This document discusses the cultural environment of the Renault-Nissan strategic alliance, focusing on the cross-cultural issues that arise among employees, managers, and directors. It explores the impact of cultural differences on communication, decision-making, and working relationships within the alliance.
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Running Head: CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF RENAULT-NISSAN ALLIANCE1 Cultural Environment of Renault-Nissan strategic alliance Name Tutor Institution Date of Submission
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CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF RENAULT-NISSAN ALLIANCE2 Cultural Environment of Renault-Nissan strategic alliance Renault-Nissan alliance involves French and Japan nationalities. These two countries have different cultures that affects the operations of the alliance. Given that Japanese and French people working in this organization have different system of beliefs, values, norms, and worldviews, there is a lot of misunderstandings that arise among the staff. Cultural differences usually arise between employees, managers, directors, and senior and junior staff. a) Cross-cultural issue of employee Renault-Nissan alliance has over 450, 000 employees from the two nationalities. Since these employees have different cultural backgrounds, there is a high possibility of intercultural misunderstandings among the workers (Weiss, 2011).This arises mostly due to communication barrier. Japan people use high-context language compared to French who use low-context language. As such, Japanese tend to use non-verbal and implicit mode of communication. Misinterpretations of information will affect smooth operations of the business. Additionally, they may lead to tension and disunity among the workers hence jeopardizing employees’ cooperation. The individualistic nature of French people also affects the working relationship among the workers (Barmeyer & Mayrhofer, 2016). This is because while the Japanese prefer working as a group, the French counterparts prefer working individually. This may create wrangles, misunderstandings, and division among the employees. b) Cross-cultural issue of managers Managers play a crucial role in the success of the organization. In organization involving different cultures, the managers have a hard time to manage the employees due to diverse cultural differences. Both French and Japan have high power distance although in Japanese its
CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF RENAULT-NISSAN ALLIANCE3 little bit lower (Braud, Frederick, Harvey, Leong, & Lane, 2017).As such, managers make the most crucial decisions regarding the company and the subordinates are expected to follow them without questioning. Upwards communication from juniors to managers is not easy in Japanese companies while it is encouraged in French. Therefore, managers need to be careful to accommodate all the workers so that they do not feel left out. Age and status of managers is another cross-cultural issue. Japanese culture, for instance, does not encourage or respect young managers. On the other hand, French culture is concerned with the skills, experience, and qualifications of an individual and not age (Barmeyer & Mayrhofer, 2015).A young French manager, therefore, in Japan, is expected to receive hatred, oppression, and disloyalty from Japanese workers. c) Cross-cultural issue of directors Directors of multinational organizations, are highly faced with numerous cross-cultural issues. They need to understand the cultural environment of the host nation so that they can run the operations of the company smoothly. Japanese culture is a masculine society whereby males are given the top most positions such as directors (Braudet al., 2017).On the other hand, French culture promotes equality between male and female workers. As such, it is hard for Japanese to accept women directors to lead them and in case of such a scenario, they will face hostility. Additionally, given that Japanese usually set long-term goals while French people are short-term oriented, the directors will have a difficult time to balance between the two and make the best decisions for the organization. Handling people of different cultural background is difficult since they all hold certain beliefs, values, and norms different from others (Neal, 2016).Directors, therefore, usually have the most challenging time in understanding their employees and uniting them to work peacefully for the success of the company.
CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF RENAULT-NISSAN ALLIANCE4 d) Recommendations for the above issues To overcome cross-cultural difference in the Renault-Nissan alliance, it is important to synergize the best practices from the two companies and put them into practice. To overcome language barrier, both partners should undergo training so that they can understand the language usage of the other party. For instance, French should learn the meaning of the non-verbal cues usedbyJapanese.ThealliancealsoshouldencourageJapaneseworkerstoembrace individualisticactofdecision-makingandofdoingthingsasopposedtocollectivism (Benetasse,Bernard,DeSalins,&Rais,2014). The company also should encourage upwards communication between the subordinate and senior managers so that the flow of information can run smoothly. Equality and appointment based on skills and qualifications should be encouraged so that biasness on women and young managers is eliminated. The company also should balance between long-term and short-term decision-making process. In instances where fast and quick decisions are needed, they should be in a position to do so. Similarly, when long-term decisions are necessary, then the French employees should adjust and make the right resolutions (Braudet al., 2017).Through this, the Renault-Nissan strategic alliance will be strengthened, increase their success rate, and future opportunities.
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CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF RENAULT-NISSAN ALLIANCE5 References Barmeyer, C., & Mayrhofer, U. (2015).Renault-Nissan-Daimler: A Global Strategic Alliance (No. hal-01134091). Barmeyer, C., & Mayrhofer, U. (2016). Strategic Alliances and Intercultural Organizational Change: The Renault–Nissan Case. Benetasse,M.,Bernard,J.,DeSalins,B.,&Rais,M.(2014).Renault-Nissan Strategic Partnership: A Multicultural Analysis Summary : The context of the Strategic alliance. Braud, V., Frederick, T., Harvey, N., Leong, C., & Lane, S. (2017). France, Japan, Mexico, & The Usa: Cultural Differences & Strategic Planning.Copyright 2017 by Institute for Global Business Research, Nashville, TN, USA, 126. Neal, M. (2016).The culture factor: Cross-national management and the foreign venture. Springer. Weiss, S. E. (2011). Negotiating 17 the Renault-Nissan Alliance: Insights from Renault’s Experience.Negotiation Excellence: Successful Deal Making,315.