Q1. In what ways is Carlos Ghosn a visionary leader?

What traits does

he possess that are typical of a visionary leader?

A1. A visionary leader generally has most of the characteristics laid below:

Good communicator
Charismatic leader
Chief organizer
Risk-taker
Strategic planner

Carlos Ghosn had all of these characteristics as is evident from the case. This can
be shown as below:

Good communicator: Carlos Ghosn was adept in four languages, but he preferred
action over long meetings. He publicly promised for the resignation of entire top
management team in case of the company not meeting sales targets. He
understood the necessity of good communication and so, to enable lag free
communication within the firm and convert Nissan into a global firm, Carlos
Ghosn endorsed English as a common language even in Japan.

Charismatic leader: Carlos Ghosns charisma is evident from the fact that he
attained a celebrity status in Japan. He could change the corporate culture in
Japan only because the Nissan employees were ready to change themselves
their way of thinking and working under his leadership.

Chief organiser: Carlos Ghosn took up the leadership of both the firms Renault
and Nissan and still managed to lead them into global leadership positions.
Both firms had different strategies, and he could easily handle both challenging
jobs.

Risk-taker: Carlos Ghosn made a lot of changes in the way Nissan functioned
within Japan. He even went about changing the official language from Japanese
to English. Moreover, he led both firms from being local players to global players.
These actions portray his risk taking ability.

Strategic planner: Carlos Ghosn was instrumental in taking both the firm global.
He invested in technology by doubling the R&D spending. He was focussed on
entering all markets around the globe with a wide range of car models. He even
wanted to challenge Tatas cheapest car. These attributes show his long term
thinking capability.
Q2. What is the nature of Nissans international strategy? Is the firm
following a primarily global strategy or a multi-domestic strategy? What
advantages does Nissan derive from the particular strategy that it
pursues? In what ways does Nissan demonstrate efficiency, flexibility
and learning?

A2. As per Michael Porter, global strategy involves firms competing in all global
markets with homogenous products, whereas in multi-domestic strategy, firms
compete in global markets with different products in different market with
products which are designed as per the requirements of each individual market.
Both the firms Renault and Nissan had different car models rolling out in
different markets across the world. And as such, the place of production and cost
of production of each model varied a lot. So, clearly the firms were following
multi-domestic strategy.

As a result of this multi-domestic strategy, Nissan could compete with luxury cars
in markets such as US and Europe, while competing for cost leadership position
in other markets such as China and middle east.

Nissan could demonstrate efficiency, flexibility and learning in the following

ways. A separate management company called Renault-Nissan BV was set up in
Amsterdam to offer a neutral forum for formulation of common strategy for
product engineering, model development and computer systems, and leveraged
their size to squeeze suppliers for lower costs. Since the integration of Renault
and Nissan went about smoothly, the two corporations began sharing
manufacturing facilities as a means of sharing technological know-how. Both firm
shared engineering and part purchases, thus allowing them to slash expense and
time of introducing new models.
Q3. Describe Nissans organisational culture. What are the
characteristics of Nissans culture? In what ways has Carlos Ghosn
contributed to Nissans culture? Elaborate.

A3. Nissans organisational culture transitioned from the typical Japanese

bureaucratic and clubby style to a proactive, inclusive and globally focussed
style. Nissan along with Renault employed technology transfer and engaged with
the same suppliers to achieve lower costs of production and superior
technological know-how. Nissan had manufacturing facilities at most of the
global markets to cater to all customers worldwide. Carlos Ghosn was
implemental in bringing about all of these changes to Nissan. He forced the firm
to think global and taught the top management to take responsibility for their
actions. In this way, Carlos Ghosn improved the efficiency and flexibility of
business and inspired sense of internationalism.

Q4. Global firms pursue a relatively centralized approach to

international operations. What are the characteristics of the trend
toward global integration of company operations? How does Nissan
demonstrate these characteristics?

A4. Nissan showed worldwide qualities through its worldwide building,

generation and buying operations. Nissan, along with Renault, created the
worlds global car, called Nissan Versa in US, Renault Clio in Europe, Nissan Tiida
in Asia and Renault Logan in the middle east. Lastly, Nissan had manufacturing
facilities in most of the global markets.
Q5. Examine Nissan in terms of the Integration-Responsiveness
Framework. What are the pressures that Nissan faces for local
responsiveness? What are the pressures that Nissan faces for global
integration? What advantages do each of local responsiveness and
global integration bring to Nissan?

A5.

Some of the pressures that Nissan faced for global responsiveness was the
breakthrough in technologies. Many buyers looked for new and latest
technologies and gas efficiencies in their cars. Nissan could launch their car
models sooner than its competitors.

The pressure Nissan faced with global integration was achieving the buyers with
cars that had efficiency and synergy, in order to take maximum advantage of
similarities among countries.