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What alternatives to NIHAO were available? Are these alternativesconsistent with Mabuchi’s corporate strategy?

 Training program, New integrated Headquarters and Overseas Operations (NIHAO) waslaunched to train local managers in order to reduce the costs of expatriate mangers whowere overpaid compared to the local manager The !oal was to allow local managers tota"e over "e# positions as their s"ills developed to su$cient levels This is in line with the

strateg# of the organi%ation to reduce the cost of operation which is one of the corestrengths of the organi%ation The training program NIHAO has to reinforce hierarchicalnotion of management and standardi%e of management practice to avoid overlap oromission of duties It also should not ta"e into the individual interests and di&erences interms of managerial tas"s which are generalist in nature And it should also train the localmanagers to regularl# do performance compensation which encourage upward mo'ilit#and provide compensation and 'onuses to the emplo#ees to retain them

 The training program was launched in the alian su'sidiar# to groom local managers Theprogram was started with di&erent training modules for *ve di&erent hierarchies in theorgani%ation +ocal consultants were hired to conduct the training program in the locallanguages However, when followup test were done to assess the progress of the trainingprogram NIHAO, the organi%ation was disappointed as the# could see great di$cult# in

internali%ing some of the essential aspects of the -a'uchi.s management requirement There was no clear division 'etween su'ordinates and superiors as most of the locall#hired managers couldn.t accustom themselves to the requirements of -a'uchi mostl#'ecause of their resistance to change their expectations which were set '# their priorexperience The# also have seen that the performance evaluation was not wor"ingproperl# 'ecause of the communist 'ehavior of the emplo#ees The failure of this mainl#could 'e attri'uted to the cultural di&erence 'etween /hinese and 0apanese Ta"ing intoaccount the cultural di&erences, 'elow are the few alternatives for -a'uchi to proceedwith1

2 A'ort the NIHAO program and continue its

operations with the expatriate managers although

the *rm incurs higher costs This option would not

'e a 'etter alternative as this will inhi'it the

compan# to reach its o'3ective4 -a"e stricter policies to ma"e it mandator# for all

the emplo#ees to follow the required set of rules

although the# would 'e resisted '# the emplo#ees

initiall# This option ta"es time to see the change in

the mangers This would also incur organi%ational

costs 'ut when successfull# implemented would

reach its strategic o'3ective

5 !o for a pilot in a di&erent plant and chec" thesuccess rate and see if the failure was onl# in the

alian plant or is it with the /hinese plants or with

all the plants outside the home countr# Then

change the training program so as to consider the

cultural 'ehavior of /hinese emplo#ees And start

o& with the changed training program

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6 /hange the organi%ational structure so as to have

lesser num'er of expatriate managers who would

'e supplemented '# local managers This option

would not completel# remove the need of 

expatriate managers for the *rm

-a'uchi can continue to have transitionalexpatriate managers as plant7countr# managers

who would overloo" the operations of the

plant7countr# and ma"e the local managers to

em'race the required change graduall# Once these

managers are accustomed to the change, then the

num'er of expatriate managers can 'e reduced

graduall#

Also there can 'e a mix of alternatives to achieve the organi%ation.s o'3ectives8or instance, mix of 5 and which would provide for ris" free transition from the present

state to required state which is aligned with the strategic o'3ectives