Problem
E-MAGINE Biomedical is a biomedical engineering company that was established in 2001. It currently has 3,030 employees, so it is fairly large. The mission of the company is to produce and continually develop high-end quality healthcare products, and the company's vision is to be the premier healthcare product manufacturer.
E-MAGINE offers several products, the main ones being hospital/long-term care beds and electric wheelchairs. Current operations for this company are in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
As sales director, you want to expand sales further than the United States, Canada, and Mexico where E-MAGINE currently does business. In fact, the marketing department has done extensive research and has determined that E-MAGINE beds would sell vigorously in Japan.
It is your job, as sales director, to set up a Japanese sales team, meaning you will need to take a trip to Japan to set up interviews and hire the team.
• Analyze your own cultural intelligence. How can you develop or improve this so that you are fair in your hiring approach on the trip?
• What stereotypes could you have that you would need to overcome to be successful in the Japanese hiring process?