Nissan Automotive Europe Case Study

Imagine this scenario: I walked into Nissan Automotive Europe, a large company with about 45% of its staff reported to be foreign. I was to be working within a team of 13 people, 7 of them being French and 6 from countries spread out all over the world (America, Russia, Morocco, Croatia, Belgium, etc.) and finally, me a Nigerian. I was sure excited about the opportunities that this connectedness was to present, but also anxious about making cross-cultural faux pas within my new team, especially with my bosses.

Nissan’s operations in Europe include a high level of cross cultural interactions; it also includes a high level of interaction with their automotive counterpart- Renault. They also have daily interactions with members of other Regional

Geert Hofstede (1991) himself explains that the characteristic contrasts between national cultures are most usually depicted in the ingrained values of the various cultures, meanwhile corporate culture is depicted in the practices between different companies. These cultural values through time depict how organizations are governed and how the corresponding relationships between members of the hierarchy is approached be it nationally or organizationally. It is also beneficial to note that the corporate culture of an organization can be transferrable or standardized across borders, i.e. foreign employees can be adapted into a company’s organizational culture if these cultural differences are not drastic. However, if the practices of the corporate culture is drastically different from the normal practices found in the employees national culture, the organization may find it difficult to adapt foreign workers into the corporate

Means-oriented vs goal-oriented: True to Nissan’s vision of producing unique and technologically advanced safe vehicles, the company has been steadily working towards that objective. Constant innovation, high performance, constant measurement of performance, commitment and targets and motivation are part of the force that drive the company as a whole. From my first week on my team, I was giving a clear set of objectives to deliver from the second week to the last day of my internship with clear set timelines. My managers encouraged me to be creative and take risks in getting to my objectives and were not stringent on the “how”, although several factors like good teamwork and good communication and respect to all parties involved in the project projects I will be working on. Nissan’s corporate culture therefore is a majorly goal oriented