When Hope Turns to Frustration : The Americanization of Mitsubishi Has Had Little Success
The “Americanization” of Mitsubishi International Corp.--the U.S. arm of Japan’s biggest sogo shosha, or trading company--is a case study in the dashing of expectations.
Since the early 1970s, a succession of top executives dispatched from Tokyo to MIC’s New York headquarters has pledged to open the ranks of upper management to the Americans who constitute 80% of the U.S. subsidiary’s 1,150-member work force.
Business considerations, especially in the past few years, have argued for change. MIC’s trade with Japan has fallen to just more than half of the firm’s $9-billion trading volume. Meanwhile, sales within the United States more than doubled in the past three years. So, increasingly, it has made sense to have more Americans in key positions.
Besides, it costs a lot more to maintain Japanese expatriates in the United States than to employ native talent--not a negligible concern for a company that last year reported a pretax profit margin of just 1.5% of sales.
Nonetheless, Americans, and Americanization, have made little headway at MIC.
Americans head just two of the firm’s 41 divisions, and one is the general counsel, a staff position typically reserved for a local in a multinational organization. The corporate secretary is an American, but American employees say it is unrealistic to aspire to a vice presidency or beyond. Even the Americans on MIC’s board have second-class status: They don’t get to vote.
“It has been extremely frustrating for a lot of people,” said Ray B. Lippincott, a 13-year MIC veteran who is second in command at the firm’s Atlanta branch office. He says it would be a “breakthrough” if he, or any American, were elevated to branch manager.
“It is a very sensitive subject,” acknowledged Martha Gellens, a MIC spokesperson. “It’s the kind of thing people easily get worked up about.”
The campaign has run into some formidable institutional obstacles. Home office managers have resisted moves to reduce the number of U.S. slots available for Japanese nationals on career-building overseas rotations. And once at MIC, American managers say, some Japanese have shown little interest in nurturing Americans in the trading skills they’d need to take over key jobs.
A study of MIC by the Business Research Institute at St. John’s University found that many Japanese believed Americans could not handle leadership positions.
A lot of Resentment
Also, rather than invest in the training and development of young American traders, MIC has tried lately to make quick splashes in growth industries by giving short-term contracts to experienced salespeople with specialized knowledge but, presumably, little company loyalty.
“A lot of the more highly qualified American staff who are not on contract really resent the fact we have these people and the fact the company hasn’t maybe been as aggressive as it should be in developing that kind of talent in-house,” said David L. George, assistant general manager of administration.
Still, concrete steps have been taken to initiate promising American traders to the idiosyncrasies of the tradition-bound company, which serves as an international deal maker in scores of industries and thousands of products.
A handful of Americans are spending two-year stints with Mitsubishi in Japan, working side by side with key contacts in the company and building the all-important personal networks that grease commerce.
“It’s the most positive sign I’ve seen at the company that we are serious” about Americanization, said Robert R. Carlson, deputy manager of MIC’s machinery division in Los Angeles, who returned last fall from his tour in Japan.
For a decade, too, the firm has held weeklong retreats at a New York resort where Americans and Japanese work together on simulated business projects in an effort to foster closer relationships.
And MIC has initiated a career development program for its best American producers, trying to replace the vague career ladders typical of Japanese firms with the more structured sets of goals and objectives to which many Americans are accustomed.
‘Beginning to Understand’
Turnover is at a low ebb now, according to George. But American employees say the company for years has had a revolving door, with many Americans working a year or two, growing dissatisfied with MIC’s foreign atmosphere or the lack of opportunities for promotion and leaving.
“I’ve heard from people who’ve been here longer, ‘Why are you staying around? You’re crazy! Get out while you can!’ ” said Kevin Fallon, a 24-year-old sales coordinator in MIC’s basic chemicals division in New York.
Fallon says there are good reasons to stand pat. The company’s Japanese executives are beginning to understand that they need to raise salaries and reward performance to retain capable Americans, he said. “The Japanese have realized they’ve lost a lot of good people,” said Fallon. “They’re trying to find out why and make things better so people will stay around.”
American workers have high hopes for MIC’s new president, Minoru Makihara. London-born, educated at a New Hampshire boarding school and Harvard University and long assigned to U.S. posts, Makihara is the first president to set a numerical goal for trimming the ranks of Japanese nationals at MIC. According to George, he wants Americans to replace about 30 of the 240 Japanese middle managers in the United States in the next three years.
But it won’t be an easy goal to reach. Lippincott says the divided allegiances of MIC’s Japanese executives and the limited authority of the New York-based hierarchy mean Makihara cannot dictate change to the divisional managers who must implement any further Americanization.
“They don’t have to pay that much attention to the guy on top in the United States,” he said, “because they’ve got ties back to Japan.”
Americans, meantime, remain frank in their criticisms of MIC and skeptical about their prospects in the American sogo shosha-- in part because Mitsubishi values candor in its operations, in part because U.S. workers figure they have nothing to lose by speaking their minds to, and about, the Japanese.
“It’s their company,” said Lippincott. “They’re going to do what they want to do anyway.”
JAPANESE TERMS ENTERING THE U.S. WORKPLACE Gaijin (GUY - jean)--Foreigner or alien. Ganbaru (gan-BAH-ru)--To persist in an endeavor. This requires patience, a virtue many Japanese employers look for in U.S. workers, according to executive recruiters. Often used as a friendly command, “Gambatte!” (gan-BAH-tay), meaning, “Hang in there!” Haragei (HA-ra-gay)--Literally, the “art of the stomach,” or visceral-like comprehension. It means silent communication, the ability to comprehend nonverbal exchanges. Often used interchangeably with the term ishin-denshin (literally, “with heart, convey heart”). Some Japanese executives express frustration that American employees lack this quality. Kaizen (KYE-zen)--Improvement. As used on the factory floor, this involves constant discussions among employees and supervisors on how to continuously improve production and productivity. Nemawashi (neh-MA-wa-she)--Originally a gardening term for transplanting a tree properly. In business, a term for the consensus-building process of informally selling an idea to your colleagues, superiors and subordinates. Ringisho (RIN-gi-show)--The formal written document of approval and recommendation after getting verbal approval through the nemawashi process. Salariman (SAH-rah-ree-man)--White-collar employees. Shacho (SHAH-cho)-President, or the equivalent of the American chief executive. Sogo shosha (SO-go-SHOW-shah)--General trading company. Wa (wah)--Harmony. In business, it points to a sense of harmony Japanese managers hope to promote through teamwork. Japanese executives say they look for this quality in new employees.
