Toyota Financial Services worked with Kwintessential Consulting to design and deliver cultural training on Japanese business practices for their employees across Europe and Africa. The training aimed to raise awareness of cultural values that underpin Toyota's business practices and help employees engage more effectively with Japanese colleagues. Feedback showed the training improved employees' confidence and cultural understanding when interacting with Japanese counterparts. It helped explain behaviors that previously caused misunderstandings. The training was praised for its practical approach using discussions, case studies, and quizzes to illustrate Japanese culture.

1. Case Study
Working with the Japanese:
Toyota Financial Services
1

2. The Company
Toyota Financial Services Europe and Africa region (TFS EAR) works across 16
locations to provide finance options for over 1 million customers through
1,641 Toyota and Lexus Retailers. TFS EAR is a subsidiary of Toyota Financial
Services Corporation (TFSC) which is based in Nagoya, Japan. Their group
mission is to “provide sound financial services that contribute to the
prosperous life for Toyota customers and others.”
2

3. The Challenge
Japanese culture underpins everything that is done at Toyota and Lexus Financial
Services. Many of the business practices have Japanese names: Kaizen, Hoshin,
Genchi Genbutsu to mention just a few – which are new concepts to most employees
joining Toyota.
Some employees engage with Japanese colleagues on a daily basis while others only
on the odd occasion or hardly ever. Regardless of the levels of interaction, there was a
sense that a lack of cultural understanding was at times inhibiting effective
communication and creating unnecessary misunderstanding - something no
organisation can afford.
So how could the company raise awareness of the cultural values that defines many of
its business practices and help its employees engage with colleagues with a higher
level of confidence and avoid the risk of unintentionally offending ?
3

4. Our Solution
Toyota Financial Services worked together with Kwintessential Consulting to
design and roll out a practical Japanese Cultural Training session, to cater for
both employees based in the UK and those across the Europe and Africa
region.
The training drew on the experiences of the participants to get them to
challenge/reflect on commonly held stereotypes and used a combination of
group discussions, case studies and quizzes to bring the realities of the
Japanese culture to life.
4

5. The Result
To date it is one of their most popular external courses. Positive feedback
from those attending confirms the training has really helped employees
improve their confidence when meeting and working with their Japanese
colleagues.
Even employees who have worked directly with their Japanese colleagues for
a number of years came away from the training with a wealth of new
knowledge about Japanese culture and how they can work more effectively
with their Japanese colleagues.
5

6. What the Participants Said
• “Goal-oriented discussions with Japanese colleagues are supported. Great
job, allowed comments by participants and sharing of experiences.”
• “The trainer was very authentic and interesting.”
• “I will better anticipate and better appreciate my business partners'
reactions and behaviours.”
• “We now know why we we’re not understanding the Japanese responses
to our requests!”
• “This training should have been undertaken many years ago and should
be considered as part of the induction process for certain staff.”
• “I think this course is an excellent initiative and the timing was perfect.
Although I have been to Japan, I learnt loads and it helped make sense of
things that had baffled me.”
6

7. Similar Projects
We are working with a huge number of clients across all industries on Cultural
Awareness Programmes. Below you find a list of programmes, which were similar
to the one delivered for Toyota Financial Services.
• Cultural Awareness Programmes on the UK:
AkzoNobel Powder Coatings, Alstom Power
• Cultural Awareness Programmes on Japan:
7 Layer Solutions, Ericsson, Sandfords, Unipath, VT Group, Xyratex
• Working with the Japanese:
Fujitsu, Twinings, UKTI
• Living & Working in the UK:
BHP Billiton, Lexis Nexis, Lloyds Register EMEA
• Working and Communicating with the UK/ Working and Communicating with the
Japanese: JX Nippon
7

8. Kwintessential’s Services
'We Speak Global Here'
Cultural AwarenessTraining
Soft Skills Training
E-learning via the Argonaut™
Country Profiles
Webinars
Local Guides
8

9. Contact Us:
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cross-
cultural/communication-awareness-training.html
+ 44 (0)207 978 0191
training@Kwintessential.co.uk
@kwint_train
9

10. Contact Us:
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cross-
cultural/communication-awareness-training.html
+ 44 (0)207 978 0191
training@Kwintessential.co.uk
@kwint_train
9