Page 22 - ITUK Press Cuttings May 2017
P. 22
GRI LLED IN THE CAFE
',.r,..,',,1{ While in turnover terms we are a relatively small part of
the global empire, I think strategically we're identilied as
i',
''.: :_l ,..:,-r-?-,1*.i*,; a very importanl part of the business'
.. . .: Currently we have one person from head office
working in the UK. our finance director Isao Otsuka'We
have a good degree of autonomy' but the,v have
introduced some good business disciplines Mainly not so
much surrounding decision-making' but more reporting
methods ancl visibility. I've learned an awful iot' to be
honest, from working with my colleagues in Japan'
The other thing I might add is it's also a bit scary when
you have to present the vear-end results to the main
toard in Tokyo. All ol the slides are in Japanese' so I
speak in English. but I have to memorise all the
information in the running order that it appears on the
slides. I remember the first time I did it' I thought I'd
to cock things
never get a better opportunity in my life
and getting it
,p rroi" publicly than standing up there
horribly wrong. The only possible exception to that is this
'=5' CM:What's it like working as a small part of a interview.
large JaPanese organisalion?
I can say some things in Japanese' l remember only a
# Pli: It's clynamic, deliniteiy challenging' varied' few months into my job. trying to impress my boss' We
were in Sapporo at an autumn festival with some
hugely interesting and informative' I think we're quite customers. I tried to say "please come inside" to some old
luj<y in the UK that Isuzu Motors Japan bought us in
20 lj. because there's a recognition that the Euro ladies in Japanese and they looked at me somewhat
stanclardi and the technology emerging from Europe is startled. U1, Uos. tolcl me that unfortunately I actually said
the stanclard that will eventually be adopted globaily' As ''please vomit". I realised that I <iidn t have a taient for the
a result, I think our colleagues in Japan are incredibly language.The other thing I managed to do was when
Otsuka+an joined us Evemone calls him Oz so I was
interested in understanding the European marketplace'
'.i.'i ..
ffi&
't...'.!
qW
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