Building International Linkages How to establish a partnership with your local “ international ” company in your community Toshi Amino Executive Vice President (Retired) Honda of America

How to find “ International ” companies in your local community? Contact to State Economic Development Department Chamber of Commerce In case of Japanese company Japanese Embassy or Consulate General Japan-America Society Japanese Business Organization

Important Elements for Establishing the Linkage 1 Know about them before you visit. Some home works will be helpful. 2 Think about long range relationship Be patient Don ’ t expect overnight result 3 “ Give and take ” strategy “ What can I do for them? ”

In general each company want to be good corporate citizens Their questions “ How can we connect ourselves with local community? (Your name “ Community college ” is helpful) Visit them to tell about your idea to connect them with your local community through you.

Prepare you ideas (What can I do for you?) Training program to develop their professional skill Associate degree for their employees Internship for your students at their facilities Your students as a problem solving project team (In case of Japan-based company) ESL program for Japanese employees and their families and non-English speaking employees

What are you looking for? Funding for your research Information to prepare your teaching material (Case study) “ On the spot, hands-on ” type education for your students Joint projects Speakers for your class

Funding Be specific and concrete proposal Show your efforts to obtain money from other funding sources Not too much amount, be realistic Potential donor might ask you “ What is the benefit for us? ” Understand company philosophy or value (It is the worst timing for funding due to a severe economic crisis)

Information for your teaching Cross-cultural management American and Japanese work together. How do they overcome various cross-cultural issues Local operation of MNC International business transactions Logistic, Currency fluctuation etc

Joint Projects Process improvements A Filing system B Production flow C Warehouse management D Training for employees

Speakers for your class They can talk about A Cross-cultural issues they face in daily operation (For example:Japan-based company) B Business trip to foreign countries, “ What did they experienced? ” C Differences of business practices U.S. v.s. Other countries

Foreign manager who is working for U. S. subsidiary can talk Their cultural shock in U.S. Their life in America with family How do they observe American business practices?

Thank you for your listening Any question? My address