions. Ghosn’s management was people-oriented to a great extent and the support of employees’ participation and commitment. Therefore, participation perspective was used extensively.

Social capital perspective implies the creation of the trustful and cooperative interrelations within and outside the company. It seems that it was implemented by Ghosn with the mixed success. Japanese people are proud of their culture, and the differences between the Western and Asian cultures are great.

The foreigner’s attempts to adjust to and to understand a new culture would be a way to gain trust. However, Ghosn preferred to focus on goals achievements rather than worrying “about cultural differences or politicking.” Therefore, social capital can be considered as insufficiently developed.

Teamwork functioned extremely well in Nissan. Ghosn emphasized the importance of interrelations among the company’s units, at local and international levels. Ghosn encouraged communication and discussion. It can be observed in the example of “deep listening” mentioned previously. It is the case of the large-scale communication among all the team members.

In what ways did Ghosn use or not use the defining perspective of organization development?

The system perspective was used by Ghosn in the way he balanced interrelations between the long-term goals, processes that were aimed at their achievement, and the people who committed their best to make it possible. The main objective was the achievement of profitability that became a basis for the plan development.

The processes included in the strategic plan were the reduction of costs, number of manufacturing platforms, number of suppliers, and plants; launching new vehicle models, and the increase of investments. When following the plan, Ghosn was very strict towards his subordinates and especially executives.

The Japanese executives claimed that Carlos Ghosn always challenged them “to make higher commitments and targets.” Therefore, in support of the systematic perspective, there was the establishment of high working standards that induced the balanced interrelations between objectives, processes, and people.

Due to the establishment of high demands, the alignment was always a success in the company. As it already was mentioned, the incapability to cope with the challenges was the reason for some executives’ removal. However, Ghosn himself and many of his decisions were very much aligned with the requirements that were dictated by the lamentable situation and the overall environment.

Ghosn claimed that “the only power that a CEO has is to motivate,” and according to Nissan’s business improvement, he did his job well. The motivation of employees’ by high values and strict regulations eventually led to positive outcomes.

The participation perspective was adopted by the encouragement of open discussions, interconnections between departments, and information transparency, both within and outside the company. The open conversations between executives and their subordinates support the high level of participation and commitment.

It is very important for communication to be mutual. Ghosn effectively managed this issue by talking to the employees while diagnosing the problems, and then “when he announced his diagnosis to the press, and more importantly, to employees within the company.”

Ghosn’s emphasis on frankness, openness, and transparency contributed a lot to the development of social capital. However, the lack of adjustment to Japanese culture and the “significant departures from traditional Japanese approaches to management” interfered with the establishment of more trustful cooperation. At the same time, he adopted the policy of public transparency that ensured the disclosure of all the organizational processes. Therefore, it raised the level of the public trust.

The best example proving a developed teamwork perspective is the “cross-functional teams.” While working in Renault, Ghosn found that “the narrow, functionally based thinking” interferes with the provision of “a larger strategic view.” He emphasized that cross-functionality was important for the company’s success. Therefore, the cross-functional teams were responsible for refinement of communication, investigations, and data collection that led to better understanding of the problems.

Evaluate the impact this had on his strategic renewal

Before Ghosn, Nissan was “a failing company.” The problems diagnosis conducted by him detected the significant financial decline that was followed by a lack of “sense of urgency” in the Japanese executives and the unattractiveness of some products. The strategic renewal was targeted to the growth of profitability as well as the creation of this sense of necessary urgency by the strengthening the demands and requirements.

The introduction of transparency policy allowed encouragement for achievements and was consistent with Ghosn’s views. He said that “top management is highly visible,” therefore executives’ words must comply with their actions. Ghosn motivated management with challenges and eventually the results were positive. The development of the cross-functional teams helped the development of interrelations that enabled the in-depth understanding of the issues.

While working time at Nissan, Carlos Ghosn managed to increase the company’s profitability. Nissan was at the financial decline in 1999 when Ghosn was assigned as COO in the executive office. Overcoming the crisis was the primal goal in his management policies, and he applied the variety of techniques and methods, at times controversial, to achieve financial sustainability.

Quality Management: Nissan Motors

Introduction

The significance of Quality Management (QM) within organizations is evident, practicable, and considerable regardless of the type of business concerned. Numerous businesses have adopted the principles of quality management in order to prosper with competiveness.

This allows them to enhance their competitive advantages, market shares, and global presence. This paper focuses on Nissan Motors with respect to how it applies Quality Management (QM) principles to attain the witnessed globalized prosperity, profitability, and competitive advantages, which it currently enjoys.

Evidently, Nissan Motors is Japanese based automobile company with branches worldwide (Mikler 188). It has massive global market, well-orchestrated distribution channels, and stringent quality observation criteria. Motor vehicle industry requires stern application of QM provisions in order to increase the lifespan of vehicles produced, reduced probable future accidents caused by mechanical defects, and meet customers’ demands with satisfaction.

The benefits of QM are numerous and ranges from one industry to the next. Additionally, there are various ways through which the principles of QM can be adopted and integrated within an organization’s processes. This ensures that the company meets it desired quality obligations with precision.

In this context, the aspects of Total quality management (TQM), Six-sigma, and other internal quality assurance provisions are applicable (Akpolat 68). It is evident that Nissan Motors has adopted the required QM provisions in its processes to enhance its productivity and quality assurance obligations.

Reviewing how QM frameworks contribute to organization’s success

Evidently, a well-set quality management framework can contribute massively to the progress of any organization. It is a considerable provision in numerous organizations striving to remain competitive in the marketplace. Through quality management, it is possible for organizations to capture and retain customers’ trust with respect to their services and other service provision mechanisms. Nissan Motors is no exception in this context having captured numerous clients globally and still continues to expand its market territories.

An evident way through which QM framework contributes to the alleged success is uniformity and value it confers to the produced products (Mukherjee 34). QM ensures that the resultant products meet the desired standards with desired uniformity and value. This helps in creating and building a strong brand name for the company and product in question.

If all the products distributed are the same in quality, durability, applicability, and function, customers would obviously prefer the product despite its cost and other negative provisions. Precisely, QM frameworks help in maintaining uniformity within a similar product line while enhancing reliability in functionality. This is an important provision in the motor vehicle industry where customers expect to attain similar brands with similar functionality.

Additionally, QM frameworks help organizations to detect defective products before distributing them to the target customers. The process ensures that the released products are of the desired standards and meet the preset stipulations regarding quality provisions. Consequently, an organization can attain a considerable success in the market when it sells products with no defects to customers.

Customer will continue to trust the very organization as indicated earlier. It is through a well-orchestrated QM framework that an organization will scrutinize all its production processes and detect default products in time. This will help in eliminating them before they reach the ultimate customers.

It is quite devastating to the organization when clients perceive its products as faulty and malfunctioning. Contextually, Nissan Motors has stringent QM frameworks to detect faulty production processes to ensure that those vehicles that leave for the market are of desired quality and functionality. This has ensured the company’s success in the realms of growth, productivity, and profitability.

Another benefit of a constructive QM framework is that it promotes a collaborative teamwork allowing employees of the concerned organization to work together in order to achieve a common goal. This helps in promoting the alleged success with precision. The teamwork endorsed by QM frameworks increase the aspects of productivity, professionalism, sharing of ideas, and individual growth among the concerned staff (Morfaw 42).

Evidently, an organization can only attain quality provision when its entire stakeholders contribute significantly to this demand. Nissan Motors has involved all its stakeholders in the aspects of quality assurance. Employees have the mandate to observe quality aspects while customers can report any incidence of defective products.

This helps the company to restructure its production approaches hence providing clients with the quality demanded. Precisely, QM frameworks promote teamwork within the workforce hence increasing productivity, growth, and profitability of the concerned company besides the production of faultless products.

Additionally, QM helps in lowering costs by reducing wastage of resources within the production processes. When an organization produces faulty goods, it might be forced to discard them upon detection. This means that the resources, which were used to produce such products, are wasted.

Constructive QM frameworks help in curbing such instances hence rendering the organization quite productive and profitable (Mukherjee75). These provisions contribute massively to the aspects of success mentioned earlier.

This move promotes the needs to reduce the cost and increase profitability while realizing organizational success. Precisely, the benefits of quality management are bountiful. Most organizations have strived to enact its principles with success. Although the benefits are never instant, the ultimate gains are considerable.

Another concept is that it is possible to highlight problems faster within the organization and provide considerable resolution in an open manner. It is through QM frameworks that the organization will realize its mistakes in the realms of production and management aspects. Consequently, it is possible to attain the required remedies to correct the situation. This is quite contributory to the mentioned organizational success (Mikler 18).

Ability to resolved issues faster within an organization is an important phenomenon when considered critically. It relates to how the organization will value its clients and how it is possible to enact such provisions for the benefits of the company.

Contextually, Nissan Motors has endeavoured to enact the aspects of QM to help it notify the production mistakes, customer complains, and quality improvements for constructive business operations. It is from this context that the entire business provisions lie with precision. Ability to attain the required success is an important provision in varied contexts. It is from this provision that the entire business prospects and other vulnerable benefits emerge.

Additionally, the enhanced productivity emerging from well-established TQM frameworks means remarkable profits to the concerned organization. It is from this context that the entire business prospects emerge with the ultimate benefits and provisions.

Additionally, enabling the organization to embrace the aspects of quality is important in achieving various obligations of the company as indicated earlier. When an organization makes better profits, it is probable that employees will get higher pays and other prominent benefits within the company. This relates to the demanded customer provisions and other probable benefits within the company.

Another important consideration in this aspect is that a well-orchestrated QM provisions help in identifying the skill-deficiencies among employees. The entire quality observation processes will unveil where additional skills are demanded. Consequently, it is possible that the organization will organize lucrative training schedules to fill the knowledge gaps noticed amidst employees.

This will help in enhancing the company growth, expertise among the concerned workforce, problem solving capabilities, and other prominent business and production provisions helpful in upholding QM prospects within the organization. Precisely, quality management frameworks can generally contribute to the business or organization’s success when considered critically.

It provides numerous opportunities, which an organization can utilize in order to remain relevant, productive, competitive, profitable, and successful within the market. Nissan Motors has realized its success by establishing, ratifying, and embracing the aspects of QM in all its endeavours as indicated before. This is a critical provision with regard to its success records and competitiveness within the global market.

How quality management frameworks are applied by the organization (Focusing on management and technical systems)

Evidently, QM frameworks are applied by the organization (Nissan Motors) in numerous ways. Firstly, the organization has to identify areas which require QM system in order to enhance the viability of management systems and production processes. This helps in identifying which type of QM will be appropriate for the company to implement to realize its objectives in the realms of management and technical systems.

Firstly, to enhance the management aspects, the company has established a QM hierarchy where duties are delegated from the top management to subordinates (Mikler 188). There is a massive coherency in the entire management systems to ensure quality, appropriateness, and strategic management obligations.

QM not only apply in the production and supply process but it also consider the aspects of administration and the trends that the organization uses in order to execute its duties and company obligations. It is from this context that the application of the QM systems starts with precision and remarkable launch.

Additionally, the ability of the organization to identify contributions that QM will bring into its operations is critical. It makes the organization to realize its fortune in the context of customer focus, quality provisions, expansion, and profitability. TQM, six-sigma, and other quality assurance provisions are applicable in this context. Most organizations have endeavoured to provide their clients with the best commodities so far.

Contextually, this is only achievable through constructive QM provisions embraced by Nissan Motors among other organizations, which operate in the same calibre.

Evidently, management and technical systems require appropriate QM provisions in order to realize their effectiveness and success during implementation (Morfaw 42). Enacting appropriate and constructive QM system within an organization simplifies the quality management efforts and enhances productivity of individual employees, teams, departments, and the organization at large.

With regard to technical systems and production mechanisms, the organization applies the aspects QM through production processes where each process has a quality standard, which must be met before the product, continues to the next stage. Evidently, motor vehicle production is not a one-stage process.

It involves numerous stages, departments, and expertise, which must synchronize their operations in order to attain the required quality provisions. It is from the production processes that the required quality of products will emerge. Each sector within the production and technical system must consider stipulated quality standards for the company to realize any remarkable production capability and quality accomplishment.

Another QM application provision is training of the concerned workforce for them to understand the provisions of QM within the organizations, its benefits to the organization if well applied, application areas, promotion, and structures. Nissan Motors has ensured that its employees understand the aspects of QM, demanded commitments among employees, and preservation of quality aspects among the concerned suppliers before products reach the ultimate customers.

It is evident that a product can attain defects during transportation from the factory to distributions outlets and to the ultimate clients. Incorporating the aspects of QM in these sectors (distribution channels) has helped Nissan motors to uphold its reputation in the realms of quality provision despite the challenges.

Training employees and suppliers on how to observe the aspects of quality is important in this context. It has allowed the company to prosper significantly in its endeavours. Management and technical systems require critical training schedules with respect to QM framework applications. Training offers the best opportunity where QM frameworks can be applied within an organization.

Another aspect is the development of a quality management manual. This is a stepwise guide that ensures that the entire QM provisions are observed within the organization. Production systems must follow a process that helps in identifying areas that need improvement and enhancing the aspects of quality provisions. A manual acts like a checklist with provisions that a product must meet in order to be considered worthy for market and customer use (Akpolat 68).

Nissan Motors has established a manual to help in implementing and observing the aspects of quality in its entire production systems and supply chain mechanisms. The need for quality in the management and technical systems within the organization has helped in increasing these provisions. This has helped in increasing the company competitiveness and service provision mechanisms. Contextually, it is important to consider these aspects with respect to quality provision within the organization.

While still considering the technical systems, Nissan Motors applies its QM frameworks among individuals, within teams, and all departments to ensure that each stakeholder observes the aspects of quality (Mukherjee 35). It is the mandate of every individual to observe quality aspects at personal levels.

This will eventually accumulate the aspects of quality provision with promptness. The ultimate cumulative QM provisions have ensured that the company remains competitive and observes the aspects of quality globally. Consequently, this has contributed to its witnessed success.

Benefits and Problems of Six-sigma Quality Management on future application

Six Sigma (SS) has been in use since 1980s after Motorola introduced it. Its application in most industries and organizations is important due to the changes it brings in terms of quality, uniformity, and reliability. Evidently, SS focuses on the consistency of commodities and services provided to customers. It uses statistical evaluations to verify whether the concerned organization (Nissan Motors in this context) attains its desired quality demands.

As mentioned earlier, the application of SS affects the management, staff, and suppliers among other stakeholders. Arguably, SS affects numerous stakeholders if established properly. Contextually, SS will affect Nissan Motors with bountiful positivity despite the negative aspects. This section discusses the benefits and problems of Six-sigma QM on future application within the organization. When established correctly, it is possible to attain quality, punctuality, and customers’ satisfaction.

Additional benefit that Nissan Motors expects to attain in this context is a preferable and evidence-based decision making effort since SS bases its provisions on data collected. In cases there are areas to improve in the management and technical systems; there will be adequate data and supportive evidence.

This allows for the required precision and profitability demanded. It is from this context that SS will strive to improve the company endeavour towards QM establishment and ratification. SS bases it provisions on statistical evidences as stipulated before (Mukherjee 134).

In this context, Nissan Motors will have to investigate and collect data on why it needs to ratify QM through SS, the company will also establish the root of the problem under scrutiny, and which objectives and accomplishments are expected upon ratification of the desired processes. This makes everything justifiable and implementable with precisions. Another benefit is that SS has been embraced with massive success from the concerned stakeholders. There is a considerable chance that the project will materialize in Nissan Motors.

This stage of SS application provides viable objectives for the mentioned quality progress. Since the model ensures consistency, reliability, and quality of the commodities provided, Nissan Motors has the mandate to formulate its objectives with reasonability. Notably, SS has five distinct steps ratified in its application. This incorporates DMAIC denoting “Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control” (Brussee 1).

SS is measurable and bases its success on the data collected. This means that the entire processes of its application will need assessment for viability. It is crucial to consider varied aspects of this model with regard to their application in the Nissan’s setting. DMAIC ensures sustainable solutions within the organization. Additionally, SS will enhance the corporate focus, augment training schedules among employees, promote product diversification, and provide the demanded quality provisions stipulated earlier.

Conversely, there are problems that SS might front to Nissan Motors upon its ratification. Evidently, SS require considerable amount of time used in the data collection, analysis, recommendation, and implementation in order to realize its QM provisions (Brussee 1).

This duration needed might disfavour the company remarkably. Additionally, it is evident that every stakeholder of the company will have to go through training schedules in order to understand the aspects of SS for a successful implementation. This might be costly to the company.

Since Nissan Motors is a globalized corporation, training its entire workforce in different countries might be time consuming and costly. The company might find it hard to implement and embrace this QM model. Additionally, the company might not match its situations with the theories regarding SS. This might hinder comprehensive applicability. Business situations vary from one organization the next and what works best for one might be awry for the other.

Conclusion

Quality management is a critical provision in numerous organizations. It helps in establishing and embracing the aspects of success as evident in the Nissan Motors’ context discussed herein. Precisely, a substantial QM’s frameworks can significantly contribute to an organizations success.

It is possible to apply QM frameworks in management and technical systems with remarkable success. Nissan Motors has practiced this provision with considerable victory. Full application of SS guarantees quality, punctuality, and customers’ satisfaction despite the problems it might pose upon ratification.

Works Cited

Akpolat, Hasan. Six Sigma in Transactional and Service Environments. Vermont, Vt: Glower, 2004. Print.

Brussee, Warren. The Season Great Depression. New York, NY: Booklocker, 2005. Print.

Mikler, John. Greening the Car Industry: Varieties of Capitalism and Climate Change. Cheltenham: Elgar, 2009. Print.

Morfaw, John. Total Quality Management (tqm): A Model for the Sustainability of Projects and Programs in Africa. Maryland, MD: University Press of America, 2009. Print.

Mukherjee, Paul. Total Quality Management. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India, 2006. Print.

Turnaround at Nissan

Introduction

Currently, the key task for management is successfully executing change in organisations. Organisational change denotes the set of different activities that yield an alteration in the course and progressions that influence the manner in which organisations operate. This paper analyses the case study of the triumphant turnaround of Nissan.

The paper explores what was done to better effectiveness, adaptation, and human dealings, and the manner in which the potential transactions amid the performance determining factors were dealt with.

Additionally, this paper will evaluate the features and expertise that elucidate successful tactical leadership perspective of Carlos Ghosn. Finally, the cross-cultural deliberations Carlos must take into consideration when executing change at Nissan is examined.

What was done to improve efficiency, adaptation, and human relations, and how were the potential trade-offs among these performance determinants handled?

Tactical leadership is a complex issue that entails managing organisations and assisting them in dealing with the current internationalised business setting (Laschinger et al. 2001). Various researches affirm the significance of tactical leadership in illustrating that an organisation is an indication of their pinnacle leader.

Different studies concluded that tactical leadership is connected with several constructive organisational outcomes (De Luque et al. 2008). Tactical leadership is majorly seen as a part of the critical propellers of efficient policy execution.

Pliable and adaptive leadership means that top leaders have an impact on the fiscal performance of any organisation through their influence on the major determining factors of the fiscal performance of organisations (that is, human dealings, efficiency, and adaptation).

Leadership and management studies offer powerful proof that pliable and adaptive leadership is vital for the majority of managers (Elenkov & Fileva 2006; Arnold et al. 2000), which is particularly significant in cases of noteworthy change. Additional proof of the necessity of pliability in conduct when assuming a leadership position in a foreign nation, like in the case of Carlos Ghosn, is offered by cross-cultural study.

At the time of his initial days as the leader at Nissan, Carlos Ghosn instigated several changes. His initial step was to establish nine cross-operational groups and granting them the opportunity to provide probable explanations. Strengthening cross-cultural groups is significant since strengthening them is reported to boost pliability as well as efficiency in an organisation.

In a bid to enhance efficiency, Carlos Ghosn took up a cost leadership policy and concentrated on quality control (Leonard-Barton 1992). The initial step taken by Ghosn in this regard was shutting five plants in Japan thus getting rid of 21,000 workers.

In a bid to ease production progressions at the rest of the plants and to ensure that they become more efficient, Ghosn decreased the quantity of suppliers in a bid to cut down on the costs of purchase (Eren, Zehir & Özşahin 2004). To enhance adaptation and build on client appeal, Carlos Ghosn employed Shiro Nakamura, an inventive designer, who turned out to be a major leader in the turnaround attempts.

Designers took up the responsibility of choosing the design, and Carlos Ghosn supported their being inventive instead of just being copy competitors. In a bid to boost human dealings at Nissan, Carlos Ghosn decreased the number of dealerships possessed by the company and went ahead to boost management at the rest of the dealerships. Moreover, vital changes were as well made in the human resource progressions (Pahl 2008).

A merit compensation plan was developed, and rather than being compensate based on seniority, workers were awarded for their performance (Bremner, Edmondson & Dawson 2004).

Sectors of responsibility were as well acutely described so that performance would be gauged with regard to particular objectives, and studies have shown that fairness has connections with organisational citizenship conducts (Fedora et al. 2001).

Furthermore, recent research examines the impact of fairness on dedication. Carlos Ghosn had numerous goals that were interconnected in intricate manner and thus necessitated cautious balancing of competing goals since efforts to better one goal may have challenged attempts to attain an associated goal.

For instance, offering a high degree of compensation and monetary advantages could boost gratification as well as readiness to stay in the organisation, but the costs of operation will increase. Carlos Ghosn dealt with this trade-off triumphantly as the gains obtained through efficient performance translated into the reduction of the costs of operation (Paik & Choi 2005).

Using theory and research to inform your answer, describe why some of the changes Ghosn made were effective

In spite of the argument by Slater, Paliwoda, and Slater (2009) that there are no international rules with respect to leading and management of change, a number of realistic directions have been provided to organisations and managers. Firkola (2009) lists eight strides that leaders of organisations must embrace to execute change successfully.

He proposed that the foundation in any triumphant change progression is to append a feeling of urgency and significance to change, which is the foundation for establishing an idea for change. An efficient idea is conceivable, enviable, practicable, focused, pliable, and communicable.

Idea plays a major function in providing helpful change by assisting in guiding, lining up and motivating activities with regard to a great number of individuals. Devoid of a suitable idea, a change attempt can effortlessly disband into a list of mystifying, mismatched, as well as time consuming developments that head in the wrong way or nowhere whatsoever.

Idea assists in establishing dedication, motivation, and encouragement by linking individuals emotionally and mentally to the organisation. Additionally, it is connected to organisational development and achievement (Palanski & Yammarino 2009).

Establishing and communicating idea is a significant leadership undertaking as it is connected positively with additional tasks of workers and performance of the organisation. Empirical studies affirm that leaders denoted as creative have positive impacts on their organisations as well as followers. A couple of recent meta-analytical research backs this conclusion.

Through the explanation of the necessity for change, establishment of new ideas, and intensification of dedication to these ideas, leaders could finally effect changes in organisations. Simons (2002) asserts that the idea of change must be communicated to the workers through every achievable way.

Scott, Bishop, and Chen (2003) posit that the dealings between the leader and subordinate staff have a noteworthy influence on their readiness to embrace change.

Inadequate communication of change to the workers that will be executing it an a shortage of verbal and non-verbal indications that individuals employ in developing understanding brings about the attempt to search for any supply of information on what is taking place.

It is thus paramount for organisations to boost their communication with workers all through the change progression and beyond to decrease their worry and opposition (Pearce & Robinson 2007). Workers are frequently ready to embrace change if only they comprehend the facts. Communication that is clear and candid with workers assists them line up positively to the future of their company.

Daft (2008); Dirks and Ferrin (2002); Goleman (2000), and other researchers in this field stress on the significance of communication to encourage change within organisations efficiently.

Carlos Ghosn made efforts to make sure that workers know the necessity of change and individuals that would be affected by the change. Ghosn comprehended that the majority of workers opted to be aware of the effect of change to them and get ready for it, instead of staying in a condition of doubt and worry.

The attendance of Ghosn in person during meetings with workers had a noteworthy influence on them, as it played a key role in preventing the progression of change from encountering insufficient top-down communication (Phipps & Burbach 2010). Moreover, it barred the rumours from spreading by ensuring that workers become pre-engaged with themselves, their earnings, and their profession.

Additionally, it curbed the propagation of false and provocative information amid workers and assisted in reducing anxiety and negative retorts they could have been experiencing. Ghosn aimed at evading job turnover, doubt, displeasure and reduced trust.

The direct dealings of Ghosn with workers were perceived to reflect openness and influenced the manner in which workers recognised the reliability of the new management. Even though reliability alone is not enough to guarantee trust, lack of reliability weakens trust.

A meta-scrutiny carried out by Martensen and Gronholdt (2001) establishes dependable connections between trust in a leader and a scope of positive leadership results, which encompass job satisfaction, motivation, organisational dedication, and job performance. The trust the workers developed towards Ghosn assisted in turning their dedication to change efficacy.

According to Luecke (2003), the actual driver to effective change is strengthened teams. Masi and Cooke (2000) recommend facilitating workers to take part in early stages of the change programmes.

Workers at the Nissan Company applied the contribution and empowerment of employees when Carlos Ghosn chose to establish a plan for change that depended on their recommendations, which was beneficial as compared to employing outside consultants.

Carlos Ghosn started by setting up cross-operational teams to create choices for radical change. Additionally, designers were accorded the last word over choices that pertain to design. This aspect permitted the designers at Nissan to be more inventive and creative.

Anita and Jill (2003) point out that empowerment is significant for inspiring and managing inventiveness in organisations due to the potential gains that could emanate from it and that encompass increased dedication, better choices, enhanced quality, additional novelty and greater job satisfaction. Furthermore, the innovative attempts of empowered employees endure in spite of the persistent and environmental obstructions.

Bossidy and Charan (2002), Clark, Hartline, and Jones (2008), and Dunning (2003) establish a noteworthy connection involving contribution of workers and job satisfaction. Pisapia (2011) recognises a connection involving empowerment of employees and worker contentment, faithfulness, and motivation.

Moreover, empowerment of employees assists them in better adjusting in accordance with the change. In addition, according to Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson (2007), leaders have the ability to motivate employees in embracing and effecting change.

In accordance with the theory of leadership grid, collective efforts through teamwork are more likely to achieve the necessity for change and embrace it in instances where their leaders keep them stimulated. Berson and Avolio (2004) posit that change is not achievable and successful unless its recipients embrace it.

The success of change often relies on the way a leader can equate the requirements of both instrumental (the present task) with the communicative (the human dealings aspects). Carlos Ghosn managed to balance the instrumental and communicative requirements.

What traits and skills can help to explain the successful strategic leadership by Ghosn?

The effective tactical leadership by Carlos Ghosn could be described by various attributes and expertise. According to Collins (2001), leadership capabilities have a noteworthy connection with the organisational achievement and change. Intellectual capacities are among the attributes that contributed to the achievement brought about y the leadership of Ghosn.

Effective tactical leadership demands the psychological or cognitive capacities to recognise and comprehend information, find suitable grounds in it, deem possibilities, apply instincts, make choices, resolve difficulties and arrive at decisions. The aforementioned capacities yield ideas, tasks and collective values and policies for pursuing the ideas and tasks.

Researches investigating the traits of successful leadership have pointed out intelligence as a key factor in the character of leaders. Nevertheless, a number of studies affirm that intellectual capacities cannot envisage leadership presentation to any significant extent.

Contrary, other studies like the one by Cote and Miners (2006) place intelligence among the best forecasters of broad job performance. The connection involving intellectual capacity and performance is more powerful for complex jobs, verifying the significance of intelligence creating effective changes, since the responsibilities of leaders are essentially complex.

Hrebiniak (2005) establishes traits like intelligence, truthfulness, charisma, and gentleness to be among the ideal traits of a leader. In reality, intelligence acts as the sole trait affirmed as vitally significant for all leaders to have in a bid to realise successful strategic leadership.

The psychological intelligence of Ghosn as well played a vital role to the success of his leadership. The capacity to comprehend oneself as well as others, illustrate self-discipline and self-assurance and to react to others in a suitable manner is referred to as Emotional Intelligence (IE) (Stanley 2009).

According to Kaplan and Norton (2004), the major constituents of psychological intelligence include self-consciousness, psychological management, self-inspiration, understanding, managing affiliations, communication proficiencies and personal approach. Psychologically intelligent leaders make use of individual referent command instead of positional command or authority.

Segrestin (2005) establishes a constructive affiliation involving referent command and dedication. In their meta-investigation of the manner in which negative response influences the performance of workers, Yukl (2002) establishes that advancement in the performance of workers is positively associated with referent command.

Researches therefore affirm that leaders that possess referent command are successful since they are capable of creating dedication and high performance in the workers (Storey 2004). Studies on the application of various kinds of authority propose that successful leaders depend a lot on an individual command as compared to dependence on positional command.

Millikin and Fu (2005) echo the position of individual command by affirming that leadership is influence, but not supremacy and individuals that oblige others to conduct bidding due to their authority are not leaders.

In spite of this element, leaders that employ referent command could encounter misinterpretation in cross-cultural circumstances because the manners in which workers relate to their leaders vary from a culture to another.

Besides psychological intellect, Emotional Intelligence is the major factor in recognising and enhancing the collective values that back the search for ideas, tasks, and policies and to strengthening and motivating people (Walumbwa & Lawler 2003). Emotional Intelligence as well permits leaders to revere their followers as individuals with special requirements, notions, sentiments, and views.

Workers are thus inspired to carry out their responsibilities with diligence in a bid to attain the goals of organisations. A research by Yukl and Becker (2006) illustrates that the emotional intelligence of leaders bear a noteworthy influence on organisational conduct of subordinate staff in addition to job satisfaction.

High EI boosts the communication proficiencies required for successful leadership (Thompson & Strickland 2003). Integrity is as well reported as a key trait of successful leadership, and among the major personal attributes that shape a successful leader. The truthfulness and integrity of Carlos Ghosn added into the accomplishment of his tactical leadership (Wong & Law 2002).

As earlier mentioned, integrity bears a more constructive influence on social features of job performance (for instance, administering human capital) as compared to non-social features (like managing budgets), revealing the necessity of integrity in establishing changes as it demands administration of human capital.

Yoshino (1995) affirms that the high integrity of a leader offers followers a feeling of confidence with respect to activities undertaken by the leader. With regard to this feeling of confidence, a follower has a higher probability of trusting the leader.

Studies have as well demonstrated that in circumstances where followers trust their leaders, the followers have a tendency of performing better, show greater dedication to organisations, have a greater feeling of job satisfaction, and are less swayed to leaving the organisation.

A meta-investigation carried out by Suff and Reilly (2007) establishes dependable associations between trusting leaders and a scope of positive results, encompassing job satisfaction, boosted job performance, and dedication to organisation.

Choose which of these leadership styles best describes Ghosn’s leadership approach (transformational, change-oriented, or empowering)

In a bid to illustrate the leadership approach adopted by Carlos Ghosn clearly, all the three styles have first been analysed. Leaders that make use of the transformational style are greatly communicative, self-assured, and unwavering. These leaders have a powerful conviction in their beliefs and principles. Charismatic leaders strengthen, demonstrate confidence in, and back their followers.

Weber (2010) affirms that transformational style of leadership is successful across different cultures. In addition, Ghosn (2002) supports soundness of the application of transformational style in different circumstances and cultures.

Daidj (2009) articulates the observation that the standards and progressions of charismatic leadership possibly applies in different circumstances; nevertheless, there are cases where they are more relevant than in others.

Therefore, both the materialisation and success of charismatic leadership could improve via a number of situations and held back by others. For instance, charismatic leaders have a higher likelihood of emerging under situations of commotion and crisis (that is, change process) than under situations of continuity and constancy.

Nonetheless, crisis is not an adequate or necessary situation for the materialisation of charismatic leadership. Transformational leadership affirms a collective realistic notion concerning the future, motivates subordinate staff mentally, and takes into consideration the disparities amid them.

Sapsford and Shirouzu (2006) illustrate that transformational leaders bear an altering impact on both organisations and employees. The transformational leadership of Ghosn is clear from his individual authority. Other instances to demonstrate his transformational leadership emanate from well-expressed means of communication and integrity.

Under change-oriented style, much emphasis is placed on comprehension of the environment, promoting and enhancing required changes, and establishing inventive manner to adjust to such changes. Change-oriented leaders share similar characteristics as in both transformational and charismatic leadership (Graetz 2000).

In the case of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn empowered workers to boost pro-activity and assists them in better aligning to changes. Ghosn, in addition, established and communicated future perspectives of the success of the organisational change of the company. Notions of organisations as the ones Ghosn had have been reported to boost the motivation of workers and their flexibility to change significantly (Yoon 2008).

Empowerment of leaders offers workers the required power and independence to permit them to implement control at the place of work. Due to its transformational character, empowering of employees could be a triumphant way of influencing workers to take up ideas and values of management (House et al. 2004).

In the case of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn provided the cross-operational team the task and autonomy to select the change they required. The leadership styles adopted by Ghosn are thus transformational, empowering, and change-oriented.

What cross-cultural considerations would Ghosn have had to consider when implementing change at Nissan?

Ghosn had to tackle numerous cross-cultural deliberations to have a turnaround of Nissan (Yoshino & Fagan 2003). Universal approval of an aspect does not bar cultural variations in the ratification of it. Cultural sets differ in their concepts of the most critical attributes of successful leadership.

There is thus the requirement of a greater comprehension of the manner in which leadership is established in different cultures with a necessity for empirically established theory to explicate different conducts and efficiency in various cultures. The impact of national culture on the enculturation of change could be difficult to identify empirically, and as well difficult to deny.

The significance of national culture comes out clearly as illustrated by Fiedler (2002) who compares the attitudes of both Americans and Japanese with regard to objective functions. Contrary to the case in America, many individuals in Japan could affirm that the existence of companies is meant to profit their employees. Therefore, the actions of leaders must embrace the interests of workers into deliberation.

Recognition of both organisational and national culture is thus critical. National culture outlines as obtained from, for example, Freedman and Tregoe (2003) state that theoretical aspects of culture establish many theories concerning cross-cultural variations in leadership.

A number of aspects of culture include prevention of doubt, authority detachment, maleness –femaleness, individuality collectivism, and future course. According to Larsson and Lubatkin (2001), the culture of Japan is more of a shared culture, and transformational leadership materialises more effortlessly and is more efficient in shared cultures as compared to characteristic cultures.

Conclusion

In this paper, researches, studies, and theories have been applied to demonstrate why a number of the changes that were carried out by Ghosn were successful. Additionally, this paper has investigated the skills and traits elucidating the successful and tactical leadership by Ghosn. This study as well examined the case study of the turnaround of Nissan.

It has investigated what was carried out to boost effectiveness, adaptation, human dealings and the manner in which possible trade-offs amid the aforementioned determining factors of performance were dealt with.

Finally, the leadership approach by Carlos Ghosn has been examined and it shows his leadership styles as transformational, change-oriented, and empowering.There are also necessary cross-cultural deliberations that Ghosn could have to take into consideration while executing change at Nissan.

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The Nissan Motor Company Limited

The Nissan Motor Company Limited

Introduction

Product positioning refers to the marketers’ abilities to arrange or distribute a range of products or services in a manner that arouses interest of consumers in a company at the expense of its competitors. When Nissan transferred its operations from South Korea to Japan, it also made major changes, including the appointment of a new CEO, Carlos Ghosn.

In reference to Nissan’s recent performance in the automobile industry, the company seems to enjoy much consumer attention because of the electric cars, fuel saving engines, and high-tech designs among other features. According to the paper, Nissan underwent a radical change in terms of production, design, and leadership, a process that is very difficult to undergo (Simchi-Levi & Schmidt, 2012).

Though the company’s headquarter is in Yokohama, Japan, it manufacturers most of its latest cars like Nissan Bluebird in South Korea. The alliance is not new since Nissan has enjoyed partnership with Renault in South Korea from 1999. Common Nissan brands include Infiniti, NISMO, and Datsun manufactured in Japan and South Korea concurrently under the leadership of Ghosn.

The intention of the paper is to explain how change had a positive impact on Nissan’s ranking in the world since 2013. Recently, the company enjoyed sixth position behind major vehicle manufacturers in the world such as Toyota, Ford, and Volkswagen.

History

Nissan is a multinational company that uses the selling philosophy of marketing orientation in capturing the attention of the growing consumer base. The company acquired prominence in the 1930s even though the Datsun brand existed since 1914. Under the name Kwaishinsha Motor Car Works 103 years ago, Nissan had the DAT as the first innovation.

After 7 years of operation, the company changed its name to DAT Jidosha and Company Limited for purposes of branding and easy identification with the company’s products. In the same year, the company transformed from a manufacturer of the renowned Nissan Model 70 Phaeton (1938 model) to Datsun vehicles that could carry passengers (Nissan Motor Company Global Website, 2014).

The change attracted commercial car owners who also required heavy-duty trucks for production, and military cars fitted with defense facilities. Among countries that imported the Nissan cars, the US preferred the Japanese manufactured vehicles to trucks from other companies. After a merger with Jitsuyo Jidosha Company in Osaka, Japan, Nissan rebranded to DAT Jidosha Seizo Company Limited Automobile Manufacturing Company Limited.

By the 1920s, the strategy was to reduce the physical size of Nissan cars while increasing their capabilities. The company came up with Datson to indicate a small version of the original DAT. A decade later, the company became Nissan Motor Company; it has retained the name to date.

However, the company underwent a series of changes in leadership as indicated by the presence of 13 Japanese CEOs from 1933 to 2001. Today the company has a Pilipino CEO who records an immense history of success in the company.

Change

Change refers to a visible event that leads to the recognition of an organization in a positive or a negative manner. Normally, organizations measure change by assessing the duration taken and effort made towards the achievement of the change. Nissan’s change concept included a focus on its leadership structure, the models, organizational culture, and marketing (Nissan Announces Management Change in the Philippines, 2014).

The congruence model of change concerns identification of a problem and seeking of long-term solutions in an interconnected manner. David Nadler and Michael Tushman came up with the congruence model that explains that organizational success is an outcome of people, culture, task, and structure. Nissan had to transform its organizational culture as illustrated in the following illustration.

Organizational culture

(Nilakant & Ramnarayan, 2006)

Nissan took a demographic outlook of its business procedures in 2001, and it considered employing a foreign CEO who would run both the South Korean and Japanese Nissan firms concurrently. Arguably, the process would save costs for the firm while ensuring that Nissan had a team and not a group of employees by the time it underwent a complete overhaul (Nilakant & Ramnarayan, 2006).

Since the people cannot change an organization without a transformational structure and culture, Nissan had to incorporate a culture of inclusivity in 2013. Through the culture, it incorporates the ideas of other team members willing to draw different automobile designs from trucks to luxury vehicles and passenger vehicles.

Structurally, Nissan is a mechanistic organization whose operations aim at improving previous innovations in order to meet the growing automobile demands. Driving forces towards the change included the ability to create a demand that would meet the aesthetic needs of the diverse consumers.

Culture of the organization

The original culture of the organization under Yoshisuke Aikawa for six years since 1993 displayed a dictatorial approach to issues. Prominent leaders including Takashi Ishihara, Souji Yamamoto, Takeshi Murayama, and Taichi Minoura among other company leaders used dictatorial approaches to govern Nissan since its inception.

To date, the influence of the first company CEO is obvious since most charity organizations and sports sponsorship programs seem to take an interest in the East instead of other parts of the world. Aikawa mostly incorporated the American culture in which the company had to improve its innovations after particular period.

Nissan supplied the Graham-Paige Company in the US, and its designs had to match the set threshold for machinery used in the US between 1985 and 1992, Nissan underwent a major leadership change under Yutaka Kume who emphasized on a strict laissez faire structure of governance (Brown, 2007). Content-driven change is a model that explains how organizations use particular programs to maintain excellent customer relationships.

Kume provided a laissez faire environment through which consumers could relate freely with the marketers and customer care departments. Even though people operated within a non-controlled environment, they had to account for their performances through a scorecard (Nilakant & Ramnarayan, 2006).

Customer relation is not a new concept at Nissan, which started to market its Datsun 16 in 1937. About the same period, the company opened a showroom in Austin even though its British branch spearheaded the marketing procedure. The 1950s saw Nissan introduce patents to protect its inventions ahead of competition from prominent firms such as Toyota and Volkswagen.

Through investor and customer relations, Nissan came up with the Nissan L engine resembling the OHC (cylinder overhead cam) of the Mercedes Benz. The invention meant that the customers wanted an advanced machinery from an automobile that served them for a long period since 1914 (Nilakant & Ramnarayan, 2006). Later, the Sedan, Tina, and the sports Datsun range of vehicles surfaced in an attempt to respond to consumers’ requests.

Carlos Ghosn’s reign followed the leadership of Yoshikazu Hanawa equally characterized by a laissez faire structure and culture. The current culture is very robust, and Ghosn’s democratic leadership style enables Nissan to enjoy the requisite competitive advantage (Adair, 2006).

The Change effort itself

When William Bridges came up with transition change model, he developed three major change stages that companies or individuals can embrace. The conduits represent the support mechanisms that help organizations to make a transition from one stage to another. Ending, losing, and letting go is the first stage that Bridges adopted; he mentioned that it is very difficult to forget initial practices prior to embracing new ways of doing things (Specto, 2010).

Some companies undergo a state of fear, denial, frustration, and uncertainty among other drawbacks that prevent change. Empathy and open communication channels form the basis of embracing change in a state of confusion. The neutral zone represents the second phase in which all people within the organization undergo confusion for inability to comprehend the best step of action to take in order to deal with the transformation (Edwards, 2000).

The stage characterized by high levels of confusion and impatience creates an environment of resentment from austere policies. Taichi Minoura and Yoshisuke Aikawa were examples of pioneers of Nissan that mostly supported their personal designs and market destinations for Nissan vehicles. In the end, the two targeted the wrong markets with the right products, which created a marketing dilemma.

Resentment towards change in the 1950s became obvious as the CEOs strived to concentrate on Russian, Chinese, and African markets, instead of the Austin market in Texas. For a long period, Nissan found comfort in North America while forgetting the significance of other emerging markets in transforming Nisan. It was until recently that Ghosn took a bold step in expanding to parts of Africa and Europe in order to premier its new collection of luxury cars, trucks, and sports vehicles (Nilakant & Ramnarayan, 2006).

The new beginning incorporates many channels of feedback because it represents a stage in which people accept change. Since it is the last transition, people have to come up with strategies that appear unique from the competitors in order to create the least possible leeway for the competitor to gain an advantage. Yoshikazu Hanawa’s transition to Ghosn was an excellent growth opportunity for Nissan.

Contrary to the common Japanese makes, Ghosn opted for both South Korean and Japanese designs (Brown, 2007). The negative impact of the change is that Ghosn does the work of executives in two rival companies. Such workloads often overwhelm CEOs, especially when they have a record of great performance.

South Korean-Renault and the Nissan Motor Company need proper management, and assuming that a single executive can achieve the objective might not be right. Changes in the 1960s signified by the sequential change model were equally obvious (Specto, 2010). Its first stage discusses the prevailing strategy, which includes the roles and relationships of the incumbent leaders.

Secondly, it deals with the training and mentoring projects as signified by the patent units introduced within Japan. The third step includes talent management that mostly involves recruitment and promotion of respective individuals in preparation for different job vacancies. Finally, the sequential model deals with the structures and systems of organizations. It includes the ability to motivate employees and ensuring that they perform excellently within a competitive environment (Chan & Drasgow, 2001).

Kume and Ghosn extensively used communication to promote cultural integration within the Nissan Company. They supported previous mergers such as Nissan and Prince Motor Company, Nissan and Fairlady, and Nissan and Dongfeng Motor Corporation among others. Under Yutaka Katayama, Nissan Sedans were exceptional, and Datsun Fairlady expanded to the US and other parts of the world.

Leadership of the change effort

Change does not come easily as explained by Kotter’s model. According to the theory, the ability to create urgency that change is necessary remains very significant for transformation. The state of urgency as supported by a SWOT analysis was obvious in the way Nissan participated in many mergers. With Infiniti, the company came up with luxurious vehicles.

The same happened with the merger between Nissan and Fairlady. Datsun and the Z-car were very important innovations that linked Fairlady with Nissan, especially during the manufacture of sports utility vehicles. Formation of powerful coalition is a second stage for the change model. Arguably, people need support since growing alone strains a company brand wise and economically.

A third element of the model that helped Nissan realize itself in the rivaled market during the era of Ghosn was creation of a common vision for purposes of change (Pinder, 2008). Common values and an all-inclusive strategy incorporated with vision and mission statements bridge the communication gap between clients, investors, employees, and supervisors.

At Nissan, a clear channel of communication might not be inexistence, but the chain of command is obvious. The CEO receives information from other managers in charge of marketing, PR, finance, and logistics among other areas of concern. Like Steve Jobs, Ghosn is at the center of most business operations while constantly intervening in case of any problems in diverse departments within the company. Removal of obstacles, creation of achievable and realistic goals, and building a positive attitude of change within the organization are the key priorities for Ghosn in creating change.

Recommendations

As at 2013, Nissan Titan was the most popular Nissan vehicle in the history of the brand. The corporation’s logo changed in 2013 marking an era of rebranding for the company amidst the battle to become the best car manufacturer in the world ahead of Toyota. Datsun, Infiniti, NISMO, and other brands also show high optimism or increased sales in the next half a decade of operation in South Korea and Japan.

According to the CSR Steering committee, Nissan’s electric cars attract Russia, Mexico, and other parts of the world than other gasoline driven cars from the company (Nissan Motor Company Global Website, 2014). Following a joint venture with Renault–Nissan Alliance in 2012, the company came up with good models such as Nissan Bluebird, Primera, and Naeta among other luxury vehicles that people can use for motorcades.

The Kurt Lewin’s change model insinuates that change is a three-step process. The unfreezing stage is the most difficult as people have to adjust to a completely new system, and uncertainty is very high. According to Grojean, Resick, Dickson, and Smith (2004), the change process remains very difficult, but through motivation people learns to embrace change until they reach the state of comfort, which experts refer to as freezing. Notably, the current CEO strives at convincing the consumers that Nissan does not only focus on good bodies for the cars, but on quality engines.

References

Adair, J. E. (2006). Leadership and motivation: The fifty-fifty rule and the eight key principles of motivating others. London: Kogan Page.

Brown, M. G. (2007). Beyond the balanced scorecard: Improving business intelligence with analytics. New York: Productivity Press.

Chan, K., & Drasgow, F. (2001). Toward a theory of individual differences and leadership: Understanding the motivation to lead. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 481-498.

Edwards, T. (2000). Innovation and Organizational Change: Developments Towards an Interactive Process Perspective. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 12(4), 445-464.

Grojean, M. W., Resick, C. J., Dickson, M. W., & Smith, D. B. (2004). Leaders, Values, and Organizational Climate: Examining Leadership Strategies for Establishing an Organizational Climate Regarding Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 55(3), 223-241.

Nilakant, V., & Ramnarayan, S. (2006). Change management: Altering mindsets in a global context. New Delhi: Response Books.

Nissan Announces Management Change in the Philippines. (2014, July 25). Web.

. (2014). Web.

Pinder, C. C. (2008). Work motivation in organizational behavior. New York: Psychology Press.

Simchi-Levi, S., & Schmidt, W. (2012). . Web.

Specto, B. (2010). Implementing Organizational Change: Theory into Practice (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

The Nissan Motor Company Limited

The Nissan Motor Company Limited

Introduction

Product positioning refers to the marketers’ abilities to arrange or distribute a range of products or services in a manner that arouses interest of consumers in a company at the expense of its competitors. When Nissan transferred its operations from South Korea to Japan, it also made major changes, including the appointment of a new CEO, Carlos Ghosn.

In reference to Nissan’s recent performance in the automobile industry, the company seems to enjoy much consumer attention because of the electric cars, fuel saving engines, and high-tech designs among other features. According to the paper, Nissan underwent a radical change in terms of production, design, and leadership, a process that is very difficult to undergo (Simchi-Levi & Schmidt, 2012).

Though the company’s headquarter is in Yokohama, Japan, it manufacturers most of its latest cars like Nissan Bluebird in South Korea. The alliance is not new since Nissan has enjoyed partnership with Renault in South Korea from 1999. Common Nissan brands include Infiniti, NISMO, and Datsun manufactured in Japan and South Korea concurrently under the leadership of Ghosn.

The intention of the paper is to explain how change had a positive impact on Nissan’s ranking in the world since 2013. Recently, the company enjoyed sixth position behind major vehicle manufacturers in the world such as Toyota, Ford, and Volkswagen.

History

Nissan is a multinational company that uses the selling philosophy of marketing orientation in capturing the attention of the growing consumer base. The company acquired prominence in the 1930s even though the Datsun brand existed since 1914. Under the name Kwaishinsha Motor Car Works 103 years ago, Nissan had the DAT as the first innovation.

After 7 years of operation, the company changed its name to DAT Jidosha and Company Limited for purposes of branding and easy identification with the company’s products. In the same year, the company transformed from a manufacturer of the renowned Nissan Model 70 Phaeton (1938 model) to Datsun vehicles that could carry passengers (Nissan Motor Company Global Website, 2014).

The change attracted commercial car owners who also required heavy-duty trucks for production, and military cars fitted with defense facilities. Among countries that imported the Nissan cars, the US preferred the Japanese manufactured vehicles to trucks from other companies. After a merger with Jitsuyo Jidosha Company in Osaka, Japan, Nissan rebranded to DAT Jidosha Seizo Company Limited Automobile Manufacturing Company Limited.

By the 1920s, the strategy was to reduce the physical size of Nissan cars while increasing their capabilities. The company came up with Datson to indicate a small version of the original DAT. A decade later, the company became Nissan Motor Company; it has retained the name to date.

However, the company underwent a series of changes in leadership as indicated by the presence of 13 Japanese CEOs from 1933 to 2001. Today the company has a Pilipino CEO who records an immense history of success in the company.

Change

Change refers to a visible event that leads to the recognition of an organization in a positive or a negative manner. Normally, organizations measure change by assessing the duration taken and effort made towards the achievement of the change. Nissan’s change concept included a focus on its leadership structure, the models, organizational culture, and marketing (Nissan Announces Management Change in the Philippines, 2014).

The congruence model of change concerns identification of a problem and seeking of long-term solutions in an interconnected manner. David Nadler and Michael Tushman came up with the congruence model that explains that organizational success is an outcome of people, culture, task, and structure. Nissan had to transform its organizational culture as illustrated in the following illustration.

Organizational culture

(Nilakant & Ramnarayan, 2006)

Nissan took a demographic outlook of its business procedures in 2001, and it considered employing a foreign CEO who would run both the South Korean and Japanese Nissan firms concurrently. Arguably, the process would save costs for the firm while ensuring that Nissan had a team and not a group of employees by the time it underwent a complete overhaul (Nilakant & Ramnarayan, 2006).

Since the people cannot change an organization without a transformational structure and culture, Nissan had to incorporate a culture of inclusivity in 2013. Through the culture, it incorporates the ideas of other team members willing to draw different automobile designs from trucks to luxury vehicles and passenger vehicles.

Structurally, Nissan is a mechanistic organization whose operations aim at improving previous innovations in order to meet the growing automobile demands. Driving forces towards the change included the ability to create a demand that would meet the aesthetic needs of the diverse consumers.

Culture of the organization

The original culture of the organization under Yoshisuke Aikawa for six years since 1993 displayed a dictatorial approach to issues. Prominent leaders including Takashi Ishihara, Souji Yamamoto, Takeshi Murayama, and Taichi Minoura among other company leaders used dictatorial approaches to govern Nissan since its inception.

To date, the influence of the first company CEO is obvious since most charity organizations and sports sponsorship programs seem to take an interest in the East instead of other parts of the world. Aikawa mostly incorporated the American culture in which the company had to improve its innovations after particular period.

Nissan supplied the Graham-Paige Company in the US, and its designs had to match the set threshold for machinery used in the US between 1985 and 1992, Nissan underwent a major leadership change under Yutaka Kume who emphasized on a strict laissez faire structure of governance (Brown, 2007). Content-driven change is a model that explains how organizations use particular programs to maintain excellent customer relationships.

Kume provided a laissez faire environment through which consumers could relate freely with the marketers and customer care departments. Even though people operated within a non-controlled environment, they had to account for their performances through a scorecard (Nilakant & Ramnarayan, 2006).

Customer relation is not a new concept at Nissan, which started to market its Datsun 16 in 1937. About the same period, the company opened a showroom in Austin even though its British branch spearheaded the marketing procedure. The 1950s saw Nissan introduce patents to protect its inventions ahead of competition from prominent firms such as Toyota and Volkswagen.

Through investor and customer relations, Nissan came up with the Nissan L engine resembling the OHC (cylinder overhead cam) of the Mercedes Benz. The invention meant that the customers wanted an advanced machinery from an automobile that served them for a long period since 1914 (Nilakant & Ramnarayan, 2006). Later, the Sedan, Tina, and the sports Datsun range of vehicles surfaced in an attempt to respond to consumers’ requests.

Carlos Ghosn’s reign followed the leadership of Yoshikazu Hanawa equally characterized by a laissez faire structure and culture. The current culture is very robust, and Ghosn’s democratic leadership style enables Nissan to enjoy the requisite competitive advantage (Adair, 2006).

The Change effort itself

When William Bridges came up with transition change model, he developed three major change stages that companies or individuals can embrace. The conduits represent the support mechanisms that help organizations to make a transition from one stage to another. Ending, losing, and letting go is the first stage that Bridges adopted; he mentioned that it is very difficult to forget initial practices prior to embracing new ways of doing things (Specto, 2010).

Some companies undergo a state of fear, denial, frustration, and uncertainty among other drawbacks that prevent change. Empathy and open communication channels form the basis of embracing change in a state of confusion. The neutral zone represents the second phase in which all people within the organization undergo confusion for inability to comprehend the best step of action to take in order to deal with the transformation (Edwards, 2000).

The stage characterized by high levels of confusion and impatience creates an environment of resentment from austere policies. Taichi Minoura and Yoshisuke Aikawa were examples of pioneers of Nissan that mostly supported their personal designs and market destinations for Nissan vehicles. In the end, the two targeted the wrong markets with the right products, which created a marketing dilemma.

Resentment towards change in the 1950s became obvious as the CEOs strived to concentrate on Russian, Chinese, and African markets, instead of the Austin market in Texas. For a long period, Nissan found comfort in North America while forgetting the significance of other emerging markets in transforming Nisan. It was until recently that Ghosn took a bold step in expanding to parts of Africa and Europe in order to premier its new collection of luxury cars, trucks, and sports vehicles (Nilakant & Ramnarayan, 2006).

The new beginning incorporates many channels of feedback because it represents a stage in which people accept change. Since it is the last transition, people have to come up with strategies that appear unique from the competitors in order to create the least possible leeway for the competitor to gain an advantage. Yoshikazu Hanawa’s transition to Ghosn was an excellent growth opportunity for Nissan.

Contrary to the common Japanese makes, Ghosn opted for both South Korean and Japanese designs (Brown, 2007). The negative impact of the change is that Ghosn does the work of executives in two rival companies. Such workloads often overwhelm CEOs, especially when they have a record of great performance.

South Korean-Renault and the Nissan Motor Company need proper management, and assuming that a single executive can achieve the objective might not be right. Changes in the 1960s signified by the sequential change model were equally obvious (Specto, 2010). Its first stage discusses the prevailing strategy, which includes the roles and relationships of the incumbent leaders.

Secondly, it deals with the training and mentoring projects as signified by the patent units introduced within Japan. The third step includes talent management that mostly involves recruitment and promotion of respective individuals in preparation for different job vacancies. Finally, the sequential model deals with the structures and systems of organizations. It includes the ability to motivate employees and ensuring that they perform excellently within a competitive environment (Chan & Drasgow, 2001).

Kume and Ghosn extensively used communication to promote cultural integration within the Nissan Company. They supported previous mergers such as Nissan and Prince Motor Company, Nissan and Fairlady, and Nissan and Dongfeng Motor Corporation among others. Under Yutaka Katayama, Nissan Sedans were exceptional, and Datsun Fairlady expanded to the US and other parts of the world.

Leadership of the change effort

Change does not come easily as explained by Kotter’s model. According to the theory, the ability to create urgency that change is necessary remains very significant for transformation. The state of urgency as supported by a SWOT analysis was obvious in the way Nissan participated in many mergers. With Infiniti, the company came up with luxurious vehicles.

The same happened with the merger between Nissan and Fairlady. Datsun and the Z-car were very important innovations that linked Fairlady with Nissan, especially during the manufacture of sports utility vehicles. Formation of powerful coalition is a second stage for the change model. Arguably, people need support since growing alone strains a company brand wise and economically.

A third element of the model that helped Nissan realize itself in the rivaled market during the era of Ghosn was creation of a common vision for purposes of change (Pinder, 2008). Common values and an all-inclusive strategy incorporated with vision and mission statements bridge the communication gap between clients, investors, employees, and supervisors.

At Nissan, a clear channel of communication might not be inexistence, but the chain of command is obvious. The CEO receives information from other managers in charge of marketing, PR, finance, and logistics among other areas of concern. Like Steve Jobs, Ghosn is at the center of most business operations while constantly intervening in case of any problems in diverse departments within the company. Removal of obstacles, creation of achievable and realistic goals, and building a positive attitude of change within the organization are the key priorities for Ghosn in creating change.

Recommendations

As at 2013, Nissan Titan was the most popular Nissan vehicle in the history of the brand. The corporation’s logo changed in 2013 marking an era of rebranding for the company amidst the battle to become the best car manufacturer in the world ahead of Toyota. Datsun, Infiniti, NISMO, and other brands also show high optimism or increased sales in the next half a decade of operation in South Korea and Japan.

According to the CSR Steering committee, Nissan’s electric cars attract Russia, Mexico, and other parts of the world than other gasoline driven cars from the company (Nissan Motor Company Global Website, 2014). Following a joint venture with Renault–Nissan Alliance in 2012, the company came up with good models such as Nissan Bluebird, Primera, and Naeta among other luxury vehicles that people can use for motorcades.

The Kurt Lewin’s change model insinuates that change is a three-step process. The unfreezing stage is the most difficult as people have to adjust to a completely new system, and uncertainty is very high. According to Grojean, Resick, Dickson, and Smith (2004), the change process remains very difficult, but through motivation people learns to embrace change until they reach the state of comfort, which experts refer to as freezing. Notably, the current CEO strives at convincing the consumers that Nissan does not only focus on good bodies for the cars, but on quality engines.

References

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