John Higgins

CASE SUMMARY

As one of the largest U.S. drug firms, Weaver Pharmaceutical heavily engaged in international business. The company entered the Japanese market as early as the 1930s and chose Yamazaki Pharmaceutical, a major producer of drugs and chemicals in Japan, as its distributor. The joint venture between Weaver and Yamazaki, "Weaver-Yamazaki Pharmaceutical", was established in 1954, marking a milestone in Weaver's successful business expansion in Japan. The operation not only produced, with its own resources and R&D activities, broad lines of products to fill the general demands of the Japanese market, but also successfully marketed new products in the United States and other countries.

Leonard Prescott, vice president and general manager of Weaver-Yamazaki Pharmaceutical of Japan, sees that his executive assistant John Higgins has a disconnected control over his effectiveness representing the U.S parent company and has a tremendous identification with ‘the land of the rising sun’ cultures.

Prescott noticed Higgins attitude and thinking caused a large ineffectiveness in his administration. Higgins applied many characteristic of typical Japanese executive during his work, for example spending time listening to subordinates who face problems. He has also became a third-party for employees who have dissatisfaction with the new policy, insisting their demands are defended.

The new implementation has been objected by Higgins who thinks that Japanese culture must be preserved and not be changed anymore. Nevertheless, Prescott believes there are dynamic changes occurring in traditionalistic Japanese customs and culture. This opinion is facilitated because many Japanese subordinates are more willing to try out new ideas than Higgins.

Higgins has constantly been an effective and efficient manager who is adored by Prescott’s friends and even received several excellent offers to go with other companies in Japan. However, Prescott believes the best international executive is an individual who has a strong belief in the principle of central office point of view and understanding of foreign attitudes. Plus, he also thinks that Higgins should not have strong emotional attachment to Japanese culture.

LIST OF PROBLEMS

1. Internal Integration - Higgins and Prescott both have different opinions towards implementing U.S. personnel policies in the Japanese operations.

Higgins's attitude seems to be against the U.S. personnel policies and more towards the Japanese ways of doing things, considering he would rather spend his time in Japan plus marrying Japanese somehow influenced Higgin’s attitude towards Japanese customs, cultures and mentality. Moreover, Prescott's attitude is more for the U.S. way of implementing the personnel policies in the Japanese operations, since he really did not like the way Higgins handled situations. It was apparent that Higgins was trying to drive people from the company in the same manner as it would a Japanese regardless of the rules stipulated that the company had. Prescott however, felt upset and attacked by this attitude because Higgins was revolutionizing the order that already existed within the company, causing an inconsistency in policies of the company.

1. Awareness about other culture - Difference culture of managing system in organization between Higgins and Prescott might bring a huge conflict and misunderstanding between them.

Higgins evolved around Japanese culture and because of his fascination and admiration for what this society offered, it made him lose objectivity and believed that the method of the Japanese was the best by what they wanted to transform a U.S. company which was governed by a different organizational culture in a typical Japanese company. In actuality, Prescott had and should have run the company in the same way that handled the parent company was in the U.S., without adapting to Japanese culture and although this was a rigid attitude, it was approved by the human resources of the Japanese company since these were willing to try other methods that used in Japan. As much as Prescott wanted to retain the company as it was, with the entrepreneurial vision of an American inadvertently adapt to Japanese culture, because it was introducing a formula that had already been successful in the U.S, it was rather difficult since Higgins had already established a different standard for the staff.

1. There was also no clear and effective communication between Prescott and Higgins.

Based on the case itself, Prescott did realize and notice that Higgin’s attitude towards the Japanese and towards the company's principal has changed, but yet there is no clear flow of communication from Prescott himself. Instead of communicating clearly to Higgins, Prescott did not approach him but to let the issue remain. Prescott’s presence in the company was not felt. This could be due to the fact that, there should be a distance between him as the vice president of the company towards the Japanese which is also his employees. This is to ensure that the philosophy and principal of the company's value remain intact regardless how much the local employees wanted him to be as part of the employees. This in turn, would definitely affect employees' perception on him that makes his presence in the company not as strong as Higgins. On the contrary, Higgins's deep attachment with the local people allowed other employees to accept him better than Prescott.