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Case Study' Fre? Boiley in Japon: Art InrnFred Bailey gazed out the window of his trventy-fourth-floor office at the tranquil beauty of the lmperial Palaceamid the hustle and bustle of downtown Tokyo. It hadbeen only six months since Fred had arrived rvith hisrvife and iwo children for this three-year assignment asthe director of Kline & Associates'Tokyo office' Kline &Associates was a large multinational consulting firmwith offices in nineteen countries worldwide' Fred rvasnow trying to decide whether he should simply pack upancl tell headquarters that he rvas coming home orwhether he should try to convince his rvife, and himself'that they should stay and finish the assignment' Givento begin

firm rvouldfor the childliving adjusneaity trlpteconsideralioaccept the aThe cupartner in tior Iess thalong-establito Englandfamill'136Betrveen tr

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to

that since the rvasher and dryer were much too small, shehad to spend ertra money by sending things out to be dry-cleancd. On top of all that, unless she rvent to theAmerican Club in dorvntorvn Tokyo' she never had anyoneto talk to. After all, Fred was gone ten to sixteen hours adar,. Unfortunately, while Jenny talked, Fred was preoccu-pied, thinking about a big upcoming me-eting between hisi'irm and a significant prospective ilient, a top-100Japanese multinational comPanY.The next day, Fred, alorlg rvith the lead U'S' consul-tant for the potential contract, Ralph Webster, and one ofthe Japanese associate consultants, Kenichi Kurokawa,rvho spoke perfect English' met with a team from theJapanese firm. The Japanese team consisted of fourmembers: the vice president of administration, the direc-tor of international personnel, and trvo staff specialists'After shaking hands and a ferv au'kward bows, Fred saidthat he knew the Japanese gentlemen were busy and he

revise anda somewhatantly, "I'msmiled, gotJapanese athere's notnity you deihe dRalph horvhe had hething tvas uRalph lateJohn MayJapan becaunlike anyafter workates, includhow Tashrecounted

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not being able to diive and read the road signs, of nothaving anything to watch on television, of not beinginvolved in anything. She wanted to go home and couldnot think of any reason why they shouldn't. After all, shereasoned, they owed nothing to the company becausethe company had led them to believe this rvas justanother assignment, like the two years they spent in SanFrancisco, and it was anything but that!

Fred lookesomehow evesomething. Thtraffic lights cbe movi-ng. Forvorld's mosttems moved hcit-v and to the

CASE QUE,STIONS1. You are Fred.What should you do now?2. Turn back the clock to u'hen Fred rvas offered theposition in Toki'o. What. if anything. should havebeen clone differently. and by whom?

Source: J. SteuatrIanagentent.edP\\'S-Kent, 1991