Global Business / Customer Service in a Diverse Marketplace

Leadership/ Managing Change

Customer Service

Japanese & American Intercultural Diversity

"One key to success is being knowledgeable about your market. Today, most accomplished businesses got that way because they are able to affectively communicate with people who are culturally and geographically diverse." Read More or Download and Print this article.

Also on this subject: Customer Service in a Shrinking World from Sales and Marketing Excellence, February 2002 .” Read More or Download and Print this article.

“What can we learn from a coffee house, an airline, a golf course and a ski resort? Plenty. Like many corporations in North America, Starbucks, Continental Airlines, and the Pebble Beach Company share a common challenge: They are all in mature markets and they offer a commodity that is widely available from any number of competitors.” Read More or Download and Print this article.

Also on this subject: The Changing Face of the Customer: Think Globally, Sell Locally, from Sales and Service Excellence, June 2005. Read More or Download and Print this article.

Lipp Service, from HR Innovator Magazine, March 2004.

In a global business world, the need for cross-cultural employee training is crucial to bridging functional gaps. Former, Walt Disney Company training executive, Doug Lipp knows this all too well. The Japanese executives representing the Tokyo Disneyland Resort were unhappy with their nametags and officials in California couldn’t understand why.” Read More or Download and Print this article

“When he was 16 years old, Doug Lipp took a course in Japanese and fell in love with the language. A college internship in marketing at Disney focused his career plans, and after graduate school in Japan and the US, Lipp approached Disney for a job. He wound up helping start Tokyo Disney.” Read More or Download and Print this article.

While the rest of the nation is awakening to the realization that the United States has a diversified populatin, California has been living with diversity for many years. You need to look no further than a recent factoid shown on CNN: California’s Department of Motor Vehicles issues written driving tests in 35 languages. The mix and introduction of cultures certainly has added to the energy and flavor of the California experience, but it presents its own set of challenges for owners and managers of business.” Read More or Download and Print this article.

“America’s Spanish-speaking population now numbers some 37 million people – 13% of the overall population, according to the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau. The fastest-growing market segment in the U.S., this demographic has been under-served by the financial services industry. But that’s changing.” Read More or Download and Print this article.

“When is 10 years of English not enough? When you haven’t learned the proud American practice of interrupting. Foreign nationals have to acquire that skill to get a word in edgewise with chatterhead Yanks.” Read More or Download and Print this article. Would you like to read this article in Japanese? Click “here”.

“You are in a foreign land and faced with the challenge of self-preservation and conducting business successfully. Your corporate headquarters doesn’t know of the incredible challenges facing you. You have had little preparation for your assignment and have no idea if local managers will support or subver you. What do you do?” Read More or Download and Print this article

Leadership / Managing Change

Embrace Change in Order to Remain the Same, from California Grocer’s Association Magazine, October 2004

“As was learned the hard way at the Walt Disney Company, success breeds arrogance and arrogance can lead to complacency.

Complacency can come in many forms and one of them is the one trick pony. In other words, you ride your successes-to-date well beyond their effective lifespans. It might be that creative way you give presentations to prospective clients, or it could be the way you have traditionally served and supported your customers or employees.” Read More or Download and Print this article.

Maybe once upon a time, managers and corporations in the U.S. could get away with treating people all the same way. Today, with the immigrant population nearing close to 12 percent of the U.S. population a a whole, business leaders can’t get away with pretending that their employees and customers are clones of a typical US citizen.” Read More or Download and Print this article.

Customer Service

United in Innovation: Leading in Customer Service? Residential Lighting, February, 2004

“Good customer service is often overshadowed by the day-to-day duties of running a business. Lighting showrooms need solid leaders, from the sales floor to the stockroom in order to succeed.” Read More or Download and Print this article

One of the most challenging areas of customer service is listening effectively with empathy. This is especially difficult when interacting with a customer who is frustrated or upset. Faced with an agitated customer, it is all too easy for the service provider to fall back to a pattern of responses such as: “That’s the policy…If you would just calm down…The only thing I can do is…Let me get my supervisor.” None of these responses address the emotional state of the customer.” Read More or Download and Print this article

“Lipp noted that people react to actions, vocal tone and actual words in that order. People belive the message they get from our facial expressions, general body language and the tone of our voice before they believe our words. Your words are useless unless your actions and voice are sending the same message.” Read More or Download and Print this article.

What is the secret of Disney success? One of the secrets is consistency. The message spoken is the same one lived by every employee. Too many companies talk about the importance of ‘our human resources’ without supporting them. At Disneyland, we constantly reminded employees that every function was important. Any position could make or break the experience of the customer.” Read More or Download and Print this article

Many service providers are unaware of the basics of how to be courteous, friendly, or even helpful. The ability to provide outstanding customer service is as much an art as it is a science. The ‘art’ of customer service appeals to the emotional needs and ego of the customer. The ‘scientific’ side is more task-oriented.” Read More or Download and Print this article.

Japanese & American Intercultural Diversity
Click here for articles in Japanese

“As Olympic athletes are discovering, Japan is a nation riddled with subtle and labyrinthine social rules. When local business leaders need help in fording these tricky cultural waters, the man they turn to is Douglas Lipp. Lipp earns a living helping U.S. and Japanese companies understand each other.” Read More or Download and Print this article

“Here’s a seven step process that can help people from different cultures understand each other’s intentions and perceptions so they can work together harmoniously – based on real-wrold examples of U.S.-based Japanese subsidiaries.” Read More or Download and Print this article.

“The American employees at NEC Electronics American base were confused. NEC is a Japanese-owned company and the American workers could make no sense of some of the behavior of their Japanese coworkers. The Americans were puzzled by several things.” Read More or Download and Print this article

Would you like to read this article in Japanese? Click “here”.

A group of American executives travel to Tokyo to discuss a joint venture with a Japanese conglomerate. In their briefcases, they carry terms that will make both companies rich. Still, the Americans come home empty-handed. Chances are their failure had more to do with etiquette, or the lack thereof, than with business strategy. Read More or Download and Print this article

“Seven enthusiastic foreign businesspeople, comprised of four Americans and three Euroeans working closely with Japanese on a daily basis, attended the ‘Working with the Japanese’ seminar recently in Tokyo. Their goal: to learn how to avoid potentially costly misunderstandings.” Read More or Download and Print this article.

Americans who work in America for Japanese companies do a lot of head scratching, mumbling and puzzling over the behavior of the people in charge. Working for the Japanese presents challenges for American workers that are unique and often frustrating yet, at the same time, potentially rewarding. Complex human issue arise when Americans and Japanese are employed by the same company and are expected to work together. Read More or Download and Print this article

Would you like to read this article in Japanese? Click “here”.

Going Global? Stifle Yourself! From Training Magazine, August 1995

Smoothing Out Cultural Misunderstandings, from Training Magazine, October 1992 1995